Sure, you may lose 5, 10 or even 20 pounds on a fad diet…but you’ll gain it all back and then some. How can I be so confident that your results will be short lived?

It’s actually a simple concept, and once you understand it you will be forever saved from the tortures of yo-yo dieting.

Fad diets saddle you with unreasonable calorie restrictions and some even cut out entire food groups just to produce that short-lived drop in weight – a process that is actually harmful to your health. The fad diets also ignore one major component to shaping up: exercise.

You see, most fad diets operate on one age old premise: cut calories, cut calories, cut calories. By restricting the type and amount of food consumed the fad dieter usually sees an immediate drop in weight. If only it stopped there…

But it doesn’t stop there. Life continues, and the fad dieter returns to their pre-diet eating habits – with one major difference in their body due to the sudden drop in pounds. Their calorie requirements have gotten smaller.

In practical terms this means that the dieter will begin gaining weight even though they are eating their normal pre-diet portions. And since exercise hasn’t become a part of their routine, the unneeded calories will result in pounds gained. So what’s a dieter to do? Find a brand new diet to follow – right? Wrong.

There is a way to drop pounds and firm your body, but you won’t read about it in the next diet book or hear it on the news. The solution to your fad dieting nightmare is a lifestyle change.

What is a lifestyle change? To change your lifestyle means to replace unhealthy habits with healthy ones, and to do so consistently. It isn’t something you do for a week or two, only to revert back your old ways – a lifestyle change redefines who you are.

I know this is starting to sound like some heavy stuff, but hear me out. Changing your lifestyle from one that is unhealthy to one that is healthy will be the best thing that you ever do for yourself. Trust me; I help people like you make this change every day with amazing results.

Fact: The shape of your body is the direct result of your current lifestyle.

So how do I change my lifestyle? That is a great question, and the answer is actually easier than you might think.

Most people who are unhappy with their bodies are really only holding on to a few bad habits. Once these destructive habits are identified and then replaced with healthy habits their body naturally transforms from one that they loathe to one that they are proud of.

In other words, to get the body that you want simply determine your unhealthy habits and replace them with healthy ones. Here are the most prevalent unhealthy habits:

The habit of inactivity. Failing to exercise on a consistent basis is one of the most destructive obstacles for your health and figure. (The key word here is consistent. If you aren’t exercising at least 3-4 times each week then you own this habit.)

The habit of overeating. Consuming calories in excess of your daily caloric needs is one of the main reasons that more adults are overweight today than ever before.

The habit of empty calories. Filling your diet with foods that hold little to no nutritional value is a great way to expand your waist. (Hint: if a food item is made up of mainly sugar and/or fat consider it ‘empty’ calories.)

You can lose weight and improve both your appearance and your health.
You can look and feel great.
You can transform yourself into the person that you’ve always wanted to be.

Don’t let another day go by that leaves you a slave to unhealthy habits. Take action now. Call or e-mail me today and together we will recreate your lifestyle and redefine your body.

By the way, I should mention another deadly habit that destroys too many people’s dreams. The habit of procrastination.

How many times have you told yourself that you will start eating healthy tomorrow? How many times have you told yourself you will start exercising next week? How many times have you promised that you would call me to start your personal training program? Each day that you succumb to the habit of procrastination is a day that pulls you farther and farther from your goals… and makes you more and more of a failure!

Break that nasty habit of procrastination – Check out my Lake Ozark Personal Trainer program Get started today.

When does a lie become an accepted truth? When the lie is repeated often enough.

It’s the oldest trick in the book, a favorite ploy of politicians and others who stand to gain… but we still fall for it.

Especially when it comes to losing weight…

The truth is Americans want to believe so badly that they can lose weight quickly and easily that they are readily willing to accept any ruse that implies it is possible. And the diet industry is riddled with self-perpetuating myths, misconceptions, and downright mistruths that prey on our dreams.

The strategy is to market fringe products and miracle cures that are very seductive in what they promise. Note the billions of dollars the diet industry spends on consumer advertising. Very few people are successful at losing weight, but the promise gets into our subconscious and stays there. Why? Because the lie is repeated often enough.

The antidote is for consumers to educate themselves from reputable sources with reliable data. I will start the process by smashing ten of the most common weight-loss lies right here.

1. “Lose 30 pounds in 30 days.” Or any other gimmick that pledges massive weight loss at break-neck speed. It’s not healthy, and it’s not true. Permanent weight loss requires lifestyle change, not a quick fix. You didn’t become overweight overnight. It’s not realistic to think you can lose weight overnight, either.

2. Fat is bad for you. Dieticians forwarded that one to people for years. Now they know better. The truth is that some fats are unhealthy, and some are good – indeed, necessary – for your health. (Hence the term, “essential fatty acids”!) In fact, certain fats are necessary for a healthy heart.

3. Carbohydrates are bad for you. First it was fat, now carbohydrates are the bad guy. Can somebody please make up their mind? This trendy idea is just too broad. When trying to lose weight, make a distinction between unhealthy, simple carbohydrates, such as white flour and sugar, and fibrous carbohydrates, such as vegetables and whole grains, which provide vital vitamins, and fiber to aid digestion.

4. Lose weight by not eating. Uh… no. First of all, what is healthy about starving yourself? Starving deprives the body of the nutrients it needs for life and can lead to serious illness. Plus you lose muscle mass, not fat. Even if you do lose pounds, you gain them back almost immediately when you raid the fridge again.

5. Don’t eat after 6 p.m. This is my favorite industry lie. It’s not what time you eat, it’s what you eat! In Europe they eat at 10 o’clock at night and they’re half the size of Americans.

Let’s be realistic about this… do you really believe your body has a special enzyme, or mechanism, that says “its 6:00 p.m. It’s time to store all food as body fat!” Give me a break!

6. Salad bars are healthy. Bacon, cheeses, fried chicken, oily dressings… The apparent allure of salad bars means they probably require as much of your considered attention as ordering at a fast food restaurant. You have to choose the foods at a salad bar wisely. Most people simply do not do this.

7. Diet sodas aid weight loss. Nope… no way… no how. This is another one of my favorite pieces of diet-industry hype. There isn’t a single study that shows diet sodas help you lose weight. There’s absolutely no data on that at all.

8. You shouldn’t step on a scale. It’s another misconception that dieticians have passed on. I completely disagree with it. Though I do not believe that the scale should be your main barometer for measuring your progress, checking your weight on a regular basis (say once a week) is an obvious way to gauge your progress and alter your diet accordingly. However, scales in and of themselves, well… they suck. I encourage people to keep track of hip, thigh and tummy inches, too. Better yet, the way your clothes are fitting and the way you look in a mirror are the best indicators for measuring improvements.

9. You can lose weight with a pill. I call this one “cardio in a bottle.” You can’t replace healthy eating and exercise with a pill. Pills aren’t a new thing; they’ve been tried for decades…with horrible side effects. There is no pill that can make your body burn calories… NONE! That’s right …that Hydroxycut does you no good at all if you are not eating properly and doing cardio exercise. It requires proper nutrition, cardio and weight training. The weight you lost is probably because you reduced your caloric intake instead of the product. Guess what. You could have done the same damn thing without spending your money on the “cardio in a bottle.”

10. You have to join the gym. Would I love to see everyone working out in a gym? Of course. Is it a necessity? Absolutely not. Actually, the most recent research indicates 30 to 60 minutes per day of moderate physical activity is all it takes to balance healthy food intake. It doesn’t have to be strenuous exercise, just move your body!

There you have it… Stop believing everything you hear or read. Start using common sense. Do what it really takes to lose the tonnage.

Move a little more… eat a little less…and exercise a little discretion the next time you hear about a weight-loss product, or diet program, that sounds too good to be true.

CLICK HERE to continue…

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To decide what to eat after cardio, you have to approach the meal with the understanding that the types and quantities of food you eat affect your hormone levels. These hormones play a direct role in the burning (or not burning) of body fat. Keeping fat-burning hormones elevated – the very hormones that increase during cardio – is the single most important factor in determining what is best to eat after a cardio session. OK, let’s start with the simple stuff.

Fat

We know it makes no sense to eat a lot of fat after cardio. If your knowledge of physiology is limited, you can rely on common sense. It’s simply not a rational idea to chow down on a lot of dietary fat after having just jumped off the treadmill. Truth be told, dietary fat is easily stored as body fat, more so than protein and carbohydrates.

