fatlossandmusclebuilding Blog

So many people out there are desperately trying to achieve weight loss, but there are so many different diets and so much different information about weight loss, that unsuprisingly people are still confused on the subject. Something that is still a mystery to so many people is the importance of calories. The popularity of some of the recent ‘fad’ diets, Atkins to mention but one, has confused peoples understanding of calories even further.

Diets such as the Atkins diet promote the idea that calories don’t matter in the slightest, and the controlled intake of certain nutrients, namely carbohydrates in this case, is the deciding factor in weight loss. Although people do achieve some short term success on diets such as Atkins, the fact is that in the long term they are unhealthy and totally unrealistic to follow and stick with. Also alot of the weight loss on these type of diets actually comes from loss of water, and even worse muscle!

The real truth is that if you want to successfully lose weight, calories are the deciding factor. Here is a sentence that you should remember when people are trying to sell you the false idea that calories don’t matter…

TO LOSE WEIGHT YOU MUST BEEN IN A CALORIE DEFICIT!

I’ll explain this a bit further. A calorie is basically a unit of energy, your body needs so many of these energy units to perform all it’s daily functions, this includes maintaining bodyweight. So if you need a certain amount of calories to maintain your body weight, it makes sense that to lose weight you would need to reduce the amount of calories that your body needs (this is your calorie deficit).

The food that you eat contains these calories that your body needs, so one way of losing weight would be to reducing the amount of calories that you consume in your food. You can also create this calorie deficit through exercise. When you exercise the extra work that your body is made to do, causes it to burn off more calories. This can also create the calories deficit.

The most efficient way to create a calorie deficit is by combining a calorie controlled diet, with a suitable exercise routine, unfortunately that’s not where it ends though!

You may be thinking now that you could just cut your calorie intake right down, the more you cut out the calories the better right? Wrong. You have to be careful that you don’t bring down your calories too much, otherwise you will start to lose muscle rather than fat, leaving you looking scrawny and unhealthy looking. You need to do a bit of experimentation with this, first try and find how many calories your body needs to stay at the weight that you currently are. Then from there drop it by about 500 calories and see how you go. Everyone is different, so this really is a case of finding it out for your self. Take weekly measurements of your weight and body fat, so you can work out if you are losing fat or muscle. If you are losing muscle, simply increase your calories! Find the happy medium using experimentation and body monitoring is the key.

So in conclusion. Ignore the latest fad diets, and believe me when I say that calories really do count when it comes to successfully losing fat.

Today we’re talking about negative calorie foods…

So what actually is a negative calorie food? The statement negative calorie food isn’t entirely correct, it is actually impossible for a food to have a negative amount of calories.

A calorie is a unit of energy, all food contains a certain amount of energy. When we talk about negative calorie foods, we don’t actually mean that they have a negative amount of calories. What we mean is that the food has that low of amount of calories, that your body uses up more energy digesting it than the food has in the first place. For example if a piece of celery has 15 calories, and the body uses up 25 calories to digest it. That creates a deficit of 10 calories, therefore that is a negative calorie food. Apples, brocolli, carrots, cucumber, tomatoes and onions are also examples of negative calorie foods.  

Negative calorie foods are not miracle makers when it comes to weight loss, but they can help you out along the way. Filling up your plate with these negative calorie foods is a great way of keeping the amount of calories in your meal down, but still leaving the dinner table feeling satisfied. For example you could have a piece of chicken breast, a small amount of sweet potato, then fill up the rest of your plate with brocolli or a similar negative calorie food.

Top Fat Loss Tip of the Day…Eat Naturally!

If you are trying to lose weight, one of the first things that you should always look at is your diet. It is important to your success that you start to cut out some of the masty things you you may put into your body. A good way to start yourself off is to make an effort to start eating naturally produced foods.

By naturally produced foods I mean foods that have been processed as little as possible by man. Foods such as ready meals, white bread, cakes, etc should be on your list of foods to avoid. They are high in refined sugars and hydrogenated fats, which your body can’t digest efficiently and will pile on the body fat very easily.

You should aiming to eat lean meats and poultry, vegetables (especially the green ones!),and fruit (even though fruit contains natural sugars). With bread, pasta and rice, you should be eating the wholegrain or brown versions rather than the white more processed options.

