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GUEST POST:
By Tom Venuto
www.BurnTheFat.com
If you’ve been doing the same nutrition, same calories, same cardio, same weight training and the same intensity for the entire past year with no changes, then you shouldn’t be suprised if you’ve continued to get the SAME results (very little).
Caloric intake, for example is not something you calculate once and then never pay attention to again. Calories have to be calculated and customized for each individual in the beginning and then adjusted continuously in “real time” during the course of a fat loss program, based on actual results.
Just because you start at 1800, for example, doesn’t mean your caloric intake should stay there. Calories may need to be increased or decreased depending on whether your goals, your body weight and your activity levels change and based on your weekly progress (or lack of).
Which brings me to another point. I am a huge fan of using progress charts. There is a saying in business management and sports coaching:
“What gets measured gets done.”
When you start “keeping score” and tracking performance right down to the numbers, it’s almost miraculous how this awareness of how you’re doing translates into improved results.
When you track your body composition results every week, if a week or two goes by with no results, then you don’t continue with more of what got you no results, you change some variable in your program immediately!
An old Turkish proverb that says,
“No matter how far you’ve traveled down the wrong road, always turn back!”
Of course, you don’t have to throw out your entire program, you can simply “tweak” ONE or maybe two variables within the same program.
Also, when you measure, track and analyze muscle versus fat (body composition), instead of just scale weight, you might even discover you’ve gained some lean body mass and this offsets the drop on the scale (which means it’s possible you made more progress than you thought).
Now, back to the calories. To break a plateau, you can take a reduction in calories, or an increase in activity, either of which will create a deficit if you are currently in energy balance, or increase your existing caloric deficit.
At the end of the day, fat loss boils down to calories in versus calories out, so if you plateau, you may need a simple calorie reduction, provided you don’t restrict too low for too long (which tends to trigger your body’s “starvation response.”)
As for your cardio program, 3 days a week of cardio works for many people, but usually, I would consider three weekly cardio sesssions a maintenenance workout or at best a starting point for beginners, NOT a “maximum fat loss” program.
Example: this week, you could increase your cardio from 3 sessions to 4 sessions (or 4-5). If you combine the decrease in food intake with an increase in calories burned through activity, that will almost certainly get you burning fat again.
If it does, then stay with that cardio plan. If not, the next week go up to 5 days a week. Repeat this simple “feedback loop” process as many times and for as long as necessary.
Also remember that more (often) is not always better. You can also increase the intensity and get more calories burned in same amount of time. This feedback loop process can be used to make decisions about your training intensity, duration and type, as well as frequency.
Whichever strategy you choose to break the plateau, remember Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity:
“Insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”
Although this seems like common sense to some people, what happens is really quite common because it does appear that you’re doing everything you’re “supposed to be doing” with perfectly good intentions.
You may have all the key elements there: You’re exercising (weights and cardio). You’re watching your nutrition, and you’ve been disciplined and consistent in following it.
The trouble with many popular programs – even good ones – is that they are too dogmatic. Their entire program may revolve around “X” number of calories, “X” days per week of cardio and “X” days a week of weights….
And you’re not allowed to “tamper” with that “holy grail” formula.
I can understand the rationale for a simple diet and exercise prescription for a beginner in order to not confuse them with too many choices, but what if it doesnt work after a month, three months, six months, A WHOLE YEAR? What if there are no options, what then?
In NLP, there’s a principle, (borrowed from cybernetics), called The Law of Requisite Variety, which says,
“The person with the most flexibility is the person with the most power and the greatest chance for success.”
You need to know what to do when you’re not getting results… you need options and choices for breaking plateaus, and that’s important because plateaus happen to everyone – including me.
Some people think that hitting a fat loss plateau means there’s something wrong with them. But plateaus are natural and normal. In fact, you could look at it this way:
Hitting a plateau means your body is healthy and your body is functioning normally, because normal function of the body is to adapt effectively to stress, to protect you and to maintain homeostasis.
