‘Tis the season of candy and sugary baked goods showing up everywhere you go. Plates of cookies, tins of caramel corn, strings of candy canes and leaden logs of fruitcake – why these things symbolize good cheer is hard to figure out. There’s no reason to be a complete Scrooge about holiday desserts, though, just as there’s no reason to deprive yourself entirely if you’re craving something festive. When your sweet tooth goes looking for the ultimate dessert indulgence this year, look no further. Dark Chocolate Macadamia Bark Sprinkled with Sea Salt (as shared by Mark Sisson from http://www.marksdailyapple.com) tastes fully and completely like “real” dessert. Not only will you enjoy every bite, so will the family and friends that you gift it to (hint, hint, don’t eat it all yourself!)
This perfect dessert is loaded with flavonoids from the dark chocolate and has a positive fatty acid profile from the macadamias. But the very best part about this decadent treat is that you can whip it up in less than 30 minutes using only three ingredients.
The full recipe is below, but there’s not a whole lot more to it than melting chocolate, stirring in nuts, sprinkling with sea salt and refrigerating. So why is the result so amazing? First of all, it’s important to use good chocolate. The darker the better, both for health reasons and intensity of flavor. The macadamia nuts add a sweet, buttery component and the crucial sprinkle of sea salt on top is the flavor equivalent of an exclamation point.
The result is a dessert that’s the perfect thing to nibble on around a roaring fire, surrounded by those you love most. Or, at a holiday office party or New Year's event surrounded by those you love a little less dearly, but still love of course ;). Wherever the event, it will be a little bit merrier if Dark Chocolate Macadamia Bark Sprinkled with Sea Salt is your indulgence of choice.
Ingredients:
9-10 ounces dark chocolate (aim for 85 – 90% cacao), chopped into small pieces
1/2 cup macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions:
Heat 2/3 of the chocolate in the microwave or on the stove. If using a microwave, heat the chocolate in 30-second increments, stopping to stir vigorously each time. It should take 2 minutes or less to melt the chocolate. If using the stove, create a double boiler by filling a pot with a few inches of water then balance or hold a smaller pot filled with the chocolate just above the water line. As the water gently boils, the steam will melt the chocolate in the smaller pot without burning it. Stir occasionally, removing from heat as soon as the chocolate melts completely.
Remove the melted chocolate from the microwave or stove. Add the remaining hard chocolate to the hot melted chocolate, stirring vigorously until it melts as well.
Stir the macadamia nuts into the chocolate.
Line a rimmed dish of your choice with parchment paper or wax paper. The size of the dish will determine how thick the bark is. A 2-quart squarebaking dish makes thicker bark (like in the photos). A larger dish will obviously yield thinner bark.
Spread the chocolate evenly in the rimmed dish. Sprinkle with sea salt. Refrigerate for at least 10 minutes, longer if chocolate isn’t solid yet. Use a knife to cut the bark into squares or misshapen pieces. Store the bark at room temperature.
Dessert doesn't have to be all bad. This is one of those good ones. Enjoy!
Tyron
Mark Sisson is the author of a #1 bestselling health book on Amazon.com, The Primal Blueprint, as well as The Primal Blueprint Cookbook and the top-rated health and fitness blog MarksDailyApple.com. He is also the founder of Primal Nutrition, Inc., a company devoted to health education and designing state-of-the-art supplements that address the challenges of living in the modern world.
So enjoy all the good food (and cheesecake as I know I will ;) and time with family and friends just use the rich food and desserts to your advantage by incorporating a workout in that day. If you are coming to boot camp (http://MakersBody.com/SlimDown.html) we'll be open throughout the holidays at our regular times as detailed below.
And the winner of The Maker's Body Complete Package is...(drumroll please)... Farideh Mansouri! Congratulations Farideh. The complete package includes a kitchen overhaul, a Whole Foods shopping tour, learning about different products, the do's and don'ts of eating, helpful tips, a monthly meal plan with recipes, a grocery list and our in-house chef Mich will cook and prepare a 7-day breakfast-lunch-dinner meal plan based on your dietary requirements! What better way to start January than with all your meals cooked for a week and a plan for the rest of the month :)
3.) Fill out the registration form that will be emailed to you after following the steps above and email it back to us. Must be completed before attending.
