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How An Entire Year Could Go By With No Fat Loss

Title: How An Entire Year Could Go By With No Fat Loss
By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com
Word count: 1293 words

QUESTION: Dear Tom: I’ve been going to the gym for the past year now, but I have only lost 2 pounds. I eat about 1800 calories a day and I do 3 cardio and 3 weight training sessions a week. I am 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 mt.) and 128 lbs. (58 Kg.) I would like to be at 120 lbs. (54 Kg.) To lose 8 more lbs isn’t a lot to ask, but I’m really frustrated. I’ve been VERY persistent, and I rarely cheat except once each weekend, but at this rate, it will take me another 4 years for me to reach my goal! Please help!

ANSWER: Don’t worry, it won’t take another 4 years! In fact, you can reach your target wt. within the next month if you start getting feedback, charting results and making some strategic changes to your program.

First, it’s important that you understand how a year could go by with almost no progress.

Have you been doing the same nutrition, same calories, same cardio and same workout for the entire past year with no changes? If so, then you shouldn’t be suprised if you’ve continued to get the SAME results (very little).

If you do more of the same, you usually get more of the same.

Caloric intake, for example is not something you calculate once and then never pay attention to again. Calories have to be calculated and customized for each individual in the beginning and then adjusted continuously in “real time” during the course of a fat loss program, based on actual results.

Just because you start at 1800 doesn’t mean your caloric intake should stay there. Calories may need to be increased or decreased depending on whether your goals, your body weight and your activity levels change and based on your weekly progress (or lack of).

Which brings me to another point. I am a huge fan of using progress charts. There is a saying in business management and sports coaching:

“What gets measured gets done.”

When you start “keeping score” and tracking performance right down to the numbers, it’s almost miraculous how this awareness of how you’re doing translates into improved results.

When you track your body composition results every week, if a week or two goes by with no results, then you don’t continue with more of what got you no results, you change some variable in your program immediately!

An old Turkish proverb that says,

“No matter how far you’ve traveled down the wrong road, always turn back!”

Of course, you don’t have to throw out your entire program, you can simply “tweak” ONE or maybe two variables within the same program.

Also, when you measure, track and analyze muscle versus fat (body composition), instead of just scale weight, you might even discover you’ve gained some lean body mass and this offsets the drop on the scale (which means it’s possible you made more progress than you thought).

Now, back to the calories. To break a plateau, you can take a reduction in calories, or an increase in activity, either of which will create a deficit if you are currently in energy balance, or increase your existing caloric deficit.

1800 calories may not provide a large enough deficit for some women, and in fact, the majority of women your height, weight and activity level usually are losing fat safely and successfully on 1500-1600 calories per day. (for men about 2200-2500 calories, avg.)

At the end of the day, fat loss boils down to calories in versus calories out, so if you plateau, you may need a simple calorie reduction, provided you don’t restrict too low for too long (which tends to trigger your body’s “starvation response.”)

As for your cardio program, 3 days a week of cardio works for many people, but usually, I would consider three weekly cardio sesssions a maintenenance workout or at best a starting point for beginners,NOT a “maximum fat loss” program.

Example: this week, you could increase your cardio from 3 sessions to 4 sessions. If you combine the decrease in food intake with an increase in calories burned through activity, that will almost certainly get you burning fat again.

If it does, then stay with 4 days a week of cardio. If not, the next week go up to 5 days a week. Repeat this simple “feedback loop” process as many times and for as long as necessary.

Also remember that more (often) is not always better. You can also increase the intensity and get more calories burned in same amount of time. This feedback loop process can be used to make decisions about your training intensity, duration and type, as well as frequency.

Whichever strategy you choose to break the plateau, remember Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity:

“Insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

Although this seems like common sense to some people, what happened to you is really quite common because it does appear that you’re doing everything you’re “supposed to be doing” with perfectly good intentions.

You have have all the key elements there: You’re exercising (weights and cardio). You’re watching your nutrition, and you’ve been disciplined and consistent in following it.

The trouble with many popular programs – even good ones – is that they are too dogmatic. Their entire program may revolve around “X” number of calories, “X” days per week of cardio and “X” days a week of weights….

And you’re not allowed to “tamper” with that “holy grail” formula.

I can understand the rationale for a simple diet and exercise prescription for a beginner in order to not confuse them with too many choices, but what if it doesnt work after a month, three months, six months, A WHOLE YEAR? What if there are no options, what then?

In NLP, there’s a principle, (borrowed from cybernetics), called The Law of Requisite Variety, which says,

“The person with the most choices and the most flexibility is the person with the most power and the greatest chance for success.”

You need to know what to do when you’re not getting results… you need options and choices for breaking plateaus, and that’s important because plateaus happen to everyone – including me.

Some people think that hitting a fat loss plateau means there’s something wrong with them. But plateaus are natural and normal. In fact, you could look at it this way:

Hitting a plateau means your body is healthy and your body is functioning normally, because normal function of the body is to adapt effectively to stress, to protect you and to maintain homeostasis.

Exercise is a stress. Dieting is a stress. It’s natural for your body to adapt to them. When you adapt, you must place a new “positive stress” on the body if you want continued improvement.

If you want to learn more details about how to change your program to break plateaus and make continuous progress as fast as safely possible, then I recommend you take a look at <bBurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com
.

BFFM has flexibility, feedback and performance tracking built right into it. Chapter 4 in BFFM teaches the “BFFM feedback loop method”, and shows you how to chart progress and adjust your diet and workouts on a weekly basis, to keep you making progress or get you back on track if your progress stalls out.

There is no reason to allow even a few weeks, let alone an entire year to go by without results. But you can’t expect to get different results if you continue doing more of what’s not working.

Keep after it! Be persistent – but also be flexible!

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified strength and conditioning specialist

(CSCS) and a certified personal trainer (CPT). Tom is the

author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches

you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using

methods of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness

models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase

your metabolism by visiting: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com

17 Novembre 2014
Body Wraps and Waist Wraps: The difference between losing fat and losing inches

Title: Body Wraps and Waist Wraps – The difference between losing fat and losing inches
By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com
Word count: 1029 words

“Body wraps” have been around for ages in the weight loss and spa industry. Claims include loss of body weight, loss of body fat, and loss of inches. Infomercials for rubber “waist belts” are also back on TV and similar claims are made for these types of wraps as well. What few people realize is that there is a huge difference between losing fat and losing inches. When your body fat decreases, your circumference measurements will usually also decrease, but “fat” loss and “inch” loss are not one in the same. If you don’t know how to tell the difference, you could be falling for one of the oldest, most notorious fitness and weight loss scams in the book.

The truth is, body wraps and waist belts do not shrink fat cells or burn body fat – no matter what type of wrap is used: bandages, plastic, foil, vinyl, or rubber and regardless of what you are wrapped in: herbs, minerals, enzymes, seaweed, clay, or mud – it doesn’t matter. Fat can only be lost with a caloric deficit from a reduction in food intake, an increase in activity or ideally, a combination of both.

Whenever you see fat loss claims for wraps or any other product which doesn’t involve a caloric deficit created though nutrition or exercise, the “scam alarm” should go off in your head, and you should always stay away, no matter how compelling the sales pitch.

Furthermore, the companies making fat loss claims would be in hot water with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) if they were investigated and caught because claims for body fat reduction from wraps cannot be supported with scientific evidence.

The FTC as well as numerous state attorney general’s offices have already taken action against body wrap companies in the past for false advertising and unsupported claims. Some companies simply had to stop making false claims, others had to pay stiff fines as well. The problem, from a legal and ethical standpoint, is the claim being made. Remember, “inches” and “fat” are not the same thing.

Some types of wraps can definitely take off inches (for example, they might reduce the circumference measurement of your waist, hips, arms and legs), but it’s not fat, its water weight and fluid, and the results are temporary.

Suppose this claim is made in an advertisement:

* Lose Up To 15 inches in 1 Hour! *

This is legal advertising because the claim “lose inches” might be supportable (if enough circumference measurements are taken with a tape measure at enough sites, that might add up to a total of 15 inches in circumference loss)

However I believe that these types of claims are misleading (and probably intentionally so), because “inches” is not the same as body fat but the product vendors know that you might easily confuse “inches” with “fat.”

Contrast that claim with this one:

* Lose Body Fat without diet or exercise in 1 Hour!*

That claim is totally false and scientifically unsupportable.

Again, body wraps cannot burn fat or “shrink fat cells.”

If fat loss could be achieved with body wraps, it would be very easy to test and prove.

Body composition (body fat) testing (rather than measurements of inches) could be performed before and after the wrap, and the answer (“does it work”) would become easily exposed.

Since it doesn’t work, you won’t find any wrap people accepting your challenge to allow you to do independent body composition testing, nor will you find a shred of scientific evidence showing reduction of bodyfat from wraps.

Unfortunately, bogus fat loss claims are still quite widespread, as a simple Internet search for “body wrap” will demonstrate. The most frequently used claims however, are for loss of “inches.”

The inches lost simply come from loss of fluid. And guess what – those inches (and or water weight) will come right back in days if not hours, as soon as you completely re-hydrate yourself.

Other claims made for body wraps include detoxification, improved circulation and tighter, smoother and clearer skin. Most health and fitness researchers, as well as government agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will tell you that these claims are “debatable” and mostly anecdotal.

Some experts even warn that certain types of wraps can be dangerous, mainly due to the rapid and excessive fluid loss/dehydration.

If you want to get wrapped because you find it relaxing or you consider it a “spa-like” treatment, that’s one thing. Just remember, wraps have absolutely nothing to do with fat loss.

I’d suggest completely avoiding any companies that advertise fat loss when it’s only water and inches you’re losing, because a dishonest company is one you don’t want to patronize at all.

One last thing – this is a timely subject because although “body wraps” have been around for ages and it’s old news, I noticed that infomercials for “waist belts” or “sauna wraps” are back on TV in force and I see that they are replaying the ads over and over again, which means people are buying it.

Everything I just said about body wraps also applies to those rubber waist belts too.

On a web search I just did for those rubber belt waist wraps, I noticed some of the websites are STILL making claims like “Melt fat” (totally bogus, unsupported and illegal claim).

Other sites seem to be wary of the FTC paying them a visit, so they do a whole song and dance around the legal issues by saying stuff like, “sweat away inches,” “therapeutic heat”, “target your problem areas” and so on. Even if these claims are not illegal, the promotions are still deceptive…

The professional fitness model is pictured taking off the rubber belt, revealing ripped six pack abs below… as if those abs are a result of wearing the belt! Wishful thinking! These are professional models, folks. They got the abs the same way everyone else with abs got them – with a calorie deficit from a combination of strict diet and hard training!

Wraps and waist belt products might take off some inches or water weight, but they can’t take off a single ounce of fat. Buyer beware.

Programs like BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System are focused on FAT LOSS, not water loss or loss of inches. When body fat decreases, circumferences in inches will also decrease, but “fat” lost and “inches” lost are not one in the same.