Protein

Protein is anti-catabolic. Dietary amino acids derived from protein foods can be used directly as fuel after cardio. Often, protein stores are broken down with cardio. That is, in addition to burning body fat, longer cardio sessions or cardio sessions performed in a total calorie deficit can cause a loss or burning of your hard-earned muscle. Since protein protects against muscle loss, taking in easy-to-absorb protein following the cardio session is a must. It can put an end to protein breakdown and keep the metabolism from taking a dive. That’s because burning protein is a strictly catabolic event, and catabolism is always associated with a slower metabolic rate.

Carbs

Carbs are the double-edged sword of nutrition. You need them for recovery and growth, yet they can initiate fat storage. Carbohydrates promote a rise of insulin, and insulin can be classified as a fat-storing hormone. In general, the more carbs you eat, the more insulin is released. Insulin is the quarterback of the entire fat-storing team and regulates the signals that allow fat cells to “open up” and store more body fat. Simultaneously, insulin directs dietary fat into fat cells and drives carbohydrates down fat-storing pathways.

Does it make sense to eat a lot of carbohydrates after cardio? Not really. When you eat a lot of carbohydrates, insulin levels will increase, shutting down fat-burning hormones and enzymes released during cardio.

The two benefits to cardio are:
1. it burns calories, and
2. it changes the hormonal status in the body, favoring the burning of body fat. Your carb quantity and choice after cardio affects the hormonal balance. Where cardio increases the circulation of cathecholamines (tiny messengers that target fat cells to break them down) insulin decreases the release of cathecholamines.

Whereas cardio increases the output of hormone sensitive lipase (HSL), a hormone that “opens” fat cells and allows fatty acids to be stripped as fuel, insulin opposes its release and can even spike levels of lipoprotein lipase (LPL), which does the exact opposite of HSL. LPL seals off fat cells and helps push fuel into fat stores. Therefore, it seems best to avoid carbohydrates after cardio to keep the fat-burning hormones elevated.

However, small amounts of insulin actually support the metabolism. How so? Insulin is also anabolic. It stimulates growth and repair of muscles. And, during a recovery or growth state, the body literally steals from its fat stores to obtain energy in order to sustain the recovery or growth process. Growth and recovery require fuel (energy), and most of that energy will come from fat stores. Insulin also supports the uptake of thyroid hormones, calorie-burning hormones, by tissues.

So, with regard to carbs after cardio:
1) A large amount will shut down fat burning and reverse the hormonal advantage associated with cardio.
2) Skipping carbs altogether leaves you with “just protein.” While protein helps prevent a loss in muscle, your body always needs a small amount of carbs for support.
3) A small amount of carbs helps support recovery and growth without shutting off the fat-burning process.
4) Small amounts of carbs coupled with protein can prevent thyroid hormones from declining.

I believe the best bet is to consume 25 to 40 grams of fast-acting protein, such as whey protein, egg whites or fish, along with 30 to 50 grams of carbohydrates within 30 minutes of cardio.

Ideally, the carbohydrates ought to be fiber-based, such as oatmeal, oat bran, peas or corn. Fiber slows the breakdown of carbohydrates, allowing them to be delivered in an almost “time-released” fashion. The benefit: slower-digesting carbohydrates result in moderate insulin rises, and moderate insulin is our goal. Moderate insulin offers anabolic or building support, without reversing the fat-burning state induced with cardio. Simple carbs, such as white bread, juices or high glycemic carbs, should be avoided because they tend to spike insulin levels, and the resulting spike can compromise fat burning by suppressing fat-burning hormones and enzymes.

Rick Streb – Lake Ozark Personal Trainer

Nutrition is almost always THE neglected factor when someone isn’t making any progress with their fitness training.  And why shouldn’t it be?  It can be quite confusing.

But understand that without a grasp of proper muscle building and/or fat burning nutrition, you won’t be able to make the progress that you desire, and you won’t reach your potential.

With a well implemented nutrition plan, you’ll be on your way toward achieving your fitness goals.

Why does nutrition seem so confusing?  For starters, there are too many choices. This makes it very difficult to decide the appropriate course of action.

We have the Hollywood diet, the cabbage diet, the grapefruit diet, the juice diet, the zone diet, high carb, low carb, no carb, high protein, low protein, no protein (okay, maybe not but it wouldn’t surprise me), high protein foods, high fat, low fat, slim fast, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutri-System, etc, etc.

Obviously, nutrition is big business.

It can become very frustrating trying to sort through all this information.

I’ve read hundreds of articles, books, and medical journals on nutrition, and I’ve come to decide on some fundamental principles that all nutrition programs do include.

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Remember, we are all different, but all essentially the same.  What this means is that the principles of proper nutrition apply to all of us, but we will need to make certain adjustments for the individual.

The important thing is to understand the general principles of a nutrition program so that you can tailor it to your specific needs, whether it be to build muscle, burn fat, get stronger, or nutrition for your specific sport.

Let’s take a look at some general principles of a proper nutrition program.

We’ll start with a brief introductory look at the three macronutrients – carbohydrates, protein, and fat.  All play an important role in your sports nutrition program.  And YES… there are only three macronutrients!!!  Vegetables ARE carbohydrates!

Carbohydrates - Carbs are your muscles preferred energy source for short, intense muscular contractions, i.e. weight training.  They supply the energy for these sessions as well as play a crucial role in recuperation and muscle growth.

Ingesting carbs signals your body to release insulin, which transports the amino acids (the building blocks of protein) and the carbs into your muscle cells.  This absorption by your muscles is a very important part of the muscle growth and repair factor.

Carbohydrates are stored as glycogen in your body’s muscles, and it’s this glycogen storage that gives the muscles their fullness.

This is the basis of the idea of carb depleting and then loading before a bodybuilding contest, the idea that when you deplete your body of glycogen and then “carb up,” your body will store even more glycogen then before in the muscles, making you look larger, tighter, and more ripped than ever.

In addition, the consumption of carbs creates a “protein sparing” effect, in that more of your protein will be used for the muscle building process instead of being burned as energy.  As you’ll see below, this “protein sparing” is a key element in your nutrition program.

Some important rules to keep in mind with regard to carbohydrate consumption are…

Avoid all processed foods -  Processed foods are ‘empty’ calories that do nothing for your health or your fitness.  By dropping them from your sports nutrition program, you’ll go far in improving your results – building muscle, losing fat, improving sports performance, increasing energy – not to mention vastly improving your health.

Processed foods include things like cookies, chips, donuts, pastries, soda, candy – your basic junk food.  But beware, processed foods can be dressed up in “healthy” packaging.  Read labels.  Stay away from these foods, especially one’s that contain high fructose corn syrup

That low fat muffin you’re about to eat… put it back.  It’s loaded with unhealthy sugar.  The regular muffin would actually be a better choice.

Processed foods should never be a part of your nutrition program, no matter what your fitness goals are.

Instead of processed foods and high fructose corn syrup, get the carbohydrates in your nutrition program from whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.

Protein - Protein, as most of you know, is the building block of muscles.  Without adequate protein consumption, you will be spinning your wheels with regard to your resistance training program.  No nutrition program is complete without proper adequate protein intake.

You should consume a MINIMUM of 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass every day.

And you may find better results taking in up to 2 grams per day per pound of body weight.  At 225 pounds, I’ve found that roughly 400-450 grams of protein per day works very well for me, which is about 2 grams per pound of body weight.

Fats - Yes, fats.  A macronutrient that is more misunderstood than carbohydrates, if that’s possible.

Here’s a neat little factoid for you.  The United States went on a low fat, high carb craze in the 80′s and began to get fatter and fatter as a nation.

Fat is not your enemy.  Good or “healthy” fats such as omega 3′s and omega 6′s are essential to good health and a properly functioning body.

Hey, maybe that’s why they are known as Essential Fatty Acids.

Here’s the problem with most people’s nutrition.  They are taking in enough fat but they are taking in the wrong fats by consuming too many trans fatty acids and saturated fats, and not enough good fats.

Try and eliminate the bad fats (in things such as margarine, shortening, snack foods, and most fast foods).

