Five More Advanced Fat Loss Tips

1) Don't cut calories too much.

This is something that happens a lot as people get closer to their goals, and especially when people hit a fat loss plateau.

But you can't do it.

Here's why.

Among other things, your food intake and energy balance help to control your metabolism (most likely by altering levels of various hormones in your body).

When you cut your calories too much, you probably knock your hormones levels for a loop, causing them to send a collective message to your body that you are not getting enough to energy in...and therefore, that shuts down your fat loss systems.

Here's one reader's account of the pitfalls of an excessively low calorie diet...
"I'm on the weight loss track again. I found I wasn't eating enough calories (1000 kcal/day). Filling up on veggies is good (and I love them), but they don't have the calories. Eating walnuts/almonds helped get me there. Eating 1500+ is where I need to stay to lose weight and keep my energy up. I've dropped about 3 pounds this week."
Holly, using the TT for Women program with great success

With men, I generally cringe when I hear they are eating less than 1800 calories per day. And with women, anything less than 1500 calories per day. So you probably want to stay above those levels, and definitely avoid any sharp, sudden decreases in your energy intake.



2) Don't exercise too much.

For very similar reasons to point #1

Exercise intensity and frequency also help to control your hormone levels. If you over-exercise (i.e. tonnes of cardio everyday, weight training everyday, etc.), then your body doesn't get a chance to recover and keep your hormones at the correct level.

After all, exercise is another form of stress on your body...and you all know how your body and mind can get messed up from too much stress.

Resist the urge to exercise for the sake of exercise. Don't go adding 60 minute stairmaster sessions everyday before breakfast if you're already on a well-designed, consistent workout schedule. That could be too much stress on your body.

Stick to structured, purposeful exercise as found in your TT program.

I've been around the exercise block so to speak, and I often know how much is too much for most fitness levels.

And as I said the other week in a previous email about advanced fat loss, the best way to accelerate your fat burning is by adding in some bodyweight circuits (starting at 10 minutes per day and working up to 20 minutes maximum) done in the morning or evening.

(If you do your regular workout in the AM, do your bodyweight circuits after dinner; otherwise, do the bw circuits first thing in the AM, and then do your regular workout at lunch or later in the afternoon or evening.)

After two weeks, take a break from this routine and allow your body to recover.

Two other things you can do during this two weeks of extra training...

a) Add 10 seconds to the length of each interval.

b) Add 1 set to each of the exercises in the first Superset of the workout.

So now you have more volume, performed at a high-intensity of course, but without over-taxing your hormonal system.

But remember, you should only do this increased training volume for 2 weeks. Then you need to take a break and reduce the training volume to normal - to allow your body to adapt and recover.

3) Eat 8 times per day.

In the past 5-10 years, it's become common knowledge that we should all eat smaller, more frequent meals. In fact, one study from 2005 showed that doing so helped reduce cholesterol and burn more calories than eating 2-3 meals per day.

And so for our advanced fat loss approach, we're going to bump that up to 8 meals per day. Here's how you would do that:

Breakfast
Mid-morning snack
Lunch
Afternoon snack
Pre-workout
Post-workout
Dinner
Evening snack

With each meal and snack (except pre- & post-workout) focusing on lean protein, healthy fats, and fiber-rich vegetables and fruit (for pre- and post-workout, stick with 20g protein and a half-serving of fruit).

Start your day immediately with 2 cups of water, 3 fish oil caps, and 20g of lean protein, and then have your a fiber-rich breakfast. This meal will help dictate your blood sugar for the rest of the morning and into the afternoon. So if you blow it on breakfast, you've might actually have blown it for the entire day.

(And if you workout at other times of the day, just adjust the schedule and move about the pre- and post-workout meals).

4) Eat more fiber-rich vegetables at each meal.

Last week I suggested a cup of broccoli at both lunch and dinner (NOTE: I didn't mean that was all you should eat - sorry for the confusion).

Other ways to get more green include eating a green pepper with your omelet at breakfast, or spinach in your salads at lunch, etc.

Aim for 8 servings of green, fiber-rich vegetables over the course of the day.

5) Eat only protein, healthy fats, & fiber between meals.

This would give you a sample snack plan of 20g lean protein (from a quality shake or from chicken breast), 1/2 - 1 oz almonds, some more broccoli or spinach, or an apple. And enjoy some Green Tea at this time as well, of course.

Top Five Fat Loss Tips

from Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, M.Sc.
1) No liquid calories (with the exception of milk - as long as it fits your daily nutrition plan). So get rid of all the juices, the sodas, and the sports drinks. Liquid sugar is the last thing you need when you are trying to lose fat. And say goodbye to booze - not only will it lead to excess calories in, but it can also reduce the quality of your sleep - and that just leads to a whole other list of problems.

2) No fast food. Do not eat at fast food restaurants. Even if you choose what you think is healthy, remember this: Fast food restaurants are all about profit. And in order to profit while giving you cheap, quick, and easy to prepare foods, the quality of the food ingredients will be poor - especially the protein.

Now you might have read that you can still make healthy choices at fast food restaurants. But you know what, that's just politically-correct nonsense. If it's fast food, it's poor food. You do realize it's no coincidence that fast food chicken breasts are the exact same shape and size, right?

(I'll be discussing more politically correct fitness nonsense later this week...and tearing apart what passes for fitness information in the media these days.)

Walking into a burger joint and grabbing a pre-formed chicken breast on a white bread bun with a piece of old lettuce and a half-green, half-pink tomato is not healthy eating.

The politically-incorrect truth is that it's going to take time and effort to eat properly. You will have to plan, shop, and prepare healthy meals. You will have to spend time cleaning, cutting, and cooking your food. That's the truth.

But believe me, it will taste so much better than fast food, and healthy eating will make you more alert. Eating fast food will make you feel terrible, and will make you want to have an afternoon nap at your desk.

Do the best you can to improve on your nutrition everyday.

3) Eat more fruits and vegetables. If you are eating 2 servings per day, then go up to 4 servings per day by the end of the week. And even if you think you are doing great by having 5 servings per day, you still need to double that (take 2-3 weeks to work your way up to 10 servings per day). Stick with fiber-rich fruits and vegetables. And go organic whenever possible.

4) Eat 1oz of almonds or walnuts per day (1/2 oz in the AM, and the other half in the afternoon). Most nuts are roasted in hydrogenated oils (trans fats), so stick to non-roasted nuts.

5) Be consistent with your workouts, and make sure the workouts are efficient and effective. To make it easy for you to follow, stick with the Turbulence Training workout system.

It doesn't matter if you train in the morning before or after breakfast, or at night before or after dinner, or at 1pm on days when the moon is in line with Saturn...don't worry about the details, just train consistently.

6) BONUS TIP: Go for a walk after lunch or dinner (or anytime you eat a big meal). Research shows this will help you control your cholesterol and triglycerides, plus any movement is better than sitting around watching the TV and snacking.