12 Reasons You’re Not Losing Fat | How to Build Muscle, Gain Strength & Become a Better Athlete

1) You’re Eating Too Many Carbs

This should be pretty obvious to most people by now, but there are still the old die-hards out there who swear that everyone should be consuming two grams of carbs per pound of bodyweight every day while maintaining a low fat intake. Load up on whole grains and fruit while cutting down on healthy, essential sources of fat like grass fed beef they’ll tell you.

Anyone experienced in physique transformation knows this is nonsense.Most people have a terrible tolerance for carbs, shitty insulin sensitivity and simply don’t do enough physically demanding work to warrant too many carbs. If you want to get lean cutting carbs is usually one of the first and most important steps you need to take. That doesn’t mean you can’t have any but you need to make smart choices and they need to be taken in at the right times and cycled properly.

2) You’re Eating Carbs at the Wrong Time

If you’re above 20% body-fat pretty much any time is the wrong time. In that case I would only recommend vegetables and possibly some post workout potatoes or a once per week refeed. When you get down to 15% you can increase the amount of carbs in the post workout meal or the weekly refeed. Everyone else should limit carb consumption to post workout and night time, as per The Renegade Diet rules. During the day you want to be alert and focused, which is one reason why you don’t want to load up on starchy carbs during this time. Save for them for the night time when you want to optimize serotonin production and rest, relax and repair.

3) You’re Eating Too Much Fat

Some people cut carbs and assume that they’re good to go and there’s nothing else to worry about. Unfortunately, the low/no carb diet isn’t as much fun as Dr. Atkins made it out to be. You can’t just eat pounds of bacon and mayonnaise with reckless abandon and think that you’ll magically end up ripped. Fat contains calories; nine per gram to be exact. At the end of the day total calories still matter, and if you’re eating more than you burn you’re never going to get ripped. Please don’t mistake this as my advocating a low fat diet. That’s just as bad, if not worse, than eating too much fat. A bare minimum of 20% of your calories should come from healthy fats like pastured egg yolks, wild caught salmon, grass fed beef and coconut oil to ensure optimal health. Just be careful about going overboard with it and thinking that low carbs automatically leads to single digit body-fat. You still need to keep a handle on things like total calories.

4)You’re Not Eating Enough Protein

In my experience it’s usually only females who are guilty of this but guys can make this mistake on occasion as well. The average female who can’t lose body-fat usually eats a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast with an egg. One… single… egg.

Then she’ll have a sandwich for lunch with four ounces of lean turkey. For dinner it will be a salad with low fat dressing and four ounces of chicken or fish. Although, in all honesty they may skip the protein all together and just have a salad for either lunch or dinner. Let’s assume she weighs 135 pounds. Most experts would agree that she would need to consume at least 100 grams of protein per day, if not a gram per pound, which would equal 135 grams. Each ounce of protein is around 4.5 grams of protein. So in this example she had 36 grams combined with lunch and dinner plus the six grams from the egg. So that’s a total of 42 grams, which falls just a wee bit shy of where she needs to be.

Females often freak out when you tell them to eat more than six ounces of protein at a sitting but when you break down the numbers for them and reveal just how many calories they’re eating it should make more sense. If they had eight ounces of protein three times per day it would 108 grams of protein. That’s only 432 total calories. Add in the fat and it’s still not that much.

People who eat a sufficient amount of protein usually end up having an easier time getting ripped than those who don’t. Make sure you’re getting enough.

5) You’re Drinking Too Many Protein Shakes

There are two problems associated with drinking shakes when you’re trying to get ripped. First of all, whey protein can raise insulin levels, as I have been telling people since the mid 90’s. If you’re trying to get lean you don’t want insulin to be flowing like the Nile all day. You want a nice insulin surge post workout but the rest of the day you want it under control. That’s why The Renegade Diet limits the intake of whey protein to very small amounts during most of the day and only allows a larger amount post workout or at night.

The second problem with drinking too many shakes is that they are so easy to digest that you don’t really burn any calories when you eat them. When you chew down some salmon and broccoli your body works harder to digest that food and you burn more calories during the digestion process. When you drink something that is so easily digested, like a protein shake, your body does almost no work in the process.

So, when getting ripped is your main goal, limit your shake intake and chew as many calories as you can.

6) Your Liver is Over Stressed

This is usually the last thing people think of when embarking on a fat loss diet but it can sometimes be the most important. Everything that goes into or on your body has to be processed by the liver. That means all food, alcohol, suntan lotion, environmental pollutants, etc. If you are constantly exposing yourself to this kind of stuff and overstressing the liver fat loss will be much more difficult to come by. Cut out booze, stop eating grain-fed, chemical laden meat and incorporate some regular periods of intermittent fasting to give the liver a break and you will find your rate of fat loss is noticeably faster.

7) You’re Eating Nuts

I love nuts. I mean, who doesn’t? Give me a bag of pistachios or cashews and I won’t look up till the whole thing’s gone. The problem is nuts have a ton of calories. When you’re dieting for fat loss the rules are usually the opposite of those followed by skinny hardgainers trying to gain size. Those guys want the most calorically dense foods possible. Fat loss dieters do not. You’re better off filling up on nutritionally dense foods that don’t pack a lot of calories, like green vegetables. If you’re dieting you need to limit your nut consumption to about ten almonds per serving. No too many people can eat ten almonds. Most people eat ten handfuls. If you are strictly tracking and calculating everything all day and you want to load up on nuts at certain times I suppose you could but I wouldn’t recommend it. Nuts can be very problematic for a lot of people, especially those with digestive or auto immune issues. As Paleo Solution author Robb Wolf has noted, nuts should be used the same way you use condiments- sparingly.

I should also add, and this is strictly my opinion, meaning it has NOT been proven and posted on Pubmed… nut butters seem to be easier for most people to digest than actual whole nuts. Just something to consider.

8) You’re Eating Fruit

“What?! You’re telling people not to eat fruit!? Everyone knows that it’s impossible to get fat from eating too much fruit!”

Yeah, yeah I know, that’s why physique competitors eat so much fruit and why all fat loss experts who specialize in getting people shredded recommend such high quantities of it. In our hunter gatherer days fruit was nothing like what you see in the supermarket today. Berries were small, dark and bitter; not the huge sugar sacks most people consume these days. Don’t get me wrong, fruit is healthy and can be eaten by lean individuals in limited amounts but any type of excessive fructose (a sugar found in fruit) consumption will lead to fat gain. Fructose can only be processed by the liver and once liver glycogen stores are full the excess gets converted to triglycerides and stored as body-fat. If you want to get ripped cut fruit completely for a while or limit it to one to two small servings per day. Just be sure to really up the vegetable consumption so you can keep your vital nutrient uptake where it needs to be.

9) You’re Not Training Heavy

When you want to lose body-fat the first inclination is often to crank up the reps and cut the rest periods. I actually have no problem with fairly low rest periods. But not if you’re used to resting three minutes between sets and all of the sudden cut them down to thirty seconds because you decided it was time to get shredded you’ll be in trouble. That never works. All that happens is your weights start plummeting on every exercise and you get weaker and smaller. High reps have the same effect.

When dieting, the primary role of strength training is to maintain muscle mass. That is the single most important thing. Don’t use it as your primary “fat burning” activity… UNLESS you are seriously overweight. If you need to lose more than fifty pounds or so that would probably be fine (although please don’t ever do any of the bullshit you see on those fat camp TV shows). Females can actually get something out of metcon workouts in the right situation as well. The caveat, however, is that that they need to be strong and actually have some muscle mass. If you take a weak female with no muscle and give her a silly metcon circuit she won’t usually get much out of it because she’s too weak to produce enough force. Females should get strong first before they attempt that type of training.

If you’re a guy and are trying to lose 10-20 pounds of body-fat without losing all your muscle mass in the process you should use strength training as a way to maintain size and strength; nothing more, nothing less. So the same principles that helped you get big and strong apply when dieting. Keep the reps low and the resistance high.

10) You’re Overdoing Cardio

Traditional forms of cardio are largely useless for fat loss. But useless is even okay, it’s when it starts to be counterproductive that we have a real problem. Excessive amounts of cardio lead to an overproduction of cortisol which leads to more abdominal fat and numerous health problems. If you want to do cardio that won’t actually hurt you and could do you some good, go for a long walk. No self respecting man should ever be spotted on an elliptical machine.

Sled work builds muscle, burns fat and is irreplaceable

11) You’re Not Running Sprints or Doing Sled Work

Dieting is the most important thing for fat loss. After that you should be doing some form of strength training to maintain your muscle mass. When you have those to things dialed in you’ll want to add in some type of sprinting or sled work. There is nothing more effective for fat loss. See all wide receivers, defensive backs, sprinters, soccer players, etc. for proof. Two or three 20-40 minute sprint or sled sessions per week will be enough for most people.

Don’t have a sled? 

12) You’re Not Getting Enough Sleep

When you’re short on sleep your insulin sensitivity decreases and your cortisol goes up. Both things lead to less than optimal fat loss. You also miss out on the critically important Growth Hormone boost that comes each night during deep sleep. If you want to lose more fat you have to get more sleep. Most people will ignore this and some of you are probably reading this at 2am. Unfortunately this just might be the most important thing on the whole list. More sleep improves EVERYTHING. Make it a priority.

Wikio

Wikio

The Fat-Loss 4 Workout Protocol

by Nick Tumminello – 11/23/2011

My friend and strength coach extraordinaire Alwyn Cosgrove once told me that when choosing a topic for an article to think of what people ask about most often.
Considering Alwyn has an annoying tendency to be right almost all the time, clearly I should start writing more about fat loss.
Some experts want you to believe that losing fat is just a simple math problem: eat less and exercise more. While we all would prefer a simple, concise approach that even Sarah Palin could fit on the palm of her hand, anyone who’s been at this a while will tell you that there’s a lot more to getting lean than just that.
Food choices matter. Recovery matters. And maintaining, even gaining muscle as opposed to losing it, matters big time.
In this article I’m going to divulge a battle-tested fat loss protocol I developed, one that I’ve used for several years to help athletes and physique competitors lose fat and maintain muscle.
It’s effective but also extremely versatile, and can be used in virtually any setting, regardless of space or equipment limitations.
However, it’s not easy – and if you apply yourself accordingly, you may catch yourself wondering why the heck you’re putting yourself through this.
The answer of course, is that if getting ripped were as easy as Grade 4 math, everyone in junior high and beyond would have a six-pack.

What is the Fat Loss 4 Workout Protocol?

The name “Fat Loss 4″ isn’t just a catchy tagline. It also represents the most important aspects of this workout formula.
A Fat Loss 4 workout is four exercises, performed back-to-back in a circuit style, for a total of four minutes.
There are two basic components to the FL4 protocol: three strength (local muscle conditioning) exercises and one total-body cardiovascular (central conditioning of the heart and lungs) drill.

Fat Loss 4 Exercises

The four exercises making up a Fat Loss 4 (FL4) circuit are:

• Upper body pushing or pulling
• Lower body quad or hamstring dominant (squat, deadlift, lunge, etc.)
• Torso/core
• Cardio drill

The beauty of the FL4 protocol is its simplicity and versatility. You can plug in virtually any exercise you like, provided it fits the category.
That said, I’ve found that certain exercises seem to work better than others. You’ll find some of my favorites later in this article.

How long is a FL4 circuit?

A FL4 circuit consists of four minutes of work with one minute of rest, for a total of five minutes.
Each strength exercise is performed for 30 seconds, with 15 seconds rest between exercises.
For example:
Upper body (pushing or pulling) exercise x 30 seconds
Rest 15 seconds
Lower body exercise x 30 seconds
Rest 15 seconds
Core/torso exercise x 30 seconds
Rest 15 seconds
Cardio exercise 90-105 seconds (That’s 1:30 – 1:45)

Note: Cardio duration depends on how much you need to recover after performing all three strength movements. The longest rest interval I’ll allow is 30 seconds, which would put you at 2:30 when starting the cardio exercise.