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer

(CPT), certified strength & conditioning specialist

(CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, “Burn

the Fat, Feed The Muscle.” Tom has written hundreds of

articles and has been featured in print magazines such as

IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Natural

Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise for Men

and Men’s Exercise, as well as on hundreds of websites worldwide. For information on Tom’s Fat Loss program, visit: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System. To learn more about Tom’s Fat Loss Support Community, visit: www.Burnthefatinnercircle.com

1 Settembre 2014
Nutrition Label Lies & Loopholes: Serving Size Sleight of Hand

Title: Nutrition Label Lies & Loopholes: Serving Size Sleight of Hand
By line: By Tom Venuto
URL: BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System
Word count: 1432 words

Nutrition Label Lies & Loopholes: Serving Size Sleight of Hand By Tom Venuto BurnTheFat.com – Body Transformation System

For years, concerned consumers and watchdog organizations have been screaming that the U.S. labeling laws are full of loopholes and in need of serious revision. After years of talk, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says they’re planning to so something about it. But will it be enough?

There are many food labeling issues we could complain about, but one of the biggest problems (due to its direct relationship to the obesity crisis) is serving sizes.

I’m not just talking about supersizing. What’s worse is that the actual calories are being disguised with serving size sleight of hand.

Let me show you some examples:

Tostitos touch of lime. Calories per serving: 150. Not too bad for tortilla chips, eh? Not so fast. Check that serving size: 1 ounce. That’s a whopping 6 chips. There are 10 servings per container. That’s 1500 calories in the bag.

Most guys could knock off half that bag for a cool 750 calories. Ok, suppose you have some restraint and you only eat a third of the bag (20 chips). You still get 500 calories. But who stops at 6 chips?

Vitamin Water. While I could rant about how sugar water is being marketed as health food, I’ll stick with the serving size sleight for now.

The label says there are 50 calories per serving. Wow, only 50 calories! Plus they add all those vitamins. Must be good for you and perfect for dieters, right? Think again. Look at the serving size and servings per container: 8 oz per serving and 2.5 servings per container.

Excuse me, but is there ANY reason for making it 2.5 servings other than to disguise the actual calorie content?

When you see that the entire bottle is 20 ounces, you realize that it contains 125 calories, not 50. Although 20 ounces is a large bottle, I don’t know many guys who wouldn’t chug that whole thing.

Sobe Lifewater? Same trick in their 20 oz bottles.

Healthy Choice soup, country vegetable. They make these in convenient little microwavable containers with a plastic lid. Just heat and eat.

It says 90 calories and 480 mg of sodium per serving. Wow, less than a hundred calories. Wait a minute though. Turn the container around and you see the serving size is 1 cup and the servings per container says “about 2.”

Huh? It looks pretty obvious to me that this microwave-ready container was designed for one person to eat in one sitting, so why not just put 180 calories per container on the label (and 960 mg of sodium). I guess 90 calories and 480 mg sodium sounds… well… like a healthier choice!

Ben and Jerrys chocolate fudge brownie ice cream.

This infamously delicious ice cream with its own facebook fan page has 270 calories per serving.

We all know ice cream is loaded with calories and should only be an occasional treat, but 270 calories per serving, that’s not too terrible is it?

Look a little closer at the label. The serving size is ½ a cup. Who eats a half a cup of ice cream? In fact, who hasn’t polished off a whole pint by themselves? (the “comment confessional” is below if you’d like to answer that)

According to Ben and Jerry, there are 4 servings in that one pint container. 270 calories times 4 servings = 1080 calories! That’s about half a days worth of calories for an average female.

I could go on and on – crackers, chocolate chip cookies, muffins, pasta, boxed cereals (who eats ¾ cup of cereal), etc. But I think you get the point.

What’s the solution to this mess? News reports in the last week say that the FDA may be cracking down. Count me among those who are pleased to hear this news. One of their ideas is to post nutritional information, including the calories, on the FRONT of the food labels.

The problem is, this move by itself could actually make matters worse. Suppose Tostitos started posting “150 calories per serving” right on the front of the bag. Most people would assume the chips were low in calories. Putting calorie info on the front of the label would help only if it clearly stated the amount of calories in the entire package or in a normal human-sized serving!

Ah, but the FDA says they’re on top of that too. They also want to standardize or re-define serving sizes. Sounds great, but there are critics who say that consumers would take it as approval to eat larger servings so the strategy would backfire.

Suppose for example, the government decides that no one eats ½ a cup of Ben and Jerry’s so they make the new serving size 1 cup, or half the pint-sized container. Now by law the label says 540 calories per serving instead of 270. Is that like getting official permission to eat twice as much?

I’m not against the FDA’s latest initiative, but what we really need is some honesty in labeling.

Food manufacturers should not be allowed to manipulate serving sizes in a way that would trick you into thinking there are fewer calories than there really are in a quantity that you’re likely to eat.

It would be nice to have calories for the entire package listed on the label at a glance. A new rating scale for caloric density would be cool too, if it could be easily interpreted. It would also be nice to have serving sizes chosen for quantities that are most likely to be commonly eaten. But standardization of serving sizes for all types of foods is difficult.

My friends from Europe tell me that food labels over there are listed in 100g portions, making comparisons easy. But when you consider how much each individual’s daily calorie needs can vary (easily 3-fold or more when you run the gamut from totally sedentary to elite athlete, not to mention male and female differences), standardization that applies to everyone may not be possible.

I think the recent laws such as requiring calories on restaurant menus are a positive move that will influence some people’s behavior. But no label changes by themselves will solve the obesity crisis. A real solution is going to have to include personal responsibility, nutrition education, self-discipline, hard work and lifestyle change.

Changes in the labeling laws won’t influence everybody because the people most likely to care about what labels say are those who have already made a commitment to change their lifestyles (and they’re least likely to eat processed and packaged foods – that have labels – in the first place). Actually, for those who care, all the info you need is already on the labels, you just have to do a little math and watch out for sneaky label tricks.

There’s one true solution to this portion distortion and label lies problem: Become CALORIE AWARE. Of course that includes educated label reading, but it goes much further. In my Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle – Body Transformation system, here is how I define “calorie counting:”

1. Get a good calorie counter book, chart or electronic device/software and get to know the calorie counts of all the staple foods you eat on a daily basis. Look up the calorie values for foods you eat occasionally.

2. Always have a daily meal plan – on paper – with calories printed for each food, each meal and the day. Use that menu as a daily goal and target.

3. Educate yourself about average caloric needs for men and women and learn how to estimate your own calorie needs as closely as you can based on your activity, weight, body composition, height, gender and age.

4. Get a good kitchen food scale and use it.

Keep counting calories and doing nutrition by the numbers until you are unconsciously competent and eating the right quantities to easily maintain your ideal weight becomes second nature.

Obviously, saying that calories are all there is to nutrition is like saying that putting is all there is to golf. Calorie quality and quantity are both important. However, it’s a mistake to ignore the calorie quantity side of the game. Serving sizes matter and even healthy foods get stored as fat if you eat too much..

You can play “blindfolded archery” by guessing your calories and food portions if you want to. Hey, you might get lucky and guess right. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend depending on luck – or the government – for something as important as your body and your health. I would recommend the personal responsibility, nutrition education, self-discipline, hard work and lifestyle change…

Tom Venuto, author of Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle Body Transformation system

Founder & CEO of Burn The Fat Inner Circle Burn the fat inner circle

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle Now Burn the Fat Body Tansformation System : Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting:

Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle- Body Transformation system

or

BurnTheFatInnerCircle.com

30 Giugno 2014
It’s Not About the Body Fat

Title: It’s Not About the Body Fat By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: www.BurnTheFat.comWord count: 860 words

It’s Not About the Body Fat By Tom Venuto www.BurnTheFat.com

How they lost 100 lbs or more is a topic that always gets a lot of attention and is very popular in the media. Whenever someone loses a lot of weight, there is always buzz from those who were inspired by hearing about these huge body fat losses and before/after transformations. I was inspired, too. But sometimes I think we focus too much on the almighty scale and body fat percentage and forget about something even more important…

Your Health.

Health is what psychologist Abraham Maslow called a deficiency need, which means that when you’ve lost it, getting it back is the only thing in the world that matters.

Unfortunately, two corollaries to this theory of human motivation are:

1. Most people won’t lift a finger to improve their health until something bad happens (they have to hit “rock bottom” to change), and

2. When you’ve got your health, you tend to take it for granted.

That’s why we need constant reminders to keep our focus on health and keep health right on top of our list of life values.

As you remind yourself of the importance of your health every day, it also pays to consider how you define it.

Fitness and transformation icon Shawn Phillips, author of Strength for Life, says that if your definition of health is merely the absence of disease, then subconsciously, the mere absence of disease means you’ve achieved your “goal.”

Therefore, you feel no motivation and no need to move above and beyond that and strive towards…

“A life of ABUNDANT energy, vitality and strength.”

We NEED these reminders.

That’s why I get such a thrill when people send me success stories that are not just about the scale and body fat percentage, but ALSO about health and what that new-found health has done for a person’s life.

A Before and After Success Story You Don’t See Every Day (But Should)

For example, this success story comes from Burn The Fat reader Craig B:

“Tom, I visited my Dr. today and he was stunned at the change in my blood results. Check out this before and after:Cholesterol/Total 232 before 121 after

Triglycerides 185 before 87 after

HDL (good cholesterol) 32 before 41 after

VLDL (bad cholesterol) 40 before 17 after

Total cholesterol/HDL ratio 5.63 before 3.0 after (I dropped from 2X average risk to less than HALF average risk!)

TSH 4.8 before 2.1 after

CRP 3.90 before 1.02 after (I moved from High risk to Low risk.)

I have burned 34lbs of fat and put on 7lbs of lean muscle.

I have moved from 40% body fat to 32.9% (My scale may be off, but I am hoping to verify those body fat % measurements with a dunk test during my next visit to S.F. or Portland.)

The doctor, in short, was blown away with the results.

I have tried Atkins, Protein Power, Lindora (medical weight control), each of these over the years and probably too many others to mention. Never have I felt this empowered and well armed with information and insight.

When I was not getting the results the math would have me believe, I had the tools and community support to explain what Beta Blockers do to cardio and metabolism then took that insight to my doctor and he has reduced and changed those meds.

I am now off statins all together as of today!

I have a ways to go to reach my final goal of 10% body fat, but I have the tools and I can accomplish it. I am, as you suggested, putting the date when I achieve it in pencil, but the 10% BF is in ink. I will get there.

It is amazing how empowering feeling good and controlling your blood chemistry through nourishment (both physiological and physical) and being consistent with the hard work in the gym and changing to a new lifestyle.

Thanks Tom – you are helping a lot of people, clearly. I will be telling anyone about the book and the Burn the Fat website that has any questions or looking for answers.”

Gaining muscle and losing fat is nice, but what could be better than gaining muscle, losing fat AND feeling your health, energy and vitality skyrocket!

As Craig shows us, tracking your health improvements, not just what you weigh, gives you another source of tremendous motivation and a feeling of empowerment.

You realize that you are in control of your body. You are the maker and master.

One final thought: It’s a misconception that the “bodybuilding” lifestyle is in some way not healthy or doesn’t dramatically IMPROVE your health

Nothing could be further from the truth, as Craig’s results prove. Craig was not just doing aerobics – he was pumping iron and feeding the muscle, not starving himself.

If you do ANY kind of resistance training, you ARE a “body-builder” and a “health-builder.”

When you do NATURAL bodybuilding, it’s about looking great AND getting healthier. That’s how I do it – naturally – and that’s how I encourage others to do it in my Burn the Fat programs.

Train hard and expect success!

