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Why Fruit Loves to Make You Fat

10/24/2014

A general assumption is that fructose means fruit and most of us don’t worry about getting too much sugar from our fruits because we just don’t eat them very often. We may be getting an overload of fructose without even being aware of it, though. And what’s even worse is that a researcher from the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas has just discovered that fructose in the diet converts to fat faster than any other sweeteners available today.

Dr. Elizabeth Parks, an associate professor of clinical nutrition, says the kinds of foods we eat, especially the carbohydrates, influence fat synthesis and may have as big an effect in a weight-loss diet as counting calories. Traces of sugar occur naturally in many proteins (it’s the reason meats and pastries turn brown when cooked) but fruits and vegetables have the highest concentration of naturally occurring fructose. To test her theory, Parks and her colleagues recruited six healthy people for a three-part study using glucose- and fructose-sweetened breakfast drinks.

Introducing The Intermittent Keto Protocol!

9/19/2014

I apologize I've been missing in action for so long on the blog, but it's been for a good reason! For the past 3-plus months, I've been putting all my fat-loss knowledge into a single 75-page manual called The Intermittent Keto Protocol! In it, you're going to learn about some amazing things!

EFFORTLESS FAT LOSS WITH THE CYCLICAL KETOGENIC DIET
The heart of the Intermittent Keto Protocol is centered around harnessing the power of the low-carb cyclical ketogenic diet. You will learn how eating things like bacon and butter on a daily basis turn your body into a fat burning machine whileLOWERING your risk of things such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Forget everything you think you know about low-carb dieting. If you do it correctly, it is almost safe to call it a "cure-all" for nearly everything plaguing society today. Not only will I teach you how to become fat-adpated, I have also included numerous tools to help you on your journey:

Extensive low-carb food lists
Grocery shopping guide
30 meal and side-dish ideas + links to a whole world of amazing low-carb recipes

DISEASE PREVENTION AND FAT LOSS THROUGH INTERMITTENT FASTING
What if I told you that by skipping a few meals a week, you could dramatically improve your chances of preventing things such as cancer, Alzheimer's, and several autoimmune diseases? Well, it's not science-fiction, it's intermittent fasting. The Intermittent Keto Protocol will teach you how to easily perform a few short fasts per week to not only lose fat, but to ward off disease and enact anti-aging processes through the natural process of autophagy. There is no such thing as a detox diet, but the power of intermittent fasting delivers on what those diet systems promise to do... IT ACTUALLY DETOXES YOU!

OCCASIONALLY EATING JUNK FOOD OFFERS SUPERCHARGED FAT LOSS!
Every week or two, depending on your goals, you will be allowed a strategic window where you can indulge in all the delicious foods you've been missing such as pizza, pasta, and donuts, while ENHANCING your fat burning potential, making for better workouts during the week, and just generally making you a happier person. That's right. You don't need to feel guilty about eating the foods you were missing. In fact, eating them occasionally is fully encouraged on The Intermittent Keto Protocol!

BUT WAIT.. THERE'S MORE!
I know losing fat, preventing disease, and still getting to eat your favorite foods on occasion may sound too good to be true, but it isn't. Everything provided to you in The Intermittent Keto Protocol is backed by scientific research, and on top of the already amazing benefits provided, IKP will teach you:

How low-carb dieting is superior in preserving muscle compared to low-fat diets
The proper way to (optionally) exercise on a low-carb diet. No rehashed workouts like other books give you
The mental side of weight loss, complete with a pre-made goal sheet to help get you started
An extensive scientific explanation of almost every weight loss myth you've ever been told

A nutritional program like this would easily cost you hundreds if not thousands of dollars, assuming you were able to find a dietitian willing to prescribe you something that works this well. But I'm not going to charge you thousands of dollars. For the first few months of release, The Intermittent Keto Protocol will be available for the ridiculously low price of $25.00! This deal won't last forever, so be sure to jump at the opportunity to learn how to blast fat, prevent disease, and still eat donuts. I look forward to helping you on your journey to better health!

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Is 'Phantom Fat' Haunting You?

6/11/2014

Losing a large amount of weight is a truly life altering experience. Better health, new clothes, new relationship opportunities. The list of positives that come from it are plentiful. But for many, it's incredibly hard to shake the long standing mental image of oneself. I was overweight for so long, I lost 100 pounds and still looked in the mirror and saw my 350 pound self for YEARS. Why, though? It might have something to do with 'phantom fat.'

For people who have lost 60, 80, 100 pounds and up, the mental baggage associated with weight loss can be long term for several reasons. From a physical standpoint, losing a large amount of fat can result in some less than desirable alterations to your physique. You've replaced a highly overweight body with a more fit body that has cellulite, loose skin, and stretch marks. These "side effects" of weight loss can give a person a whole new level of self consciousness, often times leaving them with little choice but to have painful skin removal surgery and incur months of healing time.

