There are many fantastic ways to get focused and motivated to begin a diet or exercise program, but often the most difficult thing to do is keep that drive and ambition alive for more than a few weeks and see your goal through to completion.

Within just weeks of starting, many people have already hit their first snag or setback, and as a result, have slipped backwards in the mental focus and motivation department. Setting goals in writing is an essential step to success, but how do you stay focused on them? One technique I have used ever since my very first bodybuilding competition 18 years ago, is…

The “contest countdown calendar.”

I have used it ever since, through 28 competitions and it will work for you too, for any fitness goal.

I purchase a desk or wall calendar - the type that shows each week stretching horizontally across the page with an open block of space for each day.

After I set my goal and place a deadline on it, I do NOT stop there. I take out my calendar and start counting backwards from my target goal deadline to the present day.

T-minus 117 days….

T-minus 116 days…

T-minus 115 days….

I also fill in my workouts for the entire 3-4 month period, which is the typical length I allow for my mid-range goals like contest prep.

you would be shocked - pleasantly so - just how focused this keeps you. Even better still, you get MORE and MORE motivated with each passing day you countdown because the deadline is getting closer

Deadlines are absolutely critical to your success. Little gets done without deadlines.

There is a saying in management and psychology that “work will always expand to fill the time allowed for it’s completion.”

Remember term papers in school? when you were given a term paper assignment and you had the entire semeseter to do it, did you run home that first night and get crankin on it?

How about after a week? two weeks? A month? TWO MONTHS?

probably not, eh?

If youre like most people, you put it off until the last minute and you barely got it turned in on time. In fact, there are always a few people who pull all nighters the night before!

Alas, the power of the deadline!

In your fitness endeavors, if you dont have IMPENDING deadlines that give you that twinge in your stomach that says “take action now, or else!” then you find it very easy to say to yourself, ‘ I have plenty of time so this one cheat meal doesnt matter… it doesnt make much difference at this point if I skip this one workout… I have time to make it up…”

And then, just like the term paper, you are scrambling at the last minute to reach your weight goal. But in the case of a your body, the consequences are more severe and painful than just a bad grade or late penalty.

Inevitably, you succumb to crash dieting and overtraining or other unhealthy fast-weight-loss madness, which eats up your own muscle like a hungry cannibal and sends you spiraling into the dark pit of metabolic damage and the inevitable plateau and weight gain that follow.

But the solution is so simple: Count your way down to success!

Don’t stop with setting goals. Put your goal countdown on paper, review your goals every single day, AND know, every single day, how many days there are until your target goal date. You will stay more consciously focused and even better, your unconscious mind will go to work for you in keeping you motivated, on track, and on schedule. You’ll come in for a landing on your goal deadline date like an F-16 landing on an aircraft carrier.

I just did my countdown calendar earlier this week… T minus 117 days til my next bodybuilding competition, and thanks to this simple but powerful technique, I’m already focused like a laser beam and have been making steady progress without so much as a hiccup…

Don’t under-estimate this simple technique… Give it an honest test… because it’s often the simplest motivational techniques that are the most powerful of all!.

http://www.burnthefatbook.com/

About The Author

Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer, certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle. Tom teaches you how to lose fat without drugs or supplements using the little-known secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and turbo-charge your metabolism by visiting http://www.burnthefatbook.com/, home of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle and BurnTheFatInnerCircle , the Internet’s premiere members-only fat loss support community.

If you’ve been reading this newsletter for any length of time, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of any workout routine that combines cardiovascular (e.g. cycling, walking or sprinting) and resistance exercise (e.g. weight-training).

In fact, I’ve talked about this subject so often that I’m worried you’re getting annoyed at me right now for bringing it up again. That’s why the headline about cardio and weights not being the best way to lose fat might have come as a surprise.

Part of the reason I wrote it was to get your attention. But I also wanted to emphasize the fact that exercise is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to burning fat and building muscle.

Before I explain exactly what I mean, here are two examples to illustrate my point.

STUDY #1: In this study, conducted at Penn State University, a group of women took part in a 12-week program of diet and exercise [2]. The women were assigned to one of four groups:

• The first group served as a control group, and did nothing.

• Group two followed a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet.

• Group three combined the same diet with regular aerobic exercise.

• The fourth group also followed the same diet, but added aerobic and resistance exercise (weight training).

As you might imagine, all three groups lost weight.

• The diet-only group lost 13.6 pounds.

• The diet plus aerobic exercise group lost 15 pounds.

