My Fat Loss Strategies

How Many Calories Should I Eat Daily?

Posted on 21. Nov, 2010 by admin.

A common question I get asked a lot is, “how many calories should I eat daily?.” This is a very good question because, as I’ve said over and over again, the basic principle of weight loss is calories in, calories out. If you violate this rule, you will have a difficult time seeing weight loss. I guarantee it.

I’ve given you a resource for calculating calorie deficit before and you can instantly download this tool from this article: “How to Calculate Your Calorie Deficit”. This tool will give you a good estimate of how many calories you should consume daily but I’ve found that, sometimes, the numbers can be way too high for people outside of the average population which most of these calculations are based on. If you are within the average population, your actual number may vary by a difference of 100-200 calories a day. In reality, this is only a rough starting point. But, after reading a recent e-book from Brad Pilon, I happened upon a better way to calculate your daily calorie intake.

You will most likely remember Brad Pilon as the author of Eat Stop Eat but recently, he came out with a joint project called, Venus Index. Pilon wrote the nutrition manual for Venus Index (VI) while his partner in crime, John Barban, created the amazing workouts. While I’m not ready to fully review the Venus Index yet, I’d like to talk about what I learned from Brad on the nutrition standpoint so far.

The nutrition manual for VI is entitled, “Body Centric Eating Manual.” Brad defines body centric eating as (his own words exactly): With Body-Centric Eating, the ‘end goal’ is a specific body weight and shape. We simply eat to obtain then maintain this shape and weight. With Calorie-Centric Eating, the ‘end goal’ is to eat a mathematically pre-determined amount of calories with hopes that this number will lead to weight loss. Brad also goes on to say that your calorie needs are largely determined by your height and your activity level. We’d like to think that having more muscle or eating more protein will help increase our metabolism which they do, but the increase in metabolism is not significant enough to make a difference in our weight loss efforts. But, I digress…

Brad then gave an ideal weight range for men and women based on their height and the minimum calorie intake we should be eating during extended periods of weight loss. For instance, for me (a female) with a height of 5’4″, my ideal weight range is 108 to 139 lbs. Based on my height, my minimum calorie intake is 1,250 calories a day. This number is lower than what I previously calculated since it does not take into account my activity level because this is a body centric equation. But what this number will do though is it will help me move towards my ideal body shape no matter what my activity level is. With the Venus Index, they suggest you do not go over 50% of your height. In my case, my waist should ideally be 40% of my height which is 25.5 inches.

Keep in mind that I don’t intend to eat 1,250 calories a day. I love food so much that eating as little as this is simply not sustainable. I would go off track on my 3rd day most likely…lol. It’s a great thing I use Eat Stop Eat. Brad suggests to treat 1,250 calories as a rolling average. This means I can have a 24 hour fast eating no calories at all so I can eat a lot more than 1,250 during the days I do eat. If I have confused you already, here is how my daily calorie intake looks like:

• Monday – Start Fast after lunch, eat only 850 calories
• Tuesday – end fast at lunch, eat only 850 calories
• Wednesday – full day of eating, eat 1,750 calories

Since I ate 400 calories less than what I’m supposed to 2 days in a row, I can eat an extra 800 calories on the days I do eat. What I tend to do is save these extra calories over the weekend when my husband and I go out to a nice restaurant or go to a social gathering of some sort. If I add in another 24-hour fast to my week, that is a whopping 1,600 calories extra I can eat over the weekend or on days I’d like to eat more. Now, you can see how I can maintain this “rolling average” of 1,250 calories a day even when I eat more on certain days. To make this simpler, if I multiplied 1,250 by 7 days, I have 8,750 calories to play with during the week and distribute it however I want. So, maybe the right question is “how many calories should I eat in a week?” instead of “how many calories should I eat daily?”.

What Brad has created here is a beautiful thing. Trying to lose weight or “dieting” no longer means canceling all your social functions or dinner with friends because “you can’t eat that stuff.” Really, this is as flexible as you can get. I wish I can post the actual table that Pilon used in the manual but I feel that I will be giving away too much information which he many not appreciate

But, if you are fully invested in getting results, I suggest you get the manual right now while it is still 40% off. You can get it here: Venus Index Systems. This is hands down, a great investment which will change the way you eat and the way you workout.

This is also one of the best programs developed for women and women only which means that you are not doing some workout designed for a dude. I don’t want to say too much about the workout yet because I am still reviewing it at this moment (i.e. actually doing the workouts in the real world which is my lab…haha) but if you just get this because you are interested in the “Body Centric Eating Manual,” you would have gotten your money’s worth already. All I can say about the workouts is I’m having fun with them.

Happy “dieting”!

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How to Get a Bigger Buttocks

Posted on 31. Oct, 2010 by admin.

Okay, maybe the title, “how to get a bigger buttocks,” may seem a little funny but a little Google keyword research made me think that this is a popular question a lot of people ask. Being a woman not originally blessed with Kim Kardashian-like buttocks, I can definitely relate to this question since, thanks to certain weight equipments and exercises, I now have a decent pair of buttocks I can be proud of. (They’re still not Kim-Kardashian-like but I’m not complaining…haha). So, I would love to give an answer for those of you out there who may have this question.

Before I go into detail about how to build a better butt, I want to tell you why most people seem to have a “flat” looking butt. If you are like me, I sit on my butt for most of the day. Whether you’re working in front of the computer, eating, watching television, etc. most of us spend a lot of time on the chair. This eventually leads to weakening of the glute muscles and also reduction in muscle size. Just like the old saying says, “use it or lose it.” This becomes a problem because our buttocks muscles are the biggest and strongest muscles in our body which serve several functions such as stabilizing our pelvis and aligning our spine. In short, having stronger glutes helps improve our posture and prevent back pain. In athletes, they train the glutes so they can jump higher or sprint faster. This is due to the fact that gluteus muscles are a part of the core muscles as I discussed in this article, Top 2 Reasons Having a Strong Core is Important.