Ideally, you’ll only rest 15 seconds transitioning from strength to cardio, which would put you at 2:15 when starting the cardio drill (and leave you with 1:45 to do cardio).

Sets and Rest

After you’ve completed a full four-minute circuit, you’ll rest for one minute. We typically perform 2-3 rounds of a given FL4 circuit for a total of 10-15 minutes. (Two rounds is a total of 10 minutes; three rounds is a total 15 minutes.)

Intensity of an FL4 Workout

There are two intensities to consider in the FL4 protocol:

• The total intensity of the entire circuit.
• The working intensity of each exercise within a given circuit.

During the strength exercises within a circuit, you should be able to complete the entire 30 seconds of work with good form and a consistent, controlled tempo.
On a scale of 1-10 (10 being working very hard), you should be at a 7 or 8 at the end of each strength exercise.
On the cardio exercise, we’re after a pace that gets you to about 80% of your max heart rate.
By the time you’re about to begin the next round of an FL4 circuit, you should feel mostly recovered. Basically, if you can get out a full sentence without huffing and puffing, you’re good to go. But if you’re still sucking wind after your 60-second rest between circuits, you need to reduce the intensity of the cardio.

Sample FL4 Workouts

Designing a workout is easy once you understand the formula.
I’ve found it works well to change the strength movements every 2-3 rounds, although as mentioned earlier, I like to keep the cardio drill the same throughout the workout. So although the strength moves may change, the cardio remains constant.
Here are a few sample FL4 circuits.

FL4 Circuit #1

Push: Push-back push-ups

Lower body: BB front squats
Torso/core: Landmine rotations
Cardio: Treadmill run (Run pace – between a light jog and all-out sprint.)

FL4 Circuit #2

Pull: Compound rows

Lower body: Step-ups (alternate legs)
Torso/core: Stability ball knee tucks
Cardio: Treadmill run (Run pace; between a light jog and all-out sprint.)

FL4 Circuit #3

Push: Dumbbell uppercuts

Lower body: Barbell or trap-bar deadlifts
Torso/core: Dumbbell plank rows (aka Renegade rows)
Cardio: Treadmill run (Run pace; between a light jog and all-out sprint.)

Varying your FL4 Workouts

After performing 2-3 rounds of the same exercises, change the strength exercises and perform a new circuit for another 2-3 rounds while keeping the same cardio drill.
Sticking with the same cardio drill helps develop a consistent workout rhythm, while changing the strength moves every so often creates variety while serving to minimize localized muscle fatigue.

What exercises work best to use in an FL4 workout?

The great thing about FL4 is that it’s “plug and play.” You can insert just about any appropriate upper body, lower body, core, or cardio exercise you like and get great results.
However, there are a few movements I’ve found work exceptionally well with both my athletes and general fat loss clients. Here are my top five moves to try when designing your FL4 workouts.

Top 5 Pushing Exercises

Shoulder to shoulder press

Push-ups (any variation)
Standing two-arm cable press
Angled barbell press and catch

PowerMax 360 Punches

Note: The PowerMax 360 is one of my favorite upper body training pieces.

Top 5 Pulling Exercises

Barbell bent-over rows
Compound rows
Band alternate arm speed rows

Blast strap or TRX recline rows
PowerMax 360 arm circles (out to in)

Top 5 Lower Body Exercises

Kettlebell goblet squats
Weighted sled or tire drags (forward or backward)
Barbell Zercher or front squats
Barbell or dumbbell reverse lunges
Dumbbell step-ups

Top 5 Core/Torso Exercises

Stability ball plate crunch
Stability ball knee tuck
Barbell rainbows
Dumbbell plank rows
Medicine ball tight rotations

Top 5 Cardio Exercises

Airdyne bike
Jump rope
Shadow boxing (only if you have some basic boxing/kickboxing ability)
Treadmill
Agility ladder

Note: The exercises above are all either bilateral (two arm or two leg) or alternate limb actions. I’ve also experimented with unilateral exercises, performing one circuit on the left side and the next round on the right side.

Although this methods works, I’ve found circuits run smoother with either purely bilateral actions or with alternating limb actions like lunges, where you switch legs on each rep.
I also recommend sticking with compound strength movements instead of smaller, single-joints actions. This should be obvious, but compound strength movements create a better metabolic training response than single joint actions as they involve more muscle mass.

Why Does the FL4 Protocol Work?

There are four reasons why this protocol works so well for losing fat and keeping muscle:

1. It’s total body.

The more muscles you work, the more energy you must use, meaning the more calories you burn both during the workout and for several hours after through Excessive Post Oxygen Consumption (EPOC).

2. The sequencing creates a cardiovascular effect.

FL4 blends local muscle conditioning (through strength moves) with central conditioning (heart and lungs) to create a comprehensive metabolic workout.
During any strength exercise, your body pumps more blood to the working muscles. By following an upper body exercise with a lower body exercise and then a torso/core exercise, you’re constantly changing where your body must increase blood flow. Doing this creates a cyclic blood flow effect, forcing your body to increase its cardiovascular output.
Finishing each sequence of upper/lower/mid-body exercises with a burst of total-body cardio exercise extends this cardiovascular effect even longer.

3. The sequencing allows for intensity.

Along with using your total-body, the other key to maximizing metabolic cost is working at a consistent high intensity. The F4L is sequenced so that when fatigue begins in a specific muscle group, the exercise is switched to train a different group of “fresh” muscles. By the time you return to the original muscle group on the next circuit, it’s been several minutes, giving your body time to recover sufficiently.

4. You won’t lose muscle when you’re using muscle.

Since there’s a heavy component of strength training involved in the FL4 Protocol, we haven’t seen any losses in muscle size or strength. Although you’re not using maximal weights, you are training with higher volumes, another effective way of creating intensity.
I also don’t suggest using FL4 as your only training method. Blending it with some basic strength training and bodybuilding helps ensure the muscle you’ve worked so hard to achieve is maintained while focusing on losing fat. You’ll see how this is accomplished in the sample weekly training splits below.

Weekly FL4 Training Splits

Here’s a few sample three, four, and five-day training splits showing how to incorporate the FL4 protocol with other strength and bodybuilding methods.

Three-Day Split

Monday – Push & FL4

	Exercise	Sets	Reps
A	Bench press (dumbbell or barbell)	4-5	6-8
B	Shoulder press (dumbbell or barbell)	4-5	6-8
C	FL4 circuits	6-8 rounds	*

* total of 30-40 minutes

Wednesday – Legs/Hips & FL4

	Exercise	Sets	Reps
A	Deadlifts (Trap bar or barbell)	5-6	4-6
B	Single-leg squat (Bulgarian or free standing)	3-4	6-8*
C	FL4 circuits	6-8 rounds	**

* each leg
** total of 30-40 minutes

Friday – Pull & FL4

	Exercise	Sets	Reps
A	Chin-ups or pull-ups	4-5	6-8
B	Single-arm dumbbell row (dumbbell or barbell)	3-4	6-8*
C	FL4 circuits	6-8 rounds	**

* each arm
** total of 30-40 minutes

Four-Day Split

Monday – FL4 circuit workout

	Exercise	Sets	Reps
	FL4 circuits	9-12 rounds	*

* total of 45-60 minutes

Tuesday – Push/Pull strength workout

	Exercise	Sets	Reps
A1	Bench press (dumbbell or barbell)	4-5	6-8
A2	Bent over row (dumbbell or barbell)	4-5	6-8
B1	Shoulder press (dumbbell or barbell)	4-5	6-8
B2	Pull-ups or lat pulldowns	4-5	6-8
C1	Skull crushers (dumbbell or EZ bar)	3	10-12
C2	Biceps curl (dumbbell or EZ bar)	3	10-12
D	Dumbbell farmer’s walk	4-5	1 min.

Thursday – FL4 circuit workout

	Exercise	Sets	Reps
	FL4 circuits	9-12 rounds	*

* total of 45-60 minutes

Friday – Legs/Hips/Abs strength workout

	Exercise	Sets	Reps
A1	Deadlift (trap bar or barbell)	4-5	6-8
A2	Stability ball weighted crunch	4	6-8
B1	Lunges or step-ups (alternate legs)	3-4	6-8*
B2	Band rotations	3-4	15-20**
C1	Leg extension	3	10-12
C2	Hamstring curls (seated or lying on Swiss ball)	3	10-15
D	Dumbbell farmer’s walk	4-5	1 min.

* each leg
** each side

Five-Day Split

Monday – FL4 circuit workout

	Exercise	Sets	Reps
	FL4 circuits	9-12 rounds	*

* total of 45-60 minutes

Tuesday – Push/Pull strength workout

	Exercise	Sets	Reps
A1	Bench press (dumbbell or barbell)	4-5	6-8
A2	Bent over row (dumbbell or barbell)	4-5	6-8
B1	Shoulder press (dumbbell or barbell)	4-5	6-8
B2	Pull-ups or lat pulldowns	4-5	6-8
C1	Skull crushers (dumbbell or EZ bar)	3	10-12
C2	Biceps curl (dumbbell or EZ bar)	3	10-12
D	Dumbbell farmer’s walk	4-5	1 min.

Wednesday – Legs/Hips/Abs strength workout

	Exercise	Sets	Reps
A1	Deadlift (trap bar or barbell)	4-5	6-8
A2	Stability ball weighted crunch	4	6-8
B1	Lunges or step-ups (alternate legs)	3-4	6-8*
B2	Band rotations	3-4	15-20**
C1	Leg extension	3	10-12
C2	Hamstring curls (seated or lying on Swiss ball)	3	10-15
D	Sled or tire drag	4-5	30-40 yards

* each leg
** each side

Friday – FL4 circuit workout

	Exercise	Sets	Reps
	FL4 circuits	9-12 rounds	*

* total of 45-60 minutes

Saturday – FL4 circuit workout

	Exercise	Sets	Reps
	FL4 circuits	9-12 rounds	*

* total of 45-60 minutes

Conclusion

Is the FL4 protocol the only method of losing fat while keeping the muscle? Absolutely not! But in my business it’s proven to be a safe and effective way to get virtually any client in record shape, fast.
The beauty of FL4 is its elegant simplicity. In my experience, when clients can easily wrap their heads around what they’re being instructed to do and why, they “commit” more and as such, get superior results.
On the other hand, excessively complex systems filled with pseudoscientific strength training jargon just yields the dreaded “deer in the headlights” look and subsequently, sub-optimal results.
This powerful fat loss weapon is now locked and loaded in your training arsenal. All you’ve got to do is use it!

Wikio

Wikio

The Fat Loss Hierarchy

by Nate Miyaki – 11/02/2011

“Well, it depends on the rest of the diet.”
That’s been my answer for most of the questions I’ve received. It’s not because I’m being lazy or blowing people off, it’s just the honest truth.
It seems as if our information-overload era has caused beginners and advanced athletes alike to focus way too much on the extras of dietary programs and not enough on the basics. This isn’t good.
Tweaks and theories and out-of-the-box dietary protocols might make for interesting LiveSpill discussion, but they’re all just the proverbial icing on your gluten-free cake. You must first understand – and then implement – the major steps necessary if you’re ever to achieve your “get shredded” goals.
Let’s take a step back from the fine print and look at the bigger fat loss picture – the fat loss hierarchy, if you will.
The order goes like this:

1. Food choices
2. Total calories
3. Essential nutrients
4. Supplements – Part I
5. Energy nutrients
6. Meal frequency
7. Food/macronutrient distribution
8. Supplements – Part II

A very successful friend of mine often quotes the slogan “Productivity in 11 Words”:

One thing at a time, most important thing first, start now.

In that spirit, let’s start with step one to help you become more efficient with your fat loss approach.

