My Best Fat Loss Advice

It is very easy to get caught up in all the health and nutrition information that is available today.

It seems like every web page, every magazine cover, every T.V. newscast, and every email newsletter wants to help you lose fat.

So here's something I want to you to remember, that will help simplify your life, and your fat burning goals:

Since the day you were born, your body has known EXACTLY how to burn body fat.

It's true. Unless you have some ultra-rare metabolic disease, your body is already AMAZING at burning body fat...you just have to give it the opportunity.

It does not matter how many books on fat loss you read, how many articles you review or how may experts you question, this will not change how well your body burns fat.

If you give your body the opportunity, it will do exactly what it is built to do.

So do yourself a favor, find the easiest possible way to eat a little less than you need to (I recommend Eat Stop Eat), then step back and watch your body do its job.

You have better things to do with your time than to stress over trying to learn about things you are already an expert at doing.

Fat loss can be incredibly simple, if you let it be.

BP

If Eat Stop Eat was the Batman...

...what would be the joker?

Have you ever noticed how every famous super hero has an equally famous super-villain?

Batman has the Joker

He-man has Skeletor

Superman has Lex Luthor

Every hero has his or her villain, and in comics and make-believe land, the villain is always the exact antithesis of the hero.

So why the sudden hero/villain revelation? Well I finally had the pleasure of finally seeing the latest Batman movie. It was as good as everyone says it is, and Heath Ledger was an amazing Joker. In fact, I would say that he was one of the best villains ever in a
movie.

I'd put him right up there with Darth Vader.

But this post isn't about villains, rather it's about the idea of an antithesis - A direct opposite.

And in this example...Eat Stop Eat is the good guy. After all it is an incredibly easy way to lose weight, this we know. But, what would it's antithesis be?

What would be the Joker to Eat Stop Eat's Batman?

In Eat Stop Eat I recommend a form of flexible intermittent fasting where you eat normally on the days you are eating, and you include a 24 hour fast once or twice a week. This very simple style of eating has helped thousands of people lose weight.

Interestingly, it is the EXACT ANTITHESIS of Eat Stop Eat that probably made many of these people overweight to begin with.

Think about what the antithesis of flexible intermittent fasting would be ==> Eat normally for most of the week but then once or twice a week, over-eat by a fair amount.

As an example, a person would eat normally for almost the whole week, except on Monday during an unexpected lunch meeting there would be an additional 1,500 calories from a soup and sandwich combo maybe a glass of wine or a beer with the meal, and a cappuccino and a chocolate croissant for dessert.

This small overshoot doesn't seem like much...and for the rest of the week this person would eat very well, but then on Saturday there would be an extra 2,500 Calories from 3 slices of pizza, 2 beers and some nachos.

But other than these two dietary indiscretions, eating would be normal.

This is the EXACT OPPOSITE of Eat Stop Eat, and it is how most people who are overweight eat.

Most people who are overweight actually eat very well MOST OF THE TIME. The only difference is a one or two minor slips ups per week.

Overeating once or twice per week can have absolutely devastating weight gain effects. Fasting once or twice per week can have absolutely remarkable weight loss effects.

Eat Stop Eat is the easiest way to make this dramatic transition from weight gain to weight loss, and oddly enough it is the EXACT OPPOSITE of how most people eat.

If you don't like the way you look, perhaps it's time you tried a completely opposite approach.

BP

Why we exercise

I'm sitting in a coffee shop across from a MASSIVE health club, and as I watch the people scurry in and out of this gigantic big-box style fitness chain, I can't help but wonder..If exercise didn't work, would we still do it?

Put another way - if there was absolutely no physiological reward to weight training or structured exercise (like cardio or fitness classes) I doubt any of us would even bother...

Sure, we've learned to enjoy exercise, but I think that the root of this enjoyment is knowing (or thinking) we are doing something that is healthy, and that it will improve the way we look and feel.

In fact I am hard pressed to think of any form of structured exercise that is not 'end result' oriented.

I can only think of two things we do for no reward..

We walk - because humans wonder by nature. Throw a bunch of grade school kids into a field and see what happens...they just wonder off, exploring things or sometimes just walking for the sake of walking.

And we dance (if we're not too self-conscious). Throw a bunch of children into a gymnasium, turn on some music and watch what happens.

From watching my daughter I beleive that wondering aimlessly combined with dancing and unstructured play is the root of our innate calorie burning abiltity...Everything else is a learned skill.

Based on this I am starting to think that many of us would benefit from limiting our weight training and structured cardio to the MINUMUM we need to get the effect we desire, and then fill the rest of our time with walking, and unstructured play...

The bottom line - I think walking around your neighborhood is far better for you then walking inside on a treadmill...and most forms of dancing are probably just as good as interval training, if not better.

I still love weight training, but I think we should be striving to get the best returns from the least amount of work, rather than just working out as much as possible and hoping we hit our target.

