Cardio: How much do you really burn?

Cardio does help you burn more calories than sitting around the house but if you're already strength training or you hate jogging for miles in hope to lose weight, you need to stop.
Formal cardio (steady state, low intensity, long duration) really is not required for improving your body composition. There are better ways to achieve the caloric deficit you need to lose weight. Esp. when you are already strength training or have an active job. 

To be generous and depending on your fitness level, most people will burn around 300kcal/hr going for a slow jog.  Believe it of not, you can also stop drinking 2 glasses of orange juice or soda everyday to achieve the same caloric deficit you need to lose weight.  Or swap breakfast for coffee.
Approach fat loss with "eating less" is just soooooo much easier than adding more and more activity!  Eat just enough for training and satiation and hit your caloric allowance (maintenance minus deficit) for your predicted target fat loss.

What will really increase your daily burn is the way you move throughout the whole day.
Adding various enjoyable activities like hiking, cleaning, sports, or simply moving around more at work will increase your metabolism tremendously without having to purposely adding more and more workout sessions into your schedule. If you're jogging 2hrs a day, you're doing it wrong (unless you enjoy it but might hurt your progress).  

to show what i'm talking about...

MEN
Subject weighed 198lbs and had 15 percent body fat
Base calorie burn (60 minutes sitting): 60 calories
45-minute weightlifting session: 225 calories
25-minute interval workout: 196 calories
50-minute dog walk around hilly park: 305 calories
34-minute gardening session: 210 calories

WOMEN
Subject weighed 180lbs and had 39 percent body fat
Base calorie burn (60 minutes sitting): 61 calories
40-minute weightlifting session: 255 calories
25 minute interval workout: 167 calories
59-minute grocery shopping and cooking session: 255 calories
45-minute bathroom cleanup: 201 calories

so now you know.

Unless going for a jog makes you "feel" good or doesn't interfere with your sleep or training recovery, that's perfectly fine. However, if you're running with the intention to "burn more calories" but don't enjoy it or that it hurts your knee, drop it and sleep in.   

You do know that lifting has already taken care of your cardiovascular health right?  cardio and lifting is not two separate entities.    Strength training IS the superior way to do cardio.   Even if you play a sport on the weekend and you really care about "conditioning", just lift weights faster with less rest between sets.  use complexes, combos, hiit, or even tabata. Your sport and practices will have already taken care of the conditioning side and it's ok to be tired on the field.  Even the best athletes gets tire.

You can also increase your metabolism (and productivity) by drinking more coffee (up to 600mg/day).  IMO, that'd be a better form of doing cardio without wasting time and hurting your joints.

None of my competitors use "cardio", the traditional sense, to lose fat or burn calories, they just ate less.   If they want to jog for fun or play tennis on the weekends, sure, as long as it's not excessive, that's fine. but remember your goal.  muscle gain will always be harder than fat loss.   Use your caloric budget to achieve the deficit you need and just... eat... less.

Ericha

Buda, Texas

 "The most valuable thing I have learned from my awesome trainer Jem is lift heavy, my soccer playing is all the cardio i need and i have learned what to eat that works for my body plus i still get to eat the fun foods too!"

 Taylor

Kansas, MO

"Before Jem, I had the view that most people had on how to lose weight.  I became a cardio junkie and thought that's the only exercise to lose weight and lifting was only used to "bulk up".  About half way through my contest prep, I knew that something needed to change. I knew there had to be a better way to lose fat but still maintain muscle mass. Then I met Jem through another fellow competitor of mine. Jem couldn't have been more clear about what I needed to do.

He taught me how to boost my  metabolism to lose fat. Within the first two weeks, I noticed huge changes in my body composition. I ditched the cardio like Jem taught me and mainly focused on strength training to increase lean mass and strength.  Through Jem, Science became reality. It couldn't have made more sense!!!   And with Jem's help, I was able to place 1st in novice and 1st in open for my division, and qualifying for nationals in return!

Daisy

Austin, Tx

"It seems I've been receiving one blessing after another, like meeting Jem.  Since meeting him, my training is more effective and my results, more amazing.

When I first met Jem he mentioned I might think his tag line/motto was cheesy, but it is the most simple, yet brilliant thing I've ever heard. "Strength through knowledge", just brilliant!  He reminded me that putting in effort into learning about your body is probably the smartest thing you'll ever do.   Knowledge gives you the power to make right choices.  No one wants to pay a trainer for the rest of their life.  Jem teaches you to fish instead of giving you a fish. He tells it like it is and is always readily available with credible knowledge."

