I review a lot of fat loss programs.
From the most underground e-books, to the latest best seller on Amazon, I’ve read through stacks of them.
Actually, I USED TO.
I avoid reading that kinda stuff these days because, well most of the time, once I finished reading a diet book, I feel like I need to take a shower.
They are just that sleazy.
Sure, they’re some of the greatest examples of marketing this side of beer commercials, but the actual information in them is a combination of basic good nutritional practices (you should eat more fruits and vegetables) and make-believe (never eat carbohydrates past 6:45 pm when in combination with fats).
Most of the time the marketing story starts like this… “My special ‘melt the lard’ program guarantees you will lose fat fast without losing any muscle”.
The part I have a trouble with is the “without […]

Original post by Brad Pilon

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How Much Is Too Much?

Although the Primal Blueprint leaves ample room for individual determination, I do try to offer folks a clear picture of the impact different dietary and lifestyle choices have on their overall health picture. At times I even offer specific recommendations or ranges that readers can tailor to their particular needs and situations. I’m often asked, however, about the upper ceilings I would set for various elements of the PB (fat, fish oil, etc.) I thought I’d take on those questions today and cover good ground by applying a rapid fire approach for several of the most common “excess” inquiries. Enjoy, and be sure to share your thoughts!

Protein
My general recommendation is one gram per pound of lean body mass on an average day. If you IF, it might weigh in at half that or less on your fasting days, whereas special occasions like Thanksgiving or your uncle’s annual steak fry might […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

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more about “Group tells Ronald McDonald to take a…“, posted with vodpod
personal trainer toronto
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Original post by healthhabits

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Original post by healthhabits

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I sometimes get asked how it “feels to be lean” or hear remarks like “it must be awesome to be lean all the time”. I reply that I feel great and that being lean feels great. But that’s not the whole truth.
People with a remote interest in fitness and health usually aspire to get lean and maintain that condition. They may also assume that reaching a satisfactory or awe-inspiring condition will elevate their lives to a new level. Much like people assume that winning the lottery will make their lives indefinitely better in just about every aspect.
In striving towards this goal, some people have an ideal body weight in mind. Others may have a mental image of their physique or an arbitrary body fat percentage in mind. Goals may vary a lot but expectations do not. Once the goal is reached, everything will be great.
I was only slightly different than […]

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan)

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Wow.
Finally saw a UFC fight that was worth staying up late to watch.
(and trust me, this is an AMAZING feat of will power for me..)
Now, regardless of whether or not you approve of Mixed Martial Arts I can tell you that there is some valuable lessons to be learned from this sport.
After watching George St. Pierre continually improve as a fighter (he’s the guy who one the main fight) I realized some rather obvious things and some not-so-obvious things.
Firstly, the Obvious:
Progress needs Progression.
Next, the non-obvious:
You can’t FORCE progression.
These two rules go for building muscle or losing fat or getting better at an activity….really, they go for everything in life.
Everybody talk about progress, but nobody talks about the fact that progress doesn’t work when you force it.
In fact, the go-to health and fitness Bravado is FORCE IT, FORCE IT, FORCE IT!
The mantra of almost any get rich quick scheme is FORCE […]

Original post by Brad Pilon

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Let’s continue the discussion from last time. Again, I apologize for any meandering. This is a big topic, and I think it helps to leave no stone unturned.
Seasonal eating is currently pretty popular, perhaps even trendy in some circles. You’ve got the locavores, folks who only dine on meat and produce grown and harvested within a certain radius (generally fifty or 100 miles). They don’t necessarily set out to eat by the seasons, but that’s how it works out when you’re only eating local stuff. Others are committed seasonalists (yeah, I may have made that term up), specifically choosing foods that would only be available that time of year. There are even a small number of strict ancestral seasonalists, who only eat those foods which were seasonally available to their ancestors. A lot of Primal dieters fall into this category, and they generally do it for health.

The vast majority of […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

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New research from John Hopkins University has found that fibromyalgia patients who engaged in 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity 5 to 7 days per week were able to:

improve their mobility, while
reducing their levels of perceived pain and disability

And as anyone who suffers with fibro surely knows, that is huge.

Never-ending pain throughout your body
Lack of sleep
Complete and utter exhaustion

That’s what it’s like to live with fibromyalgia.
Not fun.
The Study
Researchers asked the participants to increase their activity levels by increasing the intensity of regular everyday activities such as

taking the stairs instead of using an elevator,
gardening
and walking.