#1 Food Choices

Notice I said food choices, not macronutrients, because infinitely more important than the low carb versus low fat debate is the refined food versus real food debate.
If people just cut out refined stuff, ate real foods (animal proteins, vegetables, whole-food fats, natural starches), and paid attention to absolutely nothing else, they would improve their health profile and lose body fat. Would it be enough to get them T Nation-style ripped? No. But it would take them a good percentage of the way.
Let’s say making this change would get them inside the Red Zone. Virtually every other nutritional topic is about whether you make that extra effort to get the touchdown or just settle for a field goal.
I place food choices ahead of total calories for two reasons:

I care about achieving physique enhancement goals, but I also care about health.

These goals do not have to be mutually exclusive, as many uninformed athletes or non-athletic scientists would have you believe.
It seems that there are two extremes in our industry. On one end, you have many bodybuilders and fitness girls who will follow extreme training, diet, and drug protocols to achieve a freak physique, unknowingly (or knowingly) compromising their long-term metabolic, hormonal, mental, and overall health.
On the other end, you have many “life-extensionists” who obsess over improving every decimal point in their biomarkers of health, but leave any thought of physique enhancement behind.
I don’t care if I make it to 120 years old if I have to live and look like a goblin to do so.
It’s not an either-or situation – you can improve your health and improve your physique at the same time. The food choices we make can merge those two goals. You might not end up looking like Ronnie Coleman or living as long as Yoda, but you’ll do okay on both fronts.
If total calories are controlled, you can lose body fat while still eating Ding Dongs and Ho-Ho’s, but what’s that doing to your internal health? As the late, great Serge Nubret once said, “Every sickness comes from food.”
The average American male now has a fat ass, a limp dick, low T, and ten risk factors for CVD due to shoving refined garbage into his cake-hole every day. It’s not typical, nor desirable, to require a laundry list of prescriptions to turn the little mushroom into a big mushroom for four hours or longer, let alone live and function normally. How does that make any logical sense?
The answer to America’s health problems and obesity epidemic – and the majority of your fat loss questions – is quite simple: cut out refined foods and just eat nature’s foods, in their unaltered state. Nuts (fat) are better for you than high fructose corn syrup (carb), but equally so is a potato (carb) better for you than refined vegetable oil (fat). That’s my stance, and I’m sticking to it.

I care about the sustainability of a plan.

Any plan can work for the short-term when motivation is high. However, it’s virtually impossible to stay in the relative calorie deficit necessary for fat loss (step #2), at least for any meaningful length of time, if you’re making poor food choices.
In other words, you can’t cut calories while eating crap and expect to stay the course.
This is where point systems or other calorie counting diets fail. You’re not going to be able to stay on a diet plan for long eating low-calorie lasagna, fudge cake, or “snack packs.” Fake foods like this are just empty calories with no functional nutrients. They have no effects on satiety or hormones that regulate appetite and energy intake.
You’ll feel constantly hungry, deprived, and miserable dieting on these foods. Eventually, you’ll wake up next to a few empty doughnut boxes left over from an uncontrollable binge. As motivation declines, the time between these binges will get shorter and shorter until one day you realize that you’re eating crap just about every day and completely give up on your fat loss plan.
That’s why people yo-yo on and off these plans. They’re not sustainable.
On the flipside, it is almost impossible to overeat if you’re consuming only real foods. I’ve had clients struggle to net 2000 calories a day when they cut out all refined foods (including oils) and ate only lean proteins and vegetables (including potatoes and yams).
Nature’s foods are nutrient dense, high satiety foods, and you’ll have a much easier time maintaining a calorie deficit if you emphasize them. You’ll also get more nutrients out of 2000 calories of real food than 4000 calories of manufactured food. This is extremely important when operating in a calorie deficit.

The Strategy: Cut out refined foods, even refined “health” foods like cereals, breads, and various oils. Eat real foods: lean animal proteins, vegetables, whole fruit, whole-food fats (from your animal protein sources and if more is necessary, from nuts, coconut, avocado), and natural starches (potatoes, yams).

#2 Total Calories

In the Great Macro Debate, the second most important step in the fat loss process seems to have been completely lost amongst physique dieters everywhere – total calories. No miracle combination or drastic cutting of any macronutrient can circumvent the law of thermodynamics.
Did we not learn this lessen in the Low Fat era? You can cut your fat intake to zero, but if you’re eating above your total calorie limits with refined carbs, you’re going to get fat.
Today’s low-carbers are making a similar mistake. I don’t care if you haven’t touched a carb since Brigitte Nielsen was hot, if you overshoot calories by eating unlimited fat, you won’t get lean.
This brings me to something every low-carber needs to understand: being in a state of ketosis itself doesnot ensure fat loss.
Ketosis is simply an altered physiological state in the human body. When carbs are extremely low, glycogen becomes depleted, The body will then use a greater percentage of fatty acids to fuel the body and use ketones to fuel the brain. It’s merely a shift in fuel dynamics. The body is running on fat metabolism, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to burn more body fat, although that’s what you might infer.
The other rules of body fat loss still apply, not just the metabolic condition your body is in. Ensuring you’re in a relative calorie deficit is still the most important step in winning the fat loss war.
In low carb, unlimited fat and protein diets, you can still enter a state of caloric excess. And even though your body has shifted to burning a greater percentage of fatty acids as fuel, it will simply obtain fatty acids and ketones from the abundance of dietary fat you’re taking in if you’re in caloric excess.
It will not be forced to tap into internal body fat stores as a reserve fuel. Instead, the excess calories will be stored as body fat, regardless of whether insulin levels are constantly kept at a low level.
Why then, do people so easily dismiss total calories and cling to low fat, low carb, or low common sense diets?
Telling people to make proper food selections and control calories is boring. There’s nothing sexy about it. There’s nothing innovative or cutting edge in it. In a world full of technological advances, to tell someone to follow sound, sensible, and basic principles almost seems archaic and uninformed. There has to be a new revolutionary way that’s easier, more efficient, and pain-free, right?
“Macro-bashing” plays to people’s desires. These plans seem like they require more discipline – you have to eliminate certain food groups. “No carbs today, Dude.” But these diets actually require less discipline. They demonize a certain nutrient and point to it as the cause of all of our body fat problems. Eliminate that nutrient, and you can eat as much as you want of everything else.
That’s what people really want to hear, isn’t it? You can eat as much of “X and Y” as you want, as long as you don’t eat “Z.” Eat vegetable oil, cream, and cheese to your heart’s desire as long as you don’t have that carb gram from a carrot stick. In a world of overindulgence, the lazy want to be able to gorge on something.
I’m not saying it can’t or won’t work, but for the majority I’ve seen, it doesn’t. If you’ve banished carbs to the Underworld, yet are still struggling with fat loss and are looking for answers, now you have one – controlling calories is still king.

The Strategy: If you want to lose fat, your ballpark calories should equal 10-12 calories per pound, or per pound of lean body mass if overweight. Another option is 15 calories per pound of target weight (since 15 calories per pound is maintenance). You’ll have to adjust based on results and feedback anyway, so no need for more complicated formulas.

#3 Essential Nutrients

The food we take in can be broken down into two broad categories: essential nutrients and energy nutrients.
Essential nutrients are necessary for normal metabolic, hormonal, enzyme, and immune system functioning. They provide the base ingredients necessary for building and maintaining the body’s structural components, including skin, hair, and muscle tissue.
Essential nutrients can’t be produced by the body and must be obtained through the diet. Thus, their intake should never be compromised regardless of your efforts to cut calories for fat loss. We’ll be cutting energy nutrients, not essential nutrients.
The foundation of any complete diet plan should be lean, animal-based protein foods and vegetables, not “zero carb pizza” or “low calorie cookies” or any other BS food that makes you feel like you’re doing something good for yourself.
Animals and plants provide us with the essential nutrients and micronutrients we need, in the right amounts and ratios that Mother Nature intended. They were the basis of the diets we evolved from. It makes sense that they should be the foundation of a modern diet geared towards optimizing health and improving body composition.

The Strategy. Set essential amino acid/protein at 1.5-2.0 grams per kilogram for strength training athletes (just under the standard 1 gram per pound). If you believe in more protein, bump it up to 1.5 grams per pound. Next, set essential fatty acid needs. EFA’s can be obtained as a byproduct of your lean, animal protein sources. An estimate is between 0.2-0.3 grams per pound.

#4 Supplements Part 1

You need to worry about covering your essential nutrients before you worry about the extras. In other words, before you worry about fat burners and hormone boosters, you need to make sure you’re not deficient in any essential nutrients. In my mind, this is the best use of targeted supplementation – more so than looking at them as miracle pills or magical cures that can make up for a crappy diet.
I want to be clear, you can obtain all the essential nutrients you need from whole, unrefined foods. The problem is in today’s modern, fast-paced, on-the-go society; it rarely works out that way.
If you struggle to meet your essential amino acid/protein needs because you’re not in the fitness industry and don’t live by a kitchen, it’s much smarter to down some BIOTEST BCAAs or a Metabolic Drive® Low Carb protein shake than eat fast-food junk. If fish isn’t your thing, Flameout™ is a fantastic way to cover your EPA/DHA needs.
On a side note, flaxseed oil is a scam. It has to go through several inefficient chemical conversion processes in the body to yield the beneficial EPA/DHA. Stick with cold-water fish or fish oil supplements.
Plant foods supply our bodies with vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. If you’re a carnivore, Superfoodmay help you fill in the gaps.
There is a hierarchy for everything, and the theme is to take care of the basics first. Otherwise, the extras are meaningless.

The Strategy: Take care of essential amino acid needs, essential fatty acid needs, and micronutrients before worrying about anything else.

#5 Energy Nutrients

Beyond accounting for essential nutrients, all other food intake is simply a source of energy.
Changing your body composition comes down to varying your energy nutrient intake. We set essential amino acid and essential fatty acid needs and never go below these base levels. All other food intake is just a source of energy. Dietary fat is an energy source just as carbohydrates are an energy source.
There’s no mystery to fat loss. We need to reduce energy intake enough to create the calorie deficit necessary (step #2) to force our bodies to tap into an internal reserve fuel source, namely body fat. This can be accomplished by reducing carbohydrate intake, reducing fat intake, or both.
In other words, protein and vegetable intake remains constant, carbohydrate and fat intake can go up or down as needed. We simply manipulate those macronutrients based on our current status, body type, and physique goals.
Many obese, sedentary, and insulin resistant patients have improved insulin sensitivity, blood sugar control, biomarkers of health, and lost a large percentage of body fat on low-carb/Paleo plans.
However, many bodybuilders and fitness athletes step on stage peeled to the bone following carb-based/sports nutrition-type plans.
Who’s right? The fact that people have achieved outstanding fat loss results with such different methods suggests that they’re both right. Scientific research and anecdotal evidence can be found to back each one up as well.
I’ve recommended both approaches to different types of clients, based on the situation, as I’m a staunch believer that various diets have worked for various athletes.
I know it seems earth shattering in today’s anti-macronutrient climate, but even a balanced diet (i.e. Zone or Isocaloric Diet) can work.
Anyone who tells you differently is either selling you something or is so caught up in the dogma of a system that they can’t see outside of it.
Now I do believe that each one is more efficient than the other for specific demographics, and I think that’s where the confusion comes in. The reasoning behind my belief has to do with exercise physiology and fuel dynamics.
I think sedentary and insulin resistant/obese populations respond better to low carb diets, and anaerobic athletes respond better to carb-based diets.

The Strategy: Distribute remaining calories (total calories – calories from protein – calories from baseline fat) between either added whole food fats or natural, starchy carbs, based on your individual situation.


Tapping Out!

There’s more to talk about, but alas, time is money and I’ve had a triangle choke on your computer time. I’ll be devoting future articles to meal frequency and food distribution, because there’s so much to talk about.
But remember, those are lower down on the hierarchy for good reason. Meal frequency doesn’t matter until you take care of rules #1-4, starting with making optimal food choices that nourish your body. Everything else is subordinate to that, and for good reason.

Remember: One thing at a time, most important thing first, start now.

Start with Step #1.

