Top 5 Myths of Fat Loss

1) You Must Diet - Popular definition of the word "diet" is a dietary plan that limits the amount of food one consumes daily. However, this definition creates a platform for failure. A top this platform dieting becomes something that is started and stopped, usually in the short term. Therefore, in order to achieve successful limitation of a so-called "diet," one must choose to make modifications to their lifestyle. Lifestyle modifications include looking at healthier foods and beverages as regular foods, not diet foods; understanding how to properly define the term diet; correctly educating oneself on the various groups and types of healthier foods; and understanding how to properly vary and balance your meals.
First, define the word "diet" correctly. A diet, by definition, is the food or beverage that an individual normally consumes on a daily basis. According to fad dieters, the definition of a diet is a reduction in calories and/or a limitation of select foods and beverages. Thus, proper levels of fat loss depend on whether or not the term diet is properly defined. One must realize, through education, that "a diet" leads to failure where as "ones diet" leads to successful fat loss.
Second, develop a foundation of knowledge for the numerous types of foods and beverages. Develop this foundation of knowledge through various research and readings on the numerous types of healthy food and beverages. Individuals with an understanding of foods will generate a more subconscious effort to make healthier choices. Healthy options start with choosing whole grains versus white flour; limiting sodium levels by avoiding added salt or condiments; choosing to consume carbohydrates over numerous meals instead of one large meal; and various other tips that will be discovered through proper education.
Lastly, constantly varying daily food choices is essential to proper fat loss and health. Eating the same foods over and over again is "a diet" and will lead to failure. Try switching up your foods and beverages with other healthier foods with similar macronutrient values. Constant variation is often the greatest way to achieve plentiful nutritional benefits and increase fat loss. However, it is imperative to have a few stable foods in your arsenal to fall back on daily. For example, choosing oatmeal for breakfast provides sustainable energy and resistant starches; choosing low sodium lunch meat (turkey or chicken) saves money and fat; digesting mixed leafy greens adds vital nutrients and leads to enhanced health; and constantly drinking water throughout the day maintains proper bodily function and fat loss. Studies have shown that individuals who consume water regularly often have a lower body fat percentage (in combination with healthy eating) than those who do not.
2) Eat less, not more - modern day dieting merely consists of calorie counting. Limiting your caloric intake results in weight loss, as long as you are expending more calories than you consume. If you burn 2000 calories in a single day while eating less than 2000 calories in that same day, than you are in a caloric deficit. Caloric deficits results in body weight reduction. On the other hand, individuals merely count calories and often decide to limit themselves to two meals per day, sometimes even one. Although this may result in body weight reduction, it often results in lean muscle loss and body fat gains.
The human body adapts to its environment extremely efficiently. During long periods of starvation, the human body attempts to store up any calories consumed as fat. Every time your body is fed, regardless if it is once or twice per day, these fat stores are added to. In times of desperation the human body knows it must have sufficient energy to perform required tasks. In order to perform these tasks, the human body must be able to call on calories for energy. Fat, regardless of where it is derived, has nine calories per gram. The human body understands this energy conversion and knows it must save these calories in order to call on them during times of starvation. Therefore, eating fewer meals will result in increased fat storage and decreased lean muscle. So the question becomes, what is the optimal amount of food one should eat to reduce body fat?
In order to achieve optimal fat loss one must limit the size of their snacks and meals. Along with limiting snacks and meal size, eat 5-7 times per day. Constantly eating trains your body to utilize calories as they are consumed. By utilizing these
calories frequently ones metabolic rate stays elevated, may even increase, while maintaining a state of constant fat burning. Additionally, eating 5-7 small meals that are spaced out 2-3 hours apart provides more sustainable energy.
3) Cardio is the best way to burn fat - popular culture tells us that cardio is the greatest way to burn fat and lose weight. Unfortunately pop culture is wrong again. Think about it this way, lifting weights elevates ones metabolic rate and therefore burns calories throughout the day. On the other hand, cardio burns calories from the moment you start until the moment you are finished. Cardio does not continue to burn calories when you are not performing the activity. However, lifting weights and/or performing complex body weight movements results in reduced fat levels and increased lean mass levels. Persons with higher lean muscle generally have a higher metabolic rate, lower body fat percentage, and a higher daily caloric expenditure.
