Lower Calories
To lose fat, while at the same time gaining muscle, you need to create a caloric deficit. In other words, you need to burn off more calories that you take in. Doing aerobic exercise will take care of part of this by burning calories and increasing your metabolism afterwards. But you must also reduce the amount of food you are eating. Your caloric intake should be about 10 times your
body weight.
Your meals should consist of 40% protein, 30% carbs and 30% fat. The majority of your diet will consist of high quality protein. This is mainly because protein has an anti-catabolic effect. During phases of low calorie dieting, it will help reduce muscle loss caused by lack of calories. Also, high
protein meals will boost your metabolism about 30% within one hour of eating, while high carb meals only raise your metabolism 4%. This is partly because protein digestion is more complex and takes much longer.
Meal Frequency
As in the mass diet, you will be dividing your daily calorie requirement into six meals. Spreading your calories over more meals is an important factor in changing your biochemistry to burn fat. Basically, the human body is designed to adapt to any unusual condition to help it survive. So, if we make a habit of eating a few sporadic meals throughout the day, or even skipping meals, our
bodies go into survival mode. It slows the metabolism and stores most of the meal calories in fat cells, because it is not quite sure when it will be receiving more nourishment. Now, if you eat more often, and at regular intervals, your body will not tend to store excess calories, because it knows you will be eating again in a few hours. Eating smaller, more frequent meals has several other added benefits. First, it increases your metabolism. Every time you eat a meal, your metabolic rate goes up. This is because your system is starts working hard to turn that meal into fuel. Also, as a part of digestion, heat is given off in a process calledthermogenesis. This also speeds up your metabolism.
The Problem with Most Diets As I stated earlier, most people have high levels of body fat because their diet is too high in simple carbohydrates. People who try to eat healthy by avoiding
fat, are missing the boat. Americans are not fat because of eating too much dietary fat. They are fat because they are eating too many carbs and not enough protein.
Let me explain. As I stated earlier, your body needs carbs for fuel. But when you eat carbs, it first has to convert them into its main fuel form: glucose, a simple sugar. That's right. When you eat carbs, your body converts them into sugar. The problem with this lies not with eating the carbs, but with how fast the sugar is dumped into your bloodstream.
To lose fat, you must control your blood sugar levels. You should never have large amounts of sugar enter your bloodstream too quickly. If you do, you will cause an exaggerated insulin response. Insulin is released into the bloodstream by the pancreas, when there is a large amount of sugar (glucose) being introduced into the system too quickly. This usually is caused by eating a meal consisting only of carbohydrates, which are digested very quickly. The job of the insulin is to lower the level of glucose in the bloodstream. It does this by forcing most of the excess sugar calories into the muscles and liver, as glycogen. The excess glucose that can't be put to immediate use is converted onto new fat and stored in your adipose tissue
(butt, hips, back, waist).
That's right. If you eat carbohydrates alone, you better be doing some sort of high energy activity to burn off the excess sugar calories. Otherwise, those are going straight towards building new fat cells!
The majority of this sugar is comes from simple processed carbohydrates like white bread and pasta. These are processed foods that have very little fiber. When you eat complex carbs, you will have a slightly lower insulin response, because they are usually high in fiber. Fiber act to slow digestion, so, in this respect, complex carbs are the carbs you should concentrate on eating.
But just eating complex carbs will not solve the problem completely either. To keep insulin levels low and avoid any spikes, you must combine a slowabsorbing protein with your carbs at each meal. This is essential. If you want to lose fat, never eat carbs alone! Always eat protein at every meal.
Fat Burning Hormone
Insulin also prevents the production of a hormone called glucagon, which is known to stimulate the release of stored body fat. Glucagon enables the body to burn stored body fat for energy instead of turning it into glucose.
To help elevate your levels of glucagon, you should:
· eat adequate protein at each meal
· control amount and type of carbs eaten
· include a small amount of good fat in diet
What To Eat?
Your diet on this phase is very restrictive. You must get control of what you put in your body. First, you must decrease your intake of simple carbohydrate (candies, syrups, sugar, alcohol, milk and milk products, and processed white flour products). Concentrate on eating complex starchy carbs like brown rice, whole grains, beans, potatoes, and yams. You can, however, still eat simple solid carbs like rice cakes, cream of wheat, popcorn, etc. if you make sure to combine them with protein. This should sufficiently delay digestion to avoid an insulin response.