Physical scars aside, the real damage from weight loss can come from damage to your mental well being. When you lose a tremendous amount of weight, your mind is forced to "catch up" with your drastically altered body. This is especially true for folks who have lost weight very rapidly. While this will gradually ease over time, the feeling of being a much larger person even though you have a smaller body is one of the most persistent feelings plaguing the newly fit. Just as a person who has lost a limb in an accident feels a phantom limb, the formerly obese may feel (and see) phantom fat.

Overcoming Phantom Fat

I look at the battle with the mirror as an addiction. Just as alcohol and drugs are an addiction, "fat shaming" yourself in the mirror for years can become something of an addiction itself, even after you've lost the weight. A person goes from hating the overall reflection, to picking out small details on themselves to fret over. You've exchanged one vicious cycle for another, and it needs to stop. Here are some personal ideas on how to change your overall perception of yourself:

A picture is worth a thousand words: Forget the mirror. Take pictures. I promise you you're never going to see the difference in yourself if you look in the mirror every day searching for improvements. Take pictures of yourself in as few clothes as you feel comfortable with, or refer to past pictures to get a baseline for where you started. Take them every day, every week, or every month and THEN critique your results. Sometimes you'll be shocked at what comes out of the camera. Example...

Set an attainable precedent, and take your time. This isn't a contest: So you've lost some weight, yet still feel like you could do more? That's great. Self betterment is very healthy, but only if you do it right. I used to save and cut out pictures of ideal physiques, from bodybuilders to celebrities, then I realized something. I am a normal person with a job and a kid and responsibilities. I'm not competing in a physique competition nor am I prepping for a movie. I don't have a team of people whose sole mission in life is to make me look better. I have a team of one. Myself. As long as you're progressing, no matter how slow it is, it's still progress. You can't put a timetable on your overall health, and 99% of us weren't blessed with the genetic makeup to look like our favorite celebrity. And you know what, THAT'S OKAY!

Learn to expect small failures: That's right. You're going to fall off the wagon every once in a while and have a romantic weekend with your old friend the pizza delivery guy and a whole cake. You're human. It can and WILL happen. Don't "make up" for your indiscretions by punishing yourself with a juice cleanse or something stupid. Just right the ship, and get back to the habits that got you where you are. No need to beat yourself up over it.

Never stop loving yourself: This might sound cliche or whatever you want to call it, but you were given this one body, and you need to love it through thick and thin. You're going to gain 10 pounds of your original 50 back, then you're going to lose it again. You may need to get 10 pounds of skin cut off, or you may have some less than desirable stretch marks. Screw what society says. Most people have no idea where you started or what you did to get where you're at. Be proud, keep working hard, and only keep the people around who accept you for who you are, whether that be an overweight you or a newly thin you. Aside from yourself, those are the people who matter.

Have anymore suggestions you'd like to add? Feel free to comment below. I look forward to hearing your personal suggestions for fighting off personal demons.

NEGATIVE CALORIE FOODS ARE (SORT OF) REAL!

1/2/2014

No, this isn't another stupid article about eating celery or iceberg lettuce, so continue reading. This is about actual negative calorie foods, but there's a twist. All foods have some kind of calories, but there are foods (not celery) that studies have shown use more calories to digest than the food actually contains. Hence the term, "negative calorie foods."

This isn't concrete scientific fact just yet, but many studies have been done on this topic, and an explanation for why some foods may be considered negative calorie is as follows. Once again, nearly all foods have calories. And while no foods actually contain actual digestive enzymes, higher quality whole foods (read: non-processed) have vitamins in them. What some of these vitamins do is trigger the release of digestive enzymes to break down the food we've just eaten.

When we eat junk food, this same process happens. The difference is, there are no enzyme triggering vitamins in junk food. So there's a minimal release of enzymes, then the rest of the food is left to be taken up as fat or secreted as waste. HOWEVER, in the so called "negative calorie foods," the enzyme release is enough to break down the food and leave a surplus of enzymes. Where the debate lies is in this. It is not entirely known if the excess enzymes make their way into the blood stream. If they do, enzymes are responsible for accelerating the metabolism, therefore increasing the likelihood of fat loss.

While not conclusive, there has been some fascinating research done lately that looks promising.

"According to a recent study performed by Dr. Dean Ornish, M.D., of the University of California, at San Francisco, a vegetarian diet consisting mostly of fruits and vegetables, was adhered to by research subjects as an experimental study on the reversal of heart disease. As a result each of the research subjects (all suffering from heart disease), lost an average of 20 pounds without cutting calories or limiting serving sizes.
In light of the fact that these subjects were 40 years and older (with relatively slowed metabolisms) and the research performed involved no prescribed exercise program, this constitutes a dramatic weight loss that could only be attributed to the consumption of various fruits & vegetables."

