5 Simple Nutrition Rules for Fat Loss Success

Rule #1 - Eat a serving of lean protein with every meal.

Protein is important for a number of reasons:

• Supplies muscles with amino acids needed to repair muscle damage from exercise.
• More satisfying on a per-calorie basis than fat or carbohydrate rich foods.
• Thermic Effect of Feeding is much higher with protein than fat or carbohydrates.  This means that your body has to burn more calories to process the protein that you consume than it does for the same amount of carbs or fat.

Good sources of lean protein include:

• Chicken or turkey
• 90% lean ground beef
• Pork tenderloin
• Fish (salmon, swordfish, tilapia, etc)
• Other seafood (mussels, clams, shrimp, crab, etc)
• Low fat cottage cheese
• Greek yogurt
• Wild game (venison, pheasant, elk, moose, buffalo, etc)
• Omega-3 Enriched Eggs

A single serving of protein is roughly the size of your hand for meats.  Cottage cheese and greek yogurt are about the size of your fist.

And if you're a vegetarian......

Maybe you'll reconsider?

Rule #2 - Drink two glasses of water with every meal.

Chances are you're not drinking enough water.  The human body is made up of approximately 63% water.  The benefits of proper hydration are endless, including improved skin and muscle tone, improved circulation, improved cognitive function, decreased fatigue, reduced water retention, and yes, even increased fat loss.

My favorite means for providing clean, cold drinking water.

With all of these benefits, it's easy to see why water is truly the most important nutrient you can consume.

Drinking two glasses of water with every meal will ensure that you are properly hydrated.  It will also keep you from overeating because your stomach will be full.

Crystal Light is another good option for those that don't like to drink plain water.



Rule #3 - Eat as many vegetables and fruits as you want with each meal.

Fruits and vegetables should be consumed with every meal.  They are nutritionally dense, meaning that for every ounce you are getting a host of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytonutrients that your body needs to function optimally and ward off disease.

Take your pick!

They are also usually high in fiber.  Fiber increases satiety (feeling of fullness) and ensures optimal intestinal function.


Vegetables are not calorically dense at all, which allows you to eat a great volume of food without eating a ton of calories.  For example, a pound bag of spinach weighs in with only 100 calories, but it also packs 10 grams of fiber, 100% or more of the USRDA of Vitamin A, C, K, and Iron, and substantial amounts of Calcium and Vitamin E.  That is a lot of nutrition for only 100 calories!

 Make like this guy and eat your greens!

Fruits are, like vegetables, both nutritionally dense and high in fiber. They are also very tough to overeat with the exception of cherries and blueberries.  I think I could eat a pound of both of them on a hot summer day without ever slowing down.  

The caloric damage for my gluttony?  About 550 calories for two pounds of high octane nutrition, including 30 grams of fiber and nearly an entire month's worth of antioxidants!


Compare this to a pound of french fries, which weighs in with a whopping 1400 calories and ZERO nutritional value.

This isn't food, it's toxic bullshit.

Legumes are similar to fruits in that they are nutritionally dense and high in fiber, but legumes are a little higher in calories on average.  For example, a pound of black beans has approximately 590 calories.  But, it also has 32 grams of fiber, and honestly, who the hell can eat a pound of beans?  Beans and lentils are very filling and therefore, difficult to overeat.  I see no reason to limit their consumption.

Not at fault:  beans.

Good examples of fruits and vegetables include:

• Leafy greens (spinach, lettuce, arugula, kale, cabbage)
• Squash (zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant)
• Tree fruits (apples, oranges, cherries, pineapple)
• Berries (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries)
• Peppers
• Aromatics (onions, shallots, garlic)
• Tomatoes
• Artichokes
• Carrots
• Cucumbers
• Celery
• Asparagus
• Legumes (beans, lentils) 

Rule #4:  Eat 1 serving of healthy fats with each meal.

Despite the anti-fat hysteria of the 90s, fats remain an essential part of a nutritious diet.  Your diet should actually be comprised of a balance of fats, both saturated and unsaturated.  Good sources include:

• Extra virgin olive oil
• Fish oil (available in capsule form; my favorite is Biotest Flameout)
• Flax seed oil
• Avocado
• Nuts and seeds (almonds, cashews, sunflower seeds)
• Omega 3 enriched butter
• Cheese

Now, if we weren't concerned with fat loss, then you could almost consume as much healthy fats as you wanted to.  However, fats are very calorie dense.  A tablespoon of olive oil contains a hefty 120 calories - the same as 20 ounces of spinach!  So don't go hog wild with the oils.