Tom Venuto, author of Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle
Now Burn the Fat Body Tansformation System www.BurnTheFat.com
Founder & CEO of Burn The Fat Inner Circle Burn the fat inner circle

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is the author of the #1 best seller, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle: Fat Burning Secrets of the World’s Best Bodybuilders and Fitness Models. Tom is a lifetime natural bodybuilder and fat loss expert who achieved an astonishing 3.7% body fat level without drugs or supplements. Discover how to increase your metabolism and burn stubborn body fat, find out which foods burn fat and which foods turn to fat, plus get a free fat loss report and mini course by visiting Tom’s site at: www.BurnTheFat.com

11 Maggio 2014
The Sad Truth About New Years resolutions

Title: The Sad Truth About New Years resolutions
By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: www.BurnTheFat.com
Word count: 755 words

Jim Rohn once said, “I find it fascinating that most
people plan their vacations with better care than they
plan their lives. Perhaps it’s because escape is
easier than change.”

If the statistics from motivation experts and success
psychologists are correct (95% of the people in the world do NOT have written goals and fail, while 5% have
written goals and succeed), then Mr Rohn’s observation
really IS quite fascinating isn’t it?

If clear, scientifically-written goals are the key to
success, then why wouldn’t more people make the time
and effort to set goals? Beats me. Mystery of life.

Unfortunately for most people, the odds for success
are actually even lower, because out of the few people who
do set goals, most don’t take goal setting seriously and
they don’t do it scientifically.

At the beginning of every year, you see countless articles
about getting fit, losing fat, and nearly everyone talks
about “new years resolutions.”

And that’s the problem – you may think you are setting
real goals, but if you’re like most people, you’re probably
only making flimsy, wishy-washy, powerless “resolutions.”

Zig Ziglar once said that, “A goal casually set and lightly
taken will be freely abandonded at the first obstacle.”

You might want to go back and read that quote again,
maybe even write it down or print it out, because that
one hits the bullseye!

This truly explains why new years resolutions almost never
work, and why so few people can keep off the pounds after
they get rid of them.

Goal setting should not be casual or lightly taken. Goal
setting is an important and serious matter. This is not a
game – this is your life, and you only have one life to live.

Goal setting is so important, that I always teach goal
setting and mind dynamics first, and only THEN, do I teach
nutrition and training second.

In fact, I devoted the entire first chapter of my book,
Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM) to this subject of
goals and constructive “mind programming” for success

I don’t care how much you know about nutrition or exercise,
until specialized knowledge is linked with purpose, vision
and goals, the knowledge is useless and there can be no
intelligent accomplishment.

If you want to learn more about the real proven science
of achieving goals and getting the body you want, then
going to www.BurnTheFat.com and getting the Burn The Fat,
Feed The Muscle ebook may be the most important investmen’t
you make this entire year…

Why? Because you won’t just learn what fat burning foods to
eat or how to exercise for burning fat, you will also learn
how to set goals scientifically and how to harness the awesome
power of your mind to help you acheive your goals and to put
yourself in that elite group of the 5% who succeed.

As you start thinking about your goals for 2014 right Now,
I’d like to help you start the year off right by sharing
one very valuable and powerful tip:

*** Set realistic goals, without limits ***

I know that may sound contradictory. How can you set a
goal that is realistic and also has no limits?

Let me explain

As a fat loss coach, I sometimes have a dilemma…

One one hand, I want my clients and proteges to set goals
which are achievable and realistic. But on the other hand,
I hate to set limits on what someone can or cannot achieve.

I like to say that If youre going to question anything,
question your limits.

Here’s what I suggest to do when you set your goals
for 2014:

Set goals that are specific, measureable, ambitious, and
have a realistic time frame (deadline). But don’t stop there…

This year, turn your goals into NO LIMIT goals!

As the subconscious mind tends to take you literally and
at your own estimation, why put a definite cap on your goal
by stopping with a goal statement like, “I am losing 6% body
fat by April 15th?”
Why not say, “I am losing 6% body fat OR MORE by April 15th,” or,
“I am gaining AT LEAST 12 pound of lean muscle in the next
three months.”

When you say, “I will achieve X OR BETTER,” you can have a
realistic goal, but one without limits.

Make the time to set your goals, today! Take it seriously
and set your goals without limits.

Do it and this could be the best year of your life.

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS

Fat Loss Coach

http://www.BurnTheFat.com

6 Gennaio 2014
Burn The Fat Summer Challenge 2012: How I Have Succeed And Got “Most Ripped Man Over 50” Award. My Interview

Title: Burn The Fat SummerChallenge 2012: How I Have Succeed And Got “Most Ripped Man Over 50” Award. My Interview

By: Piero Maina

Word Count: 3.770

Here below you can read my interview released to Tom Venuto at Burn The Fat Inner Circle after my body transformation during the Burn The Fat Summer Challenge 2012. You also find my whole story and what I had to overcome to suceed. I hope my story will inspire some of you in order to take action toward a better body and a better health. Have a nice reading.

The Real Life Italian Stallion: Piero’s Journey to Become the Most Ripped Man Over 50

By Tom Venuto

To reach a ripped body fat level of 4.9% is a remarkable achievement for a man of any age. Piero Maina of Rome, Italy did it at age 50. Even more remarkable is what he had to overcome to achieve this…

For years, Piero has suffered from deep vein thrombosis (Paget-Schroetter Syndrome), which at times prevented him from lifting his arm over his head.

During all of the Burn the Fat Challenge contests he entered, Piero also had a tibia stress fracture, two broken ribs, sprained ankles, Morton’s Neuroma in both feet, and tennis elbow in both elbows and yet he never let it stop him.

If you want to learn the attitudes and strategies it takes not only to get very lean, but to overcome obstacles and become a champion, then this is the must-read interview of the year…

###

Tom: Piero, congratulations on your great results during the Burn the Fat challenge. We previously had categories for the most ripped and the most transformed over age 50. You were a contender for both of those awards and since the competition was so tight and we didn’t have runners up listed, we created a new award to acknowledge your achievement – the most ripped man over 50. We’re looking forward to hearing about your training and nutrition strategies, but first, could you tell us a little bit about yourself, where you’re from and what made you decide to do the Burn the Fat challenge.

Piero: Tom, first let me thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my experience in the Burn The Fat Challenge with everyone. It has been a phenomenal journey this year, but it wasn’t the first time. This was my third challenge.

Introducing myself, I am an Italian young man of nearly 51 years who lives in Rome – one of the most beautiful cities in the world. And of course, Italy is also known for the delicious food, particularly in this area. We could even say that in Italy, food is one of the main attractions. By the way, the Venuto surname sounds familiar to me, are your parents natives from Italy?

I’ve lived here with my wife since 1985 and we have two boys of 14 and 8. I’ve been an athlete all my life, playing several sports, but got my best results as a competitor in skiing, windsurfing, running, swimming and now I’m committed to golf. Obviously, I still train with weights and do cardio nearly every day (running, biking and swimming in summer time).

I decided to participate in the Summer Challenge for the first time three years ago, during my stay in Milan (600 km from Rome). The company where I worked for 26 years moved me there, putting huge stress on me, and then three days before the 2010 Challenge, my mom passed away. It wasn’t the best time to start, but I entered The Burn The Fat Summer Challenge anyway.

Tom: Thank you for the background, Piero and yes, my grandfather’s parents on my dad’s side came over from Aliano in Southern Italy, so I have the surname and there’s some Italian blood in me… So we’ve seen that you entered the challenge before and despite your hardships, you had very good results. But this time you took it to an all new level. Could you tell us about your results from this last Burn the Fat challenge – your change in body fat and lean mass. And what did you do to get in your best shape ever this time – did you fine tune your approach, train harder, diet stricter or do anything different?

Piero: It was a mix of everything you mentioned. I was also more dedicated and had a stronger desire to succeed. I purchased Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM) in 2005, but due to physical problems and limiting beliefs, I never started. I told myself that everything I needed to know for losing fat was right there in the Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle fat loss “bible,” but I still procrastinated. At the time, I was unaware that I was only making excuses.

Finally, in the months leading up to May 2010 (before my first challenge) I read BFFM again and made the decision to start and see where I would land. Even though I had to live in a hotel and ate only in the restaurant or even in my car, that summer I reached 8.5% bodyfat starting from 16%. Last year in the same situation, but with one year more of experience, I reached 5.4% bodyfat starting from 12%, with two broken ribs and a sprained ankle. I started leaner and ended leaner, but there was so much competition, even last year I wasn’t in the top 10.

This year I finally made an agreement with my old company and I returned home. So performing in a better environment and mood, I hit 4.9% bodyfat during the summer challenge and I won the most ripped man over 50 special award. Returning home it has been surely a better situation, but even that wasn’t perfect, since I traveled with my family from mid July to the end of August, where we stayed in a village eating at buffets. Obviously on holiday you have more free time and your mind is more relaxed, so in theory, it should be easier to succeed, but again in my case this wasn’t exactly true. My wife asked me why I was on holiday, but not “enjoying” the vacation (the food!) Every evening for dinner you can’t imagine what kind of God’s bounties were on the table!

This year I wanted to succeed, like last year, but this year, I was totally focused on my goal. With my starting situation, I obviously aimed to win the “Best transformation over age 50”, and I did my best to get that goal. I always ate clean food, six times per day, and it wasn’t the easiest task during my travels, to organize everything, in order to avoid to missing meals. I made it easier by carrying with me my whey protein, Quaker oats or meal replacements and almonds or other snacks, so I didn’t have to cook or find a restaurant.

In the first month, I did cardio three to four times per week and that brought my body fat down at the right pace. Once I was on vacation in the middle of July, I started to push myself beyond the normal limits I was used to. Every morning I woke up and ran for an hour and a later in the day did a half an hour of swimming.

In the afternoon in the hot summer, I hit the gym in the village for my daily weights workout. Keep in mind that except for the 15 days I spent in the village, I never trained in a gym. I worked out using dumbbells at home and using elastic bands when I was traveling, and I did a lot of push ups and pull ups. The pull ups (and other types of weight training) can be dangerous due to my personal health issues, so I did them when I could, but more often trained back by doing elastic band rows anchored in the door.

My workouts were a mix of free weights, floor exercises, calisthenics and cardio. When I didn’t have a gym, I didn’t let that stop me, and I simply paid maniacal attention to my food.

Tom: Tell us about your food strategy. How many calories, how did you split up the protein, carbs, and fats and what foods did you eat? Also, since you are from Italy, we were wondering if you ate anything different than we typically eat here in the states and whether you found the nutrition side of things harder, easier or not a factor based on where you’re from and what food was available.

Piero: I knew that in order to succeed, things must be done as best as you can with what you have and you can’t leave things to chance. So I’m used to weighing my food nearly all the time. Obviously I don’t do that when I eat out at restaurants or at certain times of the year. But when you’re competing for you’re absolute best in a challenge competition, I was able to do it almost all the time, so I did.

I wake up at 6:30 and usually take 30 g of whey protein with 300 ml of water and a sweet potato. Sometime I also have a raw peach or a kiwi. The second meal, which I consider my “real breakfast,” is oatmeal with a banana mixed in and 6 egg whites with one whole egg scrambled or hard boiled. I eat plenty of fish, shellfish, chicken and turkey breast, eggs, sometimes dairy, lean red lean meat, plenty of vegetables, fruit, brown rice and a lot of sweet potatoes. The meals during the rest of the day are usually the same, but I try to eat less carbs in the afternoon/evening.