Consume more of the good fats, such as cold-water fish (salmon), walnuts, ground flax seeds of flax seed oil, hempseed oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, fish oils, and olive oil.

In addition, taking in enough EFA’s (essential fatty acids) is imperative when trying to put on muscle.  Low fat diets suppress the body’s ability to produce testosterone, a cardinal sin when trying to build muscle.

Fats also supply chemical substrates that are necessary for proper hormonal production, as well as protect our vital organs and carry the fat-soluble vitamins to where they are needed.

Fats are an important part of your sports nutrition program to develop muscle, burn fat (yes, burn fat) and get fit and healthy.

Water - Drink it… Drink lots of it… And drink it often.

Seriously, you should be consuming at least 8 – 10 eight ounce glasses of water every day.  Our bodies are made up of 75 percent water.  It’s not uncommon for people to dehydrate by 2 percent to 6 percent of their body weight during exercise.  The result isn’t good.  Cell function is disrupted, muscle growth stops, you become mentally and physically sluggish, have a general sense of fatigue and can no way be on the top of your game.

There you have it.  Sound  nutrition includes ALL of the macronutrients.  It does not eliminate any of them like most of the “fad” diets do.  Keep that in mind the next time you want to start eliminating carbohydrates or fats from your nutrition program.

Do you see the point here?  There is nothing magical to it.  Just a little common sense will yield results like the pros.

Rick Streb – Osage Beach Personal Trainer

Such a theory could potentially unlock all the secrets of nature and the universe itself, or as theoretical physicist Michio Katu, puts it “an equation an inch long that would allow us to read the mind of God.”

That’s how important unified theories can be. However, unified theories don’t have to deal with such heady topics as physics or the nature of the universe itself, but can be applied to far more mundane topics, in this case nutrition.

Regardless of the topic, a unified theory, as stated above, seeks to explain seemingly incompatible aspects of various theories. In this article I am attempting to unify seemingly incompatible, or opposing, views regarding nutrition… namely, what is probably the longest running debate in the nutritional sciences: calories vs. macro nutrients.

One school, I would say the ‘old school’ of nutrition, maintains weight loss or weight gain is all about calories, and “a calorie is a calorie,” no matter the source (e.g., carbs, fats, or proteins). They base their position on various lines of evidence to come to that conclusion.

The other school, I would call more the ‘new school’ of thought on the issue, would state that gaining or losing weight is really about where the calories come from (e.g., carbs, fats, and proteins), and that dictates weight loss or weight gain. Meaning, they feel, the “calorie is a calorie” mantra of the old school is wrong. They too come to this conclusion using various lines of evidence.

This has been an ongoing debate between people in the field of nutrition, biology, physiology, and many other disciplines, for decades. The result of which has led to conflicting advice and a great deal of confusion by the general public, not to mention many medical professionals and other groups.

Before I go any further, two key points that are essential to understand about any unified theory:

A good unified theory is simple, concise, and understandable even to lay people. However, underneath, or behind that theory, is often a great deal of information that can take up many volumes of books. So, for me to outline all the information I have used to come to these conclusions, would take a large book, if not several and is far beyond the scope of this article.

A unified theory is often proposed by some theorist before it can even be proven or fully supported by physical evidence. Over time, different lines of evidence, whether it be mathematical, physical, etc., supports the theory and thus solidifies that theory as being correct, or continued lines of evidence shows the theory needs to be revised or is simply incorrect. I feel there is now more than enough evidence at this point to give a unified theory of nutrition and continuing lines of evidence will continue (with some possible revisions) to solidify the theory as fact.

“A calorie is a calorie”

The old school of nutrition, which often includes most nutritionists, is that “a calorie is a calorie” when it comes to gaining or losing weight. That weight loss or weight gain is strictly a matter of “calories in, calories out.”

Translated, if you “burn” more calories than you take in, you will lose weight regardless of the calorie source and if you eat more calories than you burn off each day, you will gain weight, regardless of the calorie source.

This long held and accepted view of nutrition is based on the fact that protein and carbs contain approx 4 calories per gram and fat approximately 9 calories per gram and the source of those calories matters not. They base this on the many studies that finds if one reduces calories by X number each day, weight loss is the result and so it goes if you add X number of calories above what you use each day for gaining weight.

However, the “calories in calories out” mantra fails to take into account modern research that finds that fats, carbs, and proteins have very different effects on the metabolism via countless pathways, such as their effects on hormones (e.g., insulin, leptin, glucagon, etc), effects on hunger and appetite, thermic effects (heat production), effects on uncoupling proteins (UCPs), and 1000 other effects that could be mentioned.

Even worse, this school of thought fails to take into account the fact that even within a macro nutrient, they too can have different effects on metabolism. This school of thought ignores the ever-mounting volume of studies that have found diets with different macro nutrient ratios and with identical caloric intakes have significantly different effects on body composition, cholesterol levels, oxidative stress, etc.

Translated, not only is the mantra “a calorie us a calorie” proven to be false, “all fats are created equal” or “protein is protein” is also incorrect. For example, we now know different fats (e.g. fish oils vs. saturated fats) have vastly different effects on metabolism and health in general, as we now know different carbohydrates have their own effects (e.g. high GI vs. low GI), as we know different proteins can have unique effects.

The “calories don’t matter” school of thought

This school of thought will typically tell you that if you eat large amounts of some particular macro nutrient in their magic ratios, calories don’t matter. For example, followers of ketogenic-style diets that consist of high fat intakes and very low carbohydrate intakes (i.e., Atkins, etc.) often maintain calories don’t matter in such a diet.

Others maintain if you eat very high protein intakes with very low fat and carbohydrate intakes, calories don’t matter. Like the old school, this school fails to take into account the effects such diets have on various pathways and ignore the simple realities of human physiology, not to mention the laws of thermodynamics!

The reality is, although it’s clear different macro nutrients in different amounts and ratios have different effects on weight loss, fat loss, and other metabolic effects, calories do matter. They always have and they always will. The data, and real world experience of millions of dieters, is quite clear on that reality.

The truth behind such diets is that they are often quite good at suppressing appetite and thus the person simply ends up eating fewer calories and losing weight. Also, the weight loss from such diets is often from water vs. fat, at least in the first few weeks. That’s not to say people can’t experience meaningful weight loss with some of these diets, but the effect comes from a reduction in calories vs. any magical effects often claimed by proponents of such diets.

Weight loss vs. fat loss!

This is where we get into the crux of the true debate and why the two schools of thought are not actually as far apart from one another as they appear to the untrained eye. What has become abundantly clear from the studies performed and real world evidence is that to lose weight we need to use more calories than we take in (via reducing calorie intake and or increasing exercise), but we know different diets have different effects on the metabolism, appetite, body composition, and other physiological variables…

My Unified Theory of Nutrition

… Thus, this reality has led me to my very own Unified Theory of Nutrition which states:

“Total calories dictates how much weight a person gains or loses;
macro nutrient ratios dictates what a person gains or loses.”

This seemingly simple statement allows people to understand the differences between the two schools of thought. For example, studies often find that two groups of people put on the same caloric intakes but very different ratios of carbs, fats, and proteins will lose different amounts of body fat and or lean body mass (i.e., muscle, bone, etc.).

Of course these effects are not found universally in all studies that examine the issue, but the bulk of the data is clear: diets containing different macro nutrient ratios do have different effects on human physiology even when caloric intakes are identical.

Or, as the authors of one recent study that looked at the issue concluded:

“Diets with identical energy contents can have different effects on leptin concentrations, energy expenditure, voluntary food intake, and nitrogen balance, suggesting that the physiologic adaptations to energy restriction can be modified by dietary composition.”

The point being, there are many studies confirming that the actual ratio of carbs, fats, and proteins in a given diet can effect what is actually lost (i.e., fat, muscle, bone, and water) and that total calories has the greatest effect on how much total weight is lost. Are you starting to see how my unified theory of nutrition combines the “calorie is a calorie” school with the “calories don’t matter” school to help people make decisions about nutrition?

Knowing this, it becomes much easier for people to understand the seemingly conflicting diet and nutrition advice out there (of course this does not account for the down right unscientific and dangerous nutrition advice people are subjected to via bad books, TV, the “net,” and well-intended friends, but that’s another article altogether).