So, the quick answer to getting bigger buttocks is to use it more often. You may have heard personal trainers or group fitness instructors say, “squeeze your glutes,” and they are right. During lower body exercises like squats, lunges, step ups, etc., doing this gives you that extra opportunity to get more contractions from your glute muscles. I always emphasize this in my bootcamps and as a result I have been called by my clients as the “butt patrol.”

How to Squeeze Your Glutes

Many people might think that squeezing your glutes is easy but what I find from training clients regularly is they do not seem to do it enough. What I mean by that is they just do not squeeze all the way. So, I correct this by using an analogy I learned from Pavel Tsatsouline when I first learned how to peform kettlebell swings. Pavel says, “when squeezing your glutes, imagine you’re squeezing a penny with your butt cheeks so that it does not fall out.” This usually helps my clients understand how hard they should squeeze

We got the “how” out of the way, let’s now discuss “when” to squeeze. The timing of the squeeze is usually intuitive. During squats, deadlifts, lunges, and swings, you should squeeze at the top of the movement when you are completely standing up. For instance, during squats, you squeeze your glutes as soon as you return to standing position before you do another repetition. During swings, you do this when the kettlebell is at shoulder height. To give you an idea, here is a video of me doing kettlebell swings:

Squeezing your glutes at the top of lower body movements also prevents you from leaning back therefore protecting your lower back from any possible injuries.

When I Found My Glutes…

For me, the first time I ever found out I actually possess a decent pair of buttocks was after a few weeks of performing kettlebell swings consistently. Swings help you get a lot more repetitions and therefore more glute contractions in less time compared to squats or deadlifts. Because swings are also done in a fast paced manner, you are also getting strength training and cardiovascular training at the same time. So, my advice for those of you out there who wants to get a bigger buttocks, start incorporating leg exercises into your routine and end with kettlebell swings for your cardio routine instead of running or heading to the elliptical.

For a sample kettlebell and overall body workout which revs up your metabolism in as little as 20 minutes, check out the end of this post, What is a Kettlebell?.

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The Top 3 Arm Toning Exercises for Sexy Arms

Posted on 17. Oct, 2010 by admin.

Lately, I have been obsessed at doing arm toning exercises. Well, maybe obsessed is not the right word. But let’s just say I have been focusing on doing them more during the past few weeks because I have been neglecting them from my previous workouts. Whenever I switch my goals to fat loss and start doing multi-joint movements like squats, lunges, military presses, etc, my arms are usually the last thing I think about in terms of training. To fix this, I do some arm toning exercises after my multi-joint exercises whenever I have time.

Before I move on with the topic at hand, I want to make sure you do not get the idea that simply doing these exercises on their own will help you get rid of your arm fat. You know what I’m talking about: it’s the fat that “jiggles” whenever you wave bye bye. The only solution to losing this area of fat is to lose weight overall. The same goes for belly fat and fat in other stubborn areas of our body. However, these arm exercises will make your arm muscles more visible as you lose weight. The result is a “toned look” for your arms just like you see in celebrities like Jada Pinkett Smith (picture), Jessica Biel, Courteney Cox, and Jennifer Aniston, just to name a few.

The Top 3 Arm Toning Exercises for Sexy Arms

Bicep Curls

Bicep curls are probably the most common exercise for toning the arms being that they are most prominent (not biggest) muscle of the arms. These are the muscles on the upper, front part of your arm. To perform this exercise, hold a dumbbell or a barbell in both hands with your arms straight and palms facing away from you. Slowly curl your arms towards your chest and slowly lower to starting position. The most common mistake in performing bicep curls is not concentrating on the lowering or negative part of the exercise. To get the maximum benefit from this exercise, do them as I described in this post. If you do not have access to the gym, you may use resistance bands in replacement of dumbbells or barbells.

There are other variations to bicep curls such as hammer curls where your palms are facing each other during the lift. This helps you target a different area of your biceps. You may also squeeze your curl at the top to get more muscle contractions from this exercise.

Deltoid Raises or Lateral Raises

The deltoid muscles are the muscles on the side of your upper arms that are shaped like a triangle (fyi, deltoid is greek for triangle). These muscles are smaller compared to your other arm muscles so you would not need a lot of weight to perform deltoid raises. In addition, because you are lifting the weights away from your body, you are losing leverage which will require lighter weights. Most women can start with 5 lb weights in each hand or the lightest resistance band. Men can start with 10 lb weights or higher depending on strength.

To perform lateral raises, hold a dumbbell or resistance band handles in each hand. If you’re using resistance bands, you will step on the band with one foot to hold the band in place. Start with your arms resting on your sides with palms facing toward your thighs. Lift your arms slowly towards shoulder level or until they are parallel to the ground. Slowly lower down your arms to starting position and repeat. You may also position your palms facing forward during deltoid raises to target a different part of your deltoid.

Triceps Extensions

The triceps are the muscles on the back area of your upper arm behind the biceps. Triceps exercises can be called many different names but all of them require extending the triceps. So, for the purpose of this article, we will call them triceps extensions. The most common way to perform triceps extensions is overhead while standing up or lying down on your back. To start, hold light dumbbells and extend arms overhead with your palms facing each other while standing or lying down. Slowly lower the weights behind your head being careful not to hit your head with the weights. Slowly go back to starting position and repeat.

