FAT LOSS SECRET #5

MORE MUSCLE = GREATER FAT LOSS

Here’s a fact that you may not be aware of: Every pound of muscle you “own” adds an additional 50 calories to your daily calorie burn. In other words, 10 lbs of lean muscle equates to a real 500+ calorie increase in your metabolic rate.

Here’s another fact: most people lose muscle while dieting. This can be the result of any one (or more) of the following factors:

Inadequate calorie intake – as mentioned in an earlier secret, not eating enough food and calories is the equivalent of metabolic suicide. Not only will it cause an immediate decrease in calories burned per day, but it will also cause your body to begin feeding on muscle tissue for energy (as muscle tissue is less important to survival than calorie-rich body-fat).

Excessive slow-go cardio – not only does regular “slow-go” cardio fail miserably at burning substantial body fat, it also is a great way to eat away at calorie-burning muscle tissue as you try to lose fat.

A lack of resistance training – most people who diet solely rely on cardio for exercise (if they even exercise at all). Unfortunately, cardio alone doesn’t do much to support lean body mass (i.e. lean muscle); for that, you’ll need to start incorporating some resistance training into your exercise regimen.

Inadequate dietary protein – protein should be the staple nutrient in every weight-loss diet, but unfortunately, it’s often comes in last place when compared to carbohydrates and fat. Simply put, if your goal is to have a lean, sexy body that you can be proud of, you need to be eating protein with every meal.

To summarize, muscle tissue supports metabolism, makes fat loss easier, and ultimately leads to the “lean” look you’re after. If you’re worrying about getting “too big”, that isn’t going to happen, especially while losing fat. But if you are careful to avoid the forementioned four mistakes, you’ll make your fat-loss journey much easier and you may just add a few pounds of lean muscle in the process.

FAT LOSS SECRET #4

HIGH-INTENSITY TRUMPS “SLOW-GO” ANYTIME, ANY DAY, ANYWHERE.

Just the thought of spending 45 minutes to an hour staring at the wall or TV in front of me while on the treadmill, eliptical, or stationary bike is enough to make me cringe (and like I have that kind of time anymore!) Fortunately, I haven’t done that kind of cardio workout in a while.

“But I thought cardio was one of the fundamental keys to fat loss?” you ask...

Well, cardio is a loose term and when used generally refers to the type of exercise mentioned above. Slow-go, low-intensity, “fat-burning zone” cardio = Unproductive, Inefficient, Ineffective.

Steady-state, slow-go cardio burns minimal calories and minimal fat. High-intensity, interval-based workouts burn considerably more calories and considerably more fat, all while taking half the time or less. How?

Well here’s the thing about high-intensity exercise. Because the sessions are so short (generally anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes), cardio done for 45 minutes in the “fat-burning zone” may actually burn a bit more fat and calories during the actual exercise session. But this the important part—despite burning a bit less fat and calories during the session, high-intensity exercise has been shown to elevate metabolism for up to 48-hours post workout. This means that with high-intensity exercise, you’ll continue to burn fat for up to two days just by going about your own business.

You can be sitting there watching TV or helping your kids with their homework, and you’re still burning calories from an itty, bitty 15-minute exercise session you did yesterday!

If you ask me, that’s pretty darn cool! I made the switch to high-intensity cardio last year and am so glad I did. I encourage you to do the same.

Now for some practical advice: If you’re not quite too sure what high-intensity interval-based cardio is (then where have you been?!?! We’ve done these in boot camp!) or if you need a sample workout, no worries--

Grab your tennis shoes, walk outside, and run “hard” for one minute. Then, slow things down with a slow jog or brisk walk for one minute. That’s one “interval”. Now repeat that 7 or 8 times for a 15-minute workout.

Of course, you can do these types of intervals on regular cardio equipment at the gym as well. Once you get pretty comfortable with the approach, there are literally countless ways you can mix things up by switching the type of exercise, work to rest ratio (in the example above, the work to rest ratio is one to one as we are running hard for one minute and then “resting” for one minute), and the length of each portion of each interval.

So say goodbye to slow-go boring cardio and start losing fat much, much faster with high-intensity exercise. You can do it!

Get more information about interval training under the additional resources tab: http://tiff-fit.blogspot.com/p/interval-training.html or http://tiff-fit.blogspot.com/p/more-interval-training.html

FAT LOSS SECRET #3

MIRROR YOUR METABOLISM

Skip breakfast. Moderate-sized lunch. Large dinner. That’s the typical American diet. But here’s the problem. That’s the exact opposite of your daily metabolic rhythm. We eat our largest meal when metabolism is at its lowest point and when metabolism is at its peak (in the morning, upon awakening), we eat nothing. If you are serious about dropping body fat, it’s time you break the American habit and start mirroring, not defying, your metabolism.

Remember, metabolism is highest in the morning, so breakfast, not dinner, should be your largest meal. A large breakfast also helps to boost overall metabolic rate and get your metabolism fired up to burn even more calories throughout the day.

Research has repeatedly shown that those who regularly consume breakfast have faster metabolisms than those who don’t—eat a large breakfast every day and your body (both inside and out) will thank you for it.