Knowing the above information and keeping the Unified Theory of Nutrition in mind, leads us to some important and potentially useful conclusions:

• An optimal diet designed to make a person lose fat and retain as much lean body mass (LBM) as possible is not the same as a diet simply designed to lose weight.
• A nutrition program designed to create fat loss is not simply a reduced calorie version of a nutrition program designed to gain weight, and visa versa.
• Diets need to be designed with fat loss, NOT just weight loss, as the goal, but total calories cannot be ignored.
• This is why the diets I design for people (whether for gaining or losing weight) are not simply higher or lower calorie versions of the same diet. READ THESE NEXT SENTENCES CAREFULLY. In short: diets plans I design for gaining LBM start with total calories and build macro nutrient ratios into the number of calories required. However, diets designed for fat loss (vs. weight loss!) start with the correct macro nutrient ratios that depend on variables such as amount of LBM the person carries vs. body fat percent , activity levels, etc., and figure out calories based on the proper macro nutrient ratios to achieve fat loss with a minimum loss of LBM. The actual ratio of macro nutrients can be quite different for both diets and even for individuals.

             Did you get that?

             If not, read it over and over until you do.

• Diets that give the same macro nutrient ratio to all people (e.g., 40/30/30, or 70,30,10, etc.) regardless of total calories, goals, activity levels, etc., will always be less than optimal. Optimal macro nutrient ratios can change with total calories and other variables.
• Perhaps most important, the unified theory explains why the focus on weight loss vs. fat loss by the vast majority of people, including most medical professionals, and the media, will always fail in the long run to deliver the results people want.
• Finally, the Universal Theory makes it clear that the optimal diet for losing fat, or gaining muscle, or what ever the goal, must account not only for total calories, but macro nutrient ratios that optimize metabolic effects and answer the questions:
  1. What effects will this diet have on appetite?
  2. What effects will this diet have on metabolic rate?
  3. What effects will this diet have on my lean body mass (LBM)?
  4. What effects will this diet have on hormones; both hormones that may improve or impede my goals?
  5. What effects will this diet have on (fill in the blank)?

Simply asking, “how much weight will I lose?” is the wrong question which will lead to the wrong answer. To get the optimal effects from your next diet, whether looking to gain weight or lose it, you must ask the right questions to get meaningful answers.

Asking the right questions will also help you avoid the pitfalls of unscientific poorly thought out diets which make promises they can’t keep and go against what we know about human physiology and the very laws of physics!

There are of course many additional questions that can be asked and points that can be raised as it applies to the above, but those are some of the key issues that come to mind. Probably the most glaring question that you are asking right now is, “How does one determine the total calories needed, or correct macronutrient ratios?” Well, if I told you that you would have no more need for me, now would you? Sorry. Besides, it’s not that simple.

Bottom line here is:

If the diet you are following to either gain or loss weight does not address those issues and/or questions, then you can count on being among the millions of disappointed people who don’t receive the optimal results they had hoped for and have made yet another nutrition “guru” laugh all the way to the bank at your expense.

Any diet that claims calories don’t matter, forget it.

Any diet that tells you they have a magic ratio of foods, ignore it.

Any diet that tells you any one food source is evil, it’s a scam.

Any diet that tells you it will work for all people all the time no matter the circumstances, throw it out or give it to someone you don’t like!

Rick Streb – Osage Beach Personal Trainer

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Osage Beach Personal Trainer

The buns are getting loads of press lately. It seems a perky posterior is as high a priority for many women as a pair of equally perky breasts. Some women are going to great lengths to achieve a more voluminous back-side, including undergoing buttock implants, augmentation and fat injections – extreme procedures when trying to eradicate a saggy, unimpressive derriere.

Haven’t these people heard of weight training?

With fitness and muscle development trends today, women can readily, and easily, achieve a tightly tones rear-end without having to consider surgical alternatives. When you think about it, who would want to get cut with a scalpel when you can get the results you want with weight training? Most of you are already incorporating weight training into your fitness and body-shaping regimens, so it’s just a matter of focusing more on what’s behind you.

You really have to make an extra effort to train the glute muscles. They do come into play when doing other muscle-building exercises, but to truly shape your posterior you must add a few specific butt-shaping exercises. The good news is the three muscles making up the glute region – the gluteus maximus, the gluteus medius and the gluteus minimus – respond very well to direct training. Like the abdominals, the glutes can withstand a lot of punishment, so think of it in terms of incorporating a dedicated glute-training program twice a week to lift and tone.

Choose two glute exercises per workout session, 4 or 5 sets of each exercise, 12 to 15 repetitions per set to totally work the muscles. Not sure if you are doing the exercise correctly? Reach around behind and touch your muscles during the exercise. You should be able to feel them contracting.

The Exercises

Prone Hip Raises – A good exercise to lead off with, prone hip raises can be done with or without weights. Lie on the floor on your back with knees drawn up, feet planted shoulder-width apart. Raise your hips off the floor so that your bodyweight is supported by your shoulders and feet. Squeeze the glutes as you raise your hips so that you feel a good contraction. DO NOT let the buttocks rest on the floor between repetitions. Try to complete 4-5 sets of 12-15 reps.

If you want to increase the degree of difficulty, incorporate “burns” into your hip raises: Raise your hips, contract the glutes and do pulses or mini hip raises, at the top of the movement. Do 12-15 burns after doing the full-ranges hip raise. You will soon discover why I call the “burns.”

Putting a weight on your abdomen creates an even greater challenge. Hold the plate securely on your midsection so that it won’t slip down and hit you in the face. Really feel those glutes working. Squeeze the muscles. You will eventually be able to use two 45-pound plates.

Lunges – As far as I’m concerned this is the grand-mommy of all glute exercises. When performed properly NOTHING adds shape to the tush faster than the lunge. The problem is that most people do not do lunges correctly and never receive the benefits from such a tremendous movement. Lunges can be performed with or without weights, walking, with one leg up on a bench, reverse lunges on a Smith Machine, etc., etc. The variations are limitless.

Most often when you see someone attempting to do lunges they kneel down and touch their knee to the floor, come back up and repeat the same motion with the other leg. The exercise is called lunges, not “kneel downs!” If you were supposed to simply kneel down the exercise would be named accordingly.

Proper execution of the exercise requires you to lunge out (hence, the name) as far as possible, keeping your upper body perpendicular to the floor (erect). As you move forward from this position you must squeeze the glutes tightly to completely activate all the fibers of the glute region. This squeeze, or contracting of the muscles, is what makes the exercise so effective. This contraction cannot be achieved by simply kneeling down.

Squats – That’s right… Squats. “But Rick, squats are hard.” That’s right, they are. And your butt will be hard too… if you do them. Plain and simple.

I prefer for women to perform squats on a Smith Machine. Position yourself under the bar and place you feet out in front of you (anywhere from 1-2 feet). The reason for this is simple. If your feet are directly beneath you and you perform the exercise, your knees will pass forward of the position of your feet. This places a lot of undue stress on the knee joint, and is a recipe for disaster. The knee is not made to handle the amount of weight that your quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings and hips can handle combined. But when you attempt to squat with your feet directly under you in the Smith Machine this is exactly what you are asking your knees to do. This is a recipe for injury. So, with your feet out in front of you to avoid injury, begin your descent to the floor slowly and deliberately. Descend all the way to the floor. That’s right… take your bootie all the way down to the floor. The glute muscles are activated during the lower part of the exercise. As you begin your rise back to the top, push with the heels of your feet and squeeze your rear-end tightly. This little tip will create more activation of the glute muscles than you can imagine. As you reach the finish point of the repetition, do not lock out at the top. Instead, stop just short of locking your knees out, pause for a moment and begin the next repetition. Four to five sets of 10-12 repetitions will be plenty of this exercise.

REMEMBER: Take your butt all the way to the floor, push with the heels of your feet, and squeeze the hell out of your butt to get the most out of this exercise.

Kneeling Cable Kickbacks – Want to hit all three glute muscles with a bang? Nothing does it better than the kneeling cable kickback. A variation of the standing cable kickback, kneeling demands more effort from the glutes because the range of motion is greater. It also works against gravity.

