How to Really Lose Bodyfat

How to Really Lose Bodyfat 

 Differentiate between fat and lean mass: You want to lose fat and only fat. In the process you want to keep on as much muscle as possible, if anything you want to try to put on a few pounds of muscle. A scale doesn't know the difference, and it will only deceive you. So don't use a scale, as it will mess your mind.


How to Really Lose Bodyfat

 Don't compare your body against others:, and don't envy those with better genetics. Genetics are the result of hard work. Good genetics is a sign that their ancestors were very selective about who they put out to. That hard work and dedication passed itself on to the next generation.  Set realistic goals: Don't set your goal to lose weight, set your goal to get healthier. Instead of striving to lose twenty pounds, strive to run a five minute mile, and in the process of getting there, your dream body will creep up behind you from out of nowhere. You have a four avenues of choice in implementing your plan, choose wisely:
1) Exercise
2) Eat Better
3) Take Drugs

 EXERCISE

 Torture yourself on the aerobics: Aerobics aren't supposed to be fun. They are supposed to be painful. You should dread having to do them. The only pleasure you should get out of them is finishing them. Ideally your heart should be pounding, you should be covered in sweat, you should be out of breath, your legs should be sore, and your throat should feel like it's on fire ( that's a sign that your thyroid gland is being stimulated, and your metabolism is about to increase ). If you can't get all those feelings together, then it means you're lazy, not pushing yourself hard enough, and not deserving of the body you desire. For the sake of getting in shape and raising your metabolism, it's better to put out ten intense minutes of hell running up a steep hill then an hour of leisure time behind a stair master. Quality, not quantity is the key. Don't make any excuses about yourself either. Olympic and professional wrestling legend Kurt Angle, even with a heart condition managed to win gold medals in Atlanta, he would train by doing wind sprints up a hill while carrying his trainer over his shoulders !

Wake up early: If you go running first thing in the morning you'll be more likely to burn off pure fat. Usually one doesn't burn fat until after they deplete their carbohydrate supply. When you go for a run first thing in the morning, glycogen levels are low, there's no carbohydrates in the digestive tract, and the bodies hormones are at the state where they are ready to burn away fat

Hit the weights: Lifting weights and doing aerobics together have a synergetic effect of burning more calories then doing the two individually. Muscle makes body fat tighter and more beautiful. Extra muscle has the added benefit of increasing the metabolism. Ten pounds of muscle can burn 500 - 1000 extra calories a day ! That's exactly why those who are healthy can usually eat whatever they want with impunity. If you rough out a diet for a few months, you can get to that level, and stay at that level for the rest of your life. Increasing your strength will not ruin your endurance or physical fitness. A perfect example is Canadian hero, Rick Hanson ( for those that don't know, in 1986 he wheel chaired thousands of miles around the world, and raised millions and millions of dollars for spinal research ). Rick had the fitness, and the stamina to push his wheel chair down the road as fast as a bike, for ten hours a day. At the same time he was bench pressing about 400 lbs.

Stretch: Hang on a bar and do chin ups. If you can't do chin-ups, then do leg lifts until your grip is strong enough to do chin-ups. Hanging from a bar is the easiest way to align your spine without visiting a chiropractor. This will make you feel more energetic, it'll make your movements in exercise more easier, and you'll be more likely to release fat burning hormones. Yoga and Pilates have become very popular this century. These exercises are not only wonderful for your posture but they will also increase overall strength and stamina by helping the body move more efficiently.

Live an active lifestyle: Exercise isn't done for an hour a day at the gym. It's done throughout the day, at any given opportunity. If you spend ten hours a day climbing mountains, you'll have the body of a mountain climber, if you had sex from 9 to 5 you'd end up with the body of a porn star, but if you spend ten hours a day at a desk you'll have the body of a government worker. Any activity is better then no activity. If you like going to the bar, then get on the dance floor and move it. If you like going to the beach then go for a swim, or play some volleyball. Leave your car in the driveway and go for a walk when possible. Light activity that burns an extra 200 calories an hour adds up throughout the day.

EAT BETTER

 Diet is the most important aspect of losing weight. You need to reduce the overall amount of calories going in without setting off the bodies alarms. Eat smaller portions, of healthy food, more often throughout the day. Your goal is to raise the metabolism and give the body no reason whatsoever to put its guard up, because it feels it's missing something.

Treat your depression: When one's depressed one seeks food as a form of instant satisfaction and control. It's difficult to eat better when one's depressed. If that's the case, it'd be in your best interest to ask your physician for some pills, as I'm certain they'd love to prescribe them to you.

Consume cold water: Water has no calories but takes a lot of energy to warm up ( that's why it's one of the best coolants around ). One liter of cold water that enters the body at four degrees exits the body at 37 degrees. Do the math, drinking one liter of water uses up 33 000 Joules of energy. If that one liter of water can be sweated out instead of pissed out, you'll burn even more calories.

Up your protein intake: Eat one gram of complete protein for every pound of bodyweight. Whey isolate is ideal because it is virtually fat and sugar free. This will let your muscles grow enough to raise your metabolism. Whey peptides have the magical ability of quadrupling the hormone CCK, which is responsible for soothing feelings of hunger. Whey protein is the healthiest, most convenient, and most affordable lifestyle change, for losing and keeping off excessive bodyfat.

Don't neglect fat: If you go without eating fat your body will be less likely to burn off its fat supply, and will go on a fat craving. Fats are very important for perfect health and for the creation of hormones, especially the hormones that increase the metabolism. Some fat's are better then others. The Omega 3 rich fats of fresh salmon are much better then the hydrogenated vegetable oil of a pastry or bacon grease.