Good in moderation.

Rule #5:  Eat a meal every 3-4 hours.


For those of you who are good at math, you will notice that this equals anywhere from 4-6 meals per day.  The benefits of eating smaller meals more frequently are as follows:

• Consistent energy levels.  When you eat frequently, your blood sugar stays more stable.  Avoiding the constant ups and downs in energy levels allows you to be more productive throughout the day.  It also leads to better workouts, which also leads to faster fat loss.
• Stable insulin levels.  A big meal will cause a quick increase in blood sugar levels, resulting in a big spike in insulin.  Insulin is a storage hormone responsible for shuttling nutrients (especially sugar) to the cells of the body.  When it is high, the body is in fat storage mode, not fat burning mode.  You want to avoid this mode as much as possible.
• Less hunger.  One of the nicest things about eating more frequently...is that you get to eat more frequently!  When you get hungry in between meals, you'll know that you have another meal coming up very soon, so you will be less likely to resort to snacking; the worst enemy of fat loss.

The prospect of fitting 4-6 meals into an already busy schedule can seem daunting at first.  It's really not as hard as it seems.  Here's an example:

 7am: breakfast (omelet with onions, peppers, tomato, and feta cheese)
11am: lunch (grilled chicken breast with lemon and garlic, salad with mixed greens, veggies, olive oil and red wine vinegar)
3pm: "second lunch" (low fat cottage cheese with pineapple and raw veggies)
7pm: dinner (grilled salmon fillet with bean salad and steamed asparagus)



This sample meal plan is simple, easy to follow, and won't keep you in the kitchen for hours every day.

So there you have it, 5 simple, easy to follow rules for fat loss success.  

Start following them today and in a few months you'll be amazed how much better you look and feel!

 Happy.  Healthy.  HUNGRY!

Strength & Conditioning Myths - Debunked! Part 2 (cont.)

Now that you know that steady state cardio isn't the be-all, end-all of fat loss, I'll explain how you can use high intensity metabolic conditioning to build the body you've always wanted.

What is high intensity metabolic conditioning?

High intensity metabolic conditioning (HIMC) is a type of training that uses short bursts of hard work followed by a period of less intense work or even complete rest.  The goal of this is to create a large oxygen debt, which is just a fancy way of saying it will make you feel like your lungs are going to explode.

When you create a significant oxygen debt, your body has to work very hard to return to homeostasis.  In other words, your body wants to get back to normal, and FAST!

In order to reach homeostasis, your heart speeds up, your breathing becomes faster and deeper, and your metabolism gets cranked to 11.   Studies (I'm not going to cite them, but there are several) have shown that metabolism remains elevated for up to 38 hours after exercise!

The term that the studies use is Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption, or EPOC for short.  This just means that after you are done training, your body is still consuming oxygen at an increased rate in order to get rid of its oxygen debt.

There are other factors at work as well during EPOC, like muscular waste product excretion, muscle repair, hormone secretion, etc, but the important, take-home point is that HIMC will elevate your metabolism for several hours after you exercise.  The result is an increase in fat loss when compared to steady state aerobic exercise, even though you might burn only half as many calories during the workout.

OK, so you might be thinking, "Gee, if HIMC is so great, then why doesn't everyone do it?"

A lot of people still associate aerobic exercise with fat loss, so being misinformed is probably one of the most important reasons, which is why I'm writing this.

But, another reason more people don't do HIMC is because it is damned hard work.  You can't read a magazine while you're pushing the Prowler.  You can't BS with your friends about your day while you're sprinting hills or churning out burpees.  When you're struggling to catch your breath, the only thing you can focus on is breathing.

 This is not hard work.

As anyone who has ever experienced a HIMC training session can tell you, having a large oxygen debt is not a comfortable feeling.  You will sweat.  Your muscles will burn.  You might even feel a little nauseous.  These are all signs that you are pushing your body to do what YOU want it to do instead of what it wants to do.  This is a good thing.

 Did I mention you'll sweat?

What does a HIMC training session look like?


The simplest form of HIMC involves two things:  you, and a big hill.  Hill sprints are great because you don't need any special equipment, you don't have to learn any fancy techniques, and you don't have to worry about how long to do them because you will know when you're done.  Simple, but not easy.


Start off slowly, especially if you haven't done any running in a long time.  I suggest warming up by slowly trotting up the hill a few times and walking back down.  If you are in really poor shape, you will probably notice that this is already fairly difficult.