You are not allowed any fruit or fruit juices for this fat loss period. This is essential in minimizing fat storage. Remember, from an insulin response standpoint, there is no difference between drinking orange juice or a soft drink. Both are simple sugars that produce a high insulin response and suppression of glucagon. If you are on the fat loss diet for more than two weeks, you can start eating fruit again once your metabolism has been sufficiently increased.
I don’t recommend it, but if you must have some fruit, green apples are the best choice. If you eat them with the peel, they contain more fiber and fewer simple carbs than most other fruits.
You will also be avoiding milk and milk products on this diet. Not only does milk have a very large amount of fat and sugar, but it also has high levels of sodium, which leads to water retention and a smooth bloated appearance.
Carbohydrates
Acceptable Avoid
Unrefined whole grains Whole oats White bread Cakes
Brown rice Pasta Cookies
Oatmeal Bagels Energy bars
Beans Fruit sugars (fructose) Sports drinks
Tubers (potatoes, yams) Milk sugar (lactose) Soft drinks
Green leafy vegetables Sweets
Getting your carbs under control will probably be the most difficult aspect of
your diet. Just think about it as making better carb choices, not cutting
something out.
Protein and Fat
For protein, you must concentrate on eating sources that are lower in fat. Do not try to cut out the fat. Fat does not make you fat. The majority of the fats that you get on the fat loss diet should come from EFA's only. It is essential to keep your protein and EFA levels high to combat muscle wasting caused by the calorie restrictions.
Protein/Fats
Acceptable Avoid
Chicken (white meat) Whey protein Ground beef All types of nuts
Turkey (breast) Soy protein isolate All beef steaks Cooking oils
Any fish or seafood Tuna (fresh, canned) Roast beef Ham
Deli meats Duck
All luncheon meats
Water
Remember try to drink as much water as possible, especially before your aerobic exercise. The best way to get rid of water retention is to drink plenty of water. When you retain water, it usually means that your body is not getting enough, and is constantly dehydrated. Your goal should to be to drink an amount equal to .66 times your body weight, each day. During this phase I recommend you drink distilled water because of its low sodium content.
Fiber, Again!
Because of your diet change (decreasing fat and increasing protein), you will want to make sure that you are getting enough fiber to avoid constipation. Since your body is accustomed to having more dietary fats, the low fat environment will temporarily affect the lubricity of your stool, thus slowing down your bowel movements. The only solution to this is plenty of water and
dietary fiber. Fiber also acts as a bulking agent, filling up your stomach so you are not as hungry.
This Is Great, But I Still Don't See My "Six-Pack"
To have definition in the abdominal area means you are going to have to probably diet for longer than 2 weeks. I didn't really see all six of my "packs" until I dieted for about 4 weeks. To see their abs, men usually have to get their body fat below 8%, while women have to be under 12%.
Cravings
If you continue on your restrictive, fat loss diet for more than four weeks, you will probably begin to have cravings for other foods. This is normal. When I was dieting, I would crave things that I would never eat otherwise. My body would crave things like Big Macs and banana splits. Normally, I hate those things. If I watched any food commercial on television, I would want that
food. I never do that, but sometimes I would be beside myself during the diet. The way I learned to deal with these cravings is to give into them once per week. In other words, one day per week, I would allow myself to eat anything I wanted. Period. No guilt and no regret. This day not only helps me satisfy those annoying cravings, it also increases my motivation and determination to stick with the diet. After my free day, I am usually very eager to get back on
track. Since I have implemented this practice, I no longer have cravings. When you plan your schedule, later on in this manual, make sure to give yourself a free day.
Binges
When you break down and give in to your cravings, this is called binging. Binging is usually caused by extreme dieting. That is when you diet hard for too long, without giving yourself a break psychologically and physically. This causes you to rebound into the other extreme. You gorge yourself with anything and everything, and, usually the sweeter the better. You can control this by easing into strict fat loss diets. If you gradually cut down your sugar and simple carb intake over a longer period of time, your body will have a chance to adjust. If you do not give yourself a chance to adjust to the new diet, you will begin to have intense cravings and mood swings. This will also be helped by giving yourself a free day, as described
above.