The fitness industry is a crazy business, especially when it comes to abs. For example, if you want to reveal your six-pack, you generally have two product choices.
1. The too-easy-to-work method.
You know this better as "5-minute abs!" or some such hype. But if this approach were really effective, even Chris Christie would have a washboard.
2. The so-hard-it-has-to-work method.
Think 60 to 90 minutes of exercise, 6 days a week. Now if you have the time and energy for this kind of regimen, we commend you. But plenty of people are missing one or the other. And that's just reality, not a cop-out.
So we wondered: Could there be an ab-sculpting program that actually works and is doable for most people? For the answer, we turned to Mike Wunsch, C.S.C.S., and Craig Rasmussen, C.S.C.S., creators of Men's Health's newest fat-loss plan, 24-Hour Abs! The answer: "Absolutely," says Wunsch, who teams up with Rasmussen to design the workout programs at Results Fitness in Santa Clarita, California. "That's exactly how we make our living."
One important fact about Results Fitness: Even in a recession, this Southern California gym has expanded. Twice. Why? Because its trainers have developed a fat-loss formula tailored specifically for busy people. (Read: mostly everyone.) The requirements are simple: 30 to 40 minutes a day, 3 days a week. So how do these trainers do it when so many others have failed? They threw out the old guidelines. The new ones they've created are based on 21st-century science and the methods that work best with their clients. Now you can benefit, too.
Don't target your abs to lose fat
Or you might end up frustrated like this!
Back in 2002, we reported that it would take 250,000 crunches to burn a pound of fat, according to estimates from University of Virginia scientists. We're pretty sure those researchers published that statistic to make a point. But after almost a decade, the point still may not have hit home. "I'm amazed at the number of people who think that simply doing ab exercises will make their belly disappear," says Rasmussen. "That is probably the least efficient way to reveal a six-pack."
Do work every single muscle
Ok maybe not to this extreme but you get the point
"Muscle is your body's primary fat burner," says Rasmussen. Your muscles require energy to contract, which is why you burn calories when you exercise. But resistance training, unlike running or cycling, also causes a significant amount of damage to your muscle fibers. And that's a good thing. "Your body has to expend energy to repair and upgrade those fibers after your workout," says Rasmussen. "And a single total-body weight-training session can boost your metabolism for up to 2 days."
So you shouldn't neglect a single inch of your body. That goes double for the legs, a body part that plenty of men either train just once a week or simply ignore. Case in point: Syracuse University researchers determined that people burned more calories the day after a lower-body resistance session than the day after they worked their upper bodies. [you're welcome The Maker's Body clients for all those leg exercises we give you...they're a reason for the pain...good pain that is :)] Why? Because your lower half houses more muscle. The upshot: "A busy guy's smartest approach is to train his entire body every other day," says Rasmussen. "That allows you to elevate your metabolism maximally all week long, even though you're working out only 3 or 4 days a week."
Don't start your workout with crunches
"You can do lots of crunches and situps and still have a weak core," says Wunsch. "We see that all the time." The reason: Classic ab moves like crunches and situps work the muscles that allow you to flex (that is, round) your lower spine. (In fact, there's new evidence out there that shows the crunch might be The Most Useless Exercise Ever.) True core exercises, on the other hand, train the muscles that prevent your spine from rounding. They also allow you to transfer force from your lower body to your upper body (in a golf swing, for example), and vice versa. Core exercises target the same muscles that crunches do, but they also include your hip and lower-back muscles. So what's a true core exercise? One that trains you to keep your spine stable and in its natural alignment. Besides the plank (more on that in a minute), scores of exercises qualify, including the side plank, mountain climber, and even the pushup.
Do start with core exercises
Stability Ball Rollout
"We test everything in our gym," says Wunsch. "And we've seen that people achieve far better results when they do core exercises at the beginning of their workout instead of at the end." The reason: By training your core when your muscles are fresh, you achieve the fastest gains in strength, says Wunsch.
