No Bad....Just Good.....Better and Best

No Bad.....Good...better & Best!

Over the last few months I've done allot of reading and research and I've seen some really poor articles and I've seen some really great articles that provide people with information they can actually use.

Some self proclaimed industry experts are writing articles to self promote their own personal agendas and that in my opinion is where the confusion begins. Many of these gurus will bash sound exercise programs telling people that some exercises that have been around for decades are absolutely useless. In fact I read just a few days ago where one of the self promoting gurus announced that the Tricep push-down exercise is a complete waste of time. In fact the use of machine weights were a waste of time in his strongly opinionated article. What's really sad many people will buy this garbage and stop the exercises completely.

In my opinion, there is always a good, better & best with everything and that includes exercise.

Every single person that has decided to begin an exercise program should do just one thing to start and that is get up off your butt and MOVE!

No one will ever improve their health sitting around talking about how they are going to get in shape. So less talk and more action!

Next is really simple, do NOT get caught-up reading articles in magazines because 95% of them are written to get you to buy a supplement or a program by the gurus of the industry.

The bottom line is any exercise beats no exercise every day of the week.

If you are wanting to lose body fat, great stick to the basics, squats, dead-lifts, Olympic style lifts and high impact cardio. Build the big muscles in your body and let them burn your fat.

If you are in shape already and want to do some fine tuning of a particular muscle group great, add those tricep push downs or bicep curls to your routine.

In my opinion if you are exercising your are making progress to a healthier YOU! If you need help seek out a good trainer that can take you to the next level. Find one that fits your personality, don't hire the first one that you meet, interview several and pick the trainer that best listens to your needs and proves to be knowledgeable and will be able to take you to that next level. Remember YOU are the client and it's your money, the trainer works for YOU.

In closing the object of this article is just to help you get going in the right direction and that all starts with ACTION! Sitting and talking about it never accomplished anything. Clearing the air about all these self proclaimed experts was also important, do not get caught-up in believing that one program is superior to another. In the big picture all programs are either good, better or best. It's all up to YOU on what best fits your own personal needs.

EAT MORE - WEIGH LESS! Part 1 of 3

EAT MORE - WEIGH LESS!  

Part 1 of 3

So many of us get so caught-up in losing weight we fail to completely understand the consequences of not eating enough food each day. You see it's not so much of caloric restriction as it is calorie management. So many times we feel like if I just stop eating I will lose weight. Well I wish it were that easy, if it were we would all be in great shape.

The trick to dropping unwanted body-fat may sound a bit confusing at first but once you understand how the metabolism works you will have a much better understanding.

Here's the facts

First we must understand why we eat and when we eat.

The obvious, "I'M HUNGRY" is NOT why you should eat. In fact if you wait until you are hungry you have waited far to long to eat and proper caloric management is disrupted.

(GOLDEN RULE: EAT FOR WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO DO, NOT FOR WHAT YOU HAVE JUST DONE)


I'm sure you've all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day....and this is true. But have you ever really wondered why?

Let's examine the word, "breakfast" separate the word and you have two words and it simply means, "break the fast"!

Most people will eat their last meal between 5-8PM and then we relax a while and typically go to bed between 10PM and 12AM. Then we sleep between 6-8 hours. In many cases allot of us have not eaten for 10-12 hours by the time we have gotten out of bed in the morning.

Understand this, if you have a healthy metabolism your blood sugar will be very low in the morning because you have not eaten for a long time. We are not always hungry simply because there is no caloric demand from waking up. Your body has been is a resting and rebuilding phase while you were asleep.

We all get our day started by waking up and hitting the floor with both feet just like everyone else does. But in many cases that's where the similarity stops. What everyone should do upon waking up is break the fast they have been in before they get hungry and keep feeding the body all day long so it never gets hungry and the facts are you will melt body-fat away.

However if you are like many Americans you will skip breakfast grab a drug called caffeine and get your day started with a stimulant. So let me tell you what happens when you chose either situation.

First lets go with the benefits of breaking the fast and eating breakfast.
1. (And this is KEY throughout the day) You will elevate your blood sugar to normal ranges. You see by not eating for 6-14 hours your glycogen storage will be low, yes you do still burn calories while you sleep. (I will get into that later) So it is important to get blood sugar into normal ranges first thing in the morning and maintain normal blood sugar levels all day long.

2. It prevents your body from going into the catabolic phase. Providing the body with proper nutrients upon wake-up will prevent the body from pulling nutrients from muscle tissue. You see our body behaves much like us, the last thing it wants to eat is fat, the nutrients your body craves are all found in the lean muscle tissue throughout our body. Once you blood sugar has bottomed out the body goes into starvation mode and will start wasting muscle tissue. The saddest thing about this over a long peroid of time is you are destroying your metabolism because muscle tissue and it's activity is the only thing that burns calories. Think about it for a minute, how many of you have had a steak with a ring of fat on the side and purposely eaten the fat first because you love fat? The answer is very few if any at all! The body acts the same way, just for different reasons. You see fat is our reserve energy source and if you do not feed the body the first thing that will happen is the body starts reducing its need for more calories by getting rid of the cause for more calories and that is your muscle tissue.
Here is the biggest problem we have, our body is very efficient at saving itself from us (LOL) by being able to store fat so easily and in many cases we are our own worst enemy and we aid our bodies into hanging onto stored body fat by starving ourselves.

3. Eating breakfast automatically elevates your metabolism for the rest of the day!

4. Eating breakfast also aids in brain function and sets the tone for a better day. Yes eating breakfast stimulates a hormonal release to energize your day.

The key is keep blood sugar in normal ranges and it becomes impossible to store body-fat.

Tomorrow I will explain why it's more calorie management than it is calorie restriction.

Here is what you will need to know more about.

1. The Glycemic index and how you can use it to maintain your blood sugar.

2. Proteins and the Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER)

3. Fats and their key role to a healthy metabolism

4. Feeding the lean body mass, not total body weight (your true BMR)

Food for thought, is resistance exercise the key to maintaining low body fat more so than cardiovascular exercise???

High Cholesterol (Fact or Fiction) You judge for yourself. Part 1

High Cholesterol (Fact or Fiction) You judge for yourself.

 Part 1

Cholesterol-lowering drugs are the single largest business segment of the global pharmaceutical drug business. The global sales of the leading drug category – statins – have surpassed 200 billion dollars per year. This entire business is built on fear – the fear that cholesterol actually causes heart attacks. While this "cholesterol-scare" has become a gold mine for the drug companies – the economic burden of this business is ultimately carried by us, the people. Health professionals, political decision makers and hundreds of millions of patients worldwide have the right to know: What are the proven facts – and what is the fiction promoted by the multibillion dollar investment business with patented cholesterol-lowering drugs

True or False:
1. According to the medical industry High Cholesterol is the number one cause of heart attack.

A: If low cholesterol levels prevent heart disease, then victims of heart attacks should have high cholesterol. This is not so. Over half of all heart attack victims (those who suffer from heart disease) have low cholesterol. This logic is too simple. Highly educated folks totally miss this one. The statistics and evidence, disproves this myth.

Fact:

One of the most widely respected medical journals, the Journal of the American Medical Association, published a study entitled: Cholesterol and Mortality. 30 Years of Follow-up from the Framingham study. Shocking to most, this in-depth study showed that after the age of 50, there is no increased overall death associated with high cholesterol! There was, however, a direct association between low levels (or dropping levels) of cholesterol and increased death. Specifically, medical researchers reported that death rates increased by 14% for every 1mg/dl drop in total cholesterol levels per year. These results, and many others, have not stopped medical doctors from making blanket prescriptions for cholesterol lowering drugs to anyone with a heart beat

Cholesterol is one of the most essential elements in the survival of the human body. When the body begins to make more cholesterol, it has a reason to do that. It is certainly not to block the arteries of the heart, because we measure the level of cholesterol in the body in the blood we take out of the veins of the body, and nowhere in the history of medicine is there recorded one single case of cholesterol ever having blocked the veins of the body.