Keep the carbohydrates reasonable: If you're going to run a marathon, fight a war, or toil on a construction site the carbohydrates will be your best friend. But if you work in an office, or go to school a few small portions of carbohydrates is all you'll need. Carbohydrate intake should be kept reasonable, not eliminated. Complex carbohydrates are always better then simple sugars as white sugar is known as 'white death' in the bodybuilding community.

Vitamins, minerals, & nutrients: Go heavy on the fruits and vegetables. You'll need the vitamins, trace minerals, fiber, and enzymes found only in fresh fruits and vegetables. Many of the supplements available at your local health food stores try to replicate the effects of the exotic nutrients found in fresh fruits and vegetables.

Practice temperance: If you want to lose weight then you should seriously avoid alcohol. Alcohol is very high in calories.( Some drunkards and bar stars are thin, but only because they're perpetually hung over. In such a state they're dehydrated, and incapable of holding down any food ) Avoid marijuana too, and don't trust the research presented to you in the pamphlet handed out by some hippy downtown. It'll make you lazy, depressed, demotivated, and worst of all it'll leave you with a bad case of the munchies.

Don't rely on over the counter supplements: There are a wide variety of weight loss supplements. Now that ephedrine is illegal, everything remaining is merely just a supplement. Just as a three mile an hour tail wind can help supplement a car in breaking a top speed record, a weightless supplement alone is worthless without proper diet and exercise. Remember this fact the next time you purchase any fat burning products. Weightless product inventory

DRUGS

The only way to lose weight without effort is with illegal or prescription drugs. Each one has it's own set of advantages and disadvantages.
Ephedrine/Caffeine/Aspirin: This stack was wonderful when it was legal, but not without its flaws. It was addictive, it wasn't healthy, and when you went off the stack, your metabolism would change, resulting in some of the weight coming back.


Clenbuterol: is a wonderful product, in the sense that it's one of the few fat burners that actually let you put on a few pounds of muscle. This product must be cycled a few days on a few days off, so it's effectiveness is essentially cut in half. It's legal in Europe for weight loss, but only used to treat horses with asthma here. It can work without exercise, but you'll be twitching so much throughout the day, you'll get plenty of exercise without even making an effort.

Cytomel: Thyroid hormones are excellent at raising your metabolism. The drug with the best reputation in the athletic community is Cytomel. There are numerous 'legal' thyroid stimulating supplements for sale at the local health food store, but they don't hold up a candle to the real thing, which has a reputation for sacrificing muscle mass, and still requires exercise and a good diet to be noticeably effective. I do not suggest using this drug without a doctors prescription, for if you do it the wrong way you will suppress your thyroid permanently.

DNP: is the strongest fat burner known to man, capable of melting off one pound of solid fat in a day without any exercise ! Not a medicine, but an ingredient of some explosives and insecticides. It's very dangerous, a small overdose can kill you, it's long term health effects aren't documented, and you'll leave behind an orange sweat that doesn't go away. I do not recommend this to anybody. A pound of fat is worth about 3500 calories, it'd be easier and safer to just run for three hours, or to participate in your favorite sport or activity for seven hours to achieve the same result.


Kynoselen: injections work very well for eliminating fatty deposits in spots, it'll help increase muscle mass, and give you more stamina to exercise. This comes at a cost though. You'll need a crooked veterinarian or horse racer to get it for you. The injections are frequent, and the injection area will be very sore, and your blood pressure will rise. Nevertheless you'll still have to exercise hard, and you'll still have to eat healthy.

Somatropin: HGH ( Human growth hormone) shots are excellent at spot treating fatty deposits. This method is very popular with Hollywood celebrities right now, as it has a side effect of reducing the effects of aging. To get the stuff in Canada you'll need a very liberal minded doctor, a prescription from an offshore doctor, or a good black market source. If you're well connected you'll be able to buy a 4iu bottle for about $50 US. A smarter alternative would be to raise the bodies own Somatropin levels by lifting heavy free weights, and by consuming a diet rich in glutamine

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The Benefits of Water

Why do we need water? It’s simple! Water is essential to life in every way, although we often take it for granted in our daily diet and exercise. The human body cannot function properly during periods of dehydration, so today we are looking at the many benefits of water and the effect that it has on our daily lives!

Water is present in every living cell, tissue, and organ in our body, making up over half of the human body in healthy adults. In addition to transporting oxygen and vital nutrients into the bloodstream, water is also responsible cleansing the body of toxic build-ups, maintaining joint fluidity, cushioning the internal organs and spinal cord, and regulating body temperature. Certain vitamins and minerals may also help to increase the flow of water throughout our bodies to improve overall health.

According to the Institute of Medicine, the average adult male requires approximately 3 liters (or 0.8 gallons) of water per day, while the average adult female requires approximately 2.2 liters (or 0.58 gallons)¹. Other external factors may affect our water needs, and require us to increase the amount of liquid that we consume on a daily basis. These include the environment around us, our level of physical exertion, some forms of illness or fever, pregnancy or breastfeeding, and other potential causes. It is important to adjust our water intake accordingly in order to meet these needs.

There are several potential signs that you might be dehydrated. It is important to address these needs immediately, or consult a physician immediately if the problem persists.

The first and most obvious sign is that of thirst as accompanied by a dry mouth. This is your body’s way of telling you that it is time to drink more water before dehydration sets in. A decrease in overall urine output along with a dark discoloration should also serve as early warning signs. Other possible indications may include fatigue, muscle cramps, hunger, or even a headache. Severe cases of dehydration may result in an increased heart rate brought on by lowered blood pressure, followed by a state of dementia. Individuals experiencing these later symptoms should seek medical attention immediately.