After you feel warm, briefly stretch your hamstrings, quadriceps, adductors (groin), and calves for 20-30 seconds each.  Although you are less likely to strain or pull a muscle doing hill sprints than you are sprinting on a flat surface, it is always better to be safe than sorry.  So don't skip the stretching!

After stretching, you're ready to go.

Run up the hill.

Walk back down (this is your rest period).


Repeat.


That's it.


You may have noticed that I didn't give any recommendations on how far up the hill you should sprint, or how many times you should repeat.  This is one of the great things about hill sprints:  IT DOESN'T MATTER!

It doesn't matter if your hill is 40 yds long or 100.  The longer the hill is, the more rest you'll get on the way back down, and the fewer trips you'll end up taking.

You wouldn't need many trips up this hill...

The key here is to try to do at least one more trip up the hill every time you do it.  So start off slow and gradually build up.  The important thing is to put everything you have into each sprint.  You'll get as much out of it as you put in, so make sure you run as fast as you can!


Do this twice a week for one month and I guarantee you'll look and feel a lot better than you do now!


Hill sprints are not the only form of HIMC available.  I will talk about other methods of ramping up your body's fat burning furnace in future articles.


But, for now, go out and run some hills!

GET SOME!

Strength & Conditioning Myths - Debunked! Part 2

Myth #2:  You must do a lot of steady state cardio if you want to lose fat.

Driving to the gym to walk on a treadmill is the funniest thing ever.

The problem with this one isn't so much the cardio part.  Cardio is a good way to burn fat for a lot of people.  The problem is, that in the real world, where people have jobs, kids, homes, and other interests besides looking awesome and spending lots of time in a gym, cardio is not the best answer for fat loss.


There are 3 main problems with steady state cardio, and this is without even mentioning the fact that it's horrendously boring:

• Time consuming - Steady state cardio can burn a lot of calories.  But, to burn a lot of calories, you have to do it for a long time.  Because when you stop, your body's metabolism quickly reverts back to it's resting state.  Running 6 mph for an hour burns roughly 700 calories, so to burn one pound of fat (approximately 3500 calories) in a week, you would have to run at that pace for 5 hours without changing your diet at all.  I don't think the average person has an extra 5 hours a week to spend on exercise.  I know I don't.

• Repetitive stress injuries - Any experienced runner can tell you that pounding pavement for 10-20 miles a week can take a toll on your joints and bones.  Runners can suffer from shin splints, stress fractures, knee and hip bursitis or tendinitis, foot problems, and a host of other ailments.  Our bodies were built to either move slowly (walking) or to move really fast (sprinting).  Long distance running is an unnatural movement.  Your joints are not built to handle that kind of pounding, especially on hard surfaces.   If you are overweight, this only makes the damage worse.

• Your body adapts to it pretty quickly - This a secret that Billy Blanks would never let you in on, or Tae Bo sales would plummet.  Have you ever started a running program for the first time, and by the middle of the first day, you're just ready to die?  Then by day 2 you feel a little better, day 3 better still, and by day 5 you're cruising along with no problem?  That is your body adapting to the activity.  When this happens, you become more efficient at the activity you're performing so your body actually uses less energy than it did when you started.  Yes, that means that you now have to run even longer just to burn the same amount of calories.  Spending MORE time for the SAME results?  I say SCREW THAT NOISE!

 

Sorry Billy, you and your nipples gotta go.

Thankfully there is a much, much more time-efficient way to burn fat and look better, that I will get into on Tuesday.

Until then, have a great weekend! 

Strength & Conditioning Myths - Debunked! Part 1

Myth #1 - Serious strength training will make a woman "bulky" or "too big."

I hate this myth with everything in me because I see it reinforced in every god awful Pilates marketing campaign and on every stupid late night fitness disinfomercial.  My feelings aside, this is a very common fear for women when they enter the gym, thinking that they will lift a challenging weight and wake up the next morning looking like a Ms. Olympia competitor.

Don't worry about ending up like this.

What most women don't realize, is that female bodybuilders at the highest level have been training for years.  Equally as importantly, they have also been using large amounts of anabolic steroids to increase their muscle mass.

You see, a normal, healthy female just doesn't have enough testosterone flowing through their veins to ever come near that level of muscularity.

Testosterone is the male sex hormone that is responsible for mediating a lot of the processes that cause muscle growth.  Women produce a small amount of this hormone, but it is about 1/10 to 1/15 the amount that men produce.  

