Lose Fat in the Morning!

"Wisdom will multiply your days and add years to your life."

- Proverbs 9:11

This is an article originally written by Mike Roussell, Ph.D. I wanted to post it as today's blog since it gives good tips on how to begin losing fat first thing in the morning. It also goes with many of the recent blogs I've posted by Mike Roussell, Alwyn Cosgrove and the Warp Speed Fat Loss Program.

One of the best ways to ensure you burn maximum fat is to get your training done first thing in the morning. A common fat loss tip people often give out is just this - exercise in the morning to burn more fat.

Does exercising in the morning burn more calories? Unfortunately, there is no scientific evidence to prove that exercising in the morning burns more calories, but it may increase your fat loss.

How? Because it guarantees that you'll get your training done! If you are having trouble losing weight, sticking to your diet, and getting in all your exercise sessions, then training first thing in the morning could be just the thing for you.

In a previous episode of my Naked Nutrition Radio, my guest was behavior change expert Kara Mohr. Kara and her husband, Chris Mohr, hold exercise bootcamp for women in Louisville, Kentucky at 5:30 in the morning. Why? They call it the "No Excuse Hour." You don't have any excuses not to be there and not to do it.

My friend, and Men's Health expert, Bill Hartman exercises at 4:00am to ensure that he gets his training done - No Excuses. Bill runs two physical therapy clinics, a gym and is a family man. He has every reason to make excuses, but he makes the time.

Success Coach Brian Tracy always says that if you want to be successful, just find successful people and do what they are doing. If you are having trouble getting your training sessions in because your day is too busy, follow the example of these successful people and embrace the "No Excuse Hour."

You will feel invigorated, your metabolism will be blasting at its highest level, and you'll burn more fat.

The second important piece to the puzzle is diet. You need rock solid fat loss nutrition first thing in the morning to fuel your day. One important factor for many people (especially if they are exercising in the morning as well) is time. That is why I recommend you use a nutrition-packed shake to get fueled and get going with your day.

Here is a sample shake that you could make to help burn maximum fat:

Add to a blender: 8-12 ounces of water, a few ice cubes (optional), 1 ounce of walnuts, a "greens" supplement (such as Emerald Balance or Superfood), one scoop of protein powder (such as Metabolic Drive Low-Carb), and one cup of frozen berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and/or blackberries).

Take 2-3 grams of fish oil while drinking this shake, and you'll be ready to go. This shake contains low-impact carbs, a blend of essential and heart-healthy fats, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. You would be hard-pressed to find a better way to start your day and start burning fat.

You need to decide. Are you going to starting losing weight tomorrow morning? Are you going to take advantage of the "No Excuse Hour?" Are you going to start your day with a fat-burning breakfast - or coffee and a bagel like the rest of the country?

Jumpstart your fat loss first thing in the morning, and you will reap the benefits throughout the day.

About the Author/More Info
Warp Speed Fat Loss is a complete 28-day diet and training system crafted to help you lose 10, 15 or 20lbs of body fat in just 28 days. To start losing weight fast visit Warp Speed Fat Loss.

Mike Roussell is a nutrition doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania. Mike's writings can be found in magazines such as Men's Health, Men's Fitness and Testosterone Nation. Mike specializes in fat loss nutrition and diets for busy men and women who need to lose weight fast without it interfering with their lives. Warp Speed Fat Loss is a complete Done-for-You A-Z Fat Loss Blueprint that gives you exactly everything you need to eat to lose weight in record time.

The Problem With Weight Loss: Your Body Will Do The Opposite!

"My words are plain to anyone with understanding, clear to those with knowledge." - Proverbs 8:9

I've been very busy this past week and haven't had as much time to post some of the topics I want to discuss. So today's blog is an article written by Alwyn Cosgrove about weight loss with some ideas on how to get your body to respond favorably.

Homeostasis is the property of a living organism that regulates its internal environment so as to maintain a stable, constant condition.