Getting the water you need is easy! A few simple steps can help you remember to continue consuming water throughout the day in order to fight the effects of dehydration:

• One easy-to-remember suggestion is to drink 8oz of water eight times a day (8×8) in order to help meet these needs in addition to the standard foods that we eat². Wearing rubber bands around the wrist and removing one for each 8oz of water that you consume can make this even easier!
• Always keep a water bottle close by, especially in warmer climates, on the way to and from the gym, or during endurance exercise.
• Reduce your alcohol and caffeine intake. Alcohol and caffeine each posses diuretic properties that cause an overall increase in urination, decreasing the body’s natural ability to reabsorb or retain water.
• Replace other drink options with water at home and on the go to not only rehydrate, but to cut back on empty calories!

Remember, drink plenty of water to help maintain a healthy lifestyle!

*DISCLAIMER: The above description is provided for information only and does not constitute medical advice. Please consult your physician or the appropriately licensed professional before engaging in a program of exercise or nutritional supplementation. No information in this site has been reviewed by the FDA. No product is intended to treat, diagnose, or cure any disease.

References:
1. Dietary reference intakes for water, potassium, sodium, chloride and sulfate. Institute of Medicine. http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/DRI//DRI_Water/73-185.pdf. Accessed March 2, 2010.
2. Valtzin H. “Drink at least eight glasses of water a day.” Really? Is there scientific evidence for 8 x 8? American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. 2002;283:R993.
3. Sawka M, et al. Human water needs. Nutrition Reviews 2005;63:S30.
4. Exercise and fluid replacement. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2007;39:377.
5. Nutrition and athletic performance: Position of the American Dietetic Association, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine. Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 2009;109:509.
6. Park S, et al. Pathophysiology and management of calcium stones. Urology Clinics of North America. 2007;34:323.
7. Manz F. Hydration and disease. Journal of the American College of Nutritionists. 2007;26(suppl):535S.
8. Rose BD, et al. Maintenance and replacement fluid therapy in adults. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 2, 2010.
9. Campbell SM. Hydration needs throughout the lifespan. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2007;26:5858.  ____________________________________________________________________________

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Jump start Your weight loss with HMB

Jump start Your weight loss with HMB

weight loss with HMB

 Weight loss not only requires a huge amount of discipline, it also goes agonizingly slowly. It can take days before you see your body reacting. But help is at hand, according to an article by Taiwanese sports scientists in the Journal of Exercise Science and Fitness. They suggest that you can get rid of large amounts of fat in the first few days of dieting by taking HMB.

The Taiwanese did a three-day experiment with eight women judokas. All were national and international level competitors, and none used protein supplements.

The researchers put the women on a diet on which you'd expect that they would lose weight, but not strength or stamina. Per kg bodyweight the women consumed 20 kcal per day. The women's diet contained 3.6 g carbohydrates, 1.33 g protein and 0.03 g fat per kg bodyweight. They also took a multivitamin supplement.

Half of the women were also given 3 g HMB per day to take: 1 g each at breakfast, lunch and supper. The other half were given a placebo.

Despite the short duration of the study the supplementation did have an effect. The fat percentage in the HMB group went down from 20.23 percent to 19.38 percent. Going on the data in the lower table, we estimate that the women in the HMB lost an average of about 700 g fat. Our calculation methods are a little unorthodox, but anyway.... it gives you an idea…

This preliminary study suggests that HMB supplementation during a 3-day energy restriction period may increase fat loss but have no effect on lean body mass or exercise performance", the Koreans write. "Further research is warranted with longer periods of HMB supplementation and on its mechanism."

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Course of vitamin D reduces body fat

Course of vitamin D reduces body fat

Women who take a daily supplement of 1000 IE vitamin D3 can lose almost 3 kg body fat in just 12 weeks and at the same time gain about 2 kg lean body mass. Nutritionists from Tehran University of Medical Sciences will soon publish an article on the subject in Nutrition Journal.

Vitamin D3 for losing weight

 Recent studies have shown that vitamin D (of which most of the Western population has a deficiency) reduces the growth of fat reserves. One theory claims that the hypothalamus gets the brains to produce more of the appetite hormone neuropeptide Y if there's too little vitamin D in the body; another theory says that vitamin D inhibits the development of fat cells.

Lab animals that are put on a fattening diet build up more muscle mass and less fat if they are given extra vitamin D3. Human studies have shown that subjects who are on a weight-loss diet lose more body fat when there's more vitamin D3 in their body. In other studies supplementation with vitamin D makes people burn more energy after a meal.

So vitamin D3 supplementation should in theory lead to fat loss and perhaps also an increase in muscle mass. However, Norwegian researchers who gave obese subjects 10,000 to 20,000 IE vitamin D3 weekly did not observe these effects.  That's why we are interested in the Iranian study.

The test subjects in the Iranian study were 72 overweight women with an average age of 38 and an average BMI of 30. They were less fat than the subjects in the Norwegian study, some of whom had a BMI as high as 47. The Iranian women were given the supplement not weekly but daily during the experiment. The women in the experimental group took 1000 IE or 25 micrograms of vitamin D3 per day. The placebo group took a supplement that contained no active ingredients.

The women's vitamin D3 level rose by almost 40 nanomoles per litre. In the 12 weeks that the experiment lasted they lost 2.7 kg body fat and gained 1.8 kg lean body mass. The women in the placebo group only lost 0.5 kg fat mass and gained 0.4 kg lean body mass. ____________________________________________________________________________

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Grape Seed Extract helps keep weight down

Grape Seed Extract helps keep weight down

Consumers of large amounts of calories who want to keep their weight under control may benefit from Grape Seed Extract. Dutch researchers at the University of Maastricht published an article on the subject eight years ago in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 



Grape Seed Extract helps keep weight down

 Grape Seed Extract is an interesting supplement. It improves blood circulation; animal studies have shown that it reduces the chance of prostate cancer, and epidemiological studies have shown that it reduces the chance of skin cancer. In-vitro studies have shown that it sabotages the conversion of testosterone into estradiol by the enzyme aromatase.

