Do It Like a Guy

No, not that.....

This is a great article on why guys are so much more successful at losing weight than women are with what appears to be a lot less effort. Make sure to read the whole thing but I'll summarize some of the best points.

Men's bigger muscle mass—in fact, their bigger-ness overall—helps them burn 30% more calories than we do, says nutritionist Cynthia Sass, RD, coauthor of Your Diet Is Driving Me Crazy. They have other advantages, too: For one, their hormones don't leave them waterlogged—and heavier—1 week a month. We generally have more body fat and are biologically more inclined to store it (possibly to nourish those dozen babies nature wants us to have).

And that's the unfortunate truth ladies. Us guys just have the physiological advantage to losing weight and, losing it more quickly than you do.

But, that doesn't mean women CAN'T lose weight. As my friend Lou Schuler is quoted in the article as saying:

"When a guy goes to the gym, he'll usually pick an exercise that allows him to use the most impressive-looking weights," says Lou Schuler, a certified strength and conditioning specialist and author of The New Rules of Lifting.

"A woman, on the other hand, will go for light dumbbells and do an exercise that allows her to use perfect form—but will do the least amount of good." To wit: "the 12 triceps exercises women do" to rid themselves of underarm dingle-dangle, says Schuler.

"All those little exercises are like Chinese water torture for your muscles: a little drip here, a little drip there. You think if you do them enough then these nice, streamlined muscles will show up, but no, they won't."

To piggy-back on that, for those women that are or have been clients of mine on the Lean Body Fat Loss Plan, you know I don't own a pair of pink or blue weights and you also know that you lift heavy weights, all without looking like a freaky bodybuilder chick.

If fat loss is your goal, then the key should be doing exercises that use your biggest muscles (glutes, pecs, hamstrings, lats, and quads). Meaning, do bodyweight exercises such as inverted rows, squats, pushups, dips, and pullups. If you have a gym or home equipment that you can utilize use a barbell or dumbbells for squats, bench presses, rows, deadlifts, and lat pulldowns.

And don't just use the light weights. challenge yourself. Try two sets (after two warm up sets) of 8 repetitions where the last rep on the second set would be the last repetition you could possibly do for the day for that exercise.

And don't forget about intervals on a bike or a treadmill. I know, they hurt but, mixed with weight training, you just can't beat the fat loss results you'll get from them.

The article continues to go on giving you more advice on how to go about dieting and working out like a guy so take a read and don't just be entertained by the humor of the article. Implement the strategies into your routine and see what happens.

www.leanbodyfitness.com

Mailbag Monday

Question: Do you have any meal plans that are high in protein and low in carbs? What are your thoughts on this?

Answer: In general, I don't have a problem with low-carb diets.

But, remember, it's not the carbs or the fat that is going to cause the numbers on the scale to start creeping up, it's extra calories.

So, yes, you can lose weight if you reduce only your carbs intake or only your fat intake, or a combination of the two. But the overall goal to losing weight is to take in less calories than what your body is burinng.

That being said, yes, low-carb diets are a great way to lose weight. But, you need to keep in mind that there are carbs out there that should be a staple of your diet such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains such as oatmeal and whole wheat bread (real whole wheat flour, not the fake stuff), legumes such as all the different kinds of beans (kidney, black, etc).

At the same time, don't forget that there are plenty of good dietary fats out there that you should keep in your eating plan as well. These would include nuts (almonds are king!), eggs, lean meats, fish such as salmon, and tuna, and don't forget about olive oil.

So if you want to try out a low-carb diet, give it a shot, but remember that losing weight is not something you should be looking at as a quick fix. In other words, if you're going to go on a low-carb diet in order to lose some weight before spring break (ya, I know, trust me, I'm normally not very good at rhyming but that one just seem to come together), but then once you reach your goal weight you're going to go back to your old habits, I'll bet you a nickel you're going to put that weight right back on, if not more.

Make a long term plan to lose the weight you want to lose, as well as knowing how to keep it off once you get there and that has to include an eating plan full of good carbs, good fats, and good protein AND a solid, efficient workout program such as the Lean Body Fat Loss Plan.