It is not that cardio doesn't burn calories,, but rather that lifting weights are more efficient at it. In fact, lifting heavier weights with shorter rest periods leads to nearly double the caloric expenditure of a typical cardio session. This is before factoring in the elevated calorie burn post-exercise as a result of weight lifting. Elevated caloric burn post-exercise, better known as post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), can result in numerous additional calories burned.
Tip for you cardio-holics... perform High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) to achieve higher levels of fat loss. HIIT means constant variation between sprints, increased resistance, faster pace, slower pace, maximum exertion, etc...
4) Do not eat Carbohydrates - this might just be the most mind blowing myth of all time. Even nutritionists and doctors are now prescribing zero carbohydrate diets because of the expedited results and greed for money. Influenced by pop culture, individuals are now following zero carbohydrate diet plans in order to shed excessive weight. However, they do not factor in the negative side effects and lack of efficiency / longevity. Nearly all persons who start a zero carbohydrate diet eventually "fall off" the diet and watch that weight pile back on.
Break the word carbohydrate apart (carbo-hydrate) and you will realize "hydrate" is directly correlated with water. Professionals often tell their athletes or clients to stay hydrated. This means an adequate amount of water should be consumed daily. Cutting carbohydrates results in a reduction of water weight, not fat. In a sense, every time you cut out a carb you cut out a hydrate. Although it is more complicated than that, it helps illustrate carbohydrate free diets lack of efficiency.
The human body is made up of two masses, lean mass and fat mass (water, bones, and others too). In order to achieve greater lean mass (muscle) while lowering fat mass one must consume carbohydrates. The primary role of carbohydrates is to serve as a primary energy source for activity less than 3 minutes in duration. Thus, carbohydrates have an ergogenic effect by increasing muscle glycogen, which allows for greater work output and lean muscle retention. If an individual's intake of carbohydrates is too low, then a significant work output will be impossible to produce or the body will have to look elsewhere for the energy. Amino Acids (the fundamental building blocks of muscle) are usually called upon, thus decreasing your lean muscle mass.
As a general rule of thumb, with other factors not considered, individuals who do not exercise extensively should ingest a 2:1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein. For those same individuals, they may consume as little as 1-1.5 grams of carbs to 1 gram of protein. However, a 1:1 ratio is very limited and can result in feeling lethargic. If you are a more active individual, choose a diet with a 2.5-3:1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein. This ratio will provide you with more energy and greater results in lean mass. Elite endurance athletes can go up to ratios of 5 grams of carbs to 1 gram of protein.
Lastly, choose carbohydrates that are whole foods. Sticking to low glycemic foods will limit blood sugar elevation and keep your body in fat burning mode. Low glycemic carbohydrates include sweet potatoes, whole grains, cherries, apples, legumes, and many other food items.
5) Fat Free is the way to be - studies have shown that healthy fats (monounsaturated) derived from sources like olive oil can help you lose weight while burning fat. Healthy fats have numerous hormonal and fat loss benefits. Monounsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids have been linked to improved skin, fat loss, low LDL cholesterol levels, higher HDL cholesterol levels, optimal production of testosterone, hair health, and numerous other health benefits. Simply stated, fat leads to fat burn and enhanced health.
It is imperative not too neglect saturated fats all together. Limit your saturated fat intake to 20 grams or under daily. Choosing saturated fats from lean red meat, dairy, eggs, coconut, and various other sources can be advantageous. Whole foods that are not processed are the most nutritious sources and can provide various healthful benefits. To ingest omega-3 fatty acids choose foods like fish, salmon, wheat germ, walnuts, etc... To ingest healthy monounsaturated fats choose olive oil, avocados, etc...
Strength Coach Mark Wine has a reputation as one of the best trainers in the country for his work with NFL Players, college to grade school athletes, as well as Olympic hopefuls. With his new athletic performance training center Functional Muscle Fitness he hopes to redefine sports performance / gym training.
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10 Simple Ways to Super-Charge Your Metabolism