Place a flat bench in front of a weight stack. Attach a cuff to one of your ankles and attach that to the weight stack. Kneel on the bench with the free leg. Bring the cuffed leg far forward, then slowly back and as high as possible. Like with the squats, try to push backwards with your heel to generate more contraction to the glute region. Contract the glutes tightly as you work. Place a hand on the working glute periodically to feel the muscles working. This helps to keep your effort honest. Perform 4-5 sets of 12 repetitions for each leg. Begin with a moderate weight like 30 to 40 pounds to perfect your technique and build a strength base. Progress to more weight in two to three weeks once you feel you can handle it.

A machine that is found in many gyms these days is called the “Butt Blaster.” This machine simulates the motion of the Kneeling Cable Kickbacks since it is designed to place you in the proper position for the exercise.

Other effective glute-training exercises to consider adding for variety are stiff-legged dead-lifts and good mornings.

Cardio – If you want a rear-end that stops people dead in their tracks you must do your share of cardio training. Let’s face it… you can have the greatest ass in the world, but if it’s covered by layers of fat nobody will ever be able to admire it, much less want to admire it. Stair-climbing and elliptical trainers are both effective modes of cardio exercise that target the glutes, but as far as yielding the highest results, nothing works better than walking on a treadmill at a high-grade incline. The higher the incline, the more the glutes are activated. Forty to sixty minutes per session, 4-5 times per week.

Nutrition – This one is pretty obvious, isn’t it? If you don’t want junk in the trunk, then you can’t eat junk. This should be a no-brainer. If you’re not sure what to eat CLICK HERE.

Eat properly most of the time, perform direct butt-shaping exercises and put in your time on the treadmill, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how quickly your butt becomes an object of affection. Trust me… in today’s society, with breast implants being as commonplace as make-up, any woman can have a pleasing upper body. But, a tight, toned, jaw-dropping backside is truly something to behold… a REAL show-stopper. So, what are you waiting for… get your ass in gear!

Rick Streb – Osage Beach Personal Trainer

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My answers are always the same. There is no magic pill or powder or even secret that trainers, professional athletes or fitness models are keeping from the general public. It all comes down to hard work, being conscious of your diet and, most importantly, being consistent.

If it were easy everyone would be in perfect shape all of the time. To quote Bill Cosby,

“In order to succeed, the desire for success
must be greater than the fear of failure.”

The fear of failure is something I encounter 90% of the time when discussing fitness goals with women.

Whether they realize it or not, many women prevent themselves from achieving their fitness goals because of an inherent fear of failure. Unless you determine that you are going to make sacrifices and make fitness a lifestyle it becomes all too easy to ‘give up’ because ‘it’s not going to happen – I have bad genetics.’

Stop blaming your parents, your husband, or your kids for your own fear of committing to yourself and your fitness goals. While it is true that some are genetically predisposed to developing lean muscle it is completely possible to train hard and diet to create the best body you can have for you.

You will never know until you put all of your doubts aside and make it happen. Now, combine this fear of failure with the many myths that surround women and weight training and you have a recipe for disaster.

I am breaking down the six most common myths many women believe and thus hinder their progress or potential gains. Hopefully this will help educate more women to the truth behind what makes the body effectively transform.

Six Common Myths

Myth 1: Lifting Weight Will Make/Build/Develop Muscle Like A Man.
We have all heard this one from some woman at one time or another. Ladies… NO … Lifting weight will not make you develop muscle like a man. Quick lesson in anatomy:

Both men and women have hormones coursing through their bodies. These hormones are testosterone, estrogen, progesterone and DHEA. For those of you who are not aware, men and women share all of these; however men have a much higher number of testosterone and DHEA than women do and women have a much higher concentration of estrogen and progesterone.

Testosterone is a very powerful hormone, this is one (if not the) primary factor that enables men to build muscle the way they do. Are there women in this world who lift weights and look like men? Yes. Why? They take testosterone or other androgens to help them achieve that look. Does the average woman who wants to get in shape and attain a ‘sexy’ body have to supplement this way to achieve her goals? NO.

And, in all honesty, most women that attend the gym to get in shape or look good at the beach do not lift weights that are nearly heavy enough to develop in this manner.

Myth 2: Eating A Lot Will Make Me Fat.
Eating a lot of cake and candy and cookies will absolutely make you fat. So can eating a lot of pasta or chicken or bananas. There isn’t any one type of food that can be blamed for unwanted fat gain in the body. What needs to be understood is that every morsel of food that is ingested has calories (many also contain vital nutrients). However, if you overeat anything at any point during the day the excess that your body does not need will be stored as fat.

Food                              Calories       Protein      Carbs         Fat

Chocolate Cake                          428                  5.9g                73g              15.6g

Candies, Reese’s Pieces          497                12.5g             59.9g             24.8g

Cookies, Chocolate Chip       497                   4.6g             66.1g             25.2g

Pasta                                              131                   5.2g             24.9g                1.1g

Chicken, Roasted                     190                 28.9g                   0g               7.4g

Bananas                                          92                        1g             23.4g               0.5g

When a bodybuilder or fitness model, professional athlete or personal trainer stresses they eat frequently throughout the day they are not saying they eat “too much.” Eating small meals 6 – 7 times a day will increase your metabolism so your body is constantly burning calories and is constantly receiving the adequate nutrition it needs to maintain all bodily functions including building and maintaining muscle.

It is important to get an understanding of what proper nutrition consists of and what you need to feed your body to not only maintain it but ‘evolve’ it into the figure of your dreams.

Myth 3: Carbs Are The Enemy!
Ladies, forget Dr. Atkins… Please! In fact, try to stay away from all the fad diets on the shelves at Barnes & Nobles that promise to give you a bikini-perfect body if you do ridiculous things like stand on your head and eat nothing but Oreos.

There is no secret trick and no magic in a bottle. Cutting carbs and eating nothing but steak and bacon are not going to get you closer to having a firm butt and thighs. Sorry, but that’s the truth. The Atkins diet and calorie restriction diets are excellent starting points for obese individuals that need to lose weight quickly for health reasons. They are not conducive to building muscle.

The macronutrients needed for a well rounded nutritional program are carbs, protein and fat. All three of these are necessary and have important functions within the body. I am not going to go into complete detail here as a complete breakdown of macronutrients and their function is extremely lengthy and would be better suited in an article on nutrition which I will write at another time.

The basic reasons are carbohydrates are necessary in rebuilding muscle. They are also an excellent source of energy within the body. This is not just energy to run five miles, this also means energy required to keep your heart beating, maintain the digestive process and even ensure cellular respiration can occur.

(Fancy terminology that means your body does much more than what you make it or ask it to do.)

Myth 4: Working Out Turns Fat Into Muscle.
No, working out does not turn fat into muscle. Nor can you change apples into oranges by juggling. Think about it, muscle and fat are two completely different things. Fat is made up of triglycerides and muscle is made up of amino acids. How can one turn into the other?

The reality is that building muscle will in turn help you burn fat. The more muscle developed the more calories the body will burn even while at rest. The transformation will not occur over night – it can take months or even years.

Likewise the theory that 1 lb. of muscle weighs more than a 1 lb. of fat holds absolutely no water. 1 lb equals 1 lb no matter what that pound is made up of. However, muscle takes up less space within the body than fat does. Because of this someone who is extremely muscular but the same height and appears to have the same amount of body mass as an individual that has a softer physique can weigh more.

Myth 5: Drinking Too Much Water Will Make Me Bloat.
Actually the opposite is true. Not drinking enough water can make you bloat. Women are especially vulnerable to this. If an adequate amount of water is not consumed during the day the body will actually hold onto whatever water it has stored in the muscles in an effort to maintain necessary hydration for metabolism and other bodily functions. This can give you a bloated appearance. I say women are especially vulnerable to this because of the high fluctuations we experience with hormonal levels (and yes, that ‘time of the month’).

These factors make your bodies more sensitive to maintaining adequate hydration so it is necessary to drink at least a gallon of water a day. (The exact amount of water necessary for an individual will vary depending upon the sport / activity she is involved with as well as her weight etc. This is another performance nutrition factor that will be addressed another time.)

Myth 6: I Don’t Want To Train At The Gym Because People Will Look At Me.
Many women have said this during the years that I’ve been weight training. There is a common misconception that you must be blonde, busty, and extremely fit before you can walk in a gym and weight train. This is not the case. To be honest, most people are not looking around the gym gawking at other people while they are working out. They are too focused on their own form, staring at themselves in the countless mirrors scrutinizing their own bodies and what needs to be improved.