When you don't drink enough water in the short term, often the body retains water. It attempts to maintain homeostasis by counteracting the stresses we put on it. When you drink a lot of extra water, your body excretes more water to maintain balance.

When we weight train, we actually break down muscle tissue. And the body responds by building new muscle. It attempts to maintain homeostasis by doing the reverse of the stimulus we placed on it.

When a male takes supplemental testosterone, the body shuts down its own production in a bid to maintain homeostasis.

When we immunize children against disease, we actually inject them with a small dose of that disease. The immune system recognizes the vaccine as foreign, destroys it, and "remembers" it. When the virulent version of an agent comes along, the immune system is thus prepared to respond. In order to prepare the body to defend against a disease, we expose it to the disease and it responds by doing the opposite - it destroys the disease.

In almost every situation I can think of, the body tries to maintain homeostasis by "doing the opposite" of the stimulus.

How does this apply to weight loss?

• We now know that while you are performing low-intensity exercise, it burns primarily fat.
• Higher intensity exercise actually burns more carb stores than fat.

But in every head-to-head comparison, high-intensity exercise results in more fat loss than low-intensity exercise even though the more intense work may burn a lesser percentage of fat during the exercise session. Burning glycogen results in a larger amount of fat lost than burning fat directly.

The body responds by doing the opposite:

• It breaks down muscle to grow more muscle
• It burns glycogen to lose more fat

I designed the Warp Speed Fat Loss training program to specifically take advantage of this law of nature so that when your body "does the opposite," you’ll end up with faster and greater fat loss.

About the Author/More Info
Warp Speed Fat Loss is a complete 28-day diet and training system crafted to help you lose 10, 15 or 20lbs of body fat in just 28 days. To start losing weight fast visit Warp Speed Fat Loss.

Alwyn Cosgrove, M.S., C.S.C.S., is a nationally-renown fat loss expert whose work has appeared in magazines such as Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Muscle & Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Men's Journal, Self, Oxygen, Muscle & Fitness HERS and T-Nation. His Warp Speed Fat Loss system is a complete Done-for-You A-Z Fat Loss Blueprint that gives you exactly everything you need to eat and exactly what to do for exercise to lose weight in record time.

Four Ways To Break A Weight Loss Plateau

"The wise are mightier than the strong, and those with knowledge grow stronger and stronger." - Proverbs 24:5

This is an article originally written by Mike Roussell, Ph.D. I wanted to post it as today's blog since it gives good tips about breaking a weight loss plateau.

Weight loss plateaus are the bain of every dieter's existence. There is nothing more frustrating than doing everything that you are "supposed" to do but, for whatever reason, the weight loss just stops.

Before we get into how you can smash through your weight loss plateau, it is important to determine if you have plateaued OR perhaps you haven't actually been following your diet and/or training program.

The first step is to do a gut check and make sure your compliance to your diet program is where it needs to be. If you haven't been 90% compliant, then stop reading this article and get back to focusing on doing what you actually said you were going to do.

If you have been sticking to your program, but have stopped losing weight, then we have a problem.

Homeostasis.

The human body is constantly striving for homeostasis. What we need to do is shake things up and prevent our systems from staying in a homeostatic state. Here are four ways that you can disrupt homeostasis and blast through your weight loss plateau. You aren't meant to do all of them at the same time - instead just pick one at time.

1. Increase Calories for 7-10 Days
This doesn't mean go off your diet. Instead, increase your calories (no more than 500 calories per day), mainly from carbohydrates to give your system a "break" from calorie restriction. After the 7-10 day period, cut your calories back down and your weight loss will start back up. This strategy works well if you have been dieting for a long time.

2. Crank Up the Intensity
Often times, we find ourselves perpetually dieting and can just never seem to get those last 10 pounds off. In these situations, cranking up the intensity on all fronts (diet and training) for a set amount of time is a great way to blast through a weight loss plateau. With this method we are basically shocking your system out of homeostasis.