 

 In test tube studies Grape Seed Extract also stimulates lipolysis: the release of fatty acids by fat cells into the bloodstream. [Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2000 Mar; 24(3): 319-24.] This may mean that Grape Seed Extract suppresses the appetite, and to find out whether this is the case the Dutch researchers did an experiment with 51 test subjects aged from 18-65.

The researchers let their test subjects eat as much as they wanted during a three-day stay in a laboratory. About 30-60 minutes before their breakfast, lunch and dinner the subjects took a supplement containing 100 mg Grape Seed Extract. A couple of weeks later the researchers repeated the experiment, but gave their subjects a placebo.

The effect of supplementation was related to the caloric intake of the subjects. If calorie intake was lower than average then Grape Seed Extract had no effect on the energy intake, as shown in the table below. The 'small eaters' consumed an average of 1500 kcal per day.

In the subjects with an above-average energy consumption Grape Seed Extract did reduce energy intake, as shown in the table below. The average energy intake of this group was 2030 kcal per day.

Among the 'big eaters' the Grape Seed Extract supplement reduced their energy intake by 96 kcal per day. If that effect were to last for a whole year, then people with high caloric requirements could lose 3.7 kg body fat in that amount of time.   ____________________________________________________________________________

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Carb Cycling For Fat Loss

Carb Cycling For Fat Loss

by Tim Wescott

When dieting for a bodybuilding contest, I use an arsenal of weapons to lose unsightly excess body fat. One of the dietary procedures I institute, is to cycle my carbs. Carbohydrates are used as energy by the body, they fuel our workouts, as well as providing ample fuel to be used throughout the course of the day. Ingesting carbs also replenishes our glucose and glycogen stores to prevent fatigue. Carb cycling allows you to still eat carbs from clean sources, without adding body fat, and cycling enables you to better utilize fat for burning as fuel, as opposed to burning carbs and muscle tissue for fuel.

 

Are Carbs The Evil Enemy ??

Carbs are not the evil villain the media makes them out to be. Improper carb timing can however, cause these carbs to be stored as fat. Carbs are not essential to the body, but they make dieting, and eating in general, a lot easier and more pleasurable... as long as the carbs are from the proper sources. Carbs get a bad rap in the news lately, due to people jumping on the proverbial bandwagon to make a buck off the latest trend in dieting.... low carbs! There are tons of low carb foods hitting the grocery stores daily, everything from bread, to potato chips, can now be found with a low carb label.
A few years back it was all about bashing fats....remember??

What will it be next year....protein? We'll just have to wait and see I guess, but they'll think of something.

Junk Carbs

Carbohydrates eaten in excess, or eaten at the wrong times, can help to add adipose tissue to the body, but they are not a bad thing if incorporated into a diet properly. Eat the majority of your carbs early in the day and at the post-workout meal, tapering off on them as the day goes on. Never eat carbs late at night, opt for protein instead. Sugar laden junk foods are always bad, and they are comprised mostly of carbs, and fat. In turn, they should have no place in a serious bodybuilders diet. If people eliminated, or cut down on junk food alone, they would lose a lot of weight, and look and feel much better for it. Quitting junk food however, is usually too much to ask for most people. Most junk food is simply calorie dense garbage, totally devoid of any nutrients.

When I devise a diet for a trainee ,the first step I implement is to have them cut back on junk gradually, until it is totally eliminated from the diet, except for the rare occasional treat. Once it's gone from the diet, it's usually not thought about again, except for the occasional craving. Eating junk food is a conditioned thing that can, and should be eliminated. In this article I will outline a plan that still allows you to eat healthy amounts of good carbs, and still lose fat in the process.

As I mentioned earlier, it's not carbs that are the villain, but rather the type of carbs eaten, and the specific times that they are ingested. If you are indulging in junk food on a daily basis, then you will most likely get fatter. Another problem is eating carbs too close to bedtime, when your activity and expenditure of energy is lessened. This is not a mystery, and all that's needed by the person looking to lose body fat is a lifestyle change !! Cut down on eating the crap, and you'll be well on your way to better health, increased energy, and a leaner body.

The Proper Attitude

When talking to bodybuilder's and other's, that want to lose fat, or increase muscular definition for competition purposes, I often find a trend in their thinking that they can still eat things in moderate portions that are usually considered taboo, while on most diets. Terms like "re-feed","cheat meal,"and "cheat day," almost always come up. These ideas can be used to your advantage, but in my opinion, you should wait until you are pretty close to achieving your desired body fat % goals before even thinking about them at all. Yes folks, I'm an "old school" type of guy who will tell you right off the bat, that you MUST make some sacrifices, and give up all negative eating habits to achieve these goals if you want to succeed in losing fat or winning a contest!!

I typically diet down for bodybuilding contests achieving approximately 3 - 5% body fat. Did I accomplish this while cheating and eating the occasional junk treat? My answer is a resounding NO. I suffered a bit here and there, but once I flip the switch in my mind to eat "clean" I do just that. There can be no half measures. You must get into the proper mindset and stay completely focused on achieving your goals, if you screw around and cheat once, you will repeat this cheating again and again. I know this from early attempts at getting cut-up, and from experiences learned from training my clients. Remain steadfast on your mission to getting lean, and you most definitely will.

Cycling Carbs 

What we do when we cycle carbs in the manner that I advise, is to have three low carb days, followed by two higher carb days, to aid in recovery, and to replenish glycogen. This gives us just the right amount of carbs to be used as fuel without becoming an excessive amount. Always use carbs from clean foods not junk foods of course. The most important thing about carb cycling, in my opinion, is too never go too high throughout the diet, except for the latter stages, and only if necessary. We'll discuss this aspect of the diet later in this article!