Balance is the new healthy

BP

PS- Here is a great story about a trainer who experimented with Eat Stop Eat for one month..you can read about her results HERE

Muscle Loss While Fasting

I had a sudden urge to clean out my desk today, and while going through some of my old notebooks I found a page that had all my measurements from February of 2005.

The awesome things about measurements is that they don't lie.

With pictures, the right light, the right angles and BAM! you are a supermodel or shredded bodybuilder.

With the wrong lights it's a whole different story.

With measurements there is a lot less variability. They are a lot harder to fake, and they typically aren't as affected by happenstance.

The interesting thing is that 2005 is almost 2 full years before I started fasting.

So I can compare my measurements today with my measurements from 2005 and get an idea of what almost 2 years of fasting has done to my body.

in 2005 my right thigh measurements were:

4 inches above the top of the knee = 18 inches


6 inches above the top of the knee = 20.25 inches


10 inches above the top of the knee = 22.5 inches


My right arm (flexed) = 16 inches


My chest = 42.5 inches


My waist = 35 inches


My shoulder circumference = 47.5 inches


These are my current measurements as of September 25th 2008

4 inches above the top of the knee = 18 inches


6 inches above the top of the knee = 22.5 inches


10 inches above the top of the knee = 23.75 inches


My right arm (flexed) = 16 inches


My chest = 42 inches


My waist = 32.5


My shoulder circumference = 49 inches


(****I don't have my weight from back in 2005, however I know my wedding was in 2005 and that I had started to diet for my wedding by February...so I'm guessing I was under 200 pounds...probably about 15-20 pounds heavier than I am now.)

So what has fasting done to me?

My legs are bigger, but my waist is smaller. This is a good sign.

My arms are the same size which makes sense since I don't train them too often and I'm happy with a 16 inch arm.

My chest is a half inch smaller which also makes sense since I don't train my chest as often or with as much weight as I did back in '05.

I was really happy to see that my shoulder circumference has increased, since over the last two years the majority of my upper body work has been centered around increasing the size of my shoulders.

So, after almost two years of fasting once or twice a week, my waist is smaller, but everything else has either stayed the same or even increased in circumference.

Combine these results with my pictures (you can see them HERE) and I am confident in saying that after two years of following the Eat Stop Eat lifestyle I have lost fat, and gained muscle.

BP

The 80/20 rule of Fasting

Do you every have someone totally surprise you by saying something completely unexpected?

Well this happened to me the other day.

I needed a break from a project I was working on. But since I was under some very tight time constraints, the best I could to was go for a quick change of scenery and take a trip to the Starbuck's down the road.

Now the Baristas at this particular Starbuck's know me pretty well, except for the fact that they all think I'm a college prof, (I guess that beats trying to explain to them what I really do for a living)

Anyways, this particular day, as my barista handed me my tall Americano, she happened to glance down at the paper I was reading then looked up at me and said, "Do you teach math?"

Confused I asked her "why would you ask that?"

She pointed to my paper and said, "your reading about the Pareto principle, the rule of the vital few"

I answer: "uh, yeah, I guess I am...it's for a paper I'm working on"

She just smiled and handed me my coffee.

Either way, it was a response I wasn't expecting, however it was an enjoyable change from the typical small talk you usually get during a customer-employee interaction.

Long story short, this conversation got me to thinking about the Pareto principle.

The Pareto principle basically states that for many things in life, 80% of the your results come from 20% of your actions. And the remaining 80% of your actions only get you're the other 20% of your results.

The Pareto principle teaches us to concentrate on those small actions that get us the biggest results.

So it was in a Starbucks that I realized Eat Stop Eat follows the pareto principle - funny how that works.

If you are fasting once every 5 or so days then you could say that 80% of your fat loss results come from the 20% of the time that you spend fasting.

So 80% of your weight loss results come as a result of your fasting.

The important thing to remember is this: Even though the other 80% of the time (when you are eating normally) only contributes 20%, it still does contributes.

And if you are you trying to get into TOP PHYSICAL condition then that 20% can make a BIG difference.

So while the Eat Stop Eat lifestyle makes weight loss very easy, and allows you A LOT of freedom when it comes to what you can eat on your eating days, for optimal weight loss, you should still try to eat responsibly.

Eat less and enjoy the foods you eat. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables, and lots of herbs and spices. And maybe most importantly, spend less time stressing over the types of food you are eating.

Combining this approach with the Eat Stop Eat philosophy of flexible intermittent fasting and weight training and you will be guaranteed impressive weight loss results.

BP

Exercises to Burn Fat

Yesterday was Canada day, a national holiday in Canada celebrated by BBQs, backyard parties and fireworks.

I love Canada day. I even went as far as to turn my Blackberry OFF for the day (which is a HUGE accomplishment for me!)

Even though I was able to turn off my Blackberry, I wasn't able to let go of my most valuable sidekick...my notepad.