So could it be that easy? Eat high quality, non-processed foods along with "negative calorie" fruits and vegetables and experience considerable fat loss? It very well could be. Regardless, a diet consisting of high quality proteins, vegetables and fruits will make you healthier. So essentially you have nothing to lose. Oh, and I suppose I should give you a small list of some of these negative calorie foods before you get mad for sticking in there so long. Keep in mind, these foods should be eaten raw or lightly cooked. Overcooking any produce can result in nutrient loss. These are just some of the foods that were given to the people in the study:

Vegetables: sweet potatoes, celery, eggplant, all types of peppers, artichokes, parsley, leeks, spinach, different types of lettuce, carrots, asparagus (cooked), radishes and broccoli (raw).
Fruits: pears, strawberries, raspberries, cantaloupe, plums, oranges, grapefruit, blackberries, blueberries, watermelon, lemons, limes and pineapple.
Bonus item- Seafood: tuna, flounder, sea bass, trout, cod, lobster, crab, clams, mussels, crayfish, oysters, prawns and shrimp.

Try adding some of these into your diet, along with other healthy foods and see how it affects your overall body composition in conjunction with physical activity. You might just be surprised at what happens! Everyone have a great day, eat your fruits and vegetables, and go work out!

SIX REASONS TO HIRE A PERSONAL TRAINER

12/9/2013

REASON 1: PROPER GUIDANCE AND MOTIVATION
The gym can be a big scary place if you're not sure what to do in there. Rows and rows of machines, dumbbells, ropes etc. A personal trainer will be able to properly instruct you on which equipment to use for how many repetitions and how many sets to see maximum results. They will also make sure you're using proper form so as to avoid injuries. Aside from guidance, a personal trainer also provides accountability and motivation. You may think you can't get to that 10th rep, but with a personal trainer by your side pushing you on, it becomes much easier.
REASON 2: MORE EFFECTIVE FAT LOSS
Losing fat is increasingly difficult for many people, especially as we age. A personal trainer knows many effective ways to lose fat at an accelerated rate, whether it be through exercise, diet coaching, or a combination of the two. The majority of people will lose body fat quicker with a personal trainer than seeking results on their own.
REASON 3: INDIVIDUAL INSTRUCTION
I'm sure if you are trying to get in better shape, you've picked up a magazine or 2 that advertises the end all be all of fat burning, muscle building workouts. You flip to the page and deflation immediately sets in. You don't know how to do a reverse lunge super setted with a Romanian deadlift! And why is it from Romania? Magazine workouts may have their niche, but they are not tailor made to your goals and skill level. A personal trainer will set up a program that is made only for you, as well as provide instruction on how to do each and every exercise they've recommended in a safe and effective manner.
REASON 4: BECAUSE YOU CAN AFFORD IT
Yes, it's true. Personal trainers may be considered a luxury, as some charge upwards of $50 for a single half hour session (I don't charge that much, for the record). However, purchasing a package of sessions will provide you with a sometimes very generous discount. Say you spend $200 a month on an online training package that provides you with 8-12 sessions and diet coaching. It may sound like a lot, but add up the rest of your "luxury" expenses such as expensive coffee drinks full of fat and calories at $5 a pop, unhealthy dinners out, or that bi-weekly pair of shoes you will wear once. You will find that cutting out one or a few of those things will more than pay for personal trainer!
REASON 5: BECAUSE A TRAINER IS ALSO A TEACHER
If you hire a quality personal trainer, they are usually an open book of knowledge and are willing to impart that knowledge on you. When you start out with a trainer, you may have no idea how to work out properly or follow a balanced diet. We realize you won't work out with us forever, which is why we want to teach you the skills you need to become healthier for the rest of your life. Yes, we want to see those results when we train you, but we want you to take those results with you and make them permanent.
REASON 6: BECAUSE LOOKING GOOD NAKED FEELS GREAT
Having a body you are proud to look at in the mirror is a major ego boost. Having to buy a whole new wardrobe because you lost 8 inches off your waist and stomach feels amazing. This is what a trainer provides you. We are there to make you look better, feel better, motivate you, and give you confidence you never knew you had. All things the average individual wants! Ready to start with a trainer? Fill out my questionnaire to apply for a FREE consultation by clicking HERE!

FITNESS MYTHS REVEALED OCTOBER 6, 2013

10/6/2013

"I want to lift weights but I don't want to get big like a guy.."

That's one of the very first things I hear from nearly every female client. The preconceived notion amongst many women that somehow lifting weights will make you look like Arnold Schwarzenegger is completely unjustified, but it's also a belief that runs rampant. This is definitely a myth I would like to clear up today. Not only is it completely false, but heavy weight training is most likely the key to success for nearly all men and women.

I get it. You don't want to look like her. Hell, even I'm not sure I want to look like her! While the internet has made it easier to see that not all women who compete in physique contests look like that, that image above is what many women get in their heads when thinking about lifting heavy weights. Well here's a spot of good news for you, ladies. The only way you're going to look like her is if you do anabolic steroids and synthetic male testosterone.