Heather

Smithville, Tx

"Jem makes everything seem so simple. He immediately debunked all the misinformation I had been feeding myself from the internet about "clean eating", no alcohol, and spending HOURS in the gym.   In about 2 hrs I had a whole new view on getting & STAYING fit. His nutrition plans are simple and to the point. YOU DO NOT have to GIVE UP the FOOD you love!  You do not have to quit drinking! It was that ah-ha moment - that made me know I could really do this.    Its all science and basic math.

Erin, 

Kansas MO

"Ever since my first figure competition i had been obsessed with food. I felt like i had to eat plain food and measure everything i ate.   I looked good and i felt good and i wanted to stay that way. Obviously you can't maintain that physique and low body fat long term but you don't necessarily have to put all the weight back on either.  I started training according to his workouts and with his advice on diet i am 5 weeks out from my next competition and i don't feel tortured or have the cravings i used to have.  Everything I learned about competition diet and training has changed! I am down from 145 to 132lbs and i am sitting at about 16% body fat!"

Crossfit Rant

a good summary from a bro

Crossfit programs has a great exercise menu (cleans, chins, ropes, MB throws) but very poor in the way they program this menu.  CF's overall culture is quite... interesting as well.

If I have a gym of my own, training athletes and regular Joe's, it would have all the equipments a crossfit gym offers.  However, I would not make my athletes do the things they do.

At the end of the day, most people just want to look better (muscle gain and fat loss), feel better (functional and somewhat conditioned), and stay healthy (not injured so they can do more fitness things).

and crossfit can really only accomplish the conditioning part.  However, who's to say adding a couple sprint sessions a week won't get someone the same result.

CF exercices are great, functional movements.  Some meant to be explosive and some for muscular endurance.  These movements can help serious trainees and regular joes who are recreationally active get stronger, lose weight, perform better on the field if they play a sport, and feel more functional in performing daily tasks.  

It's too bad the way CF program are designed (sets/time/rep/load and total volume) are completely misguided and do not effectively help trainees reach their goals ( I will explain the goals in a sec)... Unless the goal is getting better at crossfitting.

What I'm saying is, the skills/strength someone developed from crossfitting does not necessary transfers to their sport, lifts or health since it lacks specificity and intelligence.

In fact, CF actually encourage lifting in fatigued state which provide ample opportunities for people to get hurt. 

just search "crossfit failed" and there are TONS of good stuff to keep you up for hours watching.

"What is progression? I don't know but let's do this as many times as possible! hooray!"

Anyways, so these are the things crossfitters are constantly try to do be good at in almost every workout session.

Olympic lifting

conditioning

mental toughness

fat loss

fun
Core Endurance and explosiveness

strength training

hypertrophy (muscle size)

healthy eating - the paleo diet

the funny thing is, if they actually master any of the qualities mentioned above at an advanced level, they're probably not doing the CF program appropriately.  CF protocols are not designed for trainee to be good at anything specifically but instead, to get people mediocre results at everything... or getting good at crossfitting, which is basically putting a bunch of random exercises on a board and telling people to do as many repeitions as possible in as little time as possible... until they puke... yes, very athletic...

O-Lifts - When you can snatch or deadlift 40reps a min, it's a cardio session... that's what little girls in middle school do, light lifting.  CF deadlifts is like vertically rowing on a rowing machine.  Do you enjoy lifting like a little girl?  maybe that's why their WOD (workout of the day) are named after chicks.   CF's implementation of these awesome compound movements is a joke AND more imporantly, dangerous!

Here's real lifting with good form

And here's buying into the next big fad in the fitness industry

Strength Training - if you can do something, a movement, a lift, for more than... say 12reps, it's not strength training anymore, it's mostly sugar burning.  If you like high volume workouts 7 days a week, go play a sport!

The only people that would actually excel at CF (and only temporaorily until they stop making gains) are genetic freaks who can basically handle any chronic, high workload stressors. Young people who has the luxury to tear things up all the time.

Most mindful people who workout at a crossfitter gym don't actually do CF programs. So are most of their higher level coaches.  They are only there for the brand.

Hypertrophy (muscle size) - If you have no weightlifting experience, you will get bigger the first 6-8 month coming off the machines/couch.  Then again, you'll get bigger off of yoga or p90x if you've never done any serious lifting before.  In terms of safety and progressive poundage, CF is a horrible hypertrophy program for trainee.  Check out JCD's site on some serious muscle building programs that actually works.

CrossFit… now catering to women who never use their Curves memberships

Conditioning - or circuit training, intervals, HIIT, long steady state cardio, whatever you want to call it that is not strength training basically falls into this category.   Do we really need to run for 40mins to get a "conditioning" session in?     Who's to say 3 sets of heavy squatting @ 10RM is NOT conditioning?  does it not engage the areobic system?  are slow twitched muscle fibers not innervated?