Then, as the day goes on, metabolism starts to taper off until it reaches its lowest point in the evening hours just before bed. Do your best to limit food intake, especially carbohydrate intake, during this time. For dinner, it’s probably best to go the low-carb route (while getting most of your carbs during breakfast and lunch).

A great dinner would be a large salad full of mixed greens, protein (chicken or some other form of animal protein), and some healthy fats (i.e. an olive oil-based dressing). If you do choose to eat something after dinner (which is OK if you follow the rules), just make sure it’s either a green vegetable or animal protein (no carbs).

Because green veggies contain minimal calories while being high in fiber, they’re sure to curb hunger pangs with very little calories. Protein on the other hand will have more calories, but has the advantage of directly supporting calorie-burning muscle tissue (instead of going to bed and leaving muscle “starved” for 8 or more hours). As you’ll see in a later fat loss secret, maintaining muscle tissue while dieting just may be the most important thing you can do for fat loss and metabolism.

In summary, metabolism is highest early in the day so take advantage of it and make sure you get a good breakfast to start you day. As metabolism tapers off in the evening, limit those carbs.

FAT LOSS SECRET #2...

AVOID THE “DEADLY COMBINATION”

By using just the one strategy listed below, you will immediately be able to eat 300-500 additional calories each day without putting on a single extra ounce of fat.

Why would eating more be beneficial? Well, remember our last secret--The more you eat, the less likely it is that your body will turn to its nasty starvation defenses.

And I don’t know anyone who would be opposed to eating more food when watching their diet, do you? More calories = greater satiation and fullness; two things that go a long way when it comes to actually sticking to the plan.

So what’s the secret to eating more without the fat gain? It has to do with avoiding one simple combination: carbohydrates + fat.

To understand why this combination is such a big no-no, let’s analyze what happens in the body when the two nutrients are combined.

When fat is ingested, a good amount of fat is released into the blood stream. Now how about carbohydrates? Not only does carbohydrate digestion release plenty of sugar into the blood, but it also causes the pancreas to secrete large quantities of the hormone insulin.

Insulin, also known as the storage hormone, functions to shuttle nutrients present in the blood, including fat, to their respective storage sites.

To simplify the whole scenario:

Carbs + fat = insulin + fat.

Insulin (storage hormone) + fat = fat storage.

Now, of course fat can be stored even without insulin, but a ton of insulin resulting from carbohydrate ingestion certainly makes the job easier. Start avoiding the combination and you should see immediate results.

Again, some practical advice I’ve been saying for awhile: Eat protein with every meal and choose to combine it with either carbohydrates or fat, never both. And don't combine carbs and fat in the complete absence of protein (i.e. cookies, pastries, chips, bread & butter, pastas with cream sauce, etc).

And remember, this suggestion is referring to the majority of your diet. About 10% of the time, it’s certainly more than fine to indulge a bit in some carbs + fat containing foods.

So, avoid the deadly combination 90% of the time, and the other 10% of the time, indulge away. Everything in moderation!

FAT LOSS SECRET #1...

EAT MORE, NOT LESS: THE LIE OF CALORIE RESTRICTION

Have you ever celebrated the fact that you went all day without eating anything? (shame shame!) Or perhaps you thought your diet was right on track if your breakfast consisted of half a bagel and your lunch a small cup of salad greens.

The media along with a slew of fat loss misinformation has programmed us to believe that less is best. The less you put into your mouth, the more fat you’ll lose. Twelve hundred calories is much better than sixteen, and a simple thousand even better. Unfortunately, this is the exact opposite of how our bodies work.

To understand why, you have to understand your body’s number one priority: to keep you alive! Fail to give your body enough food each day and it won’t be long before your body shifts into “starvation mode” as a defense mechanism. It’s simply your body’s way of protecting you from a lack of food.

Now, you’ve probably heard of starvation mode, but it’s not likely that you fully understand it...

As you begin to curb your food intake, especially if you are heavily restricting calories, the body begins to send out hormonal signals to decrease metabolism, preserve body fat, and increase appetite. Not so great of a scenario when you’re trying to lose body fat, right?

One of the major players in this whole chain of events is the hormone leptin. When you heavily restrict calories, leptin levels plummet, sending a signal to the brain that you are not eating enough food. Once this happens, all those other things (decreased metabolism, stalled fat loss, increased appetite, etc) occur as a chain reaction. At this point, fat loss becomes one heck of a battle, and so many individuals fail at the whole dieting for fat loss thing.

So what do you do?

The key is to create a moderate caloric deficit through both diet and exercise— enough to have you losing fat at a consistent, steady rate, but not so severe that it triggers your body’s starvation protection mechanism.

Some practical recommendations:

First, never skip meals—ever—especially breakfast.

Second, be mindful of your calorie intake. To avoid the disasters of starvation mode, keep your caloric deficit moderate—no more than 500 calories below your daily maintenance intake.

Eat more, lose more. It’s a counterintuitive concept, but one that will save you a lot of dietary frustration when followed.

I'll be back soon with secret #2--avoiding a deadly combo (ok, it's not really deadly, just detrimental to your fat loss!)