• The women combining diet with resistance and aerobic exercise lost 15.4 pounds.

However, the loss of fat was greatest in the women who combined a low-calorie diet with aerobic exercise.

In fact, the women who trained with weights actually lost 3.7 pounds of muscle.

STUDY #2: The trial, published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, tracked a group of 31 women during a six-month exercise program [1].

At the beginning and end of the study, body fat levels were measured using a sophisticated technique called dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA for short).

The program consisted of 90 minutes of exercise (weight-training, running and military drills) five days each week.

Despite the fact that the women exercised for more than seven hours each week for six months, they lost only 5.7 pounds of fat. That’s just 0.2 pounds per week.

What do both of these studies have in common?

None of the women in either trial were following a decent diet.

In study one, total calorie intake was too low (7 calories per pound of body weight). What’s more, 70% of those calories came from carbohydrate, leaving just 15% for fat and 15% for protein. It’s no surprise they lost so much muscle.

In study two, the women were not told to change their diet, and could eat what they wanted.

The bottom line

If you want to lose stubborn fat, then exercise alone — be it weight-training, cycling, Pilates, or the so-called “core-stability” workouts that seem so popular at the moment — won’t be enough. You’ll need to eat right too. If you want to make this the year when you finally get the body you want, now’s the time to take a closer look at your diet.

For more information, see How to burn fat without losing muscle in the Members-Only Area. Alternatively, download a copy of Tom Venuto’s excellent book Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle. There’s some great information in there about what and when to eat, as well as easy-to-follow fat-burning exercise programs that work.

Your basal metabolic rate - the number of calories your body burns each day just to stay alive - tends to drop as you age.

According to conventional wisdom, this is because you lose a small amount of muscle each year.

However, many people don’t realize that muscle mass is not the only thing that affects your basal metabolic rate.

In fact, studies show that your metabolic rate declines with age independently of muscle loss. In other words, young physically active men tend to have a higher metabolic rate than their older counterparts, even if they have the same amount of muscle.

Why?

The age-related decline in metabolic rate - even when muscle mass is taken into account - is because of two reasons.

• Firstly, there’s a strong link between exercise volume and your metabolic rate. In other words, the more exercise you do, the higher your metabolic rate. The fact that people tend to exercise less as they age is partly responsible for the drop in metabolic rate.

• Second, metabolic rate is also linked to total calorie intake. This means that the more you eat, the higher your metabolic rate. A reduced metabolic rate in older physically active men could be due to the fact they eat less than their younger counterparts.

Some evidence for this comes from a research group based at the University of Colorado [1]. They compared a group of young and older inactive men with physically active men of a similar age.

Even when differences in muscle mass between young and old subjects were taken into account, basal metabolic rate was lower with age in both the inactive and physically active subjects. The older men burned around 64-68 calories per hour, compared to 72-77 calories per hour in the younger subjects.

However, when researchers compared older and younger subjects doing the same amount of exercise and/or eating the same number of calories, there was no difference in basal metabolic rate.

The same holds true in women as well as men. Research comparing premenopausal and postmenopausal women shows that basal metabolic rate, again adjusted for age-related muscle loss, was roughly 10% lower in postmenopausal women who do no exercise [2].

But there was no difference in metabolic rate between premenopausal and postmenopausal women who exercise regularly.

Energy flux

The link between adjusted basal metabolic rate, exercise volume, and energy intake involves a concept known as energy flux, which refers to the flow of calories (or energy) through your body.

A high energy flux means that you’re eating a large number of calories, but balancing that with an equally high volume of exercise. A good example of someone with a high energy flux would be a cyclist taking part in the Tour de France.

Despite the fact these athletes eat thousands of calories each day, they’re so lean simply because they do so much exercise.

Someone following an extremely low-calorie diet while doing little or no exercise is a perfect example of low energy flux.

A lot of people use this approach to lose weight. And it does work, if only for a short time. If you cut your calorie intake too much for long, several things will happen.

• You’ll end up losing muscle as well as fat. Half of the weight lost on a very low-calorie diet comes from muscle.

• You won’t have the energy to exercise. The result is that your metabolic rate will slow down, and weight loss will get harder.

The bottom line

The bottom line is that a drop in your metabolic rate is not an inevitable consequence of aging, and has a lot more to do with the way you live your life.

You can minimize the age-related drop in metabolic rate by maintaining a high energy flux - balancing a nutrient-dense diet with regular exercise.