That's important for the average guy, Wunsch and his colleagues have found, because the core is the limiting factor in almost every exercise. "A weak core is what keeps most men from lifting more weight in the squat and deadlift and just about everything else," says Wunsch. "If we focus on strengthening their core first, they'll ultimately be able to lift heavier weights, which allows them to work more muscle and burn more calories. We're thinking about long-term success."
Don't spend hours on your core
While 5 minutes of exercise a day isn't enough to reveal your abs, it is about the right amount of time to dedicate to targeted core training. "We've found that just 2 to 4 sets of one or two core exercises is quite effective," Rasmussen says. "Our goal is to make you stronger, not more tired." A 5-minute core routine prior to weight training has a side benefit, too. "It revs up your core muscles so they fire better as you do other exercises," Rasmussen says.
Do master the plank
Ok not that kind of plank...
this kind
Flip through any issue of Men's Health and you'll probably find some version of the plank. This exercise may appear boring and easy—after all, you look like you're simply holding a pushup position but with your weight supported on your forearms instead of your hands. "The plank is easy only if you're doing it incorrectly or don't know how to make it more challenging," says Wunsch. What's more, he adds, the plank is key because it teaches you to make your core stiff. "That's a skill you need for almost every exercise."
So how do you perfect this exercise? Start by assuming a plank position, and then have a friend place a broomstick along your back. It should touch your head, upper back, and butt; this indicates that your spine is in proper alignment. If the stick doesn't make contact at all three points, simply adjust your posture until it does. That's the position you need to hold. Now to learn all the secrets to the perfect plank, watch this video.
Don't waste a second on the treadmill
"If you have only 30 to 40 minutes to devote to a workout, then every second has to count," says Rasmussen. "In those cases, our clients do zero running." His contention is that you can achieve faster fat loss with resistance training. How so? First, drop the assumption that running burns more calories than lifting does. A University of Southern Maine study found that a single set of a weight-training exercise torches as many calories as running at a 6-minute-mile pace for the same amount of time. So for every second you spend lifting weights, your body is expending high amounts of energy.
There's also the metabolism boost of weight training. "Resistance training has a much larger metabolic impact than long-distance running does," says Rasmussen. "Plus, your body is being given a stimulus to gain strength and build new lean tissue." One last efficiency benefit: Lifting weights through a full range of motion can improve your flexibility as well or even better than static stretching does, according to a University of North Dakota study.
Do keep your body moving
"Our goal is to pack as much physical work as possible into whatever time our clients have," says Wunsch. To that end, he and Rasmussen frequently implement supersets and circuits—strategies that save time without sacrificing results. To understand why, you'll need a few quick definitions.
Straight sets: This is a traditional weight-training routine, in which you complete all the sets of a given exercise before moving on to the next.
Alternating sets: These involve alternating between exercises that train your body using two noncompeting movements. For example, you pair an upper-body exercise that works the muscles on your front side—a pushup or bench press, say—with a lower-body exercise that emphasizes the muscles on your back side--the deadlift, for example. The idea is that you work a group of muscles with one exercise, but instead of sitting around for a full 2 or 3 minutes while that muscle group recovers, you perform an exercise that doesn't heavily engage those same muscles. As a result, you can cut your rest time in half or eliminate it completely.
Circuits: These are similar to alternating sets, except that they involve three or more exercises. You can rest after each exercise in the circuit, or only after the last exercise.
How much time can these techniques save? A 2011 Spanish study found that men who trained with circuits achieved the same gains as those who trained with straight sets—yet their workouts were 42 percent shorter. But that's not to suggest you should hit the showers early. No, it means circuits and alternating sets can help you squeeze more total sets into the same sweat session.
