Want to read studies on Intermittent Fasting? I talk a lot about IF without going detail about the science behind it. I have recently taken a bit of criticism for not including enough research for backing up my claims. Most Internet users are overwhelmed with information and my style is to give you fitness tips that I know will give you great results without always getting into the science behind each method. People tend to "drift off" when articles get too technical. That being said, going forward I will begin to point to more websites that go in depth into subjects I'm talking about. The first resource I want to point to is IF Life.
[Chocolate does a body good! This picture has absolutely nothing to do with this article…Just a pretty girl eating chocolate.]
Hunger and getting hungry while dieting is something that we are taught to avoid. I'm going to suggest something that most people think is taboo. You will get faster weight loss results if you allow yourself to get hungry from time to time. I'll even go as far to say that you should embrace hunger and look forward to it for rapid fat loss.
[A sexy brunette hanging out on the rooftop downtown.]
It is impossible to have high levels of insulin in your system while burning fat at the same time. Think about that. If you eat a meal that has too high of a Glycemic Index, your blood sugar will spike, causing a large release in insulin. During this period of time your body cannot use fat for fuel (even if you are operating under a calorie deficit and even if you workout like crazy). You can get everything else right and not make good progress if you allow your insulin levels to get out of whack.
[I would highly recommend you avoid anything made with white flower while dieting down. It is okay once you hit your target weight, but try to avoid it to make quick progress.]
I am about ready to give my biggest argument against "bulking up". Bulking up is the common practice of gaining muscle as quickly as possible by eating a ton of calories. The idea is that you can gain more muscle if you insure a large calorie surplus in your diet. Along with muscle, quite a bit of fat is gained. The idea is to then burn the fat in the spring, revealing the newly acquired muscle for summer time. This is a common bodybuilding practice, but it is a BAD idea!
[A Kylie Minogue commercial that didn't get shown in many countries. Kylie has stayed in amazing shape for decades. She is flat out amazing!]
There is a total mind game that happens when you first begin to lose body fat. At some point when dropping body fat, it is very possible that you look slightly flabbier than when you first began your diet and exercise program. I have never read about this fat loss principle, but I have observed it so many times that I know it is very common. Lets talk about why this happens, so you know what to expect when you start a strict fat loss plan.
[Meaghan isn't good with the measuring tape. She always gets a much higher number than her actual measurements for some reason.]
Getting down to a low body fat level is not a linear process. At times you have to take one step backward to begin to make progress again. When you lose weight, you will inevitably reach a sticking point. You can cut the calories further or increase the cardio, but that isn't always the best strategy. What if you are already eating low calories and doing a ton of cardio? I will discuss a very important eating strategy that will help you break through a fat loss plateau without killing yourself in the process.
[I have never been to a black sand beach. One of my goals is to travel more, to see amazing parts of our beautiful planet.]
What if I told you there was a way to get better results from your workouts without increasing your effort. Well, that is what this post is going to cover. What you eat leading up to your workout "makes or breaks" that workout. Don't just hit your workouts haphazardly without planning in advance. Prepare your body for maximum fat loss by eating strategically leading up to that workout.
[Notice the "Strategically" placed flower? Me neither!]
Call me crazy, but I think it is really tough to eat snacks and not ingest too many calories. To me snacking is just a tease and it makes me crave junk food much more than if I only eat 1-3 meals per day. I know the 6 meal per day thing is popular, but I don't know how people do it and successfully lose weight!
[I enjoy women in great shape wearing well-fitting jeans]
So in Part I of the Perfect Diet plan, we talked about the pitfalls about popular diets. Probably the toughest part of these diets is how structured they are. Our lives change so much day to day that it is tough to maintain a diet with strict rules. I have been eating The Warrior Diet and getting great results, but there are times when I don't want to limit myself to one meal a day. Whenever I do the "low carb" thing, I'm dying for carbs. When I go low fat, I crave a big steak. Is there a way around feeling deprived and still get ripped? Yes there is! We are going to talk about that in a second, but first let's look at an interesting photo…
[Tinfoil Girl is a new superhero who's only weakness is Microwaves. We don't know what her powers are yet, but I dig her outfit!]
Well, the title say it all! I guess I forgot a few other adjectives: yummy, delicious, and painfully hot. You get the idea. All joking aside, I actually believe that if you follow certain principles I am going to outline here, you can create a diet plan that will actually make your body into something amazing. I have been using this for weeks with outstanding results. I have a feeling this will become the most popular post on this blog to date. Right now, my "one meal a day" post has the most comments (461)…but that is about to change. Before we get into the diet, let's take a look at an example of a really hot woman.
[Subject 1-A.00087 shown here lying in white panties. Note: Internet user's increase in testosterone and heart beat. The user appears to be focusing on the subject's buttocks. Internet user has a smile on their face and enjoys the photo. The experiment was a success!]
Does eating healthy mean that you have to eat bland food? At first it does! You see…the reason that healthy food doesn't taste as good as junk food to many people is that their taste buds are a bit out-of-whack. Overly processed foods and artificial sweeteners create tastes that aren't present in nature. When you get used to eating this type of stuff, natural wholesome food tastes "boring" in comparison.
[Nikky eats strawberries in between sets of sit ups. The owners of the gym get angry about how messy her workouts get.]
We all have been told that eating 6 small meals per day will "keep your metabolism high", allowing you to burn more body fat throughout the day. Now, research has shown that meal frequency has absolutely NO impact on metabolic rate as well as weight loss. What you have been taught all of these years about eating several small meals is quickly getting proved false with study after study!
Awesome Scene From The Matrix!