3. Change Your Training Program
Sticking to the same training program for too long used to be a very common problem. Now with all the training resources on the Internet, being on a program for too long isn't an issue for many people (but it may be for you). You need to be switching up your program (set, reps, exercises, how many days a week you train, etc) every 4-6 weeks.

4. Reduce Your Carbs
This tip is the opposite of the first one but works just as well. Dropping your carbs down to a ketogenic level will strongarm your system into using fat as its primary fuel source. This metabolic fuel switch works best if your carbs aren't too low already (>100g/d). To further enhance the effect of this technique, use the induction protocol where you eat 20g/d of carbs or less for 2 weeks.

Weight loss plateaus are frustrating, but don't let them discourage you or stop you from reaching your goal. If you have truly reached a plateau, pick one of the techniques above and put it into action. When you hit another plateau, pick another one. Continue doing this until you have reached your goal.

Remember that for the most part weight loss is not a linear process. Plateaus are a normal physiological occurrence, but using the strategies in this article you can beat temporary weight loss homeostasis and achieve the body you want.

About the Author/More Info
Warp Speed Fat Loss is a complete 28-day diet and training system crafted to help you lose 10, 15 or 20lbs of body fat in just 28 days. To start losing weight fast, visit Warp Speed Fat Loss.

Mike Roussell is a nutrition doctoral student at Pennsylvania State University. Mike's writings can be found in magazines such as Men's Health, Men's Fitness and Testosterone Nation. Mike specializes in fat loss nutrition and diets for busy men and women who need to lose weight fast without it interfering with their lives. Warp Speed Fat Loss is a complete Done-for-You A-Z Fat Loss Blueprint that gives you exactly everything you need to eat to lose weight in record time.

Carbohydrates and Fat Loss: What's the Deal?

"All the animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, all the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the fish in the sea will look on you with fear and terror. I have placed them in your power. I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables." - Genesis 9:2-3

This is an article originally written by Mike Roussell, Ph.D. I wanted to post it as today's blog since it gives good information about carbohydrates and fat loss. You'll see that many of the points he makes is similar to previous blogs I've written about following a low-carb diet - Warp Speed Fat Loss; Meal Frequency: Eat 4-6 Meals Per Day; Warp Speed Fat Loss Part 2; and Low-Carb and Mediterranean Diets are Both Winners for Fat Loss.

Carbohydrates play an important role in any fat loss diet. You need them to help you recover from your workouts, but you need to limit them so that they don't inhibit your fat loss.

So what is the right balance of carbohydrates in your diet?

When you eat carbs, and what kind of carbs you eat, depends on your body type and the time of day. Let's look at this idea a little more closely.

The degree in which your body does not "handle" carbohydrates well is known in science terms as insulin resistance. While there are many factors that impact insulin resistance, the most important is your body fat.

Too much Visceral body fat (the kind that sits inside your gut surrounding your organs) leads to increased insulin resistance. The greater your insulin resistance the worse your body is at processing carbohydrates.

The best way to deal with insulin resistance from a dietary standpoint is to use lower impact carbohydrates. The "impact" of a carbohydrate is the degree in which it affects your blood sugar levels.

This can be measured in terms of "glycemic load" (higher glycemic load leads to greater effect on your blood sugar levels. A good article about the difference between the glycemic index and the glycemic load can be found - HERE).

One of the world's top glycemic load researchers, David Ludwig, discovered in one of his research studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that people with insulin resistance lost more weight when they were on a low-glycemic load diet vs. a low-fat diet.

Low-glycemic load diets are typically lower in total carbohydrates and higher in protein and fat than a typical low-fat diet. This is the perfect kind of diet for weight loss. You can easily eat this way by switching out rice, pasta, potatoes, breads, and other starchy or processed carbs for spinach, broccoli, tomatoes, green beans, chick peas and a variety of other vegetables, legumes and fruit.