Yep, I keep a notepad on me at all times (Moleskin is my brand of choice).

Call me old fashioned, but when ideas spring into my head, nothing makes them more real, more concrete than actually writing them down (typing them out just doesn't do it).

(A perfect combination for a great summer's day)

I took an hour during the day when my little girl was playing in the pool with her grandparents to go through my notebook and read through many of the old notes I have written down this year.

One particular note that stuck out to me was from a lecture I attended for physicians that was headlined by Dr. Stuart Philips from McMaster University.

Amongst my notes I found the following quote scribbled down:

"It is remarkably hard to increase exercise and decrease body weight."

which when translated to normal non-PhD talk means:

"It is really hard to lose weight by simply increasing the amount of exercise that you do."

How true.

Believe it or not, most research trials examining the weight loss caused by very low calories diets, found that adding exercise did little to increase weight loss.

The diets seemed to do all the work.

Take for instance the research conducted by Donnelly et al. that was published in 1991.

69 obese women were put on an extreme 520 Calorie per diet.

These women were then divided into 4 groups

Group 1 did not exercise
Group 2 did endurance exercise for 60 minutes 4 days per week.
Group 3 did strength training 4 days per week
Group 4 did strength training AND endurance exercises 4 days per week

At the end of the 90 days research trial all 4 groups lost a mind blowing amount of bodyweight, averaging over 40 pounds of weight loss!

(Once again proving that anyone who says “It is impossible to lose weight by dramatically reducing your calories.” has absolutely NO IDEA what they are talking about!)

The interesting finding was that there were no differences between the four groups in terms of the amount of weight or body fat that was lost.

This is despite the massive amounts of exercising that group 4 was doing every single week!

This conclusion has been found over and over again in published research.

Donnelly et al. did a second trial that was published in 1993 showing that weight training could increase muscle size while women followed an 800 calorie per day diet, but it could not increase weight or fat loss.

Similar results were found by Kraemer in 1997, Bryner in 1999 and Janssen in 2002, just to name few examples.

The truth is that if you have your diet in order and are following a diet program that allows you to decrease your caloric intake it will cause you to lose weight.

Adding 'calorie burning exercises' does not seem to increase this weight loss, but adding strength training can preserve or even help increase the size of your muscles while you are dieting.

So if you are one of those people who spends countless hours in the gym, pushing themselves as hard as they can but are not seeing results, maybe its time to change your approach.

Eat for fat loss, workout to preserve (or even increase) the size of your muscles.

You can easily accomplish this by following the Eat Stop Eat lifestyle of Flexible Intermittent Fasting and strength training.

If you spend your energy in the right places, weight loss can be easy.

BP

PS- While all of these research papers used extremely low calorie diets and showed impressive weight loss, you absolutely do not need to be this restrictive.

I would never recommend this type of low calorie diet, especially since simply fasting once or twice a week can cause great fat loss, while still allowing you to live a normal live and enjoying great tasting food.

After all, a great diet is all about quality of life while dieting ;)

I Lost 4 Pounds of Fat in One Day!!

Alright, so I didn't lose any fat today. Nor did I lose any weight. In fact, I'm the exact same weight right now as I was this morning.

The important thing is that I was able to write that statement. Nobody stopped me, flagged me, or challenged me. Despite what many people believe, magazines and websites are NOT reviewed for their accuracy.

There isn't a group of scientists evaluating the latest copy of "Musclemen Monthly" or "Fit Moms International" to make sure that their diet or exercise advice is up to date and factually correct.

This is why I like research. High level clinical research goes through a peer review process before it is allowed to be published. Meaning scientists review each other's work for accuracy before its allowed to be printed.

But here's the kicker. The abstract of a paper (that little 200-300 word summary of the research that is available free on-line at places like pubmed.com) is typically NOT peer reviewed.

This is why it bothers me to no end when I see people use abstracts in magazines and on-line forums to support their outlandish claims.

Unless you are trained to review research, you should not be writing about research. This goes for magazines, forums, blogs.

Allowing information from abstracts that have not been reviewed for accuracy to appear in magazines and websites that are also not reviewed for accuracy, just adds to all of the nutrition confusion that is so prevalent today.

Read everything critically. If its sounds wrong, it probably is.

BP

Fasting for Weight Loss

Foods for Weight Loss

I just saw an interesting new milk ad. It shows a mom and baby with the term "all figured out" beside the mom.

The message? Drink milk and lose weight, or more correctly, "Milk your diet. Lose weight."

The REAL message? It goes something like this:

"We're OK with the fact that you want to lose weight, but please keep buying our product."

In other words, most major companies are aware of the fact that many of us are trying to lose weight, and this scares them.

Diets mean eating less food. Eating less food means buying less food. Buying less food means less profits for the food companies - and this just is not acceptable.

So the smart option for the food industry is to align their products with weight loss, but the truth is that this message is just plain wrong.

No food causes weight loss - Period. Some foods may have more calories and some have may less, but none can actually make you lose weight.