Exercise is a stress. Dieting is a stress. It’s natural for your body to adapt to them. When you adapt, you must place a new “positive stress” on the body if you want continued improvement.
If you want to learn more details about how to change your program to break plateaus and make continuous progress as fast as safely possible, then I recommend you take a look at Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle (BFFM).
BFFM has flexibility, feedback and performance tracking built right into it. Chapter 4 in BFFM teaches the “BFFM feedback loop method”, and shows you how to chart progress and adjust your diet and workouts on a weekly basis, to keep you making progress or get you back on track if your progress stalls out.
There is no reason to allow even a few weeks, let alone an entire year to go by without results. But you can’t expect to get different results if you continue doing more of what’s not working.
Keep after it! Be persistent… but also be flexible!
Your friend and coach,
Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
www.BurnTheFat.com
About the Author:
With these hot and humid days we’ve been having, I got in and out of the gym this morning fast and furious.
Was finished my workout by 10am and here is what I did.
Barbell Squats
DB Lunges
Chinups
Chest Supported Barbell Rows
Barbell Curls
Cable Curls
Standing Calf Raise
2 sets each, 4-8 reps
If you are like a lot of busy dads you are probably wondering why you can’t stick with eating healthy this summer with all those tempting backyard bbq’s, weddings, and vacations.
Well my friend and fellow fitness expert Tom Venuto send this along just in time for the weekend.
8 Reasons Why You Keep Falling Off The Diet Wagon
www.BurnTheFat.com
Clearly, we have an obesity problem in America and many other countries across our planet. Yet, I propose that we do not have a weight loss problem today. In case you’re confused at this apparent contradiction, consider these statistics:
According to a study from Oxford University published in the International Journal of Obesity, within 3 to 5 years, about 80 percent of all ‘weight losers’ have regained the lost weight, and often gained back a little extra.
According to research by the National Weight Control Registry, that relapse rate may be as high as 95 percent.
For comparison, relapse rates for drug, alcohol and tobacco dependency have been reported in the range of 50-90%.
This means that lots and lots of people have “successfully” lost weight. But not many have kept it off. Therefore, we don’t have a weight loss problem, we have a weight-relapse problem; we have a “not sticking with it” problem. Wouldn’t you agree?
In fact, the fall and subsequent weight-regain usually doesn’t take years. Many people have abandoned their new year’s resolutions within weeks. By the time the Super Bowl party rolls around, their diet is history!
If this is true, then shouldn’t we put more of our attention onto figuring out why you haven’t been sticking with your program, and what you should do about it?
I put together this new list (below) of the top 8 reasons why you fall off the wagon.
Rather than worrying about the minutiae of your diet plan, like whether you should be on low carb or high carb, Mediterranean or Okinawan, vegetarian or meat eater, I propose that if you simply focus on these 8 issues, you’ll start getting more lasting results.
How? By being able to stick with whichever plan you decided was best for you! After all, even if you have the best nutrition program in the world – on paper – it doesn’t do you much good if you can’t stick with it in practice!
THE 8 REASONS
1. No focus: you didn’t set goals, you didn’t put your goals in writing, and/or you didn’t stay focused on your goals daily (by reading them, affirming them, looking at a vision board, etc.)
2. No priorities: you may have set a goal, but you didn’t put it on or near the top of your priorities list. For example, your goal is six pack abs, but drinking beer and eating fast food on the weekend is higher on your priorities list than having a flat stomach.
3. No support system: you tried to go at it alone; no buddy system, training partners, family, spouse, friends, mentors or coaches to turn to for information and emotional support when the going got tough.
4. No Accountability: you didn’t keep score for your own accountability – with a progress chart, weight record, measurements, food journal, training journal, and you didn’t set up external accountability (ie, report to someone else or show your results to someone else)
5. No patience: you were only thinking short term and had unrealistic expectations. You expected 10 pounds a week or 5 pounds a week or 3 pounds a week, so the first week you lost “only” 1 or 2 pounds or hit a plateau, you gave up.
