2 things for you today:
One... apparently we had a lot of questions come in yesterday about the 1,000-Calorie Challenge and whether or not it's only for advanced trainees or is suited for beginners - the answer is YES, it can be perfectly suited to beginners as well!
In fact, the entire 1st phase of the program was specifically created to take you from 300 calorie beginner workouts all the way to full blown 1,000+ calorie advanced workouts in 4 weeks or LESS.
That's actually the reason the program was created - to provide a solution that will progress exercisers as fast as possible to the goal of being able to DO workouts that burn massive calories and fat.
And as a reminder, you can still save $50 on the 1,000-Calorie Challenge program right now during the pre-sale at the below page:
==> http://tinyurl.com/1000-calorie-challenge4u
One other thing we have for you is a short article from Joel explaining one of the methods they use in the 1,000 Calorie Challenge to help you rapidly progress and lose fat fast:
1 Unique Strategy to Go from "Beginner" to Advanced - FAST
By Joel Marion -- co-creator of the 1000-Calorie Challenge
You see, while your level of fitness may not currently be in a place where you can jump right in to doing 1,000 calorie workouts, we can get you there in as little as four weeks--and that's for ENTRY LEVEL trainees.
Been training for a while? We'll get you there in 2 weeks.
It all comes down to utilizing a system that will progress you from burning 300 calories to 450 calories to 600 calories to 800 calories to 1,000 calories in NO time, and that's what we've developed with Strategic Set Progression and R-Quattro techology.
What is Strategic Set Progression?
Well, it's just ONE of the methods we use to push you toward the 1,000 calorie goal FAST, and it goes a little something like this:
In week 1, we start with workouts that implement standard sets in which you rest between each exercise.
Then, on week 2, we move to supersets in which you are alternating back and forth between two exercises with minimal rest.
During week 3 we up the ante even further by switching to tri-sets in which 3 exercises are paired together back-to-back-to-back.
How bout week four? Well, that's where we move from tri-sets to 4-exercise Giant Sets.
And finally, for the 1,000 Calorie workouts, we move on to strategically designed 10-exercise Insane Circuits.
Frankly, by combining brand new R-Quattro technology with Strategic Set Progression, your body fat doesn't stand a chance.
To learn more about R-Quattro technology and 2 MORE methods for burning fat and calories fast, see below:
==> http://tinyurl.com/1000-calorie-challenge4u
So, if you're thinking "I might not be ready for this", that's the EXACT reason we created this program - to GET you ready faster than anything else ever could.
Beyond that, blasting away up to 3 pounds or more of PURE fat EVERY week is pretty cool, too :)
Thanks for your time today... Enjoy the program!
Showing posts with label Calories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Calories. Show all posts
Saturday, December 4
Thursday, November 4
Tricks to increase fat-burning hormones
Strategic overeating during this holiday season can allow you to enjoy your holiday parties without sacrificing all of the calorie-rich foods, and when done right, can even help you get leaner instead of fatter this holiday season.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Most Important Hormone You've Never Heard Of
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It’s name is Leptin (derived from the Greek word leptos, meaning “thin”), and it’s without a doubt the most important hormone you probably never heard of.
You see, leptin was only first discovered just over 10 years ago, and as far as weight loss is concerned, that’s extremely recent.
Leptin’s function? To communicate your nutritional status to your body and brain.
Leptin levels are mediated by two things. One is your level of body fat. All else being equal, people with higher levels of body fat will have higher leptin levels than those with lower levels of body fat and vice versa.
Because leptin is secreted by fat cells, it makes sense that under normal conditions there is a direct correlation between leptin levels and the amount of fat you are carrying.
Unfortunately, when you’re attempting to lose fat and begin to restrict calories, conditions are anything but “normal” and the body responds accordingly by lowering leptin levels.
This is because the second mediator of blood leptin levels is your calorie intake. Lower your calorie intake and leptin will fall, independent of body fat.