My total calories vary a lot between 1,800 to as high as 3,800, depending on whether I worked out or if it’s a refeed day (I’m not afraid to eat a lot more carbs on a reefed days). My carbs have ranged anywhere from 140 g to 550 g, my protein 160 g to 280 g, and fat from 45 g to 90 g At the beginning of the challenge in June, I weighted 80kg/176 lbs and at the end in September I was 72 kg/ 159 Lbs. So when it’s time to reduce carbs, I eat about 1 g per lb of weight and when it’s a re-feed day, all the way up to 3 g per lb.

About food in Italy, I assume you know that here we have an ancient tradition for food and food specialties. Usually tourists come to Italy not just for the beauty, but also for food, and surely we have different habits relative to other countries. For example, until I started with BFFM, I never ate oatmeal, but I learned from you that this was one of the important foods in the bodybuilder world, so I found Quaker oats from the web and now after three years I’ve had it nearly every day. I have to admit, the very first time it was a hard task to eat (plain). But now, with a banana or other fruit mixed it, it is my best friend as a breakfast meal.

We cook foods in different ways here, but fish is fish here, and the same goes for chicken breast and green veggies like broccoli (maybe they are different in quality). I also make sure to take the right amount of macronutrients, which means I eat the right amount of each food to reach my goals. I eat for more than just taste now, but believe me, I like and appreciate well cooked, good tasting food.

The hardest part in my summer challenge was my family. They do not follow me or support me in any way and here sweets, chocolate, pastries, chips and other junky foods are the norm. They eat in front of me and even try to tease or tempt me, but my mind was strong, so I never touched anything that was off my plan during the Burn the Fat Challenge (except at the conclusion!)

On Monday, September 10th, after taking my final pictures, I continued to feed myself on my usual meal plan with lean proteins, the right carbs and so on, but at lunch I decided to celebrate my son’s birthday by eating one big slice of cake and 7 small pastries. After dinner that night, I joined them again for celebrating and guess what? I ate two more slices of cake and even more pastries! I know for sure that I ate thousands of extra calories that day.

I thought I wouldn’t sleep that night, but instead, I slept perfectly and the next day, I went early in the morning for a 30 km bike ride and was right back to the usual plan. The interesting part is that super high carb re-feed day actually seemed to be good for me, as I didn’t take on one visible ounce of fat. So I learned an important lesson – that after I am already very lean, if I want to take one extremely high carb day – even from junk food – I can do it without much (or any) damage to my results. The key, I believe, is to keep it to just every once in a while.

Tom: At the Burn the Fat Inner Circle, we talk a lot about mental strategies, because staying motivated and sticking with your nutrition and training plan is really the key to success and achieving any major goal. What was your approach toward staying motivated and sticking with your plan?

Piero: When I came across Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle in 2005, I read the first chapter that teaches us to lay down our goals and read them as much as we can, believing and visualizing what we wrote, and at first it made me think, “What kind of a way to act is that?” Yes, I read the part about conscious and unconscious mind and how behaviors are unconsciously influenced, but I thought that if I knew what I wanted, there wasn’t any need to write down and repeat what already I knew.

Well, I put one of my goals on paper, not for my physique, but an achievement for golf, and I failed. I realize now I didn’t believe in it, so I think I failed to prove to myself, “See, it doesn’t work – it’s B.S.!” Years later, I not only adopted and believed in goal setting, I started studying everything about the mental side of achievement. I read a lot of books ranging from quantum physics, law of attraction, Buddhism, NLP, PSYCH-K® and landed on “A Course in Miracles.” My way of seeing things changed dramatically and forever, and by 2010, I returned to BFFM and started to apply what you taught us and everything else I had learned, with a new faith.

I can’t say if you “just” think positive, everything you think in your mind will happen at once. What really happens is you set a goal to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible, but more often than not, you’ll deviate from the original route and hit a certain quantity of obstacles that you didn’t foresee or plan for. That happened even to me.

The difference between when I succeeded and when I failed, is that I continued to think as positively as possible, without moving my sights from my goal, regardless of what I encountered along the way that I didn’t expect. I kept the faith in my goal alive, I kept reading my goal card twice per day and I took on adversities as opportunities to get stronger and keep going until I hit my target! I believe there is no failing, only results, and every result I get, even if I didn’t intend it, can be used to build up a better strategy to succeed in the future.

I had to do this mainly by myself, and I could because I have a tough and disciplined mind, but it’s people like you Tom, and other mentors that helped me through their books, articles and words that I re-read many times. This summer, I re-read BFFM three times, and also the holy grail e-book, and your Super Lean report. I often come into the burn the fat inner circle forum, looking for success stories that could motivate me and for people who succeeded even with tougher life situations than mine. I did this because I would say the mental side is the most important key to success.

Tom: We understand that you had some major physical challenges to overcome and yet you still made an incredible transformation. Could you tell us more about how they affected you?

Piero: I’ve had many beautiful things happen in my life, but I’ve also had a lot of accidents. I had 5 near-fatal accidents with my motorbike and cars, several ruptures of my head and other part of my body. In these three last summer challenges I also had in order, a tibia stress fracture, two broken ribs, sprained ankles, Morton’s Neuroma in both feet, tennis elbow in both elbows and more, but I didn’t let it stop me. In 1994, I had my first deep-vein thrombosis or Paget Schroetter Syndrome. I have to go back a bit to tell the story.

When I was in my physical prime at age 20, I was very passionate for bodybuilding. At that time, Arnold was at his best and I followed him in bodybuilding magazines, but my favorite was Frank Zane – that body was my target! I loved his symmetry and proportion rather than huge mass. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get much information at the time and my father didn’t want me training as a bodybuilder. So I played my favorite sports instead.

Later when I was 30, I started to train myself in the gym as a bodybuilder, still without much information, and right when I was at my best, I had a very serious accident during a training session. While doing presses, (we called it here, “lento dietro”), and due to my skeletal conformation in the shoulder area, I had a deep-vein thrombosis. I had it twice (two years in a row) in my left arm. Two veins were injured, the subclavian vein and axillary vein.

Doctors told me to stop every kind of training that involved my arms. I took anti-coagulation pills (warfarin) for years and I remained invalid in my left arm, but now I’ve restored a peripheral flow of blood in the minor veins and I would say I am nearly back to where I was in my prime.

The doctors still say I shouldn’t train with weights, and above all, to avoid lifting my arms overhead for shoulder, chest and back training, but during these last three years, lot of things have changed. I found problems in my teeth that I could solve surgically and oddly enough, those were the main causes of my skeletal problems. For example, I met a doctor who used innovative orthodontic techniques that not only changed my teeth, but also my posture in my neck, shoulders and upper back without any other surgical intervention.

So, even with my veins damaged and semi-closed, I restarted training myself with weights and with my new positive mental view, results came quickly and I reached my best body shape ever thanks to Tom’s program and challenge.

Tom: What’s your advice to give more hope and optimism to anyone else who is struggling with an illness or an orthopedic problem that has made it challenging for them to get leaner or fitter in the past?

Piero: Whatever your situation, always do your best and have no regrets! Maybe to you, what you can do doesn’t seem like enough, but try to move one step at a time toward your goal, even if it’s a small step or less than you would like to do. Obviously, when my body says stop, I have to stop – I can’t work miracles. At one point, it was impossible to lift even a bottle of water. But I never lost my faith in what I want to be or where I want to be.

I’ve trained with pain, but I’ve learned that at the first signal of real injury, it’s better to stop. It’s better to be under-trained 10% that over- trained 1% if that 1% extra push gets you injured. It’s better to skip a workout to play it safe than skip a month to nurse your injury. Try to feel the signals from your body, including the feelings in your heart, if you’re not sure.

Also remember how much you can achieve when you’re super strict with nutrition. When I felt pain I couldn’t train through, I didn’t give up and say, “I should just withdraw from the summer challenge and enjoy my vacation.” On the contrary, I pushed harder in all the areas where I still could – cardio or weight training – and I made my diet even stricter, without cheating. I especially tightened up the carb manipulations until I saw the results coming.

I have to admit, it has been difficult and frustrating to feel like you’re always working around something, but in the end, I got what you see in my pictures.

Tom: Before we wrap up, do you have any other advice for our readers on making a great body transformation or anything else at all you want to share?

Piero: Of course I have more, but I nearly wrote a book here, LOL, so I’ll quickly wrap up! Furthermore, I’m still learning myself every day, I continue having new experiences and discovering how my body responds. This, I think, is the difference: I don’t just say empty words or affirmations – I act exactly as I think and talk. I focus on both – thoughts and actions – so more often than not, I reach the goals I was thinking and talking about. It’s not easy for me, but now that I have this lifestyle ingrained in my unconscious mind, everything I do I feel as normal (though, from some other people’s viewpoints, I’m still often seen as an “alien!”)

I can simply say to all the members here to study Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM) as much as you can, learn it and ingrain it in your mind. In that book, there is only truth, no fancy words or quick fixes. In the toughest days during the Summer Challenge, I would always repeat to myself what Tom wrote about wanting your goal. There may be blood, sweat and tears, but “Train hard and expect success!”

Thank you Tom, for helping me and so many other people to change our lives for the better.

All text and photographs copyright Burn The Fat Inner Circle. No reproduction permitted. © Copyright Piero Maina – All Rights Reserved

21 Ottobre 2013
Burn The Fat Summer Challenge 2013….Ancora in gioco….

Titolo: Burn The Fat Summer Challenge 2013….Ancora in gioco….

Autore: Piero Maina

Conteggio Parole: 3.000

Ciao a tutti,

anche quest’anno ho deciso di prendere parte alla Burn The Fat Summer Challenge, la sfida di trasformazione corporea/dimagrimento della durata di 98 giorni/14 settimane. Per me si tratta del quarto anno consecutivo e sono riuscito a terminare con successo tutte e tre le passate edizioni. L’anno scorso non solo ho raggiunto e superato l’obiettivo che mi ero prefissato, (6% di massa grassa) ma ho anche ricevuto il premio come il più definito nella categoria oltre i 50 anni (Most Ripped Man Over 50). Non racconto nuovamente il tutto perché l’argomento è stato ampiamente trattato nell’articolo riguardante la Summer Challenge del 2012 e chi è interessato può leggere la mia esperienza cliccando qui.

Avevo già in programma di partecipare alla gara di quest’anno e il mio progetto era di incrementare la mia massa muscolare/massa magra durante l’inverno. Provenivo dalla fine della scorsa summer challenge a Settembre 2012 con una percentuale di massa grassa corporea pari al 4,9% e devo dire che senza troppa fatica fino alla fine di gennaio avevo mantenuto un risultato intorno al 7 % pur avendo “gozzovigliato” durante le festività Natalizie e non rinunciando anche a incursioni su qualche dolce. Non crediate che nel programma di Burn the Fat FeedThe Muscle ci siano cibi vietati, si può mangiare di tutto, naturalmente stando attenti alle quantità; nel periodo di gara invece, meno “sgarri” si fanno e maggiori saranno le probabilità di successo. Da settembre 2012 in avanti, avevo continuato gli allenamenti e fino a dicembre la mia alimentazione è sempre stata “pulita” senza sbandate e utilizzando la tecnica di manipolazione dei carboidrati con un rapporto di 1:3. Un giorno di surplus e tre di scarico, non totale, circa 2 grammi per kg di peso corporeo. Da Gennaio a Marzo ero cresciuto un poco di massa grassa, ma ero sempre “tirato” e avevo in programma di “lievitare” fino all’inizio della Burn The Fat Summer Challenge 2013. Per chi ha letto l’articolo sulla Summer Challenge 2012, è inutile spiegare che lo scopo è di perdere grasso e non peso, oppure anche peso se manterremo la nostra attuale massa muscolare. Il tentativo comunque è di non sacrificare nemmeno un etto di muscolo, ma di perdere solo grasso a differenza delle normali diete che invece si preoccupano del peso sulla bilancia. L’altra differenza nella Summer Challenge è che si verrà premiati in base alla trasformazione corporea rispetto a se stessi, più che rispetto agli altri o a un eventuale modello. Ognuno deve provare a dare il meglio di se e trasformarsi rispetto alla stato iniziale. Anche in questo caso è superfluo che racconti nuovamente come funziona lo stile di vita di Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle perché c’è l’articolo che lo spiega qui.