Your strongest ally when wanting to lose weight is your metabolism. It will do all the hard work even after you have finished exercising and are watching your favourite TV show or reading your Sunday morning papers. The trick to losing weight is to manipulate your metabolism so it is super-charged, 24 hours a day. I will now share with you ten simple and highly effective strategies you can use to increase your rate of metabolism.
1. Avoid dieting. If you look to cutting calories as a way to lose weight then you need to think again. The most effective way to lose weight is to eat nutrient dense foods in 5-6 small meals each day. This keeps you feeling full throughout the day and will keep your body in an active state whilst it digests the meals, which increases your metabolism. The worst thing to do is to cut calories or even skip meals as this will alarm your body and it will switch to self-preservation which can increase weight gain. Your body will look for nutrient stores in your body and it will turn to your best friend, muscle, for nutrients to supplement what is lacking from your diet.
2. Get enough sleep. It is scientifically proven that not getting enough sleep can increase levels of the stress hormone cortisol which in turn increase your chance of weight gain. Make sure you get at least 7 hours sleep most nights to give your body time to rest and repair.
3. Increase protein intake. The building blocks of our muscles are long chains of amino-acids, called proteins. These proteins are obtained from eating lean meats, eggs, low-fat yoghurt and cottage cheese. Protein has been proven to increase post-workout healing rates and increase calorie burning even at rest all thanks to your metabolism and its love for protein.
4. Eat high quality food. If you can afford to eat organic foods then you will reap the benefits from their higher nutrient content and lack of chemical residue. The chemicals normally found on none-organic foods, such as pesticides, have been found to increase weight gain and can also interfere with basic metabolic functions, such as your metabolism.
5. Keep active. If you sit for long periods of time, or become inactive for more than four hours, then your body begins to slow down and a champion enzyme, responsible for fat metabolism, begins to become extremely inactive. Break up inactive periods of time by walking around and keeping yourself moving.
6. Keep hydrated, the colder the better. Water is fundamental to a healthy body and it is important to drink extra if you are more active. It has also been found that cold water increases your metabolism, due to the bodies need to warm the water to internal temperatures.
7. Increase spices. Eating spicy food, or even just adding chillies to food, has been found to increase your metabolism due to the compounds found in the chillies which give them their characteristic heat. Increased heat production will mean elevated calorie burning which leads to an increased metabolism.
8. Don't skip breakfast. Eating a good quality breakfast will jump-start your body after the previous night's sleep, which will super-charge your metabolism for the day ahead. People who eat a good breakfast have been found to have better control over their eating throughout the day.
9. Drink coffee or tea. Caffeine is a great way to stimulate your body and to stimulate your metabolism. It has been found to jump-start internal body functions and increase metabolism in such a way, that it will burn fat more effectively.
10. Finally, and the most important, increase muscle mass. If you add one pound of muscle through resistance training you increase your resting metabolism by 80-110 calories per day. That is a massive boost to you metabolism and will help you burn fat faster than ever.
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Get Rid of Double Chin Fat