What about doing the dishes or vacuuming the floor?  that's still consider in the fat burning zone right?

I make my clients that wants to be more "conditioned" perform front squat half their bodyweight tabata style once in a whlie but our main focus in the gym has always been increasing their max lifts. 

why can't people realize that heavy strength training DOES work on your cardiovascular system and you don't need "formal" HIIT sessions to be more conditioned?

Just strength train more often when you have the time and the recoverability, then go home and stay home.   Leave the luxury you have for submaximal (lower quality) movements for something better, like hiking, walking your dog, or zumba.   If you really want conditioning, find a hill to sprint on or sign up for a YMCA basketball league to play on. Something that's actually competitive, fun, and non-retarded.

Strength training will always precede conditioning for improving athleticism and general fitness. The only exception is if you're an endurance athlete.  Then again, endurance athletes aren't really 'athletes'... not kidding.

Mobility Work? No, Must be a 5RM OH Squat Day  with PVCs

Mental Toughness - have they heard of the breathing squat? or a sport we call "pickup soccer" against kids 10 years younger than you that lasts 3hrs in the Texas heat?

Fat Loss - Most lean people you see doing CF are already lean going in.  if you want to talk about the science behind body re-composition (fat loss, muscle gain), talk to a bodybuilder and see what they have to say about CF training. 

If people actually lose weight doing crossfit, it's probably because they stop eating bread and pasta doing paleo... i'll expand on this later

Fun - checked.  who doesn't like using exotic movements, equipments, and making a lot of noise at the gym?  it sure beats machines at a commericial gym.  this is how crossfitters establish their eliteness.  sharing pictures and numbers of what a hardcore WOD they had that day on facebook.  If didn't post it on youtube, they didn't workout.

It's not so fun when they're in crutches 3x out of the year, though.

Core - snapped.

He Obviously Trained at a CF gym

Paleo - yes, it's probably one of the best "commercial" diets out there for people seeking to lose weight or "feel" healthier. It's less miserable compare to atkins, south beach, veganism.  They're easy to learn and has tons of online support to offer motivation and accountability.   It may helps you lose weight if you use to eatin a lot of starch.  It will help you pack on muscle too if you used to believe that the vegetarian diet is the best diet ever. 

However, if you actually believe that our digestive system and overall human genetics hasn't change at all for the past 4 thousand years, proceed with this diet.  This also means you have to sleep for 12hrs a day, you can't eat any processed foods (includng whey, omega3, & multi-vitamins), only drink spring water, you should beat your wife when she doesn't listen to you, and wear vibram shoes anywhere you go (cuz that's primal bro!).  it's true, these are all basic paleo requirements.

If you're exposed to crossfit due to doing paleo, here's what robb wolf (author of Paleo Solution) has to say about CF.

If you're following Paleo 2.0 (supposedly better for mental and physical health while supported by research), you may realize that it's almost identical to the mediterranean diet.  Do that instead.  Just realize that most low carbs diets don't really support performance if you're serious about training.

ok, I should wrap up my rant now...

If you want to get stronger, you have to lift heavy things!

If you want to get bigger, you have to lift heavy things and eat!

If you want to lose weight, you need to eat less and move more.

A calorie IS a calorie and insulin is NOT your enemy.

if you want to improve your sport, do the sport more, hire a specialized/tactical coach.

If you are bore with your current training program, go out and explore other options that aren't completely dangerous.  Go to a rave concert or a punk rock show and rock your socks off.  That's all the fun and conditioning people needs to be healthy anyways, then when you're done, get under some heavy bars.

there's strength training, then there's kippin

If you want core, drive your car into the middle of an intersection, shut off the engine and proceed to push your car out of people's way.  but seriously, just go to the park and hold things above your head and buy a punching bag and go at it.

If you want to be more 'conditioned', hold your breath as long as you can until you pass out.

If you want mental toughness, do the 'hold your breath' thing again, but longer.

If you want range of motion, talk to a athletic trainer or physical therapist first if you actually need it.

If you want to learn and improve your O-lifts, hire a "weightlifting" coach,  USAW certified.   Not a crossfit instructor who got their $2000 CF cert from a weekend workshop.

all jokes and ranting aside...

What is your definition of "fitness"?

 Do you want to be great at "exercising" or "crossfitting" while risking your health?  Or do you actually want to improve specific physique, strength, health, and performance goals in a progressive and personalized manner?

Pick a goal and get good at it, then move on to another.  Stop trying to work at everything all at once cuz most likely you're not going to reach any of them.