The bottom line is until science develops a food that contains negative calories we should question the ethics of any company who claims their food can actually cause weight loss

BP

Fasting for Weight Loss

Can Fish Oils Make You Thin?

If you've read the news in the last couple of days then you've probably read all the headlines about a new study that shows that the combination fish oils and exercise can help you lose fat.

To quickly summarize the study, researchers randomly assigned 75 overweight men and women to one of four groups:

• Group One took 6 grams of fish oil per day,
• Group Two took 6 grams of fish oil per day and exercised 3 days per week;
• Group Three took 6 grams of sunflower oil (the placebo), and
• Group Four took 6 grams of sunflower oil and exercised 3 days per week.
  

After 12 weeks, the results showed the subjects in Group Two (The people taking fish oil and exercising) lost body fat.

The subjects in this group lost a little over 3 pounds of fat in 12 weeks. Definitely not extraordinary, but significant nonetheless.

So people who exercised lost some fat. In my opinion this was expected. What was not expected was that the sunflower plus exercise group did not lose any fat.

Now, these people also added exercise to their lifestyle, so you would expect them to also lose fat. So either the combination of fish oil and exercise somehow 'created' this extra fat loss, or, pardon the pun, something is fishy with this study.

On closer inspection of the data I noticed something that may account for these results.

While the fish oil plus exercise group reported that their daily calorie intake pretty much remained the same for the 12 weeks of the study, the sunflower plus exercise group saw their daily caloric intake increase by 327 Kcals per day by week 6 of the trial, and stay elevated by 230 Kcals at week 12.

While the researchers make no mention of this as being significant, it may help explain the lack of fat loss in the sunflower plus exercise group.

At the end of the day, caloric restriction and exercise are the only way to lose fat. The better your exercise program and the better your diet, the more fat you will lose. Plain and simple.

However, don't rule out fish oils. Most fish oil research finds that they can benefit blood lipids and your cholesterol profile.

Bottom line, Fish oils are good for you, just don't get your hopes up about them making you lose weight.

BP

Fasting Diet, Circuit Training

Nutritional Customs That Work

If you've had the chance to read the free report I wrote for grrlathlete.com titled "The Ten Day Diet Solution" then you know I am a fan of nutritional customs.

I think that setting rules that help us control what we eat by controlling how and when we eat is a great strategy for overall health and well being, and is a great (and easy) way to lose weight.

This is why I get angry when so called 'nutrition gurus' rip on nutritional customs.

Take the example of 'not eating after 7 pm' or 'not eating carbs after 7 pm.'

This is a ritual practiced by many of the fitness models I have had the pleasure of meeting over the years. Many of them follow this custom during the periods when they are preparing for a fitness competition.

No matter their reasoning, the simple fact is that this custom allows them to lower their caloric intake. There's no magic. It has nothing to do with increased fat burning, or decreased fat storage during nighttime, it is just a method of "intake" control. And it works because they like it, and its easy.

What bothered me was that a couple of years ago, while in a seminar session at the annual Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology conference, I heard a supposed nutrition guru explain why this custom was 'ineffective'.

With as much Show-man 'Bravado' as he could muster, he pointed out all the reasons why the "science did not support this fallacy" (While at the same time, pushing his own ridiculous weight loss diet plan).

The fact of the matter is, if people like to follow this nutritional custom, and it helps them eat less during the day, and stay in control of their nutrition plan, then it works. Plain and Simple.

Sometimes, so called gurus can blind themselves with science and lose site of the big picture. If it works for you and you are happy with it, then keep the custom.

BP

Fasting Diet, Circuit Training

3 "Magic" Fat Loss Ingredients

Every morning I go through the exact same routine.

I get up. I make some oatmeal. Clean the kitchen. Go up stairs. Brush my teeth. Turn on my computer. Check my email. Then I laugh (or sometimes cry) while reading all of the new stories about the latest and greatest "fat loss" ingredients.

It is an absolute mystery to me why, after over 20 years of failed promises, we still turn to magic ingredients and magic foods for fat loss.

What shocks me even more is that we are still hoping to find something we can eat that will cause us to lose fat. It is almost becoming an oxymoron.

We are looking for something to consume that will make us consume less!

Here are just some examples of magic foods and ingredients in the new today:

Recent research (performed in a test tube) suggests that extract from Chilli peppers may stop fat growth. According to this research Chilli extract may hold the key to preventing immature fat cells from developing into mature fat cells.

In a different study, it was suggested that spearmint tea can not only lower a man's sex drive but can also decrease the amount of hair on a women's body. (Admittedly, this isn't fat loss research but if you think the body builders in your gym smell bad now, wait till they read this research and stop brushing their teeth for fear that they may be lowering their T levels!)

Finally, more research shows that dairy calcium (but not calcium supplements) can cause a decrease in the amount of fat in your blood after a meal.