Not only will this help you stay lean, it’s a great way to provide your body with more of the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients it needs to stay healthy

(Note: If you’ve been putting off starting an exercise program because you think you’re too old or just too far gone, grab a copy of Fit Over 40: Role Models For Excellence At Any Age. You’ll find more than 50 inspiring real life success stories which prove that you can boost your metabolism, gain muscle and lose all the weight you want regardless of how old or out of shape you are!)

ANSWER: According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the fish most likely to be contaminated with unsafe levels of mercury are those highest up on the food chain, including shark, king mackerel, tilefish and swordfish. These larger, longer-lived predatory fish feed on the smaller fish and retain in their bodies the contaminants that were in the small fish.

The FDA released a mercury advisory warning in 1994, which advised the public that these fish were safe as part of a balanced diet if eaten no more than once per week. In 2001, the FDA upgraded their advisory, recommending that pregnant women, nursing women or women of childbearing age who may become pregnant, avoid the high-risk fish completely because mercury can harm the nervous system of a developing unborn baby.

According to the FDA, the fish with the least mercury are salmon, trout, catfish, haddock, flounder, crab or shrimp. And what about tuna fish – that classic bodybuilding and fitness staple food?

The FDA says that certain species of large tuna, usually sold as fresh tuna, tuna steaks or sushi, can have mercury levels above the FDA’s danger level of 1 part per million. The smaller tuna species such as albacore and skipjack, have much lower levels of mercury (that’s why canned tuna is less likely to be contaminated with mercury than fresh tuna).

In a recent report on tuna and mercury published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), they recommend the equivalent of only 1 can of white (albacore) tuna per week or 2 cans of light tuna. However, they added that men, older children or women beyond childbearing age could probably safely consume 2 to 3 times these amounts. (This would increase their recommended limit to just under a can a day).

I know a lot of bodybuilders who eat can after can of tuna every day… some literally live on it as their prime protein source. In the 60’s and 70’s some of the bodybuilders of that era were famous (or infamous) for their Spartan “tuna and water” diets for getting ripped very quickly. Today, unfortunately, this practice appears unwise.

I used to be one of those 2-3 cans of tuna a day guys too. Even though it was bland, it was a fast and easy way to get lean protein for a bodybuilding diet. Today I eat a much wider variety of lean proteins, including a wide variety of fish, including salmon or trout two or three times per week, and I recommend the same to my clients.

Most health organizations still recommend including high fat fish such as salmon, herring, trout, sardines or mackerel at least twice per week in order to provide the healthy omega 3 essential fatty acids (EFA’s). In light of the Mercury scare, many people are turning to fish oil pills to get their EFA’s. Aside from providing an uncontaminated source of EFA’s (check the purity standards of the manufacturers), the list of health benefits of fish oils seems to keep growing and growing.

Personally, I prefer to eat the fish a few times a week rather than take handfuls of pills. I spare no expense to get wild (not farmed) Alaskan salmon. This gives me quality calories, lean protein and omega 3’s at the same time. It tastes good and is more economical, besides. But if you don’t eat fish, a pure fish oil supplement is a good idea. You can also use flaxseed oil, which is the richest vegetable-based source of essential fatty acids, although conversion of ALA must take place in the body to EPA and DHA, the omega 3 fats found in marine oils.

In summary, it would be wise to pay attention to the FDA and EPA warnings and guidelines, but moderation in all things is good advice in this situation, rather than total paranoia. When I’m dining out, I’ll occasionally have swordfish, fresh tuna steak, or sushi and I don’t give any thought to whether it’s contaminated - I just enjoy it.

Like you said, you would have to stop eating (and breathing!) to totally avoid exposure to every possible toxin… and the people who live in fear of disease are usually the ones who get it.

About The Author

Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer, certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle. Tom teaches you how to lose fat without drugs or supplements using the little-known secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and turbo-charge your metabolism by visiting http://www.burnthefatbook.com/, home of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle and BurnTheFatInnerCircle , the Internet’s premiere members-only fat loss support community. .

QUESTION: Hi Tom: Your Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle ebook was an eye-opener for me. I am following your advice closely with very good results. I’m a semi professional windsurfer and a mountain biker, and especially for the latter I need to be as lean as possible. Thanks in large part to your program, I’m well into single digit body fat and dropping. Just recently I came across a book called the paleolithic diet and I was wondering if you ever heard about it? What’s your opinion on this book? Is it worth reading if I already have your book? Is the program any good?