What I recommend as a starting point, to determine just how many carbs you should eat on your highest day, is to eat 1 to 1.5 grams of carbs per pound of bodyweight. Start out using the latter number and adjust according to your results. I might add that it is vital to keep a nutrition journal when cycling carbs to be able to chart progress and make adjustments during the diet. This takes the guesswork out of dieting, and can also be looked back upon in the future to see how the body responded to certain tactics, and is an invaluable tool.

NOTE: Do not count fibrous vegetables into your total carb count for the day. They are low in calories and carbs and are a good source of fiber and do not count in the scheme of things while carb cycling. Only count starchy complex carbs.

Some tweaking will of course be necessary for most, as some of us are a bit more "carb sensitive" than others. Activity level, training intensity level, age, as well as sex, will determine how much you will need to adjust things, but as a rule I have found that 200 grams of carbs as your highest amount, is a good place to start. After a time you can decide whether you want to raise them a bit, or lower them, based on your results, and your body's feedback. It is a good practice to try this technique well in advance of your contest to sort of "learn" your body, and how it responds to this procedure.

Below is an example of my 5 day carb cycling method using 200 grams of carbs as the highest amount on a high day.


Day-1)150 grams

Day-2)100 grams

Day-3) 50 grams

Day-4)125 grams

Day-5)200 grams

Repeat cycle as written, throughout the course of the diet.

Essentially what I do is drop 50 grams of carbs over the course of the first 3 days, then increase by 75 grams, for the next two days. Some people prefer to raise fat intake on the lower carb days, or to increase fats on their off training days, to make up for the lost calories on the lower carb days. You can do this if you choose to, but I find it interferes with the fat burning process as fat is a calorie dense macronutrient that is needed by the body, but builds no muscle.

I also believe that without the fat increase you will burn more fat as fuel on the low carb days, especially when training hard, dieting and doing cardiovascular workouts. Besides as far as calories go, protein and carbs are not calorie dense and you must be in a calorie deficit to lose body fat for a lengthy period of time such as a 16 week contest prep diet or just a fat loss diet for the fitness enthusiast, no matter if he or she competes or not.

Reaching A Plateau

Eventually, you will more than likely reach a fat burning plateau, and this is the time where we can implement a "tweak" in the cycle plan. The body is resistant to change and it will eventually adapt to any stressors put upon it so after a time you may stop burning fat as fuel.

This is a good time to suddenly eat 3-4 good high carb days in a row ,or to simply eat a "cheat" meal or have a "cheat" day, just to trip up the metabolism, and get it jumpstarted so to speak, thus enabling the fat burning process to resume.

Another way you can also accomplish this is to go to zero carbs for 3 days and 3 days only. This will accomplish the same thing as the 3-4 high carb days or the "cheats". This is the only time to take fibrous vegetables into consideration, as no carbs whatsoever should be ingested during the 3 zero carb days. Do not stay at zero carbs for any longer than 3 days, and never go below 50 carbs as your lowest amount, throughout the entire length of the diet other than the occasional zero carb 3 day period. Any lower, and the brain suffers, and thinking becomes cloudy, as the brain needs a certain amount of carbs to function optimally.

Complex Carbs

These are the best sources of clean carbs to use when dieting in general, and when cycling carbs:

Baked Potatoes
Yams
Sweet Potatoes
Brown Rice
Oatmeal
Cream Of Wheat
Grits

I do not eat bread of any kind, or dairy products when dieting, and I recommend that you don't either, to help optimize fat burning. The only time to eat simple carbs other than vegetables is at the post-workout meal when you should take in 50 grams of dextrose with a whey protein shake immediately after training. You do add these carbs from dextrose into your daily total, because even though they are utilized efficiently by the body at the post-workout feeding, they are still carbs, and should count towards your total for the day. Don`t worry about the glycemic index of the foods ,but instead be more concerned with total carbs ingested for the day. It should never be too high!!

I also recommend HIIT cardio while dieting, and a high protein intake throughout the diet, as this will help to ensure that you retain the hard earned muscle that you've garnered from your training.

I hope this article helps you out in your quest for a better physique, and better health, via a lean muscular body.

TRAIN HARD!!  ____________________________________________________________________________

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Buckthorn extract inhibits body fat

Buckthorn extract inhibits body fat 

 The sea buckthorn – scientific name Hippophae rhamnoides – contains compounds that may help overweight people to lose weight more easily. Taiwanese researchers suggest this after testing a sea-buckthorn extract on fattened lab animals. Sea-buckthorn extract inhibits fat from a high-calorie diet being stored and boosts sensitivity to insulin. Is the answer to the obesity epidemic just growing at the seaside? 

buckthorn antioxidant extracts

  Traditional healers in Asia have been using sea-buckthorn extracts for centuries. The active ingredients in the extracts include compounds like gallic acid, myricetin, quercetin, kaempferol and isorhamnetin, all of which are familiar to the readers of this web magazine.

Modern research received a new impetus after researchers discovered that sea-buckthorn extracts contain another compound too: the flavonoid pentamethylquercetin. Japanese ethnopharmacologists announced in 2005 that in test tubes pentamethylquercetin inhibits the growth of human promyelotic leukaemia HL-60 cells.

Animal studies have shown that pentamethylquercetin blocks the pathogenic enlargement of the heart muscle as a result of high blood pressure, increases insulin sensitivity and reduces the concentration of triglycerides. It looks as though pentamethylquercetin is an AMPK booster .

One study on pentamethylquercetin that the Taiwanese refer to was done by researchers at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, in Wuhan, China. In that study the Chinese exposed fat cells to pentamethylquercetin, and as a result the production of PPAR-gamma increased. Production of the inflammatory factors TNF-alpha and Interleukin-6 decreased on the other hand.