You can also perform triceps extensions with ropes, cables or bands. For instance, most resistance bands come with a door attachment which you can place close to the top of a door hinge to create some distance between your hands and the other end of the band. Face the door and hold the band handles with palms facing each other. Your arms should make a 90 degree angle at your elbows. Pull down on the bands and lock your elbows to contract your triceps and slowly go back to starting position. This is one repetition. The same action can be done with ropes and cables.

Craig Ballatyne, creator of the popular and effective fat loss workouts, Turbulence Training, actually created a 3-minute Arm workout just for biceps and triceps. Craig designed this to be a short-workout to be done after your regular training. Here is and example:

• To be done with 4 sets of 6 repetitions
• Choose a weight you can normally lift for 8 repetiitions but only perform 6 reps
• Bicep Curls – 6 reps at 1-0-1 tempo (lower 1 second, no pause, return to starting position for 1 second)
• Tricep Extenstion – 6 reps at 1-0-1 tempo
• Craig didn’t include this but you can add Deltoid Raises for 6 reps also at 1-0-1 tempo
• Do not rest in between each exercises. Rest 1 min after all 3 exercises and repeat 3 more times for a total of 4 sets.

The first time you do these arm toning exercises, you may feel a little sore the next day or so. To avoid being to sore to the point that you can’t straighten your arm, make sure you stretch or foam roll the muscles you just trained.

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Top 2 Reasons Having a Strong Core is Important

Posted on 10. Oct, 2010 by admin.

The latest buzz word in fitness is core training. You probably hear these words thrown around by your personal trainer, yoga instructor or during news casts and weight loss infomercials as being an important part of our training for overall health and fitness. Before I became a fitness professionally, I didn’t really know what that meant. Okay, I thought it meant doing tons of ab exercises to get six pack abs. Wait, are you telling me I was wrong?

Well, maybe I was a little bit right about that way of thinking but really there is more to having core strength than just having six pack abs.

The Top 2 Reasons Having a Strong Core is Important

Reason #1: Transfer of Movement and Energy

The core muscles are at the center of our body. Hence the name. A lot of people tend to think that this only pertains to the the ab muscles but the core actually also includes all the muscle groups that stabilize the spine and the pelvis (hip area) like our gluteus muscles (butt muscles) and erector spinae muscles (one of the major spine muscles), to name a few. Because of the location of these muscles, we transfer energy through each muscle in the core every time we move. From simple movements like walking, running, sitting, getting up, getting down, jumping, to lifting objects such as in weight lifting, you can bet we are reliant on our core to generate energy and facilitate movement.

Having a weak core can be detrimental to our overall health and fitness but having a strong core can give you many benefits such as:

• Greater efficiency during movements
• Increased strength and power output during weight lifting exercises where we use our core such as squats, deadlift, chest presses, jumps, etc.
• Improved body control, balance, and stability

The benefits of having a strong core can benefit us not just at the gym but more so in real life situations like unexpected falls or turns where balance is important. Using our core during jumping and running can also protect our back and joints by acting as shock absorbers from the impact generated from these types of activities upon hitting the ground.

Reason #2: Stabilize Spine and Pelvis

Our core muscles help keep our spine erect and our hips in the neutral position. Our abdominal muscles especially protect our lower back by stabilizing our spine during movement. Many back problems happen, when our spine gets out of aligment because of a movement done with weak core which can also result to even more problems down the road. This is due to the fact that the spine is our central nervous system’s main pathway of communication to other parts of our body including our brain. Messing up the spine is like closing the major roadway in a big city – a lot of things will not get done and pretty soon, big problems will occur.

What You Can Do Today

The most common and beneficial core training exercises you can start doing today are plank, side plank, and hanging leg raises just to name a few. Doing push ups is another great way to strengthen abdominal muscles even though it is more thought of as a total body exercise. In all the exercises above, a lot more muscle groups are involved instead of just the abdominals. This is a good sign of an appropriate core exercise which is also the reason I didn’t include crunches in the list.

When doing any static exercise like the plank and side plank, start by holding the position for 20 seconds up to 3 times each time with a rest in between and work your way up as you get better at it. As for push ups, you can start doing a modified version on your knees if you’re a beginner and progress to doing regular and advanced push ups as you get stronger.

Doing these exercises for your core will help you get stronger in a lot of weight lifting and body weight exercises and will help you prevent any injuries you may get from every day movement or playing sports.

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A Simple Stress Fix that Flattens Abs Too

Posted on 26. Sep, 2010 by admin.

Photo by Mike Hoff

I started lifting weights because I knew that it will help me get stronger bones. As a woman, Osteoporosis is a big concern for me. I started working out because I wanted to lose the belly bulge. But, recently, I found out that there are lasting benefits to keeping our bodies moving when it comes to reducing stress.

First, let’s define what stress is and what it does to our bodies. Stress is basically the response we get when faced with overwhelming situations like work deadlines, money problems, relationship issues, etc. When we get into these and similar situations, our bodies respond by increasing the production of the hormone, cortisol, as a part of our fight or flight response. Normally, when the stress causing situation goes away, our bodies return to normal. But, the kind of stress we experience these days are usuall ongoing which keeps our Cortisol levels up for days.

What Stress is and What Cortisol Does to Us

When we have elevated Cortisol, we tend to store more fat in our abdominal area. I believe there was a drug that was being advertised on T.V. that was supposed to control Cortisol. Anyway, apart from that side effect that none of us really want, stress also causes us to develop unhealthy eating habits. I definitely recognize the times when I reach for something sweet or when I feel like “indulging” myself when I encounter stressful situations. Additionally, stress is also associated with some of the most common chronic diseases known to man.