Female bodybuilders will inject or injest anabolics, including synthetic testosterone, to make up the difference and allow their bodies to build much more muscle mass.  This has many deleterious effects, including deepening of the voice, masculinization of facial features, unwanted hair growth, and more.  This is the main reason why the lady above doesn't look so pretty any more.  She is literally turning into a man!

Drugs aside, it can take decades for a hard-training man to gain an appreciable amount of muscle mass, even with all of the natural testosterone that we are blessed with.  For a woman to think that she'll get "too big" just by looking at a weight is just unrealistic.  The women that do train hard without drugs have to bust their asses for every ounce of lean tissue they can get.  It's not as easy as simply walking in the gym and picking up a few weights.

Do not be mistaken though, women can make very good gains when following a well designed strength training program.  They usually end up looking pretty good, too. 

 This is what a highly trained, steroid-free female looks like.  Big difference.

There are a multitude of benefits women can experience from a consistent, well-designed strength training program, including:

• Increased resting metabolic rate -  This is the result of increased muscle tissue and simply means that your body will burn more calories at all times than it does now.

• Increased bone density -  This is one of the most important aspect for women who are at risk for osteoporosis.  Strength training stresses the bones as well as the muscles, and the body will build stronger bones as an adaptation to that stress.

• Injury prevention - This is especially important for female athletes.  Women are much more likely to tear an ACL from participating in sports than are men.  Strength training will strengthen the stabilizing muscles around the knee joint, resulting in a decreased likelihood of injury.

• Looking better, not just smaller - The traditional modes of weight loss for women (dieting and cardio) often have the effect of just making a woman look smaller instead of better.  By this, I mean that you will fit into a smaller size, but without your clothes your body will look virtually indentical to the "before" picture only at a slightly smaller size.  With consistent strength training, you are able to change your proportions altogether, resulting in an actual body transformation.

• Improved posture - This is an often overlooked benefit that can make a huge difference in how you look.  Strengthening the weak postural muscles in your upper back can have a dramatic effect on the way that you carry yourself.  You will project confidence instead of age.

• Increased self-confidence - This is also overlooked most of the time.  Obviously if you look better, you will feel better about yourself.  But, I'm talking about a different kind of confidence.  The confidence that comes from being able to pick up 200 lbs off the ground with ease or from pushing the Prowler in the hot sun is not something that a lot of people have.  It is knowing that you can do just about anything you set your mind to.  It is the feeling that you are in control of your body and physically capable of great and difficult things.  This kind of confidence is something that can't be replicated or substituted for.  It doesn't come from starving yourself and running on a treadmill like a hamster.  It takes a special kind of person to be able to earn this confidence.  Are you one of them?  Then click here!

The Top Dog Creed

We are the Top Dogs.  This is our creed.


We are athletes, students, sons, and daughters.  We are mothers, fathers, husbands, and wives.  We are not defined by our roles.  We stand as individuals, free from judgment and expectation.

We live by a code of principles.  These principles are determined by our thoughts, which produce our speech, that states our actions, which become our habits that define our character.  We know that a person without character is devoid of purpose. 

Our purpose is not defined by outside influences in society.  It is not defined by our teachers, our parents, our coworkers, our husbands, our wives, our children, the TV, internet, music, or movies.  We define our own purpose.  We are the master of our individual aspirations.   

We will not bend to the will of others for the sake of conformity.  We will stay true to ourselves.  We will not be pulled down to mediocrity by those that would not see us succeed.  We will not succumb to the fear and doubt that society has planted in us.  We are the masters of our own minds, not slaves to them.  We will pursue our true purpose with determination and tenacity.


We will work tirelessly to constantly become the best version of ourselves that is possible.  We will strive to become better because we know that change is inevitable.  We know that we will either change for the better or worse.  We will either become stronger or weaker, faster or slower, smarter or dumber, more enlightened or more dogmatic.  We know that maintenance does not exist, and that we are either growing or dying, winning or losing, pushing forward or falling back.  Every minute of our lives, we are either a champ or a chump.  We must choose.

We choose growth.


We choose winning.


We choose to be champions.


We choose to be the Top Dogs.

What's really important?

Is it an expensive new car, mansion, or yacht?

Is it the new designer clothes you see advertisements for in all the magazines?


Or is the important stuff something simpler?






Be healthy and live a simple life.  What a concept!

Perception = Reality