There are a lot of factors for why you're not going to get massive by doing heavy lifting, but first and foremost, it boils down to hormones. It is well known amongst scientists and fitness professionals that testosterone is one of the biggest muscle builders there is. It is directly responsible for how much protein a person can synthesize, which is just a fancy way of saying how much muscle they can build. Men can have as much as 15 times more naturally occurring testosterone than women. Simply put, and to drive the point home again, if you're not shooting up steroids and synthetic hormones, you're not going to get huge.

Physique Competitor Dana Linn Bailey

Figure Competitor Nicole Wilkins

Bikini Competitor Nathalia Melo

Stacey Alexander

Those 4 ladies above all have very different body types. All are professional athletes competing in different classes of elite competition. They also look vastly different from that large female bodybuilder I posted a picture of. What that has to do with is their training methods, genetic makeup, and in most cases their lack of drug (steroid) use.

These women are at the absolute peak of what they can make their bodies look like, and have literally been training for years to achieve the look they possess. In my opinion, you couldn't label any of them "bulky," including Dana Linn Bailey. While she has a look that is considerably more masculine than the other 2 women, she still only weighs in the neighborhood of 130 pounds while still retaining very feminine features.

Whether you would prefer to look like Dana Linn Bailey or you would rather have a smoother look like Nathalia Melo or Stacey Alexander, one thing remains true. You are going to have to develop a training routine that is going to get you those results. All of them will involve lifting, in some cases, some pretty serious weight. Cardio and abs at the gym ever day and poor eating habits will never help you achieve these results.

Powerlifter Dana McMahan

When I am putting together a routine for a client, I don't treat women any differently than men. Women can do the same exact things men can do in the gym, and their bodies are going to react almost identical to each other, the exception being women won't build large muscle mass quite like men.

Those 20+ rep, very light weight workouts so many women (and some men) like to do are garbage. When you do 20 reps of an exercise with light weight, you may get a good pump in your muscles and feel like you're doing something good for yourself. However, you're really just building muscle endurance. Muscle endurance is obviously important depending on your goals, but let's be honest, most women want that toned and tight look.

If toned and tight is your what you want, put down those 5 pound dumbbells and pick up the 30's. Better yet, hire a trainer or go with an experienced friend to the gym and learn how to properly do squats, deadlifts, and other compound exercises. Stop doing 20 reps of dumbbell curls and start doing 5 intense reps of heavy squats. Do endurance type workouts once or twice a week, but make heavy lifting day your main priority. You won't get huge, but you will get strong, build dense muscle, and burn fat at an accelerated rate. Isn't that what you want, after all?

Ladies (and guys), if you have any other questions about this post or need help with a plan to achieve your goals, whatever they may be, feel free to contact me any time. I hope everyone had an amazing weekend and that you got in the gym at least once. If not, tomorrow is a new day. Get to the gym and pick up something heavy. You might just see the results you've been missing!

CARDIO. HOW MUCH DO YOU REALLY NEED?

10/4/2013

It's come to my attention that pretty much all my posts so far have been nutrition related and that I haven't written a great deal on exercise. Point taken. As a personal trainer, a large chunk of what I do for clients involves determining an exercise regimen that will yield the best results. Part of that regimen includes designated time for cardiovascular exercise. But how much, how often, and how intense should that cardio be?

I'm fully aware there are a huge amount of people, namely women (no offense), who subscribe the theory that cardio and ab exercises will yield maximum results for their physique. They're under the impression, for whatever reason, 90 minutes of cardio and crunches every day will have them looking amazing. Let's just nip this one in the bud right now. They're completely wrong. If all you're doing at your gym is cardio and abs, I would highly suggest canceling your membership now because honestly, you're going to eventually wind up doing yourself more harm than good.

There are at least a few cliched quotes that come to mind when thinking about cardio. "Work smarter, not harder," is one of them. The other is, "less is more." Let me explain.

Work smarter, not harder.

Working in the corporate world for so long, I bet I've heard that ridiculous quote a million times. However, it does apply to some things in life. Cardio happens to be one of them. Before you can work smarter, though, you have to at least have an idea of what is it cardio is doing for you. A lot of people do cardio without any set plan in mind, thinking they are somehow magically destroying fat. Depending on the circumstances, that can be partially true. But if you do it wrong, you may only be exercising your heart muscle, which is good, or inadvertently be contributing to the loss of muscle. Bad bad bad! Which one of these things are you doing? Well, that depends on your heart rate.

The first thing you must do when determining how fast your heart should be beating during cardio is to figure out your maximum heart rate (MHR). There's a lot of ways to calculate this number, but the easiest one to determine a baseline is this:

220- your age = MHR Example: 220- 31= 189

That would be my MHR, and what we'll use as an example for the rest of this post. Now that we've determined maximum heart rate, you have to choose a percentage of that MHR you want to be in to achieve certain goals.

Most people's goal with doing cardio is fat burn. Other people's goals are more conditioning related for sporting events. Whatever you goal is, there is an ideal heart rate you should be living in to achieve that goal.