People Really Aren’t Going To Be Gawking At You.

Nobody is going to notice you in your sweats pushing through your personal workout. They are too focused on themselves. Don’t get me wrong, there are some people at the gym who are social butterflies and like to walk around and talk to everyone, but nobody is judging you.

Conclusion

I hope you have found this article helpful and it has helped to clear up any misunderstandings you might have had regarding common workout myths. You can find out more information, or even contact me directly for advice or other fitness tips at www.fitphysiqueonline.com.

Rick Streb – Lake Ozark Personal Trainer

Have thoughts about this post? Let us hear your comments…

Now more than ever there are more diets, theories, programs and pieces of exercise equipment bombarding us every day. However, America continues to grow fatter and fatter every year. Obesity is a major problem. There are numerous factors that play into gaining and losing weight such as activity level, cultural habits, genetics and so on.

However, probably the most influential factor is energy intake (i.e. eating). You can work your butt off in the gym day in and day out. Yet, you will never have that six pack if you overeat everyday on top of that.

In the fight for the next big money maker of fat loss miracles, there are two theories that have stuck around for quite a while now. They are:

1. Eat a good breakfast to “Jump Start” your metabolism.
2. Don’t eat late at night because everything you eat will be stored as fat.

What Is The Truth?
Both of these theories have explanations and logical reasoning behind them, but regardless of how you come to the conclusion, they are, at the heart the same. But are they true? While it is true that the digestion of food does require energy and creates a thermogenic effect, the first question at hand is if eating a breakfast in the morning results in a higher 24 hour energy expenditure or a negative net calorie balance.

The second theory is that eating after a certain time (typically ranges between 6-8pm) results in the storage of every calorie that you eat. This is an interesting one that has perplexed me for quite some time. The notion that after 6pm our body alters the way that it processes nutrients is rather fascinating to me, and is simply ludicrous. Think about it for a second… are we really supposed to believe that our bodies have a special mechanism that turns on at a certain time of the evening to store all foods as body fat? Give me a break!

According to this theory, somehow, for some reason, after 6pm the metabolic fate of all nutrients (especially carbohydrates) is to be stored as fat.

These two little snippets of nutritional folklore have hung around longer than most others and this as driven me to get to the bottom of it all.

So the pressing question here is, “Are they true?” Recent research has found the answer to both of them!

867 individuals consisting of both men and women were studied for there food intake at various times throughout the day for a number of days. Neither the subjects, researchers nor dietitians who analyzed the food for nutrient content were aware of which meals would be analyzed at what times of the day. This was done to prevent subjects from eating less/more or lying about actual intakes.

The food intakes were analyzed for density (calories per gram) and at what times of the day meals were eaten. The criteria for a “meal” was it had to be at least 50 calories and separated by 45 min from the previous food intake. They were also analyzed for a satiety index based on calories per minute.

This measure gives an idea of just how badly these people were stuffing themselves and at what times of the day. And as a side note, the average weight of the participants was 150 pounds, so no, these were not already overweight people who were accustomed to overeating.

The First Point:

The results were interesting to say the least. The first major point was that as the day progressed meal size increased and the time between meals decreased. So people were eating more, more often! This is where the satiety index comes in.

For what ever reason people seem to feel more and more hungry as the day wears on and, of course, will eat until they are full. You know the old bodybuilder’s adage – You never want to go hungry! And if you didn’t know, you do now!

The Second Point:

The next point made actually helps to answer the question about getting in a good breakfast. There was a very strong and negative correlation between meal size early in the morning and meal size late at night.

That means people who ate meals with high energy content in the morning were eating less total calories the rest of the day, and vice versa. The people who didn’t eat much in the morning actually ended up eating more the rest of the day.

Between 6pm and 11pm calorie intake per meal skyrocketed from 525 calories to a whopping 720 calories per meal. And remember, people were eating more meals more frequently at this time. Not only that, but the calorie density shot up.

So these people are eating high calorie, low volume / weight food. These are the same people that always tell you that they don’t eat much but can’t seem to lose weight. On top of that, during that same time period carbohydrate intake shot from 35 grams per meal to 72 grams per meal. That is more than double!

This suggest that people tend to underestimate just how many calories they are actually eating, and that is probably a direct result of feeling hungrier and hungrier as the day wears on. Many things can affect hunger, not just how much food is actually in your stomach. The things we see and smell, a phrase, someone just talking about food. All of these things can make you hungry. And the more time that has passed in the day only give more chances for one of those to pop up and make a person hungry.

There You Have It…
So there you have it. We have answered our two pressing questions. Does eating breakfast “Jump Start” your metabolism? NO, the reason that eating breakfast can be a factor in a structured weight loss program is because you will tend to eat less calories over the course of a day.

And our second questions, does restricting food past a certain time (especially carbohydrates) prevent a person from getting fat? Again, NO it doesn’t. For whatever reason, the overall calorie density of food that people choose to eat at these times of the day skyrockets. And more over, the foods that people seem to reach for tend to be carbohydrate rich. If one were to cut the carbs after 6pm, they will have just taken a big chunk out of their total caloric intake.

Add that to a good breakfast in the morning and you are likely to eat even less during the day. A lower total calorie intake over the course of a day, month or year is not a magic metabolic formula for fat loss. It is just another way to get you to eat less.

Conclusion
In today’s modern world the average length of an individuals day has increased dramatically. Before the invent of the simple light bulb much of the days activities were over by sundown. Now we are up through all hours of the night. For most people, being up doesn’t always involve being active.

There are many people who sit up watching late night infomercials thinking how they should get that new piece of exercise equipment and get back in shape while they munch on some delectable snack. The bottom line here is pretty simple. It’s not the carbs and it’s not the time of day.

There is no magic ratio, combination or super pill that will make you thin. It comes down to being absolutely sure you know the exact number of calories you are putting into your body every day, as well as knowing how many calories your body is burning every day.

Rick Strreb – Lake Ozark Personal Trainer

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1. Burn more calories than you eat. This is the basic rule of weight management. If you want to lose weight, you must burn more calories than you take in each day, each week, and each month. Now the neat part – It doesn’t matter if all the food you eat is healthy, wholesome or “clean.” The total calories from all of the food you eat – no matter what kind of food it is (protein, carbohydrate, fat) – must add up to fewer calories than your body efficiently burns each and every day. It’s that simple!

Unfortunately, you can’t just stop eating and expect to lose body fat…and you can’t just start eating like crazy in order to build muscle. If you want to gain quality weight, you must eat strategically.

2. Take the necessary steps to control your metabolism. Another key to effective weight management is regulating your metabolism. No matter what your physical challenges may be, you CAN do a better job of managing and regulating your metabolism. You must do the best with the gifts – and challenges – you are presented with.

Eating small meals throughout the day will help keep your metabolism operating at a steady rate. You should schedule meals every two to three hours throughout the entire day. Of course, weight training and cardio exercise will also help regulate your metabolism.

By following through with strategically-timed small meals, weight training workouts and cardio sessions for a series of days, weeks, months, you’ll improve your physique over time.

3. Stop searching for the perfect diet. It doesn’t exist! People are often distracted by the notion that there’s an easier diet somewhere that requires less discipline than the one they’re on. If the diet doesn’t work as quickly or effectively as they expect, they blame the diet – and not their own unreasonable standards or expectations.

Diets appeal to different people for different reasons besides the level of effectiveness. The Atkins Diet, for example, may seem great to some people because they love to eat meat. The Zone Diet may seem ideal to others because they love salads and vegetables. Even a strict, bland bodybuilding diet may appear to be the best option for some people because they like the idea of not having to make decisions on a continual basis or because they really enjoy the taste of protein shakes. I personally prefer food, but to each their own!

4. Keep your diet SIMPLE. Do you know people who always ask themselves, “What am I going to eat for dinner tonight?” Some people put a lot of effort into thinking about their meals. In my opinion, that makes the eating process far too complicated. The more complicated you make your nutritional program, the more difficult it will be to follow through.

During the week I intentionally keep my meal plan simple. My primary goal during that time is to add muscle to my body while keeping my body fat levels manageable. If I decide to relax at all, it will be during the weekends. Obviously, when I begin dieting my meal plan becomes even more simplified, and I do not allow myself the luxury of the weekend indulgences.