Sopra ho raccontato come è proceduto il mio stato di forma, ma non ho detto che già prima dell’inizio della Summer Challenge 2012 ero affetto da una forte epicondilite al gomito destro e da un’ inizio di epitrocleite a quello sinistro. Sono golfista e questa è una patologia a cui si va soggetti, così come i tennisti. Mi ero fatto un’infiltrazione di cortisone al gomito destro nel mese di gennaio 2012 e il sinistro l’avevo risparmiato, visto che riuscivo a convivere con il dolore, ma a giugno, proprio all’inizio della Summer Challenge il dolore al gomito destro era tornato molto forte e se volevo continuare ad allenarmi dovevo effettuare un’altra infiltrazione di cortisone. Cosa che ho fatto, ma l’effetto benefico è durato un solo mese e sapevo che non potevo ripeterne un’altra, il cortisone si sa, fa più male che bene. Ho incontrato un medico che mi ha infiltrato con l’ozono e il miglioramento temporaneo c’è stato, ma non sono riuscito a dare continuità alla cura e il dolore non solo è tornato a destra, ma e venuto anche a sinistra e pure l’epitrocleite a sinistra è aumentata con forza. Sono riuscito a concludere la scorsa Summer Challenge stringendo i denti e le foto le avete viste nell’articolo riferito al 2012 qui. La mia speranza era che durante l’autunno/inverno, la malattia ai gomiti piano, piano sarebbe passata, ma invece di regredire è aumentata. Il problema non è solo il golf, ma l’allenamento con i manubri e le trazioni alla sbarra. I pesanti manubri in certe posizioni sono delle pugnalate per le guaine tendinee/inserzioni ossee e quindi all’inizio del 2013 ho dovuto accettare di ridurre gli allenamenti per le braccia, spalle e dorsali fino a quasi fermarmi completamente. Avendo effettuato una ecografia ad entrambi i gomiti, ho potuto vedere perché il cortisone non riusciva a fornire risultati duraturi: avevo le calcificazioni nelle guaine dei tendini. A quel punto le soluzioni sono due, (che io conosco) la via chirurgica, (che sinceramente avrei evitato volentieri) o le onde d’urto (e anche qui ce ne sono di vari tipi). Naturalmente ho preferito le onde d’urto e ho fatto una prima seduta a Febbraio 2013 con una macchina elletroidraulica , molto potente a Trento, un vero martello che ogni volta che “picchiava” sulla parte dolorante provocava un dolore terribile, mi si stendevano le dita delle mani e ho dovuto stringere i denti e trovare concentrazione per resistere al dolore. Oltretutto a quei tempi ero davvero infiammato. Comunque ho fatto 1800 colpi in un’ unica seduta, seicento colpi per gomito per l’epicondilite, più altri seicento all’interno del gomito sinistro per l’epitrocleite. Il primo risultato è stato che avevo ancora più male, poi il dolore è diminuito un poco, ma sempre impossibile allenarsi. Ho effettuato una seconda seduta a Roma con una macchina elettromagnetica e mi sembrava ridicola rispetto a quella di Trento, mi sembrava che sui gomiti mi venisse passata una di quelle macchinette per accendere il gas e non ho sentito quasi dolore. Il dolore nei gomiti però è rimasto tale e quale. Ho ripetuto a metà Marzo un’altra seduta a Trento e il dolore era ancora forte, ma nei giorni seguenti l’ho sentito meno “radiale” e più circoscritto. Allenamenti ancora niente, anche perché proprio il giorno prima di scendere a Trento dall’Alto Adige, in una caduta banale sugli sci ho riportato la lesione parziale del legamento crociato anteriore sinistro (LCA) e la lesione del menisco mediale sempre sinistro, oltre a due fratture intraspongiose del piatto tibiale e alla lesione degli osteocondriti femorali. Tombola! Rispetto alle prime visite in Alto Adige, a Roma pur avendo avuto la conferma di quanto sopra, le prove manuali hanno mostrato un ginocchio stabile, forse dovute alla mia muscolatura allenata (ho sciato tutto l’inverno e ho fatto molte uscite in mountain bike) . Comunque non abbiamo operato il legamento e per il menisco stiamo ancora decidendo. Ad oggi che scrivo ho dolore alla parte mediale sinistra, non un vero e proprio dolore, è un dolore sordo e il mio ortopedico mi ha detto che potrebbe ancora operarmi al menisco, che tra l’altro ha già operato nel 2001. Pertanto oltre allo stare fermo con gli allenamenti con i manubri da metà marzo a metà aprile, ho dovuto fermarmi con tutto il resto per via del ginocchio. Poi con il consenso del mio ortopedico ho ricominciato con la MTB,(mountain bike) ma dopo 3 uscite sono caduto e mi sono rotto il pollice della mano destra. Una caporetto! Anche con il pollice rotto dopo una settimana ho ripreso gli allenamenti in MTB, difficile utilizzare il cambio, ma con un tutore e un po’ di buona volontà, sono riuscito a progredire. E i gomiti? Ho fatto una quarta seduta nel mese di aprile e questa volta pur avendo ancora male, soprattutto quando utilizzavo i flessori delle mani, le “martellate” della macchina delle onde d’urto non mi facevano più male, era come colpire una qualunque parte del corpo sana e il dolore era oramai circoscritto a piccole aree. Ed infatti ho male ancora oggi, ma sempre meno e sento che sono in via di guarigione, Considerate poi che dal 10 giugno, giorno in cui è partita la Summer Challenge, ho ripreso gli allenamenti con i manubri e le richieste di sforzo stanno aumentando quotidianamente. Avendo ancora dolore per certi esercizi, la paura era che sarebbe peggiorato tutto, invece sta andando molto meglio e non so in quanto tempo ancora, ma dovrei guarire completamente. Almeno adesso è un dolore sopportabile e sto anche giocando a golf senza sentire dolori impossibili.

Ecco spiegato perché il mio progetto di aumentare di massa (grassa e magra) è naufragato. Avrei dovuto mangiare molto e in un certo modo, ma avrei anche dovuto allenarmi in maniera ambiziosa e questo non è stato possibile per i fatti raccontati sopra. Fino a Marzo comunque ero ben allenato, un po’ meno nelle braccia e ora sto tornando piano, piano ai miei livelli con un grande incremento come attività cardio che effettuo 6 giorni a settimana su 7. Alterno MTB alla corsa e al nuoto, oltre all’allenamento contro resistenza che come sapete è il P90X Hybrid.

Non posto le foto iniziali che sono state postate nel forum di gara per scaramanzia, ma le posterò a fine gara dopo il 16 Settembre 2016, sto cercando di mantenere il peso a tutti i costi, ma va da se che senza steroidi in tre mesi, non potrò fare molto e quindi dovendo arrivare al 4% di massa grassa scenderò per forza, ma è certo che con la giusta alimentazione e i giusti allenamenti, non diminuirò la quantità di muscolo che ho adesso.

Per chi è interessato ai dati, ho iniziato la Summer Challenge il 10 giugno con un peso totale di 83 Kg. per un’altezza di 178 cm. e la massa grassa che è lievitata al 17,5%. Progetto ambizioso in 98 giorni è di arrivare al 4%. Oggi è il 7 luglio e sono già all’11%. avendo perso 7 cm. di giro vita e il peso totale è ancora a 78 Kg. in meno di un mese. Presumo che arriverò intorno ai 72 kg. di peso totale e tra i 70/72 cm di giro vita, per settembre, mentre avrei voluto essere 78 Kg. con il 4% di massa grassa nello stesso periodo. Perché questo avvenisse avrei dovuto operare in un certo modo durante l’inverno, ma va bene così. Ricordo sempre che sono principalmente un’atleta e non solo un bodybuilder (sono atleti anche loro per carità), ma voglio dire che preferisco riuscire bene in altre discipline sportive e non avere solo massa muscolare da mostrare, magari costruita con steroidi.

Aggiornamento al 31/07/2013:

Siamo alla settima settimana di gara e quindi siamo a metà percorso. I gomiti sembrano andare meglio e questo è un gran bene per la riuscita degli allenamenti, il ginocchio sinistro sembra essere stabile e ogni tanto si fa sentire con qualche dolorino “sordo”, ma al momento riesco sia a correre che ad andare in MTB, evito i balzi e quindi tutta la parte del “Plyometric”. Anche i piedi con il neuroma di Morton mi stanno lasciando respirare e nonostante un piede sano da sensazioni nettamente differenti da quelle che provo io, già non avere fitte costanti è per me un risultato di successo. A parte infortuni e salute, mi sto allenando duramente soprattutto come attività cardio e sono a 6 sedute settimanali con giornate in cui effettuo doppio cardio oltre all’allenamento contro resistenza che per me è il P90X-P90X2-Hybrid. La parte più importante, anche se sinergica con l’allenamento e l’aspetto mentale, la gioca sempre l’alimentazione. In questi primi 49 giorni di gara è stata maniacale e lo sarà fino al 98imo giorno di gara. Vi ricordo che sono partito da più del 17% di massa grassa ed ho fissato il mio obiettivo a 14 settimane al 4%. Obiettivo molto ambizioso già di per se e diventa ancor di più ambizioso, partendo da una soglia così alta e con un età superiore ai 50 anni. Ammetto che per quanto ho fatto e sto facendo, mi aspettavo risultati appena migliori. Certo non posso lamentarmi ed oltretutto io non ricerco perdite di grasso esagerate in breve tempo perché spesso più che grasso si perde peso/muscolo/liquidi e invece io sono per una perdita di circa 0,5 Kg. di grasso a settimana mantenendo e/o aumentando il muscolo/massa magra a tutti i costi. Comunque qui sotto i numeri al giro di boa di metà gara:

Altezza 178 cm. Età 51 anni e 8 mesi

Massa grassa: 9,57% – iniziale: 17,5%

Giro vita: 77 cm – iniziale: 86 cm.

Massa Magra: 68,45 kg. – iniziale 68,94 Kg.

Peso totale: 77 Kg. – iniziale: 83 Kg.

