Nutrition and Dieting: The 3 Foundations of Fat Loss (Part 3 of the 3 part series) By Michael Collins

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Scrap everything you've heard about fat loss and start with the Foundations!

 

In the first part of the Foundations of Fat Loss Series, we explored the exercise portion of fat loss which builds your natural fat burning furnace, resistance training. In the second part of the Foundations of Fat Loss series, we covered the other half of exercise- the extra calorie burner- Cardiovascular Training. 

 

We learned how adding muscle fiber is crucial to fat loss, and how intensity trumps all in fat loss during cardiovascular exercise.

 

In the 3rd part of this series, we will discuss the most crucial step of the fat loss process- your nutritional program.

 

The bottom line in fat loss is managing your caloric intake. Specifically taking in less calories than you're burning each day; and over a period of time.

 

I've often heard people apply the 80/ 20 rule to losing fat- "nutrition is 80 percent of the battle". 

 

I take it up a notch and lay it down as 90/10. The reason is this- although physical activity burns up a lot of calories, there's a point of diminishing returns.  I mean, you can only lift weights and perform the treadmill, bike or Stair Master for so long.

 

As Eugene says, "you can't out- run a crappy diet!"

 

Correct. Nor would you want to.  The body can only take so much pounding before your joints and ligaments hurt like hell.  Christopher Warden summed it up well recently when he wrote about clients trying to use exercise to undo the damage they inflict on them selves with excessive food and alcohol.

 

So let's dig in here and uncover the basics of nutrition and learn how to put them to use.

 

First of all, food is more powerful than you think.  Not only does it add up calorie wise, it also produces strong drug- like hormonal shifts.  Monitoring calorie intake while managing hormonal shifts are your ticket to fat loss.  Follow the simple rules below where we put all the nutritional facets you need to know into a neat little bundle, and we will put you on fast track for fat loss.

 

Rule# 1.  Eat 5-6 small meals each day.  Forget the "breakfast, lunch and dinner" social norm.  It's an ancient eating structure that was designed to fit the time and convenience needs many years ago.  The Breakfast/ lunch/ dinner meal plan is far from optimal for health and fat loss goals.

 

Start thinking in terms of small meals.  A good mind-set to have is "the proper fuel for the next 3 1/2 hours".  Eating smaller meals frequently has many advantages- I can't list them all here, but here are the best reasons.

                         

 

Rule#2. Eat protein with every meal.  Protein provides the proper amino acids that support muscle tissue- your body's fat burning furnace.  Protein also stabilizes insulin, which is the hormone responsible for storage (including filling your fat cells with fatty acids. Stabilizing insulin levels ensures that more body fat is used as fuel.

 

Rule #3. Eliminate starchy carbs from your meals and substitute fibrous vegetables.  This will immediately change the body's biochemistry for the better, and will lower the enzymes and hormones that store fat.  The fibrous vegetables also increase your metabolic rate through TEF.  Most fibrous vegetables use more calories up in the digestion process than they give the body to use as fuel.

 

Rule#4. Exchange calorie laden drinks with their "diet" equivalent or switch to green tea and water.  As I spoke about here, you save a ton of calories when you eliminate those pesky extra calories.  A can of Coke is 140 calories. 

 

Wouldn't you rather drink a diet coke and save all those calories?  Heck, that's saving 30 minutes of treadmill time!

 

Rule #5. Drink plenty of water.  As Eugene wrote about on his blog, water is crucial to fat loss, for more reasons than you think!

 

Water is crucial to just about every process of the body, but one of the coolest fat burning values of water is that increases the rate of calorie usage by the body. In fact, recent studies have shown that drinking 500 milliliters of water can increase the metabolic rate by 30%. The extra calorie expenditure is due to the body having to bring the water temperature up to acceptable levels (Which takes energy to do).

 

So, aside from hydrating your body, drinking water can add up calorie- burn wise!

 

There are tons of places on the web where you can find the real deal on weight loss and fat-burning (like this site you’re currently reading *ahem). Want an easy, painless, NO-COST method to keep abreast of the latest in fat loss, body sculpting, health, and nutrition?

 

Sign up here for our weekly newsletter (heck, we even GIVE you something to join – our latest Special Report: The Dark Side of Dieting. It details 21 things you probably didn’t even realize were keeping you from losing those inches.)

 

You'll also receive the Fat Burning Foods Chart with Calorie Count that was designed to use in combination with the Beach Day Program.

 

If you're truly looking to lose weight fast, I suggest you head over to read our page on black book of secrets. It includes 61 fat loss tips, tricks and techniques. It is a very good investment.

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Michael Collins