I can't really tell you too much about this study because I stopped reading after the first page that mentioned that the study was funded by the Danish Dairy Research Foundation and the Dutch Dairy Association!

A Dairy Foundation and a Dairy Association funded the study, and the study found that dairy calcium, but not calcium supplements had weight loss benefits? Please.

Now honestly, there is some merit to this research. Eating more spices on your food is definitely a good idea. Eating foods that contain calcium is also a good idea.

However, thinking that taking chilli extract pills or consuming 3 bowls of ice-cream per day will make you lose weight IS NOT what you should be taking away from this research. (Nor is skipping your morning tooth brushing!)

If you want to lose weight there are only three things you need to do, and you don't need to read any research to do them.

Firstly, find a nutrition plan that works for you.

Secondly, get active. And I don't mean walk on the elliptical for half an hour every other day, I mean get a real work-out program and challenge yourself.

The third and last thing you need to do is to stop (or don't start) falling for the media's version of the latest and greatest fat loss research. It will only lead to disappointment and is usually a very poor and hyped up version of what the research was really telling us.

These are the real 3 "magic" fat loss ingredients!

BP

Eat Stop Eat

The Newest Diet Study - What does it really tell us?

By now, you have probably heard about the latest study – You know the one that “proves” that the Atkins diet is superior for weight loss?

So let me just clear this up right now. The results of this study prove one thing and one thing only – diets work.

In fact, after reviewing this study, and all of the commentary, posturing, crying and bickering that it has caused, I have come to the conclusion that this study proves that the very best thing you can do for weight loss is:

Eat less, but enjoy the foods you eat. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables, and lots of herbs and spices. And maybe most importantly, spend less time stressing over the types of food you are eating

In other words - Cut your calories in a way that works for you. ( It might take a bit of trial and error, but it will be worth it.)

Now here are the facts from the study…

311 overweight, pre-menopausal women were divided into four groups and were asked to follow one of the following dietary programs: The Atkins diet, the Zone diet, the LEARN diet or the Ornish diet.

Each woman was put in one of these groups and received a copy of one of the popular weight loss books. Each woman then met with a registered dietitian once per week for 8 weeks learning “the ins and outs” of their assigned diet.

After these classes the subjects were “set free” to follow the diet for 12 months, with the exception of a couple of visits to the lab and some unannounced phone calls where the researchers asked the subjects to recall what they had eaten in the last 24 hours.

What happened?

As expected, all 4 groups ate fewer calories during the study than they were eating before the study – so all diets “worked” to help cut calories.

And each group lost weight with most weight loss happening in the first 2 months. (After this point for all diets, the weight loss tended to slow or even creep back up).

The Atkins style diet had the best weight loss during the first 2 months and over the 6-month study. That’s why you see Atkins being crowned the king of weight loss diets.

However, by end of the 12-month study, the results tended to “even out”. And by the end of the study, the Atkins diet was really only better than the Zone Diet (which isn’t a bad diet on it’s own).

And you know what? The total weight loss wasn’t that impressive – with the Atkins dieters losing 12.5 lbs in 6 months. That’s 0.5 lbs per week. Good, but not eye-popping results.

But here’s the kicker. It’s hard for me to understand how overweight woman (averaging 180 pounds and over 40% bodyfat) can eat less than 1400 calories per day for 6-months and lose only lose 12 and a half pounds. There is something very wrong here.

Looking at the data, I noticed that all of the diets saw a small slow increase in their calorie intake over the year. And honestly, this was probably due to huge errors in dietary recall. Most people can’t accurately describe what they had for lunch, so this measure isn’t worth the paper it was written on.

Dietary recall is a scientific method for measuring caloric intake that has been under a large amount of scrutiny in the past years.

Imagine having someone call you on the phone and ask you to describe all of the foods you had eaten over the day. Imagine the types of mistakes in sizes and types of food that could be made in this type of interpretation and then imagine the kind of effects that this could have in a scientific study.

Now also imagine that you SIGNED UP for a weight loss study, so you are already motivated to eat less and you are also insecure about the amounts and types of food you eat.

For true research, diet recalls are a horrible tool. Plain and simple.

I also noticed that none of the diets were true to their form.

Take a look at the “high protein Atkins style diet”. After 2 months the subjects reported a protein intake of 95 grams. But at 12 months it was down to 82 grams. How is this high protein? It’s not even 0.5 grams per pound of bodyweight!

And check out the “Ornish Low fat diet”. At 2 months fat made up 21% of their caloric intake, at 12 months it made up 29.8% of their calories. This is a far cry from the 10% that Dr. Ornish advocates.

Because the subjects had such a hard time sticking to the diet plans, I don’t think that this trial proved that any one diet was better than the other. It did prove that the diet with the lowest carbohydrates had the quickest weight loss. And it did show that diets high in fat can still have health benefits. Most likely, the health benefits are the result of the reduced calories and the associated weight loss as all the diets were associated with health improvements.