These are the kinds of carbs that you want to focus on eating throughout the day as they are low in total carbohydrates and sugars but higher in fiber.

While low "impact" carbs are important for controlling insulin levels and increasing your rate of fat loss, fast-acting carbs are also an important part of a fat-loss diet.

A 2006 study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology showed that when people drank a sugary shake during their workout over the course of 12 weeks, they lost just as much weight as the ones that did not drink anything.

Other studies have shown that those who use a mix of carbohydrates and protein during and after their workout lose as much fat as those who don't drink a shake and they gain more lean muscle mass!

Carbohydrates during your workout will allow you to train harder, burn more calories and lose more fat. Fast-acting carbs and protein during your workout will also allow you to recover from your workouts faster, allowing you to continue training hard and losing weight fast.

If you don't want to use a specially-formulated pre- or post-workout shake like Surge or Relentless, something as simple as chocolate milk has been proven to be just as effective and has the right amount of protein and carbs needed for recovery.

Just be sure not to overdo it if you are trying to lose fat. You can easily consume too many carbs and negate some of the fat-loss benefits. I recommend no more than 30-50 grams of carbs if you weigh less than 200lbs - and only use it after intense training workouts.

The final important point that needs to be made is that when low-carbohydrate diets are compared to low-fat diets, the people on low-carb diets consistently lose more weight after six months on the diet, and they do not need to focus on cutting calories - they eat as much as they want (the benefit of more protein and healthy fats in your diet is that they will also help you feel fuller faster and keep you satisfied longer).

People on low-fat diets need to focus on restricting calories, and they don't lose as much weight. Which diet would you rather be on?

If you are truly serious about losing weight as fast as possible then you need to adopt a low-carb approach during the day but allow for a fast-acting carb and protein workout shake when you train.

About the Author/More Info
Warp Speed Fat Loss is a complete 28-day diet and training system crafted to help you lose 10, 15 or 20lbs of body fat in just 28 days. To start losing weight fast, visit Warp Speed Fat Loss.

Mike Roussell is a nutrition doctoral student at Pennsylvania State University. Mike's writings can be found in magazines such as Men's Health, Men's Fitness and Testosterone Nation. Mike specializes in fat loss nutrition and diets for busy men and women who need to lose weight fast without it interfering with their lives. Warp Speed Fat Loss is a complete Done-for-You A-Z Fat Loss Blueprint that gives you exactly everything you need to eat to lose weight in record time.

30 Power Foods for More Fat Loss!

"You must serve only the Lord your God. If you do, He will bless you with food and water, and He will protect you from illness."

- Exodus 23:25

This is an article originally written by Mike Roussell, Ph.D. I wanted to post it as today's blog since it gives good information about power foods that you should be eating on a regular basis. You'll see that many of the points he makes goes along with previous blogs I've written about power foods - Power Foods; Power Foods - Part 2; and Four Foods for More Fat Loss.

Good food is an extremely important part of any fat loss diet. The food you eat is actually going to drive (or inhibit) your fat loss. I have put together a list of 30 Power Foods that are the kings of "healthy foods." They will get your body primed not only for rapid weight loss but greatly improved health.

These 30 Power Foods (if not all, then most) should be the center pieces of your nutrition as they are loaded with vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, essential fatty acids, fiber, essential amino acids and all kinds of other good stuff that we don’t fully understand (but we know they are good for us because God provided them as food).