Your friend,
Tyron
PS. If you live in North or West Vancouver, BC and want to experience the boot camp in North Vancouver that GUARANTEES you'll lose at least a clothing size in 30 days or your money back AND will help you get fast results like this girl in the video below who lost 20 pounds, 6.5 inches off her waist and 4 inches off her hips, then click the link below to get your free workout and $50 off any one of our programs:
Craig has relocated back to Southern California after spending several years in Indianapolis, Indiana working as a fitness coach at a private training facility, and a strength coach at the high school level. Prior to that, Craig worked as a full-time Physical Education teacher at the middle school level in Santa Monica, California. Craig also received his BA in Physical Education from CSU Chico. He grew up in Ventura attending Buena High School with basketball being his sport of choice.
Craig became passionate about weight training following his freshman year in college when his Junior College basketball coach listed that two of his weaknesses were his strength and size. This proved to be a great motivation for him and he now is a competitive powerlifter and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Find out more about Craig at http://www.results-fitness.com/trainers.php?page=4&action=9.
Everybody knows that if you want to lose body fat you need to pay attention to diet and exercise. However, there's another factor that hardly anybody talks about...sleep. As a culture, Westerners get much less sleep today than their ancestors did. You can blame a lot of that on the blessing of electricity. What happens when you go to bed too late and what is "too late"? I'm guilty of this so don't think I'm perfect. I need to work on this.
Is this you?
Any competitive athlete will tell you that they can feel the difference between 8 hours of sleep that starts at 9pm compared with 10pm compared with 11pm. When you push your body hard, you recover much better if you get to bed early. Why is this? Eve Van Cauter PhD is a world authority on the endocrine system and circadian rhythms. Put her name into Google or PubMed and you'll find dozens of her studies clearly showing the unpleasant influences that sleep deprivation has on hormones and other physiological parameters. Side note: hormones play a critical role in how much muscle you build and how much fat you lose. I repeat: the better your hormone profile (affected through sleep, diet, training, stress, etc.), the more fat you will lose.
A colleague of mine in California, Chris Maund, spent over 3 years gathering information on this topic before writing a review of literature entitled "Sleep, Biological Rhythms and Electromagnetic Fields". His conclusion after spending all those months reviewing literature? Very simple...if you wish to get lean and feel physically recovered from day to day you need at least 8 hours sleep and you'd better be asleep by 10pm at the latest. This is partly because getting to bed later than this adversely affects your natural secretion of growth hormone. You only get one pulsed secretion of growth hormone every 24 hours....if you're not in bed early that pulse is significantly diminished in size.
WHY WHOLE GRAINS MAY NOT BE GOOD FOR YOU
You are probably aware that most people feel better and lose body fat when they cut gluten from their diet. What you might not realize is that all grains are problematic for most people...not just the classic gluten containing grains.
Why is this? Partly it's because there is a lot of confusion over which grains contain gluten and which ones do not. Many "gluten free" people continue to eat oats and quinoa because they have been told these two are gluten free. There are two major problems with this logic.
Oats
Quinoa
The first problem is that most people feel better, have more energy and less body fat, when they eliminate ALL grains INCLUDING oats and quinoa. Chris and his wife Janet have seen many clients over the years who were unable to get rid of their symptoms (and body fat) until they cut oats and quinoa from their diet. This is partly because oats and quinoa do contain a form of gliadin which does cause significant health problem in many people. Gliadin is the relevant offending sub fraction of gluten.When someone says "I'm gluten intolerant" it's more accurate to say "I'm gliadin intolerant".
The second problem is that all grains - even rice and corn, which are truly gluten/gliadin free - are simply delivery vehicles for huge amounts of carbohydrate. Most people do not do anywhere enough exercise to burn off the carbohydrates that they get from their daily grain consumption. Unless you are doing at least 60 mins of HARD exercise every day, you should cut ALL grains from your diet and get your carbohydrates from vegetables.
So the bad news is you might need to go to bed earlier (myself included ;) and you might need to eliminate, or at least cut back, grains from your diet. But the good news is you'll feel better, become healthier and lose more body fat...I know you like hearing that :)
Your friend,
Tyron
PS. We're considering opening up more North Vancouver boot camp class times. Currently we have M, W, F at 5:45 am, 11:30 am, 5 pm, 6 pm, 7 pm and Saturdays at 10 am. Would you be interested in a 7:00 am, 9:30 am and/or 12:30 pm (noontime) class?