So, yes, you can be overweight and still suffer from low leptin levels – just go on a diet.
So what happens when leptin levels fall and why the heck does it matter?
Again, under normal conditions leptin levels are normal and the brain gets the signal loud and clear that nutrition intake is adequate. Metabolism is high and the internal environment of the body is one very conducive to fat burning.
Until you start dieting.
Go on a diet and leptin levels quickly plummet (by 50% or more after only one week), sending a signal to the body that you’re semi-starved and not consuming enough calories.
This puts the breaks on metabolism and creates a hormonal environment extremely conducive to fat storage. Thyroid hormones (hormones extremely important to metabolism) respond by taking a dive and the abdominal fat-storing stress hormone cortisol skyrockets measurably.
HELLO belly fat.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, the appetite stimulating hormones ghrelin, neuropeptide-Y, and anandamide all hop on board to make your life even more miserable.
You don’t have to remember any of those names, just remember that when leptin drops, you get seriously hungry.
Despite having a pretty good reason for its reaction, it’s pretty ironic that our bodies are primed for fat loss at every other time except when we are trying to burn fat.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could maintain high leptin levels and a body primed for fat burning while dieting? It would seemingly solve all of our problems.
But in order to do this, we’d have to somehow keep leptin levels high as we attempt to lose those extra pounds.
“HOW ABOUT “SUPPLEMENTING” WITH LEPTIN?”
A couple of problems here: First, leptin is a protein based hormone, which means that it can not be taken orally (otherwise, it would simply be digested). So that rules out a leptin pill.
This leaves the method of “supplemental” leptin administration to injection. And leptin injections DO indeed work, reversing the metabolic adaptations to dieting and “starvation” even while continuing to restrict calories.
In 1996, Ahima et al. used leptin injections to reverse starvation-induced neuroendrocrine adaptations in mice.
“Well, that’s nice and all, but I’m human.” Point taken; research with rodents doesn’t always correlate to similar findings in humans, however…
In 1999, Heymsfield et al. performed a double-blind placebo controlled study analyzing weight loss over a 24-week period in 73 obese humans. Subjects either injected daily with leptin or a placebo (i.e. bogus alternative). At the end of the 24-week period, the leptin group lost significantly more weight than the placebo and a higher percentage of fat vs. muscle.
In 2002, Rosenbaum et al. administered low-dose leptin to subjects (male and female) who had dieted to a 10% decrease in body weight. During the diet period, thyroid hormone levels, 24-hr energy expenditure, and other metabolic markers substantially decreased. The result of the leptin replacement therapy?
“All of these endocrine changes were reversed…”Thyroid output and daily calorie burn increased back to pre-diet levels.
In 2003, Fogteloo et al. showed that leptin injections “tended to reduce the decline of energy expenditure associated with energy restriction, whereas the tendency of energy intake to increase back to baseline levels in placebo-treated subjects was largely prevented in subjects treated with leptin.”
Yeah, that’s a mouthful. Let me put in simple terms: not only did the leptin group experience less of a decline in metabolism, but they were also less hungry, allowing them to more easily stick to the prescribed diet.
In 2004, Welt et al. reported that leptin given to a group of women with thyroid disorder immediately raised circulating concentrations of the thyroid hormones T3 and T4.
In 2005, Rosenbaum and company were at it again, again showing that energy expenditure and circulating concentrations of T3 and T4 all returned to pre-weight-loss levels with regular leptin injections.
So, as theorized, keeping leptin levels high during a diet does indeed solve our dilemma by avoiding the negative metabolic (and perhaps behavioral) adaptations that calorie restriction perpetuates.
The problem?
Daily leptin injections are far too expensive, costing thousands and thousands of dollars per week. So, we can pretty much forget about supplemental leptin as a solution (which is probably moot anyway considering that not too many people are going to voluntarily plunge a needle into their skin daily).
A REAL Solution
Now that we know that leptin injections aren’t going to save us, let’s talk about the possibility of manipulating your body’s natural leptin production.