Aggiornamento al 20/08/2013:

Sono a 4 settimane dalla fine, un tempo abbastanza lungo per il raggiungimento del mio obbiettivo, ma allo stesso tempo abbastanza poco e con poco margine di errore per non fallire. Come ogni anno è così per tutti, anche gli esperti bodybuilder o fitness model, l’ultimo grasso da bruciare è il più testardo (stubborn), il più lento ad andare via e non sempre ci si riesce se non si resta concentrati e confidenti in quello che si sta facendo, senza farsi prendere dal panico. Sto facendo molta attività cardio, maggiormente MTB e running e alterno anche nuoto e HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) . Il problema è saper individuare quando l’attività cardio è troppa oppure la quantità di macronutrienti è poca in riferimento all’attività svolta e ancor di più conoscendo e sapendo le quantità di macronutrienti in percentuale al totale delle calorie ingerite. Sembra un controsenso, ma aumentando troppo l’attività cardio e riducendo drasticamente le calorie ingerite, il rischio è di vedere rallentare ulteriormente il metabolismo e di rallentare di conseguenza anche la perdita di grasso. Eppure siamo in una situazione di deficit calorico aggressivo e matematicamente dovrei dimagrire tanto settimanalmente. Quello che sulla carta sembra scontato, non sempre trova riscontro nella realtà. Non dimentichiamoci poi che il nostro obiettivo è di perdere solo il grasso e non solo peso e quindi conservando e/o aumentando la massa magra. Questo tipo di difesa dell’organismo avviene appunto nelle fasi finali del dimagrimento e soprattutto se stiamo tagliando troppo e da troppo tempo le calorie. Il raggiungimento della soglia di “plateau” è quasi scontata. Sto facendo i conti anch’io con questa situazione e sulla base dell’esperienza e delle risposte del mio organismo sia attualmente che negli anni passati, adotto strategie diverse che vanno dall’aumentare l’intensità delle sessioni, al tempo o al numero per quanto riguarda l’attività cardio e anche per l’allenamento con i pesi si cerca di modificare l’intensità o il tempo di riposo fra una serie e l’altra o il numero di ripetizioni e ancora la quantità di peso con cui si lavora. E naturalmente agendo sulla parte più importante che è l’alimentazione attivando una dieta ancor più restrittiva e tagliando i carboidrati (come sapete non completamente) e ogni tre giorni invece ricarico i carboidrati e le calorie totali. Nei giorni in cui scarico i carboidrati, per quanto provi a lasciare invariate le quantità di proteine e grassi, se mi alleno sarò obbligato ad agire su questi due macronutrienti aumentandoli per avere un deficit calorico fra calorie utilizzate e quelle ingerite intorno al 20-30%.

Vediamo i numeri a lunedì 19 agosto e poi ci aggiorneremo definitivamente dopo il 16 settembre che è il termine della Summer Challenge:

Altezza 178 cm. Età 51 anni e 8 mesi

Massa grassa: 7,56% – iniziale: 17,5%

Giro vita: 75,5 cm – iniziale: 86 cm.

Massa Magra: 68,59 kg. – iniziale 68,94 Kg.

Peso totale: 74,2 Kg. – iniziale: 83 Kg.

Aggiornamento al 22/08/2013:

Goal! L’edizione 2013 della “Burn The Fat Summer Challenge” è terminata. Per me lunedì 16 settembre, per una durata totale di 98 giorni o 14 settimane. Gli ultimi concorrenti hanno terminato giovedì 19 settembre e anche quest’anno su circa 4.000 partecipanti solo 225 hanno portato a termine la sfida. Nuovamente, di questi 225 più della metà non hanno raggiunto significativi risultati/cambiamenti, almeno quelli visibili dalle foto. Hanno solo pubblicato regolarmente le loro statistiche settimanali e le foto finali. Questo ci fa capire che quello che sulla carta può risultare facile, non lo è poi nella realtà.

Veniamo al mio risultato: ho replicato il risultato dello scorso anno, ma a differenza del 2012, sono partito da un coefficiente di percentuale di massa grassa superiore di oltre 2% e l’obbiettivo che avevo fissato al 4% era veramente molto/troppo ambizioso per essere raggiunto in 98 giorni, per dimagrire ad un tasso conservativo che permettesse di mantenere o anche incrementare la percentuale di massa magra. Sono arrivato al 4,98%, non è cifra tonda, ma per quanto mi riguarda l’obbiettivo è stato raggiunto. Tenete presente poi che ci sono sicuramente parti del corpo che presentano valori più alti e altri più bassi. Se guarderete la foto della schiena, potrete notare la definizione e le striature che indicano una bassissima percentuale di grasso. Inoltre sempre dalle foto, a paragone con quelle dell’anno scorso, mi sembra di avere ottenuto un miglioramento in termini di massa e simmetria e anche per certi aspetti come definizione. Ora attendiamo il giudizio dei giudici che avverrà nei prossimi 20 giorni. Pubblico finalmente qui sotto i dati e le foto finali di questa “Burn The Fat Summer Challenge 2013”:

Dati Finali al 16 Settembre 2013 – inizio Summer Challenge 10 Giugno 2013:

Altezza 178 cm. Età 51 anni e 9 mesi

Massa grassa %: 4,98% – iniziale: 17,5% – Diff. – 12,34%

Giro vita: 72,5 cm – iniziale: 86 cm. – Diff. – 13,5 cm.

Massa Magra: 69,68 kg. – iniziale 68,94 Kg. – Diff. + 1,19 Kg.

Massa Grassa: 3,62 Kg. – iniziale 14,31 Kg. – Diff. – 10,69 Kg.

Peso totale: 74,2 Kg. – iniziale: 83 Kg. – Diff. – 9,5 Kg.

Dalla tabella si vede che ho perso più di 10kg. di grasso e ho incrementato di oltre un chilo la massa magra. Questo senza l’aiuto di steroidi, altrimenti i risultati della massa magra sarebbero ben diversi. Di seguito le foto:

Foto Frontali

Frontale inizio
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Frontale finale
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Foto Laterali

Laterale inizio
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Laterale finale
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Schiena

Schiena inizio
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Schiena Finale
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Confronto Schiena 2010 – 2013

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ingrandire

Credo che dalla foto del confronto di schiena degli ultimi quattro anni, si noti l’evoluzione in meglio della crescita muscolare, ma soprattutto della simmetria e definizione dovuta soprattutto ad una perdita maggiore di grasso. Certo la luce nelle foto può giocare un ruolo importante, ma credo sia oggettivo il cambiamento. Allenarsi e nutrirsi con disciplina e volontà alla fine ripaga sempre. E ricordate che per quanto duramente vi allenerete, se non sarete scrupolosi sul piano dell’alimentazione, vedrete naufragare tutti i vostri sforzi.

Ecco! Questi sono i dati e le foto di questa nuova sfida portata a termine dopo 98 giorni, il mio premio è già stato vinto ed è quello di aver raggiunto l’obbiettivo che avevo fissato. Adesso è arrivato anche il riconoscimento visto che sono stato inserito nei top 10 finalisti uomini. Essere nella classifica dei Top 10 su circa 4.000 partecipanti è già un onore e una soddisfazione per cui essere grati .

© Copyright Piero Maina – Tutti i diritti riservati

10 Ottobre 2013
Everything You Need To Know About Loose Skin And Weight Loss

Title: Everything You Need To Know About Loose Skin And Weight Loss
By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: www.BurnTheFat.com
Word count: 1142 words
Description: If you’re extremely overweight or if you’ve been extremely overweight in the past, then you know that getting rid of excess weight is only one of the challenges you face. Once the fat is gone, you are often confronted with an equally frustrating cosmetic problem; Loose skin. Dont’ consider surgery until you’ve read this.

Everything You Need To Know About Loose Skin And Weight Loss By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.BurnTheFat.com

I receive a lot of e-mail from people with loose skin or from overweight people who are concerned about having loose skin after they lose the weight. In fact, this is one of the biggest concerns and most frequently asked questions I receive from men and women who have a lot of weight to lose.

Just recently, I received this email from a reader of my syndicated “Ask Tom” fat loss column:

“Tom, I began a fat loss program using your Burn The Fat system and it worked so well I got down to 15 1/2 stones (from 19). However, this has caused me a problem: Excess abdominal skin. I didn’t crash lose this weight, it came off at the rate of about 2 lbs. per week just like you recommended. Now I’m unsure of whether to carry on, as my abdomen has quite a lot of excess skin – I feel like I’ve turned into a bloody Shar-Pei! Does everyone go through this? Will the skin tighten up? I was overweight for more than 12 years. Am I going to end up needing surgical skin removal? Can you offer me any advice? I’m a medical student in the UK and my colleagues seem determined to proffer surgery as the only option.”

There are 14 things you should know about loose skin after very large weight losses:

1. Skin is incredibly elastic. Your skin can stretch and expand or tighten and retract to a great degree. Look at what women go through during pregnancy. Some women do experience stretch marks after pregnancy, but obviously skin is remarkably elastic.

2. Elasticity of skin depends on both genetics and environment/lifestyle. Wrinkling and loss of elasticity is partly the consequence of aging (genetic factors) and also a result of environmental factors such as oxidative stress, excessive sun exposure, and nutritional deficiency. The environmental parts you can fix, the genetics and age part, you cannot. Advice: Get moving and change the things you have control over… Be realistic and don’t worry about those things you don’t have control over.

3. How much your skin returns to its former tautness depends partly on age. The older you get, the more an extremely large weight loss can leave loose skin that will not return to normal.

4. How long you carry extra weight may influence how much the skin will become taut after the weight loss: For example, compare a 9 month pregnancy with 9 years carrying 100 excess pounds.

5. How much weight was carried has a lot to do with how much the skin will resume a tight appearance. Your skin can only be stretched so much and be expected to “snap back” one hundred percent. With extreme obesity, the probability of there still being loose skin after weight loss is higher.

6. How fast the weight was gained also has a lot to do with how much the skin will resume a tight appearance. Your skin can only be stretched so quickly and be expected to “snap back.”

7. How fast weight is lost also has a lot to do with how much the skin will tighten up. Rapid weight loss doesn’t allow the skin time to slowly resume to normal. (This is yet another reason to lose fat slowly; 1-2 pounds per week, 3 pounds at the most if you have a lot of weight to lose, and even then, only if you are measuring body fat and you’re certain it’s fat you’re losing, not lean tissue).

8. There are exceptions to all of the above; For example, people who gained and then lost incredible amounts of weight quickly at age 50 or 60, and their skin returned 100% to normal.

9. Creams probably don’t work. There are many creams advertised as having the ability to restore the tightness of your skin. the late bodybuilding guru Dan duchaine used to recommend topical creams made with pycnogenol, which contain the antioxidant bioflavanoids called proanthocyanidins. But to the best of my knowledge, none of the topical creams are scientifically validated. I haven’t even heard much anecdotal evidence that they work — at least not permanently and measurably — and especially if you have a lot of loose skin. There are definitely some topicals that will pull water from under your skin, but remeber, that is temporary. Buyer should beware with topical products. (as an aside, Ive also heard anectodal reports that skin brushing was helpful, but again, I am not aware of any scientific evidence proving this is effective).

10. Nutrition has a lot to do with the health of your skin. Essential fatty acids in particular are very valuable for many reasons, and one of them is for the health of your skin. It would be worth taking an EFA supplement such as fish oil, flax oil or an oil blend like Udo’s choice. Antioxidants are also very important, so be sure to consume copious amounts of a variety of vegetables and fruits. Also pay very close attention to hydration. Drink approximately a gallon of water a day or a minimum of half your body weight in ounces. (By the way, whey protein is high in a powerful antioxidant called glutathione).

11. Exercise has a lot to do with how your skin appears after you lose body fat. If you use very low calorie diets, you are likely to lose lean body mass, and this is going to exacerbate the loose, hanging skin appearance. On the other hand, if you are exercising regularly and increasing lean body mass with weight training, you will be more likely to minimize the appearance of loose skin.