Their goal was to push themselves hard enough to cause heavy breathing, but not hard enough that they couldn’t hold a conversation.
The Results
By the end of the study, the participants had increased their average daily steps by 54%.
More significantly, the exercisers reported “significantly less perceived functional deficits and less pain.”
Speaking about these results, researcher Kevin Fontaine […]

Original post by healthhabits

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Goals: We’re back to the HIIT/HIRT phase of the workout. The goals for this phase are Fat Loss / Aerobic Endurance / Anaerobic Endurance / Improved Joint Mobility / Correct Typical Muscular Imbalances (reduce neck & lower back pain)
And remember, the success of this phase of the workout relies on three things:
1.Keeping good form throughout each exercise.
2.Performing as many reps as possible. Really push yourself.
3.Keeping the rest between sets to an absolute minimum. No rest if possible.
WORKOUT WARM-UP
1.  Circles – Starting with the ankles and moving all the way up to your neck, gently make circles with all of your joints – 10 revolutions each joint in each direction

.
2.  Dead Bug – Push your lower back into the floor and articulate your arms & legs as in the video. 1 set of as many reps as possible with your lower back […]

Original post by healthhabits

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Hey what about beer and your eating plan? Here is my take with help from Joel Marion… Its great when one of your mentors thinks along the same lines as you do.

So, when it comes to Cheat Days and the Warrior Fit Body Solution program, one of the more common questions I receive is the beer question:

“How many beers can I drink?”

Well, within the manual one of the few “rules” I place on Cheat Days is that alcohol consumption be limited.

Why?  Because alcohol intake lowers leptin levels, which is the exact opposite of everything we are trying to do hormonally on a Cheat Day.

So, what then, is the solution?  Well, if you’re looking to get DRUNK, then I’m afraid there is no solution. However, if you just happen to enjoy the taste of beer (like me) and similarly prefer beer as your beverage of choice to wash down your Cheat Day feast, then there is one particular beer that actually may be able to boost your fat loss results:

O’Douls, non-alcoholic. Realistically there are a ton of Non-alcoholic beers out there.

Fact is, it’s everything that beer is, just without the alcohol, and tastes strikingly similar to most other domestics.  In fact, in a recent “study” (performed in my kitchen) 7 out of 7 people were not able to tell the difference between O’Douls and 2 other alcoholic domestic brews.

So, how can it help you burn fat?

Well, if you’re familiar with the science behind the Warriors eating plan, then you know that simple carbohydrates are by far the most effective nutrients for boosting leptin levels.  O’Doul’s contains plenty of simple carbs, without the leptin-plummeting alcohol content (and it tastes just the same…after all, it is beer).

And it also contains ZERO crap carbs, like high-fructose corn syrup (the most common “beverage” sweetener), which has repeatedly been shown to be one of the most fat-promoting carb sources around.

So, for a Cheat Day choice of beer, I gotta recommend O’Doul’s.  Yes, it’s non-alcoholic.  Get over it.

But what if you want to have a beer during the week, not a Cheat Day?  Is that totally off limits, or is it OK to sneak a light beer every so often?

Answer:  Will a light beer on rare occasion totally sabotage your results?  (I know, that’s a question, not an answer).

Considering that most light beers are around 100 calories, if you had 2-3 a week, I’m going to say no, that’s probably not going to make a substantial difference (especially if you’re compensating for that intake via other means [an extra exercise session, decreased cals elsewhere, etc]).

But hey, if no alcohol is the deal breaker then why not go for the lowest calorie and lowest carb content?  Here are the Top 3 lowest-calorie, lowest-carb beers:

1.  Bud Select 55 (55 cals)

2. Beck’s Premier Light (64 cals)

3. MGD 64 (64 cals)

They’re all less than 3 carbs per 12 oz. and a whopping 2.5% alcohol by volume (that’s how they’re so low calorie).  But, I actually like Beck’s and MGD 64 ? full flavor beers despite the minimal calorie content.

So, if you want to enjoy the refreshing taste of an ice cold brewsky (or 5 or 6) on your Cheat Day, go with the leptin-boosting properties of O’douls instead of the leptin-crashing properties of other alcoholic brews.  O’Douls contains the right types of carbs to positively affect leptin (i.e. simple, fast acting, insulin-spiking carbs), while alcohol unfortunately counteracts the intended hormonal purpose of the Cheat Day.

On other days, a 60-calorie low-carb beer won’t do much damage, but it’s all about moderation (limit to a couple times a week and you’ll be good).

Make no mistake I still recommend the O’Douls with no alcohol.

And again remember that this is a lifestyle change and you want to make it as simple and least disruptive as possible to be able to continue for a healthy long lived happy life.

To your health,

-Darrin Walton

 

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