6. No planning: you winged it. You walked into the gym without having a workout in hand, on paper, you didn’t plan your workouts into your weekly schedule; you didn’t have a menu on paper, you didn’t make time (so instead you made excuses, like “I’m too busy”)
7. No balance: your diet or training program was too extreme. You went the all or nothing, “I want it now” route instead of the moderate, slow-and-steady wins the race route.
8. No personalization: your nutrition or training program was the wrong one for you. It might have worked for someone else, but it didn’t suit your schedule, personality, lifestyle, disposition or body type.
So there you have it – 8 reasons why most people fall off the wagon! Have you been making these mistakes? If so, the solutions are clear and simple: focus, prioritize, get support, be accountable, be patient, plan, balance and personalize.
Tom Venuto
Fat Loss Coach
www.BurnTheFat.com
About the Author:
Comments
Trans Fatty Acids: The poison in our food supply that most people are STILL eating every day
Guest Blog:
By Tom Venuto
www.BurnTheFat.com
Most people are eating a poison every day without giving it a second thought. Dance of the Vampires hd This substance can increase belly fat and consuming even small amounts (2% of total energy intake) is consistently linked to coronary heart disease. The research also says that this stuff can increase visceral fat, contribute to insulin resistance, increase risk of type 2 diabetes, increase bad cholesterol, decrease good cholesterol, trigger systemic inflammation and adversely affect almost every cell in your body.
What substance could be so harmful that it causes all of these health problems and yet is so prevalent in our food supply that most people are eating dangerous amounts every single day? This industrially manufactured ingredient is called Trans fatty acids (TFA’s).
TFA’s are not found in nature, with the exception of some ruminant-derived TFA’s in certain dairy products (usually contributing less than 0.5% of total caloric intake). TFA’s come mostly from the industrial hydrogenation of vegetable oils, which alters the natural cis configuration of the oils to the trans configuration. If you see “partially hydrogenated” oil in the ingredients list of any food product, then it contains TFA’s.
TFA’s have been studied for decades, but were largely ignored until the past several years. Research papers linking trans fats to heart disease date back to the 1970’s. In 1994, the Center for Science in the Public Interest petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to put trans fats on food labels (didn’t happen until 2006). Since 2006, TFA’s have thankfully received a decent amount of publicity when they were in the news regarding new food labeling laws and the banning of their use in restaurants in some states.
New studies have been published in the past year confirming the dangers of TFA’s. Four recent studies indicated 24, 20, 27 and 32% higher risk of myocardial infarction (MI) or CHD death for every 2% energy of TFA consumption isocalorically replacing carbohydrate, SFA, cis monounsaturated fatty acids and cis polyunsaturated fatty acids, respectively.
TFA intake in the United States still averages 2-3% of total energy intake, 4% in some developing countries where fast food is being introduced and as high as 8-10% in certain subgroups (who eat large amounts of baked goods, fried foods, pastries, doughnuts, etc). The government recommended maximum is 1% of total energy intake (2 grams!). Some experts say there is NO safe level of TFA intake.
Legislation has been enacted in some states banning the use of TFAs in restaurants. It was big news New York. As of 2008, 11 cities and counties have adopted regulations to restrict TFA use in restaurants. However, industrial TFA use is still widespread and lots of people are still scarfing them down every day.
If Trans fats are so dangerous, why is their use so widespread? Dietary fat expert Udo Erasmus put it this way: “TFA’s are a food manufacturer’s dream: an unspoilable substance that lasts forever.” TFA’s are cheap and for countless food products, they can prolong shelf life, allow easy transport, provide solidity at room temperature (to make spreads), and increase suitability for commercial frying.
Although most people have heard of TFA’s, the bad news is that this increased awareness has not been enough to translate into behavior change.