For more fat loss lessons (112 of them to be accurate) you can check out Nate’s book:

The Samurai Diet: The Science & Strategy of Winning the Fat Loss War
Available now on Amazon.com

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Wikio

Waterbury Diet for Fat Loss

by CHAD WATERBURY on OCTOBER 20, 2011

In the spring of 2010 I started experimenting with the Warrior Diet by Ori Hofmekler and it forever changed the way I approach nutrition. Without that diet, and my subsequent experiments with different versions of it, my clients and I wouldn’t be as lean and healthy as we are today. I won’t delve into why I initially tried the Warrior Diet since I covered most of that in this blog.

This installment covers the nutritional strategies I currently recommend for fat loss and gastrointestinal (GI) health. I’ll tell you upfront that I’m not going to explain why the Waterbury Diet ended up the way it did, or else I’d have to write a book. But I don’t want to do that. Why? There are a few reasons.

First, this version of the Waterbury Diet is similar enough to the original Warrior Diet that I don’t feel right charging people money for it. However, my approach is different enough to justify its own version or else I’d tell you to just follow the Warrior Diet. (Although, reading the Warrior Diet is highly recommended.) Second, since there’s not a lot of research on intermittent fasting (IF) – the key component to this diet – it’s unlikely I’ll be able to reference any new studies you haven’t seen from other experts. Third, it was time I outlined what I’ve been doing since I’m late to the game. My buddy Jason Ferruggia has his Renegade Diet and Dr. John Berardi wrote an excellent piece on this style of eating. Yep, there are many others out there that have their own versions so I thought it was time to outline the approach I use for myself and my clients.

Finally, I must mention that it’s essential for you to consult your physician before embarking on this, or any other, nutrition plan. Now let’s get started.

Gut Health and Intermittent Fasting
In the early part of the 20th century, Dr. Eli Metchnikoff coined the phrase “Death begins in the gut.” That’s probably the most accurate and important statement you’ll ever hear. Indeed, in 1908 he won a Nobel Prize for his work studying gut bacterial flora. In order to get leaner, stronger, more muscular or healthier, you must improve gut health. This is where intermittent fasting (IF) becomes essential.

In the Warrior Diet, Ori Hofmekler outlines two distinct phases of eating each day. The first phase is the aptly titled “undereating phase” where you consume very few calories. (He also refers to this stage as “controlled fasting.”) The undereating phase lasts 16-20 hours. That’s followed by the “overeating phase” at night where he recommends a specific sequence of foods to get the most benefit. During this 4-8 hour window you’ll consume most of your daily calories.

The effectiveness of this diet stems from the intermittent fasting (IF) stage. When you get it right you’ll burn fat, boost energy and improve overall health by reducing inflammation. Importantly, the terms controlled fasting, undereating phase, and intermittent fasting all refer to the same thing. I’ll be using the term “fasting” to describe this phase.

Waterbury Diet for Fat Loss – Fasting Phase (20 hours)
From the time you wake up, until four hours before bed, consume 0.5 ounce of liquid per pound of lean body mass. Your lean body mass is your body weight minus your fat weight. So if you weigh 200 pounds and have 20% body fat, you have 40 pounds of fat. That leaves you with 160 pounds of lean body mass. You need at least 80 ounces of liquid during the fasting phase, mostly from water. You can have up to 16 ounces of tea (green and white tea are best) as part of this liquid requirement. Coffee addicts are allowed up to 8 ounces of black coffee, although it’s not recommended.

The fasting phase is the toughest part of this whole diet, especially during the first few days. You’ll be hungry, cranky, and your energy will be lower than ever. I recommend starting this diet on a weekend when you don’t have work demands or when you don’t need to be a social butterfly. It’s never fun to go through detox, and that’s exactly what the fasting phase is. However, after a few days your physiology will shift, the hunger pangs will go away, your skin will start to clear up, and your energy levels will be higher than ever.

What can you eat during the fasting phase? This is where I differ from the original Warrior Diet that says you can have any fruits, fruit juices, an egg or two, or some yogurt. I’ve found the best results are achieved with the least amount of food possible. Look, anyone can go without eating much during the day, especially when you know you can eat until you’re completely satisfied at night.

Fasting Phase Rule #1: Don’t eat unless you’re really hungry.
At first you’ll be hungry within a few hours after you wake up, maybe even as soon as you wake up if you’re like I was. After a week or so you might not be hungry until 2pm. In any case, wait until the hunger pangs are too tough to withstand before eating anything.

Fasting Phase Rule #2: When you do eat, eat as little as possible.
Consume calories during the fasting phase from only five sources:

1. A handful of fresh berries. Any berries will work, but many people favor raspberries since the high fiber content controls hunger.
2. One-half of an organic apple. If it’s a relatively small apple, eat the whole thing.
3. A glass of vegetable juice made from any fresh veggies. V-8 is not recommended since it’s not fresh, but there are worse things to drink.
4. Mix 4 ounces of organic cranberry juice with 8 ounces of water. This adds toward your daily liquid requirement. Thanks to John Meadows for turning me on to cranberry juice – it’s excellent to support liver health and stave off hunger.
5. Drink 8 ounces of fresh coconut water. Because of the carb content in coconut water, don’t drink more than one serving per day. You can add a pinch of salt to the coconut water, thus making it “nature’s Gatorade.”

So whenever hunger takes over during the fasting phase, choose one of the five options above. You can have any of the above choices up to three times during the 20-hour fasting phase, but mix up your choices each day and spread them out as much as possible.

Fasting Phase Rule #3: Take supplements during the 20-hour phase.
Certain supplements will make the fasting phase much easier to deal with. The following supplements support your metabolism, immune system, and reduce inflammation. I always hesitate to mention supplements because there are so many. It’s inevitable that I’ll get hundreds of questions asking if “supplement x” is ok to take, too. What you see below is what I recommend, but you might want to add other things to the mix. Keep in mind that some supplements should be taken with food so they might not fit in the fasting phase.

1. Multi-vitamin/mineral – my two favorites are the “one daily” versions by MegaFood and Biotest’s Superfood. Take either when you wake up.
2. Curcumin/Turmeric – take 500mg of curcumin when you wake up. I use Biotest’s version.
3. Resveratrol – take a 600mg dose when you wake up. Again, I use Biotest’s Rez-v.
4. Probiotics – I recommend one capsule of MegaFlora by Mega Food when you wake up.
5. Iodine/herbs for thyroid support – each afternoon around 2pm, when I’m hours into the fasting phase, I take one Thyroid Complex by MediHerb. This supplement isn’t easy to find, and I’m sure there are many acceptable substitutes but I recommend a supplement like this to support thyroid health. The MediHerb version contains 600mcg of iodine and a mixture of herbs.

Waterbury Diet for Fat Loss – Feeding Phase (4 hours)
The feeding phase is where the real fun begins. Hofmekler recommends that you eat your foods in a certain sequence during his “overeating phase” at night. Even though I like his approach, I don’t think it’s necessary. Your body has been without any sufficient calories for 20 hours so it’s ready to assimilate what you give it. This is where dieting dogma goes out the window: you can eat the majority of your calories at night, even with carbs, and still lose fat. I’ve seen it countless times over the last few years with clients that range from 24 to 70 years old.

What can you eat during the feeding phase? Whatever you want that’s not processed or crap. Honestly, we all know what good foods are, so I don’t want to rehash them here. No, you can’t eat a bag of Doritos, but you can have a baked potato with dinner.

The key point is to get a big, healthy serving of protein with dinner. You haven’t had any protein yet so your body is craving it. That protein can come from chicken, fish, beef, turkey, eggs, shellfish, or any other complete protein source.

How much can you eat? As much as you want until you’re completely satisfied. But don’t gorge yourself with food, try to eat at a normal pace in order to give your gut time to tell your brain that it has had enough. Drink as much liquid as you feel you need.

You can have spaghetti with meatballs and a side of asparagus. You can have fish with rice and a side of broccoli. You can have chicken with a baked potato and a spinach salad. Again, there are countless options, just eat a complete meal with whatever good foods sound best to you. Dessert is fine, too. A square or two of dark chocolate or a bowl of fruit are great choices. Half a carrot cake isn’t smart.

I recommend three supplements with dinner, and two of them again later in the evening:

1. Digestive enzyme and/or HCl – my clients and I take 1 capsule of Digest Gold by Enzymedica at the beginning of dinner. During dinner some of them take 200-600mg of HCl in addition to the Digest Gold. Importantly, don’t take HCl if you’re having any alcohol with dinner. HCl is a tricky supplement, and beyond what I want to cover here, so consult with your doctor before taking it.
2. Fish oil – during dinner take two teaspoons (not tablespoons) of Carlson’s liquid fish oil or two Flameout pills from Biotest or two Krill oil pills from Pro/Grade that can be found at this link.
3. Astaxanthin – this powerful anti-inflammatory supplement is probably going to be the next big thing. Take one 4 or 5mg tablet with dinner.

That covers your first meal during the feeding phase. It’s likely that you’ll have a little hunger by the end of it. What should you do? Eat! Again, you can eat whatever sounds good that wouldn’t be categorized as junk. Maybe you want some leftover dinner, or a handful of mixed nuts, or another piece of fruit.

When you eat again at the end of the feeding phase take another serving of fish oil and astaxanthin like you did during dinner along with another 500mg of curcumin.

Before bed, preferably a few hours after your last food intake, I highly recommend that you take a full spectrum mineral supplement. It’s not easy for your gut to assimilate minerals so they should be chelated. Two versions I like are Biotest’s ElitePro Mineral Support and Mega Multi-Mineral by Solaray.

Training During the Waterbury Diet for Fat Loss
It’s best to train right before your feeding phase. That way, all those calories will shuttle into your muscles for growth and repair. However, some of you might train in the morning or earlier in the afternoon. Regardless of when you train (morning, afternoon, evening) take one scoop of protein powder immediately after your workout. Proventive’s Harmonized Protein is an excellent whey from New Zealand. If your stomach doesn’t like whey, Sun Warrior makes an outstanding vegan protein that can be found at this link.

This diet can be used in conjunction with any training program of mine. However, if muscle growth is your primary goal and if you’re on one of my more demanding HFT programs, my next installment might better fit your needs.

Final Words
This version of the Waterbury Diet is for those who need to lose a lot of fat or improve their overall health. I want to be clear that I’m not against a more traditional style of eating with multiple meals per day. This diet isn’t for everyone, especially those who want to have breakfast with their family or power lunches at noon. But if you can make this plan work for at least 6 weeks, I think you’ll look and feel better than ever.

You might think this plan is heavy on the supplements, but honestly, it needs to be. During the fasting phase your body is getting very few calories so the nutrients need to come from somewhere. And during the feeding phase your gut is ready to assimilate whatever you put in it, so make the most of that opportunity with the recommended supplements.

In my next installment I’ll cover the changes I make to this plan for muscle growth with fat loss.

Stay Focused,
CW

References (thanks to Mike T. Nelson)
Gjedsted J, et al. (2007) Effects of a 3-day fast on regional lipid and glucose metabolism in human skeletal muscle and adipose tissue. Acta Physiol 191: 205-216.
Johnstone AM. (2007) Fasting – the ultimate diet? Obesity Reviews 8: 211-222.
Aksungar FB, et al. (2007) Interleukin-6, C-Reactive Protein and Biochemical Parameters during Prolonged Intermittent Fasting. Ann Nutr Metab 51: 88-95.

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3 Simple Fat Loss Fixes

by Mike Roussell, PhD – 10/04/2011
I solve problems. I troubleshoot diets, make adjustments, monitor the body’s response, and repeat – always working to make the body respond better and get results faster.
I’ve learned that simple works really well for training and diet. Whenever I see someone struggling with their fat loss, I always see if we can simplify things. Simple doesn’t mean not as effective, it usually just means easier to execute. Complicated plans require constant attention and sometimes the rest of your life demands that attention elsewhere. How can you make a diet simpler? Here are three ways.

1) The 100 Gram Carb Cure

Chris Shugart and I put this plan together, and it’s pretty simple (and effective). The plan is self-explanatory – you simply limit your total daily carb intake to under 100 grams.