So, it is not the stickiness of the cholesterol that is the problem, which the drug industry is drumming it into the minds of people -- cholesterol is sticky, reduce it otherwise you will have blockage of your arteries, which is all nonsense. Cholesterol is actually saving the lives of people, because cholesterol is a bandage, a waterproof bandage that the body has designed. When the blood becomes concentrated and acidic, and is being rushed through constricted arteries or capillaries, in dehydration, then abrasions and tears are produced in the arterial system, naturally, in the capillaries of the heart first.
Now if cholesterol wasn’t there to cover up the tear and abrasions, blood would get under the membrane and peel it off and that person would be dead instantly. Cholesterol is actually an interim lifesaver, giving the body time to recover from its problems.

Here come the "STATINS"

These drugs ALSO show no correlation between drug-induced low cholesterol and the prevention of heart disease! Looking at 5 major statin drug trials, these being PROSPER, ALLHAT-LLT, ASCOT-LLA, AFCAPS and WOSCOPS, statin drugs provided an Absolute Risk Reduction in total mortality of 0.3%.
These facts go ignored. Medical doctors and drug companies hide the truth with complexity and obscurity via statistical contortionists. Don’t be fooled. It is the "spin" created by the media that has convinced the masses that these drugs prevent heart disease, not the science.
In reality, the only thing that cholesterol-lowering drugs do is lower cholesterol. Users will have to face the negative side effects of both the drug and of having low cholesterol. This is a crucial point! Combined, these side effects include, but are not limited to, lack of energy and sex drive, cancer, heart disease, and loss of short-term memory. That people have relinquished their health to cholesterol lowering drugs is a great reminder that advertising hype often supersedes common sense.

Dr. Nortin Hadler says he would sue any doctor who tried to test his cholesterol. Likewise, his bone density, prostate levels, colon cells, etc. The Harvard-trained doc, now in his sixties and a rheumatologist and professor of medicine and microbiology/immunology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says you, too, should avoid these routine tests, as well as most angioplasties, bypass surgeries and routine mammograms. That's because -- contrary to what the medical establishment tells you -- the tests and procedures don't extend most lives, he says; they just convince healthy people they're sick.

Making Exercise a Habit.....

Making Exercise a Habit.....

We know that it’s not the easiest habit for most people, and most people’s experiences consist of starting and stopping and starting again. Which is fine — don’t beat yourself up about it. The important thing is starting again.

The Main Problems
So why do most people have trouble making exercise a regular habit? Well, there are probably a number of factors, but here are a few of the obvious reasons exercise in not a habit for everyone.

1. Too difficult. People set out with a lot of ambition and enthusiasm, and start out with a big goal. “I’m going to go to the gym for an hour a day!” or “I’m going to run 30 minutes every day!” The problem is that the goal is too difficult to sustain for very long. You can do it for a few days, but you soon run out of energy, and it becomes a drag to do it.

2. Too many goals or unrealistic goals to start. Often we set out to do too much. We want to run, and lift weights, and eat healthy, and quit sweets, and stop drinking soda. Some of us have an image in our heads of exactly what we want to look like and set a time to get there! STOP!!! Take your time and focus on getting daily exercise first, clean up your diet and drink water with fresh lemon or lime juice instead of soda. If you stick to the plan and get the good habits to replace the bad then the rest will fall into place. Your body will reflect your new habits but be patient you didn't get in the shape your in overnight so it certainly won't be fixed overnight either.

Golden Rule never give yourself a deadline for looking good!
3. Not enough Motivation. So many times we start with good intentions yet the motivation dies quickly. Well if that's the case lets fix it!!!! Starting May 18, 2013 we will start our support group for everyone that needs motivation. That is a Saturday and we will meet at the Studio at 7:00PM sharp. If you want to stay motivated you have to have a great support team to help and that's what your trainer and our staff is here to help you do "STAY MOTIVATED"
 

Solutions

1. Start by setting your goals low and attainable for you. Remember if you set unrealistic goals you will FAIL! Set goals that will assure your SUCCESS! As you become more fit and eager for more that is when you step up and make those harder goals, just remember to baby step your way up to the bigger goals!!!!

2. Write your goals down and keep them posted so you can see them everyday multiple times a day! Remember out of sight out of mind!

3. Be specific with your goals both short and long term. Write down the exact exercises you plan on doing everyday and DO THEM!!! Make a date with yourself everyday and stick to it so at 3:30PM I will walk 2 miles and do 25 push-ups and 25 set-ups. Like I said be detailed with your daily goals. Once you've completed the goals write down how you feel and how easy or difficult the exercise was for you, evaluate yourself and increase or decrease the exercise based on how you feel.

4. Look for a Trigger mechanism that will spark the motivation to exercise daily. This will help you get into the habit and stay there. We all have events that happen everyday without fail. So take one of those events and use it as a trigger for your exercise program. Here's what I'm talking about. Many of us wake-up to coffee brewing in the kitchen or an alarm clock blasting in our ears that starts the day rolling it makes us focus on the task at hand, "getting ready for the day". Many of us now have smart phones so set a timer or your alarm for your workout time and give yourself ample time to get where you need to be to exercise. If you work 15 minutes from the gym then set your alarm on the phone 30 minutes before you need to leave. That way you can close things down, take your pre-workout supplements and get to the gym on time.

5.Hold yourself accountable- Journal every workout everyday. Be detailed and write down exactly what you did for the day. As you get in better condition your will be impressed with how much more you are able to do with greater ease. This will help establish the good habits and boost your self confidence and self-esteem.

6. Visualize your new image....cut out pictures from magazines clip out articles on fitness and nutrition and post them where you work and live. If you can see yourself in a bikini or that cute dress you saw at the mall, chances are you will succeed by staying focused. Remind yourself with visual images.

7. Avoid Negative People, the last thing you need in your life is a nay sayer! You know the type always giving you an excuse as to why you are wasting your time! Remember this, they just want you to quit because what you are doing is making them feel bad about themselves. Stay away from these people, remember misery loves company. Stay in contact with people that are lifestyle friendly with your new program. These people will support you and encourage you to stay focused.

8. Educate yourself on what you are doing to your body. Take the time too learn how your body is responding to the exercise and the nutrition programs just don't follow a plan without actually doing some research and learn what really works best for you. Remember the only person that can build the perfect program for you is YOU! Sure trainers can help and I highly recommend using one if you are just getting started but lets face facts few us us want to pay money for years and years and never learn a thing. Personal Trainers are a great way to start your program and if you are training for a specific sport or event you need one. But they can not tell you how you feel after you train with them! Only you know how you feel and only you can adjust to get maximum results with your efforts.

So get in the habit of being accountable to YOU! Set your goals and get in the right HABIT!!!!

Body fat loss stuck on hold? Can't seem to lose that last little bit of fat? This may be the problem......

Body fat loss stuck on hold? Can't seem to lose that last little bit of fat?

This may be the problem.......

Artificial Sweeteners will over stimulate the hormones that make you hungry and create a resistance too the hormones that suppress hunger...... IT'S A DOUBLE EDGED SWORD!!!

