Over the years I have slowly become more interested in a healthy lifestyle and it has culminated into the life I live now and the choices I make. By and large, most people know very little about managing fat loss, building muscle, and leading a healthy lifestyle. Many believe it to be not for them, too difficult, or in most cases, they follow the "fads" of the health and supplement industry. I know this isn't a health forum but I just felt like sharing. Do what you will with the information. If you don't really care, thats fine. However, whether your fat now, or naturally skinny, lean, and buff you will only get worse with time. You may be able to eat whatever you want now and keep your perfect physique, but give it time. Aging will take its toll and you can look forward to being obese or overweight in the future.
First off, weight loss is NEVER your gain. What matters is body fat % and body composition. Starving yourself on a low caloric intake diet may give you weight loss, but at the price of several pounds of lean body mass as well. To date, all the popular diets out there do little more than set you up for failure so they have a continuing customer. Why would a company advocating weight loss products want you to succeed? If you do, they lose a customer.
Fat loss and muscle gains are simple. They are not easy, but they are simple. It is not overly complicated and if you apply yourself fully you will be able to do wonderful things with your body. The first steps of fat loss are reducing your caloric intake anywhere from 250-500 calories below your maintenance level (you can find out what this is with Google and calipers to measure bf %). You want to, preferably, create the gap through limiting your intake slightly and burn more calories each day.
Now the three pillars of fat loss are as follows:
1 Strength training: First, let me say, you will not make fantastic muscle gains on a negative calorie total. You can lean out, put on a few pounds of muscle, and boost your metabolic rate through the roof with regular strength training. Do this however you might want to. Go to the gym, set up a home routine, or buy something like P90X (which i strongly recommend).
2 Cardio: DON'T go for long runs or jogs. High Intensity Interval Training is what you want. I don't want to spend paragraphs upon paragraphs telling you why, just Google it for boatloads of info backing it up. Cardio anywhere from 3-5 days a week is important and paired with an effective strength training regimen, it will have great results.
3 Nutrition: The holy grail, if you eat shit you'll get shit out of your hard work in the gym or wherever. 5-6 medium sized meals each day, spaced anywhere from 2-4 hours apart. Avoid refined sugars, saturated fats, and trans fats. Any food with these combinations is guaranteed to leave you heavier and bloated for hours or perhaps days. Eat lean protein with every meal, (Chicken, turkey, fish) accompanied by fibrous carbs (all veggies) and starchy carbs (potatoes, yams, beans, brown basmati rice). Drink a lot of water and absolutely no soft drinks or sugary juices. Try drinking about 2 cups of green tea a day, the stuff is good for you in so many ways.
Thats really all you need guys. If you can do the legwork and make a routine for yourself you will succeed. Don't be distracted by supplements and the lightest "miracle cure". However there are a few supplements I would recommend. They are old standbys.
1. Whey Protein Isolate. Great stuff. Good for making 1 or 2 quicker meals each day. Don't drink 6 shakes a day though, liquid has a lower thermic effect on your body and will result in reduced fat loss.
2. Creatine Monohydrate: The pride and joy of most lifters and bodybuilders. This stuff works. Trust me. Anybody who says it doesn't or that it builds fake muscle is full of shit and ignorant. You will make muscles gains faster, recuperate faster from workouts, and lift a bit harder. It also causes water retention in the muscles so you will look bigger. This might not be your cup of tea though because if you are trying to lose weight you don't want to look puffier. A quick side note, about 20% of people do not react to creatine. Give it a few weeks or a whole cycle and see how you do.
So there you have it. Any questions, feel free to ask.
First off, weight loss is NEVER your gain. What matters is body fat % and body composition. Starving yourself on a low caloric intake diet may give you weight loss, but at the price of several pounds of lean body mass as well. To date, all the popular diets out there do little more than set you up for failure so they have a continuing customer. Why would a company advocating weight loss products want you to succeed? If you do, they lose a customer.
Fat loss and muscle gains are simple. They are not easy, but they are simple. It is not overly complicated and if you apply yourself fully you will be able to do wonderful things with your body. The first steps of fat loss are reducing your caloric intake anywhere from 250-500 calories below your maintenance level (you can find out what this is with Google and calipers to measure bf %). You want to, preferably, create the gap through limiting your intake slightly and burn more calories each day.
Now the three pillars of fat loss are as follows:
1 Strength training: First, let me say, you will not make fantastic muscle gains on a negative calorie total. You can lean out, put on a few pounds of muscle, and boost your metabolic rate through the roof with regular strength training. Do this however you might want to. Go to the gym, set up a home routine, or buy something like P90X (which i strongly recommend).
2 Cardio: DON'T go for long runs or jogs. High Intensity Interval Training is what you want. I don't want to spend paragraphs upon paragraphs telling you why, just Google it for boatloads of info backing it up. Cardio anywhere from 3-5 days a week is important and paired with an effective strength training regimen, it will have great results.
3 Nutrition: The holy grail, if you eat shit you'll get shit out of your hard work in the gym or wherever. 5-6 medium sized meals each day, spaced anywhere from 2-4 hours apart. Avoid refined sugars, saturated fats, and trans fats. Any food with these combinations is guaranteed to leave you heavier and bloated for hours or perhaps days. Eat lean protein with every meal, (Chicken, turkey, fish) accompanied by fibrous carbs (all veggies) and starchy carbs (potatoes, yams, beans, brown basmati rice). Drink a lot of water and absolutely no soft drinks or sugary juices. Try drinking about 2 cups of green tea a day, the stuff is good for you in so many ways.
Thats really all you need guys. If you can do the legwork and make a routine for yourself you will succeed. Don't be distracted by supplements and the lightest "miracle cure". However there are a few supplements I would recommend. They are old standbys.
1. Whey Protein Isolate. Great stuff. Good for making 1 or 2 quicker meals each day. Don't drink 6 shakes a day though, liquid has a lower thermic effect on your body and will result in reduced fat loss.
2. Creatine Monohydrate: The pride and joy of most lifters and bodybuilders. This stuff works. Trust me. Anybody who says it doesn't or that it builds fake muscle is full of shit and ignorant. You will make muscles gains faster, recuperate faster from workouts, and lift a bit harder. It also causes water retention in the muscles so you will look bigger. This might not be your cup of tea though because if you are trying to lose weight you don't want to look puffier. A quick side note, about 20% of people do not react to creatine. Give it a few weeks or a whole cycle and see how you do.
So there you have it. Any questions, feel free to ask.