2) Shake Diet

This is a good one for getting or staying lean during really hectic times in your life. Eat breakfast like you normally would (eggs, spinach, turkey sausage, etc.). Then have 2 quality shakes during the day (you can make them before you leave the house in the morning).
At night, have dinner like you normally would (steak and broccoli, salmon and asparagus, etc.). On days that you train, add your workout nutrition on top of this. Really simple. This works so well because your shakes are calorie and macronutrient controlled and require little to no preparation. Here’s a simple 500-calorie carb controlled shake that works great for this.
Shake Diet Shake
1 1/2 scoops Metabolic Drive® Low-Carb
1/4 cup walnuts
2 Tbsp. flaxseed meal
1 cup blueberries
1 1/2 cups water
2 servings Superfood
3 ice cubes
Toss everything in a blender, blend, and pack for your day.

3) 3X Diet

The 3x Diet was an approach that I came up with for clients that didn’t like a lot of variety in their day-to-day meals. What you do is construct 3 days of non starch-containing meals that are all similar calorically.
Then you rotate through these meals for 12-15 days. On days that you train, just add your workout nutrition to that part of your day. This approach makes food prep a breeze, and the addition of your workout nutrition on training days allows you to cycle carbs and calories based on when you’re training.
Here’s a sample diet:
Breakfast
4 omega-3 eggs
4 egg whites
2 scallions, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 small apple, chopped
(Cook omelet ingredients together in skillet.)
Meal 2
2 cups 2% fat Greek yogurt
1 scoop Metabolic Drive® Low-Carb (Banana or Vanilla)
2 Tbsp. flaxseed meal
1 oz. raw cashews
Meal 3
6 oz. skirt steak
2 cups broccoli florets
2/3 cup chickpeas
1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
Meal 4
3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/2 acorn squash
2 cups green beans
1 1/2 Tbsp. butter
Peri-Workout Nutrition
Resistance Training (Optional)
1 serving Surge® Recovery + 5 grams creatine Pre/During/Post
Energy Systems Training (Optional)
10-15 grams BCAAs or 1 scoop Mag-10® Anabolic Pulse.

Excuses and Mental Failings

If you need a weight loss fix, go back to basics. Start simple with one of these 3 plans and jumpstart your fat loss again. However, in addition to giving you 3 plans, I also offer the following 2 solutions to problems that range from physical to psychological.

1) Too Tired

I was recently talking with a friend of mine who walks around looking like he could step onto a bodybuilding stage on any day of the year and I asked him about ‘the most important factor in fat loss.’ His answer was sleep.
Sleep? Yup.
It’s counter to what the world is telling us. Aren’t we supposed to get hopped up on stimulants, work 12 hours a day, work through the night, and only eke out 3-4 hours of sleep (as if this was some gold star we get on our badge of manliness)?
Big mistake. If you’re trying to get lean, you need your sleep because while they seem like two unrelated processes, sleep and fat loss are connected through glucose tolerance and your fat cells. One study inDiabetes Care found that people getting 4.5 hours of sleep per night compared to 6 hours per night had higher insulin secretions and scored higher on the insulin resistance index.
Another study in Sleep showed that by moving from 8 hr/night to 4 hr/night of sleep for just 2 days, people experienced an increase in peak glucose and insulin levels after breakfast, while also exhibiting a blunting of glucagon release.
The relationship between sleep and glucose tolerance may to be tied together via dysfunctional fat cells. Other research shows that lean healthy individuals experience a decrease in insulin sensitivity when sleep is restricted. At the same time, lepin concentrations also decrease.
Because fat cells are the only cells thought to produce leptin, and calorie intake in the individuals in the study wasn’t reduced (as this will decrease leptin), it seems as if our fat cells are playing an important role in the increased insulin resistance observed with reductions in sleep.
In the end, the only way to fix this and to get your fat cells to behave is to sleep. Make it a priority. You manage to exercise 5-7 days a week and eat 5-6 meals per day; I’m sure you can schedule in 8 hours of sleep to support your dieting efforts.

2) Too Weak (Mentally)

Some say abs are built in the kitchen. Some say a lean body is forged in the gym. I think that both are created in your mind first. Dieting down and getting lean is made in those moments when no one is around. When it’s 10:30 at night, you’re a little tired, a little bored, and you want to eat something. What are you going to do?
If you see yourself as a fat ass, then you’re going to get off the couch, go to the kitchen, and forget all the sacrifices for the day as you eat your kid’s left over peanut butter and jelly sandwich. If you see yourself as a lean driven motivated person, you’re going to get off the couch and go to bed so that you can improve your glucose tolerance. Mental confidence and how you view yourself is key. To foster this mental confidence in clients, I focus on two main areas:
Working to See Yourself At Your Best: It’s easy to mull over the times that you cheated on your diet, slept in and skipped a workout, or let your body slide so that you were 15 pounds heavier than you should be. But that isn’t helping, so stop.
Instead, always remember yourself at your best. Remember your PRs. Remember the workouts where you did an extra set of barbell complexes just because the burning in your lungs felt good. Always see yourself as that person and you’ll be that person.
Keeping up with Yourself, Not Other People: TC recently had a LiveSpill related to this, which is worth reading again. In it he wrote:

“I know a lot of you feel crummy or even pissed about your level of development. You sit there and look at pictures of Ronnie Coleman or Jay Cutler or some TNation coach you envy and admire and you feel motivated, yes, but you also feel frustrated. You get pissed because you don’t look like them. You get pissed because progress, when it comes, is fitfully slow. But these aren’t the guys who you should be comparing yourselves to.”

TC went on to talk about all the fat, out of shape, and even regular guys that were surrounding him in Vegas and how, compared to those guys, you’re superstars. Still, it’s hard to even say that you should be comparing yourself to those “regular” guys as their ability to grab life and ride it for all it has, are merepesos in the game of life compared to the big-stack chips you’re playing on a daily basis.
Just worry about yourself. Don’t compare yourself to the heart attack waiting to happen sitting next to you in the subway as he isn’t on your level, and don’t beat yourself up about not looking like the guys in the300 movie. Train hard, eat right, monitor, and adjust. That’s the only thing you have control over, so control it.
Let me know what you think of these ideas to get leaner in the LiveSpill.
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Fat Loss Nutrition

by Nate Miyaki – 9/21/2011
Advice doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective. The simpler the advice, the more likely it will be applied in the real world, thus the more likely it will produce the desired result.
If you can’t summarize your theories in less than a few minutes, then either your kohai (student) won’t understand it, you don’t really understand it, you’re trying to sound too smart, or the material is so complex that it won’t work in real life situations.
Since I’m coming close to the end of my rookie season here on T NATION, I figured I’d give you a short, practical summary of what we’ve covered so far regarding fat loss nutrition. Colleagues, clients, and friends have called it a Paleo-meets-Sports Nutrition hybrid approach.
Here are the Cliff Notes:

• A Paleo/caveman-style diet is a simple template from which everyone can start. Eliminating most man-made, modern, processed, and refined foods and emphasizing natural foods that we evolved from can go a long way in improving health markers while helping achieve physique enhancement goals.
• However, high intensity exercise creates a unique metabolic environment and changes how the body processes nutrients for 24-48 hours upon completion of a training session. If you exercise 3-5 days a week, your body is virtually in recovery mode 100% of the time. It’s an altered physiological state beyond pure resting conditions, thus its nutritional needs are completely different from the average, sedentary, overweight office worker.
• We should keep in mind that surviving in the wild during caveman times is different than achieving elite performance or physique goals in modern times. “Life extensionism” at the cost of a sickly appearance, low libido/Testosterone, and an overall lack of “bad-assery” is not what the average T NATION guy is looking for.

At the same time, an awesome physique at the cost of poor health or early death isn’t what the majority are seeking either. How about an intelligent plan with some balance?

• Just like the sedentary person shouldn’t get caught up in following Food Pyramid dogma, the strength-training athlete shouldn’t get caught up in following no-carb dogma. Treating sick populations (insulin resistant, obese, etc.) is not advising athletes. Targeted carbohydrate intake can help the athlete fuel, recover from, and respond to intense strength training sessions.

The athlete should look at adding back in some low fructose, non-gluten, or “anti-nutrient” containing starches (potatoes, yams, rice) into their plan.
This is my approach, based on my education and experiences. But it’s not the only way. I encourage you to take some personal accountability and self-experiment to find what works best for you.
Just remember, there’s more than one way to skin a cat, or more appropriately for us, to peel off body fat.

The Lost Art of Post Workout Nutrition

I’ve talked a lot about Paleo Nutrition specifics. This time around, lets talk about some Sports Nutrition specifics. Efficiency means starting with the most important thing first right? The key, core concept in Sports Nutrition is post-workout nutrition.
Before the rise of information overload, practical advice regarding post-workout nutrition was simple – down some damn protein and carbs as soon as you can after finishing your workout.
Lately, I’ve seen a disturbing trend rising amongst the gym population, particularly amongst those who fall victim to over-intellectualizing or over-theorizing everything. Turns out some scientist or evolutionary theorist somewhere stated that carbs in the post-workout period inhibit the fat burning environment created by exercise.
Thus, people are starting to believe that to maximize fat loss, you must go low carb all the time, even in the critical post-workout window.
I can hear Donnie Brasco right now, “Forget about it.”
The result is that the Sports Nutrition principle that’s more important for producing physique development results than anything else, namely combining protein with carbs in the post-workout period, has been lost. These days I have to fight with people to get them to include some damn carbs in their post-workout meal.
That’s crazy!
Unfortunately, a few T NATION readers have fallen under this spell. I’ve had to help several regular Nation readers uncover the underlying problem concerning their lack of physique enhancement results despite consistent and intense training protocols.
The #1 culprit was a lack of carbs in the post-workout recovery period. For too long, many of us have been living on “A Nightmare on Carb Street.”
It’s time to wake up.
What to do can be explained in a sentence: down some Surge Recovery and/or eat a post-workout meal combining protein with carbohydrates in a 1:1 to 1:2 ratio after every strength training workout. Whole food examples include fish and rice, egg/egg white mixtures and rice cakes, chicken and yam, steak and potato, etc.
If you’re already doing that, you’re done. You’re probably getting good results and don’t need to read on. The rest of this article is geared towards those who’ve somehow been confused into thinking that post-workout protein/carb combos are detrimental to their physique goals.
Unfortunately, the why – the science behind simple practical recommendations – can get pretty complex. However, it’s a worthwhile endeavor to learn a little bit. It gives you the knowledge-base necessary to separate fact from the brown stuff that comes out of a bull’s backside. It helps you stick to the fundamentals of physique enhancement and not get pulled off track by highly intelligent theorists, but equally lacking in real world practical experience.