Contrary to popular belief, studies have found that artificial sweeteners such as aspartame can stimulate your appetite, increase carbohydrate cravings, and stimulate fat storage and weight gain. In one of the most recent of such studies, saccharin and aspartame were found to cause greater weight gain than sugar.

Aspartame is perhaps one of the most problematic. It is primarily made up of aspartic acid and phenylalanine. The phenylalanine has been synthetically modified to carry a methyl group, which provides the majority of the sweetness. That phenylalanine methyl bond, called a methyl ester, is very weak, which allows the methyl group on the phenylalanine to easily break off and form methanol.

You may have heard the claim that aspartame is harmless because methanol is also found in fruits and vegetables. However, in fruits and vegetables, the methanol is firmly bonded to pectin, allowing it to be safely passed through your digestive tract. Not so with the methanol created by aspartame; there it’s not bonded to anything that can help eliminate it from your body.

Methanol acts as a Trojan horse; it's carried into susceptible tissues in your body, like your brain and bone marrow, where the alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) enzyme converts it into formaldehyde, which wreaks havoc with sensitive proteins and DNA. All animals EXCEPT HUMANS have a protective mechanism that allows methanol to be broken down into harmless formic acid. This is why toxicology testing on animals is a flawed model. It doesn't fully apply to people.

Now a little education on the two hormones that artificial sweeteners effect.

A lot is known about what causes obesity. The simplest explanation is that the genes that have protected us from famines for millions of years are at the core of the cause of obesity. These powerful biochemical systems are centered on a small area in the middle of the brain called the hypothalamus. A specialized area in the hypothalamus, called the arcuate nucleus, is where the signals that control metabolic rate, hunger and satiety are located.

In the arcuate nucleus are two cells types. One cell is the NPY/AGRP (Neuropeptide Y/Agouti Related Protein) cell. This is the hunger cell. If it is stimulated you feel hungry and your metabolic rate drops. The other cell is the POMC (Proopiomelanocortin) cell. This is the satiety cell. If it is stimulated you feel full and your metabolic rate increases.

The two major hormones that control the hunger and satiety cells are ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin is produced by the pancreas and travels to the brain where it turns on the hunger cell and turns off the satiety cell. Leptin is produced by the fat cells of the body and travels to the brain where it turns on the satiety cell and turns off the hunger cell. When you are obese you have lots of fat cells and thus your leptin levels are high. The high leptin levels in combination with high insulin levels turn off the stomach cells that make ghrelin so your ghrelin levels are low. Now if that seems backward, your right. The problem is that high leptin levels over time make the satiety cell insensitive to leptin and low ghrelin levels make the hunger cell hypersensitive to ghrelin. The result is that even though the leptin levels are high and the ghrelin levels are low, the hunger cells are turned on and the satiety cells are turned off.

This is exactly the situation that occurs in a famine, hunger cells on and satiety cells off. So if you are obese, even though you have plenty of fat stores, the brain behaves like you were starving. This has many consequences. First and foremost is a loss of the conscious signals that tell you when you are full and when you are hungry. A common sign of this is that most obese people don't feel hungry when they get up in the morning. As a result they often skip breakfast. The brain interprets this as more starvation signals and further shuts down the metabolism. In fact the number one risk factor for obesity was skipping breakfast.

Ghrelin is also important in many other functions of the body. One of the most important is sleep. In order to efficiently progress though the normal cycles of sleep you need adequate ghrelin levels. If you don't have them you will not sleep as efficiently, you will dream less and get less restorative sleep. This will make you more tired the next day and since dreaming promotes leptin production, you will be hungrier and have a lower metabolic rate.

The imbalance of leptin and ghrelin are at the heart of the cause and consequences of obesity.

Now I know your thinking to yourself this only effects obese people not someone like me that only needs to drop a few more pounds, right?

WRONG, I am especially talking you you folks that just need to drop a few pounds and in particular those of you getting ready for a competition.

You see the leaner your body becomes the more sensitive it becomes too. Drop the artificial sweeteners and see the difference for yourself. You will be amazed at how quickly your body will respond and those last few fat pockets will vanish.

Overcoming Bad Habits, Cravings and establishing new Healthier Habits.

Overcoming Bad Habits, Cravings and establishing new Healthier Habits.The temptations of sugary beverages and deserts are all around us and sometimes the cravings can get the best of you. So here is more information that could help you understand what you are going through and help you get through it.

Re-aligning our biological or neurological  pathways is one of the most powerful things people experience when they go through the transformation process. And it happens, of course, whether you know about it or not. I believe that being consciously aware of the process can be an advantage, especially in terms of “relapse prevention.” In this context, I’ll say relapse is completely falling back into old and unhealthy eating habits.

Think of it this way – the old circuitry in our brains is like a dry river bed. It’s always there, and as long as you’re consciously diverting the energy flow in a new direction, it’ll remain inactive. However, if we drift back into our old style of thinking, coping and behaving, slowly but surely, it’ll eventually get to a point where it’s like a damn bursts and the energy of those past patterns and it’s like water gushing through the river bed again. When this happens, the pull of those cravings and thoughts may even be stronger than they were before. Anyone who’s yo-yo dieted, losing weight for a few months, only to fall back into unhealthy eating habits, and subsequently gaining all the weight back and more, has first-hand experience of this.

The good news is, there’s a solution and a sustainable one at that.

Albert Einstein said," The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results".

Once we realize that what we did before we started with the diet and the training is what got us where we were before in the first place, we can understand that we can not go back to that same place or we end up right back where we started and in some people even worse than before.

DO NOT SET TIME LIMITS ON YOUR GOALS OR YOU WILL FALL RIGHT BACK INTO THE SAME OLD ROUTINE ONCE YOU'VE FINISHED THAT TIME FRAME!!!

Please understand you did not get in the shape you're in overnight and you can't permanently fix it overnight either.

When I work with people who are seemingly stuck in any unhealthy pattern, one of my first recommendations is to get moving with high-intensity interval training. Intense, interval training has been scientifically shown to double, even triple, the amount of fat the body burns, compared to longer duration (an hour or more) of moderate intensity exercise. It does this by boosting mitochondria size and number within cells and that can dramatically increase the oxidation and metabolism of stored body-fat for many hours after your workout is over. That means the ”calories burned” reading on exercise equipment is very under reported. What we really want is to burn more fat calories all day not just while we are doing our workout.

Another one of the powerful benefits of intense interval training is that is releases healthy amounts of neurotransmitters called catecholamines (dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine), which satisfy the primary reward centers of the brain, boost energy and further accelerate fat loss. These reward centers all too often become chemically depleted by our modern way of life (inactivity, high stress levels, all work no play lifestyles). When neurotransmitter levels burn out, it can make us vulnerable to bad habits like binge eating.

Another fact is many of us get caught up taking fat burners and become chemically dependent of these products because they too will stimulate neurotransmitters as well. Sad thing is once you stop taking them you fall right back into the same old trap and that's if your training or not. Remember anytime you place a chemical in the body it will have side effects.

More good news: Intense training also increases endorphin and serotonin levels (which make the brain happy); so much so, that over a period of a few months, it is more effective in treating depression than the most widely prescribed (212 million prescriptions written last year) anti-depressant drugs. And what do you know, the intense exercise no side effects which can’t be said for the prescription drugs.

Once our bodies start responding hormonally and we start to feel the positive effects of our efforts we can easily establish new habits that will keep us in shape and motivated to continue. Remember the body adapts to its environment. Remove the toxic fast foods and sugar from your diet and push your body to its limits and you will see results that will amaze you.