Calculating Your Daily Food Intake
For example, let's say you weigh 180 pounds. Now, to get the total number of calories you should be eating, multiply 180 by 10. That gives you 1,800 calories. Now divide that number by the number of meals you will be eating each day (6) and you get 300 calories. So, you should be eating about 300 calories at each meal.
Total Daily Calories
1. (weight x 10) = total daily calories
2. (total calories / number of meals per day) = calorie amount for each meal
Calculating your total nutrient breakdown is a little more complex. As I said earlier, your diet will consist of 40% protein, 30% carbohydrates and 30% fat calories during this phase.
First, we will calculate your total amount of protein in calories. Simply multiply 1,800 (total caloric intake) by .40 (40%). This gives us 720 total daily calories of protein.
Next, we need to determine how many grams this 720 calories contains. Since protein has 4 calories per gram, we just divide 720 by
4. This gives us 180. Now we know we will need to eat about 180 grams of
protein each day. To find out how much we eat at each meal, just divide that
number by 6 (number of meals). This gives us 30 grams. So, to get 40% of
my total calories from protein, I have to eat about 30g at each meal.
Here it is again:
1. Total daily protein intake in calories
(1,800 x .40) = 720 calories
2. Total daily protein intake in grams
(720 / 4) = 180 grams
3. Amount of protein needed at each meal
(180 / 6) = 30 grams
Now, let’s do the calculations for carbohydrates and fats.
(Remember carbs have 4 calories per gram, and fats have 9 calories per gram)
Carbs:
1. Total daily carb intake in calories
(1,800 x .30) = 540 calories
2. Total daily carb intake in grams
(540 / 4) = 135 grams
3. Amount of carbs needed at each meal
(135 / 6) = 23 grams
Fat:
1. Total daily fat intake in calories
(1,800 x .30) = 540 calories
2. Total daily fat intake in grams
(540 / 9) = 60 grams
3. Amount of fat needed at each meal
(60 / 6) = 10 grams
So, at each meal we should try to eat 30g of protein, 23g of carbs and 10g of fat. These numbers are your guidelines. You will never get exactly this amount, because I suggest varying your caloric and nutritional breakdown at each meal.
For instance, your post-workout meal will be much larger and contain more carbs and overall calories than any other meal. This is because your body needs more of these nutrients after a workout than it would normally. Another example is your last meal of the day. It will usually only consist of fat and protein. No carbs. This is because we want to minimize fat storage overnight.
Your metabolism is very slow in the evening, so your body is more likely to simply store carbs as fat. The opposite is also true. Your metabolism is fastest in the early morning. Therefore, you should try to consume the majority of your carbs before the evening.
When you are ready, you can use the calculation worksheet I have created on page 85.
Monitoring your progress It essential that you monitor your bodyfat and tape measurements as well as your weight during this phase. You will need all three the accurately judge your progress. You cannot expect to just go by how you think you look.
If you don’t feel you are getting adequate results, you should consider lowering your calorie intake by 200-300 calories. However, you should not be losing more than 1% of your bodyweight per week. So, if you weight 180lbs, you should not be losing more than 1.8 pounds per week. If you are losing more than that you are probably losing muscle mass. You should increase your caloric intake by 200-300 calories. Your goals is not just to lose fat, but also to
hold onto as much muscle mass as possible!
Long-Term Fat Loss
If you wish to continue on a fat loss diet for more than three weeks, you should switch your weight training workout to that of my original mass routine workout. But instead of concentrating on the eccentric motion, you will use a tempo of 1/0/1. This because if you are on the low intensity fat loss workout for too long, you will begin to lose strength. Switching back to a more challenging program will help maintain as much muscle mass and strength as possible. You will still have to fulfill the aerobic exercise requirements, of course. You should also begin to cycle your nutrient profile and caloric intake after about 4-6 weeks of low calorie dieting to re-adjust your metabolism. Your body will always try to conserve energy, so if you are on a low calorie diet for a prolonged period of time, it will slow your metabolism to conserve energy/calories — making your diet ineffective. By alternating between a low
calorie and slightly higher calorie diet, you can avoid this problem and continue to lose fat. Adjusting could mean simply adding or removing an extra 200-300 calories
From the Desk of A n t h o n y E l l i s s
To lose fat, while at the same time gaining muscle, you need to create a caloric deficit. In other words, you need to burn off more calories that you take in. Doing aerobic exercise will take care of part of this by burning calories and increasing your metabolism afterwards. But you must also reduce the amount of food you are eating. Your caloric intake should be about 10 times your
body weight.