If you make an effort to eat more natural unprocessed foods, you will notice the difference even before you start to reduce you calories. You weight will start to drop, and your overall health will improve.

Start eating natural today and reap the benefits!

If you have been following a fat loss diet and seem to have hit a plateau, carbohydrates could be your problem. Some people are more sensitve to carbohydrates than others, this may depend on your body type and the way you react to carbs. 

If you are following for example a 50-30-20 ratio diet, (That being 50% of your total daily calories from carbs, 30% protein, 20% fat), and your fat loss has slowed or even stopped it is worth trying to reduce your carbs. Try changing to a 40-40-20 ratio diet, 40% of your calories from carbs, 40% from protein and 20% from fat. This reduction in carbohydrates may be what you need to get your fat loss back on track.

The theory behind this is that your body will be slightly short on the amount of carbohydrates that it can use for energy, and hopefully your body will start to burn up your body fat instead. You do need to monitor your results closely, as if you drop you carb intake too low there is also a possibility that your body may turn to your muscles as an energy source, and you don’t want this too happen. If you are starting to lose muscle then just up your carbohydrate intake slightly.

This technique of reducing your carbohydrate intake can be a powerful tool when it comes to fat loss. If you are struggling to get results, or have hit a plateau, it is definately worth a try!

Top fat loss tip of the day… Learn to Enjoy Exercise!

Exercise is the key to permanent fat loss, incorporate exercise into your life by choosing a hobby that you genuinely enjoy. Try and find a hobby that you really enjoy, and can see yourself sticking to long term, for example join the local tennis club. Although a game of tennis is not as efficient at fat burning as other means, such as jogging for set periods, it does help you along the way.

If you have this hobby that is a pleasure to do, rather than a chore like a treadmill can often turn into, you are more like to stick at it. Something like tennis, cycling or even rock climbing for the more adventurous, has the potential to become a permanent part of your life, especially if it is done in a social setting where you can build a group of like minded friends to enjoy it with.

Give it a try, go out and find yourself an life long exercise hobby and reap the benefits for years to come!

Just a quick tip for you today…

For Success in both burning fat and building muscle there something that you must be doing. That something is body monitoring. By this I mean taking your bodyfat and weighing yourself on a weekly basis.

My advice to you is to weigh yourself at the same time of day each week, preferably first thing in the morning before you eat, to give the most accurate results. You should also weigh on the same day each week, so that you can follow your progress on a week by week basis. The same goes for taking bodyfat measurement, take it on the same time, the same day each week.

There are many methods for taking your bodyfat, some more accurate than others. The important thing is that you use the same method each time, this allows you to monitor your progress more accurately. Having an exact precise measurement is less important than having a consistant one. My preferred method is by using a set calipers. They are cheap and convient to use, and give a fairly accurate reading when used properly.

By taking your measurements every week you can then see if you are putting on muscle or just fat, or if you are losing muscle rather than fat. If you are staying the same weight, if you are lucky you may see that you are actually losing fat and gaining muscle rather than having no results (If this were the case I would be very jealous! It is only certain lucky people that achieve this.)

If you have a fat loss or muscle building goal, body monitoring is a must for success. Also keep a diary of your results, so you can reflect back and see how far you have come.  

Are you trying to burn fat or put of some muscle? Are you happy that your workouts are good and you are getting enough rest, and yet frustratingly you are still not getting the results you are after? I guarantee that with most people the problem comes is in your diet.

Larry Scott, the first Mr. Olympia, remarked in 1965 “Bodybuilding is 90% nutrition”, and he was right! Nutrition is the key to success not just for bodybuilders, but for anyone trying to get in shape. To see great results, you really need to tighten up on your nutrition.

With alot of people it doesn’t come down to the fact that they don’t know what they should be eating, it is more that they are guessing what they do actually eat, I can hold my hand up and admit that I have done this in this past.  If you try to estimate your calories, you can find yourself eating far more or less than you actually need. As for your nutiriton ratios, you stand no chance if you are trying to guess them.

The key is to plan. I find that the best way is to spend a little bit of time sitting down and working out a few days worth of menus. If you have a full day’s worth of food written in front of you , it will make things alot easier.

