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Many people when trying to lose weight will cut their calories to extremely low amounts and hit the treadmill ...what a friggin' disaster! Crash diets don't work lemon juice fasts don't work and multi-marketing companies selling shake diets don't teach anybody anything. Why?
When you go on a highly restricted diet you begin to lose weight, but that weight after a few days is coming from both fat and muscle. Muscle is metabolically active, meaning that it needs energy (calories) to keep it going. Fat, on the other hand is metabolically useless.
Translation- although you will lose weight when crash dieting you will also degrade muscle so when you're back to your normal caloric intake you are now less efficient at burning calories because you are now less muscle than before. Make sense? Total body weight is not the most important factor; your body fat to lean muscle ratio is a way more valid numerical value. Muscle only takes up about 60 percent of the space fat does. The key here is to build more muscle which will raise your metabolic rate and at the same time lose fat. Translation- look better and take up less space.
Here is another reason that the crash diet method does not work, your body is smart and it is set up for survival when you restrict your calories too much and for too long the thyroid slows down your metabolism which again makes you less efficient at burning fat.
Now as far as shake diets or any other multi-marketing fad diets go, sure they will work to burn some weight, hell if I feed you small rations of rice and beans or bread and water you will lose weight too! But what have you learned about being healthy and eating right from this approach and how long will it be till you return to your old ways? It is time to get the weight off naturally using a healthy method that will be sustainable for good!
So....here are the meat and potatoes! (Sorry no potatoes allowed).
#1. Train hard 3 days a week (if you are reading on the treadmill or using those little pink weights ...YOU'RE DOOMED! )
#2. Run 20 minute intervals 2 other days per week.
#3. Start counting calories to get an idea what you are taking in. I hear trainers and nutritionists say it is unhealthy to count calories and becoming neurotic about counting is unhealthy but have you seen our population? By counting calories for a week of two you will get an idea for where you actually stand and you hopefully will become more aware of the choices you make.
#4. Figure out your lean body mass and multiply it by 12, this will give you your target caloric intake. Example- I weigh 150lbs my body fat percentage is 8. This means my lean body mass is 138lbs (the other 92 percent). 138 x 12= 1656. This is my daily caloric intake to shred off lbs.
#5. Vary your daily caloric intakes by eating more on your training days and less on your other days. Example- My calories per day are 1656. 1656 x 7 days of the week =11592 per week. So I'm going to eat 2000 each day I train (3 days per week=6000) and eat the remainder 1397per day for the other 4 days. This is hard and does not need to be done immediately but it keeps the body guessing (remember the thyroid and your metabolism) and gives you more energy when energy is needed (training days). If you don't think you are this disciplined skip this step but remember it when your weight loss plateaus.
#6. Operation green face! What does this mean? It means if it is a veggie it counts as green and if it has a face its protein. Avoid potatoes and yams. Your food should fit into these two categories.
#7. Limit grains, bread and rice as much as possible.
#8. Limit fruit to 2 servings a day.
#9. Eliminate dairy as much as possible.
#10. Now that you know your lean body mass multiply that x 1 and this is your target protein intake in grams. Example I am 138lbs lean body mass so 138 grams of protein. Protein is essential in building muscle and you are training hard. Furthermore, up to 30 percent of the calories in protein are used to break it down and protein will limit catabolism of muscle.
#11. Eat 20 percent of your daily caloric intake from fat. Fat has 9 calories per gram so get out the calculator. (Avocados, meat fat, coconut oil)
#12. Drink plenty of water!
#13. Have a re-feed meal once per week where you enjoy what ever you want. (Don’t get stupid).
#14. These steps are difficult and highly regimented and act only as a guideline, every human is different and this is why invoking the help of a professional will always help.
#15. Pain is only temporary so get moving, eating and being healthy!
We have helped many people (including ourselves) shred pounds and with some hard work and discipline I am confident that you too can succeed. Please share this with anyone you feel would benefit.