Of course, proponents of each diet are all crying foul. They’re complaining about the study design, the subjects, the poor compliance to the diet plans…but most importantly they’re complaining because they make money by selling you their programs!

Its funny…Dr. Ornish said that the study was flawed because most participants couldn’t follow the Ornish diet. That doesn’t make the study flawed - its makes the diet flawed.

And that’s exactly what this study proves…it is very difficult to follow these prescribed diets. These people don’t know you. They don’t know what you like to eat or what you do for a living. They simply design a diet that makes a lot of sense on paper, and prescribe it as a cure all.

The bottom line is…this study still not help end the debate over which diet works best because there IS NO DEBATE. Eating less works! End of story. The rest of it is just people making simple diet advice into confusing pseudo-science so they can sell you their programs.

Eat less, but enjoy the foods you eat. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables, and lots of herbs and spices. And maybe most importantly, spend less time stressing over the types of food you are eating.

BP

What's Interesting about this study?

27 obese patients were subjected to a ten day fast consisting of 250 Calories per day. The Subjects were divided into two groups, a group that exercised and a group that did not.

After ten days:

• Both groups had similar weight loss.

• The exercise was well tolerated without problems.

• The loss of muscle was significantly less in the exercise group.

The authors concluded "This may indicate that muscular activity is useful in aiding adaptation to fasting and may orient weight loss preferentially towards fat mass."

While certainly not earth shattering...the part that is very interesting to me is that this study was published in 1975!

So, we had a vague idea over 3o years ago that exercise was needed to maintain muscle mass while dieting. Yet, nowadays we still argue about protein ratios, carb cycling and meal frequency and supplementation. Seems like something was lost in the last 30 years!

Simple truth - Just like Schrub et al. hypothesised over 30 years ago, if you are dieting and you want to preserve muscle mass, lift weights.

BP

How to Shed Body Fat

This time last year I was almost half way through dieting for a bodybuilding contest.

That's right. As embarrassing as it is, I have been on stage, in a pair of glorified speedos, posing for a table full of judges.

You can call it a freak show, you can call it a bikini contest or you can call it pure vanity. I admit, I make fun of these competitions too.

I decided to compete last year to make sure that I could transform my body. After all, I'd be a hypocrite if I wrote in this blog about nutrition and weight loss if I've never actually taken my own body to the extremes of dieting.

And to be honest, it was one of the single best things I have ever done, because I recorded a journal of every single day of my diet.

And now whenever I feel like I need a little motivation and direction, I can simply look back at what worked for me.

I know I say this all the time, but it is worth repeating - A journal is your single best tool for getting in shape. It doesn't have to be super detailed, just a quick outline of how each day is going.

Here is an example of one of my pages...it's mostly chicken scratch that only I can understand..but it tells me exactly what I need to know.





Basically, the yellow highlighted stuff is my workout...and the rest is notes. From this one page I know that I didn't want to go any heavier on dead lifts, that my diet was going well, and that I tried step-ups, but preferred split squats for this particular workout.


It took me about two minutes every day to fill this out. I never did it in the gym..often I filled it in during a break at work, or when I got home that night. But it's proved to be extremely valuable for me.



A couple of months after the contest, I summarized some key notes about the whole experience.

• I had great results using intervals.
• I had great results using a whole body split.
• I had poor results using a bodybuilder type routine.
• I was able to maintain my strength during the whole diet.
• I was able to maintain my activity level during the whole diet.
• Cheat days are a waste. I found no benefit from them at all.
• 1,200 Calories was a little too low for me, but 1,500 to 1,800 worked perfectly.
• I lost almost no muscle during the entire diet.
• Avoiding simple sugars seemed to make a very big difference towards the end of my diet.

Great reminders for whenever I felt I needed to look back at what worked for me. This is why I view keeping a journal as your number one tool for weight loss.

Another great bonus was that during this time I had regular access to a BodPod..a great device for tracking body fat and lean mass changes that is very easy to use and very accurate.

Every Thursday I would take my measurements with the BodPod, and then chart my changes in a spread sheet.

This is the second most important tool for weight loss - measurements.

Now, you don't need a BodPod to track changes - a scale, measuring tape and a digital camera will do just fine. In fact, I used the pictures I took with my digital camera more than I used my Bodpod readings to track my changes.

If you photograph, weigh and measure yourself at the same time every week, this will give you a great way to look back and track any changes that were made.

Once you get in the habit of monitoring your progress by recording a journal and measuring your body, losing weight becomes much easier, because you are no longer guessing at what works and what doesn't work. You can simply look at your records.

BP

PS- for those of you who have been asking about the next installement of the Deconstructing Nutrition Series (Dr. F), it's still coming - I just have a few more articles to read through before it's completed.

Eat Stop Eat

Buying Weight Loss

I apologize for the lack of posts; it's been a very busy 2007 so far.