When it comes to feeding yourself properly, the less thinking and planning you have to do, the better. Try to look at eating as merely a method of constructing a muscular, lean and attractive-looking physique, instead of a source of recreation, pleasure and a way of connecting with your family and friends. Think of eating as a means to an end, not a social activity.

I realize that fine dining is one of life’s great pleasures (believe me, it’s one of my favorite pleasures), but try adjusting your thinking to that of an efficient, disciplined individual, instead of one of gluttony. Simple meals will help you be consistent with your eating habits. The K.I.S.S. Principle works wonders – Keep It Simple Stupid.

5. Give the diet you choose your full attention. Just about any diet, when applied on a consistent basis, will work for you, but you must have confidence in the diet you choose. Otherwise, you won’t be able to give it your complete focus.

With all of the diets available to choose from, it’s easy to get confused – and almost impossible to have 100% certainty about the one you’ve chosen. Just when you think you’re on the right track, you’ll hear or read about the new “miracle” diet. Just when you’re ready to dig in and get going on a structured meal plan, someone you know will tell you about all of the amazing results they’ve had with a diet that seems very different from yours. Hell, even if your diet is working, you will sometimes doubt if it’s working well or fast enough.

Instead of focusing on the differences, try to discover how the diets are similar. That way you will know you are already on the right track.

6. Take 100% responsibility for your successes and failures. In other words, if you’re not getting the results you want, it’s YOU and not necessarily the diet program that’s failing you. It’s not your challenging situation, genetic limitations or time-management dilemmas that are preventing you from reaching your goals. Your inability to do what it takes – or find out what it takes – is what must be overcome.

People often blame their circumstances or genetic conditions for their lack of progress. If you are truly committed, you’ll eventually find a way around your physical or emotional challenges to reach your goals. In other words, quit making excuses and do something about it!

People also occasionally unfairly compare themselves to others. “She can eat anything she wants and still look good, while I eat like a bird and gain weight!” The route you have to take may not seem as easy as that of someone else, but there is ALWAYS a way to overcome your challenges.

Realize that the decisions you make reflect on the quality of the physique you really want – and the one you ultimately get. EVERYTHING worth having has some sort of price tag on it. Usually, the more desirable something is, the higher the price. Maybe you don’t want to pay the price for having the physique you thought you wanted. That’s fine, but you must accept the consequences of that decision.

Don’t blame your lack of knowledge; blame your lack of desire.

Don’t blame your genetics or personal conditions; blame the fact that you decided not to overcome those challenges at this time.

7. If you’re not getting the results you want, you’ll need to raise your standards. You either need to do a little more of this or a little less of that. Food selection, food quantities, meal frequency, meal timing, cardio-training intensity and frequency, weight-training intensity and frequency are ALL factors that are 100% in YOUR CONTROL. Focus on finding the combination of those factors that works best for you; what you must do more of and what you must do less of to reach your personal goals.

It’s YOUR body, and no one else will care about it more than you. Never rely on someone else to solve your challenges for you. Take FULL responsibility for the task of finding what’s best for you and your body.

8. Don’t waste time talking to people about your eating, metabolic and genetic challenges. Are those other people really going to challenge your beliefs anyway? Do they really care? All of the talk about how difficult it is for you to lose body fat (or build muscle) reinforces your disempowering beliefs about what you cannot accomplish. It is self-defeating. By eliminating this negative talk, you will reach you goals much faster.

This does not mean to not ask questions or rely on someone else’s expertise. This does mean that you are ultimately responsible for the direction you go and your successes or failure ultimately fall on your shoulders.

9. Learn how to manage the emotional relationship you have with your current eating habit. Schedule your cheat meals in advance, and schedule your cheat days – those days when you plan to indulge your cravings – in advance, as well. Use those cheat meals, or days, as special rewards for being disciplined all week long or for putting together a series of weeks of good eating habits.

Do not use food as a reward for accomplishments in other areas of your life, however. You do not want to create, or strengthen, an emotional link between success and fattening foods. Also, you do not want to use delicious, not-so-healthy food to mask emotional pain that you might be feeling due to challenges in other areas of your life. In other words, don’t eat to make yourself feel better.

10. NEVER try to make up for poor eating habits with more exercise. Up to 80% of the way you look will be determined by the foods you eat – not by your training habits. You may mistakenly believe that you can make up for poor eating habits with a little extra exercise; NOPE, NO WAY, NO HOW! It will NEVER happen! The exchange rate between eating and exercise is not a fair exchange at all!

Rick Streb – Lake Ozark Personal Trainer

Have thoughts about this post? Leave us your comments…

Question: How can I be thin like the models in the magazines?

Answer: Thin people are the exception, rather than the rule, despite what the magazines portray. Most images in magazines are “computer slimmed” – they really are not that skinny. The average American woman is a size 14, so your aim should be not to be “thin”, rather, it should be to become healthy, full of energy and within the healthy weight range for your age and height. There is no such thing as an “ideal weight” but there is a healthy weight range you can work toward by making healthy food and exercise choices.

Question: Exercise is too much like hard work, where do I begin?

Answer: Exercise is all about feeling good about yourself and positive about your achievements. Choose an activity you feel comfortable with (walking is an excellent beginner’s choice) and start with just ten minutes. It’s all about getting out there and moving, breathing and living. It’s all a bout improving your QUALITY of life.

Question: I don’t like jogging or walking, what can I do?

Answer: There are lots of exercise activities you can do around the house which do raise your pulse rate to the “fat burning” range! Sweeping up leaves, cleaning windows, vacuuming and cleaning the bathroom are all excellent, providing you put in some extra energy over a sustained period of at least twenty minutes.

Question: How can I find time for breakfast?

Answer: Many busy working people skip breakfast – don’t! It’s the most important meal of the day. A simple breakfast consisting of a low fat, low sugar cereal, skim milk and half a banana, and a slice of toast will not only get you and your brain up and running with enough fuel to energize your day, but will also kick start your metabolism for the day.

Question: How can I get going without my coffee to start the day?

Answer: Coffee (and to a lesser extent tea) is one of the worst ways to start your day! Coffee gives you a caffeine boost which just as quickly lets you down again, but it also increases hunger by boosting the output of insulin and is also dehydrating, making you thirsty and hungry and looking for a second hit.

Question: How can I find time to exercise?

Answer: Find time! Healthy people manage to fit daily exercise into their daily routine! Unhealthy people make excuses! Fit exercise into your day by getting up half an hour earlier (you really won’t miss that half-hour sleep) or at lunchtime (up and down the stairs if it’s raining) or after work at a gym, on an exercise bike or treadmill.

No matter how busy you may think you are, there’s someone busier than you finding time to take care of themselves.

Question: How can I stop my friends sabotaging all my attempts to eat healthier?

Answer: Be honest and tell them it’s your choice what you eat. Though I disagree with lying to someone, if you must, tell a white lie and say you are worried about your cholesterol level (even the most persistent saboteur will accept this) and your doctor has told you to avoid high fat foods.

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Question: What should I be drinking?

Answer: Water is the beverage of choice and apart from the last 50 years or so, that’s all we drank! Alcohol is a toxin and goes straight to the fat stores; tea and coffee are both drugs which dehydrate and make you hungry; fruit juices are outrageously high in sugar as are soft drinks. A popular cola drink contains all the above and is not a healthy choice. Sports drinks are designed only for professional athletes such as marathon runners.

Question: I work long hours. How can I find the time to cook?

Answer: Most supermarkets are open 24 hours a day, so quit making excuse! Shop once a week and plan ahead for healthy, quick to prepare family meals such as stir fries, pasta with sauce, or grilled fish, chicken or steak with a big salad and vegetables.

Question: I’ve failed on every diet I’ve ever attempted! What’s gone wrong?

Answer: “Diets” just don’t work and will be guaranteed to fail you every time. You haven’t failed, the “diet” failed you. The only thing that will work is to stop “dieting” and think healthy eating instead. Expect to succeed and you will succeed.

Question: Why do people keep offering me food and even if I say no, no, no they still push?

Answer: Unfortunately the more you say no, no, no, the more unhelpful people will push unwelcome food at you! Practice saying “Thanks, it looks great – I’ll have some later.” Try it – it really does work.