The Problem with No Carbs Post Workout

When most people think of getting shredded, they think of fat loss only. This often results in extreme calorie/carb cuts and exercise protocols that can be counterproductive in the long-term due to the presence of a chronic catabolic environment. For example, hours of cardio a day and cutting out lettuce because it contains 1g of carbohydrate.
Short-term catabolism is beneficial, as it helps us break down stored energy nutrients for fuel, both as glycogen or body fat. But chronic, long-term catabolism is highly problematic for physique enhancement goals. This ultimately leads to muscle loss and body fat gain despite high activity levels and low food intake.
So physique athletes can’t just think about “burning” stuff off all the time, even during fat loss phases. We also have to pay attention to recovery and muscle growth, or at the very least, lean muscle maintenance. Enter post-workout nutrition.
I like to think of this as the “yin & yang” of physique enhancement. We need balance in everything in life.
When one side is unbalanced, such as when a sedentary person consistently eats refined carbohydrates, insulin is chronically elevated, and there’s too much “anabolic” activity – the body is always in storage mode, including storing body fat. If this isn’t offset with “catabolic” activity or the burning off of stored nutrients through exercise, the net effect is “Pillsbury Doughboy-ville.”
What happens when the other side of that equation becomes unbalanced is a little more complicated.
If you lean too much in the other direction (i.e. performing intense activity while chronically restricting calories/carbs, especially post-workout), there are negative consequences. Most notably, a lack of physique development and body composition change despite sincere effort.
Exercise is a catabolic activity. We all know it causes microscopic damage/tears in the muscle tissue. But what some have forgotten is that this catabolic process must be offset with an anabolic recovery period for physical adaptation to take place. Muscular repair – an anabolic process – only occurs with proper nutritional intake.
If you perform high intensity strength training but don’t include some protein and carbs for recovery, what you end up with is cortisol over-dominance and a constant catabolic state. This over-dominance of cortisol is compounded by two lifestyle factors:

• Our modern lifestyles, especially those of career-driven professionals, are highly stressful. Cortisol levels are chronically high due to the stress of corporate life. You don’t want to add to this negative hormonal environment with improper post-workout nutrition. Otherwise, what’s intended to be beneficial (exercise) ends up being counterproductive by contributing even more to chronically elevated cortisol levels.
• Those who lack real anaerobic fuel from carbohydrate intake often make up for it with artificial energy coming from stimulants (coffee, energy drinks, fat burning pills). Now there’s considerable research that caffeine, in moderation, is beneficial for fat burning, but the key, as with most things in life, is moderation.

Needing to drink 84 oz. of coffee or 6 energy drinks just to get through the day is not moderation. It’s chemical dependency. If overdone, cortisol remains chronically elevated, and contributes to the “stubborn body fat” syndrome.
This is the exact scenario that plays out with many strength-training athletes who strictly adhere to low carbohydrate diets. They’re confused, thinking the low carb diet plans that are the best for sedentary populations are also the best for them. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The result of this hormonal environment is the “Skinny-Fat Syndrome.” Guys and gals who consistently train hard, follow the low-carb trend, think they’re doing everything right, are lean everywhere else, but hold flab right around the midsection. Oddly enough, it’s too low of a carbohydrate intake, and it’s the refusal to offset catabolic activity with an anabolic recovery period that’s keeping them fat.
These athletes may be improving performance parameters (improving strength, endurance, ability to perform a specific like max pull-ups, deadlift max, etc.), but their appearance isn’t changing. In many instances, it’s getting worse.
It’s much easier to improve performance on a sub-par diet than it is to improve appearance. Fact is, for the person with average genetics and choosing a natural route, it’s impossible to improve appearance on a sub-par diet.
Yes, if carbs are overeaten it will inhibit the fat loss process. Chronic elevation or overproduction of insulin can of course lead to fat gain. But in the right amounts and situations (i.e. following an intense workout where insulin sensitivity is high), it can be a good thing (anabolic, anti-catabolic).
As counterintuitive as it sounds, some carbs in the diet can offset the catabolic activity of exercise (insulin is a counter-regulatory hormone to cortisol), can initiate the recovery and repair process, can help build lean muscle, and can help burn fat in the recovery period.
I’ve worked with physique athletes who got over their misconceptions and “carbophobia,” leaned up, and reached personal, record low body fat percentages by adding carbs back into their diet; starting of course, with the post-workout period.

The Inhibition of Fat Burning Myth

The biggest argument I hear against carbs post-workout is that they’ll inhibit optimum fat burning. This may be true at other times of the day, under normal physiological conditions, but it’s not true in the unique environment created by intense strength training.
As bodybuilding nutritionist Chris Aceto accurately stated, carbs have a “metabolic priority” in the post-workout period. The strength training athlete cycles periods of glycogen depletion with glycogen restoration, and in the post-workout period, even a high carb intake doesn’t get stored as body fat.
Again, the prevailing confusion in our industry is due to dietary principles that are great for sedentary populations being extrapolated and applied across the board, even with athletes.
In the post-workout period, the main priority of ingested glucose is to refill depleted glycogen stores. As this is happening, fatty acids fuel normal resting energy requirements.

That’s A Wrap

There’s a lot more we can talk about regarding this topic, such as the effect of carb and protein levels on the free Testosterone:cortisol ratio in response to exercise, changes in glucose transporters, and the glycogen synthase enzyme in response to exercise, etc.
But these are all more about the why then the what to do with post-workout nutrition. For now, follow my advice and return to the simple: take in some protein and carbs post-workout, even when prioritizing fat loss. You may need to cut the carbs at other times during the day, but you shouldn’t cut them in the post-workout period.

References

1. Kimber, et al. Skeletal muscle fat and carbohydrate metabolism during recovery from glycogen-depleting exercise in humans. J Physiol. 2003 May 1;548(Pt 3):919-27.

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>3 Tricks for Faster Fat Loss

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by Clay Hyght, DC – 3/16/2011

You’re doing everything right: Banishing junk food, training hard, adding in some cardio – but none of it seems to touch that spare tire around your waist.

Well, don’t save up for lipo just yet.

When everything in your regimen says you should have visible abs and yet you don’t, try these tricks to get you ready for the shirtless days of summer.

Trick 1: Dial-In Your Pre-Bed Meal

What did you eat before bed last night? What are you going to eat before bed tonight?

It’s important, because what you eat in the two hours prior to bedtime has an enormous impact on your physique, especially when it comes to fat loss.

Here’s the rule: Eat for what you’re about to do.

Sure, some lucky bastards may go to bed and find a pair of scantily clad Playmates frolicking around between the sheets. But most of us mortals aren’t about to engage in two hours of NEPA (non-exercise physical activity) when we head toward the bedroom.

For that reason, we don’t need to eat a traditional bodybuilding meal at that time. Instead, we need to eat for what we’re about to do: not move very much.

More specifically, your carbohydrate needs are dramatically diminished – arguably eliminated – when you’re sleeping. Remember, carbs fuel high-intensity exercise like weight-training and sprinting, and there’s no such thing as “high-intensity sleeping.”

Fat, on the other hand, becomes the primary fuel source as the intensity of exercise goes down. In fact, when you’re sleeping you’re burning almost exclusively fat for fuel.

Therefore, feeding your body carbs prior to bed dramatically increases the chance that the carbs are stored as opposed to being burned. And if carbs aren’t burned, they’re either stored as glycogen or as fat.

If you happen to have weight-trained (cardio doesn’t count) in the last three or four hours prior to retiring to your chamber, then there’s very little chance that the carbs you eat at this time will be converted to fat. That’s because glycogen stores are low and will hog all the carbs, leaving none needing to be converted to fat.

However, the majority of us don’t train within three or four hours before bed, so we should eliminate carbs in our pre-bed meal. When I say eliminate I don’t necessarily mean zero grams. Don’t be afraid of low-starch veggies at this time.

As for pre-bed fat intake, I stand by my rule of “have fat when you don’t have carbs.” However, I do recommend cutting your normal portion of fat in half.

There’s evidence that consuming a large amount of fat (a “fat load”) suppresses hormone sensitive lipase (HSL), which is needed to break down fat. (1) Although the fat load in this study was more than a savvy trainee would normally consume in one meal (40g), I’d recommend being even more conservative. For the last meal of the day, limit yourself to 10 or 15 grams of fat.

Trick 2: Do Morning, No-Carb Cardio

No, not “fasted” cardio, but rather “no-carb” cardio. There’s a big difference.

Let’s say you just knocked back a bowl of Fruit Loops and you decide you want to go do some cardio to get leaner. Problem is, that cardio is going to primarily be fueled by your Fruit Loops, not your love handles.

That’s because eating carbs blunts fat burning and promotes the body’s use of carbs for fuel. Clearly, we don’t want to burn carbs for fuel if we’re doing cardio to lose fat.

So how do we burn fat for fuel?

Fasting – going without eating for a period of time, like during sleep – shifts the body toward burning fat for fuel. Why? Liver glycogen and blood sugar are lower after fasting, so the body is forced to burn fat for fuel in a fasted state.

Fasted cardio leads to significantly higher levels of the potent fat-burning hormone, norepinephrine, than non-fasted cardio. (2) That’s why bodybuilders have been doing fasted cardio for years, with great results.

But this strategy isn’t quite perfect.

In addition to burning fat for fuel, the body will also mobilize protein to help with meeting energy demands. And it will get this protein, specifically amino acids (leucine, isoleucine, and valine) from muscle tissue. Your muscles are parting with precious branched-chain amino acids. Not good.

Yep, your body will break down muscle tissue to fuel your treadmill walking, even without your permission. And this occurs more and more as the intensity of exercise goes up. But there’s a way around this robbing-Peter-to-pay-Paul conundrum.

Consuming BCAAs prior to doing cardio reduces and even prevents the protein breakdown that would otherwise occur. (3) That means more muscle for you and a faster metabolic rate.

When doing high-intensity interval training (HIIT), research suggests it’s probably not beneficial to do it fasted, since the fuel used for it isn’t fat anyway. It’s carbs. However, consuming BCAAs prior to HIIT is still crucial, maybe even more so. As the intensity of exercise goes up, so does the role BCAAs play in energy production.

Trick 3: Eat to Replenish Your Muscles, Not Your Liver

Fact: You need to eat carbs to replenish muscle glycogen for optimal performance and muscle growth. Trying to build muscle without carbs is like driving with four flat tires. It can be done, but it ain’t fast, and it ain’t fun!

But it’s not enough to just eat carbs and hope they’ll make it to your muscles. You need to know they’re going to your muscles. Ditch the wish-upon-a-star strategy and implement a scientific protocol of carb consumption.

Let’s review some carb science. There are three types of monosaccharides of interest to us humans: glucose, fructose, and galactose. The latter comes from the breakdown of the disaccharide lactose, found in dairy products. I highly doubt a significant portion of your carbs come from lactose.

Regardless, it will be broken down into one part glucose and one part galactose. Subsequently, the galactose will soon be converted to your body’s favorite monosaccharide – glucose.

Glucose is the body’s preferred carb currency. Once in the body – whether ingested directly or from the breakdown of more complex carbs – glucose is used for energy, stored as glycogen, or converted to fat.

In The Insulin Advantage we discussed the importance of not overeating carbs so that the excess can’t be converted to fat. We only want to eat enough carbs to supply our immediate energy needs and to replenish glycogen, specifically muscle glycogen.

The cool, physique-friendly thing about glucose is that it preferentially replenishes muscle glycogen as opposed to liver glycogen. It seems the skeletal muscles worked out some sort of deal with the body so that it gets first dibs on extra glucose before the liver gets a chance to lay its mitts on the fuel. That’s great for us, because we desperately want our carbs to go to our muscles, not to our liver!

Enter fructose. This diabolical bastard evidently worked out a similar deal with the devil. Er, I mean the liver.

When we ingest fructose, it’s quickly absorbed and shuttled off to the liver. It’ll then be stored as liver glycogen and will be slowly broken down as needed by the blood.

The problem? Storing carbs in our liver does our muscles no good! The other problem is that once the liver is full of glycogen (and it only holds about 100 grams) it will convert any incoming fructose to triglycerides. That sucks. It sucks from an appearance standpoint and from a health standpoint.

What does that mean for us? It means that we certainly don’t need to be too liberal with our fructose intake!

It also means that your pre-workout carbs should be glucose-containing carbs, NOT fructose-containing. Because, essentially, whatever carbs you eat from fructose are not going to your muscles, which so desperately want and need them post-workout. So, keep an eye on fructose, but also monitor your sucrose intake. Sucrose, which is table sugar, is a disaccharide made of one fructose molecule and one glucose molecule. In other words, sucrose is half fructose.

Soda is definitely not a good choice for post-workout carbs, but there’s a much less obvious carb source we need to keep an eye on: fruit. For example, of the roughly 25 grams of carbs in an apple, about 15 grams are from fructose.

The point isn’t to avoid fruit altogether. In fact, I typically recommend most people eat one or two servings a day because it’s packed with a plethora of micronutrients. Rather, the point is to avoid having a couple pieces of fruit and thinking all 50 grams of carbs are going to your starving muscles. They’re not.