It is incredibly easy to take a look at yourself in the mirror and pick out things that you don't like. These supposed imperfections are enough to drive you crazy, but are you really doing anything to fix them, or just moaning about it? Basically, you can keep obsessing over those things, or you can take action. Having a double chin is one of those things that you can actually do something about. So, if you're ready to finally get rid of double chin fat, then you'll want to take note of this article and put the ideas into practice today.
Let's start with something that's always been a little bit misunderstood: double chin exercises. A common misconception is that you can simply get rid of fat in your chin by exercising it. The problem is that, unfortunately, your body will decide which fat deposits to get rid of first- 'spot reduction' of fat is not possible. No matter how many chin exercises you do, there is no guarantee that they alone will remove fat from that area. On the other hand, chin exercises can help to build up some of the underlying muscle, meaning that they can assist with creating a firmer and more toned jawline- which will go some of the way to helping you get rid of double chin issues. For more information about double chin exercises check out some of our other articles.
If you're serious in your desire to get rid of double chin fat then it's necessary for you to reduce fat all over your body. In short- you need to lose weight. Here are some quick tips that will help you do that and in the process, wave goodbye to your double chin fat forever.
1. Spread out your food intake across several smaller meals throughout the day. Technically speaking (providing your diet is reasonable), you could eat the same food as you eat now and still lose weight. The way to do it is by spreading out what you eat into five or six smaller meals instead of three large ones. Doing this helps to boost your body's metabolism because it will be steadily working to digest your food. You will also feel less hungry and therefore be less likely to snack, because there will always be something in your stomach.
2. Make better food choices. Far too many diets focus on deprivation of one kind or another, but that's a lousy long-term strategy. You are only setting yourself up for failure if you feel like you're depriving yourself. On the other hand, if you simply make better food choices then you will automatically start to lose weight. It may take a bit of time at first, but the rewards will be more than worth it.
3. Take part in physical activity on a regular basis. How you eat is important, but adding exercise to the mix is vital if you really want to get rid of double chin fat. Exercise burns calories, which in turn helps you to lose fat from all over your body. On top of that, the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you will burn even when you're in a state of rest.
All you have to do to get rid of double chin fat is follow a few basic steps. Some people have even turned to cosmetic surgery, but this should only be done as a last resort. It is my firm belief that if you stick to a quality diet and exercise plan, as outlined in this article, you should soon start seeing results.
I hope that this article has been valuable in getting you on the path to get rid of double chin problems that you may be suffering from.
For more information, please check out my website!

More Ways on How to Get Rid of Belly Fat Fast

Now is the worst time to have excess belly fat. With media and the fashion world promoting slim bodies and fashion meant for the "sexy", having a protruding belly will definitely make you want to do whatever it takes to find out how to get rid of belly fat fast. This is understandable as you surely want to look as good as the next woman on the beach.
Don't worry; the tips contained in this article are not over-the-top. In fact, they are very doable and achievable so you really won't have to go all out in finding the best answer to how to get rid of belly fat fast. It is quite counterproductive to push yourself to the limit just to gain great results at the quickest time possible. You have to remember that losing belly fat takes time, but with a few simple tricks, you can set the pace a bit quicker in order to see results within a few weeks. Here are tips you might want to try.
1. Set a goal, but be realistic. This is perhaps one of the most important things you can do. You don't have to set unrealistic goals that you surely won't be able to achieve in a short time. The result would be disappointment on your part and failure in finding the answer to the question of how to get rid of belly fat fast.
You must remember that the current weight and physical condition you have did not happen in an instant. Remember that it took several months of eating out, not exercising and practically letting your body pile up the pounds. So, you can start your weight loss by making small goals a day at a time. Maybe you can start with aiming to have self-control over eating junk food and drinking carbonated drinks for a day. That is easy enough to do. Then you can aim to do the same thing the next day, then the day after tomorrow. You know what I mean. Just be sure to make a list of your realistic goals and stick to that list.
2. The next step on how to get rid of belly fat fast is to aim to become more active or physical. Any form of activity will do, as long as you get your muscles working. Maybe you can start by walking your dog around the block. If you want, you can do household chores instead of having somebody do it for you. Or, you can walk to a nearby store instead of hopping on your car. Any type of activity that gets you moving will help get rid of belly fat. Later on, when you are used to doing physical activities, you can start by taking regular jogs or walks in your neighborhood. These are great activities to burn calories. Just make sure not to backslide to your former ways.
3. Lastly, the last step is to watch your calorie and water intake. Make sure not to eat too much junk food as the salt in it makes you retain water. Instead, make high fiber foods like fruits and vegetables the main items of your diet. Plus, be sure to stock up on a lot of water.
In a nutshell, how to get rid of belly fat fast is achievable if you follow the tips given above. Just don't put too much pressure on yourself that you break!
Discover How to get rid of belly fat fast is achievable if you follow the tips given above. Be slim, be healthy! Find out now how to get rid of belly fat fast the convenient way.