PPS. Make sure you give these people a big high 5 next time you see
them as they each referred their friends to our program and because
of our referral incentive program got some serious rewards:
Allison - referred 1 friend - gets $100 off next month of training
Mich - referred 2 friends - gets $200 off next month of training
Aly – referred 1 friend – gets $100 off next month of trainingTania – gets half off program Rob and Sonja – gets half off program
Kristen H. - gets half off program
Thanks for bringing your friends out! And this is not all of them
either.
Hey by the way, so that you can get on this list and get free
training and save like these did, encourage your friends, family
and coworkers to come out for their first session at no cost to try
it out and if they choose to sign up, they’ll get $50 off whichever
program they choose and I will totally hook you up with our referral
bonuses of giving you 50% (half) off for EACH person you refer
that joins. Not bad if you ask me.
Janet Alexander
A 25-year veteran of the Health and Fitness Industry and commited endurance athlete, Janet draws her experience from a varied career base, including teaching, sales and marketing, advertising and design as well as working with clients requiring sports performance and orthopedic rehabilitation. Janet is one of the Senior Faculty at the C.H.E.K Institute, co-owner of The CHEK Studio, Inc. in Encinitas, CA where she works predominantly with golfing athletes and their coaches including PGA and LPGA professionals. https://www.chekconnect.com/Page/ConnectProfile?member=janetalexander1
Chris Maund
Chris Maund is a member of the C.H.E.K Faculty and has been teaching for the C.H.E.K Institute since 1998. Chris has a bachelor's degree in Physical Education and Sports Science from Loughborough University in England. He has written a thesis to satisfy part of the requirements for C.H.E.K Practitioner Program entitled "Sleep, Biological Rhythms and Electromagnetic Fields". Chris is a strong believer in the value of massage therapy and studied Paul St John's Neuro Muscular Therapy program. An experienced triathlete, he was a member of the British National Squad from 1989-1992 before emigrating to New Zealand in 1993. Chris has a wealth of experience working in a wide variety of rehabilitation and sports conditioning scenarios. https://www.chekconnect.com/Page/ConnectProfile?member=chrismaund
If you can't see your abs, it's not a sign you need to do more crunches. You need to get rid of the fat layer over your abs. Simple as that. You can't spot reduce and you'll get plenty of ab work doing compound movements such as squats, deadlifts, chin-ups, push-ups and overhead presses. Check out this research study that showed this: http://www.ergo-log.com/sixpackcrunches.html.
Doing ab work is important but don't put your focus on it to give you that flat stomach as you're wasting your time.
Check out some tips below to help get that layer of fat off ;)
1. Are you looking a bit too happy when you are working out?
If you're not grimacing, grunting, or experiencing some sort of discomfort, you're not training hard enough. One good set where you have to fight for the reps is better than a week of half-effort sets.
Do you struggling in your workout and feel like this afterwards?
...or is your workout more like this?
An intense workout...if I'd say so myself
2. Are you afraid of "bulky muscles" and therefore stick to the lighter weights?
Women, you need to put down those light pink dumbbells (operative word is "light" as there are some heavy pink weights, i.e. pink kettlebells which we'll be seeing in the gym soon :). Some women (none of those that read this blog of course ;) believe that the modest amount of strain will cause them to wake up looking like a bodybuilder in the morning. Nonsense. It's impossible for that to happen unless you're secretly injecting steroids between workouts (and I know you aren't...right?). You don't have enough natural testosterone in your blood stream to elicit such a large muscle building response. A female has 10 times less testosterone in their bloodstream at any one time than a male so there's no worries ladies. Use those heavy weight...trust me as you'll be happy you did.
No pink dumbbells here
...or here
Michelle doing some high box jumps...good work Mich! (sorry for the side tilt of the camera everyone)
Michelle performing a heavy deadlift
3. Supplements for fat loss
Note: I have not personally used all the supplements listed below so I cannot speak from personal experience and therefore encourage you to speak with your physician first better using any stimulant.