And I’ve got good news – this can indeed be done, and without involving needles or thousands of dollars. In fact, we’ll swap the injections and mounds of cash out for two things I can guarantee you’re absolutely going to love: more calories and more carbs.
We know that leptin levels decrease by about 50% after only one week of dieting, but fortunately, it doesn’t take nearly that long for leptin to bump back up with a substantial increase in caloric intake.
In fact, research has shown that it only takes about 12-24 hours.
So, the answer to the fat loss catch-22? Strategic high-calorie, high-carb CHEATING.
By strategically cheating with high calorie foods (and yes, even stuff like pizza, ice cream, wings, cookies, burgers, fries, etc), you can give leptin and metabolism a major boost mid-diet which sets you up for plenty of subsequent fat loss when you resume your reduced calorie eating regimen.
This means greater net fat loss week after week, and ultimately, a much more realistic, maintainable way to bring you to the body you truly want and deserve.
So what’s so special about carbs?
Well, leptin, carbohydrate and insulin have been shown to have very strong ties.
Calories alone don’t get the job done, as research shows that overfeeding on protein and fat has little effect on leptin.
In order to get a strong leptin response from overfeeding, there needs to be plenty of carbs in the mix. In fact, the relationship is SO strong that research conducted by Boden et al. at the Temple University School of Medicine shows that leptin levels will not fall even in response to all-out fasting so long as insulin and blood sugar are maintained via IV drip. That’s CRAZY.
Because of this carbohydrate/insulin-leptin relationship, it makes sense that foods combining both carbs and fat (like pizza, burgers, cookies, ice cream, etc) work best for reversing the negative adaptations caused by dieting because of the BIG-TIME insulin response they produce.
THIS is why strategic cheating with your favorite foods is so powerful. THIS is why you truly can use your favorite foods to lose fat faster than you ever could with restrictive dieting. THIS is freedom.
Essentially, it’s everything “typical” dieting isn’t.
With regular dieting, come week two, you’re screwed.
With strategic cheating, you can literally use ANY food you want to *ensure* that you never go a single day without a body primed for fat loss.
The cheat or not to cheat? I think the choice is clear.
Enjoy, and have a great day!
Mary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Most Important Hormone You've Never Heard Of
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It’s name is Leptin (derived from the Greek word leptos, meaning “thin”), and it’s without a doubt the most important hormone you probably never heard of.
You see, leptin was only first discovered just over 10 years ago, and as far as weight loss is concerned, that’s extremely recent.
Leptin’s function? To communicate your nutritional status to your body and brain.
Leptin levels are mediated by two things. One is your level of body fat. All else being equal, people with higher levels of body fat will have higher leptin levels than those with lower levels of body fat and vice versa.
Because leptin is secreted by fat cells, it makes sense that under normal conditions there is a direct correlation between leptin levels and the amount of fat you are carrying.
Unfortunately, when you’re attempting to lose fat and begin to restrict calories, conditions are anything but “normal” and the body responds accordingly by lowering leptin levels.
This is because the second mediator of blood leptin levels is your calorie intake. Lower your calorie intake and leptin will fall, independent of body fat.
So, yes, you can be overweight and still suffer from low leptin levels – just go on a diet.
So what happens when leptin levels fall and why the heck does it matter?
Again, under normal conditions leptin levels are normal and the brain gets the signal loud and clear that nutrition intake is adequate. Metabolism is high and the internal environment of the body is one very conducive to fat burning.
Until you start dieting.
Go on a diet and leptin levels quickly plummet (by 50% or more after only one week), sending a signal to the body that you’re semi-starved and not consuming enough calories.
This puts the breaks on metabolism and creates a hormonal environment extremely conducive to fat storage. Thyroid hormones (hormones extremely important to metabolism) respond by taking a dive and the abdominal fat-storing stress hormone cortisol skyrockets measurably.