Dan John - I Hate Medium (training)

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/i_hate_medium&cr=

Why Are Stubborn Fat So Stubborn!?!?

some of you asked me about this, I thought I'd share some good tips w/ everyone.  Too lazy to re-write what's already been written so just read these links.

Forward this to your friends who you think might benefit from it.

Cardio, Blood Flow, Insulin, and Genetics.
http://www.thefactsaboutfitness.com/lyle/stubborn.htm

Stubborn Fat, Fasting, and Supplements.
http://www.leangains.com/2010/06/intermittent-fasting-and-stubborn-body.html

Cardio, when is appropriate? (scroll to the very bottom)
http://www.jyfitness.blogspot.com/2010/12/cardio.html

Basically, if you're still really overweight, just focus on your diet, drop carbs, drop fat, eat more protein, eat less often, weight train, be more active throughout the day, drink coffee, and you're good.  Once you've hit a stall, here's what you can do on top of what's mentioned above.

1) you can do cardio in the morning, get some coffee in you and go walk for a hr.  You can do this everyday and no, you don't need a protein shake afterwards.  if you have to set an alarm to wake up for this session, i rather have you sleep in.  you can do it at night or during the day too, if you have the luxury for long walks, do it. walk won't impair your strength gain as much as jogging, so keep intensity low.

2) if you weight train in the morning, have a cardio session after your workout for 20-30mins.  if you're only training your upper body that day, you can probably do a 1hr on the treadmill.  again, keep heart rate low (under 140bpm).

3) another option on rest days: to better mobilize fat out of your fat cell to be burned as fuel.  in the morning or in the fasted state (3hr after you've had a meal) do a good 10min interval (this is from the stubborn fat solution from Lyle), this can be HIIT, tabata, intermittent sprints, pushups squat jumps, burpees, just get your heart rate going and going and going and keep yourself in the anaerobic state.  then rest a few mins (2-5mins) then go for a long walk or slow jog.   keep this intensity low, again, HR under 140 is good.  If you have to do this indoor at a gym, use the rower for the first interval/high intensity part but treadmill is fine if they let you. rower is safer.

4) you can do number 3 on training days too but it's best combined with a leg day so you can hit your legs twice and have more complete recovery days for your legs.  same applies to upper body, if you row hard for the interval part, it's best combine this with an upperbody day, then keep rowing for the cardio part but you probably won't last long and it's harder to monitor your heart rate unless you have a HR monitoring watch.

5) for all of these cardio sessions, you can add 200mg of caffine in your system 20mins beforehand, that's about 1.5 cups of brewed coffee or 2teaspoon of instant.  for more potent effect, you can add 20mg of ephedrine OR 2-3g of tyrosin with the caffine.

6) YOU DON'T NEED A POST WORKOUT SHAKE OR BREAKFAST!! we are trying to burn more calories here!

The Weight of The Nation: HBO, Review

just writing a short review of this, not too bad documentary addressing the issue of obesity in america.  iti was referenced to me by a client of mine working on losing weight.

http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com/

movies like this is suppose to use fear to sensationalize the content/msg.  so don't be scare watching the first 20mins of it thinking that our nation is hopeless.
Overall I think it's a ok film and may be somewhat beneficial for really really overweight and disease people who doesn't know anything about nutrition, human metabolism, or have no experience in dieting.

It's anti corn industry, pro activity. pro vegetables and fruits but I think it should have mentioned increase intake of protein through meat products for satiety and thermalgenic reasons... but that would have turn away a lot of viewers.
don't necessary agree with it's vague anti stance on salt and dietary fat. 

at least at the end of the film it propose that we need to take personal responsibilities, and collectively, improve the issue... not a lot of nutrition/diet films address this, which is nice to see.

the official website still recommend eating breakfast though, that was a turn off.
correlation is not causation!

Overall I wouldn't recommend people spenting a hr watching this when they can be watching or reading something else more informative and helpful in solving their weight problem.  I rather they read my nutrition aritcles, they'd learn a lot more than the film in a hr time.

what you think?

1 week out - Figure

This post was written to help a few girls that train at HIT Center Austin who needs to get lean and dry for their upcoming bikini contest at the NPC Texas Shredder Classics.

 

1 Week Out From Contest

From the diet setup I explained previously, you can still lose 1 to 1.5 more pounds of body fat if you keep up with your diet/cardio this last week but as we all know, you can probably come in looking more lean and dry if you lose some of the subcutaneous water under the skin.  So here are a few things you can do to avoid going on stage looking smooth.

