Secrets of Weight Loss (are there any?)

About 75% of our body is water. Our muscles, skin and tissue all are dependent on water. So not surprisingly - our weight can easily fluctuate 10-20lbs and create a lot of confusion when it comes to dieting.

This is why when you're on a diet and you cheat you can weigh yourself and freak out "Oh no! I gained 10lbs!". Not really, it's just that your desert is rich in carbs which are going to hold a lot of water and it's gonna show up on the scale.

But you probably didn't add much fat at all.

The opposite is true too - you can do a fasting diet or "cleanse" and lose the same 10-20lbs in a very rapid period of time. You'll gain it all back.

This is just water weight. This is why fad diets have been so successful at marketing themselves and why they will continue to into the future.

The truth is the only way to effectively lose weight is to lose fat. You must only focus on burning the fat off of your body. Water will fluctuate and we want to preserve every ounce of muscle on our body.

Why is that? Simple - muscle burns fat. If you want a high metabolic rate you need to have a lot of lean body mass.

Now - I'm not advocating you turn into the Incredible Hulk or bulk up. You really can't get that physique by lifting weights and drinking protein shakes. The body builder look generally comes from using steroids.

But if you want to have a lean and sculpted physique the way to do it is simple (and requires a lot of discipline):

• Lift weights & do cardio 2-3x a week for a total of no more than 30 minutes.
• Each day you lift weights focus on  the bench press, squat or dead lift.  Do all 3 of these exercises every weak.
• Eat a protein rich meal with good health carbs and fats to balance it out

You'll find that this system just works (more details here if you are interested ).  If you don't see yourself leaning out you'll have to pay attention to your diet and possibly change your food choices to reduce calories.

This approach has worked miracles for me.  Give it a shot!

Will This Post Work?

The Body We Want

People want muscular definition.  Sometimes they refer to this as "being ripped".  I know a lot of guys will say "I want to look like Brad Pitt in Fight Club" and then state that they don't want to get "too muscular" or "too bulky" (you'll learn later on that getting too muscular isn't going to be possible for you anyway).

The look most men are going for is something along the lines of Brad Pitt in Fight Club or Robert Downey Jr. in Sherlock Holmes.  It's muscular and well defined but not bulky like a body builder.

The look most women are going from is slim, healthy & tight.  Surprisingly - I'm at a loss as to who give as an example here.  Just about every name I can think of I hear the sound of my wife in my head saying "Wait..you THINK she's attractive???" so I'll just keep my mouth shut.

Often times the word I hear is "toned" but that's really a nonsenical word that doesn't mean anything.  The way to accurately describe this look is "lean".  The reason being is that most of us already have the muscular definition we want it's just covered under fat & misinformation.

What do Brad Pitt, Marisa Miller,  Bruce Li, Eva Mendes & Mark Wahlberg all have in common?  Their secret is that LOW BODYFAT PERCENTAGES.

That's right.  The truth is Brad didn't gain much weight for Fight Club - he burned fat.  And the reason most men fail at getting ripped abs or women fail at losing that stubbon belly & thigh fat is their giving up just when it's about to come off.   Here are some facts that are sadly lost on the majority of us looking to change our bodies:

• The human body sheds fat in a pattern.  It first sheds fat in the belly and butt which is where most of us want it gone. Then as we continue to lose weight we not only notice our waist lines thinning but also our faces, breasts & other areas.

• Sometimes the scale tells us we're losing weight but we don't notice it.  That's because we're losing fat off of our back and other areas we don't pay as much attention to.

• When you've lost enough weight to lower your body fat down to the low teens you can really begin the journey to ripped abs and a tight belly - sadly this is where most people give up!

So how do you get past this road block?   

Well - first let's get an understanding of what body fat percentages really are.  Basically - your body has lean body mass (muscle, organs, tissue, bone) and fat (the jiggly stuff you want to get rid of).  Body fat percentage is the percentage of fat your body has on you.  The less body fat the more ripped you are. 

The dirty little secret most people don't know is - you don't need much muscle to get that look you want.

It's this simple - gain a few pounds of muscle and burn a ton of fat.  If you're a man and you can get under 10% body fat you're gonna see your abs.  If you're a woman you should carry a bit more body fat on you - so keep it to about 11-13%.

This is the look that 99% of men & women are after.  And it's obtained by adding just a few pounds of muscle and burning lots of FAT.  Like I said earlier - people fail because of a lack of information.  Certainly not a lack of initiative on their part because they're all busy trying diet after diet.