55% MHR is the "fat burning zone." This is generally recognized as the best place to be if fat loss is your desired goal. So, using that calculation above, 55% of my MHR would be around 104 beats per minute. This is a fairly low heart rate, and for that reason, this type of cardio has almost zero effect on the heart and lungs. Additionally, in order to achieve any substantial benefit from this type of cardio, you have to do it for longer periods of time. 30 minutes to an hour is a good baseline, but too much of it can weaken your muscle and sometimes cause muscle loss. When you hear the term "steady state cardio," this is the type of cardio that is generally being talked about.
When you hear the term "cardio," however, the actual definition of this means you're training somewhere in the 75-80% MHR range. Once again using the calculation above, that would put me at around 142-151 beat pers per minute. This type of cardio conditions the heart and lungs, and is a good way to better strengthen your VO2 capacity. That's just a fancy term for how well your heart and lungs use oxygen. The body's primary fuel for this type of cardio is the glycogen stores in your liver and muscles, which means you had better be properly fueled before doing it. As I explained yesterday, once the glycogen stores run out, your body starts looking to use free amino acids in your blood stream and if there are none, it will cannibalize your muscle. Yet another reason to make sure you include plenty of protein in your diet.

Reading what I just wrote, you may deduce that you should be doing either one or the other of those kinds of cardio. But wait, before you put your earbuds in and run off to do long form cardio at a lower heart rate, think about this. Your heart is probably the most important muscle you have. The obvious reason is that without it, you wouldn't be alive. The less obviously reasons are that a strongly conditioned heart makes nearly every other part of your body run better, from digestion to recovery from vigorous exercise. A strong heart also makes your body burn fat at an accelerated rate while at rest. This is the part where working smarter, not harder comes into play.

If you haven't read my Basal Metabolic Rate post, please do so now and determine yours. If you're eating correctly and getting the proper amount of calories for your goals, which I hope you are, you're almost completely eliminating the need for that 55% MHR cardio. In fact, if your calories are right and you're doing shorter durations of that 75-80% MHR cardio, not only are you strenghtening your heart and lungs, you're practically guaranteeing you'll be burning more fat than the person who is overly relaxed with their diet and does endless amounts of "fat burning" cardio.

I try to give all my clients the proper nutritional guidelines so at the most they only have to do cardio 2 to 3 times a week, and I rarely ever have them do long durations of it. It's boring, and unnecessary. Eat right. Lift weights like a beast. Condition your heart for optimal fat burning. Smarter. Not harder.

Less is more.

That picture above is a perfect example of "less is more." No offense to my long distance runners out there whatsoever. I know you work hard at what you do, and there's no way my joints would ever be able to take a 26 mile pounding on the pavement. That being said, I am sure a lot of you looked at that picture and decided you'd probably like to look more like that guy on the right. Well, endless bouts of 55% cardio aren't going to do that for you. Endless bouts of 75-80% cardio most likely aren't going to do that for you either. Enter HIIT style cardio.

HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. It's a method that's been around for a very long time, but is just in the last few years starting to catch on in a bigger way. HIIT is generally done for short periods of time, and involves bouts of all out effort at around 90% MHR followed by a designated period of slower pace or total rest, repeated for several intervals. In years past, it was used by track coaches who were trying to increase the performance of their sprinters. Back then, it was a known as the Fartlek method, which in Swedish means "speed play." Now it is being used in the fitness industry to literally destroy fat in training clients.

Some of the first studies on HIIT pitted interval cardio style training versus steady state cardio training. Despite the fact that over several weeks, the steady state people burned several thousand more calories than the people doing HIIT, the HIIT trainees lost significantly more fat. It seems implausible, but the reason it works so well is because HIIT increases your metabolic rate, even while at rest, for up to 24 hours after you finish. Other discoveries were that the HIIT trainees muscle fibers became extremely more efficient at burning fat as well as had a significant increase in enzymes that aided in the burning of fat. Definitely a win-win situation, even though these people were spending considerably less time on the cardio equipment.

Aside from the fat burning qualities that HIIT provides, it's also proved to be very adept at helping sparing muscle tissue, which is of benefit to people trying to pack on lean mass. By doing HIIT instead of long durations of steady cardio, many subjects actually gained muscle. Slow, steady cardio makes your muscle fibers used to low intensity nature of it, which means you are giving them a reason to be weaker (read: smaller). All out, explosive bursts of sprinting on the other hand tax the muscle into becoming stronger and often times bigger.

While I do prefer this method of cardio over any other, fair warning. The first couple session will leave you sore and exhausted if you do them right. That is because both your skeletal muscle as well as your heart muscle are most likely not used to giving total effort. Fortunately, the body is amazing at adaptation, and after a few weeks you'll be on (relatively) easy street.