Your meals should consist of 40% protein, 30% carbs and 30% fat. The majority of your diet will consist of high quality protein. This is mainly because protein has an anti-catabolic effect. During phases of low calorie dieting, it will help reduce muscle loss caused by lack of calories. Also, high
protein meals will boost your metabolism about 30% within one hour of eating, while high carb meals only raise your metabolism 4%. This is partly because protein digestion is more complex and takes much longer.
Meal Frequency
As in the mass diet, you will be dividing your daily calorie requirement into six meals. Spreading your calories over more meals is an important factor in changing your biochemistry to burn fat. Basically, the human body is designed to adapt to any unusual condition to help it survive. So, if we make a habit of eating a few sporadic meals throughout the day, or even skipping meals, our
bodies go into survival mode. It slows the metabolism and stores most of the meal calories in fat cells, because it is not quite sure when it will be receiving more nourishment. Now, if you eat more often, and at regular intervals, your body will not tend to store excess calories, because it knows you will be eating again in a few hours. Eating smaller, more frequent meals has several other added benefits. First, it increases your metabolism. Every time you eat a meal, your metabolic rate goes up. This is because your system is starts working hard to turn that meal into fuel. Also, as a part of digestion, heat is given off in a process calledthermogenesis. This also speeds up your metabolism.
The Problem with Most Diets As I stated earlier, most people have high levels of body fat because their diet is too high in simple carbohydrates. People who try to eat healthy by avoiding
fat, are missing the boat. Americans are not fat because of eating too much dietary fat. They are fat because they are eating too many carbs and not enough protein.
Let me explain. As I stated earlier, your body needs carbs for fuel. But when you eat carbs, it first has to convert them into its main fuel form: glucose, a simple sugar. That's right. When you eat carbs, your body converts them into sugar. The problem with this lies not with eating the carbs, but with how fast the sugar is dumped into your bloodstream.
To lose fat, you must control your blood sugar levels. You should never have large amounts of sugar enter your bloodstream too quickly. If you do, you will cause an exaggerated insulin response. Insulin is released into the bloodstream by the pancreas, when there is a large amount of sugar (glucose) being introduced into the system too quickly. This usually is caused by eating a meal consisting only of carbohydrates, which are digested very quickly. The job of the insulin is to lower the level of glucose in the bloodstream. It does this by forcing most of the excess sugar calories into the muscles and liver, as glycogen. The excess glucose that can't be put to immediate use is converted onto new fat and stored in your adipose tissue
(butt, hips, back, waist).
That's right. If you eat carbohydrates alone, you better be doing some sort of high energy activity to burn off the excess sugar calories. Otherwise, those are going straight towards building new fat cells!
The majority of this sugar is comes from simple processed carbohydrates like white bread and pasta. These are processed foods that have very little fiber. When you eat complex carbs, you will have a slightly lower insulin response, because they are usually high in fiber. Fiber act to slow digestion, so, in this respect, complex carbs are the carbs you should concentrate on eating.
But just eating complex carbs will not solve the problem completely either. To keep insulin levels low and avoid any spikes, you must combine a slowabsorbing protein with your carbs at each meal. This is essential. If you want to lose fat, never eat carbs alone! Always eat protein at every meal.
Fat Burning Hormone
Insulin also prevents the production of a hormone called glucagon, which is known to stimulate the release of stored body fat. Glucagon enables the body to burn stored body fat for energy instead of turning it into glucose.
To help elevate your levels of glucagon, you should:
· eat adequate protein at each meal
· control amount and type of carbs eaten
· include a small amount of good fat in diet
What To Eat?
Your diet on this phase is very restrictive. You must get control of what you put in your body. First, you must decrease your intake of simple carbohydrate (candies, syrups, sugar, alcohol, milk and milk products, and processed white flour products). Concentrate on eating complex starchy carbs like brown rice, whole grains, beans, potatoes, and yams. You can, however, still eat simple solid carbs like rice cakes, cream of wheat, popcorn, etc. if you make sure to combine them with protein. This should sufficiently delay digestion to avoid an insulin response.