The biggest obstacle to overcome is to kick the addiction of sugar and it's harmful effects on the body. Here's another quick tip that will help with the cravings, L-Glutamine taken before every meal and a healthy dose before bed time will also aid you in overcoming the sugar addiction and cravings for other foods. Now combine proper nutrition along with intense interval training and you are fueling your body and your brain for success.

So here’s my recommendation: If you want to flip the switch from an unhealthy to a healthy appetite and enjoy all the benefits which come with that, be sure to incorporate high-intensity interval training into your training program. It will help you break free from old patterns and crazy cravings. It will also help you create new ones. And that, in turn, will help you enjoy improved results that you can sustain for a long, long time.

Make sure you are eating plenty of saturated fats, coconut oil, butter, animal fats that will actually turn on the fat burning capabilities of your body and may even lower unhealthy levels of cholesterol and triglycerides. Avoid Trans-fats and vegetable oils at all cost  they are unhealthy and loaded with Omega 6 fattty acids that cause inflammation in the gut and throughout the entire body. These oils will make you unhealthy cholesterol sky rocket. Also  by eating the saturated fats they will release you of the cravings for sugar!  ATTENTION: These fats will NOT  mke you fat! They will actually help you burn fats by training the body to use fats for energy. I've known this for years and science is starting to catchup too!

8 Benefits of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

8 Benefits of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

And why it needs to be part of your regular workout routine!

High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) describes any workout that alternates between intense bursts of activity and fixed periods of less-intense activity or even complete rest. For example, a good starter workout is running as fast as you can for 1 minute and then walking for 2 minutes. Repeat that 3-minute interval five times for a 15-minute, fat-blasting workout. It sounds too simple to be effective, but science doesn't stretch the truth.

Below are 8 more benefits of HIIT.

1. It's Efficient

Super-efficient HIIT is the ideal workout for a busy schedule—whether you want to squeeze in a workout during your lunch break or to get in shape for a fast-approaching event. Research shows you can achieve more progress in a mere 15 minutes of interval training (done three times a week) than the girl jogging on the treadmill for an hour.

According to a 2011 study presented at the American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting, just 2 weeks of high-intensity intervals improves your aerobic capacity as much as 6 to 8 weeks of endurance training. Now that's EFFICIENT!!!!

2. You Will Burn More Fat
Not only do you burn more calories during HIIT workouts, but the effect of all that intense exertion kicks your body's repair cycle into hyperdrive. That means you burn more fat and calories in the 24 hours after a HIIT workout than you do after, say, a steady-pace run.

3. A Healthier Heart
Most people aren't used to pushing into the anaerobic zone (that lovely place where you can't breathe and you feel like your heart is trying to jump out of your chest). But in this case, extreme training produces extreme results. One 2006 study found that after 8 weeks of doing HIIT workouts, subjects could bicycle twice as long as they could before the study, while maintaining the same pace

4. No Equipment Necessary
Running, biking, jump roping, and rowing all work great for HIIT, but you don't need any equipment to get it done. High knees, fast feet, or anything plyometric like jumping lunges work just as well to get your heart rate up fast. In fact, some equipment like dumbbells can make HIIT less effective because you want the focus to be on pushing your heart to its max, not your biceps.

5. Lose Fat, Not Muscle
Anyone who has been on a diet knows that it's hard to not lose muscle mass along with fat. While steady state cardio seems to encourage muscle loss, studies show that both weight training and HIIT workouts allow dieters to preserve their hard-earned muscles while ensuring most of the weight lost comes from fat stores. This is a Win/win Situation and your metabolism will increase as the body fat drops.

6. Increased Metabolism
In addition to increased fat burning and more muscle preserved, HIIT stimulates production of your human growth hormone (HGH) by up to 450 percent during the 24 hours after you finish your workout. This is great news since HGH is not only responsible for increased caloric burn but also slows down the aging process, making you younger both inside and out!

7. Do It Anywhere
You can do it in a boat, you can do it with a goat. You can do it here or there, you can do it anywhere! Dr. Seuss would have loved HIIT. Since it's such a simple concept—go at maximum effort for a short period of time followed by a recovery period and repeat—you can adapt it to whatever time and space constraints you have.

8. Challenging
This is not a workout you can do while reading a magazine or chatting with your friend. Because it's so short, you will be working hard the whole time. The trade-off is this format offers seasoned exercisers a new challenge and new exercisers a quick way to see results. You may be in pain, you may be sucking wind, but you definitely won't be bored!

Benefits of eating Chicken Breast.

Benefits of eating Chicken Breast.

Chicken soup, chicken stew, chicken chili, chicken breast on salad…chicken in almost any form is great for your health—unless you’re the chicken of course!

All kidding aside, the health benefits of eating poultry are plenty. When this fowl comes in a lean breast, it’s low in fat and calories and high in protein, which makes it ideal for weight maintenance. Not to mention that this bird is jam-packed full of essential nutrients and vitamins.

Plus, with so many ways to prepare this plucky protein, you’re family won’t tire of chicken as a frequent weekly menu staple. Here are the top ten healthy benefits of eating chicken:

1. High in Protein

If you’re looking for a great source of lean, low fat protein, this bird is the word. The protein in chicken lends itself to muscle growth and development, and help support a healthy body weight and aid weight loss.

2. Natural Anti-depressant

Chicken, like its brother fowl the turkey, is high in an amino acid called tryptophan, which gives you that comforting feeling after consuming a big bowl of mom’s chicken soup. In fact, if you’re feeling depressed, eating some poultry will increase the serotonin levels in your brain, enhance your mood, blasting stress, and lulling you to sleep.

3. Prevents Bone Loss

If you’re entering your senior years and you’re concerned about Osteoporosis or arthritis, eating chicken will aid in your fight against bone loss thanks to the protein punch it packs!

4. Poultry for Heart Health

Homocysteine is an amino acid that can cause cardiovascular disease if levels are high in the body. Fortunately for us, eating chicken breast suppresses and controls homocysteine levels.

5. Phosphorus

Chicken is also rich in phosphorus, an essential mineral that supports your teeth and bones, as well as kidney, liver, and central nervous system function.

6. Selenium

Chicken also abundant in selenium, an essential mineral involved in metabolic performance—in other words thyroid, hormone, metabolism, and immune function.

7. Metabolism Booster

Vitamin B6 (or B-complex vitamins) encourage enzymes and metabolic cellular reactions (or a process known as Methylation), which means eating this bird will keep blood vessels healthy, energy levels high, and metabolism burning calories so you can manage a healthy weight and activity level.

8. Rich in Niacin

Chicken also happens to be rich in niacin, one particular B-vitamin that guards against cancer and other forms of genetic (DNA) damage.

9. Promotes Eye Health

Chicken is high in retinol, alpha and beta-carotene, and lycopene, all derived from vitamin A, and all vital for healthy eyesight.

10. Essential for Healthy Tissue Growth

Many of us are plagued with chapped lips, cracked mouths, tongue sores, or dry skin in winter. However, a boost in riboflavin (or Vitamin B2), found in chicken livers, will drastically reduce your skin problems and repair dry or damaged skin.

So make sure you include chicken breast as a part of your nutrition program. There are so many different ways to cook chicken too.

The top fat loss tips are right here!

The Basics on Dropping Body Fat.

We can't be any more basic than this. Here is a list or must do tips that will help you succeed in dropping body fat.

1. Do not weigh yourself but maybe once a week and right after you wake-up on an empty stomach. At most weigh once a week best would be twice a month. Weighing yourself daily will be hard on you mentally. There will be days that you hold water or constipation can make you appear heavier than you actually are. This will cause stress and that will cause you to hold onto body fat due to adrenal stress.

