Book Review: Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle

Disclaimer: Before moving on to my review, I want to say that I will never promote a product on this site unless I believe in full faith it’s one of the best on the market in its field. My goal is to provide readers with honest and useful recommendations that will help them move towards reaching their goals in life more efficiently and effectively.

This E-book is NOT for men only. Women can use the information in it too. Ladies, don’t worry, you’re not going to become super muscular like the women you see on those body building contests on TV. Building muscle isn’t that easy!

In his best selling e-book, “Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle”, Tom Venuto, world-class bodybuilder and fitness expert, reveals a step-by-step method to help you reach all of your fitness goals.

I know, I know. There are hundreds of books out there claiming to do the same thing. But something about this E-book caught my eye. It didn’t have ridiculous pictures of people on its website claiming they lost 100 pounds in 2 weeks. The book wasn’t pushing a crazy diet (Atkins, South Beach, Ketogenic).

It did, however, honestly state it would require hard work on your part to reach your fitness goals. And if you wanted it bad enough, the information in this book would take you to where you wanted to be. I appreciated Mr. Venuto’s honesty, and I said, “Why the hell not? I’ll give it a try!”

I purchased his E-book (with an 8-week free trial) and starting reading right away. I was immediately impressed with Tom’s approach to getting in shape. He acknowledges it’s a slow process, but keeps you hooked with his own tale of how he reached the level of  world-class bodybuilder.

The whole book is built around Tom’s commitment to honesty and hard work. You’ll feel confident in knowing that Tom has legitimately experimented with tons of different methods of fat loss over the last 14 years, so he isn’t just talking out of his ass. He isn’t trying to get off easy by selling a pricey product that delivers no real value. He doesn’t recommend that you get on some obscene diet, and he doesn’t proclaim you’ll only need to work out 1 day a week to see results. He makes it clear you will have to put forth a considerable amount of effort to see results, but reminds you the results will be worth it in the end.

How it Works

The book is titled “Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle” because of its approach to fat loss. Many diets and fitness programs do help you burn fat, but also contribute to muscle loss in the process. You don’t want this because muscle is metabolic tissue! It actually burns calories and fat for you while you’re sitting around. You want to keep as much muscle as you possibly can while burning fat, and Tom’s book will help you do just that!

He instructs that fat should be burned off using a combination of cardiovascular exercise, weight lifting, and nutrition. By following Tom’s advice on how to maximize your efforts in each of these three areas, you will learn how to burn fat while maintaining your current amount of muscle mass.

After reading the book, the thing I liked the most about it was its focus on good health. Many fitness books out there suggest methods that work, but at the cost of your health. Tom’s book puts you on an extremely clean diet. Even if you don’t plan on working out, you could adopt this diet for the rest of your life and see major improvements in your health. Also, the book promotes healthy fat loss, and suggests that only 1-2 pounds of weight-loss/week is healthy (sorry to all of you who were hoping for 100 pounds in 2 weeks).

Another plus is the book’s readability. Tom exhaustingly explains each step of the process in language anyone can understand. He doesn’t use boring jargon to try to stupefy you into believing him. He helps you understand why each step works (good for you doubtful types) by citing the biochemistry to back it up. The material is easy to understand, and easy to start applying right away. This made reading the book an entertaining and educational experience. I flew through the book’s 400 pages in 2 days, and began the transformation process almost instantly.

Real Results

After 8 weeks of using this program, I can honestly say it works just as promised. After just one week, I had lost an amazing 1% body fat (not typical), and the fat loss continued at this rate for about 3 weeks. After 4 weeks, I had a serious knee injury and was unable to stick to the fitness portion of the plan. However, I have stuck to the nutrition segment of the plan, and plan on starting up on the fitness portion again tomorrow (after weeks of physical therapy).

I started off at 16% body fat, and am currently at 12.5% body fat. Keep in mind all of this fat loss was during the first 4 weeks of using the program. I have been able to maintain my level of body fat percentage for the last 4 weeks without working out, simply by sticking to the nutrition guidelines laid out by Tom. If this doesn’t prove the nutritional aspect of the system works, I don’t know what will.

When I finished reading the book, I didn’t ease into things; I immediately changed my lifestyle to incorporate all of the steps Tom teaches in his book. You may be saying to yourself, “That’s too much for me Rahul,” but before you even think that thought, Tom has you covered. He lays out a comprehensive goal setting procedure that’ll help you stick to your guns, and make the transition process a smooth one.

My diet now consists of 5-6 small, spread out meals per day. Each meal is comprised of lean proteins, complex-carbohydrates, and good fats. I consume almost a gallon of water per day, and I watch my caloric intake scrupulously. I eat a lot of vegetables and fruit. I’ve eliminated fast food and processed sugars from my diet. As you can see, this diet is healthy, and is quite reasonable. Also, you’re allowed to eat a couple of “cheat meals” per week. For these meals you can eat whatever you want; go nuts! I think it’s a nice touch to the program.

Tom emphasizes that changing your diet isn’t difficult; your current meal choices only require a tune-up. All you need to do is substitute some of your current meal choices with their better alternatives. For example:

• Substitute white rice with brown rice
• Substitute corn and flour tortillas with wheat tortillas
• Substitute white bread with wheat bread
• Substitute French fries with a baked potato
• Substitute fast food meat with chicken breast, extra lean steak, or fish

In the end, you ultimately choose how strict you want your diet to be. If you want results faster, you’ll have to adopt a stricter diet. If you don’t mind taking your time, you can loosen your diet up. I appreciate this flexibility, as it makes the program more doable (for the people who like to ease into things).

Taking the Plunge

Deciding to take responsibility for your health is a conscious step in the right direction. You’ll be choosing a better life overall, and will be paying respect to your body in the process. Your health should be more than just some diet, or some exercise routine; it should be a lifestyle. When you choose to lead a healthy lifestyle, you are choosing to feel better about yourself for the rest of your life.  Remember, your body is your means of expression in the physical world. Treat it properly. Don’t take it for granted.

If you feel as though you’re ready to make the commitment towards improving your health, then you should definitely check out “Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle”. What do you have to lose, except for a couple of pounds? There’s an 8-week money back guarantee, so if you don’t like the book you can return it and receive a full refund of your money, no questions asked. I certainly won’t be sending mine back; this book is just too good!

Please let me know what you think of the book in the comments section below. If you’ve been using it for a while, please please please share your results and how the book has changed your life. Your fellow readers will greatly appreciate it, as will I!

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