Looking at Some Facts and Figures

Note: I got these figures from an article in Fitness Magazine.

• 75% of people in the United States feel stressed out
• Almost half of us eat unhealthfully because of it
• 47% of us can’t sleep because of stress. I am definitely one of those sometimes.
• It makes 1 in 3 of us depressed and for 42% of us, it has gotten worse in the last year.

How to Manage Stress and Keep it That Way

Most of us know that taking a few deep breaths during stressful times will help manage stress. But, the hormonal response when we’re stressed can be powerful that we don’t even think about this trick. So far, the latest scientific research reveals that exercise is the best remedy to stress. One study at Princeton put animals on a six-week aerobic conditioning program, then compared their brains with a group that remained sedentary. The scientists found that the brains of the animals who were exercising transformed into a biochemically calm state over time that stayed steady even when they were under stress. On the other hand, the sedentary animals’ brains continued to react strongly to anxiety-inducing situations.

The better news for me and other women (sorry men) out there is we naturally and hormonally handle stress better compared to men. To even out the playing field, we can all incorporate regular exercise to our lifestyle which changes our brain, so it takes more stress to trigger the fight or flight response (John Ratey, M.D., Harvard Medical School).

Dr. Ratey at the Harvard Medical School says that cardiovascular activity (which I assume exercise in general as well) helps the heart pump more blood to the brain. More blood means more oxygen and more oxygen means better nourished brain cells. The brain cells become more active and boosts the production of a protein called brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). BDNF fortifys our brain cells which prevents them from breaking when exposed to stress. BDNF actually helps preserve the brain cells we already have and helps make new ones. This is a great benefit in my book. This may even help us prevent Alzheimer’s Disease down the road – just my guess.

All these benefits sound too good to be true so what’s the catch? If our bodies become sedentary again, the brain cells shrink. So, to maintain the effects, you have to keep working out The stress fighting power of exercise just gives me more reasons to hit the gym or the road (with my running shoes of course) more often. Besides, exercise makes me feel good and gives me the power to change how I’m feeling if I’m having a not-so great day. I’ve found that finding reasons like these to keep exercising helps keep me on track and fuel me to get my workouts in even on days when I don’t feel like it.

So, the next time you’re debating going to the gym, tell yourself, “I want to increase my stress fighting power today.”

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Do Food Allergies Prevent Weight Loss?

Posted on 06. Sep, 2010 by admin.

I’ve written about food allergies and sensitivities before in my blog. In fact, I even wrote about my elimination diet experience in this article, “What I’m Going to Do in the Next 30 Days.” Since my first round of elimination diet in 2009, I have since learned a lot more about food sensitivities and have been really fascinated as to how they occur and what we can do to avoid them. Ultimately, I was interested in finding out which types of foods causes digestion problems, health problems, and the inability to lose weight.

I got even more curious after a client of mine, Mary (not her real name), who was diagnosed with Celiac disease had trouble losing weight even after reporting to be eating fairly healthy, low calorie meals and working out with me twice a week for almost 8 weeks. I was baffled. After some research, I found a few facts about Celiac Disease from www.celiac.org. Here they are:

Celiac Disease (CD) is a lifelong inherited autoimmune condition affecting children and adults. When people with CD eat foods that contain gluten, it creates an immune-mediated toxic reaction that causes damage to the small intestine and does not allow food to be properly absorbed. Even small amounts (1/8 of a teaspoon) of gluten in foods can affect those with CD and cause health problems. Damage can occur to the small bowel even when there are no symptoms present.

Gluten is the common name for the proteins in specific grains that are harmful to persons with celiac disease. These proteins are found in ALL forms of wheat (including durum, semolina, spelt, kamut, einkorn and faro) and related grains rye, barley and triticale and MUST be eliminated.

Here is a list of foods (other than Gluten) which may cause food allergies:

• Soy and Soy Products
• Peanuts
• Wheat/Gluten and gluten containing products
• Dairy
• Eggs
• Alcohol
• Coffee
• Ingredients in most processed foods like preservatives

So, to help Mary out, I had her write a full week’s worth of meals so I can review them for her and eliminate the usual “suspects” that cause food allergies or food that may contain gluten. I did this because when people say they are eating healthy, it really is relative when it comes to food allergies. For instance, I might think that whole wheat bread is healthy but if I’m sensitive to gluten then, I would still get sick.

In Mary’s case, I found that she had been drinking her protein drink each morning which is made out of soy ingredients. Soy is one of the usual suspects when it comes to food allergies and sensitivities. I had her stop drinking it and she came in one day with a 1 lb weight loss. That is just from taking out the soy “drink” but we still have lots of work to do. After looking into her food diary in more detail, I found that she is still eating regular bread which has gluten, dairy products, ranch dressing, ice cream, crackers, and all sorts of cheeses. While I’m not implying that she may be allergic to dairy, it could be one of the causes of her food allergies. We will never know until she fully takes them out of her diet. Even after her medical tests have shown she’s not allergic to gluten, having celiac disease means she can not tolerate this protein which means that tests can only tell us so much. The real experiment happens in the real world when you stop eating allergy causing foods and start feeling better.

In my case, my little experiments told me that I’m sensitive to dairy and peanuts for sure. I now have switched my Whey protein to a Vegan protein powder that I truly love. I used to think that I’m sensitive to wheat/gluten because I used to eat my breads with peanut butter. Now I know for sure that it was the peanuts that was making me sick and bloated. Whether I’m sensitive to wheat or not still remains to be seen but to err on the side of caution, I let myself have gluten free days.

