Women who ate low-fat dairy products, such as non-fat yogurt and low-fat cheese three to four times a day lost 70 percent more fat than low-dairy dieters, according to a study published in the journal Obesity Research. "Calcium serves as a switch that tells your body to burn excess fat faster," explains study author Michael Zemel, M.D., director of the Nutrition Institute at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Sorry, but you won't reap the same benefits from calcium-fortified O.J. Research shows that you get the best results from dairy products themselves, not fortified foods. Aim for 1,200 mg, which includes about three servings of dairy a day.
It depends on just how many potatoes we're talking here! One medium potato has around 37 grams of carbs, so if you limit your carb count elsewhere, this is no problem. What you really have to watch out for are the toppings, like butter, cheese, sour cream, bacon, and rich sauces like gravy. Do some math to figure out how to balance the carbs from your potato and toppings with the other foods you eat.
After you train, it's difficult to gain body fat. Why? Depleted, broken-down muscles soak up both protein and carbohydrates for growth and recovery. If you eat too little at this time, you may actually set yourself back by impeding recovery; supporting recovery and growth actually increases metabolism while impeding it slows metabolism. In terms of spurring recovery and growth, just about the most counterproductive thing you can do after a hard workout is starve yourself.
Saturated fats in food will pack on more visceral fat than polyunsaturated ones, according to a 2014 Swedish study. When subjects ate 750 more calories daily for seven weeks, either in the form of palm oil (saturated) or sunflower oil (polyunsaturated), the former gained more visceral fat while the latter gained more muscle mass and less body fat. The study authors believe different fat types can impact both the way your body forms fat and stores it. What’s more, including healthy fats in your meals can make them more satiating and keeps hunger at bay.
After training you need a rapidly digested protein shake to drive cortisol levels down and flip muscle growth into overdrive. Since this shake is so fast acting it will not keep protein synthesis sustained at a high level for long. To sustain protein synthesis you will need to consume a post training meal. 1-2 hours after training. This should be a whole food meal with protein and carbs while minimizing fat intake. This will maximize muscle growth by keeping protein synthesis levels high and reducing catabolism.
Do not try to lose weight too rapidly. Crash diets and diet pills that promise weight loss are usually bad for you and actually don't help keep the weight off in the long run. Resist the urge to take the "easy" way out and instead stick with a healthier lifestyle. This way you lose the weight and improve your health, helping you keep the weight off in a way that won't harm you in the long run.
A 2014 Harvard study found that men who did twenty minutes of daily weight training had less of an increase in age-related abdominal fat compared with men who spent the same amount of time doing aerobic activities, and other studies have shown similar levels of success when guys hit the gym to cut down on fat. The implication: Guys can cut belly fat most efficiently with weight training.
The 3 branched chain amino acids are leucine, isoleucine, and valine. It has long been known that these three amino acids are great for preventing muscle tissue breakdown and building new muscle tissue. What most people do not know is that BCAA supplementation can increase fatty acid utilization for energy by decreasing protein breakdown for energy use.
The final possible culprit behind stubborn weight issues may be the stress hormone, cortisol. Too much cortisol will increase hunger levels, bringing along subsequent weight gain. The most common cause of elevated cortisol is chronic stress and lack of sleep (see tip #10), or cortisone medication (tip #9). It’s a good idea to try your best to do something about this.
All of this is important to understand because while the basics of changing your body composition are simple –energy balance– each person’s personal psychology and physiology will differ. Someone who’s never exercised before and has a lot of fat to lose will have different physiological and psychological requirements than someone who stopped training for a while and gained some body fat in the interim; conversely, a lean beginner is going to be in a different place than an overweight beginner.
This question is on so many minds: how can I lose belly fat...and fast? While there's no magic formula of food and exercise to reduce belly fat with the snap of your fingers, there are nutrition choices, exercises and lifestyle changes that can help. Here's your guide to understanding exactly what belly fat is and how you might be able to reduce it over time.
Not only is fasted cardio not beneficial but it is actually detrimental to results. Fasted cardio may result in higher fat utilization but it also results in higher amino acid utilization which means more muscle tissue breakdown. As if that wasn’t enough, research has also proven that fasted cardio leads to far less total calories being expended per session. This means that there is simply less fat loss from fasted cardio when compared to cardio performed in a fed state. So make sure you get some food in your system before you head out to perform your cardio.
If you’ve been eating fast food for years, get real about your approach: You’re probably not going to stick to an organic, gluten-free, paleo overhaul for very long. "You want to change as little as possible to create calorie deficit," says Dr. Seltzer, who insists the best way to support sustainable weight loss is to incorporate small changes into existing habits. So instead of giving up your daily BLT bagels in favor of an egg-white wrap, try ordering your sandwich on a lighter English muffin. Or say you eat a snack bar every afternoon: Swap your 300-calorie bar for a 150-calorie alternative. "Your brain will feel the same way about it, so you won’t feel deprived," he says.
Usually work out for 30 minutes? Exercise for a third of that—but go hard! "An intense 10 minutes jump-starts your metabolic furnace and equals about 20 or 30 minutes at a moderate intensity," says Jordan Metzl, MD, author of Dr. Jordan Metzl’s Workout Prescription. If you can’t spare the full 10 minutes, you can sweat for even less time: According to a 2013 study from Colorado State University, exercising for just 2 ½ minutes at a high intensity (think running or biking sprints) can help you burn 200 more calories over the rest of the day.