Depending on what kind of event and how you’ve been trained, the judge will most likely want to see the striation of your hip and the definition of your abs. If you’re a figure, they will focus more on the size of your shoulder and upper back.  For the waist and hip, these areas are where the female will store the last bit of fat and is the hardest to lose (due to the alpha/beta receptors ratio on your fat tissues that get signaled how and where the fat contents are stored, released, and burned).  For men, it's the lower abs and lower back.  Since you will not be using drugs to get rid of water, here are a couple things to manipulate water level. 

Again, it does not always work for everyone.  You should already have tried this a couple cycles before your contest so you know how your body responds to the protocols.  If this is your first time, do it at your own risk. At least you know what to do for your next show.

Sodium Loading

Maintain or increase your sodium and water intake up until 2 days from your event.  Then drop sodium completely (or reduce it as much as possible) and take a couple grams of potassium (on top of eating a potassium rich diet) the day before contest.

Potassium is an intracellular electrolyte ion which holds water inside the cell and not outside like sodium does.  Also, adding potassium (K) will help you stay hydrating as well as assist in pulling out sodium.  This is to create a rebound effect.  To find out sodium rich foods options to stay away from 2 days out, do a search on google (egg whites, tuna for the protein sources).

Some coaches recommend reducing water intake well before contest time (2-3 weeks out), which is totally unnecessary and I see it in a lot of wrestling coaches too.   Water restriction can help prevent water retention in case the body is in a state of dehydration, and is only appropriate for the night before and/or the day of contest.

If the body has very little water due to lowered sodium intake, any water you drink will be urinated. So, restrict water only the day before and the day of the event.  Drink lots of water at the beginning of the week (try to hit 8 liters or 5x/day crystal clear urination). Then lower water on Friday night (around 4 liters that day) and stop drinking water 2-4 hours before the show. 

Do not drop sodium at the beginning of the week, this is important!  Drop it only the night before from your comp!  If your show is Saturday, drop sodium rich food thurs night.  Most canned and pre-package foods are high in sodium. Aim to eat similar to a Paleo diet.  Also when cooking, reduce salt and spices.

Creatine Cycling

Individual responses vary too much and probably not going to make that much of a difference for female bikinis.  If you’re not squatting or deadlifting 2x your body weight (1RM), you need to train heavier and not worry about creatine.

Xpel

Try this

http://reviews.bodybuilding.com/MHP/Xpel/

Caffeine

Caffeine-rich beverages are often said to have a diuretic effect as well, but this is actually a myth.

Alcohol

A natural diuretic. Allow a couple glasses of wine or straight up hard liquor, have them the night before.  Other types of alcoholic beverages may contain too many calories (beer/mix drinks) in general but you can still have them if your caloric budget allows it.  Have another glass 20-30mins before you step on stage as you're getting your pre-pump in. This can help you look more veiney and possibly get rid of the last bit of water.  Just make sure you don't drink so much that you need to pee while on stage.

Cosmetics & Poses

Local diuretic like wraps, coffee grounds, and preparation H are a waste of time.  Trust me, I've tried it all. Prep H: the Canadian brand might work but too much hassle at this stage.  You should already practice a couple times yourself or with a friend on how to apply the spray or bronzer.  Just remember to shave and exfoliate the night before. Perhaps exfoliate daily from a week out.  You should work with a coach or an experienced poser (someone who has won something or an ex-judge) and don’t forget to smile!

Pre-pump

With a 15-20lb dumbbell, focus on working your shoulder/arm/calf 2-3mins before posing.  This is to simply make you look fuller temporarily. Modified push will work too, get 10-15reps in. You don't want too many core/hip movements that takes away the blood you need to appear veiney everywhere else.  If you're not lean and dry enough (or just still too fat for your event), your butt and abs definitions will not show no matter how many crunches or squats you do before stepping on stage.  Focus on the arms, upper back, and calves.

Carb loading

This is the most important part for all natural competitors to know and will have the most effect compared to any other voodoo methods out there for coming in dry and pumped at the same time.  Again, it depends on the individual and you won't know how it may work for you until you've tried it.  you will most likely need a calender/notepad for what you'll do this week in terms of training, diet, and everything else (cosmetics).

A week out (assuming your show is sat) - reduce carbs to 0-40g/day until 2 days before contest. During this time, you would want to perform a depletion workout like HIIT/Circuit/Conditioning stuff Monday or Tuesday for about 1-1.5hr depending on your fitness level and how intense the training.   A full-body session consisting of 2-3 sets of 12-15 reps per movement.  