So how do you start building msucle and burning fat?  Simple.  Resistance training (aka lifting weights).  You don't need a fancy gym and you don't need to spend hours at it.  As a matter of fact, when you're on a diet you might actually have to spend less time at the gym to make sure your body isn't over trained.  

A good lifting routine carried out faithfully 3x a week (no more than 15-20 minutes) with a protein rich diet is what it takes.  When you start the routine you'll also want to start using calipers to measure your body fat percentages.  You'll find that one some weeks you are not even losing pounds but still decreasing body fat percentages.

Once you get under 10% - you'll start seeing the muscular definition you want.

-Michael

The Case for Fat Burning

I've done diets before and failed and I have to say that the Truth About Abs is by far the most effective and common sensed approach to health and fitness I've seen. Here's why:

• Clearly states the reason why diets fail - we need to focus on losing fat, not losing weight.
• No fancy supplements or boxed diets required - the book provides you with real legitimate dieting information on burning fat and maintaining muscle.
• The right way to exercise - it's simple and easy and effective cardio & resistance combination that doesn't take much effort at all in the gym.

The book isn't about excess or hype and it delivers on what's promised.  If you're interested in a book that delivers on facts and avoids the hype this is definitely the book for you!

To your health,

Mike

Crazy Ideas from Tim Ferriss

Ok - so this video may or not interest you but if you check out the middle of the video (20mins in) about the ice packs and hot water and you are lifting weights you will be a very happy camper.

Trial By Fire

Random Links of The Day

Which diets work? The Daily Beast Knows!

Surprise! Taco Bell isn't diet food!

January 6th, 2010

Woo Hoo! Down 5lbs from last week! Man that feels great. I know that a few of these pounds are probably water weight but it does feel good.

Hope you all are doing well. I'm going to put up a quick post again about the Richard Wiseman book and what he says about making changes tomororow.

-Mike

Making Permanent Changes in Behavior

This is something I have researched for a long time & have concluded it has to do mostly with changing one's peer group & declaring your intentions to change in a public manner.

I'll give you a few examples

Weight Watcher

It's well known that Weight Watchers is one of the most successful dieting systems available. The dieting information with Weight Watchers is pretty standard fair but the results are anything but typical (we're all aware that most diets fail).

What sets Weight Watchers apart is that it puts you in a new peer group. You're forced to deal with the consequences of disappointing your peers and your need for social acceptance is far greater than the cravings you're dealing with.

The statistics for weight gain after someone gives up on Weight Watchers back this up.

Alcoholics Anonymous

This is the same of the same principles applied to a much deeper problem. Alcoholism is a disease and much a graver problem than obesity. However, there is a social aspect to AA (in addition to all of the counseling etc.) that helps to keep it's member's dry.

Richard Wiseman in his book 59 seconds talks about using these principles to effect real lasting change in behaviors.
Here is a short interview with him talking about the science behind change.

I'll summarize the steps based on the video link above and my own reading of his book:

1) Develop a plan to reach your goal. Be specific & detail each step. Consider this to be your own personal project plan.

2) Declare your goal publically (ex., announce your weight loss plans to your family, friends & maybe even start a blog about it!). I've found that announcing your intentions to a person who you are competitive with also helps.

3) Rewards yourself for your progress.

4) Follow & stick with your plan. Visualize each and every step along the way (ex, instead of visualzing yourself at 170lbs visualize yourself running 30 minutes every day and enjoying it).

That's it. I swear by these techniques and have found them to be very useful.

-Michael

Should his antidote mount a stumbling soup?

And on this fine January 3rd, 2010

Got up and ran for 30 minutes. My exercise routine for the week is:

- run 2x a week & to lift weights twice a week.

My diet will continue to be a moderately low carb diet.

Oh, and since I didn’t say it in my initial post. Happy New Year!! Tomorrow morning I'm going to weigh in and take the day off from exercise. I'll do some weights on Tuesday.

-Mike

My Progress So Far

I started my fitness regimen last New Year’s in 2009. The last 3 months I’ve gained back about 20lbs which has been really distressing. I did a lot of research on psychology & changing habits that last a life time and I found some common themes. People can make lasting changes in their habits but it’s not as simple as going on a diet.

It turns out that studies have shown (Richard Wiseman in the book 59 Seconds talks about this) that in order to make a lasting change you must:

- set up a set of goals with details around each goal
- visualize each goal periodically to help prime your mind towards achieving the goal
- make a public declaration of what your goal is (to apply social pressure onto you)
- reward yourself as you make progress

So I have a plan now (which I’ll blog about later) and I have sent the link to this blog to a lot of my friends and family. This better do the trick because I want to make a lasting change!




-Mike