What did you have for lunch today? Did you pick up a double whopper with a side order of extra large fries, and an extra large drink? If so, did you stop and think about what you were about to do to your body before you took a bite out of that seemingly harmless, juicy burger?

If you didn’t think about it, let me help you out. You were about to commit assault! And I don’t mean one of those minor cases of assault; I’m talking about complete and total battery here! That juicy, tasty burger combo set all of your bodily functions into a haywire of chaos and disorientation.

The next time you’re waiting in the drive through line thinking about buying your favorite burger combo, simply remember what happens to your body when you drink one Coke. If one Coke alone can wreak such havoc on your body, imagine what an additional greasy burger with a side order of deep fried French fries will do. Hopefully you’ll be smart, get out of that line as fast as you can, and never look back.

Making Reasonable Changes

Tasty food is certainly one of life’s greatest pleasures. The diet changes suggested below are not designed to turn you into a tasteless-food-eating-robot. Instead, they are viable changes you can make to your current diet to improve the quality of your overall health. The more of these changes you make, the better you will feel throughout the day (more energy, reduced illness, clarity of mind), and the better you will feel about yourself.

1. Substitute white for wheat: White pasta and white bread are highly processed forms of simple sugar. Your body reacts to the ingestion of these refined sugars much like it does when you drink a Coke. Also, white bread and pasta products lack the dietary fiber benefits of 100% whole wheat bread, making them easily digestible and damaging to the digestive tract. Whole wheat, on the other hand, provides your body with a good source of complex carbohydrates (complex sugars) to work with, and is a good source of fiber. The fiber slows down the digestion process, and allows the vitamins and minerals in the bread to be absorbed by your body. Personally, I don’t find the taste to be all that different either. Try it out and see for yourself. Switch to whole wheat, whole grain products and never look back!
2. Eat lean proteins: Whole milk tastes amazing, I know. But did you know it has 25% of your daily value of saturated fat? Maybe that’s why it tastes so good! Add this value to your daily consumption of other fatty proteins, and you can easily exceed your acceptable daily intake of saturated fat. Saturated fat has been linked to a number of heart problems, as well as to strokes. Try and limit your saturated fat consumption by making the switch to lean proteins. Lean proteins are animal products that are low in fat. Milks up to 1% in fat, egg whites, top round steak or top sirloin, chicken breast, turkey breast, and fish all fall under this category. Also, lean proteins are the best source of protein for muscles to use during the reconstruction phase following a workout. Here are a few simple changes you can make:
   • Drink skim or 1% milk, instead of 2% or whole milk
   • Eat grilled or broiled chicken breast instead of breaded, fried chicken
   • Eat egg white omelets instead of whole egg omelets
   • Eat top round, or flank steak instead of New York strip, and chuck steak
   • Eat 99% fat free turkey instead of 85% fat free turkey, or ground beef
3. Eliminate soft drinks: This one should be obvious if you took the time to check out the link posted earlier in this article. If you’re looking for another reason to eliminate soft drinks from your diet, think about this. Research has shown that it takes 32 glasses of water to neutralize the acidity of one coke. If you’re the average American and drink less than 8 glasses of water per day, it will take you more than 4 days to neutralize one can of coke. Do yourself a favor, and cut out all soft drinks from your diet.
4. Eliminate fast food: This should be another no-brainer. Most fast food is high in sodium, high in saturated fat, high in simple carbs, and low in everything else that’s good for your body. You may be thinking, “I don’t have time to make meals, I have to get something quick.” That’s just an excuse. Make time the night before and cook some healthy meals for the next day. Eating healthy is a matter of planning. If you fail to plan, you will be eating a lot of “fast food.” Don’t let yourself be the victim of a lack of planning.
5. Eliminate junk food: I know what you’re thinking, “But those chips taste so good!” It’s too bad those chips share many of the same nutritional attributes of French fries, and other food that’s detrimental to your health. Stay away from potato chips, cookies, and donuts. Munch on some fruit, baked chips, or vegetables instead.
6. Replace candy with fruit: Many fruits are just as sweet, if not sweeter, than your favorite candy. If you’ve got a sweet tooth, and are in need of a sugar fix, bite into a ripe nectarine or plum and savor the taste knowing you’re doing your body good. Fruits are rich in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that can lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, boost the immune system, and reduce cardiovascular disease amongst many other benefits.
7. Eat more vegetables: Vegetables are high in fiber, and are considered complex carbohydrates (a great source of energy). Not only do they aid in digestion, but they provide the body with much needed vitamins and minerals. Vegetables are “dense” foods, meaning they have a high amount of nutrients, fill you up easily, but aren’t high in calories. Try to include 1-2 servings of vegetables with each of your meals throughout the day.

A Better Lifestyle

If you’re finding it difficult to implement these steps right away, take it slow. Choose to implement one change a week. I applaud you for choosing a better lifestyle. I know it’s not easy letting go of some of your favorite foods. I used to have the worst diet imaginable. I would eat fast food at least 5 times a week, junk food all the time, and drank A LOT of Coke (I guess that’s what college does to you). However, I’m sure you will find, just as I have, that eating healthy is a much more enjoyable experience than eating poorly. You’ll look back and wonder how you ever enjoyed fast food, soft drinks, and junk food.

What does your current diet look like, and how do you plan on changing it? I’m interested to hear what you have to say. Let me know in the comments!

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That’s awesome!

