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There is a Faster Better Way to Burn Fat

Continuous cardiovascular exercise, such as walking, jogging, stair climbing, or cycling, sustained for at least 30 minutes, will burn body fat no matter when you do it. However, if you want to get the maximum benefits possible from every minute you invest in your workouts, then you should consider getting up early and doing cardio before you eat your first meal. Early morning aerobic exercise on an empty stomach has major advantages over exercising later in the day.

Early morning cardio sessions offer an "afterburn" effect. You not only burn fat during the session, but your metabolism stays elevated for hours after the session is over. If you do cardio at night, you will still burn fat during the session, however, nighttime cardio fails to take advantage of the "afterburn" effect because your metabolism drops like a brick as soon as you go to sleep.

Early in the morning, before you eat your levels of liver glycogen (stored carbs) are low. If you eat dinner at 7 p.m. and you eat breakfast at 7 a.m., that is 12 hours without food. During this overnight fast, your levels of glycogen slowly decline to provide glucose for various bodily functions that go on while you sleep. As a result, you wake up in the morning with depleted glycogen and lower blood sugar - “the optimum environment for burning fat”. Some studies have suggested that up to 300% more fat is burned when cardio is done in a fasted, glycogen-depleted state.

So how exactly does this work? Carbohydrate (glycogen) is your body's primary and preferred energy source. When your primary fuel source is in short supply, this forces your body to tap into its secondary energy source; “body fat”. If you do cardio immediately after eating a meal, you will still burn fat, but you will burn less of it because you will be burning off the carbohydrates that you ate first.

Burning more fat is not the only reason to do cardio early. Morning workouts give you a "rush" that stays with you all day long. Exercise releases endorphins, which are opiate-like hormones hundreds of times more powerful than the strongest morphine. Endorphins create a natural "high" that makes you feel positively euphoric! Endorphins reduce stress, improve your mood and relieve pain. Try it.

Make a commitment to yourself to do it for just 21 days. Once those 21 days have gone by, you will already be leaner, your metabolism will be faster and you will feel fantastic all day long!

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The “Smart" Diet (Life style)

Bodybuilders know that 90% of what they look like is what they put in their mouths, NOT what they do in the gym. We may all have different genetics, but we do all have the same muscles and therefore could do all the same exercises. What separates how one looks from his neighbor is how one eats. Eating correctly means not only the correct amount of calories, but the correct amount of protein, fat and carbohydrates taken at the correct times. Your diet is the single most important element of a successful fat loss program. It should be geared to maximize fat loss, while minimizing any muscle loss. Here are 2 key points to remember:

1) “DO NOT” starve yourself. To lose fat you have to eat! Your body is designed for survival, and part of it's survival mechanism involves storing and holding onto bodyfat to be used in times of food shortages. If you make it a habit of not eating, or eating only a small amount of calories each day, eventually your body will begin to slow your metabolism in responce. Your body is just trying to conserve energy (calories) because it is getting so little nourishment. To avoid this, you simply must eat. YOUR BODY WILL ALWAYS SLOW YOUR METABOLISM IN RESPONSE TO LOW CALORIE DIETING.

2) EAT MORE OFTEN!!! Unfortunately, eating three meals per day will not cut it! It does not provide your body with the constant flow of nutrients and energy it needs to increase your metabolism and burn fat. Ideally, you should strive to eat 5 -6 smaller meals evenly spaced throughout the day. Ex: Split breakfast in half and eat the other half 2 hours later, do the same with lunch, and eat a decent dinner with lots of veggies and little to no carbs. Breakfast should always be your biggest meal of the day with the highest carb consumption of the day.

*NOTE: As you get older, your metabolism does start to fade. But not at the rate that most of us think. We typically lose about 5% every 10 years after the age of 25. So for example, if it's at 100% at age 25, it's at 95% at age 35, 90% at age 45, 86% at age 55, 82% at age 65, 78% at age 75, and 74% at age 85. So at age 85 you've lost 1/4 of your “metabolism”. If we were only so lucky with our hair, our teeth and our minds. It's up to you to keep your metabolism up! It can be done, eating right and exercise is the key. Always has been, always will be.