A study recently published in the Journal of The American Dietetic Association (ADA) found that in 2007, 73% of Americans knew that TFA’s increased risk of heart disease, compared to 63% in 2006. However, the bad news is that 79% of Americans could not name 3 foods that contain trans fats. 46% of Americans could not name any sources of trans fats on their own.
“Knowledge about food sources of fats remains low” says Robert Eckel, professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado.
Public health messages have been raising awareness, but they haven’t been enough. “TFA’s are bad for you.” Ok, so now what? What you really need are some simple behavior guidelines and a list of foods to eat very infrequently if you eat them at all.
Here are some good places for you to start.
4 Ways to Avoid Trans Fatty Acids
1. Eat mostly foods that do not have a label. At the risk of stating the obvious, if you don’t eat anything that comes in a box or package with a label, then you won’t ever consume manmade TFA’s. If your diet consists primarily of fruits, fibrous vegetables, root vegetables, beans, legumes, brown rice, unprocessed whole grains, nuts, seeds, eggs, fish and lean meats, you’re home free.
2. Watch for label loopholes. WARNING: Food companies are lying to you on their product labels to make you think their foods are TFA-free. The front of their package may say “ZERO grams of trans fats,” and yet there is hydrogenated oil listed in the ingredients. How could that be? There is a label loophole where the government allows companies to claim zero trans fats if there is less than a half a gram per serving. So the food companies sneakily manipulate their serving sizes until the servings are so small that the TFA content falls below the per serving limit.
3. Read ingredients lists. The primary source of TFA’s is partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. In particular, soybean, sunflower, cottonseed and palm oils are frequently hydrogenated. Your first step then, is to read food labels on any packaged products and look at the ingredients list. If it contains partially hydrogenated oils, it contains TFA’s.
4. Avoid foods that contain TFA’s most of the time. TFA’s are commonly found in baked goods (bakery), fried foods and packaged convenience foods, especially:
cookies*
crackers*
biscuits*
pastries*
pies*
doughnuts*
packaged frozen foods (breaded chicken, breaded fish, etc)
corn chips
potato chips
packaged popcorn
some breads
frostings
french fries (fried potatoes)
taco shells
margarines and spreads
shortening
some salad dressings
some candies
some artificial cheeses
* major food sources for American adults
In 2002 when I published the first edition of my ebook, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle, I warned my readers of the dangers of trans fatty acids. I was not the only one either. Years ahead of the 2006 law requiring trans fats to be listed on food labels and the 2007-2008 restaura
nt TFA bans, numerous health professionals were already warning people to stay away from TFA’s.
Not enough people heeded the warnings, while meanwhile, politics and commercial interests delayed legislation. No doubt, skyrocketing rates of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease can be largely linked to the continued use of these artificial fake food additives. In the US alone, 1,700,000 new cases of diabetes, 233,600 diabetes-related deaths, 600,000 myocardial infarctions and 451,300 coronary heart disease-related deaths are reported every year.
A campaign for better education and lifestyle change is worth supporting. As researchers from Harvard said, “A comprehensive strategy to eliminate the use of industrial TFA in both developed and developing countries, including education, food labeling, and policy and legislative initiatives, would likely prevent tens of thousands of CHD events worldwide each year.”
For a healthy and balanced lifestyle, and for better long-term compliance, I’m rarely in favor of tagging any foods as totally “forbidden” or to use words as strong as “poison” in describing foods. But if there are any exceptions, trans fats are one of them.
If you are unable or unwilling to eliminate TFA’s from your diet completely, then you would be wise for the sake of your health and your family’s health, to keep foods containing TFA’s to a bare minimum and avoid eating any TFA-laden foods on a daily basis.
Last, but not least, be on guard, because history tells us that when one harmful food additive is banned, it is often replaced with another, which is sometimes even worse. That’s why item #1 on my list of four ways to avoid trans fatty acids is the best way to avoid anything that is harmful to your health.