A far better approach is to have no more than one piece of fruit at a time, even in the post-workout “window of opportunity.” And if you’re going to have fruit post-workout, consider making it a banana, which has more glucose, yet about half the fructose of an apple.

Basics Come Before Strategies

These three fat-loss strategies aren’t going to get you lean if you superimpose them on otherwise piss-poor nutrition and training programs.

However, I can tell you from experience that if you try to get lean without using these tricks, your abs are going to stay hidden for a much longer time.

References

1. Effects of an oral and intravenous fat load on adipose tissue and forearm lipid metabolism. Evans K, Clark ML, Frayn KN.

2. Effect of moderate incremental exercise, performed in fed and fasted state on cardio-respiratory variables and leptin and ghrelin concentrations in young healthy men. J.A. Zoladz, S.J. Konturek, K. Duda, J. Majerczak, Z. Sliwowski, M. Grandys, W. Bielanski

3. Effect of branched-chain amino acid supplementation on the exercise-induced change in aromatic amino acid concentration in human muscle.

Blomstrand E, Newsholme EA.

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>Lose Fat, Stay Strong

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by John Romaniello – 3/07/2011

These are the facts:

1. Training with light weights while on a fat-loss diet makes you really good at lifting light and pretty awful at lifting heavy. That’s unacceptable.
2. Heavy training, even while in a caloric deficit, is vastly superior for holding on to lean body mass.
3. Unless you want to end your diet as a weak (albeit lean) little man, then you must include some heavy strength training in your plan.

Old School Bulk ‘n Cuts

Bodybuilding-style bulking and cutting periods both have drawbacks. With bulking periods, you tend to put on a fair amount of fat as you seek to gain muscle size.
With cutting periods, you run the risk of losing lean body mass in your quest to reduce body fat. This is bad for a number of reasons. It sets you up for a series of two-steps-forward, one-step-back situations. It’s painfully frustrating, and it also compromises progress in the long run.
Remember, your lean body mass is one of the main things that determines your metabolic rate. Sacrificing LBM to get lean is counterproductive because you certainly won’t stay lean for very long – especially once you go back to trying to gain mass.
At best, if you’re able to hang on to your mass, there will be the problem of losing strength. Now, if you’re lean, you’ll be placed in the unenviable position of trying to play catch-up with your strength levels for a few weeks. That’s another unacceptable tradeoff.

The New Way

We seem to be getting away from the old bulk-and-cut practices of bodybuilding. That’s a good thing. Instead, we should always be trying to achieve consistent body recomposition and lean gains.
Make no mistake: it’s possible to stay lean while gaining mass. Similarly, with intelligent programming, it’s possible to maintain and even gain strength and muscle while losing fat.

Go Heavy, Get Lean

Successful competitive bodybuilders already know this. To maintain muscle mass while dieting down into the single digits, you gotta train heavy.
In fact (drug use aside), one of the main things these guys do in the final stages of contest prep is train with heavy weight, which, coincidentally, also increases both neurogenic and myogenic muscle tone – a necessary weapon on a competition stage.
When I first started incorporating heavy strength training into my fat loss programs, I used a 5×5 protocol because this is what many bodybuilders used. It worked. My clients lost fat and maintained lean body mass with relative ease. However, it always nagged at me that this method wasn’t creating a solution, just addressing a problem.
Here’s the deal: every training session should be used to make you better, not just prevent you from getting worse. The 5×5 protocol was fine, but I knew there was an even better way to keep the lean mass while accelerating fat loss.
Strength circuits were the solution.

The Set-Up

Strength circuits take three or four exercises and set them up into circuits. Circuit training, done correctly, is one of the most effective weightlifting methodologies there is when fat loss is the goal, and strength circuits are no different.
You’ll move from one exercise to another with minimal rest in between, and then repeat as necessary. However, there’s a twist here that makes this type of training a lot more interesting.
A traditional set-up would have you doing a predetermined number of sets, with each of those having a predetermined number of reps. We’ve seen that for decades. It works, but it’s not perfect. (Chad Waterbury came up with a better plan of action, and you’ll see his influence below.)
The goal of performing strength circuits is to help build muscle and shred fat while gaining strength, and part of that is going to be neurological. Instead of just “lifting” the weights, I want you to focus on lifting explosively, and perfectly.
Each rep should be performed in the most explosive way possible. This helps to create greater stimulation for your nervous system, which will allow for the greatest recruitment of muscle fibers.
In order to make this effective, and in order to ensure that each set is challenging and stimulating without draining you, we’re going to disregard traditional set and rep schemes. Rather than focus on a conventionally structured workout of sets and reps, the focus is only on the total number of reps.
If this sounds a bit familiar, it should. Strength circuits draw inspiration from both Chad Waterbury and Christian Thibaudeau. To quote Chad, “Focus on the reps and let the sets take care of themselves.”
What you’ll do here is rotate through the chosen exercises until you’ve completed the desired number of reps.
Let’s break it down.

Workout Set-Up

Each workout will consist of two circuits, each comprised of 3-4 exercises. Between these two circuits will be something called the dynamic interrupt, which is a metabolic enhancement circuit (more on that below).
First, let’s talk about how to create individual strength circuits, as well as a complete workout.

Exercise Selection

This method is best suited to using big, compound, multi-joint movements. This is especially true for the first circuit. For the second circuit, if you’d like to throw in one isolation movement, that’s fine.

Individual Workouts

Every workout will ideally have one of each:

• Hip/hamstring dominant leg exercise
• Quad dominant leg exercise
• Horizontal pushing movement
• Horizontal pulling movement
• Vertical pulling movement
• Vertical pushing movement

Individual Circuits

Each circuit should have at least one lower body movement, at least one upper-body pulling movement, and at least one upper-body pressing movement. As long as those three are covered, you can be creative as to which movement planes you work in what order.

The Details

Let’s say that you’ve chosen to set up a circuit with dumbbell push presses, bentover rows, front squats, and weighted pull-ups.
You’d first perform as many reps as you could on the dumbbell push press. After that, perform as many bentover rows as you can. Then perform as many front squats as you can. Finally, you’d perform as many weighted pull-ups as possible.
You simply cycle through the exercises until you’ve completed all of the prescribed reps, regardless of how many sets it takes.
You’ll probably complete the total prescribed reps for one of the exercises before the others. That’s fine. Just alternate the remaining exercises back and forth.
Once you’ve completed all of the total reps for each exercise in the circuit, move on to the next segment of the workout.

Total Training Volume

Instead of thinking about the sets, simply focus on a total number of workout reps to gauge your volume. Ideally, a workout will have between 210 and 250 total reps.
If you’re going over that, you’re either using weight that’s too light (and therefore setting your total reps too high), or doing too many exercises. As a rule of thumb, 250 total reps is the upper limit.

Parameters for Selecting Rep Goals

Selecting the total reps on an exercise is a personal thing. Some people like to go very heavy on squats, so they’ll adjust the reps to be lower. Or perhaps you find that your chest generally responds better to higher reps. You might set your total reps to allow for that, and therefore use less weight.
The main thing is that your rep range for any given movement is between 20-35. Any less and you simply aren’t getting enough stimulation; any more and you’re going too light for this to be a “strength circuit.”

Parameters for Selecting Load

The idea is for this to be strength training; the weight must be heavy. This requires us to have some guidelines for selecting a work-set weight and knowing when to increase it.
The chart below will give you some guidelines for selecting a starting weight based on how many total reps you’ve chosen for a given exercise (not the set – the exercise.)

Total Reps	Load
20	Begin with a weight you think you can lift 3-5 times. If you can complete 6 or more reps on your first set, go a little heavier. If you can only complete 2 or fewer reps on your first set, go lighter.
25	Begin with a weight you can lift 4-6 times. If you can get 6 or more reps your first set, increase the weight. If you complete only 3 or fewer reps on your first set, reduce the weight a little.
30	Begin with a weight you think you can lift 6-8 times. If you can get 9 or more reps your first set, increase the weight. If you complete 4 reps or fewer on your first set, reduce the weight.
35	Begin with a weight you can lift 7-9 times. If you can complete 10 reps or more on your first set, increase the weight. If you can complete only 8 reps or fewer, reduce the weight.

Enter the Dynamic Interrupt

The Dynamic Interrupt was originally intended as a way to increase conditioning with athletes. The side effect? Rapid fat loss! I particularly like dynamic interrupts for strength circuits.
After your last set of a prescribed circuit (i.e. when you’ve finished every rep for every exercise), try the Dynamic Interrupt. It’s a series of bodyweight exercises that helps to increase heart rate and burn additional fat by making the workout more metabolic.
The lower rep range of the strength training is offset by the activity of the Dynamic Interrupt, and the fat-burning effect becomes even more profound.
Exercises are done for as many reps as possible in a given timeframe. The total work time of your Dynamic Interrupt should be 180 seconds or less.

Exercise Selection for the Dynamic Interrupt

Exercises for the DI can really be anything from jumping rope to jumping jacks to pushing a Prowler. The only real consideration is that you don’t want to choose exercises that will inhibit performance on the second circuit.
For example, if you’ve selected the bench press as one of your exercises on the second circuit, don’t select 75 seconds of as many push-ups as you can complete. Just choose movements that won’t interfere with what’s to come.

Sample Workout

Try this workout and see your results – and your strength – increase drastically.

Exercise	Type of Movement	Plane, Dominance	Sets	Total Reps
A1) Dumbbell Push Press	Upper Body Push	Vertical	Vary	30
A2) Bentover Barbell Row	Upper Body Pull	Horizontal	Vary	25
A3) Front Squat	Lower Body	Quad Dominant	Vary	35
A4) Weighted Pull-Up	Upper Body Pull	Vertical	Vary	20
Rest 15-30 seconds between exercises. When you finish your circuit, rest 45-60 seconds. Cycle through until you complete all reps for all exercises. Then, without rest, proceed immediately to the Dynamic Interrupt.

Dynamic Interrupt

Exercise	Reps
1) Burpees	As many as possible in 75 seconds
2) Mountain Climbers	As many as possible in 45 seconds
Perform burpees, then mountain climbers, with minimal rest in between. When you’ve finished the mountain climbers, rest 2 minutes and proceed to circuit B.

Exercise	Type of Movement	Plane, Dominance	Sets	Total Reps
B1) Deadlift	Lower Body	Hip/Ham Dominant	Vary	20
B2) Low-Incline DB Bench Press	Upper Body Push	Horizontal	Vary	35
B3) High Pull	Upper Body Pull	Vertical	Vary	30
B4) Alternating Barbell Lunges	Upper Body Pull	Quad Dominant	Vary	30 (15/leg)
Rest 15-30 seconds between exercises. When you finish your circuit, rest 45-60 seconds. Cycle through until you complete all reps for all exercises.

Spend Calories, Save Mass

Lifting heavy weight requires a great deal of energy, so strength training is generally calorically expensive. In addition, because we’ve set things up in a circuit, the pace of the workout is much faster and fat loss increases.
Try this method one day a week during your diet program and watch your fat loss accelerate as you hold on to strength and mass!

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Countdown to a Lean Belly

By: Travis Stork, M.D.
How did they do it? That’s the first question anyone asks when they see a friend or colleague who’s lost a lot of weight, or remade their body into a healthier, leaner version. How did they do it?

Well, it’s no mystery. In fact, one of the most important and intriguing studies ever conducted was put together by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) back in 2006. This is our tax dollars at work, and I’d say we got our money’s worth.

The pages of the study—its catchy title is “Dietary and Physical Activity Behaviors Among Adults Successful at Weight Loss Maintenance”—take all the world’s weight-loss theories and compare them to what works for real people in the real world. It looked at people who won the fat war by losing at least 30 pounds and then keeping the weight off using strategies that will work for you, too.

Keep in mind: It wasn’t a 100 percent success story. The CDC studied 2,124 people, and only 587 of them actually lost the weight and kept it off. But those who succeeded used many of the same strategies, the strategies outlined here.