While I was researching my content for this article, I came across a blog by Alison St. Sure who was also diagnosed with Celiac disease. At her Sure Foods Living Blog, she wrote an article about, “Why are food allergies on the rise?”. If you want to see the answer to this question, you should head over to her blog and find out. I totally agree with her reasons #3 and #4.

What Do Food Allergies Have to Do with Weight Loss?

When we are allergic to certain things, our bodies treat them as toxins which in turn prevents our digestive system from working to its full potential. We end up storing toxins in our fat cells to keep them away from our vital organs which results to water retention. In addition, our ability to absorb nutrients from the foods we eat is impaired which may cause problems in other systems in our body. But, be aware that even if you are eating non-allergenic foods and/or gluten free foods, you may still not lose weight if you’re eating more calories that you are supposed to eat.

To gain more understanding on how common and real food allergies and sensivities are, watch this short video:

Regarding the above video, I agree with her when she defines the word “diet” as a way of eating and not a specific weight loss program that you do for a short period of time. However, I disagree when she says that eating gluten free is simply a fad. It may be a fad for some celebrities but for real people who experience discomfort and disease, it will be a way of life.

For people who have been diagnosed with Celiac Disease, here is a great book from The View Cohost, Elisabeth Hasselbeck which you can buy from Amazon.com => The G Free Diet. You can also check out her web site at www.gfreediet.com.

The Benefits from Eating Allergen-free Foods

Personally, I have experienced many unexpected benefits from eating allergen-free foods. I say unexpected because I originally was just experimenting with taking these foods out of my diet and seeing if I will lose weight. To my surprise, I also experienced increased sex drive (too personal I know but it’s a very important breakthrough for me), less hunger, no more cravings, deeper and more relaxing sleep, less bloating and water retention, fitting into clothes better, a few pounds of weight lost, better smelling breath even with dry mouth, a real feeling of wellness, etc. I can go on and on about all the benefits I have experienced and this is also why I am writing about this topic. I want to share my experience with you hoping you will try it and experience the benefits yourself.

For more information on eating gluten free or living with celiac disease, you may visit the resources I’ve mentioned above which I also list here:

• The G Free Diet
• http://surefoodsliving.com
• www.celiac.org
• Gluten Free Baking Recipes: http://glutenfreemamafriends.blogspot.com

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Top 2 Ab Flattening Strategies that Work

Posted on 15. Aug, 2010 by admin.

Let’s face it, a lot of us have stubborn areas of fat that we just can’t seem to get rid of no matter what we do. Well, that is if you haven’t tried the two strategies that I’m about to talk about. Just a note before I move on, this is not your typical fitness article telling you to eat the right foods and move more. Those help but these two strategies are even more powerful because it works from the inside. You will see what I mean as I talk about how these strategies work.

The techniques I’m talking about will not be very new to you but I will go deeper into how they work. I’m talking about fasting and the elimination diet. If you have done them before, you may know that they really work to get rid of stubborn areas of fat but you may not have known how they work. Let’s talk about that now…

Fasting and Hormones

Brad Pilon, author of Eat Stop Eat (ESE), talks about the hormonal changes that happen in our bodies during a fast. I will discuss some of the main hormones in this post but if you’d like a detailed explanation for each of the hormones involved (and there are many other besides the ones I talk about here), I suggest you read his book.

The first and very important hormone in fasting or digestion in general is insulin. Our pancreas releasse insulin after we eat a meal and our body goes into fat storing mode. During fasting or times when we do not have food in our system, our insulin levels go down which means that we go into fat burning mode. Because we do not have any food to burn for energy during this time, our body burns our stored body fat for energy instead. This is the beauty of fasting – burning stored body fat!

Fasting has also been scientificially shown to increase insulin sensitivity. This can be especially beneficial to people who have diabetes in their family like I do. Diabetes happens when the insulin hormone is no longer responsive to the changes in your blood sugar. As a result, your body would not be able to lower glucose levels in your body. When you increase insulin sensitivity through fasting, your body will become more efficient at regulating your blood sugars which lowers your risk for diabetes. This is one of the major reasons I turned to fasting because both sides of my family are prone to diabetes.

The other major hormone involved during fasting is growth hormone. Growth hormone is popular among the rich and famous because of its fat burning and muscle building effects. Celebrities pay huge amounts of money to be injected with growth hormone. But, regular folks like us can harness the power of growth hormones through fasting. During fasts, our growth hormone levels go up which means our body burns even more fat in combination with the lack of insulin in our system. Plus, we build muscle which we all know is an active tissue which burns even more calories.

As you can see, all these hormonal responses favor fat burning and because the effects are happening at the hormonal level, the changes are even more powerful. In essence, we are making long term physiological changes each time we fast at the same time that we are reducing our calorie intake.

Eliminating Toxins and Allergens

You’ve heard me talk about the elimination diet before. If you need a refresher on that, read this series starting with this post: Starting the Elimination Diet.

For this particular diet, I eliminated wheat, dairy, caffeine, sugar, processed foods, and alcohol. These are the most common foods or food components that are toxic to our body or cause allergic reactions because they are so prevalent in our food supply. In general, we store toxins in our fat cells. If you’re familiar with the process of osmosis, liquids follow the direction where there’s more solutes or toxins. For example, when we have toxins in our fat cells, liquids follow the toxins causing us to store extra fluids in our fat cells. It just so happens that these toxins mainly reside in the fat cells under our belly button (that little pooch in our lower abs that we all hate…lol). So, once we free our bodies of toxins, the fluids follow and we eliminate stubborn areas of fat.