2. Instead of weighing yourself look at how your cloths fit and your measurements. If you exercise properly and eat a moderately high protein diet you may add muscle weight. That's a good thing because muscle gain will help you burn more calories especially fat. Muscle is 8 times more dense than fat so it is greater in weight with much less volume. You may actually gain overall body weight and wear much smaller cloths.

3. Have your trainer measure your body composition. A good trainer will have the skills to measure your lean body mass vs. your body fat percentage. By doing this that trainer can also establish your Basil Metabolic Rate (BMR), the rate of calories you burn resting in a 24 hour period. This is important to know because this is how you base your demand for calories when designing a custom nutrition program.

4. Simple rule to follow, burn more calories than you eat. This is the only way you will lose weight.

5. Drink allot of water daily. Staying hydrated is crucial when dropping body fat. If you do not have proper levels of water your body will shut the metabolism down.  Most people should drink no less than 80 ounces of water daily while some of us will need in excess of a gallon.

6. Eat a diet that is moderately high in protein. Proteins break down into amino acids and each amino acid has a specific task to perform in the body. Without proper levels of protein the body will become catabolic and start feeding on its own muscle mass to extract the amino acids found within the muscle tissue. When this happens the metabolism starts to shut dowm and you quit burning calories and what weight you do lose is muscle weight not body fat!

7. -Eat frequently, rule of thumb is eat every three hours. This will keep you burning calories all day long and as long as your blood sugar stays within normal ranges it becomes next to impossible to burn muscle and sets up the perfect climate to burn body fat! Another rule is Eat for what you are about to do not for what you've already done. Eat your carbs and a good source of protein before you have any activities especially exercise.

8. Make sure you are getting no less than 6 hours sleep nightly but no more than 9 hours. Rest and recovery is vital for optimal health and keeping the immune system fully functional. By doing this your metabolism will work at peak levels and your fat loss will burn 24 hours a day.

9.Weight training and resistant exercise are the best for fat loss. Most people tend to think cardio exercise is the best way to drop fat, when in fact cardio exercise is the worst way to lose weight. too much cardio will slow the metabolism and help you store body fat. Interval training is optimal for fat loss.

10. Eating properly balanced nutritional meals during the day will help you burn fat. Eating properly is the key to success in any weight loss program.Don't eat enough you will burn muscle and store fat. Eat too much you will store calories, store body fat and shut down your metabolism.

EAT MORE - WEIGH LESS! Part 3 of 3. Conclusion.

EAT MORE - WEIGH LESS!

Part 3 of 3. Conclusion.

There is one thing I hope you take from this article, you do not have to starve yourself to death to look good. You simply have to eat the right foods at the right time of day based on your activity levels for the next 3 hours. If you remember in Part 1 I spoke about the Golden Rule, "Eat for what you are about to do, not for what you have already done." The second thing I hope you will remember is, "Eating fats will not make you fat"! Eating the wrong foods at the wrong time WILL!

Here's what you need to know in order to establish you caloric requirements for the day.
 
1. Body weight
2. Lean body mass weight
3. Body fat % and lbs of body fat you carry.
4. Your body type (endomorph, ectomorph or mesomorph)
5. Daily time and activity chart
6. Gender
7. Age
8. Activity history and basic medical back ground.
9 Hydration level

I personally like to add a comprehensive blood panel to check for possible metabolic dysfunction or hormonal issues that may be causing problems.

Once you take in all the data you can sit down with a nutritional consultant and establish your daily BMR and calorie expenditure for the day. Once that has been established you can then design your custom nutrition program based on your needs and desire to obtain that lean stealth look.

Meals should be eaten every 3 hours, why? To keep your blood sugar stable and keep your muscles fed with protein.

The volume of food for each meal will be based on the type of activity you will have for the following three hours of your day. Too many carbs during an inactive time of the day is something you need to avoid, in fact lower calorie meals should be eaten before your periods of inactivity. Breakfast should always be no less than 1/5 of your calories or 20% for the day, get your blood sugar levels to normal range and get your metabolism running in high gear.

The highest calorie meals should be eaten before you most active periods of the day. IMO Protein consumption should be distributed evenly with each meal throughout the day, your carbohydrates and fats should fluctuate based on your energy needs during the day.

Another big tip: Take 1 gram of L-Glutamine with each meal and your hunger levels and cravings will all but disappear.

If you recall I also said I would discuss the fat intake today. What you are about to read may very well go against what your current nutritionist or personal trainer may recommend. So please discuss this with them before you change you eating program.

There are fats that in fact will speedup your metabolism and speed up fat loss. However it will require some discipline on your part to stick with the program.

Recent medical studies and several Universities have done extensive research on the use of fats to increase the metabolism and in fact turn on the fat burning machine within our body.

Some people struggle with weight loss simply because they are using the wrong foods for energy and we have ALL been mislead by the medical industry on how evil fats are to the human body, when in fact the truth is the complete opposite of what's been preached since the late 1960's. What I mean by wrong foods is simple, many people have digestive resistance to carbohydrates and in particular GLUTEN. You very well could be one of the millions of people that would do far better on weight management on a diet low in carbohydrates and higher in healthy fats.

Fact: Coconut Oil (in it's raw form) Is by far the healthiest fat you can possibly consume. Contrary to popular beliefs Coconut oil is 100% MCT oil and does not serve as an Omega 6 fatty acid. Too much Omega 6 can and will cause inflammation in the body. Coconut oil aids in reducing inflammation and also serves as an excellent energy source the brain and yes even muscle tissue as well.
So if you think you may be sensitive to carbohydrates you really need to have your program constructed using fats in your meals over complex carbohydrates. The biggest group of people that benefit from a program like this are typically have type O blood but is not limited to just this particular group.

Coconut oil is quickly converted into an energy source called ketones. The awesome thing about ketones is they cross the blood brain barrier and feed our brain the valuable nutrients it needs to function normally. The second benefit is it turns on the fat burning furnace in our muscles.

The key to success is to maintain ketosis for extended periods of time and allow the body to burn the stored fats that are typically left untouched when carbohydrates are present in the diet.

I know I mentioned I would talk about caloric requirements and I did, I just did not give you any numbers or percentages just yet. The fact is every single person will have different needs based on their nine (9) question we ask when you visit us. Yes even the percentages of proteins to carbohydrates to fats will vary based on a number of factors. This is what makes your programs with us so unique. I often here people comparing notes on their diets and that get confused because what they are eating may be the complete opposite of what the next person is eating. There are just too many variables to give a base program that will work for everyone.

EAT MORE - WEIGH LESS! Part 2 of 3.

EAT MORE - WEIGH LESS!

Part 2 of 3.

I left off yesterday making the statement that it's more calorie management than it is calorie restriction.

The key to fat loss is to feed enough nutrients to the body so it will not feed on itself, maintaining normal blood sugar throughout the day and allowing the muscle to burn the fat. The basic rule is you must burn more calories than you eat in order to lose weight. TRUE, however it's more complicated than that if you want to lose just fat.

Here's where knowing what to eat and when to eat plays a valuable roll in fat loss. There are a million different diets out there and guess what there are a million that don't work! The key to fat loss is NOT a diet, it is a life style change and educating yourself on the proper foods and beneficial supplements that will make your fat loss permanent.