Another good method is to split up your daily allowances into your six meals equally, and then sit down and write out a number of different meals that you could have throughthe day. If you make sure each meal has the same calories and nutrition ratios, you could pick from various meal combinations through the day to keep variation in your diet, and to stop you getting bored eating the same things day in day out. Also prepare your meals as much as possible the day before, this will ensure that you are making sure the next days eating is as easy as possible.

It is also a good idea to keep a food diary. I know it sounds a bit daft, but if you write down what you eat each day you will eventually be able to what works well for you and what doesn’t.

Remember nutrition willbe the difference between little or no results, and great results. So try and get in the habit of planning your meals, and keep a food diary each day, it really is worth the extra effort. 

When trying to achieve fat loss, the best time of day to exercise is in the morning. If you exercise before you eat first thing in the morning, your body doesn’t have a energy supply from whatever you may have eaten throughout the day, so will have to look internally for an energy source. Within your body a good supply of energy is held within your fat cells, so by undertaking an activity which requires energy you will be burning up your body fat.

Exercising first thing in the morning will also jump start your metabolism. This early raise in your metabolism in the morning will set you up to burn more calories through out the day, even after you have finished your activity.

Another great thing about exercising in the morning is that it will give you a mental and physical lift for the rest of the day. You will find that you will feel mentally and physically energised post workout, helping you face whatever the day may have in store.

Finally you will find that once you get into the habit of waking up and exercising in the morning, will also help you to stick with your fat loss exercise program. There are less excuses and reasons why you can’t make you workout first thing in the morning, so you will make every training session. That is the key to successful weight loss, consistantly exercising and not missing any training sessions.

Try moving your cardio training to first thing in the morning, and I guarantee that you will be well on your way to achieving your fat loss goals.

It seems to be very hard to convince people that an increase in your protein intake will help you with your dieting for fat loss. Apart from the vital role that protein pays in the building and repair of your muscles, and the fact that that the more lean muscle you have the more calories your body burns even when resting. There is also another great reason why you should be increasing your protein intake.

A high protein diet will actually control your appetite and stop you from craving snacks in between meals. There has been research into this subject, and it has been found that meals with a higher content of protein keep your hunger at bay longer than a higher carb or fat (especially saturated fat).

So aim to spread your calories over six meals a day, every four hours and increase your protein intake. This will stop you from craving junk food and snacks between meals, and won’t leave you feeling hungry.  Aim for roughly 0.8 to 1.4 grams of protein per lb of bodyweight as a guide for your daily protein intake. Also spreading your meals into six small meals a day will help you control your food cravings by reducing the time you need to wait till you eat again.

Give a high protein diet a try and i’m sure you find the results pleasing.

Being a ‘Jumper’ is the main reason why people fail when trying to achieve both fat loss and muscle growth. A Jumper is some one who ‘jumps’ from diet to diet and from training program to training program, never staying with a one system long enough to find out whether it works or not. If they don’t see the results they want immediately, they assume that the diet or training program that they are following doesn’t work so they jump to the next one. While it is true that there are alot of diets and workout routines that don’t work, there are alot of good ones out there.

The key to getting the results that you want is to find a good program and stick with it. If you are trying to lose fat, look for a program that combines and good calorie controlled balanced diet, with a training routine which includes some resistance training and cardio sessions (jogging, exercisebike, rowing, etc.). With your diet you should stay away from all the fad diets, they just don’t work! This includes diets that cut out carbs completely, extremely low calorie diets, diets that tell you to eat just one type of food and no fat diets. Your body needs a certain amount of the good fats, just try and avoid saturated fats as much as possible. Your diet should have controlled calories and should include a variety of foods, obviously junk foods are a not included in the list! Remember that you need to combine exercise with your diet, it’s the best way to see great results.

When Looking for a Weight training program again look for a program that has a good high protein high calorie diet, combined with a sensible weight training routine. Remember rest is vital for your muscles to grow, so avoid any workout routines that tell you to train the same muscle groups more than twice a week maximum. Also don’t let yourself get drawn into the trap of believing the hype around some supplements that promise you miracle results, they don’t work,this also applies to diet pills if you are trying to lose weight. If a program is based around a specific supplement it should be avoided. 

So getting back to the point of this post, I did stray a bit with a few tips on selecting a program! Pick a sensible fat loss or muscle gain program to follow and stick with it, Jumping from program to program will never get you the results you want. Be patient, results may not be immediate but they will come. So remember, DON’T BE A JUMPER!