Not everyone is sensitive to all the foods listed above but you would not be able to tell what the culprit is if you do not completely eliminate it from your diet and introduce it back to see how it affects you. For instance, I eliminated peanuts or peanut butter from my diet for several days, after just one tablespoon of peanut butter, I felt bloated and gassy. I know it’s too much information but this is very important information you’d like to know about your body since food sensitivities can cause some serious problems in the long run besides difficulty losing weight. Once you find which foods you are particularly sensitive to and avoid them, you will find that you have less bulge in stubborn areas, prevent unwanted weight gain, and reduced digestive problems.

These two strategies have been particularly helpful to me and my clients and they are highly effective once you follow them routinely. From experience, I’ve also found that they are not very difficult to follow as long as you plan your days ahead. If you have any questions about any of the ideas discussed here, please do not hesitate to post them below.

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A Fool-Proof Guide to Building Muscle

Posted on 01. Aug, 2010 by admin.

Note: Today’s article is a guest post from JC at JCDFitness

Building muscle; it’s a fairly simple concept. Really, it is. However, due to the advent of the internet, mass media, opposing viewpoints, exercise elitists and just plain garbage, we’ve been left with a ton of options and endless confusion.

The good news is there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

Now before we get into the process, I must preface that building muscle, despite what many might tell you, is not an easy process. It requires lots of hard work, adequate nutrition, ample amounts of rest and dedication. However, it doesn’t have to take over your entire life. In fact, I wouldn’t like you to spend any more than 5 hours per week training.

The ultimate goal, when training for hypertrophy, is to get the most bang for your buck. Now how do we make such an effective approach so efficient?

Easy. We simply focus on what works and keep things simple.

Training for Muscle Gain

As I said earlier, it’s easy to get lost in the sea of craziness when it comes to knowing exactly what to do when muscle gain is your goal. First of all, let’s just establish the fact that there are many training programs which produce results. There are also a slew of training programs which are subpar and far less optimal for the average person looking to build their physique.

The goal here is to take a look at what’s worked for the masses and then develop something similar or do exactly what they’ve done.

Many popular training programs are full body, a push/pull scheme or an upper/lower split. What many will notice immediately with these types of training protocols is frequency. Without even going into what’s involved with each style of programming, we know that if one is training 3-4 times per week, each muscle group is being worked at least twice per week – sometimes more.

Higher frequency weight training, especially for the natural athlete, is crucial to optimal gains in muscle mass. The reason being is due to neural processes as well as adaptive processes. Neurally speaking, the more you do something, the better you become at it.

Want to learn how to dribble a basketball with your non-dominant hand? Practice. Interested in becoming good at juggling fireballs whilst riding a unicycle and peeling an orange with your eyelids? You must practice – a lot. The same applies to weight training. The more you perform certain movements, the better and more efficient you become at them. Now this is not to say one should be doing heavy bench presses or squats every single day but a few times per week and even 3-4 times for the beginner is usually a good thing.

As far as the adaptive component goes, each time you train a muscle, it gets broken down. Now, if you created an anabolic effect via your training methods, you have the chance to produce growth in said muscle groups, assuming your recovery and nutrient intake are both up to par.

Each time you train is an opportunity for growth – if you play your cards right.

The stimulus responsible for muscle growth is progressive overload. Simply, this means your goal should be to become stronger over a given period of time. A good way to measure progress is be recording your training in a journal and noting each time you are able to improve the weight you lifted or the reps you performed. Over a period of six months to a year, substantial progress can be had assuming the trainee is relatively new to strength training. Heck, even seasoned vets can make considerable progress assuming their training protocol is optimal for their experience level.

Guidelines For Program Design

A general rule is to train for strength gains and ensure caloric needs are met. While popular strength training programs (very heavy loading with weights in the 3-6 rep ranges) are popular and produce great results, most will find the most success when training each muscle group 2-3 times per week with anywhere from 6-12 reps per set.

Strength training, in this sense, simply means getting stronger over time, despite what rep ranges you’re using.

Regardless of whether you’re training 3 times a week using a full body routine or an upper/lower split over 4 days, here are your guidelines:

• Pick one primary movement per muscle group and perform a total of 25-30 reps per movement (not including warm-ups). When you do the math, this leaves you with a few options: 3×8-10, and 4×6-8.
• Stick with compound movements in the form of barbells, dumbbells and machines. Isolation movements have their place but shouldn’t ever be a primary movement. Leg presses, squats, chins, bench presses and rows are good movements.
• Pick a weight you can do in a given rep range and try to maintain that weight for all sets and reps. If you are unable to, just drop the weight by 5-10% for the subsequent sets.
• 1-3 minute rest periods depending on your personal work capacity and conditioning.
• Don’t go to failure every single session. Only go to failure one workout every 3-4 weeks or so and of course, only do it when a spotter is present.
• Try to increase weight or reps whenever possible and make note of increases in a journal to track progress.
• Don’t train heavy every single session. Always take a break from heavy training once every 6-8 weeks. An easy way to do this is to reduce the loads by about 20-25% for a few workouts or take a couple days off completely.

One common myth I’d like to dispel before I go any further is how some feel about how a female should train. There is no reason women should not be doing the same movements and routines as men. Our bodies are built the exact same way, despite differences in hormones and sex organs. Our anatomy is practically identical and the same rules that apply to men also apply to women. So ladies, enjoy pushing yourself and continually getting stronger!

Sufficient Energy Intake Is The Only Way To Grow

Despite what you may hear or read about one being able to magically gain slabs of muscle and torch their body fat simultaneously, someone’s got to bear the bad news. In most cases, the reports are extremely over exaggerated and the only time a person achieves both goals at the same time is usually when they first start out. After a few months of training, losing fat whilst gaining muscle becomes almost impossible.