So how is it done? Well, there's a huge number of methods, but I generally have my beginners do it one of two ways. Keep in mind, you can do HIIT on a track, sidewalk, treadmill or just about any other piece of cardio equipment as long as the desire result is achieved:

Fartlek style: This is the old style of HIIT, but it's still very effective, and much less punishing on beginners until they condition themselves. 2-3 times a week for 30 minutes should be more than sufficient for most people following a steady diet and lifting weights. Fartlek is very simple. The interval is 5 minutes. For 4.5 minutes, you do nothing more than a steady pace, somewhere in the 55% zone we discussed earlier. For the last 30 seconds, you crank up the resistance on the cardio machine or take off at a dead sprint until you reach the 5 minute mark. At the 29 second mark, you're going to want to be somewhere in between "I can't breathe," and "I think I might die." Just then, 30 seconds is over and you're back to doing either a slow walk or a very low setting on the equipment you choose. Repeat this 6 times, and you're done. Simple.
Updated HIIT: After you've become fairly adapted to the Fartlek style (2 weeks or so), it's time to graduate to HIIT as we know it today. There are a number of different ratios you can do HIIT at, but for beginners, I prefer the intervals to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 seconds. So that's 20 seconds of all out effort, followed by 60 seconds of very slow pace or even complete rest if you prefer. You can do as few as 3 intervals all the way up to 10, depending on your fitness level. I also recommend bookending these intervals with at least a few minutes of steady state cardio to warm up and cool down. As with Fartlek, you can do this 2-3 times a week. After you've become a pro at knocking out 10 intervals as described, it's time to graduate, but I'll discuss that in another post or you can contact me about setting up a custom plan!

In conclusion, let me sum up what we've just learned:

Calculate your Max Heart Rate (MHR) by subtracting your age from 220
Doing cardio at 55% MHR for long periods of time is good for fat burning, but can weaken and shrink your muscles over time
Doing cardio at 75-80% MHR is great for conditioning your heart and lungs, but too much of it can also cause you to lose muscle if not done properly with sufficient nutrition
Doing HIIT style cardio is one of the ultimate tools for burning fat and preserving muscle in a much shorter time frame

I've provided you with enough knowledge in this post to hopefully decide which style of cardio is best for your needs, and help you decide which ones you can probably do without in your routine. Feel free to contact me at any time with further questions or for help setting up a custom plan. On that note, I'm leaving right now to go do some heavy squats and some HIIT. Have a great day, friends!

FEAST OR (INTERMITTENTLY) FAST? FAQ

10/3/2013

READ PART 1 HERE

Last time I posted, I gave you a rundown of intermittent fasting (IF). In a brief description, IF is essentially not eating for 16 hours and beyond to increase fat burn and overall better fitness. I'm aware this type of lifestyle spits in the face of almost everything you've had shoved down your throat by the media and "fitness experts" since you can probably remember. That being said, there are at least 2 huge questions that come up repeatedly when I tell people about IF. Let's cover those today.

Won't I be be incredibly hungry when I don't eat for such a long time?

This is the most logical question to ask, and the one I was most concerned about. The answer is, only for a few days at most. As I explained in this post, numerous studies have been conducted on whether eating a few large meals or several smaller meals a day had any effect on your metabolism. Aside from it turning out there isn't much difference at all, one of the major discoveries in these studies was that people who ate a few large meals as opposed to several smaller ones were hungry much less often.

Your body's hormones are trainable. If you eat several small meals a day, your body is literally going to expect you to feed it all the time. If you only eat a few large meals a day, your body's ghrelin (hunger hormone) will be much less likely to turn on you. Personally, I was only more than marginally hungry for the first few days while changing my eating habits around. The body is extremely adaptable to change, and changing your meal frequency on it isn't going to make much of a difference.

Also, and I'm sure many of you have heard the term, but your body won't go into starvation mode by not eating for 16+ hours. You can go into a form of starvation mode due to metabolic damage from constant lack of calories due some stupid fad diet, yes, but not from simple fasting. It's going to take you somewhere around 60 hours of fasting to significantly lower your metabolic rate.

Won't not eating for such a long time cause me to lose muscle mass?

Counter question. Do you think I would be posting about intermittent fasting if it did?! The muscle loss question is born out of the notion that if we don't eat frequently, our muscles will shrink and our metabolism will slow. If you've been reading my blog, you'll realize that isn't the case whatsoever.

This is a basic rundown of how your body would waste muscle. As many people know, the body, and more specifically your brain really loves to run on glucose aka blood sugar. The most obvious way to keep a stream of glucose in your system is to eat carbohydrates regularly. This will pretty much ensure round the clock streams of the stuff running through your system.

But what happens when you don't eat for 16+ hours? Your last meal of carbs is long digested, and now your brain is hungry for some glucose! Your liver is the body's backup mechanism for glucose, as it stores glycogen which can quickly be converted into glucose for fuel purposes. An average 150 pound man can hold up to 120 grams of it, which roughly equates out to around 500 calories worth of energy. However, especially if you are keeping carbs low or in my case hardly having any at all, your liver will run out of glycogen.