HELLO belly fat.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, the appetite stimulating hormones ghrelin, neuropeptide-Y, and anandamide all hop on board to make your life even more miserable.
You don’t have to remember any of those names, just remember that when leptin drops, you get seriously hungry.
Despite having a pretty good reason for its reaction, it’s pretty ironic that our bodies are primed for fat loss at every other time except when we are trying to burn fat.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could maintain high leptin levels and a body primed for fat burning while dieting? It would seemingly solve all of our problems.
But in order to do this, we’d have to somehow keep leptin levels high as we attempt to lose those extra pounds.
“HOW ABOUT “SUPPLEMENTING” WITH LEPTIN?”
A couple of problems here: First, leptin is a protein based hormone, which means that it can not be taken orally (otherwise, it would simply be digested). So that rules out a leptin pill.
This leaves the method of “supplemental” leptin administration to injection. And leptin injections DO indeed work, reversing the metabolic adaptations to dieting and “starvation” even while continuing to restrict calories.
In 1996, Ahima et al. used leptin injections to reverse starvation-induced neuroendrocrine adaptations in mice.
“Well, that’s nice and all, but I’m human.” Point taken; research with rodents doesn’t always correlate to similar findings in humans, however…
In 1999, Heymsfield et al. performed a double-blind placebo controlled study analyzing weight loss over a 24-week period in 73 obese humans. Subjects either injected daily with leptin or a placebo (i.e. bogus alternative). At the end of the 24-week period, the leptin group lost significantly more weight than the placebo and a higher percentage of fat vs. muscle.
In 2002, Rosenbaum et al. administered low-dose leptin to subjects (male and female) who had dieted to a 10% decrease in body weight. During the diet period, thyroid hormone levels, 24-hr energy expenditure, and other metabolic markers substantially decreased. The result of the leptin replacement therapy?
“All of these endocrine changes were reversed…”Thyroid output and daily calorie burn increased back to pre-diet levels.
In 2003, Fogteloo et al. showed that leptin injections “tended to reduce the decline of energy expenditure associated with energy restriction, whereas the tendency of energy intake to increase back to baseline levels in placebo-treated subjects was largely prevented in subjects treated with leptin.”
Yeah, that’s a mouthful. Let me put in simple terms: not only did the leptin group experience less of a decline in metabolism, but they were also less hungry, allowing them to more easily stick to the prescribed diet.
In 2004, Welt et al. reported that leptin given to a group of women with thyroid disorder immediately raised circulating concentrations of the thyroid hormones T3 and T4.
In 2005, Rosenbaum and company were at it again, again showing that energy expenditure and circulating concentrations of T3 and T4 all returned to pre-weight-loss levels with regular leptin injections.
So, as theorized, keeping leptin levels high during a diet does indeed solve our dilemma by avoiding the negative metabolic (and perhaps behavioral) adaptations that calorie restriction perpetuates.
The problem?
Daily leptin injections are far too expensive, costing thousands and thousands of dollars per week. So, we can pretty much forget about supplemental leptin as a solution (which is probably moot anyway considering that not too many people are going to voluntarily plunge a needle into their skin daily).
A REAL Solution
Now that we know that leptin injections aren’t going to save us, let’s talk about the possibility of manipulating your body’s natural leptin production.
And I’ve got good news – this can indeed be done, and without involving needles or thousands of dollars. In fact, we’ll swap the injections and mounds of cash out for two things I can guarantee you’re absolutely going to love: more calories and more carbs.
We know that leptin levels decrease by about 50% after only one week of dieting, but fortunately, it doesn’t take nearly that long for leptin to bump back up with a substantial increase in caloric intake.
In fact, research has shown that it only takes about 12-24 hours.
So, the answer to the fat loss catch-22? Strategic high-calorie, high-carb CHEATING.
By strategically cheating with high calorie foods (and yes, even stuff like pizza, ice cream, wings, cookies, burgers, fries, etc), you can give leptin and metabolism a major boost mid-diet which sets you up for plenty of subsequent fat loss when you resume your reduced calorie eating regimen.