Mariusz
Poland

ANSWER: The “paleolithic,” “stone age,” “cave man,” or “neanderthal” eating plans have been around for a while and there are quite a few books that have been written on the subject.

In general, with a only few minor constructive criticisms, I think they are right on point, and will benefit your health and definitely your fat loss efforts.

A “Paleo Diet” is actually quite similar to my Burn The Fat program, only with the starches and grains (and dairy products) removed completely.

In fact, a “paleo” or “cave man” diet is very, very similar to the “contest” (bodybuilding or physique) diets I recommend in Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle and this is most definitely a great way get very lean, very fast.

On physique competition diets (bodybuilding, fitness, figure, etc), you leave the lean proteins, lean meats, nuts and seeds, the green veggies (fibrous carbs), and some fruit in the diet, while reducing or removing ALL processed foods and SOME of the grains and starches. (usually the dairy products go too).

When it comes to MAXIMUM FAT LOSS, the removal or reduction of grains and calorie dense starchy carbs in favor of lean protein and veggies will definitely help speed the process - even if that’s only because it reduces caloric density of the food intake, although there are other reasons.

Lean protein (fish and meat) + good fats & nuts + lots of green veggies + some fruit = LEAN!

And thats basically what the “paleolithic” diets recommend, because the principle there is to eat like our “stone age” ancestors did - before there was McDonalds, Coca Cola and other junk food.

The premise is that since our genetic code (the human genome) has changed less than 0.02 percent in 40,000 years, this means that our bodies are still expecting to get the same foods and nutrition they were getting 40,000 years ago.

By eating what our “stone age” hunter and gatherer ancestors ate, say the paleo diets, we will rid ourselves of the health problems and the obesity problem that has only recently begun to plague us as a result of modern lifestyle and processed manmade foods.

Forty thousand years ago, you had to eat nature-made food. There was no food in cans, boxes or packages was there? The packaging was peel, a skin or a shell!

There were no TV dinners. There was no drive in fast food. There were no convenience stores.

There was no corn syrup. There was no white sugar. There were no hydrogenated oils. No chemicals. No preservatives. No artificial anything.

There was only what could be hunted and gathered: Meat, fish, nuts, seeds, plants, vegetables, fruits.

My only real constructive criticism is that some of these programs not only recommend removal of all grains and starches (and even dairy), they outright condemn them - sometimes unfairly, I believe.

They say that agriculture arrived on the scence only 10,000 years ago so foods produced as a result of agriculture should also be on the “banned” list and that includes 100% whole grain products and even rice, potatoes and other starches which are not manmade.

The truth is there are some starchy carbohydrates and grains which are very minimally processed or completely unproceseed (the only processing being cooking).

Also, some people can metabolically handle starches and grains just fine, while others cannot. The same can be said for dairy products.

This is known as metabolic individuality. Because this individuality exists from person to person, I don’t believe it’s necessary to recommend that “EVERYONE” cut out “ALL” the starches and grains “ALL” the time.

I do believe that many people are getting an overdose of refined carbs and sugar and that moderating intake of concentrated carbs almost always accelerates fat loss.

However, the nutrition program you choose should depend on your metabolic/body type, your current body composition and state of health as well as your goals (maximum fat loss vs. muscle growth vs. maintenance, vs. endurance athleticperformance).

I don’t believe that “agriculture” and everything that came with it is “evil.”

I believe that highly processed and refined and packaged foods are the “nutritional evils” we should be aware of.

To remove brown rice, 100% whole grains, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, legumes and so on for healthy carb tolerant people, especially those who are highly active and or already at a normal body fat level doesnt make a lot of sense to me.

In particular, for athletes with a high energy expenditure, eating the concentrated complex, starchy carbs and grains - from natural sources - can be quite important.

Sure, there are some “renegade’ nutritionists who prescribe high fat diets for endurance athletes and claim that will provide high energy and high performance, but that is controversial.

Also, an explanation for athletes successful on such plans may be that they are metabolically suited for more fat and protein to begin with, so that conclusion shouldn’t be generalized to everyone.

Thats the trouble with so many programs — the creators might say, “It worked for me and for some of my clients, so this is the way EVERYONE should do it.”

Everyone is different, so the true inquiring minds will inquire about what is best for THEM, not the other guy… In the case of highly active healthy people and athletes, I would lean towards a decent amount of natural carbs forperformance goals (and pull back on starches and grains when goals change to maximum fat loss).

The key word here is NATURAL!