For me, 2007 has been the year of meetings. It's been one after the other for almost all of January. Usually, they involve a good amount of food, and a lot of conversation about nutrition and the food industry.

In fact, I just finished a meeting today where I had one of those "hmmmmm" moments.

You see, it dawned on me while discussing the latest dieting trends that we have done a great job of creating an "industry" out of weight loss. And, by "we" I don't mean some evil corporate conspiracy or some secret group of executives. I mean you, me, and everyone else who make up the buying public.

Somehow, we've convinced ourselves that in order to lose weight, eating less is not the answer. Instead, we've decided that the key to losing weight is eating foods that make us lose weight.

It's as though we are addicted to buying. To purchasing and consuming. In general we have a hard time excepting that "taking away" is the answer. We would much rather "add".

Sure, this keeps us as good little consumers and keeps the economy going, but a quick look at the stats reveals that it certainly doesn’t make us any leaner. In fact, the opposite is happening. We keep consuming and, as a population, we keep getting bigger.

So here is my solution - Instead of worrying about which green tea to buy, and what specific type of grapefruit you are going to eat, which diet you are going to follow, and which fast food is "healthiest", make a rule that outside of the grocery store, you will not pay for food. I don't mean steal. I just mean don't buy anything extra that day.

We already know that just because you are hungry, it doesn’t mean your metabolism is slowing down, or that you are breaking down muscle (Unless you haven’t eaten in over 3 days!). For the most part, it simply means you are used to eating at that time.

So forgo the snacks in the car, and the coffee stop on the way into work. I’m sure that if you can avoid buying any extra food for an entire month, you will see significant weight loss. Despite all the gimmicks and trends, simply eating less is still the best, most effective answer.

Give it a try, but take a positive approach. Go into this experiment thinking that you do not need to buy extra food. That you will not feel bad, or sluggish. That it will not affect your workouts or your stress level. Stay positive, and avoid purchasing anything other than your groceries.

BP

Give up on fighting fat?

I came across a very interesting article the other day. I've been wrestling with it's suggestions for a while now and am still not sure whether or not I agree with any of them.

Take a look below and let me know what you think...but please keep in mind that this article is full of personal beliefs from the author and is not to be confused with my beliefs or with scientific fact.

End the War on Obesity: Make Peace With Your Patients


Linda Bacon, MA, PhD Medscape General Medicine. 2006;8(4):40. ©2006 MedscapePosted 11/27/2006

Your patients are desperate to lose weight. Given the presumed health imperative, you feel justified in supporting their goal. You encourage calorie restriction and/or exercise.

The "weight problem," however, never goes away. Face the facts. We're losing the war on obesity. The"common sense" approach just isn't working. Weights are increasing, particularly among dieters, and weight preoccupation and eating disorders are also on the rise.

Challenge your assumptions.

1. Weight has been greatly exaggerated as a health risk. Consider mortality. Except at statistical extremes,BMI only weakly predicts longevity. Many studies indicate "overweight" people live at least as long as"normal" weight people.[1-3] "Overweight" may even be ideal for longevity.[2]Consider morbidity. Epidemiological studies rarely acknowledge confounding factors like fitness, activity, nutrient intake, weight cycling, or socioeconomic status. Studies that do control for these find increased morbidity disappears or at least is sharply attenuated.[4]

2. Sustained weight loss is not a practical goal, nor is it well established to improve health. The vast majority of people regain lost weight,regardless of whether they maintain their diet or exercise programs.[5] And no one has ever proved that losing weight prolongs life. Some studies actually indicate that intentional weight loss increases the risk of dying early from certain diseases.[6-11]

3. Health improvements can result from improved health behaviors, regardless of whether weight is lost.[12]Improvements in insulin sensitivity and blood lipids have even been documented to occur in people who actually gained body fat during an exercise program![13,14]

There's an alternative to the war.

The new peace movement is called "Health at Every Size," and it acknowledges that health habits are more important than the scale.[12]Participation is simple. Quit hassling patients about their weight. Stop prescribing weight loss. Encourage people of all sizes to change focus from weight to health. Support everyone in appreciating their bodies and incorporating healthy lifestyle habits.That's my opinion. I'm Dr. Linda Bacon, Nutrition Researcher, University of California, Davis, and Nutrition Professor, City College of San Francisco.

NOTE: I have placed the references for this article in the comments section.

BP

Fasting for Weight Loss

The Women's Workout Blog

Finally, after what seems like years of me begging, my friend John Barban has finally started a blog.


John has a wealth of experience when it comes to sports conditioning and fat loss. He is a certified strength and conditioning specialist, a varsity strength coach, has his masters degree in nutritional science and human physiology and is one of the authors of grrlathlete's fat loss manual - ShapeShift. Talk about an impressive resume!


John's new blog - The Women's Workout Blog, specializes in training female athletes and females for fat loss. Take a look at his thoughts on training, including some of the fun workouts he'll soon be posting.