Weight training can sometimes seem like an afterthought in many fat loss plans. This is a huge mistake since weight training burns an incredible amount of calories and raises the metabolism for hours after training. Many people mistakenly believe that the best way to lose fat is to stop lifting weights and focus on cardio. This will cause you to lose weight but most of it will not be fat.
Since doing cardio exercise is not as interesting as other exercises, people think it’s the only way to lose weight. But because it can get rather boring, people stop putting in the effort to lose weight altogether. The good news is, there are other ways to burn fat without having to spend long hours on the treadmill. The best way to reap the benefits of cardio is to incorporate it with weight-training.
Meal timing plays a crucial role in the preservation of muscle tissue and creating peak performance. Certain times of the day require certain nutrients to make sure that amino acid requirements are being met and energy levels are being optimized during training. To get the most out of your fat loss diet 3 square meals a day will not cut it. When looking for the best possible results we can and must do better.
The pre-training meal may just be the most important meal of the day. This is the meal that will fuel your workout. For this meal it is important to get protein and carbs which will make their way into the blood stream around the time your training session is getting underway. The glucose in the bloodstream from the carbs will be used for energy, while the amino acids from the protein will spare stored amino acids from being catabolized during training.
You might have heard the term ‘middle-age spread’. This means, as women progress towards their middle years, the ratio of body fat increases compared to the body weight. During menopause, when the levels of estrogen go down, and the amount of androgens or male hormones increase, then there is an increased risk of fat accumulation in the waist. Hormones actually regulate the fat concentration in the body, and your figure depends entirely on it!
Muscle tissue is a biologically active tissue, this means that it needs and uses calories just to continue being. Some studies have shown that 1 pound of muscle can burn up to 50 calories per day by simply existing. This means that if you gain 10 lbs of muscle you can eat 500 more calories per day and still lose fat. This is just one of many reasons why it is so important to preserve muscle tissue while cutting fat.
• If you’re in a caloric deficit: you’ll be better off choosing foods that are low in energy density and high in nutrient density. These foods will help keep you full when calories are low. Energy-dense foods like cereal, chocolate bars, ice cream, Pop-Tarts, etc. are less filling and thus less satiating. This is why you can eat a chocolate bar and be hungry again ten minutes later, while a [calorically] comparable meal filled with protein and veggies will keep you fuller for longer.
In other words? "Drinking makes you more likely to eat sh*t," Dr. Seltzer says, referring to drunk foods. At the same time, he stops short of asking patients to quit alcohol cold-turkey to lose weight. Plus, research suggests you don’t have to, as long as your intake is moderate—i.e., less than about a drink a day. "If you drink a glass of wine every night and notice you eat more afterward, eat less early to account for this," he says. "Or, if you’re drinking four glasses of wine a week, drink three instead so you’ll won’t feel such a big difference."
The most important thing I’ve taken away from completing this program has to be the amazing sense of accomplishment I now feel. I’ve quit countless programs in the past and was left feeling lazy, unmotivated, undetermined and like a quitter. This program showed me that I’m absolutely capable of following a challenging and detailed program when it’s the PERFECT fit. This is more than a program; it’s a lifestyle. And more importantly it’s a lifestyle that I can definitely see myself continuing with now that my 6 weeks have ended. Even aside from my amazing results (Ten pounds gone & 12.5 inches lost!!), I have found so many other victories through this program. I lifted heavier than I ever thought I could, I stuck to daily and weekly gym sessions and I FINISHED STRONG! Amanda has truly created a program that is a game changer and I am so thankful for the changes it’s sparked in me not only physically, but emotionally as well. I am stronger both inside and out because of the FASTer Way to Fat Loss. Thank you, Amanda!
In a way, moderate-intensity physical activity is that "magic pill" a lot of people are looking for, because the health benefits go beyond keeping your waistline trim: Not only can it reduce your risk of cancer, stroke, diabetes and heart attacks, but studies have shown that physical activity can significantly improve the moods of patients with major depressive disorders.
I just finished my first round of the FWTFL and I could not be more pleased with my transformation....emotionally, mentally and physically. This is the first time since I was 16 that I have felt true freedom and enjoyment with food. I have embraced the intermittent fasting and carb cycling lifestyle and I just can't imagine doing anything else. I was desperate for something sustainable...something that taught me how to eat and enjoy REAL food ( not rely on shakes or bars)...something that would help me maximize my time at the gym. This program has encompassed everything that I needed and some stuff I didn't realize I needed :)
Do more HIIT: High intensity interval training (HIIT) is as close to a magic pill as we have (except it involves a whole lot more work than just swallowing a capsule—sorry). Not only does it surge your body to max intensity during the workout, but because you’re working so hard, your body can’t deliver enough oxygen in the moment, explains personal trainer Jeremey DuVall. Your muscles accumulate a “debt” of oxygen that then has to be repaid post-workout. This throws your body into a phase of fat burning for hours after you’re done sweating, known as post-exercise oxygen consumption, or EPOC. Plus, super intense circuits like this activate muscle-building hormones like growth hormone and IGF-1, he adds.