Also for those that are fasting, fasting potentiates the effect of stimulants. Any stimulant ingested during the fasted phase will have a greater effect compared to it's ingestion during the fed state. Some caution should therefore be exercised for those not familiar with the use of stimulants.
Caffeine
If you're not a regular coffee drinker (I'm not a regular drinker), you're missing out by not adding caffeine to your diet when the going gets tough, i.e. trying to lose fat. It's cheap, suppressses appetite and has thermogenic properties.
Clenbutrx
The taste is supposedly not good however on the plus side, it has a quite potent stimulatory effect and works very well as an appetite suppressant.
VPX Meltdown
If you can't stand the horrid taste of Clenbutrx, VPX Meltdown is a great alternative. This one actually has legit scientific backing, which is a true rarity when it comes to fat loss products. You can read both (free full text) studies on Meltdown here and here. Note the effect on resting energy expenditure. Not bad.
Yohimbine HCL
This herb may be particularily useful for those trying to get rid of stubborn body fat - such as the fat covering lower abs and back in lean men and thighs and hips in lean women. Hokey as that may sound, there is a valid explanation for how this occurs. Lyle McDonald explains this in great detail in The Stubborn Body Fat Solution. In short, yohimbine inhibits alpha-2-receptors (and lower abs/back has a high density of a2-receptors) which aids with blood flow and fat mobilization from stubborn fat areas.
Yohimbine is another fat loss product that has been proven effective in clinical trials and this is perhaps the most widely cited study on the effects of yohimbine on bodycomposition.
AlphaBurn
Pure yohimbine may lead to feelings of anxiety and even panic attacks in predisposed individuals. A better alternative can be found in Alpha Burn, and other supplements containing rauwolscine, which is a stereoisomer of yohimbine. While it won't make you as jumpy and jittery as yohimbine, it seems to have a pretty potent appetite suppressive effect.
L-Tyrosine
L-tyrosine is a precursor ("building block") to the catecholamines dopamine and norepinephrine. For this reason, it has been studied in the context of performance enhancement among other things. Although studies show mixed results, empirical evidence suggests that tyrosine has it's use as a pre-workout stimulant when combined with other substances such as caffeine. It seems to enhance the effect of other stimulatory substances. Tyrosine has also shown promise in alleviating the decrements in cognitive performance associated with stress and fatigue. For this reason, it might be useful for keeping your mind sharp during intense stints of dieting.
Tyron
PS. If you live in North or West Vancouver, BC and want to experience the boot camp in North Vancouver that GUARANTEES you'll lose at least a clothing size in 30 days or your money back AND will help you get fast results like this girl in the video below who lost 20 pounds, 6.5 inches off her waist and 4 inches off her hips, then click the link below:
Thanks to Mark Berkhan of LeanGains.com for his insight and input. Mark works as a nutritional consultant, magazine writer and personal trainer. LeanGains.com is dedicated to his approach to intermittent fasting, which shatters peoples preconceived notions on how to eat for muscle gain and fat loss.
1. You can never out exercise a bad diet. I have mentioned this to people for a few years now and its so true. Start eating whole foods and stay away from junk (duh on the second part...but the first part, remember that you can NEVER work off a caramel frappucino with some cardio)...wish it were so.
2. When eating out make sure you ask the waiter to fill up your plate with two servings of veggies rather than the mandatory carb that comes along with it.
Do as Popeye :)
3. Write down goals for yourself. Don't type them.
4. Make sure those goals are so out of this world that everyone will be looking at you like you are crazy. Shoot for the stars and you'll end up in the clouds. It's so cliche but true.
Are your goals this big?
5. Take a before picture of yourself. Front, side and back. I can hear the jeers now...you'll be happy you did.
I bet she's glad she did.
6. Front load your carbs in the beginning of the day. On workout days you can have more than normal carbs. Non workout days I would really watch it especially at night.
7. Drink water. A dehydrated body will not lose fat. Half your bodyweight in ounces per day is a good gauge.
...well maybe not that much ;)
8. To burn the most fat in the least amount of time, 99% of the time do full body circuit training workouts with little to no rest in between exercises except for a longer rest between cycles. Check out www.MakersBody.com for these types of workouts.