Waist Exercises: The Wall Squat

The wall squat is a variant of the squat which will fatigue your core and challenge your flexibility. In addition to working out your hamstrings, quads, butt, and core, the wall squat will put serious stress on your upper back and shoulders, which after some time will help provide you with a delightfully sculpted appearance.
If you're finding that squats are becoming very easy to execute it might be time to add the wall squat to your sessions. Once you have the movement down, try performing a 5-minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) of
• 9 wall squats
• 6 v-ups
• 3 pike pushups
The wall squat is also an outstanding warmup for the overhead squat.
The Starting Position
Stand facing a wall in the squat position with your feet under your shoulders. Place your feet about 6 inches away from the wall, stretch out your hands directly over your head and set your hands flat on the wall.
The Movement
Just like the conventional squat, the very first movement you make should be to transfer your hips back just as if squatting on a low box. Hold your torso up and your hands against the wall, and make sure to drive the knees to the outside as you squat, not permitting them to cave inward.
Throughout the exercise your weight must be in your heels. If at any time you can't easily shake your toes, you have too much weight in the balls of your feet and should move more weight to your heels. This decreases stress on your knees.
As soon as the crease of your hips is below your knees you have arrived at the bottom of the exercise. Your torso needs to be as vertical as is possible and your back flat and straight. Reverse the movement by standing and keep your core tightly held and your chest up. When you've reached the standing position and both your hips and knees are fully extended, commence the next repetition by sending your hips back.
Scaling the Wall Squat
This exercise is especially difficult on your core and if you've got mobility problems. To make it easier consider setting your feet slightly farther out from the wall. As with a typical squat, you may also insert ½"-1" weights under your heels should you have trouble getting to depth while keeping your torso upright. Just make sure that you continue to focus on your flexibility so that you can eventually carry out the movement with no plates.
The movement can be made tougher by putting your feet closer to the wall. Fight to keep your upper body upright throughout and your core strength and flexibility will develop.
Start doing waist exercises the right way and watch that muffin top disappear.

Weight Loss: A Simple Mathematical Formula

It's a simple mathematical formula, really. In order to burn off one pound of fat, roughly 3,500 calories needs to be burned in the form of energy expended, or 3,500 fewer calories need to be ingested. Over a week, this breaks down to around 500 calories a day that either need to be burned during the course of physical exercise, or trimmed from the daily intake of food. There are many ways to create this caloric deficit, including keeping a food diary, meal replacement, and the addition of a strength-training segment to an existing cardio workout program. You can also purchase weight loss foods online to help curb those calories.
It may seem mundane, but recording what is consumed on a daily basis has been shown to have a marked affect on the amount of weight loss achieved. A study performed as early as 2008 and published in the American Journal for Preventative Medicine recorded that participants who recorded their food consumption on a daily basis had twice the recorded overall weight loss of participants who did not record. There are multiple online programs that provide this service free-of-charge, although a simple spiral bound notebook will do as well. Exchanging food journals with a friend may provide an additional incentive in the form of accountability and encouragement.
During the course of an average 2,000 calorie consumption a day, meals can be assumed to be around 500 calories, for a total of 1,500 calories, and snacks and can be assumed to make up the balance. If those assumptions are made, it is easy to spot how the needed 500 calorie deficit can be achieved by simply replacing one meal with a high-protein, low-calorie substitute. Lunch would be one of the best choices for this strategy, as the energy carry-over from breakfast in theory will mitigate the effects of replacing lunch.
Adding a strength-training segment to an existing workout program has several far-reaching effects that will enhance one's fitness level and boost the metabolic burn necessary to lose weight. Strength training doesn't have to be time or equipment intensive, as most exercises can be performed using simple hand weights and one's own body weight. A strength-training segment of 30 minutes a day, three times a week will achieve excellent results, because strength-training exercises have been shown to raise one's resting metabolism rate, effectively aiding the body to burn calories while at rest. Weight-bearing exercises such as strength-training also vastly reduce the appearance of osteoporosis, a damaging bone-density condition that can arise in later life.
In conclusion, by integrating just a few small changes, a caloric deficit can be created which will rapidly translate to achieving a weight loss goal and a healthy life-style.
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