After this happens, the body looks to start using free amino acids in the blood to convert to glucose. Luckily, your body fat is capable of breaking down into free fatty acids which can be used for fuel, as as well as glycerol, which can be turned into glucose. This can be responsible for a large portion of glucose management in your body, and yet another reason why fasting is so great for body fat loss.

Body fat isn't responsible for 100% of the glucose management, though, which leaves only one other issue. That is the amount of free amino acids in the blood stream from protein you've eaten. If you don't have any of those available to use, then and only then will your body start using up muscle for fuel purposes. Your muscle is largely made up of protein, which in turn is largely made up of amino acids, which is why it will be the next target for glucose making purposes.

However, there is a near 100% guaranteed way to make sure it never gets to this. If you're eating protein rich meals, especially slow burning proteins such as eggs, beef, and casein protein powder, you body will be supplied with a steady stream of amino acids up to and long after the 16+ hour mark. This is a huge reason why fitness professionals encourage most clients to eat at least 1 gram of protein for every pound of lean body mass (muscle) every day.

Bottom line. If you have body fat and eat protein rich meals as suggested, IF isn't going to cause any muscle loss. Period!

This certainly won't be the last I write on IF. Until then, if you have further questions or would like help writing up your own personal IF protocol, feel free to contact me at any time. I look forward to hearing from you, and I'll be back tomorrow with another blog post! Have a great day, friends. Go work out!

FEAST OR (INTERMITTENTLY) FAST?

10/1/2013

My last post was dedicated to telling you why breakfast as we know it pretty much sucks. I explained that the majority of your fat burning comes in the morning with or without exercise, and if we were smart, none of us would eat for at least a few hours after waking up. I'm going to take that subject just a bit further today by explaining the benefits of intermittent fasting (IF for short).

Just as not eating breakfast and not worrying about 6 meals a day are quickly becoming a popular school of thought amongst fitness professionals, IF could also be included in the list of very popular protocols to live by. In my "fitness infancy" as I like to call it, I used to harp on people for not eating anything until lunch time. Little did I know they had inadvertently stumbled upon what could be a huge step in total overall fitness, assuming what they ate the rest of the day wasn't garbage. In a way, a lot of people do IF every day and don't even realize it!

On average, many of us go somewhere in the neighborhood of 8-12 hours between our last meal of the day and the next meal we eat after we rise from bed. As I've explained in previous posts, the body awakens and is primed for fat burning. IF plays directly into the hands of that fat burning process, but instead of waiting just 2 hours to eat after you get up, IF may have you waiting far longer before indulging in your first meal of the day. Most trusted IF protocols recommend around a 16 hour fast to reach optimal results.

This is the reason why. As most of you are carb eating people, your body turns those carbs into glycogen for storage in the muscle and liver, as well as glucose in the blood. The time frame for your body to metabolize carbohydrates is around 8 hours. If you never give your body proper time to metabolize your previous days carbs before you start eating more, glycogen in your muscle/liver and glucose in your blood stream is always going to be the fuel your body uses, not fat. As I have explained before, this is a great way to make sure your body is always producing new fat cells instead emptying out the ones you have. However, if you don't give your body that carb-based fuel for 12-16 hours, or hardly ever in the case of low carb dieting, your fat burning potential is going to go through the roof. Sounds great, right? But wait, theres' more!

Aside from the fat burning potential that goes along with IF, growth hormone production shot up between 1000-2000% depending on the subject. This means muscle growth and fat burning, which most experts will tell you is almost impossible to do at the same time. Other benefits include normalizing ghrelin (the hunger hormone) levels, lower triglyceride levels, and in some cases even improving memory and learning capabilities. Basically, IF has very few downfalls and a large number of benefits when compared with the standard "eat every 2-3 hours" diet.

I'm going to explain some general rules of thumb for IF, but first, a warning. IF isn't for everyone. For most people, doing the things I explained in my breakfast posts would be ideal. Get up, have your Bulletproof Coffee and eat an hour or 2 later. Also, if you have issues with blood sugar regulation, such a diabetes, IF is probably not the route you should be going.

That being said, if you're a healthy individual who is very dedicated to your personal fitness and have big goals in mind as it pertains to fat loss, muscle gain and better performance, IF could very well be the thing you're looking for. It's definitely something I have been enjoying for quite some time now. In fact, as I'm typing this, I've just entered my 16th hour without food, and I feel great. I couldn't even tell you the last time I ate breakfast first thing in the morning.