There is a HUGE difference between natural starches and grains and refined starches and grains.

For example, look at old fashioned unsweetened oatmeal versus sugary, white flour cereal grains. How can you throw those together into the same category??? They are no where near the same, but often they get lumped together by those who are adamantly “no-grain” or “no-cereal” allowed.

What about sweet potatoes? why cut something like that out of your diet? They are not processed or man made at all are they?

Aside from that minor quibble I have with some of these programs being too strict with their “Absolutely no grains or starch allowed,” there is a lot anyone can learn from the “paleolithic” eating concept.

The questions raised from these programs and books are good ones:

“What were we eating tens of thousands of years ago?”

“What are we genetically and environmentally predisposed to eat?”

“what has gone wrong with the modern day diet that has led to so much disease and obesity which didn’t exist thousands of years ago?”

I believe that too many people get caught up in low fats or low carbs or whatever the trend of the month is, but the real source of our problem is neither fat nor carbs, it is an excess of processed, refined man-made food! (combined with a serious shortage of exercise)

If you study and understand the concept of eating according to your personal goals and your unique body/metabolic type first, which I discuss in chapter 5 of my book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle, then I believe you will get even more benefit from the further study of the “paleo” eating concept, as you will be informed and flexible enough to adapt it to your personal situation.

Loren Cordain and Ray Audette have written two of the more notable works on the subject (the Paleo diet and Neanderthin). You can get either of these at almost any bookstore or Amazon.com. You can get my Burn The Fat program at http://www.burnthefatbook.com/

ANY good nutrition program - for health or for fat loss - is going to be focused on natural foods and it will teach you how to get the processed food OUT and the natural food IN

When you analyze ANY diet or nutrition program, keep in mind what ageless Fitness Icon Jack Lalanne has always said,

“If man made it, dont eat it!”

THAT is the essence of eating how we’re supposed to eat!

The Paleolithic Diet

About The Author

Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer, certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle. Tom teaches you how to lose fat without drugs or supplements using the little-known secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and turbo-charge your metabolism by visiting http://www.burnthefatbook.com/, home of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle and BurnTheFatInnerCircle , the Internet’s premiere members-only fat loss support community. .

Suppose you’re on a diet and you have a banquet or a holiday party coming up. You’re expecting a big meal to be served for dinner, and there will be open bar with lots and lots of “party snacks.” You’re not sure if there will be any healthy food there, but you are sure that you’re going to be in a festive, partying mood! What should you do? Should you cut back on your food earlier in the day to make room for the big feast?

What I’ve just described is commonly known as “banking calories,” which is analogous to saving calories like money because you’re going to consume more later, and it’s a very common practice among dieters. If you’re really serious about your diet and fitness goals however, then the answer is no, you should NOT “bank calories! Here’s why and here’s what you should do instead:

First of all, if you’re being really honest with yourself, you have to agree that there’s almost always something healthy to eat at any gathering. You know those tables you see at holiday parties that are covered with yards of chips, dips, pretzels, cookies, salami, candies, cheese, punch, liquor, and a seemingly endless assortment of other goodies? Well, did you also notice that there’s usually a tray full of carrot sticks, cauliflower, celery, fruit, turkey breast and other healthy snacks too?

No matter where you are, you always have options, so make the best choice you can based on whatever your options are. If nothing else, you can choose to eat a small portion of “party foods” rather than a huge portion, thereby obeying the law of calorie balance.

If you skip meals or eat less earlier in the day to bank calories for a big feast at night, you are thinking only in terms of calories, but you’re depriving yourself of the valuable nutrition you need all day long in terms of protein (amino acids), carbohydrates, essential fats, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that come from healthy food, as well as the small frequent meals required to stoke the furnace of your metabolism.

Not only that, but eating less early in the day in anticipation for overeating later is more likely to increase your appetite, causing you to binge or eat much more than you thought you would at night when the banquet does arrive.

Eating healthy food earlier in the day is likely to fill you up and you’ll be less likely to overeat in the evening. High fiber foods, healthy fats and especially lean protein, tend to suppress your appetite the most.

I don’t like the concept of “banking calories.” Your body just doesn’t work that way - it tends to seek equilibrium by adjusting your appetite to the point where you consume the same total amount of calories in the end anyway.

Even if it worked the way you wanted it to, why would you eat less (starve) in an attempt to burn more fat, then overeat (binge) and put the fat right back on? Why allow yourself to put on fat in the first place?

