Build Muscle – Get Strong

Diet a.k.a. What You Stick in Your Pie Hole

It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality.  Eating less by skipping meals is wrong, wrong, all the way wrong and you may get a surprising boomerang effect.  When the body senses that it’s not getting enough fuel to efficiently operate, it will go into conservation mode in an attempt to ration out the fat stores it has.  Translation?  You will lose fat at a significantly reduced rate because the body is attempting to preserve fuel, not burn it.

If you are rushed, hate to cook, or make a habit of acquiring food with the least amount of hassle, chances are you’re hitting the fast food drive-thru.  At least do it intelligently. 

Check this out – 1 tiny little stock McDonald’s hamburger with a bun, patty, ketchup, pickle, mustard, and chopped onions has 250 calories.  Does one fill you up?  No, so you’ll have 2 or maybe 3.  That’s 500-750 calories.  Instead, get a Premium Bacon Ranch salad with grilled chicken (not crispy).  The chicken is awesome.  It’s very tasty and it’s not chopped and processed like the nuggets.  It’s a real breast fillet.  Total calories for the salad, including chicken?  260.  The packet of ranch dressing has 170 calories.  Use 1/2 if you can.  You’ll get a satisfying meal with lean protein and fiber and it will keep you full for hours.  It’s a big salad. 

Educate yourself about the food you eat.  It will amaze and astound you how your body’s hormones react to food by kicking in when they should or worse, shutting down when they shouldn’t.  Trust me, it’s a real eye-opener.  I have two sources  for learning how and why food works.  They’re both excellent reads.  Eat to Live and/or The Fat Resistance Diet.  You can find them in the Recommend Resources at the bottom of this article.

Exercising will significantly boost your fat loss.  Cardio exercise assists with losing weight because it burns many calories within a short period of time, but it only burns calories while it’s being performed.  In the long run, strength/resistance training is best for weight loss because it burns calories not just during exercise sessions, but also after the workouts are over for up to 48 hours.  Strength training builds muscle and muscle burns fat.  Don’t worry women, you won’t bulk up like men do.

The cheapest form of resistance is using your own body weight, but to get a total body workout, I suggest using resistance bands because they are able to workout every muscle group in your body effectively and every affordably.  Not to mention they’re compact and portable.  You can get an entire set of Bodylastics resistance bands, complete with all the necessary accessories for under $50.   You’ll find them below in Recommend Resources.

Free resistance training workouts for resistance bands can be found here.  There are workout shows for men, women, and teens and you’ll find new 30-minute workouts each day.  This is the web’s first live streaming workout show, just like TV.  If you have a broadband connection and a computer, you’ve got a workout partner.  

Interesting Fact

Do you think eating ramen noodles is good way to lose weight?  It might be cheap if you’re on a budget, but check it out…

• I have a package of Maruchan pork flavored ramen-style noodles in front of me.  1/2 block has 190 calories, 70 of them from fat.  Who eats 1/2 block?  You won’t.  You’ll eat the entire thing and consume 380 calories.  1 pack’s wasn’t enough for me back in the day so I’d eat two.  That’s 760 calories, 280 of them being fat. 

Recommended Products:
	Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. - It's not how much you eat, it's what you eat. If you know what to eat and why it has such a profound effect on the body's metabolism, you'll learn the secret to fast and sustained weight loss. You can easily lose 20 lbs. or more in 6 weeks.
	The Fat Resistance Diet by Leo Galland, M.D. - Is your eating is out of control and you no longer feel satisfied after eating and go back for more? This book will teach you how to reprogram your body with the right foods to turn your "I'm full" switch back on. You can lose 6-10 lbs. in the first 2 weeks and at least 2 lbs. every week thereafter.
	Bodylastics Resistance Bands - Quite literally, this is a portable home gym system in a bag for under $50. These are not the cheapo resistance bands you find at Walmart or Target. Bodylastics uses the strongest elastic tubing manufactured today. Even better, each tube is equipped with a clip on each end, allowing multiple tubes to be combined for custom resistance levels. You'll never outgrown this system.