Question: Why are lifestyle changes so difficult to make?

Answer: Any change takes courage. Courage is the power to face difficulties. Courage comes from a determination to succeed and to practice new lifestyle skills. When we isolate our problems and work on finding a solution we gain the necessary courage to succeed.

Question: Why do I feel as if my life is stuck in a rut?

Answer: Once we stop learning, we stop growing as a person. Being open to new ideas, new concepts and new learning will mean developing new skills. Starting is the key, because if we want to be successful in any endeavor, we must start sometime. The house of success is built brick by brick.

Question: I can’t afford to go on expensive pre-packaged food diets – what can I do?

Answer: No one needs pre-packaged diet food! The power to achieve successful weight loss lies within each of us. We alone have the responsibility to develop a healthy weight. When we understand this, we begin to realize that we alone are pushing ourselves forward or holding ourselves back.

Question: I’d really love to be slimmer, but why do I think I will never succeed?

Question: There is so much conflicting nutrition information in magazines and on TV!  What is really correct?

Answer: It’s a case of sourcing out information and taking an intelligent and informed look at it all. Basically, 80% of what we eat should come out of the ground in the form of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. We need quality protein to build and repair, dairy products to supply calcium and minimal amounts of fat, sugar and salt. Chemicals, preservatives and colorings in food are a real health hazard, as are sugar laden soft drinks.

Question: I have a family history of diabetes – is it important I lose weight?

Answer: With a family history of heart disease, diabetes, stroke or bowel cancer, attaining and maintaining a healthy weight is imperative to remain healthy. These are the killer diseases which can be directly related to obesity.

Taking charge and gaining control over weight will go a long way towards preventing the killer diseases, many of which show a family pre disposition to developing.

Question: Plateaus are so discouraging! What causes a dieting plateau?

Answer: Everyone who goes on a “diet” will plateau! This is because all diets put people on a set calorie intake day after day. The body naturally, and quickly, becomes accustomed to a very low energy intake and slows metabolism down. This is why weight goes back on again after each diet attempt, plus interest.

Successful, maintainable weight management is not the result of “dieting”. It can only be achieved by a varied and enjoyable food intake which fits into your own family lifestyle.

Question: I don’t want to change anything! Why shouldn’t I keep eating the food I like?

Answer: To achieve a change in our health and weight we have to accept that some changes will be inevitable. Change can be daunting or it can be an exciting, goal-oriented challenge. It all depends on how you view change. We can still eat the foods we “like” (which is usually all the fat laden foods) but enjoy them in moderation. High fat, high sugar, high salt foods are “special occasion foods” not everyday foods.

Question: I lasted on my last diet for three weeks and then my mother arrived to stay and it all fell apart. How can I prevent this from happening again?

Answer: The ability to handle relapses and then get back on track again as soon as possible is the key to success at any endeavor. We are human beings. That means we are not perfect! Problems in life arise for everyone – even for those people with the trim bodies you envy! The trick is to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get back on track.

Question: I’ve lost and gained weight back on again more times than I care to remember! Why does overweight keep finding me?

Answer: As with any endeavor with an end result worth achieving never give up. Keep persisting and persisting until you achieve that goal you set yourself. If it is worth achieving (and what could be more important than your health!) then it is worth persisting despite the challenges, which will appear along the way.

Question: I’d love to lose weight, but my husband says he loves me just the way I am. Is he telling me the truth?

Answer: If you are not happy within yourself, then how can those who love you possibly be happy? Our greatest power is the power to choose! We can decide where we are, what we do and what we think. No one can take the power to choose away from us. We can be what we want to be. The choice is ours and ours alone.

Question: My whole family is overweight – if I lose weight, won’t I feel like the odd one out?

Answer: If you are happy with your weight and are healthy, there is no reason to allow anyone to tell you to “lose weight”. However, if you are unhappy and unhealthy, maybe now is the time to be a pioneer within your family and help point them in the right direction from a healthy point of view, by your example and inspiration.

Question: I’ve got young children – how can I find the time to lose weight?

Answer: We are beasts of habit. The force of habit and making excuses are quick to force us to fail or never begin! The more we do something, the more likely we are to do it again. Establishing a healthy eating, cooking or exercise habit forms a bridge, which enables us to walk across the deepest valley to success.

Question: Why does something always happen to prevent me from reaching my goals?

Answer: Choosing to fail or choosing to succeed is entirely up to the individual. There are no limits to our possibilities. When we imagine success and positive happenings in our lives, this is what we can expect to achieve. When we imagine success our vision expands, we capture and hold onto our dreams and our views are fulfilled.

Whether you believe that you can… or that you can’t… you are right!

Question: I try to lose weight, so why do I fail each time?

Answer: “Trying” to do something allows us automatically to fail. In the words of Joda the Jedi Master in Star Wars. “Do or do not. There is no try.” Choose to do it or to not do it. However, if you choose to do it, then do it – don’t just try! Listen to what your own self talk is saying to you and re-program your head to tell you positive self-talk, not negative, self-limiting self-talk.

Question: I really envy all my friends who are slim and full of energy. Why is life so unfair?

Answer: Life is not a rehearsal and there is no such thing as a magic weight loss fairy (or magic pill for that matter) which will turn you into a slim person overnight. Instead of wishing you could be slimmer and full of energy, take a good look at just what you are eating and how much exercise you perform each week. To both lose and maintain weight we need to reduce our total fat grams eaten per day to around 20-24 grams, eat three balanced meals and two snacks every day and exercise four times per week. Remember, healthy people do it all the time!

Question: How can losing weight make me feel better?

Answer: The health benefits from even a small weight loss are extraordinary. Even a 10% reduction in overall body weight can see blood pressure come down, cholesterol levels come down and energy and self esteem levels go up. As we lose weight, there is less strain on backs, knees and ankles, reducing pain. Headaches become lessened, we sleep better and function more effectively in all areas of our lives.

Question: Why do I feel such a sense of failure when I always put weight back on again after going on a diet?

Answer: Diets are doomed to failure each and every time! The ONLY successful way to both lose weight and maintain weight is to establish lifelong healthy eating habits. When we take small daily steps and congratulate ourselves every day for even the smallest change towards achieving our weight loss goals, we begin to think like a winner. And the more we think like a winner, the more we begin to feel and look like a winner.

Question: Why are my thin friends so lucky?

Answer: There is no luck involved in being slim, healthy and full of energy! What is involved is healthy, low fat regular meals and snacks, and a sensible exercise routine. Most people really do have to work at keeping their weight where they want it to be. There is no luck involved. It’s all about getting out there and doing it, not wishing it would happen.

Question: I’ve thought about beginning so many diets in the past. Why can’t I ever get around to it?

Answer: It does take a lot of courage to begin to make significant lifestyle changes. Most people with a weight problem do need to ask for help and this takes courage. In fact, sometimes taking that first step is the hardest part of making any change. Until you take that first step, you stand little chance of reaching your goal. Once you have made the decision to change, stick to your resolve and commit to changing your lifestyle for good health.

Question: I’d love to do all sorts of things in my life. Why is it that somehow I just don’t get there?

Answer: Stop procrastinating! Thinking about, or wishing about, becoming slimmer won’t help. Thinking about it is what got you in the position you are in! Set your goals a bit higher than you feel you can achieve and always aim for super success. Wallowing in doom and gloom is not nearly as much fun as knowing you have won, and achieved everything in life you want to achieve.

Question: I really hope I’ll be slim and happy one day – will it happen?

Answer: This life is not a rehearsal – we are only given one shot at it.

- One shot to become the person we really want to be.

- One shot to eat well, get our weight down to where we want it to be.

- One shot to learn as much as we can.

- One shot to improve our lives and the lives of our family and loved ones.

Don’t leave your life behind without knowing you gave it your best shot.

Question: Why doesn’t anyone ever do anything for me?

Answer: Well, maybe you don’t give too much either! George Burns lived over 100 years, sharing and giving and living by this philosophy. When we give something, expecting nothing in return, then it is given back to us with interest.

Still not sure what to do, or how to get to your fitness goals? Let me help you. CLICK HERE to learn about my Online Training & Nutrition Program which will guide you every step along the way to the body of your dreams…

GUARANTEED!

Rick Streb – Lake Ozark Personal Trainer

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