And for even more ways to revolutionize your diet and get lean for good, check out The Lean Belly Prescription by Dr. Travis Stork. It’s filled with simple strategies that will help you lose weight the same way you gained it: By making easy lifestyle choices that will transform your life—for the better.

Lean-Belly Strategy #1
Pay Attention to What You Eat
Mindless eating is excessive eating. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts discovered that people who watched TV while they ate consumed nearly 300 more calories than those who dined without an eye on the tube. You need to pay attention to the messages your stomach is sending to your brain; if the TV is blaring, you won’t see the “slow” and “stop” signs.

Lean-Belly Strategy #2
Slow Down
Fast eaters become fat people. If you consciously stop to take a breath between bites, you can cut your food (and calorie) intake by 10 percent, according to researchers at the University of Rhode Island. Special bonus: You can do this in social situations—Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Marge’s—and nobody will even notice. That is, until you show up next year minus 20 pounds of flab.

Lean-Belly Strategy #3
I Said Slow Down!
It takes 20 minutes for the news that you’ve had enough to eat to travel from your gut to your brain. The reason: Hormones that trigger the “I’m full—stop!” sensation are at the end of your digestive tract, and it takes a while for digested food to reach there. If your mouth is filled with conversation, it won’t be so full of food. Talk more between bites, and weigh less when the conversation/meal is over.

Lean-Belly Strategy #4
Beware the “Healthy” Menu
If you order the stuff that’s supposed to be good for you, you’re likely to underestimate a meal’s calorie total by more than a third, according to a study in the Journal of Consumer Research. The restaurants know that; now you do, too. So be especially aware when ordering “healthy,” and make sure you have a “to go” box handy to carry leftovers home.

Lean-Belly Strategy #5
Beware the Community Chest
Always serve snacks in a bowl or dish, and put away the packages. Never eat from the bag or container. That way you won’t ever eat an entire bag of something in a single sitting.

Lean-Belly Strategy #6
Beat Hunger with Your Mind
Have a craving even though you ate just an hour ago? Before you indulge your mystery hunger, here’s how to test whether your appetite is real or not: Imagine sitting down to a large, sizzling steak. If you’re truly hungry, the steak will sound good, and you should eat. If the steak isn’t appetizing, it means your body isn’t actually hungry. You might be bored, or thirsty, or just tempted by something you don’t need. Try a change of scenery: Researchers at Flanders University in Australia found that visual distractions can help curb cravings.

Lean-Belly Strategy #7
Redecorate, Repack, Remember
If you don’t have a countertop fruit bowl, buy one so you can grab a peach, banana, pear, or other piece of fruit on your way out the door in the morning, to munch on during your commute. (Plus, it’s fun to throw the core out the window.) Plan a 10 a.m. apple-a-day break. Toss an orange in your briefcase to help you past the mid-afternoon lull (otherwise known as Temptation Time). Make fruit part of your entourage, and it will beat up lesser foods.

Lean-Belly Strategy #8
If You Can’t Bear to Eat Vegetables, Drink Them Instead
That’s right, you could have had a V8—as long as it was the low-sodium variety. It has pureed tomatoes, beets, carrots, celery, spinach, lettuce, parsley, and watercress, and 8 ounces supplies two of your five recommended daily servings of vegetables. It also heats up nicely as a base for soups.

Lean-Belly Strategy #9
If You Can’t Bear to Eat Vegetables, Hide Them in Your Pasta Sauce
And no, neither you nor the kids will notice. Using a fine grater on your food processor, grate 2 cups total of onions, garlic, carrots, beets, and zucchini (or any combo thereof), then sauté the microscopic vegetable bits in a tablespoon of olive oil. Add 4 cups of basic marinara sauce and simmer to an anonymous tomato flavor.

Lean-Belly Strategy #10
If You’re Not Yet Drinking Smoothies, Why Not?
Have you read the label of your fruit juice? Lots of sugar (however “natural” it is) and not much fiber, which means it’s a carb bomb when it hits your bloodstream. Not so with a blended smoothie, because ingredient number one is whole fruit, making the sugar content drop and the fiber climb.

Two tips: Use frozen fruit; buy it by the bag in your store’s freezer section. And buy a wand mixer and a small pitcher so you can mix your smoothie in the same container you drink it from; it’s much easier than washing out a blender. Almost any fruit-and-berry combo will do, but you can start with this recipe: 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, 1/2 banana (peeled ones freeze well), 2 tablespoons peanut butter, 2 tablespoons whey powder (it’s in the supplements aisle in the grocery store), 1 cup 2% milk, and 1 cup water.

Lean-Belly Strategy #11
Buy Smaller Dishes
According to the food scientists at Cornell University, people tend to eat as much food as will fit on their plates. That’s where “duh!” overlaps with dangerous. Over the past 100 years, our plates have grown, decade by decade. And we also know that the nation’s obesity rates have grown exponentially in that time as well. No, it’s not a coincidence. If you dine off of smaller plates, you’ll grow smaller, too. Shoot for 9 inches in diameter, and you’ll be on your way.

Lean-Belly Strategy #12
Drink out of Skinny Glasses
As have gone dinner plates, so have gone drinking glasses. And if you fill the newly cavernous ones with any kind of sweetened beverage, you’ll overindulge in calories. But here’s a smart tip: We tend to gauge our drink sizes by how tall, not how stout, our drinking glasses are. So if you buy tall, skinny ones, you’ll think you’re drinking more even though you’re drinking less.

Lean-Belly Strategy #13
Never Eat from the Box, Carton, or Bag
Those same clever food scientists at Cornell did an experiment in which they gave one set of moviegoers giant boxes of stale popcorn and another set smaller boxes of stale popcorn. The big-box people ate more than the small-box people. The theory: You gauge the amount that’s “reasonable” to eat by the size of the container it’s in. Put two cookies on a plate, put a scoop of ice cream in a bowl, or lay out a small handful of potato chips on your plate, then put the container away; you’ll eat far less of the treat.

Lean-Belly Strategy #14
Limit the Fried Stuff
Fun fact: Fast-food burgers and chicken from KFC and McDonald’s are the most frequently requested meals on death row. It kinda makes sense. The inmates won’t be around to suffer the aftermath. Fried foods are packed with calories and salt, and that crunchy, oily coating beats down any nutritional qualities that whatever is entombed inside might have.

That said, eating one piece of fried chicken won’t be, um, a death sentence, if it’s surrounded on the plate by generous helpings of vegetables and you follow with fruit—not more fat—for dessert. What’s more, the fat in the chicken will help you absorb the fat-soluble vitamins in the veggies.

Lean-Belly Strategy #15
Eat the Good Stuff
Make sure your diet is filled with healthy fats in the forms of fatty fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel, sardines), fatty fruits (avocados), extra-virgin olive oil, eggs (among the healthiest foods known to humankind), and healthy-fat snacks (nuts are nutritional powerhouses and keep you feeling full). I even give bacon in moderation a green light; at only 70 calories per strip, it carries big flavor and belly-filling capabilities.

Lean-Belly Strategy #16
Wear Your Milk Mustache with Pride
Milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, and cheeses all contain slow-to-digest protein and healthy fat, so they can be excellent belly fillers. And studies have suggested that the calcium in dairy products may aid weight loss. Make them part of your diet and you’ll find the cow elbowing aside lesser members of the food kingdom.

Lean-Belly Strategy #17
Eliminate Sweetened Beverages
If you’re going to follow only one piece of advice in this article, make it this one. I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating: Drinks with added sugar account for nearly 450 calories per day in the average American’s diet. That’s more than twice as much as we were drinking 30 years ago. If you’re looking for a way to cut unnecessary daily calories to help you lose a pound a week, wean yourself from the overload of sugar-sweetened carbonated beverages.

No, artificially sweetened sodas are not okay. Even if they have few calories or no calories, they maintain or increase your taste for highly sweetened foods, so you seek out the calorie payload elsewhere. Worse yet, they crowd out the healthy beverages. My prescription: Out with the bad, in with the great—in taste and nutrition.

Lean-Belly Strategy #19
Reduce Your Intake of Food Prepared Away From Home
When you let somebody else prepare your food—especially if it’s a teenager in a paper hat—you lose control over what you eat. And the fast-food companies, being what they are, encourage all of your worst eating habits by stuffing their products with crave-inducing ingredients like unhealthy fats, sugar, and salt. If you can stay out of the drive-thru, you can shrink your calorie intake every day.

Lean-Belly Strategy #20
Keep a Food Diary
Clearly, this weight-loss technique isn’t for everybody. It’s a hassle to write down every little thing you eat, day after day. But it’s strikingly effective for those who do it. My advice: Try it for a week so you can get a handle on how many sodas you drink and under what circumstances, when you’re most likely to veg out with a bowl of chips in front of the TV, and when your dessert cravings strike. That will help you identify your dietary danger zones and lead you to strategies that save pounds.

But it wasn’t just dietary changes that helped all those folks lose all that weight. Becoming active was another enormous factor in leading the successful losers into the promised land of the lean (but not hungry): exercising for 30 or more minutes per day, and adding physical activity to daily routines. Clearly, these are Lean Belly Prescription kind of people. And that provides a great segue to talking about the activities that these “successful losers” used to shed fat and keep it off .

Here’s why it’s so important to keep both healthy eating and exercise going as your one-two punch against belly fat. A study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology reported that when people chose healthier foods and combined that benefi t with exercise, they torched 98 percent of their weight directly from their fat stores. People who changed their diets alone were much more likely to break down muscle for fuel, and that’s a big problem. Muscle is one of your prime metabolism boosters, so it will help you burn fat for up to 24 hours after a workout. So let’s tackle the activity list, and give you strategies to make the most of it.
Lean-Belly Strategy #21
Walk for Exercise
I consider that great news. Is there a simpler exercise than walking? Is there a better way to incorporate talking with friends and loved ones into your fitness plan? Is there anything else that gets you out among your neighbors at a pace that lets you say hello? And is there anything that makes your dog happier than your saying the magic word walk?

A study from the University of Prince Edward Island in Canada (a lovely place for a walk, mind you) found that largely sedentary people who wore a pedometer for 12 weeks increased their total steps by 3,451 a day, to about 10,500. By walking more, they also lowered their resting heart rates, BMIs, and waist measurements. Once you start paying attention to footsteps, you’ll find ways to bank the extra strides. Thirty here, 300 there, 1,000 after dinner, and suddenly you’re walking away from your old weight. Why not start right now? The closer you pay attention, the more you’ll walk. And the more you walk, the greater the temptation will be to mix in an even bigger calorie burner: running.

Lean-Belly Strategy #22
Lift Weights
I suspect that for 81 percent of you, the picture that just flashed in your mind was of a no-neck Bulgarian weight lifter straining as he hoisted a steel beam over his head in the last Olympics. I know that isn’t you.

But you should still be taking advantage of the weight lifter’s advantage: Muscle is the all-night convenience store of fat burning—it never shuts down. Not only do you burn a ton of calories while you’re actually exercising, but there’s also a big afterburn effect that kicks in. Your body has to expend energy to cool you down and repair the small tears in muscle fibers that happen when you lift. (Don’t freak out. If you lift reasonable-size weights, you won’t tear muscles, you’ll just push the muscle fibers hard enough to make them grow.)
Lean-Belly Strategy #23
Exercise Regularly
Believe it or not, “none of the above” is a legitimate option when it comes to physical activity, because there’s nothing magical about running or weight lifting or even walking. They’re just the most common activities people choose in order to add more activity to their days. The only one that’s important to you is one that a) you enjoy, b) fits into your life well enough that you can do it most days, and c) allows you to up your energy expenditure.

You can do that by adding three 15-minute walks to your day or by scheduling 2-hour bike rides on weekends. Or simply by walking more, standing more, lifting more, and sitting less.

Just look at your whole day as an opportunity to make the smart choices that will help you lose weight and feel better. Achieve that, and where might you be next month? Or next year? Some place far better than where you are today!

Wikio

Wikio

Seven Metabolic Finishers to Burn Fat