I wanted to use this list to supercharge your nutrition - hopefully you're eating a lot of these already. They are separated into five groups:

1. Starches (faster acting carbs)
2. Fruits & Vegetables (and non-starchy carbohydrates)
3. Proteins
4. Fats
5. Powerfood Outsiders (these don’t really fit into any of the previous categories but that doesn’t take away from their nutritional power)

Starches

• Amaranth
• Quinoa
• Oats
• Yams

Fruits & Vegetables

• Apples
• Blueberries
• Broccoli
• Onions
• Oranges
• Pomegranates
• Pumpkin
• Raspberries
• Spinach
• Tomatoes
• Beans

Fats

• Avocado
• Coconut Oil
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Flaxseed/Flaxseed Oil
• Walnuts/Almonds/Seeds

Proteins

• Lean Poultry
• Salmon
• Lean Red Meat
• Omega-3 Eggs
• Cottage Cheese (with Live Cultures)
• Milk Protein Powder Blend

Power Foods Outsiders

• Green Tea
• Cinnamon
• Garlic
• Hot Peppers

Which ones are you eating? Which ones aren't you eating? Make note of the ones you aren't eating and make sure you pick them up next time you go shopping.

About the Author/More Info
Warp Speed Fat Loss is a complete 28-day diet and training system crafted to help you lose 10, 15 or 20lbs of body fat in just 28 days. To start losing weight fast, visit Warp Speed Fat Loss.

Mike Roussell is a nutrition doctoral student at Pennsylvania State University. Mike's writings can be found in magazines such as Men's Health, Men's Fitness and Testosterone Nation. Mike specializes in fat loss nutrition and diets for busy men and women who need to lose weight fast without it interfering with their lives. Warp Speed Fat Loss is a complete Done-for-You A-Z Fat Loss Blueprint that gives you exactly everything you need to eat to lose weight in record time.

Interval Training - Revisited!

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us."

- Hebrews 12:1

I've written about interval training and steady-state cardio in previous blogs including my most recent blog on how to combine interval training with steady-state cardio for the best fat loss results. However, I wanted to revisit the issue since it causes much confusion when someone is trying to lose fat or increase conditioning.

If you are limited in the amount of time you have to train, and you want to maximize your fat loss, then you will need to address your diet and resistance training program first.

As mentioned in the Hierarchy of Fat Loss, if you only have 3 hours to train each week, your diet and metabolic resistance training program will be the most important thing to address. However, if you have more time, you would want to include interval training and so on and so forth as described in the article.

As I've mentioned in previous blogs, I've also used the Tabata method. Although Tabata's may not be ideal for fat loss (although there could be that benefit over time), they are good for anaerobic conditioning. That's one reason why I recommend using them as a finisher after a weight workout. Tabatas are short, but intense and won't interfere with your weight training or strength and hypertrophy goals.

If your goal is to gain strength or size while maintaining your body fat levels (or possibly losing some fat), then short conditioning workouts like Tabatas work well.

I have also used the various methods posted in the Metabolic Acceleration Training blog for conditioning benefits. These are the methods that Alwyn Cosgrove has used with phenomenal results with his clients. And when it comes to research vs. real-world results, the real-world results prove their effectiveness.

There are also countless studies showing the benefits of intervals for fat loss and conditioning over traditional steady-state aerobic exercise. In fact, Alwyn Cosgrove put many of those studies in his Real World Fat Loss manual and DVD (many of which are also posted on his blog).

The reality is that there are not as many studies proving the effectiveness of the various metabolic acceleration methods he (and others) has used - but again, real-world results trump what the research says. And if he is training more than 200 people each year at his facility and has been doing so for more than 10 years and has found those methods to be the most effective for the thousands of people he's trained, that says something!

Not only that, but from my own experience and experience training others, these various methods work far better than what I see the majority of people doing in the gym.

Putting It All Together
Designing a HIIT workout shouldn't be too difficult. You're going to alternate periods of high intensity with periods of moderate or low-intensity for your recovery. This, of course, will be dependent on your fitness level and is fully adjustable as needed.

For example, if you can't sprint for the time required, you could jog or perform a fast walk for your "intense" portion of the interval and then walk for your rest or recovery portion.

Another benefit to interval training is that it doesn't require a lot of time. Many people will start out with as few as three intervals for a total workout time of 9-10 minutes (after your 3-5 minute warm-up). As for how often to perform interval training, I recommend anywhere from 1-3 days each week depending on the time you have available and your goals.