Many people when trying to lose weight will cut their calories to extremely low amounts and hit the treadmill ...what a friggin' disaster! Crash diets don't work lemon juice fasts don't work and multi-marketing companies selling shake diets don't teach anybody anything. Why?
When you go on a highly restricted diet you begin to lose weight, but that weight after a few days is coming from both fat and muscle. Muscle is metabolically active, meaning that it needs energy (calories) to keep it going. Fat, on the other hand is metabolically useless.
Translation- although you will lose weight when crash dieting you will also degrade muscle so when you're back to your normal caloric intake you are now less efficient at burning calories because you are now less muscle than before. Make sense? Total body weight is not the most important factor; your body fat to lean muscle ratio is a way more valid numerical value. Muscle only takes up about 60 percent of the space fat does. The key here is to build more muscle which will raise your metabolic rate and at the same time lose fat. Translation- look better and take up less space.
Here is another reason that the crash diet method does not work, your body is smart and it is set up for survival when you restrict your calories too much and for too long the thyroid slows down your metabolism which again makes you less efficient at burning fat.
Now as far as shake diets or any other multi-marketing fad diets go, sure they will work to burn some weight, hell if I feed you small rations of rice and beans or bread and water you will lose weight too! But what have you learned about being healthy and eating right from this approach and how long will it be till you return to your old ways? It is time to get the weight off naturally using a healthy method that will be sustainable for good!
So....here are the meat and potatoes! (Sorry no potatoes allowed).
#1. Train hard 3 days a week (if you are reading on the treadmill or using those little pink weights ...YOU'RE DOOMED! )
#2. Run 20 minute intervals 2 other days per week.
#3. Start counting calories to get an idea what you are taking in. I hear trainers and nutritionists say it is unhealthy to count calories and becoming neurotic about counting is unhealthy but have you seen our population? By counting calories for a week of two you will get an idea for where you actually stand and you hopefully will become more aware of the choices you make.
#4. Figure out your lean body mass and multiply it by 12, this will give you your target caloric intake. Example- I weigh 150lbs my body fat percentage is 8. This means my lean body mass is 138lbs (the other 92 percent). 138 x 12= 1656. This is my daily caloric intake to shred off lbs.
#5. Vary your daily caloric intakes by eating more on your training days and less on your other days. Example- My calories per day are 1656. 1656 x 7 days of the week =11592 per week. So I'm going to eat 2000 each day I train (3 days per week=6000) and eat the remainder 1397per day for the other 4 days. This is hard and does not need to be done immediately but it keeps the body guessing (remember the thyroid and your metabolism) and gives you more energy when energy is needed (training days). If you don't think you are this disciplined skip this step but remember it when your weight loss plateaus.
#6. Operation green face! What does this mean? It means if it is a veggie it counts as green and if it has a face its protein. Avoid potatoes and yams. Your food should fit into these two categories.
#7. Limit grains, bread and rice as much as possible.
#8. Limit fruit to 2 servings a day.
#9. Eliminate dairy as much as possible.
#10. Now that you know your lean body mass multiply that x 1 and this is your target protein intake in grams. Example I am 138lbs lean body mass so 138 grams of protein. Protein is essential in building muscle and you are training hard. Furthermore, up to 30 percent of the calories in protein are used to break it down and protein will limit catabolism of muscle.
#11. Eat 20 percent of your daily caloric intake from fat. Fat has 9 calories per gram so get out the calculator. (Avocados, meat fat, coconut oil)
#12. Drink plenty of water!
#13. Have a re-feed meal once per week where you enjoy what ever you want. (Don’t get stupid).
#14. These steps are difficult and highly regimented and act only as a guideline, every human is different and this is why invoking the help of a professional will always help.
#15. Pain is only temporary so get moving, eating and being healthy!
We have helped many people (including ourselves) shred pounds and with some hard work and discipline I am confident that you too can succeed. Please share this with anyone you feel would benefit.
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