You gotta push yourself and...
use weights that challenge you. Good work all of you!
9. Don't take fat loss advice from someone that doesn't look like they practice what they preach.
Probably not the person you want to take fat loss advice from.
10. You will end up living up to the expectations of everyone else around you. Put yourself in the company of people who have achieved what you already want to achieve.
11. There is no one perfect fat loss program...but the one you are consistently doing.
Ya this can always help to push one just a little bit harder...
12. There are only a few fat loss principles. "Fat loss is simple: 1) Eat less, 2) Exercise, 3) Repeat, 4) Forever." - Lyle McDonald
13. If you mess up (which you will eventually do) don't beat yourself up for slipping up. Focus on the solution rather than the problem.
14. Thoughts equal things. Focus on what you want ie. Flat stomach, toned thighs etc..rather than what you don't want ie. "I don't want to get fat", "I don't want to eat badly" etc..
15. Always aim for the "Afterburn effect". Afterburn happens when you end a workout but an hour later you are still sweating from the workout. This is your metabolism on FIRE. This is done through different forms of circuit training, tabata training, etc. just like we do at boot camp and personal training.
Is your metabolism roaring like this after a workout?
16. Buy clothing that is a size or two down from what you normally wear. Make it your goal to fit into that piece of clothing in two months.
17. Fitness classes (Step classes, fake weight classes, tae-bo, Zumba classes, etc...) are fun but ineffective at helping you burn fat and achieve the body you want to achieve. Do them for the fun of it, not for the body sculpting changes.
18. Classes that focus on stretching are good for developing an injury resistant body but horrible for fat loss. An average stretching/yoga type class burns 130 calories. Sweeping your floor burns 130 calories.
19. Doing exercise with a friend is the best way to stick to a workout program.
Maybe without the costumes though :)
20. If you do exercise with a friend, make sure they are AS SERIOUS AS YOU ARE in terms of achieving your goals.
22. Adopt a long term mindset when trying to achieve a goal. Nothing happens overnight. We live in an instant gratification society where we want things done FAST. Tip: Consistency is key. Not a flash in the pan type of approach.
23. Stop rationalizing. We rationalize and lie to ourselves to soften the blow. We gotta be radically honest with ourselves and push for the solution.
24. Stay outside of your comfort zone as much as you can. Doing uncomfortable things will result in more confidence, more growth as a human being and more skills.
25. To lose fat, you MUST create a caloric deficit and the easiest way I have learned to do this is through your diet, not just exercise. The combo of the two is the most effective, but you won't be able to see significant change in your body just exercising, research studies have shown otherwise.
Don't just do this...
but this too!
Bonus: Intensity EQUALS results.
Leave it all on the floor.
Just focus on your goals, persevere and you'll get to where you need to be in no time.
Thanks to Dustin Maher of Fit Moms For Life in Madison, WI for sharing the 25 slim down tips. Dustin runs a bootcamp in Madison. I edited and provided my own two cents worth from what Dustin shared.
I had a conversation last night with a client about alcohol and it reminded me about a blog post I sent two years ago about that topic and its affects on weight loss and fat gain so I thought I'd post it again as it's a good reminder to all of us.
Look, no one wants to be Debbie Downer, but someone has to say something already.
Society as a whole is in the worst shape of their lives, many suffering from a very dangerous condition called Metabolic Syndrome X.
One of the main indicators of someone who has metabolic disorder is abdominal obesity, as clearly demonstrated in the picture above. The dangerous part is that many of the people we love have this same condition!
Please read below for an excellent description of Metabolic Syndrome from www.MedicineNet.com:
What is metabolic syndrome?
An association between certain metabolic disorders and cardiovascular disease has been known since the 1940s. In the 1980s this association became more clearly defined and the term metabolic syndrome (also known as syndrome X or the dysmetabolic syndrome) was coined to designate a cluster of metabolic risk factors that come together in a single individual. In more current times, the term metabolic syndrome is found throughout medical literature and in the lay press as well. There are slight differences in the criteria of diagnosis - depending on which authority is quoted. Regardless, the concept of a clustering of risks factors leading to cardiovascular disease is well accepted.