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First and foremost, if you are looking better, feeling better, functioning better, and your clothes are fitting better, what the heck do you care what the scale says! This should help. Having your Body Fat measured PRIOR to starting any type of program is 110% better than your scale alone. Since a pound of fat is about the size of a grapefruit, and a pound of muscle is about the size of a tennis ball, this should give you some clue as to why your clothes are fitting better with little to no weight changed. Your body weight can fluctuate as much as several pounds a day/week. In my opinion, weight should only be taken following several weeks to months of a continuous program. Along with your body fat percentage.

Since I started Personal Training in '93', THIS, has always been a huge topic of conversation. Also a complaint. Many trainee's, especially women show up as scheduled, kick butt a few day's a week, week after week for month's straight. And even after it's been explained that they've lost body-fat and gained muscle, they can still look better, feel better, function better, and their clothes will fit them better, and they will still be upset if the scale doesn't meet their expectations.

When asked about their diet's, most admit that they are far from perfect. And they like their late night after dinner snacks. Many even admit to doing nothing on the day's that I am not with them. Seriously, how can one honestly expect results when this is the type of lifestyle that one leads? A rule that I use for many health related issue's is this; In my opinion, whatever the issue that you are dealing with, you need 3 months initially, then one additional month for every year that you have been dealing with that particular problem. Trust me, NOT using your scale regularly will benefit you in the long run.

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What vs. How

It's not always What you eat, but How you eat it. Many years ago, there was an employee I worked with that was notified by the company that his job was at risk due to his being overweight. He came to me for help. I had known him for almost ten years and knew where
he had eaten breakfast and lunch almost every day for the entire ten years.

To start, I told him that he would walk with me every day at lunch, 30 minutes, 5 days a week. As far as his eating habits, he was to continue eating at the same places every day as always. With one change. No matter which meal it was, he was to split it in half, and eat the remaining half 2 to 3 hours later. So basically, the same foods, but now eating 6 smaller meals a day instead of 3 large one's.

He was also told that he could, if he wished, make smarter choices. By, getting just bacon instead of bacon and sausage, use just maple syrup, no butter. Mustard occationaly instead of mayo. More turkey, less ham and cheese. More veggies with dinner and less rice, potato's or pasta. He did however confide in me later to say that he did not do much of this.

After 24 weeks, he lost a total of 36 pounds. However, because of his previous size he was not very satisfied with such small results. He thought that with all he had done, 36 pounds was not all that much of a loss. This is where a different perspective is required. I made him promise to stop at the local bowling alley on his way home, go in and pick up two 16 pound balls which by the way only totals 32 pounds. Then re-think his attitude. He did, and smiled at me the next day.

Here's the point. I don't care if you've eaten a pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day for the last 10 years. If you start cutting each pizza in half and eating the other half a few hours later, you will eventually start to lose some weight when your body turns up your metabilizm to compensate for HOW you are eating. This is not a game, but I tell people that it is. It may be difficult to learn how to play, but once you know how to play, it's easy.

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NOT Exercise, FSA

While at a health seminar in '06', the educator explained this concept to us, and I felt so stupid as to have never even thought of it in the 25 years of personal training and experience. FSA stands for Fun Sweaty Activity. Whenever you mention exercise to someone who's not really into exercise, it becomes an emediate turn off. But when you explain FSA as “ANY” activity that you do like that raises your heart rate enough to make you sweat, is exercise, it takes on a whole new meaning.

The instructor explained to us just how much he did not like to exercise, but just how much he did like to play hockey 3 to 4 times a week. Then he exclaimed “Let anyone tell me that that's not exercise!” Get the point? FSA is any activity that you enjoy, that raises your heart rate enough to make you sweat, period. Find an FSA today.

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