As a side note, I've been spending the last 2-3 months on a somewhat low-carb diet. I'm going to give it a couple more months as I also want to get some blood tests done (cholesterol, glucose, etc) to make sure those are checking out okay before I put my stamp of approval on it. So keep an eye on this blog for more information that I'll be making on that diet in the near future.

www.leanbodyfitness.com

Fitness Self-Sabotage

This is a great article that I think gets to the heart of why millions of people go on a diet and exercise program, lose some weight, and then fall off just after a couple of weeks.

What author Tom Venuto comes up with is pretty similar to something I had come up with a numbers of years ago.

Basically, we put ourselves into a “box.” We tell ourselves “I am _______” and then we keep ourselves in that “box.” Why do we do that? Is it because our “box” is comfortable and we’re afraid to veer outside of it? More times than not, ya, that’s probably the answer.

And unfortunately, that’s why people continue to go on diets and exercise plans, only to fall back into their own ways after a short period of time. People think that all they have to do is change their eating, get on an exercise plan, and turning fat to lean will show up in no time.

But, unfortunately, THOSE are the easy parts. The mental part is the hard part. You have to WANT to change your self-image. You have to WANT to step outside that “box.” Don’t create a new “box,” just get outside your current “box” and do what you want to do and look the way you want to look. Once you change your self-image, then the eating and exercise plan you put yourself on will do the rest.

The article goes into steps you can take to change your self-image. Follow it. It may seem rather strange to be doing what he states but, trust me, if you follow his easy steps, you’ll reach your fitness goals (as well as any other self-image changing goal that you’ve set for yourself).

Have a good weekend (but not TOO good of a weekend that you blow all the progress you made over this past week).

www.leanbodyfitness.com

Walking and non-fat loss

Walking has it’s benefits but, fat loss is not one of them.

Now, true, if you lived a completely sedentary life where you did absolutely nothing but sit on the couch and click the remote, and then one day decided you were going to get off your rump and start walking 30 minutes on a daily basis, then sure, you’re going to lose some fat, at first. But, there are still better ways to go about losing that fat in a more efficient method.

This article is a pretty good summary of why walking is probably one of the most inefficient methods for burning fat. This paragraph specifically hits the nail on the head:

So why then do so many fitness and health experts recommend walking for weight loss? One reason is that people don’t want to hear that they have to work hard so they figure some activity is better than none. Another reason is that the body burns more fat for fuel when exercising at an easy pace, however, the total amount of energy used is so small that you end up burning off little body fat. That’s also why when you choose the “fat burning” program on your treadmill or bike it has you exercise at any easy level. Yes, you’re burning fat, but so little that you’d have to exercise at that easy pace for hours and hours each day.

Which if you think about it, has it ever really made sense when you’ve heard the “theory” that you burn more fat at an easier pace than going at a more intense pace? So using that logic, that means sitting in front of the television watching Texas Chain Saw Massacre would burn more calories than running 100 yards sprints for 20 minutes? Please don’t kid yourself.

Now, don’t take that to mean that in order to efficiently and effectively burn fat that you have to go out and run for life. Think about the intervals that some of you have done on my Lean Body Fat Loss Plan. The intervals are based subjectively on your fitness level. Meaning, some people may be doing all out short burst sprints because they can handle that but others may only be doing a fast pace walk for short bursts then followed by a rest period that is 1-2 times the length of that short burst.

So keep on doing those intervals and watch the fat fall off.

www.leanbodyfitness.com

WELCOME TO THE LEAN BODY FITNESS BLOG!

Welcome and I’m glad you found this blog!!

The purpose of this blog is to give you quality information on health and fitness. Topics will include, well, just about everything!

I’ll be giving you opinions of health and fitness topics, as well as giving you links to stories and articles that I may come across that I think may be helpful to you as well.

I’ll also make sure to give you any updated information on new programs, products, and events that I will be offering on my main Lean Body Fitness site.

Health and fitness are not just about eating and exercising right. It’s also about changing how you think. So issues of changing your mental habits will also be discussed on this blog.

Have a health and fitness related question? Just e-mail me at mike@leanbodyfitness.com and I’ll answer your question not only directly to you but, make the question (not information about the person asking the question!) and my answer available for everyone that views this blog. Find a health and/or fitness article on the web that you think is interesting and would like my comment on it? Send it my way and I’ll take a look.

My goal is to update this blog 2-3 times a week so make sure to check on this site on a daily basis in order not to miss anything that is going to help you move closer and closer to your health and fitness goals.

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