Train hard and expect success,
Tom Venuto
Fat Loss Coach
www.BurnTheFat.com
About the Author:
References
Americans’ Awareness, Knowledge, and Behaviors Regarding Fats, Eckel RH et al, Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Feb 2009 (2):288-296
Metabolic implications of dietary trans-fatty acids, Dorfman SE et al, Obesity, Feb 2009, 1-8. Cardiovascular and metabolism disease area, Novartis institutes for biomedical research, INc. Cambridge, Mass.
Mortality from arteriosclerotic disease and consumption of hydrogenated oils and fats, Thomas LH, Br J Prev Soc Med, Jun 1975 29(2): 82-90
Health effects of trans-fatty acids: experimental and observational evidence. Mozzafarian D, Eur J Clin Nutr, May 2009: 63 suppl 2S5-21, Harvard Medical School
Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill, Udo Erasmus, Alive Books, 1994
Sean Barker, CPT
Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose Your Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com
Guest Blog: By Tom Venuto
www.BurnTheFat.com
I rounded up fat loss expert Tom Venuto for a great guest post on The Real Way to Stop Eating Fast Food
Plus he even shares some quick healthy recipes that you can whip up in minutes when it’s Dad’s time to cook!
“Don’t you know those fries will give you a heart attack?” (nag, nag).
“You have to stop eating all that fast food, it’s going to make you fat!” (nag nag).
“You have to eat more healthy food like fruits and vegetables – they’re good for you!” (nag, nag).
Your friends nag you, your family nags you, your doctor nags you, the health newsletters, websites and magazines – they all nag you, and of course, your personal trainer nags the heck out of you, to stop eating all those BAD FAST FOODS.
But does all that nagging you and bad-mouthing the fast food industry really help anyone stop?
It doesn’t look that way. The fast food industry is thriving, even in the bad economy. The Chicago Tribune recently said that McDonalds is “recession proof.”
As one of only two companies to turn a major profit over the last year (the other being Wal Mart), McDonald’s is laughing its way to the bank. In fact, McDonalds plans to open 1,000 new stores this year.
I was driving down Route 95 a few weeks ago and pulled over to use the rest room at Mcdonalds on a Saturday morning (there’s a McDonalds conveniently located immediately off almost every exit up and down the full length of Interstate 95).
The parking lot was full, it was standing-room only inside and the lines snaked around into the seating area! You’d think Brad and Angelina were there signing autographs or something. Nope. Just a regular weekend at breakfast-time.
I was shopping in Wal Mart the same week and I almost passed out when I saw (smelled, actually) a McDonalds… INSIDE THE WAL- MART! Also, with lines.
Yep. It looks like your friends and family’s nagging you to stop eating fast food, and all the messages of the health and fitness industry to get people eating more “health food” are not working!
So what does work?
The results of a new survey from the behavior and psychology section of the journal, OBESITY (Feb 2009) provide some answers:
Researchers at the University of Minnesota School of Public health surveyed 530 adults about their attitudes towards fast foods.
They found that people already know fast food is unhealthy. (like, no kidding!)
The primary reasons they eat it anyway are because of the perceived convenience and a dislike for cooking! (I’d add another: they think fast food is always cheaper than healthy food).
What’s the right approach?
Focus on teaching people how to make healthy eating fast, convenient and easy, because those are the reasons people are choosing fast food in the first place.
So what’s holding us back from implementing or taking this advice?
That said, I’m not going to nag you, scold you or try to scare you out of eating fast food. I’m not going to lecture you about health food (not today, anyway). Nor am I going to bad-mouth the fast food restaurants.
3-MINUTE APPLE CINNAMON OATMEAL
* natural (unsweetened) applesauce
* cinnamon
* for protein, serve with scrambled eggs or egg whites on side or stir 1-2 scoops of vanilla protein powder into the oats
I eat this almost every morning. It’s faster, easier and cheaper than going to the donut place or getting sausage, cheese, bacon breakfast muffins at the fast food joint! (you don’t have to wait in line, either!)