So, forget everything you’ve heard about being able to accomplish both goals at the same time and make sure your efforts are focused and consistent. If you want to build muscle, you’ve got to train sensibly and eat enough to fuel those gains.

For starters, if you’re a complete beginner and have never been in the weight room, you’ve likely lots of room for growth. As one advances, the gains become slower and some dietary changes will be in order to ensure progress is continually made.

Calculating Your Intake

The general rule thrown out most of the time is to eat a surplus of calories every single day whilst training anywhere from 3-6 times per week. Now this is usually pretty practical advice assuming the trainee has some common sense and objectivity. However, I’ve seen many guys go on a “bulk” that results in rapid weight gain, most of which is fatty tissue that has to be dieted off at some point – no fun.

So, it’s important to make note of your intake and ensure you’re consuming enough to grow. Enough is not synonymous with eating everything in sight.

Since your goal is muscle gain, first you should set your protein intake.

Let’s say you’re a 150lb, skinny male who wishes to put on 20lbs. First you will agree to eat at least your body weight in protein. After you’ve set your protein, you should then determine your caloric intake. A good rule of thumb is to consume 400-600 calories over your maintenance intake daily.

In theory, this should net about a 1 pound increase in body weight per week. If you’re a bit conservative in your approach, afraid of getting too fat or are well past the beginner phases, it’s perfectly fine to consume your surplus on training days only while eating less (around maintenance) on your rest days. Just don’t go too low on your off days so that you inhibit the recovery process.

Quick Calorie Guidelines:

Calories – Maintenance + 400-600 calories
Protein – 1xBW in grams
Fat – 20-30% of your total calories
Carbohydrate – fill in the rest to meet calorie goals

For women and intermediate to advanced trainees, consuming a surplus of calories everyday will likely result in unnecessary fat gain; therefore it’s advisable to consume your extra calories on training days only. Also, since women can expect to gain about half the muscle mass of a man over her lifetime, naturally without drugs, I always advice them to cut these numbers in half. So your goal for surplus calories should be around 200-300 over maintenance on training days. This can equate to simply adding a shake and some extra carbs around your workouts.

Pre/Post Workout Nutrition

As the esteemed Alan Aragon once told me, landing your macros day in and day out is far more important than meal timing will ever be. I am of the same mindset and in general, I tell clients to focus on enjoying their food, hitting numbers but never having a set meal plan.

For most, it’s beneficial to sandwich your workouts with a nice dose of protein and carbs. An example would be a few bananas, a spoonful of peanut butter and some lean protein 2-3 hours before training and then follow it up with a similar meal post workout (lately, I’ve been hung up on drinking chocolate milk and devouring a bowl of white rice smothered in honey for my post workout meal). As long as you take care of your pre/post workout intake, I could care less when you eat your other meals – just make sure to eat them.

Wrapping Up, Finally

I know I can get wordy. However, when you put the pieces together, building muscle can actually become a fairly simple equation when you break it down.

All you have to do is commit to a solid program, take the time necessary to build strength on your primary movements and eat enough to fuel your recovery. While it’s not easy, it is a simple process. All it merely takes is some commitment on your part.

JC is the author of JCDFitness; where he writes about muscle hypertrophy, fat loss, and his relaxed approach to all things fitness. He is also the co-founder for Fitmarker.com which is a site that allows you to bookmark, share, discover and discuss the best fitness articles, workouts, photos and videos that the web has to offer all in one convenient place. Be sure to check out his free eBook, A No-BS Approach to Looking Great Naked and follow him on Twitter.

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More Ways to Perform Intermittent Fasting

Posted on 25. Jul, 2010 by admin.

Since I have read the e-book, Eat Stop Eat (ESE) by Brad Pilon, a couple of years ago, fasting has become a majorly accepted way to lose stubborn fat in the fitness industry. This can be due to the fact that a lot of people have seen how effective it is in terms of losing weight even though your diet is less than perfect. If you haven’t heard of Eat Stop Eat, here is a little background for you in this article: Fasting for Weight Loss: Unravelling the Controversy. The article talks about how I first came about fasting and my experience and results from applying it.

Since I wrote that article, fasting has become a way of life for me. It has given me freedom from obsessive-compulsive eating and counting each calorie that goes through my mouth. But, do not get me wrong. I still pay attention to what I eat and I eat fairly healthily but I find comfort in the fact that I can still occasionally enjoy not-so-healthy foods every now and then and not put my health and fitness progress to a screeching halt.

I originally started with two 24-hour fasts as outlined in Eat Stop Eat. But, I find that during the winter months, I get really cold and my body can not tolerate this long of a fast. The longer fasts works well for me during the summer as I stay nice and cool even though it’s 100 degrees outside. So, in my quest to keep up with my fasting during the winter months or have an alternative choice when I do not want to do 24-hour fasts, I searched other fitness blogs for an answer. I was fortunate to find two very well-researched and applied blogs that talk about different ways to perform intermittent fasting.

Other Fasting Protocols

The first one is the IF Life by Mike O’Donnell. Mike has been an experienced fitness blogger who has been advocating fasting for as long as Eat Stop Eat was released (just getting this from memory but he has been blogging for quite sometime and has quite a following). Just like Brad, Mike tells you about the benefits of fasting and outlines a few ways that you can do a fast. You can get his free-report here: IF Life Free Report and read it for more information. Mike is also known for calling this strategy intermittent feeding as fasting may turn off some people when they hear it for the first time.