First and most importantly you must feed your body the proper amounts of protein throughout the day. Protein should be consumed in amounts proportionate to your personal needs.
For example; A 25 year old male with body weight of 215lbs and has a bodyfat percentage of 12% can easily consume 25-40 grams of protein per meal where a female same age at 125lbs and 18% body fat should consume 15-25 grams of protein per meal.
The key is to keep the body in a positive nitrogen balance so your body will burn fat and leave the muscle alone. Eating to much protein at one sitting can cause your body to store the excess calories as fat. Not all proteins are created equal while some are excellent other proteins can cause health issues. That's why you should understand the Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) of the foods you eat.

The next step is learning what the Glycemic Index is all about.

The Glycemic Index (GI) relates to the way your body’s sugar levels respond to certain foods. Foods are given a rating from 0 –100 on the glycemic index with glucose in the highest position. High Glycemic Index foods (such as simple carbohydrates) will increase the body’s sugar levels rapidly whereas low glycemic index foods will increase the body’s sugar levels slowly. A good understanding of the glycemic index can assist in weight loss and help control diabetes.

The glycemic index is complicated and cannot be generalised to all people. Different people will have different reactions to food. The body’s response to food will relate to several factors including; age, activity level, insulin levels, time of day, amount of fibre and fat in the food, how refined (processed) the food is, and what was eaten with the food. In addition to this, other factors such as the ratio of carbohydrates to fat and protein as well as how the food was cooked (eg. Boiled compared to fried or baked) and metabolism will determine the way your body’s sugar level responds after eating. Foods that have a low glycemic index will have little effect on the body’s sugar levels. Comparatively, foods that have a high glycemic index will have an instant affect on blood sugar levels. Ratings on the glycemic index have resulted from numerous studies; however, individuals should test their own reactions to food in relation to the glycemic index.

Here is a link to a Glycemic Index Chart online, although I do not agree with it 100% it is fairly close and will give you an idea as to how your blood sugar goes up and down based on the foods you eat.

http://www.glycemicindex.ca/glycemicindexfoods.pdf

As I stated before just counting calories does not work you have to know what the calories you are eating are doing in your body. That's why it's important to educate yourself on the foods you eat.

We will get into more details at the March 20 Seminar on Carbohydrates and their glycemic rating.

Tomorrow I will talk about healthy fats and how they can aid you in dropping unwanted fat pounds. I will also talk about the percentages of proteins, carbs and fats you should be eating (This will surprise you) and I will also talk about one of the most important things that most nutritionist leave out when they design a nutrition program for someone.

What is the best time to Train?

The best time to train!

What time of day do you feel at your best?

The combination of scientific advances and our own analytical mind gives rise to a multitude of questions. Our inquisitive nature leads us down many roads of discovering the best and most efficient way of doing things. One question many of us have probably wondered about is how the time of day can influence our performance in activities.

One such activity to be analyzed is weight training. As we will see, though, the answer to the question of "when in the day is our weight training performance best?" is not clear cut. There are many paths to choose from, with different roads leading to various results depending upon the individual.

The human body has evolved to function and sustain itself automatically, so that the brain can devote more energy to higher-level tasks. We have all adapted to cues in our environment that help our body trigger activation of certain systems and processes, while suppressing others.

The biggest environmental cue our bodies recognize, and react to, is light. The regulation of our bodily systems based on time of day is referred to as our circadian rhythm.

It should be noted that everyone's biological rhythms are different, and I will discuss the influences on performance based on a person with consistent sleeping and waking habits. This consistency actually helps to prevent unwanted stress and injury, and improve your performance in various activities. Assuming this regularity, the biggest difference between peoples' circadian rhythm tends to be their waking time:

Larks Vs. Owls:

There are some that rise from sleep earlier-waking up enthusiastic and full of energy. Such people are called "larks." Another type of person, the "owl," wakes later and more slowly than most, taking a few hours to get functioning and feel alert. Generally speaking, the owl will perform better in the late afternoon, while the lark will perform better in the morning.

Both these types of people actually form a minority, though. Most people, about 60% to 70% of the population, are indifferent. This means they fall somewhere in between the lark and the owl.

Understanding the bodies circadian rhythm and your hormonal functions is important to actually knowing when the best time of training is for YOU.

The following compilation reviews points of interest for the average circadian rhythm:

Morning:

Testosterone is at its daily peak.
Mental alertness peaks late morning.
Memory works best.
Body temperature is still low.

Afternoon:

Pain tolerance is highest.
Possible point of low energy around noon.
Late afternoon, adrenalin and body temperature has a rising trend.
Late afternoon, there is an optimum period of mental/physical function balance.

Evening:

Coordination, stamina, body temperature at a peak.
Lung performance is best.
Flexibility and strength at their greatest.
Mental focus is waning.

Night:

Starting around 9pm, the body produces additional melatonin, preparing for sleep. Bodily processes should be slowing down in preparation for sleep.

Notice that many systems will not be at peak performance at the same times of day. Because of this, and with the addition of individual differences, it is difficult to give a time at which a person will be at their best. But with the given information so far, I would suggest late afternoon as a time of optimum performance in most of your body's processes.

From the given information on circadian rhythm, here are some suggestions based on unique goals:

1. Morning - Best potential for building muscle because testosterone is critical in protein synthesis and for rebuilding muscle fiber damaged in weight training. There is also greater mental focus, which may allow for greater mind-muscle connection and greater efficiency of muscle work done.

2. Afternoon - Best potential for breaking plateaus by employing muscle shocking techniques because pain threshold is highest and the limits of the body might be able to be pushed further than usual.

3. Evening - Best potential for strongest performance. This is the time of day when the body is in peak condition for physical activity.

Besides the purely physical observations about circadian rhythm that have been mentioned, there are other considerations that one might take into account when deciding the best time of day to weight train:

Morning:

Is fat loss or fat storage prevention a goal? Morning exercise may help in reaching this goal partly due to higher than normal testosterone. It also helps that your body has not had much food to process yet, and may turn to fat for energy instead.

1. Exercise has shown to increase serotonin levels. Low serotonin has been shown to be related to depression. Exercising in the morning could possibly help elevate mood slightly for the rest of the day. It should be noted, however, that significant changes in overall mood can take a long time to occur, and will happen as a result of a general increase in serotonin.

2. Is the gym open at the time you want? I know my gym currently does not open at an early enough time for me to schedule a workout.

3. If you are able to get to a gym in the mornings, there are generally less people there. You won't have to fight over weights or machines. You're more free to move about and choose the exercises you'd like with less interruption and possibly less embarrassment if you're the shy type and trying something new for the first time.

4. By doing a workout in the morning, it will be out of the way, out of mind. There will be less worry about missing a workout and less stress in anticipation of your performance if it gets done sooner in the day.

Afternoon:

*** A good balance between all the issues discussed in both morning and night sections. ***

Evening:

1. If working out too late, this can affect you're body's natural time of slowing things down for sleep.

2. Working out increases ability to absorb nutrients on a cellular level. If adequate nutrition is not in place after a workout, the body might soon be left hanging for an eight hour fast while you sleep.

3. Is the gym open late?

4. More people tend to be at the gym because they are done with work or school for the day. It may be harder to get in all the specific exercises desired in a reasonable amount of time, as there may be waiting times for equipment.

5. How worn out a person gets from there school, work, or other daily activities might also play a role in their evening weight training efforts.

The Best:

Based on both these more obvious considerations and from the circadian rhythm information, I would recommend that weight training in the afternoon would be best. It has a nice balance of all the aspects and issues presented. In fact, the only real drawback I could think of might be that it may be harder to schedule for some--due to other commitments like work or school.

For those that cannot do afternoons, just try to schedule training at a time that is either most comfortable, convenient, or when equipment is most freely accessible. What is most important is not placing undue stress upon yourself by worrying too much about when you train-your body will figure things out no matter what time it is.