I recommend starting out with IF by just doing it a few times a week to see how you feel. I personally find the best days to try it is after your heaviest carb days. So if you did legs at the gym yesterday and had a lot more carbs than usual, the next day would most likely be optimal for skipping breakfast and possibly lunch. When you're ready to give it a go, here are some basic rules for beginners:

As with all diet protocols, you must first determine your Basal Metabolic Rate, then adjust your calories based on activity level and goals. Just because you're going to only be eating 6-8 hours a day doesn't mean you will be eating less. You will need to fit all your required calories and macronutrients (fat/protein/carbs) into this window. I can't stress enough how much decreasing some of your carb intake and upping your healthy fat (omega 3s, coconut oil, avocado, etc) intake can help in the process of your body learning to use fat for fuel. However, it is not fully required to see success on IF.
The night before your first fast, cut off your food intake around 8pm or so. The only thing permitted from here on out is water. Some black coffee with a bit of coconut oil and a multivitamin in the morning is fine for most people, but under no circumstances will you be eating anything solid until your first meal of the day.
If you're a first time IF'er, shoot for an 8 hour eating window the first few times. So if your first meal is at noon, you will be done eating by 8pm. If this is your off-day from the gym, make the first meal your largest of the day (some people will make it up to 50% of their daily caloric intake in one meal). Otherwise, make your largest meal of the day after your workout. If your workout is still in the morning fasting window, that's okay. The noon meal will be your largest.
Consume all your calories in 2-3 meals a day. If you're doing an 8 hour window, there's no need to try to eat 6 times. In fact, as I've previously said, there's never a need to eat that many times a day. If you're doing 2 meals, have one at noon and one before your cut off time at 8pm. Split the calories around 50/50. If you're doing 3 meals, split them accordingly, just make one meal is larger than the other 2 (either the noon meal or post workout meal, as explained above).
Final rule: Lose fat, spare muscle tissue, and build muscle in some cases while taking the hassle out of all day eating!

That's simply just one way to do IF. There are many methods used by many different people. Some use the 16/8 method used above and do it daily. Others go 24 hours and beyond without food and just do it once a week. It's literally a trial and error thing, and ultimately it boils down to what works for you as an individual. I've personally been on an IF-type eating schedule for a long time and I have no idea how I would ever go back to "regular" eating.

IF isn't what I would call a "diet." It's a lifestyle, and a very sustainable one for most people. I will be writing more posts on this subject in the future, including an FAQ tomorrow to explain a few things a bit more in depth. My goal is to give all my readers an incite into the very large amount of ways to achieve better performance and overall health, and I believe IF to be one of the most effective, least talked about methods out there. I hope everyone has an awesome day, and if you haven't already, go work out!

WHY THAT FAD DIET IS DOING MORE HARM THAN GOOD

9/25/2013

HCG diet. Acai diet. Grapefruit diet. Hollywood diet. Juicing diet. Let me just get this out of the way right now. Fad diets are all garbage. Every last one of them. They all involve one or many of the following:

Extreme calorie cutting
Little or no scientific research to back them up
"Magic" foods that torch fat
Body wraps aka Glorified Seran Wrap
A lab synthesized hormone found in the urine of pregnant (HCG). My personal favorite.

I can personally attest to the number of people who have failed at these diets just by looking at my Facebook feed alone. I remember when that HCG diet came out and all these women I know were totally convinced it was the miracle they were looking for. There's nothing miraculous about taking placebo and cutting your calories down to 500 a day. In fact, it's downright dangerous and can be fatal.

I'm getting a bit off track and going on a tangent here, I know. So let me just hone in on the one thing that nearly all of these diets have in common, which is calorie cutting. Yes, it's very true that you have to cut some calories to achieve weight loss. It's nearly unavoidable. However, there is a magic number of calories that should be cut to achieve maximum results for most people. In my opinion, that number is anywhere from 300-700 calories a day from maintenance calories (how many calories you should be eating to maintain your current weight). Anything more and you're simply asking for massive amounts of trouble in the form of muscle loss, metabolic damage, and decreased performance.

When you drastically cut calories, the initial loss of weight comes from both fat and lean mass (muscle). This ratio is around 50% fat, 50% muscle for the first several months. So for every two pounds you lose, one of those pounds is your precious muscle. Somewhere along the way, this ratio will slow down and you'll start losing only between 15 and 25% muscle, but by then, the damage has been done.

So, you lost 50 pounds. Awesome! Just one very large problem. 15-20 pounds of that was muscle. Is that really that bad? YES! I try to pound this phrase into my client's heads. "Your muscle is your metabolism." What does that mean? Well, that means the more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns at rest. Numbers ranges anywhere from 5-15 extra calories per day per pound of muscle. So let's aim for the middle and say each pound of your muscle burns an extra 10 calories per day. You just lost 20 pounds of it. That's 200 calories a day you just shaved off your Basal Metabolic Rate. The solution to your woes? Well, of course, cut more calories!

Eventually, you can't cut calories anymore. You're sluggish and in a brain fog most of the time. You can't seem to lose anymore weight. Your metabolism is in the toilet. You lost 20 pounds off your bench press. And why? All because you truly believed that fad diet was the key to your success. I'm going to say this one more time, just to hopefully get it to sink it. Fad diets are doing more harm than good. Every diet. Every time.