The second one that I found was from fellow fitness blogger, Martin Berkhan, at Leangains.com. I like Martin’s site because he specifically outlines the ways that you can fast based on what time of day you workout. For instance, I am currently following his early morning, fasted training protocol where I take Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) 3 times in the morning before a workout, several minutes post-workout, and 2 hours after that. I then eat my biggest meal at noon and eat during my 6-hour feeding window. Please note that Martin recommended an 8-hour feeding window but since I only eat about 1500 calories, I can eat during these 6 hours, feel satisfied, and have a longer fasting window. I also sleep fairly early so eating my last meal at 6 p.m. helps me sleep better at night without the disturbance of digestion during my sleep.

If you’re interested in other ways to fast besides the Eat Stop Eat way, you can read Martin’s post here: Lean Gains Guide. In this page, he talks about how you can include fasting if you workout in the morning, at noon, and in the afternoon. He also talks about how you should distribute your macronutrients between meals and during workout days.

I have been doing a 6-hour feeding window for 3 weeks now and I have to say that it has been working very well for me. I do not see a decrease in strength at the gym and the shorter fasting window is a bit more manageable especially with my busy schedule. My husband asked me the other day what I’ve been doing differently because he’s noticed the changes in my body already and I said – just the way I fast.

To me, if you can do something consistently over time with fewer rules, the more likely I’ll be able to stick to it for the long run. This is definitely the key to programs like Eat Stop Eat and other ways of fasting. They have helped me get the benefits of fasting such as increase insulin sensitivity (less prone to diabetes), increase fat burning in stubborn areas, increase in growth hormone (favors fat burning and preserves muscle mass) and much more. At the same time, I am able to stick to a long-term nutrition plan instead of a fad diet that is difficult to follow and not recommended to be used for long periods of time.

If you haven’t ventured into the intermittent fasting world, I suggest you start looking at it and find out how you can incorporate it into your lifestyle. But, be aware that this is not one of those “diets” that promise to help you lose weight fast (which is a too good to be true claim anyway). Intermittent fasting will give you a way to continually better your health and constantly reduce stubborn areas of fat when you follow it consistently.

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5 Running Alternatives for People with Knee Problems

Posted on 11. Jul, 2010 by admin.

As a fitness trainer who trains people with different backgrounds and walks of life, I have to be able to modify exercises in varying situations. A common issue that I see in a lot of my current clients is having knee problems due to past injury, arthritis, and other causes. Due to these issues, they can not perform certain exercises like running or jumping because either it hurts their knees or it would just be a bad idea because doing those exercises can aggravate the issues they’re already having.

So, I’ve compiled 5 different options that you can do if you are one of those people who do not want to further worsen your knee problems. This article can also help those people who are looking for an alternative to running which we all should do to avoid overuse injuries.

Alternative #1: The Rowing Machine

The rowing machine is the first one on this list because it provides a great, total body cardiovascular exercise and helps burn a ton of calories without causing knee joint problems later on. Because you are using mostly your upper body in this exercise, it is considered a low impact exercise. Many women can also benefit to switching to rowing instead of running because it helps increase your upper body strength which many women fitness begginers seem to lack. Plus, it will help give you a nice, toned look to your back when you wear back baring tops during the summer.

The rowing machines are usually empty when I go to the gym which is another benefit to using them – easy access. If you would rather use it at home, there are many simple and cheap rowing machines available in the market.

Alternative #2: The Stairmaster

Depending on what your knee problems are, the stairmaster provides simiar cardiovascular benefits compared to the treadmill if not better. However, some people may have trouble using these machines because of the angle that it puts your knees in during the stair climb. Even if it is low impact, make sure that your knees will fair well when you step up to each stair step. When in doubt, avoid using it.

For those people who can use the stairmaster, you can do interval training on it by varying time and intensity which is far easier to manipulate compared to the treadmill.

Alternative #3: Kettlebell Swings

I would have put this on #1 if not for the proper skills you will need in learning this movement. Kettlebells swings may seem so easy to do but a lot of people tend to have a difficult time executing this exercise properly even with proper instructions. It takes a few sessions with a certified kettlebell instructor and enough practice on your own to get this movement right.

Once you know how to properly perform kettlebell swings, you can get an amazing cardiovascular workout with one kettlebell in as little as 20 minutes a day. In addition to strengthening your core and your back, swings can also give your butt a nice, toned, lifted look that a lot of us are after. This exercise puts little to no impact on your knees and almost anyone can perform this exercise.

Alternative #4: Stationary Bikes

There are a few types of bikes that can be found at your local gym. These can range from stationary, upright, or indoor cycling bikes. Which one you choose depends on the angle that your knees can take. One thing you also have to keep in mind is the position of your back when sitting on the bike. The indoor cycling bikes, the ones that are used for spinning classes, are probably the ones that best mimic biking outdoors because of the many settings you can use to change your intensity. The stationary bikes provides the most back support because you can sit on it as if you’re sitting on a regular chair.

One thing to note is you can still perform high and low intensity intervals on whichever bike you choose. Again, these are great low impact alternatives compared to running which helps your joints last longer.

Alternative #5: Walking Uphill

If you do not care to buy fancy equipment and you can not run, walking uphill beats walking on level ground. By walking uphill, you can increase strength in your lower body as it provides some resistance as you walk while also giving your heart enough challenge to give you cardiovascular fitness. You can do interval style training by walking uphill for the high intensity part and then walking downhill for your recovery period part of the workout.

As you can see, there are many options available to you even if you have bad knees. It is just a matter of finding what works for your specific situation. In the future, I will discuss exercise modifications for people with knee issues.

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