Pentamethylquercetin 

This may mean that sea-buckthorn extract enhances the effect of insulin in living organisms and reduces the likelihood of diabetes type-2 developing as a result of overweight. Whether this is indeed the case you don't know until you've tried it out of course, so nutritionists at Chonbuk National University in Taiwan devised an animal study. They used a sea-buckthorn extract, not just pentamethylquercetin.



Liquid buckthorn antioxidant extract

 For their experiment they used an alcohol extract produced by the Korean Samsung Herbmedicine Corporation. made from sea-buckthorn leaves, which had been soaked in 70 percent alcohol for a week at room temperature. The manufacturer then dried the filtrate.

The Taiwanese divided their mice into four groups. The ND group were given ordinary feed; the HD group were given food enriched with bacon fat. As a result of that the mice in that group put on weight more quickly. The SL1 group also got the calorie-rich feed, but were also given 500 mg sea-buckthorn extract per kg bodyweight daily. The SL2 group got the same, but a double dose of sea-buckthorn extract. The mice were given the sea-buckthorn extract orally.

The SL1 and SL2 mice put on weight less fast than the HD mice. The fattening diet reduced insulin sensitivity, but this was partially prevented by the sea-buckthorn, which boosted the production of the fat sensors PPAR alpha and PPAR gamma in the mice's liver. These sensors mean that organs can pick up and burn more fatty acids.   ____________________________________________________________________________

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A Fond Farewell To Fat

A Fond Farewell To Fat

by Wes

We are continually reminded on a daily basis, how unhealthy it is for us to be fat and out of shape. Everywhere we turn, we are constantly bombarded by magazine articles and TV infomercials, touting some newfangled apparatus as the next best thing since sliced bread, to help us "sculpt" and "tone" our bodies.

Then there are the magic pills:
There`s fat trappers
carb blockers
energy stackers
water shedders
appetite killers
etc. etc.

You name it, and it`s out there......................if it`s not out there yet, just wait a while, they`re working on it.

The trouble with all this nonsense is, that it`s just that..............NONSENSE !!!

There are no shortcuts, and you really don`t need all the gimmicks out there to get into the best shape of your life. The only good part about the ads, is that they make us more aware that we are getting out of shape.

Hopefully, enough so, that we might resolve to do something about it, if they`ll just stop with the ridiculous ads already !!!!

A Sensible Approach To Getting Lean !!

Proper Mindset:

The most important step in losing weight and getting a lean fit body is to make a commitment to yourself to do so. Don`t think of it as drudgery, and don`t use the dreaded word diet, think of it as simply making a lifestyle change.

Make a firm resolve to lose weight and get into the best physical condition of your life !!

Sit down and write out exactly what your weight loss goals are, and vow to yourself that you will reach or exceed those goals, no matter what the sacrifices involved.

Read your goals daily, and recommit to them when enthusiasm wanes to help yourself stay focused.

Another invaluable tool that you have at your disposal, is to keep a training and nutrition journal. This way, you can monitor your improvements, and correct past mistakes.

At first this might seem to you, to be a burden, instead of an asset, but if you are serious about losing weight/fat, I urge you to write out both your diet and workouts, as you will find over time, that it is well worth the bit of extra effort it takes to do so.

A good book on calories, and the macronutrients, or a similar website devoted to such, will teach you what is in your food, and how to keep track of your nutritional intake.

Proper Training:

The second thing on the fat loss agenda is to get physical . There are three steps in the training protocol to losing fat.

They are, strength training, combined with cardiovascular workouts, and a strict healthy diet.

Strength training will increase lean muscle tissue, while the cardio training will help speed up fat loss, as well as build up your heart, lungs, and endurance, the diet which is the hardest to perfect will keep you lean and devoid of excess fat.

For each pound of muscle you add to your frame, you will burn 50 - 75 extra calories a day just to maintain that pound of muscle.

On the flip side, if you add a pound of fat to your body, only 2 calories are used per day to maintain it.

Therefore, it becomes a no-brainer to add some weight training into your fitness/fat loss regimen.

I recommend training the entire body over four days using the following split routine. I would also recommend doing your favorite form of cardio 4-6 times a week, depending on your current fitness level, and the amount of excess bodyfat that you are carrying.

The more bodyfat, the more activity, as it all boils down to a calories in vs. calories out scenario, and the more calories expended, all the better in most people`s cases.

Weight Training Routine:

This is not a routine for a competitive bodybuilder or power athlete, but is aimed at the individual who is trying to improve their fitness level by firming up, losing fat, and building firm hard muscle tissue!!

First off I think the overweight person should do some type of physical exercise on a daily basis.

Of course one should start out easy and progress as their fitness level improves.

Working out on a daily basis and resting one or two days for recuperation, ensures that you burn calories consistently, and everyday............ and creating a calorie deficit is how you essentially lose weight .