When it comes to exercise, it’s all about knowing your own body. If you’ve figured out what works best for you, keep on doing what you’re doing. However, there are a few small things you can do to further tweak the effectiveness of your workout plan.

These tips are designed to help you get the most out of your workouts. They are designed to optimize your workout plan, not to replace it. If you apply these tips, I guarantee you will see much better results in your overall fitness and body composition. I personally apply these techniques to my daily workouts, and they have contributed to tremendous results in my overall fitness. I’ve burned off 6% body fat in 12 weeks, I’ve lost 15 pounds, and I’ve actually gained muscle mass in the process!

Hard to believe? Try them out and see for yourself!

1. Moderate to high intensity cardio before you eat your first meal: Studies show that you can burn up to 300% more body fat with a 30-minute cardio workout in the morning before you eat, than you can if you workout after you’ve eaten your first meal. The reason for this? When you wake up, you’re in a fasted state. Most people haven’t eaten in 10-12 hours. While you are sleeping, your body is slowly metabolizing the carbs in your system. This means you’re body has low carbohydrate and blood sugar counts when you wake up. Since there are no carbs in your system (standard energy used during cardio workouts), your body begins to burn fat directly (alternate form of energy). The energy must come from somewhere! Also, this type of cardio workout has a strong after-burn effect. Since your metabolism is kick-started before you’ve eaten your first meal, your body will devour and metabolize everything you put into it following your workout. Try it out for a few days, and you will realize you’re extremely hungry right after your workout, and will continue to be hungry shortly after your meals throughout the day.
2. Heart-rate train: This has proven to be one of the most important factors in enhancing the effectiveness of my workout. I’ve seen great fat-loss results simply by adjusting my target heart rate zone during my cardio workouts. To figure out your optimal fat-loss target heart rate zone, use the Karvonen Heart Rate Calculator. Once you’ve gotten the output from the formula, scroll down to the “New Method,” and look at the 65% and 70% numbers. When you are between these two heart rates, the largest percentage of your calories burned will be from fat. This is accurate for about 75% of people, and even if it’s not 100% accurate for you, you’ll know you’re close!
3. Purchase a heart rate monitor: Obviously if you want to know whether or not you are training in your optimal heart rate zone, you’re going to need a heart rate monitor. Most cardio equipment comes with a built in heart rate monitor (you put your hands on those metal sensors), however I’ve found these to be inaccurate compared to a heart rate monitor with a telemetry strap (wraps around your chest). Another great thing about HR monitors is that most cardio equipment picks up the signal from the telemetry strap and displays it on its dashboard, so you don’t have to wear the heart rate watch. This is much more accurate because the machine takes into account the intensity of your workout and calculates calories burned accordingly. You can purchase a Polar heart rate monitor, or an Acumen heart rate monitor. I personally use Acumen, because it’s cheaper, and it works just as well as Polar.
4. Keep a workout journal: Recording the amount of reps, sets, and weight you are lifting is essential. A journal gives you the ability to view your progress, make adjustments to your workout, and keeps you on track with your fitness goals. I typically don’t take a journal with me to the gym. Instead I record my workouts in Live Journal after I’m done. Being able to look at my results for the day helps me figure out what I need to do in my next workout.
5. Constantly improve: Each time you go to the gym and workout a muscle group, you need to make progress. This useful technique prevents you from hitting a plateau. For example, I recorded my results from today’s chest, shoulder, triceps and abs workout in my journal. I recorded the weight I lifted, the amount of reps I did, and the amount of sets I completed for each muscle group. The next time I’m at the gym, I’ll increase the number of reps in each muscle group’s workout, even if it’s only by one. This means I’m always making progress. Once I hit 12 reps for a specific workout, I jump to a new weight, usually adding 5 pounds to the routine. The same concept applies to your cardio workout. Each time, strive to make progress. This may mean cutting 10 seconds off your 1-mile time, or increasing the resistance level on the elliptical machine.
6. Always carry a water bottle: When you’re at the gym, I’m sure you see the really lean, muscular guys walking around with huge 1 gallon jugs of water. They do this because they understand the importance of hydration to their workout routine. Water keeps your body functioning optimally, and is especially important to the fat loss process. Your kidneys process the urea, salt, and other waste products in your body. In order for your kidneys to their job, your body has to be adequately hydrated. If it’s not, the liver will have to come over and help out the kidneys with the waste processing. This is bad because the liver is supposed to be processing the fat you’re burning during your workout. How can it perform this task if it’s busy helping your kidneys? It can’t. Make sure you’re drinking enough water so your liver can do its job, not only while you’re working out, but throughout the entire day!
7. Create a progress spreadsheet: A progress chart will hold you accountable for your results, and will keep you motivated. Create a weekly progress chart in Excel. On the chart, record the date, time, your body fat percentage, and your weight. This is the chart I use: Progress Chart Example. Just enter data into the first 5 columns, and the rest will be calculated for you. You can measure your body fat easily by purchasing a body fat caliper from Accumeasure. You will become excited as the end of week approaches, because you will be eager to see the progress you’ve made. You’ll find it hard not to go to the gym because you’re seeing such great results!

Share Your Results

Incorporate these steps into your workout plan, and watch as the quality of your results increases exponentially. Please let me know about your results using these techniques. Contact me, or leave a comment. I’m excited to hear about the progress you’ve made! Also, if you have any other additional tips or suggestions, please leave a comment so everyone can benefit.

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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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