This means greater net fat loss week after week, and ultimately, a much more realistic, maintainable way to bring you to the body you truly want and deserve.
So what’s so special about carbs?
Well, leptin, carbohydrate and insulin have been shown to have very strong ties.
Calories alone don’t get the job done, as research shows that overfeeding on protein and fat has little effect on leptin.
In order to get a strong leptin response from overfeeding, there needs to be plenty of carbs in the mix. In fact, the relationship is SO strong that research conducted by Boden et al. at the Temple University School of Medicine shows that leptin levels will not fall even in response to all-out fasting so long as insulin and blood sugar are maintained via IV drip. That’s CRAZY.
Because of this carbohydrate/insulin-leptin relationship, it makes sense that foods combining both carbs and fat (like pizza, burgers, cookies, ice cream, etc) work best for reversing the negative adaptations caused by dieting because of the BIG-TIME insulin response they produce.
THIS is why strategic cheating with your favorite foods is so powerful. THIS is why you truly can use your favorite foods to lose fat faster than you ever could with restrictive dieting. THIS is freedom.
Essentially, it’s everything “typical” dieting isn’t.
With regular dieting, come week two, you’re screwed.
With strategic cheating, you can literally use ANY food you want to *ensure* that you never go a single day without a body primed for fat loss.
The cheat or not to cheat? I think the choice is clear.
Enjoy, and have a great day!
Mary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Wednesday, September 2
BURN THE FAT Q & A WITH TOM VENUTO
BURN THE FAT Q & A WITH TOM VENUTO http://www.BurnTheFat.com
http://www.BurnTheFat.Com/innercircle
-----------------------------------------
QUESTION:
Hi Tom, I'm 4 foot 11 and now weigh 46 kg with 22% Body fat. I am doing 4 weight training sessions and 6 cardio sessions/wk.
The cardio usually fasted, on a treadmill doing 4-5 degree incline walking at 6.8km/h for 40 min and 5-10 min cool down. It says for my weight I burn 362 cals. I'm not sure what i burn with weight training, it takes about 40 min to complete.
I have created my food plan for the week and I'm thinking of doing a 30% deficit which brings me to approx 1280 calories daily.
I wanted to change something (reduce calories) because I haven't had any results for 2 weeks now and I don't think I can fit in anymore cardio sessions. I'm also planning to use your carb cycling approach, using
the 3 low/ 1 high day rotation.
My question: Do I need to eat at or above my maintenance calories to make the refeed/high day effective or is ok if I'm about 150 cals short? I find it hard to eat all the food.
The fat is coming off really slow. Reading about other people's body fat loss in your Inner Circle success stories (I'm a member), is inspiring, but also a little discouraging as mine is so slow.
Also, with the bodyfat scales, why is the BF% reading always higher, in my case anyway, compared to the Accumeasure calipers, which i still havent mastered yet?
ANSWER:
One thing to keep in mind is that at 4' 11" and 46 kg, you have fairly low calorie needs.
You may have heard (or, heh, realized), that it's more difficult for women to lose fat than men. Immediately most people think it must be estrogen or hormonal issues. But perhaps the biggest factor is NOT hormones, but the simple fact that women are usually smaller and lighter than men.
When you have a smaller body, you have lower calorie needs. When you have lower calorie needs, your relative deficit (20%, 30% etc) gives you a smaller absolute deficit and therefore you lose fat more slowly than someone who is larger and can create a large deficit more easily.
For example, if my TDEE is 3300 calories a day (Im 5' 8" and moderately to very active), then a 20% deficit is 660 calories, which brings me to 2640 calories a day. On paper, that will give me about 1.3 lbs of wt loss per week, rather painlessly, I might add.
If I bumped my calorie burn up or decreased my intake by another 340 a day, that's enough to give me a 2 lbs per week wt loss.