12. Get second opinions if you are considering surgery.If you’re considering surgical skin removal, consult a physician for advice because this is not a minor operation, but keep in mind that your plastic surgeon may be making his BMW payments with your abdominoplasty money. (Surgery might be recommended in situations where it’s not 100% necessary). Surgery should be left as the absolute final option in extreme cases.

13. Give your skin time. Your skin will definitely get tighter as your body fat gets lower. I’ve seen and heard of many cases where the skin gradually tightened up, at least partially, after a one or two year period where the weight loss was maintained and exercise continued.

14. Know your body fat percentage before even thinking about surgery. Loose skin is one thing, but still having a lot of body fat is another. Be honest with yourself and do that by taking your body fat measurement. This can be done with skinfold calipers or a variety of other devices (calipers might not be the best method if you have large folds of loose skin. Look into impedance analysis, underwater weighing, DEXA or Bod Pod).

Suppose for example, a man drops from 35% body fat all the way down to 20%. He should be congratulated, but I would tell him, “Don’t complain about loose skin yet, your body fat is still high. Press onward and keep getting leaner and be sure to focus on strength training to increase lean body mass as well.”

Average body fat for men is in the mid teens (16% or so). Average body fat for women is in the 20-25% range. Good body fat for men is 10-12%, and single digits is extremely lean. Men shouldn’t expect to look “ripped” with 100% tight skin on the abs unless they have single digit body fat. Women shouldn’t expect to have tight abdominal skin unless they are in the low to mid teens in body fat.

Except in extreme cases, you are actually unlikely to see someone with loose skin who has very low body fat and especially someone who has not just “lost weight” but has altered body composition by adding lean muscle as well. It’s quite remarkable how much your skin can tighten up once your body fat goes from “average” to “excellent” and even more so when lean body mass increase. Someone with legitimate single digit body fat and a ton of loose skin is a rare sight.

So the key to getting tighter skin is to improve your body composition (muscle to fat ratio), and lose more body fat, slowly and sensibly, up to the point where your body composition rating is BETTER than average (in the “good” to “great” category, not just “okay”). Only AFTER you reach your long term body fat percentage goal should you give thought to “excess skin removal.” At that point, admittedly, there are bound to be a few isolated cases where surgery is necessary if you can’t live with the amount of loose skin remaining.

However, unless you are really, really lean, it’s difficult to get a clear picture of what is loose skin, what is just remaining body fat and how much further the skin will tighten up when the rest of the fat is lost.

Need help getting rid of that last bit of body body fat? Click here to find out how to do it the natural way: www.BurnTheFat.com

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer (CPT), certified

strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-

selling e-book, “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle.” Tom has written

more than 200 articles and has been featured in print magazines

such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding,

Muscular Development, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise, as

well as on hundreds of websites worldwide. For information on

Tom’s Fat Loss program, visit: www.BurnTheFat.com

26 Agosto 2013
Protein Supplements Vs. Protein Foods

Title:Protein Supplements Vs. Protein Foods
By line: By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
URL: www.BurnTheFat.com
Word count: 2455 words

Protein Supplements Vs. Protein Foods? By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.BurnTheFat.com

Are protein supplements really better than protein foods? Before attempting to answer this question, I should first preface it by mentioning that I do not sell supplements, nor am I associated with any supplement company, so you’re getting an honest and unbiased opinion. Don’t get me wrong; I am not anti-supplement by any means. It would simply be more accurate to say that I am “pro-food.” There are a lot of good supplements on the market, and I’ve used many of them, including a multi vitamin, creatine and essential fatty acid (EFA) supplements such as Flaxseed oil. Protein powders and meal replacements can also be indispensable if you don’t have time to eat every three hours. However, protein supplements are not the master key to your success, real food is!

Did you ever notice how articles about protein in certain bodybuilding magazines are seldom objective? Instead, they all seem to be slanted towards hyping some “revolutionary” new product. Did you ever wonder why? In my opinion, most articles on protein supplements are nothing more than thinly disguised advertisements (some very thinly). Sometimes they give you a very persuasive-sounding argument, replete with dozens of references from scientific studies (mostly done on rodents, of course). They even give you an 800 number at the end of the article to order. (How convenient!)

When protein manufacturers throw around fancy words like cross flow microfiltration, oligopeptides, ion-exchange, protein efficiency ratio, biological value, nitrogen retention and glycomacropeptides, it sure sounds convincing, especially when scores of scientific references are cited. But don’t forget that the supplement industry is big business and most magazines are the supplement industry. Lyle McDonald, author of “The Ketogenic Diet,” hit the nail on the head when he wrote “Unfortunately, the obsession that bodybuilders have with protein has made them susceptible to all kinds of marketing hype. Like most aspects of bodybuilding (and the supplement industry in general), the issue of protein is driven more by marketing hype than physiological reality and marketing types know how to push a bodybuilder’s button when it comes to protein “

Many nutrition “experts” (read: people who sell supplements), state that there are distinct advantages of protein supplements (powders and amino acid tablets) over whole foods. For example, they argue that whey, a by-product of the cheese-making process, is a higher quality protein than most whole food sources. There are many different methods of determining protein quality, including biological value (BV), protein efficiency ratio (PER), Net Protein Utilization (NPU), chemical score, and protein digestibility corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS). If you have ever seen advertisements for protein powders and supplements, you have undoubtedly heard of one or more of these measures of protein quality.

BV is one of the most commonly used and is arguably, the best measure of a protein’s quality. BV is based on how much of the protein consumed is actually absorbed and utilized by the body. The higher the amount of protein (nitrogen) that is actually retained, the greater the BV. If a protein has a BV of 100, it means that all of the protein absorbed has been utilized with none lost. Whole eggs score the highest of all foods with a BV of 100, while beans have a BV of only 49.

Protein quality is certainly an important issue, but it is one that has been enormously overstated and even distorted for marketing purposes. Whey protein is truly an excellent protein with a biological value at or near 100. Many advertisements list whey as having a BV between 104 and 157, but if you look in any nutrition textbook it will tell you that it is impossible to have a BV over 100. In “Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism,” BV is defined as “a measure of nitrogen retained for growth and/or maintenance that is expressed as a percentage of nitrogen absorbed.”

When a protein supplement is listed as having a BV over 100, the company has intentionally manipulated the number for marketing purposes or unintentionally confused BV with another method of rating protein quality. Certain whey proponents claim that whey is “superior to whole egg” so the percentage sign on BV had to be dropped and the scale extended beyond 100. It was noted by bodybuilding writer Jerry Branium in IRONMAN magazine that in a study where the BV of whey was reported to be 157, the author confused BV with chemical score. Chemical score is a comparison of the amino acid pattern in an ideal reference protein to a test protein and therefore the number can exceed 100. 157 was actually the chemical score and not the BV.

Most bodybuilders and strength athletes already consume more than enough protein (an understatement if there ever was one), so the importance of BV to these athletes who are already consuming copious amounts of protein has been overplayed. Even though whey has a higher BV than chicken breast, fish or milk protein, if the total quantity of protein you consume is sufficient, then it is not likely that substituting whey for food proteins will result in any additional muscle growth.

Whether you choose a whole protein food or a protein supplement isn’t as important as some would like you to believe. For the purposes of developing muscle, the only guidelines for protein that you must follow are: (1) consume a source of complete protein with every meal, (2) eat at frequent intervals approximately three hours apart (about six times per day) and (3) consume a minimum of .8 grams to 1 gram per pound of body weight. There are times when it would be beneficial to consume more than one gram per pound of body weight, but that will have to be the subject of another article.

Because whey protein does have a high BV, it probably offers the most benefits when you are dieting on very low calories. When your energy intake and correspondingly, your protein intake, are reduced, whey protein could help you get greater utilzation of the smaller amount of protein that you are taking in. In other words, choosing proteins of the highest quality is more of an issue when you are dieting than when you are focusing on mass gains when total calories and protein are being consumed in abundant amounts. Whey protein also provides a way to get high quality protein without the fat, which is also important when dieting.

It has been suggested that whey may have other advantages besides high protein quality, although they are frequently overstated. These benefits include enhanced immunity, increased antioxidant activity and quick absorption. Several studies in “Clinical and Investigative Science” by Dr. Gerard Bounous of Montreal have shown that whey protein provides anti carcinogenic properties, protection from infections, and other enhanced immune responses. Whey protein was also been shown to raise levels of Glutathione, an important antioxidant that can offer protection from free radical oxidative damage. While such findings are very promising, all these studies, which are frequently quoted in whey protein advertisements, were performed on mice, so it is unclear how well the results extrapolate to humans.

Another acknowledged benefit of whey protein is its fast absorption rate. Although there isn’t any evidence that protein supplements digest more efficiently than whole foods (as is often claimed), they are definitely digested faster. This is most important after a training session when the rates of protein synthesis and glycogen re-synthesis are increased. This is the reason it is often recommended that a liquid meal containing protein and a high glycemic carbohydrate be consumed immediately post-workout and that whey is the ideal protein for this purpose. Even in considering post-workout nutrition, there is still little proof that a liquid protein-carb complex will actually produce better muscular growth than whole foods, as long as complete whole food protein foods and complex carbohydrates are consumed immediately after the training session and every three waking hours for a period of 24 hours thereafter.

Speaking of protein absorption rates, the discussion of fast acting versus slow acting proteins seems to be the latest hot topic these days in bodybuilding circles. The interest was sparked by studies in 1997 and 1998 that examined the differences between the absorption rates of whey versus casein. The researchers concluded that whey was a fast acting protein and was considered to be more “anabolic” while casein was slower acting and was considered to be more “anti-catabolic. ” It was further hypothesized that consuming a combination of these two types of proteins could lead to greater muscle growth. These findings have prompted the supplement companies to market an entirely new category of protein supplements; casein and whey mixes. The problem with drawing such conclusions so quickly is that these studies looked at the speed of whey and casein absorption in subjects who had fasted for 10 hours before being fed the protein. Any suppositions drawn from this information are probably irrelevant if you are eating mixed whole food meals every three hours. Obviously, more research is needed.

This recent fascination with various rates of protein absorption could be compared to the interest in the glycemic index. The glycemic index is a scale that measures the rate at which the body converts various carbohydrate foods into blood glucose. The higher the glycemic index, the faster the food is converted to glucose and the larger the insulin response. Therefore it is said that high glycemic foods should be avoided in favor of low glycemic index foods. The error in relying solely on the glycemic index as your only criteria for choosing carbohydrates is that the index is based on consuming a carbohydrate food by itself in a fasted state.

When carbohydrates are consumed in mixed meals that contain protein and a little fat, the glycemic index loses some of its significance because the protein and fat slow the absorption of the carbohydrate. That’s why the glycemic index is really much ado about nothing and the same could probably be said for the casein and whey argument. It’s just the latest in a long string of new angles that supplement companies use to promote their protein: free-form vs peptides, concentrate vs isolate, ion exchange vs microfiltration, soy vs whey, casein and whey mix vs pure whey and so on. Every year, you can count on some new twist on the protein story to appear. Certainly there are going to be advances in nutrition science, but all too often these “new discoveries” amount to nothing more than marketing hype.

What about amino acid pills? Amino acids pills are simply predigested protein. Proponents of amino acid supplementation claim that because the amino’s are predigested, the body will absorb them better, leading to greater improvements in strength and muscle mass. It sounds logical, but this is a gross underestimation of the body’s capacities and actually the reverse is true: The human digestive system was designed to efficiently process whole foods; it was not designed to digest pills and powders all day long. Amino’s are absorbed more rapidly in the intestine when they are in the more complex di and tri-peptide molecules.