10-MINUTE LAZY PERSON’S CHINESE STIR FRY
* frozen oriental vegetables
* chicken breast, grilled (try foreman grill)
* bragg’s “liquid aminos” (or light/lo-sodium soy sauce)
This takes 30 minutes, however, if you get a rice cooker and make a giant batch, you can have your rice on standby for instant eats and this will take less than 10 minutes.
It doesn’t get much easier than that. (I like those chinese veggies that come with the little mini-corn-on-the-cobs… reminds me of that Tom Hanks Movie, BIG)
2-MINUTE BLACK BEANS AND SPICY SALSA
* Medium or hot salsa
* 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
* 2 cloves garlic or chopped garlic to taste
* salt and pepper to taste
This means that my way of eating makes you more muscular and leaner… so you can look hot wearing very little clothes this summer… and be healthier… and save money too.
Train Hard, Eat Right, and Expect Success!
www.BurnTheFat.com
About the A
uthor:
Sean Barker, CPT
Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose Your Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com
I am finally back home from an AWESOME weekend in Toronto networking with the top fitness professionals in the industry.
It was also great to meet-up with my wife and baby daughter on the same connecting flight home as she was returning from her trip as well. I missed them both so much!
As I will be returning to my Dad Fitness workouts tomorrow I thought I share with you some cool news on ab training.
This is probably the fastest, surest, shortest route to getting a great set of abs that are not only lean, and defined, but also strong and functional…
David Grisaffi, who is widely known as “the abs guru” and Tom Venuto, who is well known as “the fat loss guru”, have just released a brand-new and exclusive interview called,
“The Ab Guru Speaks: Straight Talk About Core Training, Abs And Fat loss.”
The best part is: You can get a copy of the interview for f-r-e-e, for 72 hours only during a special promotion. (Yes, there IS a “catch”, but if you want great abs, it’s all good news for you, so read on to find out more…)
This interview transcript is published in a professionally designed and edited PDF e-book format (suitable for printing)
Inside, you will find valuable information about fat burning nutrition, supplements, core training, cardio, abdominal exercise, and especially the “lifestyle factors” (such as how stress and sleep deprivation can deprive you of your abs!)
You will be especially surprised when David and Tom start talking about fat burner supplements – they give them a real grilling – while being honest about what they can and cannot do, and when it might make sense to actually use them.
The answers revealed in this eye-opening resource are so candid and open that you may be shocked and astonished as you read it. It’s not the kind of info you typically read in the magazines, which must protect the vested interests in their supplement
lines or advertisers.
More importantly, after reading “The Ab Guru Speaks,” you will understand not only how to avoid gimmicks and rip offs, including supplements as well as exercise machines and so on, but also how to slash your body fat level and develop great abs that will be admired and envied on the beach, at the pool or in the gym.
Here’s the deal:
For the next 72 hours only, from Wednesday December 2nd to Friday December 5th – you can get a copy of “The Abs Guru Speaks” report absolutely f-r-e-e when you purchase the Firm And Flatten Your Abs e-book Package from www.FlattenYourAbs.net
I’ve seen the Firm And Flatten Your Abs training course myself and it’s no surprise that it’s been a best seller online for nearly SIX YEARS, while so many other programs come and go.
Firm And Flatten Your Abs is definitely “the bible of core training” and if you don’t own a copy yet, then this is a better time than ever because you will get “The Abs Guru Speaks” f-r-e-e with your Firm and Flatten Your Abs order.
This special offer expires on Friday, December 5th at midnight PST. I highly recommend you visit David’s website now and jump on this deal while you still can.
Click Here To Finally Flatten Your Abs
==>www.FlattenYourAbs.net
Sean Barker, CPT
Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose That Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com