The main features of metabolic syndrome include insulin resistance, hypertension (high blood pressure), cholesterol abnormalities, and an increased risk for clotting. Patients are most often overweight or obese.
Insulin resistance refers to the diminished ability of cells to respond to the action of insulin in promoting the transport of the sugar glucose, from blood into muscles and other tissues. Because of the central role that insulin resistance plays in the metabolic syndrome, a separate article is devoted to insulin resistance.
How is metabolic syndrome defined?
The definition of metabolic syndrome depends on which group of experts is doing the defining. Based on the guidelines from the 2001 National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel (ATP III), any three of the following traits in the same individual meet the criteria for the metabolic syndrome:
1. Abdominal obesity: a waist circumference over 102 cm (40 in) in men and over 88 cm (35 inches) in women.
2. Serum triglycerides 150 mg/dl or above.
3. HDL cholesterol 40mg/dl or lower in men and 50mg/dl or lower in women.
4. Blood pressure of 130/85 or more.
5. Fasting blood glucose of 110 mg/dl or above. (Some groups say 100mg/dl)
The World Health Organization (WHO) has slightly different criteria for the metabolic syndrome:
1. High insulin levels, an elevated fasting blood glucose or an elevated post meal glucose alone with at least 2 of the following criteria:
2. Abdominal obesity as defined by a waist to hip ratio of greater than 0.9, a body mass index of at least 30 kg/m2 or a waist measurement over 37 inches.
3. Cholesterol panel showing a triglyceride level of at least 150 mg/dl or an HDL cholesterol lower than 35 mg/dl.
4. Blood pressure of 140/90 or above (or on treatment for high blood pressure).
And though Metabolic Syndrome affects more women than men, there is certainly no shortage of men 40 years and older who have that “deadly beer gut” that literally makes them a ticking time bomb for a slew of serious medical conditions.
But there is good news amongst this frightening reality: The most common cause of metabolic disorder is of course a vicious combination of a lack of exercise and poor diet.
A major key to help save our lives as well as our waistlines: Lay off the Brewskis
It’s no wonder why our dads have more of a keg for a stomach than a six-pack. See below for one of the best ways of explaining how detrimental alcohol can be on your body composition:
How Alcohol Makes You Fat
-Alcohol first passes through the esophagus as it travels to your stomach.
-From there, 20% of the alcohol is absorbed immediately by your bloodstream.
-The remaining alcohol travels to your intestines and is absorbed from there.
-The alcohol in your bloodstream then travels directly to your liver. It is here that the body breaks the alcohol down, something that is absolutely essential since alcohol is toxic to the body.
-Alcohol brakes down into acetate and acetaldehyde which IMMEDIATELY signals to your body to stop burning fat. I repeat: signals to your body to stop burning fat. Yikes for all of us wanting to be lean and lose body fat. Even worse, another waste product of alcohol, acetyl CoA, actually starts to make more body fat.
If you booze, you WON’T lose! Fat that is.
What Does this Mean?
-Your body can only effectively process 0.5 to 1 ounce of alcohol per hour.
-How much damage? A 12-ounce beer contains about 0.6 ounces of alcohol. If you consumed 5 of these, your body would be inhibited from fat burning for up to 6 hours. This is aside from the fact that your body will actually be storing fat during these 6 hours! The more you drink, the longer your body is inhibited from burning fat in addition to a greater fat build up from excess acetyl CoA. As you can see, one day of binge drinking can set you back days if not a full week when it comes to fat loss!
-What’s the worst-case scenario? Mixing alcohol with sugary beverages promotes even further fat gain due to the resulting insulin surge that triggers fat storage (e.g. regular beer or cocktails mixed with regular soda and/or fruit juice)
The Bottom Line
If you want to be lean, you must minimize ALCOHOL consumption!
If you must drink:
a.) Choose wine or hard liquor and “light” beer b.) Limit alcohol consumption to 1-2 days per week with a 1-2 drink per day max
References:
Campbell and Volek, “TNT Diet: Targeted Nutrition Tactics”
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