You can use a variety of methods for interval training (sprinting or jogging, jumping rope, weight circuits, bodyweight exercises, stationary bike, stair climber, rower, etc.) and you can use different work-to-rest ratios to make them more or less intense.

Typical work-to-rest ratios will be 1:2, 1:1.5 or 1:1. Which one you use will depend on your level of conditioning and goals. It would be a good idea to start with a 1:2 work-to-rest ratio and progress over time to 1:1.

Some of the most common work-to-rest ratios include the following:

• 30 secs "hard" (8-9 out of 10) with 60 secs "easy" recovery (4-6 out of 10)
• 30 secs "hard" with 45 secs "easy" recovery
• 30 secs "hard" with 30 secs "easy" recovery
• 45 secs "hard" with 90 secs "easy" recovery
• 45 secs "hard" with 75 secs "easy" recovery
• 45 secs "hard" with 45 secs "easy" recovery
• 60 secs "hard" with 120 secs "easy" recovery
• 60 secs "hard" with 90 secs "easy" recovery
• 60 secs "hard" with 60 secs "easy" recovery
• 90 secs "hard" with 180 secs "easy" recovery
• 90 secs "hard" with 90 secs "easy" recovery
• 120 secs "hard" with 120 secs "easy" recovery

From what I've researched (Alwyn Cosgrove and Craig Ballantyne seem to have the most information), 60-second "hard" intervals seem to be the most effective for fat loss. But 30- and 45-second intervals are also effective. I've used intervals ranging from as little as 10 seconds (using a Tabata-type interval) up to 120 seconds.

A sample interval training program for someone new to this type of exercise would be as follows:

• Warm-up: 3-5 minutes (fast walk, jog, bike, bodyweight circuit, etc.)
• Interval 1: Perform 30-second "hard" (8-9 out of 10) interval
• Recovery 1: Perform 60-second low-to-moderate-intensity (4-6 out of 10) recovery period
• Interval 2: Perform 30-second "hard" interval
• Recovery 2: Perform 60-second low-to-moderate-intensity recovery period
• Interval 3: Perform 30-second "hard" interval
• Recovery 3: Perform 60-second low-to-moderate-intensity recovery period
• Cool down: Perform 3-minute walk, slow jog, bodyweight circuit or bike

That's just one way to start out using a 1:2 work-to-rest ratio and a 30-second "hard" interval with a 60-second "easy" recovery period. For more ideas, see my blog How to Perform Interval Training.

In addition, here's a good article that John Berardi posted on his blog today about the topic of interval training, steady-state cardio and how to progress: Exercise Progressions

If you have any questions, let me know!

Should You Exercise When Sick?

"The Lord nurses them when they are sick and restores them to health." - Psalm 41:3

Problem: You're all stuffed up - with a sore throat or sinus infection - and you want to work out. Should you?

Yes!

The question of whether you should train or not while sick comes up often, so here are a few tips to help you make the right decision and what to do so you don't spread germs to others.

If you have a head cold - the symptoms are above the neck - but don't have a fever, then it's okay to train as you normally would depending on how you feel and how much energy you have. In fact, many times, you will feel better after you train than if you had just skipped the session.

"It's important to stick to your regular exercise routine if you're feeling energetic enough," said Shazia Kahn, assistant professor at Loyola University Health System. Just don't push yourself too hard and be sure to take in more fluids than usual.

If you're achy, have a fever, vomiting or have diarrhea and chills, it's better to skip your workout and come back when you feel better or only have a head cold.

Which brings up another issue: If you're determined to bring your cold to the gym, at least be sure to disenfect the equipment when you're done and stay out of the pool. Droplets from a sneeze travel up to 3 feet; if your mucus hits fellow swimmers before landing in the water, it could give them a cold.

So the next time you have a head cold and want to train, go for it! But if you have a fever or flu-like symptoms, stay home and rest.