BP

Fasting Diet, Circuit Training

Metabolism Myths

For the longest time I believed that if you dieted to strictly your metabolism would slow to a crawl. This was Bodybuilding dieting gospel.

Skip breakfast? Now you've slowed your metabolism down for the entire day. No way you’re burning any fat now!

Turns out, your metabolism is not that complicated. The idea that you have to keep your metabolic furnace stoked with food is a complete myth. Just another example of "experts" trying to make nutrition more complicated then it needs to be.

The portion of your metabolism that is affected by what you eat is very small. The largest part of your metabolic rate is set by your body weight. If you weigh more your metabolism is higher (especially if it's muscle), if you lose weight, your metabolism will go down.

The foods you eat effect your metabolism by something called "the thermic effect of food", which is the energy it takes your body to process the food you eat for storage or use, but again this is very small compared to the amount of energy it takes just to "run" your body.

It makes no difference metabolically whether you eat many small meals or one large meal. What does make a difference is the make up of these meals. Protein, carbs, fats and different ratios of each all have very small effects on the "thermic effect of food" which then has a very small effect on your metabolism.

Bottom line- It's still very important to eat "lean and green" and there are definite benefits to eating smaller meals throughout the day. But if you are looking to your diet as a way to control your metabolism, you're missing the boat.

The best way to increase your metabolism is with exercise. Other than drastic changes in bodyweight, this is the one way you can control your metabolism. Effective weight loss programs like Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training program or the ShapeShift program over at grrlAthlete.com are examples of good workout programs that can increase your metabolism.

Remember, if you miss a meal or cut your calories a little too low it doesn't mean you've shut down your metabolism. Your diet is still incredibly important in the fat loss process - (In my opinion it's even more important than your workouts), It’s just not the main regulator of your metabolic rate.

BP

Fasting for Weight Loss , Circuit Training for Women

3 Great Tips from CB

Last week I wrote about the importance of these next several weeks -The time between Halloween and New Year's. These weeks can make or break any physique.

I also asked you to throw out your Halloween candy. If you haven't done it yet, go do it now! (They're two weeks old now, it's time for them to GO)

Now its time to cover the next key to making these ultra-important weeks your best ever, so you can hit the ground running come new years eve.

It drives me crazy to hear about people working really hard in the gym but getting no results.

But I see people in the gym everyday that are doing the same workout and getting no where. You can see the look of frustration and the dread of even doing the workout in their eyes. I hope this doesn't describe you and your fat loss situation. If it does, let's take a look at some of the best fat loss tips and workout solutions to get you back on the fat loss track.

I checked in with my friend over at turbulencetraining.blogspot.com, Craig Ballantyne and had him list his Top 3 Training Tips for Fat Loss...

CB's Top 3 Training Tips for Fat Loss

i) Train with intensity. Yes it takes a lot of effort to do 45 minutes of cardio, but that is low-intensity exercise (since you can do it for 45 minutes straight). Instead, you have to increase the intensity of your efforts. That means the following...

ii) Don't rely on slow, steady, long workouts of cardio. Use intervals instead.

iii) Don't use high reps for fat loss. Use low reps instead. You want to increase the intensity of your training to put "metabolic turbulence" on your muscles. So you need to use moderately heavy weights or advanced bodyweight exercises and interval training to apply this metabolic disturbance and elicit a significant increase in post-exercise energy expenditure.

Bottom line: While long cardio work is focused on breaking down the body, strength training, intervals and bodyweight exercises like yoga and Pilates all focus on building the body. Stick with body-builders.

Sincerely,

BP

To Get your very own copy of Turbulence Training, Craig's fat loss program that incorporates intense weight training and intervals & to get his Nutrition Guide click here: Turbulence Training

Fasting Diet, Circuit Training

Halloween Fat-Bombs

They've been sitting around your house for almost an entire week.

You've used every excuse possible to avoid having to deal with the issue (the latest excuse I heard was that they cost money so you CAN'T throw them out). But now it's time.

Go find your hidden stash of left over Halloween candy and throw it in the garbage! - ALL of it.
You don't need it and what's worse, it is sabotaging you for what could be the most important 8 weeks of the year.

Yes, it's true. There are only 8 weeks left until New Years Eve. It is this gap, between Halloween and New Years, where I see most people put on weight and let go of their fitness goals.

However, if you can do some damage control right now, keep your weight where it is, maybe even lose some fat and gain a little muscle, then you will be miles ahead of everyone else come January first.

Imagine hitting January first in full stride!

It is possible, but first you have to get your nutrition back in order - which means throwing out the candy.

Second, you better get yourself a good new workout program. I suggest you give the grrlathlete Body-Weight Manual a try. It's quick, easy, extremely effective and you can do it at the gym or in your home.

Don't do what everyone else does and hibernate until the New Years...Get started now and avoid the need for a new years resolution!

Helping you make 2007 the best year ever,

BP

Fasting Diet, Circuit Training