That's hardly a starvation diet (Ahhh the joys of being a man). For smaller women, the math equation is very different.
If your total daily energy expenditure is only 1970 calories, even at a VERY high exercise level, then a 20% deficit for you is only 394 calories which would put you at 1576 calories a day for (on paper) only 8/10th of a lb of fat loss/wk.
If you pursued your plan to take a more aggressive calorie deficit of 30%, that puts you at a 591 calorie deficit which would now drop you down to only 1382 calories/day.
That's starting to get fairly low in calories. However, you would still have a fairly small calorie deficit. In fact, I
I would get to eat almost twice as many calories as you and I'd still get almost twice the weekly rate of fat loss!
What this all means is that women who are petite or have a small body size are going to lose fat more slowly than larger women and much more slowly than men, so you cannot compare yourself to them.
It's great to be inspired by our success stories, but if you're looking for someone to model yourself after, choose one of our success stories of someone your body size and wt, rather than the folks who started 100 lbs overweight and were therefore easily dropping 3 lbs a week.
ONE POUND a week of fat loss is much more in line with a realistic goal for someone your body size. Overweight people can lose it faster. You are already 22% body fat at only 46 kg. (so look on the bright side - you are NOT overweight - you are simply working on getting even leaner than you already are).
The numbers of your plan look to be in the ballpark and your strategy makes sense. You simply need to be extremely consistent with your nutrition over time.
Suggestion #1: Weigh and measure all your food any time you feel you are stuck at a plateau, just to be sure. When your calorie expenditure is on the low side, you don't have much margin for error.
Suggestion #2: Take your body comp measurements with a grain of salt, esp if you are using Bioelectric Impedance Analysis (BIA) scales (they are a bit wonky) and remember that body comp testing is seldom perfect. Pay attention to your circumference measurements, how your clothes fit and how you look in the mirror and in photos as well.
Suggestion #3: You might actually want to take fewer refeeds -once a week instead of every 4th day, or even just once every 10-14 days, so you can get a larger weekly deficit. To answer your question, yes it is ok if your 150 cals short on high carb days if you are full (be happy that you are full - many people have to deal with constant hunger when the calories get low)
Suggestion #4: You may want to take 2 or 3 of your long cardios on the treadmill and switch them to intense intervals or ANY other type of activity that has potential to burn more than 362 calories for an hour's investment of time, or perhaps that equivalent calorie burn in less time. No need to add more days of cardio or more time - get the most out of the time you are already spending.
Suggestion #5: If you do intervals, don't make the workout too brief (ignore the advertisements for those "4 minute miracle" workouts, etc etc), or you may burn fewer calories than you were before! In fact, you might even try the method where you do HIIT for 15-20 min, then continue for another 30-40 at slow to medium
intensity. Increasing total calories burned should be your focus
Dropping only ONE pound per week (or less) may seem excruciatingly slow, but it's actually the same type of thing I do. As a bodybuilder, I go from lean to extremely lean when I diet and I don't expect more than a pound a week during contest cuts.
You are in a similar situation, even if not competing. Even if you get a half a pound a week fat loss, if you get that progress every week, that's what you're looking for - steady progress - even if slow.
It's entirely possible that you HAVE been making progress, only very slowly. With the way water weight and glycogen levels can fluctuate (and lean mass may increase), a half a pound or pound fat loss in a week could have been easily masked...and therefore, missed. That's one of the drawbacks of going by the scale alone.
Understand the calorie math I explained above and be patient, watching for slow and steady progress, paying special attention to the trend over time on your progress chart.
Keep after it - the persistence will pay, I promise!
Train hard and expect success,
Tom Venuto author of
Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle
http://www.BurnTheFat.com
Founder & CEO,
Burn The Fat Inner Circle
http://www.BurnTheFat.Com/innercircle
PS. You can learn about more fat loss strategies (including the details about the carb cycling method) inside my ebook, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle. Learn more and see some of the inspiring before and after success stories at: http://www.BurnTheFat.com
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