You are not allowed any fruit or fruit juices for this fat loss period. This is essential in minimizing fat storage. Remember, from an insulin response standpoint, there is no difference between drinking orange juice or a soft drink. Both are simple sugars that produce a high insulin response and suppression of glucagon. If you are on the fat loss diet for more than two weeks, you can start eating fruit again once your metabolism has been sufficiently increased.
I don’t recommend it, but if you must have some fruit, green apples are the best choice. If you eat them with the peel, they contain more fiber and fewer simple carbs than most other fruits.
You will also be avoiding milk and milk products on this diet. Not only does milk have a very large amount of fat and sugar, but it also has high levels of sodium, which leads to water retention and a smooth bloated appearance.
Carbohydrates
Acceptable Avoid
Unrefined whole grains Whole oats White bread Cakes
Brown rice Pasta Cookies
Oatmeal Bagels Energy bars
Beans Fruit sugars (fructose) Sports drinks
Tubers (potatoes, yams) Milk sugar (lactose) Soft drinks
Green leafy vegetables Sweets
Getting your carbs under control will probably be the most difficult aspect of
your diet. Just think about it as making better carb choices, not cutting
something out.
Protein and Fat
For protein, you must concentrate on eating sources that are lower in fat. Do not try to cut out the fat. Fat does not make you fat. The majority of the fats that you get on the fat loss diet should come from EFA's only. It is essential to keep your protein and EFA levels high to combat muscle wasting caused by the calorie restrictions.
Protein/Fats
Acceptable Avoid
Chicken (white meat) Whey protein Ground beef All types of nuts
Turkey (breast) Soy protein isolate All beef steaks Cooking oils
Any fish or seafood Tuna (fresh, canned) Roast beef Ham
Deli meats Duck
All luncheon meats
Water
Remember try to drink as much water as possible, especially before your aerobic exercise. The best way to get rid of water retention is to drink plenty of water. When you retain water, it usually means that your body is not getting enough, and is constantly dehydrated. Your goal should to be to drink an amount equal to .66 times your body weight, each day. During this phase I recommend you drink distilled water because of its low sodium content.
Fiber, Again!
Because of your diet change (decreasing fat and increasing protein), you will want to make sure that you are getting enough fiber to avoid constipation. Since your body is accustomed to having more dietary fats, the low fat environment will temporarily affect the lubricity of your stool, thus slowing down your bowel movements. The only solution to this is plenty of water and
dietary fiber. Fiber also acts as a bulking agent, filling up your stomach so you are not as hungry.
This Is Great, But I Still Don't See My "Six-Pack"
To have definition in the abdominal area means you are going to have to probably diet for longer than 2 weeks. I didn't really see all six of my "packs" until I dieted for about 4 weeks. To see their abs, men usually have to get their body fat below 8%, while women have to be under 12%.
Cravings
If you continue on your restrictive, fat loss diet for more than four weeks, you will probably begin to have cravings for other foods. This is normal. When I was dieting, I would crave things that I would never eat otherwise. My body would crave things like Big Macs and banana splits. Normally, I hate those things. If I watched any food commercial on television, I would want that
food. I never do that, but sometimes I would be beside myself during the diet. The way I learned to deal with these cravings is to give into them once per week. In other words, one day per week, I would allow myself to eat anything I wanted. Period. No guilt and no regret. This day not only helps me satisfy those annoying cravings, it also increases my motivation and determination to stick with the diet. After my free day, I am usually very eager to get back on
track. Since I have implemented this practice, I no longer have cravings. When you plan your schedule, later on in this manual, make sure to give yourself a free day.
Binges
When you break down and give in to your cravings, this is called binging. Binging is usually caused by extreme dieting. That is when you diet hard for too long, without giving yourself a break psychologically and physically. This causes you to rebound into the other extreme. You gorge yourself with anything and everything, and, usually the sweeter the better. You can control this by easing into strict fat loss diets. If you gradually cut down your sugar and simple carb intake over a longer period of time, your body will have a chance to adjust. If you do not give yourself a chance to adjust to the new diet, you will begin to have intense cravings and mood swings. This will also be helped by giving yourself a free day, as described
above.