Training Routine

Day-1:
Chest, Abs, Cardio:
Bench Press or Dumbbell Bench Press-3x12,
Incline Press on Smith Machine-3x10
Flyes-3x10-15
Crunches-3x25
Lying Leg Raise-3x12-20
Cardio (walking on inclined treadmill for 30 minutes)


Day-2:
Legs:
Squats-3x12
Leg Press-3x15-20
Leg Extensions-3x10-15
Lying Leg Curls-5x10-15
Calf Raise-5x12-20


Day-3:
Back, Traps, Abs, Cardio:
Lat Pulldowns-3x10-15
Barbell Rowing-3x10-12
Cable Rows-3x10-15
Dumbbell Shrugs-4x12-20
1/4 Sit-ups on incline-3x12-20
Vertical Leg Raise on apparatus-3x10-15
Elliptical Machine-20-30 minutes


Day-4:
Shoulders, Cardio:
Seated Press on Smith Machine-3x10-12
Lateral Raise-3x10-15
Bent-Over Laterals-3x10-15
Alternate Dumbbell Press (standing)-1set to failure
HIIT cardio on Eliptical-20 minutes


Day-5:
Biceps, Triceps, Abs, Cardio:
Barbell Curls-3x8-12
Seated Alternate Curls-3x6-10
Seated French Press-4x8-12
Pressdowns-3x10-20
Kickbacks-2x15
Crunches-3x20-30
Roman-Chair Situps-3x12-15
Inclined Treadmill-30-45 minutes walking


Day-6:
Cardio:
interval cardio on Eliptical, Machine-20 minutes


Day-7:
REST


Proper Diet:

1.- Base your meals around foods that are high in protein and low in fat.
2.- Eat 6 small high protein meals, approximately every 3-4 hours.
3.- Eat "clean" complex carbohydrates, from natural unprocessed sources.
4.- Limit or avoid fruits, dairy products, bread, and of course all processed junk food .
5.- Avoid sugar, excessive sodium/salt, fatty foods, butter, margarine, mayonnaise, and other empty calorie foods that contribute nothing to your diet in the way of nutrients.
6.- Drink a gallon of water a day, every day, as a minimum amount, more if possible.
7.- Be consistent, and stick to your diet. If you mess up, just keep trying until you get it right.
8.- Eat your fiber in the form of vegetables. Most veggies are calorie negligible and can fill you up without adding excessive calories to your diet.
9.- If you must eat snacks choose them from healthy sources such as sugar-free Jell-O, rice cakes, sugar -free jelly, air -popped popcorn, protein shakes ,yogurt. etc. etc.
10.- Record everything you eat in a journal as this will help you stay on track and avoid mistakes. It will also allow you to track and alter things according to your progress or lack of progress.


Food Choices:

Below is a list of food choices that you should use while dieting for best results!

Proteins:
Lean Beef
Eggs/Egg Whites
Fish
Skinless Chicken Breasts
Turkey Breasts
Lean Ground Turkey
Tuna Fish in water


Carbohydrates:

Brown and white rice
Yams
Sweet Potatoes
Oatmeal
Baked Potatoes
Salads and vegetables


Fats:
Olive Oil
Avocados
Natural Peanut Butter
EFA`s

You might want to supplement your diet with a healthy fat source, but I think people get more than enough trace fats just from the foods they eat, even while on a strict diet.....but good fats are essential to the body.

The choice is yours.

Dieting Aids:

Here`s a list of things that can help make the dieting easier on you!

1.-Bake ,broil, boil, or steam foods.
2.-Use a zero calorie cooking spray.
3.-Use an imitation butter spray such as "I Can`t Believe It`s Not Butter.
4.-Use condiments and spices to liven up bland foods, but watch excessive sodium.
5.-when using fat-free items watch out for excessive sugars added to foods.
6.To curb hunger pangs, drink water, or brush your teeth a few times. It helps!!!


There you have it, what I think constitutes a good plan of attack in the battle against the bulge.

Make a commitment to improving your health and changing your lifestyle today and don`t look back!

Thanks for reading ,and good luck!!   ____________________________________________________________________________

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Fish Oil Can Help You Lose Body Fat

Reasons Fish Oil Will Make You Stronger, Leaner & Healthier

 Fish Oil Can Help You Lose Body Fat Fish oil can help you lose body fat for a number of reasons, some of which are well known, while others are just emerging. First, fish oil provides essential fats because it is made up of omega-3 fatty acids. Essential fats are those which the body can’t produce on its own—they must be eaten—and it must have them for optimal function.


Healthy Fish Oil

Fish oil won’t turn into fat in the body. Instead, the body will favorably use the fat from fish oil to build the outside lipid (fat) layer that protects our cells. Any kind of fat can be used to do this—trans fats, omega-6 fats, whatever you eat—but your cells will function the best, and metabolism will be optimal if fish oil makes up the cell lipid layer because it improves the activity of insulin.

This allows for better insulin sensitivity, which is a principal factor in fat loss. If you have poor insulin sensitivity, you will have a very difficult time losing fat. The other benefit of fish oil is that it is anti-inflammatory, which will be explained in greater depth in #3.

You can see fish oil working its fat loss magic in a recent study that gave healthy subjects 4 grams of fish oil or the same dose of safflower oil (an omega-6 fat) for 6 weeks. The participants who took the fish oil significantly lost body fat and increased muscle mass—and they weren’t even exercising!

Of interest, the participants in this study had a decrease in their levels of the stress hormone cortisol after taking the fish oil. Cortisol is a catabolic hormone that degrades muscle, leads to fat gain, and makes you feel stressed out.

Fish Oil Can Help You Build Muscle: It’s Anabolic
As mentioned in #1, since fish oil decreases cortisol it leads one to think that it is anabolic, and the happy news is that there’s research to back this idea up. For instance, a new study that was performed on aging rats showed that giving them fish oil for 8 weeks significantly increased protein synthesis and helped them increase muscle cross-sectional area.

Fish oil is anabolic for humans as well. A study that gave middle-age adults 4 grams of fish oil a day found that it increased protein synthesis, producing a significant muscle building effect. The mTOR pathway that produces muscle growth was enhanced by 30 percent, as was muscle cell membrane signaling—the same mechanism via which insulin health is improved also enhances muscle building. Muscle mass increased by 2 percent, however, due to the small study population, researchers didn’t measure changes in body composition.