Eample: pick 2 pull (rows or chins), 2 push (press/dip), and 2 leg movements (sumo, squat).  Then follow some circuit and higher intensity cardio for 20-30mins - sled pulls, intermittent all out sprints (40-50yds, 10x), tabata anything, or burpees or MB throws.  Or just more lighter weight of the lifts at high rep.

Then Thurs have a high volume upper body day that focus on your arms.  Plus another high volume cardio work afterwards if you can get one in for 20mins (cardio or just more sets of the upper body stuff at way lighter load). rowers, swimming, push up, or more upperbody lifting/pump exercises.

Then starting Thursday, start your carbs loads right after the workout.  This is to shuttle more nutrient/glucose into your muscles while they are most deprived of it.  Muscle glycogen (stored glucose) will attract/pull water into your muscle cells from under your skin).  This carb load will make your muscle "pop" and get rid of any water retention you may have.  This refeed will take care of your liver too and the stress of dieting should go away. Your cortisol will drop too and let go of even more water.

Carb should be starches like potatoes, rice, pasta and bread.  Keep fiber, fructose, and sodium low and potassium high.   Don’t go too much over your carbs intake. 3g of carbs per lb of lean body mass should be good enough.  if you have a bigger frame and has been a very good girl throughout the low carb phase (less than 40g of carbs/day) mon-thurs, get up to 4g/lb of lean mass.  Try to get the most of this carbs source post workout (thurs night). 

You should wake up Friday morning feeling full and muscular. if you workout late thursday nite and can only get one big meal in, then keep the refeed/cardload up friday morning.  Then from there on, it’s about doing nothing! Just Rest, cut sodium, drink your water, finish the carb load and the rest of your normal calories (accounted for the carbs) all the way til your show.

When you are carb loading, remember that this is the same time you'll want to keep sodium low, so do a search on google on low sodium proteins and carbs (chicken breast, turkey breast).  The day of the contest, you should stay fasted, eat an apple if you get hungry and avoid  stress and sip on water when you feel thirsty.  If you could fast up until the event, that's even better. If you experience hunger, drink some coffee to get by.  have a normal meal after prejudge just not high in sodium, 400-500kcal should be enough and give yourself 2-3hrs to digest before the night show.

Need to prep for a bikini/figure contest from 12 weeks out?? article coming up soon. 

Estimate your Energy Expenditure, Set Realistic Goals, and Structure Your Fat Loss Diet

So I've been getting a lot of questions from people on how to structure their fat loss diet so I decided to put the formulas here together.

For a quick look on what type of macronutrient and how much of them to manipulate to best fit your lifestlye, attitude, and preference regarding food intake, read this first.

I assume most people reading this also understand the art of body recomposition (diet & training) and the 2nd law of thermaldynamic.  If you don't, read this first to understand what it takes to lose, maintain, or gain body mass.  For muscle gain, specifically, read this too for the training side of things.

So, for those who prefer to NEVER track your food intake or bother reading food labels and yet, aren't satisfy with how you look in the mirror, I have two advice for you, "eat real food", then when you get good at that, "eat less food"... and that's all i'm gonna give you.

Personally, I have no time for people who aren't willing to put in the work in order to get what they want.  So if your ego is in the way or you're just too damn lazy to do some homework, good luck.  invest your money on weight watchers, goldsgyms or some local RD who will show you the food pyramid.

For those who do care and willing to do it yourself, this is what you can do to structure your fat loss diet. 

Energy Expenditure and Rate of Fat Loss
First of all, read this article to understand what is BMR, RMR, and energy spent on daily tasks.

And now that you know what are energy expenditure, calorie input, and what it takes to change body composition, let's do the math. btw, I will use the terms 'calories' and 'energy' interchangeably.

For fat loss specifically, it is generally more realistic to lose around 1% of body fat mass from your current bodyweight.  If someone weigh 200lb and is trying to lose weight, it's perfectly acceptable to lose 2lb a week without facing crazy hunger pangs or suffer massive nutrient deficiecies (unless you're doing some long-term liquid fast or retarded vegan diets or something).

To find your maintenace (BMR), use this index.  Click the 'BMR & RMR Calculator'.  Plug in the numbers and it will automatically spit out your acitivity multipliers. too.  Be honest with yourself.  If you're not sure which category of activity level you belong to, take the average of the two you think you are.

Activity Factor	Category	Definition
1.2	Sedentary	Little or no exercise and desk job
1.375	Lightly Active	Light exercise or sports 1-3 days a week
1.55	Moderately Active	Moderate exercise or sports 3-5 days a week
1.725	Very Active	Hard exercise or sports 6-7 days a week4
1.9	Extremely Active	Hard daily exercise or sports and physical job

The Math
Let's assume you know you burn 2500kcal a day and you like to lose 2lb a week being a 200lb person.  2lb of fat mass is roughly 7,000kcal.  so divide that by 7 days and you get 1000kcal a day.  That's how many calories you need to burn more or take in less from your maintenace (2,500kcal) to see the 2lb fat loss a week.