The best advice given is to follow your bodies reaction to the training you put it through.

1. Do you feel like you are getting the most out of your workouts? If not maybe trying a different time of day to train may just do the trick.

2. In my opinion there really is no one perfect time to train for everyone. I've always trained when I felt ready to train. The key to long term success is basically to train consistently regardless of the time of day. There is no need to stress over the time of day not being perfect for your training.

3. Remember to get maximum benefits from training it's not all about the time of training, remember that proper nutrition, supplementation and rest are all equally as important.

This article is simply designed to give you the knowledge so you can make a more educated choice on when you should train. Just remember follow what works best for YOU and get in the gym and train!

Nutrition 101 Just what is a Calorie?

Just what is a Calorie?

 
A calorie is a unit of energy. We tend to associate calories with food, but they apply to anything containing energy. For example, a gallon of gasoline contains about 31,000,000 calories.

So if you understand that calories give you the energy to move and the sustenance to build our bodies lets get a closer look at what these calories really are!

Take the calories from 21 Big Mac Hamburgers and convert them into energy you would have enough energy to drive a small car approximately 80 miles! So you see foods harbor a great deal of energy. Eating the right type of calories at the right time and your body will respond by building lean muscle and burning fat. Eat the wrong calories at the wrong time and you will lose muscle and gain fat.

Most of us think of calories in relation to food, as in "This can of soda has 200 calories." It turns out that the calories on a food package are actually kilocalories (1,000 calories = 1 kilocalorie). The word is sometimes capitalized to show the difference, but usually not. A food calorie contains 4,184 joules. A can of soda containing 200 food calories contains 200,000 regular calories, or 200 kilocalories. A gallon of gasoline contains 31,000 kilocalories.

The same applies to exercise -- when a fitness chart says you burn about 100 calories for every mile you jog, it means 100 kilocalories. For the duration of this article, when we say "calorie," we mean "kilocalorie."

What Calories Do

Caloric Breakdown

1 g Carbohydrates: 4 calories
1 g Protein: 4 calories
1 g Fat: 9 calories
1 g Alcohol: 7 calories

Human beings need energy to survive -- to breathe, move, pump blood -- and they acquire this energy from food.

The number of calories in a food is a measure of how much potential energy that food possesses. A gram of carbohydrates has 4 calories, a gram of protein has 4 calories, and a gram of fat has 9 calories. Foods are a compilation of these three building blocks. So if you know how many carbohydrates, fats and proteins are in any given food, you know how many calories, or how much energy, that food contains.

If we look at the nutritional label on the back of a packet of maple-and-brown-sugar oatmeal, we find that it has 160 calories. This means that if we were to pour this oatmeal into a dish, set the oatmeal on fire and get it to burn completely (which is actually pretty tricky), the reaction would produce 160 kilocalories (remember: food calories are kilocalories) -- enough energy to raise the temperature of 160 kilograms of water 1 degree Celsius. If we look closer at the nutritional label, we see that our oatmeal has 2 grams of fat, 4 grams of protein and 32 grams of carbohydrates, producing a total of 162 calories (apparently, food manufacturers like to round down). Of these 162 calories, 18 come from fat (9 cal x 2 g), 16 come from protein (4 cal x 4 g) and 128 come from carbohydrates (4 cal x 32 g).

Our bodies "burn" the calories in the oatmeal through metabolic processes, by which enzymes break the carbohydrates into glucose and other sugars, the fats into glycerol and fatty acids and the proteins into amino acids. These molecules are then transported through the bloodstream to the cells, where they are either absorbed for immediate use or sent on to the final stage of metabolism in which they are reacted with oxygen to release their stored energy.

The Basil Metabolic Rate (BMR)

Just how many calories do our cells need to function well? The number is different for every person. You may notice on the nutritional labels of the foods you buy that the "percent daily values" are based on a 2,000 calorie diet -- 2,000 calories is a rough average of what a person needs to eat in a day, but your body might need more or less than 2,000 calories. Height, weight, gender, age and activity level all affect your caloric needs. There are three main factors involved in calculating how many calories your body needs per day:

1. Basal metabolic rate
2. Physical activity
3. Thermagenic effect of food

Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the amount of energy your body needs to function at rest. This accounts for about 60 to 70 percent of calories burned in a day and includes the energy required to keep the heart beating, the lungs breathing, the kidneys functioning and the body temperature stabilized. In general, men have a higher BMR than women.

Your Caloric Needs

As you now know, there are three main factors involved in calculating how many calories your body needs per day: your BMR, physical activity and the thermic effect of food.

The second factor in the equation, physical activity, consumes the next highest number of calories. Physical activity includes everything from making your bed to jogging. Walking, lifting, bending, and just generally moving around burns calories, but the number of calories you burn in any given activity depends on your body weight. Click here for a great table listing the calories expended in various physical activities and for various weights.

The thermic effect of food is the final addition to the number of calories your body burns. This is the amount of energy your body uses to digest the food you eat -- it takes energy to break food down to its basic elements in order to be used by the body.

Calories, Fat and Exercise

So what happens if you take in more or fewer calories than your body burns? You either gain or lose fat, respectively. An accumulation of 3,500 extra calories is stored by your body as 1 pound of fat -- fat is the body's way of saving energy for a rainy day. If, on the other hand, you burn 3,500 more calories than you eat, whether by exercising more or eating less, your body converts 1 pound of its stored fat into energy to make up for the deficit.

One thing about exercise is that it raises your metabolic rate not only while you're huffing and puffing on the treadmill. Your metabolism takes a while to return to its normal pace. It continues to function at a higher level; your body burns an increased number of calories for about two hours after you've stopped exercising.

Lots of people wonder if it matters where their calories come from. At its most basic, if we eat exactly the number of calories that we burn and if we're only talking about weight, the answer is no -- a calorie is a calorie. A protein calorie is no different from a fat calorie -- they are simply units of energy. As long as you burn what you eat, you will maintain your weight; and as long as you burn more than you eat, you'll lose weight.

But if we're talking nutrition, it definitely matters where those calories originate. Carbohydrates and proteins are healthier sources of calories than fats. Although our bodies do need a certain amount of fat to function properly -- an adequate supply of fat allows your body to absorb the vitamins you ingest -- an excess of fat can have serious health consequences. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends that a maximum of 30 percent of our daily calories come from fat. So, if you eat 2,000 calories a day, that's a maximum of 600 calories from fat, or 67 grams of fat, per day.

This is the base foundation for understanding calories and how calories play an important role in nutrition. Just remember not to get caught-up counting the calories as much and you look at the nutritional value of the calories you choose to eat.

The Fat Loss Benefits of Green Coffee Bean

The fat Loss Benefits of Green Coffee Bean

How Does Green Coffee Bean Work?

Green coffee bean contains polyphenols, including chlorogenic acids, which, like grape seed extract and green tea, have antioxidant that help the body neutralize harmful free radicals. Research has also shown that the chlorogenic acid in green coffee bean has an antihypertensive effect on rats and humans that promotes normal blood pressure.

Unlike coffee beverages, green coffee bean extract is low in caffeine and is not a stimulant. Chlorogenic acids are also destroyed when coffee beans are roasted and their benefits are not available in coffee drinks.

Chlorogenic acids support the weight loss benefits of green coffee bean in a couple different ways. First, promote balanced blood sugar by inhibiting the release of glucose within the body. Secondly, chlorogenic acids boost the metabolic output of the liver, which burns more fat. This dual mechanism works to support lean body mass by hindering the absorption of fat and weight gain.