In fact, the anabolic effects of omega-3s prompted the NCAA to ban the distribution by major colleges to scholarship athletes. The rationale was that omega-3s gave an unfair advantage to the more financially advantage institutions who could afford to give this supplement to athletes.

 Fish Oil Will Decrease Inflammation, Enhancing Body Composition
Inflammation in the body is horrible for health, but it also significantly impacts your ability to lose body fat and build muscle. I can’t overstress the importance of decreasing inflammation if you want to be lean!

Inflammation seems to be this word that has no meaning for the general population, and people just don’t seem to understand that “inflammation” equals disease, illness, delayed recovery from injury, and obesity. Did you know that fat tissue actually produces inflammation on its own, progressively increasing the inflammatory status in the body?

Fish oil has powerful anti-inflammatory properties, which is a principal reason it helps you lose fat. First, we saw in the study mentioned in number #1 that the people who took 4 grams/day of fish oil had lower cortisol at the end of the study. Anytime cortisol is unnecessarily elevated it causes inflammation and has a protein degrading effect that causes muscle and lean tissue loss.

The anti-inflammatory evidence of fish oil goes further: It is not just chronic inflammation that fish oil can prevent. It also decreases the acute inflammatory response to intense exercise. A recent study had young athletes take 3 grams of fish oil for 7 days and then perform very intense eccentric exercise to failure.

Results showed that compared to a placebo group, the fish oil group had much lower levels of inflammatory biomarkers, less muscle swelling, and less soreness and pain in response to the workout. Researchers suggest the fish oil helped with the elimination of waste products produced in response to energy metabolism during exercise, enhancing the anabolic properties in muscle tissue.

What it all comes down to is that getting the optimal percentage of your dietary fat from fish oil will convey these anti-inflammatory benefits: a) speed detoxification of stuff you don’t want in your body (waste products, inflammatory biomarkers), b) improve cellular health and the building of muscle, c) decrease hormones that cause inflammation, and d) help you be lean and feel better.

Take Fish oil To Improve Insulin Sensitivity And Metabolism
Recall that fish oil improves insulin sensitivity because it gets incorporated into the cellular lipid layer, which allows the cell receptors to bind more easily with insulin. Once insulin is bound, its purpose is to shuttle glucose from dietary carbs into the muscles to be stored and used as energy later. If insulin can’t bind easily, it elevates cortisol, causes inflammation, and the overall result is that you get fat.

Insulin also plays a role in muscle building, which is the reason it is called an anabolic hormone. The good news is that by taking fish oil and limiting your carbohydrate intake, insulin will improve the muscle building process and it helps to load nutrients into the muscle like creatine and carnitine that are essential for physical performance and fat burning.

An example of the effect of fish oil on insulin sensitivity and body composition is seen in a recent study of women with type 2 diabetes who took either 1.5 or 2.5 grams of fish oil a day. After 30 days, both groups decreased body fat and shrunk their waistlines, while having significantly improved insulin sensitivity. Of interest in this study, the group on the low 1.5-gram dose experienced the greatest reduction in belly fat and improvement in insulin health, indicating that supplementation should be based on individual needs to pad omega-3 intake from the diet.

Get The Right Ratio of Fish Oil To Other Fats For Body Composition
Hopefully, you agree that fish oil will help you build muscle and lose body fat. Studies have only tested relatively small doses of up to 4 grams a day, but anecdotal reports suggest more rapid fat loss from higher doses in the range of 1 to 1.5 grams of your body fat percentage a day. The idea behind this large dose—if you have 20 percent body fat, you should take 20 to 30 grams of fish oil daily—is that you are getting a large portion of your dietary fat from fish oil, which is logical because omega-3 fats are the healthiest.

Say your total fat intake is 60 grams a day, getting 20 to 30 grams divided between a fish oil supplement and however much is provided from organic meat and fish is common sense. There remains that other 30 grams of fat to account for, and it’s critical your intake be optimal if you want to reap the anti-inflammatory, muscle building, fat loss benefits already described. Here’s what you need to know:



Carlson Labs Elite Omega-3 Gems Fish Oil 1250mg, 120 Softgels

• Get most of your omega-3s from fish oil—that means you are getting primarily EPA and DHA, with only a small intake of the third omega-3, alpha linolenic acid (ALA) that is provided by flax seed.

• The omega-6 fats are from plant rather than marine sources. They include olive oil, nuts, avocados, and the isolated vegetable oils—corn, soybean, canola, and the like. The Western diet is VERY high in omega-6 fats due to the overuse of isolated vegetable oils. Ideally, you want a balanced intake of omega-6 to omega-3 fat, while avoiding isolated vegetable oils completely.

• The isolated vegetable oils cause inflammation when you eat too much of them. The reason is that the body uses the same enzymes to convert the omega-3 and the omega-6 fats into a form that can be used by the body. Simply, if you eat too many omega-6 fats—studies estimate the average Western diet provides a ratio around 16:1 of omega-6 to omega-3 fats—there won’t be enough enzymes available to convert the omega-3s.

• Researchers estimate that large reductions in omega-6 intake decrease our need for omega-3s dramatically—by 90 percent in some cases—because they won’t be fighting for enzymes and the omega-3s won’t be needed to counteract the inflammation caused by the overabundance of omega-6 fat.

• Try a “whole diet” approach to get the complex nutrient and fat requirements for optimal body composition: Eat wild cold water fish, pasture raised, grass-fed beef, and wild meats. Supplement with high-quality fish oil that is in triglyceride form rather than ethyl ester because it has superior bioavailability. Round your fat intake out with nuts, olive oil, avocado, and coconut oil, with very limited intake of other organic oils. Avoid hydrogenated, trans fat, and processed foods.

• Avoid foods fortified with omega-3s because you don’t know the source or quality of the fat.
by Charles Poliquin

  ____________________________________________________________________________

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