Warning: You have a choice to make…"This is your last chance. If you take the blue pill the story ends and you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes…remember, all I am offering is the truth, nothing more". [Click Here to Continue Reading…]
Low calorie diets are a great way to lose weight quickly. You can create a much larger calorie deficit through dieting than you can though exercise. The challenge is that most of the time we want to lose body fat instead of muscle. If your calorie intake is too low, you can eventually lose muscle as well as body fat.
[Mr T's Son, James T., Displays a Great Slim and Toned Look]
Why Low Calorie Diets Are Effective
The most effective way to lose weight is to create a calorie deficit. You do this by burning more calories throughout the day than what you eat…simple enough. There are two ways to create this deficit, [Click Here to Continue Reading…]
Need to lose weight in a hurry? There are so many approaches that work, but this one is more effective than most. Eating salads that contain protein like chicken or egg whites is a quick way to get trim. This isn't anything new, but sometimes we need to be reminded of simple approaches that work.
[Pictures of Salad are Boring. This One is Much Better. Who Else Wants to Pull That String…LOL!]
So Why is Salad So Effective for Weight Loss?
Salad is an effective way to diet due to the fact that lettuce is a fibrous carbohydrate. Fibrous carbs are foods such as leafy green vegetables like lettuce and broccoli that are filling, but don't contain many calories. These are vastly different than starchy carbohydrates. Starchy carbs are foods like potatoes, rice, and breads that are much higher in calories. Since salad's main ingredient is a low calorie, yet filling food…it is the perfect diet food. [Click Here to Continue Reading…]
You probably have no idea how good fruit is for your body. I don't mean that to insult your intelligence. What I'm saying is that I found some facts on fruit that are WAY out of the mainstream. This is about as far "out there" as the one meal a day diet, that we discuss on this blog. This is stuff I have never read on any fitness site or any fitness magazine. I LOVE bringing this type of info and pushing it out to the masses. I did about three hours research to find out some really amazing studies on fruit. I think you guys will enjoy this. Before we get into the article…let me post a tacky picture…it is becoming a tradition…would you expect any less?
[This picture is delicious! The fruit looks pretty good too!]
Why I Decided to Research Fruit?
So why did I decide to spend over 3 hours on a Friday night to research fruit? Well…I didn't have a date planned and I wanted to save money to hit the clubs tomorrow night (at least I'm honest)…beyond that, I have been eating a large portion of my calories as fruit over the past 2 weeks and I have been feeling better than ever! I have been following The Warrior Diet and I'm eating nothing but fruit during the day, and a regular healthy dinner at night. [Click Here to Continue Reading…]
So is diet or exercise more important when it comes to losing body fat? I am the author of a fitness site, so obviously I am a big believer in exercise…but to be honest, you can get pretty dramatic results from diet alone. In fact, I would say that 90% of the people who are having a tough time losing weight are simply messing up when it comes to diet.
[The CEO of True Religion Jeans poses with sexy swimsuit models from his recent fashion show]
In a Perfect World You Should Combine Diet and Exercise
For best results, exercise with diet is your best route to a lean body. The problem is this…things don't always go as planned and life gets busy. There are times when you simply can't exercise, but you always have time to diet. [Click Here to Continue Reading…]
The most unproductive part of any diet or exercise plan that is aimed at burning body fat is the first two weeks. It is tough because people need to have a little faith during the toughest time of a weight loss plan. My way of thinking about a diet is this…don't plan on losing any body fat at all the first two weeks. If you do, just look at is as a bonus.
[An amazing photo of a Space Shuttle Launch]
Burning Body Fat is a Lot Like Launching a Rocket
I'm sure you have heard that a significant amount of fuel is used just to get the Space Shuttle 100 feet off the ground during launch. In fact, more fuel is used the first few hundred feet, than the next 10,000+ miles. Losing weight is very similar in that you will expend a lot of energy your first two weeks without much in the way of results. [Click Here to Continue Reading…]
Knowing your body fat percentage is a great tool, but no need to get completely obsessed over what that number turns out to be. What I mean by that, is that it is more important to see what you look like in a mirror vs. shooting for a number. You can take two people with the exact same body fat percentage and their muscle tone can look drastically different.
[Amy needs someone to measure her body fat. Any takers? Anyone? Anyone?]
Body Fat Percentage Should Be Used As A Tool To Measure Progress
To see if you are actually losing fat vs. muscle, you need to know what your starting point is. Measuring your body fat percentage and tracking it over time is what is important. I think it is a great idea to measure your body fat about twice a month, to see if your diet and exercise plan is effective at helping you get lean. I wouldn't worry about the absolute number, just worry about making progress until you "look" as lean as you want. [Click Here to Continue Reading…]
Somewhere along the way, milk and dairy got a bad reputation. Back in the 50's and even as late as the 80's milk and dairy was recommended as part of a healthy diet. The "trendy" thing right now is to point to studies and say how bad cow milk is for humans. There are several large groups who are anti-dairy almost to the point of obsession. I am going to point out a recent medical journal that examines the benefits of milk and dairy.
[No need to share the same dish as your cat…bad Sheila! Bad, bad, bad girl!]
A big argument for eating 6 meals per day, is that the 6 small meals supposedly increases the metabolic rate. It is also argued that if you skip meals, you metabolism will shut down and your body will hoard fat. Well the British Journal of Nutrition has cited a study which proves this theory wrong.
(I LOVE Thai food more than anything! Well…almost anything!)
This journal pulled together the results of several studies, which took two groups eating the same amount of calories. One group ate 3 meals and the other group ate 6 meals. [Click Here to Continue Reading…]