In 2006, a study published in BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine examined the inhibition of fat accumulation and weight gain in mice that were given green coffee bean extract. Researchers noted that the mice had reduced visceral fat content and body weight. It was concluded that green coffee bean extract may be effective against weight gain and fat accumulation by preventing fat absorption and activating fat metabolism in the liver.

In 2011, Gastroenterology Research and Practice published a meta-analysis of 5 studies, which had examined green coffee bean extract as a weight loss supplement. Although it was noted that more research was appropriate, it was also concluded that aggregate data showed a significant difference in body weight in the subjects of the studies who had supplemented with GCE, compared with placebo, and that evidence indicates that GCE can promote weight loss.

This conclusion was supported by an early 2012 study published in The Diabetes Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity journal that followed a group of 16 adults who supplemented with green coffee bean for a period of 12 weeks, without making any dietary changes. The results were significantly astounding. During this time, subjects lost an average of 10.5% of overall body weight and 16% of overall body fat, without any reported negative side effects [6].

When it comes to losing weight, proper diet and exercise are paramount to success. However, research shows that adding a supplement like green coffee bean extract can increase weight loss potential, in addition to the antioxidant benefit. As with all supplements, for green coffee bean to be effective, it must be a pure, organic 100% high grade coffee bean extract supplement manufactured in the US with laboratory tests certifying the product’s potency and quality.

SOURCE ARTICLE; THE GLOBAL HEALING CENTER.

References:

Suzuki A, Kagawa D, Ochiai R, Tokimitsu I, Saito I. Green coffee bean extract and its metabolites have a hypotensive effect in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Hypertens Res. 2002 Jan;25(1):99-107.
Ochiai R, Jokura H, Suzuki A, Tokimitsu I, Ohishi M, Komai N, Rakugi H, Ogihara T. Green coffee bean extract improves human vasoreactivity. Hypertens Res. 2004 Oct;27(10):731-7.
Watanabe T, Arai Y, Mitsui Y, Kusaura T, Okawa W, Kajihara Y, Saito I. The blood pressure-lowering effect and safety of chlorogenic acid from green coffee bean extract in essential hypertension. Clin Exp Hypertens. 2006 Jul;28(5):439-49.
Shimoda H, Seki E, Aitani M. Inhibitory effect of green coffee bean extract on fat accumulation and body weight gain in mice. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2006 Mar 17;6:9.
Onakpoya I, Terry R, Ernst E. The use of green coffee extract as a weight loss supplement: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised clinical trials. Gastroenterol Res Pract. 2011;2011. doi:pii: 382852. 10.1155/2011/382852. Epub 2010 Aug 31.
Vinson JA, Burnham BR, Nagendran MV. Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, linear dose, crossover study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a green coffee bean extract in overweight subjects. Diabetes Metab Syndr Obes. 2012;5:21-7. doi: 10.2147/DMSO.S27665. Epub 2012 Jan 18.

The Rebound Effect, get the best results for muscle gains after your diet!!!

THE REBOUND EFFECT......

THE BENEFITS OF PROPER EATING AND TRAINING, POST COMPETITION DIETS or any diet!!!

 
You've worked so hard to build your body with a hard core diet and exercise don't throw it all away in just a few short weeks! Let me show you how to take advantage of this situation and pack on some really good muscle instead of the fat your body will gain if you go back to the same old ways of eating.

Take Advantage of this time and add some lean muscle to your body instead of the bloat that often follows a hard diet.

If you've ever dieted for a bodybuilding contest—or for an extended period just to reduce body-fat—then you know what you want to do right after that: nothing but eat all the decadent foods that you've been avoiding for the past couple of months.

Sure, that's one way to follow-up a restricted diet, but it can turn into a disaster, resulting in startling body-fat gains. A better strategy is to use this time to gain impressive heaps of muscle by taking advantage of the body's rebound effect.

The best gains of an entire year often come in the first few weeks after a cutting phase, making that period of time ideal for growth. In fact, you can easily gain five, six or even 10 pounds of real muscle mass in just six short weeks.

As with exercise the bodies digestive system also adapts to it's environment during the course of a long hard diet. You have restricted the amount of carbohydrates and therefore you have not the need for particular digestive enzymes in the gut. So your body dramatically lowers the enzyme count simply because they are not needed. Here is where the bloat and fat gains begin in the rebound from the diets.

It is best to begin the intake of carbohydrates slowly increasing the amounts you eat over the first few weeks, making sure you eat moderate to low glycemic index carbohydrates. Slowly increase the carbohydrates over the period of 4-6 weeks allowing your body to ramp up the proper digestive enzymes for the carbohydrates. I can not place a gram count on here because that will vary with each person based off of your metabolism and body type. There is NO one set amount for everyone. It is also highly suggested that you separate your consumption of proteins from your carbohydrates. I recommend eating your proteins at least 30 minutes before you eat your carbohydrates. Proteins are more difficult to digest and take longer to break down into usable amino-acids, than carbohydrates take to break down into sugar. When you load the weakened digestive system with proteins and carbohydrates simultaneously you have created a fat storing nightmare. In fact even when you are dieting you should eat your proteins and carbohydrates separate. Separating the proteins and the carbohydrates allows for higher absorption rates of both. It allows the body to produce the right enzymes to break down each food. When you eat proteins and carbohydrates together they do not digest as well and when you are in a rebound from a hard diet you have a much higher potential to store both as fat.

There are two things that can really help you with cravings and help keep you feeling full.

1. Take in one gram of L-Glutamine before you eat each meal. This will help you to digest the protein and help prevent muscle break down. L-Glutamine must be present to bond to the amino acids in the proteins you eat in order for them to be properly utilized and help prevent them from storing as fat. Also make sure you are taking a high dose of L-Glutamine before bed as well. This will prevent muscle break down at night when you body looks to replenish L-Glutamine storage in the gut.

2. Cook your foods with healthy fats, I highly recommend Coconut Oil. Coconut oil is 100% medium chain triglyceride oil and does not store as fat, in fact it will help keep your metabolism burning at a higher rate. Using coconut oil in place of consuming huge amounts of carbohydrates will give you the energy you need and prevent the cravings for sugar. Remember your digestive system has been altered and can not handle huge amounts of carbohydrates like most of us are accustom to consuming after a long diet.

Training during the Rebound.

The absolute best thing you can do for your body is let it rest for at least 7-10 days. Allow your muscle tissue the time it needs to repair itself and slowly allow glycogen storage to replenish. Once you have had ample time to heal from the training and calorie restriction then it is time to shock the muscle and stimulate the central nervous system (CNS). Make sure you hit the muscle with a variety of heavy weight low rep sets and mix in the higher reps to keep the muscle stimulated. Do not fall back into training the same way as you were training during contest diet.

Heavy weight with low repetitions can stimulate the CNS and enable you to increase the work loads during training. Increase work loads can and will increase muscular hypertrophy. This period of time after a long diet is an excellent time to build lean body mass. Stimulating the CNS and lifting heavier weights with less repetitions is perfect for adding lean muscle mass to your body.

The next 4-6 weeks post diet/rebound phase is actually one of the best opportunities to gain lean muscle mass as the body is prime for growth. This is in fact the best time for muscle gains because your body will be at its highest anabolic state during this time frame. It's sad that more competitors do not take advantage of this small window to add on some real quality muscle is such a short period of time. Defeating the urge to binge and following the plan set out in this article can and will add some serious muscle to your frame.

Remember what you eat, when you eat it and how you eat it, along with some rest followed by some really intense training will pack on some serious muscle during the 4-6 week rebound phase in a post diet situation.