So for the above example, eating 1500kcal a day (2500 minus 1000), everyday for a week would be appropriate for someone weighing at 200lb wanting to lose 2lb that week.

The above calculation are only theoretical and that the figures are only estimates.  It's also more of a linear approach to calorie cutting that applies more appropirately to the sedentary population.


Non-Lineaer Cutting For Active Dieters
For those who are training or are athletic but still wanting to lose excess body fat, obviously you should be eating more on workout days than resting days to maximize recovery, performance, and strength/muscle gain.

Generally, and I do mean GENERALLY! for my physique-base clients, I require them to workout hard with resistance (freeweights and compound movements) at least 2x a week (but no more than 4) and on those 2 days, they will eat at maintenance.   For the other 5 days they're not active or not exactly training hard as i want them, they cut the total calories needed to meet the fat loss goal/rate.

So for the above example, someone weighing at 200lbs and has a maintance of 2,500kcal a day.  This person would eat at maintance for 2 days on their hard training days.  Then use the other days to cut the 7000kcal to reach 2lb fat loss.  Which is 7000 / 5 = 1400kcal. 

2500 (maintenance) - 1400 (the cut) = 1100 (to eat).

Mon - dead and chins (2,500kcal)
Tues - rest (1,100kcal)
Wed - rest (1,100kcal)
Thurs - squat and press (2,500kcal)
Fri - rest (1,100kcal)
Sat - rest (1,100kcal)
Sun - zumba (1,100kcal)

Meeting The Essentials
If you've read my articles on what are 'essential nutrients' for human to sustain life and maintain/grow muscle on a day in day out basis (on or off dieting), you would know that depending on gender, lean mass, and couple other factors, we need about 550-800 calories a day just to meet these essential needs. 

That means if you're overweight (over-fat) and have the luxury to not eat much for a while (or need to lose fat), you should at least meet these essential nutrients to stay healthy until you reach a certain bodyfat % in the very low range that you'll have to eat more again before you die.

So lets pretend this 200lb person carries around 100lb of lean mass.  he/she would get about 1g of protein per 1lb of lean mass, which is 100g, which is 400kcal.  On top of that, we need roughly 180kcal (or 200kcal to make calculation easier) of fat (some from essential fatty acids).

This means on rest days when eating about 1100kcal and this person will ingest roughly 600kcal to meet essential needs, which gives him/her 500kcal more to play with.  This is what I called the 'calorie budget' or 'wiggle room' for....    wait for it.....

DIRTY FOODs!

Learn more about why clean eating is a scam and why sometimes, IIFYM might just work for you.

So, if you like cupcakes, pizza, twinkies, or ice creams, go for it!   As long as you're meeting the essentials (and maybe take a couple multivitamins daily and have fruits and veggies from time to time) and you're keeping your caloric budget under control, you're set!  

Here are some examples of what I mean, enjoy.

Modify and Adapt
Back to the diet setup.   Obvious you don't want to be modifying your caloric intake on a daily basis, that's too stressful.   Track your intake for a week, THEN find the average of which macro are going over or under and if you average total calories are in check.  Then modify it for the next week when you go to the grocery store.  Don't modify everyday unless you're the control-freak type who has the time and energy to do it.

So for this 200lb person burning 2500kcal a day looking to cut 1400kcal a day down to 1100kcal worth of intake on rest days and must have around 600kcal to meet the essentials.  This dieter will have about 500kcal of wiggle room to 1) eat more protein, 2) eat more fat, 3) each more carbs, and 4) drink more alcohol.

Forgot to mention, I generally set carbs under 100g (400kcal) for active people and 60g (240kcal) for the sedentary on rest days.  Depending on deadlines, training status, and food preference, I adjust it accordingly.  So for this dieter, having 100g of carbs is perfectly acceptable. Or 500kcal worth of alcohol (4 cans of beer?), don't sweat it.
 
So, as long as you hit the macros and the total calories (lower than maintenance), nothing else really matters.  With some heavy resistance training couple times a week and some patience (toss the scale), fat loss will occur!

Good Luck!

The Dice Rolling Program

Tire of your current training regimen?  Having a hard time sticking to your program?  Here's a systematic way of implmenting spontaneity in your workouts to keep you going.  It's a dice rolling system to be used once every few months to keep things interesting.  This approach to training is for those in the iron game for years that need to spice up their program with some randomness. 