A starving and bingeing pattern will almost certainly cause more damage than an occasional oversize meal. Some dieticians might even say that this kind of behavior borders on disordered eating.

A better approach is to stay on your regular menu of healthy foods and small meals through the entire day - business as usual - and then go ahead and treat yourself to a “cheat meal,” but sure to keep your portions small.

It should be a big relief to know that on special occasions, whether it’s a party, restaurant meal, banquet or holiday dinner, you can eat whatever you want with little or no ill effect on body composition, as long as you respect the law of calorie balance. However, you CANNOT starve and binge and expect not to reap negative consequences.

To burn fat and be healthy, you don’t have to be a “party pooper” or completely deny yourself of foods you enjoy, but you do need to have the discipline to stick with your regular meal plan most of the time and control your portion sizes all of the time.

About The Author

Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer, certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle. Tom teaches you how to lose fat without drugs or supplements using the little-known secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and turbo-charge your metabolism by visiting http://www.burnthefatbook.com/, home of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle and BurnTheFatInnerCircle , the Internet’s premiere members-only fat loss support community. .

Tags: burn fat, metabolism, curb appetite, tom venuto, protein, dietary thermogenesis

You cut calories and you exercise. You do exactly what the articles say - Your calories out are greater than your calories in. You should be losing fat. But if you aren’t, perhaps you’re still not paying attention to an often forgotten factor of fat loss - your metabolism.

Your metabolism is a measure of how many calories you are burning each day. But did you know that the food, exercise, and lifestyle choices you make every day have a significant impact on your metabolism? For example, if you starve yourself (instead of following a sensible fat-loss eating plan) your metabolism will slow down. If your metabolism slows down, it means your calories out will be less. And that means no more fat loss, and possibly even continued fat gain.

So for every day that you continue to slow your metabolism with unhealthy lifestyle choices, you get further and further away from fat loss. To help, I’ve put together a list of the top 10 ways to maximize your metabolism, so that you’ll burn as many calories as possible each day so that you can finally lose the fat. For the exact workouts and nutrition plan to help you lose the maximum amount of fat in as little time as possible, visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com

1. Don’t starve yourself! Cutting calories too much is one of the worst things you can do to your body. Starving yourself actually causes you to lose much more water weight and muscle than fat. Use fitday.com to find out your daily calorie intake.

2. Eat 6-8 small meals per day with an emphasis on lean proteins, fruits, and vegetables. You have to have a nutrition plan, so spend a couple hours on a day off preparing as much food as you can for the upcoming week.

3. Eat breakfast. You have to make this meal part of your daily metabolism-boosting plan. At the very least, eat a lean protein, drink some Green Tea, and consume a fiber-rich fruit to get your fat loss day started right.

4. Eat healthy fats. Sources of healthy fats included nuts, fish, olive oil, and flax oil. I consume 10 grams of fish oil per day. Replace all processed carbohydrates in your diet with almonds. For example, if you currently eat a small bag of pretzels as a mid-afternoon snack, eat almonds instead (eating the same number of total calories).

5. Eat high quality foods that will help you control your blood sugar levels, insulin levels, and energy levels. Insulin management will help you lose fat and prevent you form gaining fat. Controlling your hormone levels is the #1 neglected factor in fat loss programs.

6. Eat 1.14g of protein per pound of lean body mass. If you don’t know your lean body mass, then simply eat 1g of protein per pound of body weight. But if possible, stick to the lean body mass recommendation, as that eliminates excess fat mass when calculating protein needs.

7. Don’t drink alcohol. Alcohol intake can quickly add hundreds of calories and alcohol prevents fat burning. Alcohol intake can also reduce testosterone levels, a big no-no for men looking to get lean.

8. Drink Green Tea and water. While I don’t believe that either of these will increase your metabolism, I do believe that they help prevent decreases in metabolism. Not too mention, these are your 2 healthiest beverage options.

9. Stick to a consistent sleep schedule. Don’t stay up all night, and if possible, avoid working afternoon and overnight shifts. If you must work shiftwork, stick to the rest of these principles as strongly as possible.

10. Use the strength training with moderately heavy weights (that allow you to complete 8 perfect reps per set) and interval training for the most efficient and effective metabolism boosting workout.

If your metabolism has slowed down due to improper dieting or lifestyle, then follow these tips to help you get back on track to lose fat and gain muscle. Once you correct your metabolism, you will be on the road to losing the fat for good. Just in time for summer.

About the Author

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines and all over the Internet, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit Turbulence Training