Your body gets better use of the aminos as protein foods are broken down and the amino’s are absorbed at just the right rate for your body’s needs. In “Exercise Physiology; Energy Nutrition and Human Performance,” authors Katch and McArdle state that “Amino acid supplementation in any form has not been shown by adequate experimental design and methodology to increase muscle mass or significantly improve muscular strength, power, or endurance.”

Furthermore, consuming predigested protein when you are seeking fat loss is not necessarily advantageous because it shortchanges you of the thermic effects of real food. Whole foods have a major advantage over protein supplements; they stimulate the metabolism more. This is known as the “thermic effect of food.” Protein has the highest thermic effect of any food. Including a whole protein food with every meal can speed up your metabolic rate as much as 30% because of the energy necessary to digest, process, and absorb it. This means that out of 100 calories of a protein food such as chicken breast, the net amount of calories left over after processing it is 70. In this respect, the fact that protein foods digest slower than amino acid tablets is actually an advantage.

A final argument against amino acid supplements is the cost. Amino’s are simply not cost effective. If you don’t believe it, pick up a bottle and do the math yourself. One popular brand of “free form and peptide bonded amino acids” contains 150 1000mg. tablets per bottle and costs $19.95. 1000 mg. of amino acids equals 1 gram of protein, so the entire bottle contains 150 grams of protein. $19.95 divided by 150 grams is 13.3 cents per gram. Let’s compare that to chicken breast. I can buy chicken breast from my local supermarket for $2.99 a pound. According to Corinne Netzer’s “Complete Book of Food Counts,” there are 8.8 grams of protein in each ounce of chicken, so one pound of chicken (16 oz) has about 140 grams of protein. $2.99 divided by 140 grams equals 2.1 cents per gram. The amino acids cost more than six times what the chicken breast does! I don’t know about you, but I’ll stick with the chicken breast.

The biggest advantage of protein supplements is not that they can build more muscle than chicken or egg whites or any other whole food protein, the biggest advantage is convenience. It is easier to drink a protein shake than it is to buy, prepare, cook and eat poultry, fish or egg whites. Consuming small, frequent meals is the optimal way to eat, regardless of whether your goal is fat loss or muscle gain. To keep your body constantly in positive nitrogen balance, you must consume a complete protein every three hours. For many people, eating this often is nearly impossible. That’s when a high quality protein supplement is the most helpful.

Aside from convenience, the truth about protein supplements is that they offer few advantages over protein foods. There is no scientific evidence that you can’t meet all of your protein needs for muscle growth through food. As long as you eat every three hours and you eat a complete protein such as eggs, lean meat or lowfat dairy products with every meal, it is not necessary to consume any protein supplements to get outstanding results. Whey protein does have some interesting and useful properties and supplementing with a couple scoops each day is not a bad idea, especially if you are on a low calorie diet for fat loss or when you’re using a post workout shake instead of a meal. Aside from that, focus on real food and don’t believe the hype.

References

1) Groff, James, et al, Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism, West Publishing company, 1995.

2) Fruhbeck, Gema. Slow and fast dietary proteins. Nature, 391: 843-844

3) Boirie, Y. et al. Slow and fast dietary proteins differently modulate postprandial protein accretion. Proc National Acad Sci, 94: 14930-14935, 1997

4) Lemon, Peter, Protein and Exercise: update, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, Vol 19, No. 5, S179 – S190, 1987

5) Carraro, F., et at, Effect of exercise and recovery on muscle protein synthesis in human subjects. Amer Journal of physiology, 259: E470, 1990

6) Lemon, Peter, Is increased dietary protein necessary or beneficial for individuals with a physically active lifestyle? Nutrition reviews, 54:S 169-175, 1996

7)Bounous, G., et al, The immunoenhancing property of dietary whey protein concentrate. Clinical and Investigational Medicine, 11: 271-278. 1988.

8) Sadler, R., The benefits of dietary whey protein concentrate on the immune response and health. S Afr. J Dairy Sci, 24: No 24, 1992

9) Bounous, G., Dietary whey protein inhibits the development of dimethylhydrazine-induced malignancy. Clinical and Investigational Medicine, 12: 213-217, 1988

10) Bounous, G., et al, The biological activity of undenatured dietary whey protein; role of glutathione. Clinical and Investigational Medicine, 14: 4, 296-309, 1991

11) Netzer, Corinne. The Complete Book of Food Counts. Dell Publishing, 1997

12) Katch, Katch & McArdle, Exercise Physiology; Energy, Nutrition and Human Performance, Wiliams and Wilkins, 1996.

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder and author of the #1 best selling e-book, “Burn the

Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to burn

fat without drugs or supplements using the little-known

secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness

models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and turbo-

charge your metabolism by visiting:

www.BurnTheFat.com.

24 Agosto 2013
3500 Calories To Lose A Pound: Is This Formula All Wrong?
Title: 3500 Calories To Lose A Pound – Is This Formula All Wrong?
By line: By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
URL: www.BurnTheFat.com
Word count: 1256 words

3500 Calories To Lose A Pound – Is This Formula All Wrong? By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS www.BurnTheFat.com

Most fitness conscious people have heard that there are 3,500 calories in a pound of fat, so if you create a deficit of 3500 calories in a week, you lose a pound of weight. If you create a deficit of 7000 calories in a week, you lose two pounds, and so on. Right? Well, not so fast…

Dr. Kevin Hall, an investigator at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda has done some interesting research about the mechanisms regulating human body weight. He recently published a new paper in the International Journal of Obesity that throws a wrench in works of the “3500 calories to lose a pound” idea.

Some of the equations in his paper made my head hurt, but despite the complex math he used to come to his conclusions, his article clearly prompts the question, “3500 calories to lose a pound of WHAT?” His paper also contained a lot of simple and practical tips you can use to properly balance your caloric intake with output, fine tune your calorie deficit and help you retain more muscle when you diet.

Below, I’ve distilled some of the information into a simple bullet-point summary that any non-scientist can understand. Then I wrap up with my interpretation of how you can apply this data in your own fat loss program:

Calculating the calories required to lose a pound and fine-tuning your caloric deficit
- 3500 calories to lose a pound has always been the rule of thumb. However, this 3500 calories figure goes back to research which assumed that all the weight lost would be adipose tissue (which would be ideal, of course).
- But as we all know (unfortunately), lean body mass is lost along with body fat, which would indicate that the 3500 calorie figure could be an oversimplification.
- The amount of lean body mass lost is based on initial body fat level and size of the calorie deficit
- Lean people tend to lose more lean body mass and retain more fat.
- Fat people tend to lose more body fat and retain more lean tissue (revealing why obese people can tolerate aggressive low calorie diets better than already lean people)
- Very aggressive low calorie diets tend to erode lean body mass to a greater degree than more conservative diets.
- whether the weight loss is lean or fat gives you the real answer of what is the required energy deficit per unit of weight loss
- The metabolizable energy in fat is different than the metabolizable energy in muscle tissue. A pound of muscle is not 3500 calories. A pound of muscle yields about 600 calories.
- If you lose lean body mass, then you lose more weight than if you lose fat.
- If you create a 3500 calorie deficit in one week and you lose 100% body fat, you will lose one pound.
- But if you create a 3500 calorie weekly deficit and as a result of that deficit, lose 100% muscle, you would lose almost 6 pounds of body weight! (of course, if you manage to lose 100% muscle, you will be forced to wear the Dieter’s Dunce cap)
- If you have a high initial body fat percentage, then you are going to lose more fat relative to lean, so you may need a larger deficit to lose the same amount of weight as compared to a lean person
- Creating a calorie deficit once at the beginning of a diet and maintaining that same caloric intake for the duration of the diet and after major weight loss fails to account for how your body decreases energy expenditure with reduced body weight
- Weight loss typically slows down over time for a prescribed constant diet (the “plateau”). This is either due to the decreased metabolism mentioned above, or a relaxing of the diet compliance, or both (most people just can’t hack aggressive calorie reductions for long)
- Progressive resistance training and or high protein diets can modify the proportion of weight lost from body fat versus lean tissue (which is why weight training and sufficient protein while on calorie restricted diets are absolute musts!)
So, based on this info, should you throw out the old calorie formulas?

Well, not necessarily. You can still use the standard calorie formulas to figure out how much you should eat, and you can use a 500-1000 calorie per day deficit (below maintenance) as a generic guideline to figure where to set your calories to lose one or two pounds per week respectively (at least that works “on paper” anyway).

Even better however, you could use this info to fine tune your caloric deficit using a percentage method and also base your deficit on your starting body fat level, to get a much more personalized and effective approach:

15-20% below maintenance calories = conservative deficit

20-25% below maintenance calories = moderate deficit

25-30% below maintenance calories = aggressive deficit

31-40% below maintenance calories = very aggressive deficit (risky)

50%+ below maintenance calories = semi starvation/starvation (potentially dangerous and unhealthy)

(Note: According to exercise physiologists Katch& Mcardle, the average female between the ages of 23 and 50 has a maintenance level of about 2000-2100 calories per day and the average male about 2700-2900 calories per day)

Usually, we would suggest starting with a conservative deficit of around 15-20% below maintenance. Based on this research, however, we see that there can be a big difference between lean and overweight people in how many calories they can or should cut.

If you have very high body fat to begin with, the typical rule of thumb on calorie deficits may underestimate the deficit required to lose a pound. It may also be too conservative, and you can probably use a more aggressive deficit safely without as much worry about muscle loss or metabolic slowdown.

If you are extremely lean, like a bodybuilder trying to get ready for competition, you would want to be very cautious about using aggressive calorie deficits. You’d be better off keeping the deficit conservative and starting your diet/cutting phase earlier to allow for a slow, but safe rate of fat loss, with maximum retention of muscle tissue.

The bottom line is that it’s not quite so simple as 3,500 calories being the deficit to lose a pound. Like lots of other things in nutrition that vary from person to person, the ideal amount of calories to cut “depends”…

Note: The Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle program not only has an entire chapter dedicated to helping you calculate your exact calorie needs, it was designed very specifically to keep a fairly conservative approach to caloric deficits and to maximize the amount of lean tissue you retain and minimize the amount of metabolic adaptation that occurs when you’re dieting. The approach may be more conservative, and the fat loss may be slower, but it has a better long term track record… You can either lose weight fast, sacrifice muscle and gain the fat back like 95% of people do, or lose fat slow and keep it off forever like the 5% of the people who know the secrets. The choice is yours. For more information, visit: http://www.burnthefat.com

References:

Forbes GB. Body fat content influences the body composition response to nutrition and exercise. Ann NY Acad Sci. 904: 359-365. 2000

Hall, KD., What is the required energy deficit per unit of weight loss? Int J Obesity. 2007 Epub ahead of print.

McArdle WD. Exercise physiology: Energy, Nutrition, and Human performance. 4td ed. Williams & Wilkins. 1996.

Wishnofsky M. Caloric equivalents of gained or lost weight. Am J Clin Nutr. 6: 542-546.

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified strength and conditioning specialist

(CSCS) and a certified personal trainer (CPT). Tom is the

author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches

you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using

methods of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness

models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase

your metabolism by visiting: www.BurnTheFat.com
24 Luglio 2013

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