Calculating Your Daily Food Intake
For example, let's say you weigh 180 pounds. Now, to get the total number of calories you should be eating, multiply 180 by 10. That gives you 1,800 calories. Now divide that number by the number of meals you will be eating each day (6) and you get 300 calories. So, you should be eating about 300 calories at each meal.
Total Daily Calories
1. (weight x 10) = total daily calories
2. (total calories / number of meals per day) = calorie amount for each meal
Calculating your total nutrient breakdown is a little more complex. As I said earlier, your diet will consist of 40% protein, 30% carbohydrates and 30% fat calories during this phase.
First, we will calculate your total amount of protein in calories. Simply multiply 1,800 (total caloric intake) by .40 (40%). This gives us 720 total daily calories of protein.
Next, we need to determine how many grams this 720 calories contains. Since protein has 4 calories per gram, we just divide 720 by
4. This gives us 180. Now we know we will need to eat about 180 grams of
protein each day. To find out how much we eat at each meal, just divide that
number by 6 (number of meals). This gives us 30 grams. So, to get 40% of
my total calories from protein, I have to eat about 30g at each meal.
Here it is again:
1. Total daily protein intake in calories
(1,800 x .40) = 720 calories
2. Total daily protein intake in grams
(720 / 4) = 180 grams
3. Amount of protein needed at each meal
(180 / 6) = 30 grams
Now, let’s do the calculations for carbohydrates and fats.
(Remember carbs have 4 calories per gram, and fats have 9 calories per gram)
Carbs:
1. Total daily carb intake in calories
(1,800 x .30) = 540 calories
2. Total daily carb intake in grams
(540 / 4) = 135 grams
3. Amount of carbs needed at each meal
(135 / 6) = 23 grams
Fat:
1. Total daily fat intake in calories
(1,800 x .30) = 540 calories
2. Total daily fat intake in grams
(540 / 9) = 60 grams
3. Amount of fat needed at each meal
(60 / 6) = 10 grams
So, at each meal we should try to eat 30g of protein, 23g of carbs and 10g of fat. These numbers are your guidelines. You will never get exactly this amount, because I suggest varying your caloric and nutritional breakdown at each meal.
For instance, your post-workout meal will be much larger and contain more carbs and overall calories than any other meal. This is because your body needs more of these nutrients after a workout than it would normally. Another example is your last meal of the day. It will usually only consist of fat and protein. No carbs. This is because we want to minimize fat storage overnight.
Your metabolism is very slow in the evening, so your body is more likely to simply store carbs as fat. The opposite is also true. Your metabolism is fastest in the early morning. Therefore, you should try to consume the majority of your carbs before the evening.
When you are ready, you can use the calculation worksheet I have created on page 85.
Monitoring your progress It essential that you monitor your bodyfat and tape measurements as well as your weight during this phase. You will need all three the accurately judge your progress. You cannot expect to just go by how you think you look.
If you don’t feel you are getting adequate results, you should consider lowering your calorie intake by 200-300 calories. However, you should not be losing more than 1% of your bodyweight per week. So, if you weight 180lbs, you should not be losing more than 1.8 pounds per week. If you are losing more than that you are probably losing muscle mass. You should increase your caloric intake by 200-300 calories. Your goals is not just to lose fat, but also to
hold onto as much muscle mass as possible!
Long-Term Fat Loss
If you wish to continue on a fat loss diet for more than three weeks, you should switch your weight training workout to that of my original mass routine workout. But instead of concentrating on the eccentric motion, you will use a tempo of 1/0/1. This because if you are on the low intensity fat loss workout for too long, you will begin to lose strength. Switching back to a more challenging program will help maintain as much muscle mass and strength as possible. You will still have to fulfill the aerobic exercise requirements, of course. You should also begin to cycle your nutrient profile and caloric intake after about 4-6 weeks of low calorie dieting to re-adjust your metabolism. Your body will always try to conserve energy, so if you are on a low calorie diet for a prolonged period of time, it will slow your metabolism to conserve energy/calories — making your diet ineffective. By alternating between a low
calorie and slightly higher calorie diet, you can avoid this problem and continue to lose fat. Adjusting could mean simply adding or removing an extra 200-300 calories
From the Desk of A n t h o n y E l l i s s
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