To ensure that you make gains consistently and training in a measurable and productive manner, I recommend trainees to follow a structured program specifically designed for them so don't use this method for your entire training career.

Basically all you need is a die (plural - dice) and you roll 4x to find out:

1) What program you will do that day.

2) Leg + core movement

3) Upper body push movement, and

4) Upper body pull movement. 

If you're a performance athlete, you may eliminate the upper body push and pull and add a...

3) a power/olympic movement (because you need the speed)

4) and a finisher (because you need the conditioning)

  

Each roll will give you 6 options of how to train according the design for each movement/lift and you will never run into the same program ever (with one exception which I'll explain later).

1st Roll: The Program

1) 5 x 5

2) RPT (reverse pyramid training)

3) The Bro Method

4) 1 Lift for 50 rep singles or doubles.

5) Tabata everything!  50% 1RM - 4mins each movement.

6) Hang Clean & Front Squat Combo for 100reps (the exception).

1. 5 x 5 is basically performing 5 sets of 5 reps (near max), read this post for further instruction.

190 x 5, rest
190 x 5, rest

190 x 5, rest

190 x 5, rest

190 x 5, eat.

2. RPT - After warm up, you should perform your best set first (2-5reps max depending on the safety of the lift), then drop 10-15% of load then get up to 8-10 reps for the 2nd set, then drop down to 50% of 1RM and perform to failure with each movements.  3 sets per mnovement and 9 sets total.  This is a low volume program great for those on a diet or in season athletes.

3. Bro-Training - random rep, set, rest intervals as you like it.  As long as you're feeling 'da pump' and gets the gals (or guys) next to you awing over your awesome superset/drop-set, kipping and tempo routine, it's all good!

4. 50 total reps - This will take a whlie but basically you perform the  movement 1-2 rep max for 50 total reps. so basically you're doing 25 - 50 sets of near max reps. You will need to master the movements to pull this off.  Make sure you have spotters if you're attempting a lot of singles with weights above you. 

5. Tabata: 20 second on (work) and 10 second off (rest).  4 mins = 8 rounds.  You do this for each lifts (upper body push/pull and leg) but I don't recommend it for the power movements.   Bad form with high reps and high speed is not good unless you're an elite crossfitter with health insurance. Use 50% 1RM load and adjust it accordingly.

6. Find a weight you can hang clean and front squat for a total of 100 reps.  Take as many sets as you need to hit that number.  You start with hang clean up to as many rep as possible in a set (hopefully heavy enough you can only catch it with good form under 10rep per set) then without rest, while bar still on shoulder, front squat until you fall over.  repeat.   If you roll on this one, you don't need to roll again.

2nd Roll: Leg + Core

1) Conventional Deadlift

2) RDL

3) Sumo

4) Back Squat (Deep!)

5) Front Squat

6) Overhead Squat

3rd Roll: Upper Body Push

1) Bench Press

2) Incline

3) Dip

4) Military (no knee pleas)

5) Close Grip Push Up - if land on RPT, perform 3 sets of to-failures.

6) Hand Stand Push Up - if you can't do this one, use this progression. if land on RPT, 3 sets to failure.

4th Roll: Upper Body Pull
1) Pull Up (use weight belt to adjust intensity)
2) Chin (use weight belt to adjust intensity)
3) Shrugs
4) Lats Pull Down
5) DB or BB Pull Over
6) Bent-Over Rows

For Performance Athletes: skip the upper body push and pull and...
3rd Roll: Speed/Power
1) Power Cleans
2) Hang Cleans
3) KB or DB Swings
4) Power Snatch
5) KB or DB Single Arm Snatches
6) Power Snatch Squat or Split Stance

4th Roll: Finisher
(depending on equipments)
1) Sled Pull/Push tabata 4mins or farmer walk to your forearm cramp up.
2) Prisoner Squat Jump tabata
3) 20, 20, 40, 100, 40, 20, 20 yard sprints w/ 20sec rest.
4) Battle Rope, Rower tabata, Ab roller, or Push Ups.
5) Med Ball Wall Throws 6 sets of 20 reps with 10 sec rests or crunches til your belly fat falls off.
6) Burpees 3 reps-to-failure sets with 30sec rest.

Are You Afraid of High Fructose Corn Syrup?

HFCS - High fructose corn syrup is sugar made from corn.

They are half fructose and half glucose similar to the structure of sucrose (table sugar).

HFCS is NOT the problem, high consumption of sugar in general is the problem.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20086073

"Epidemiological studies show growing evidence that consumption of sweetened beverages (containing either sucrose or a mixture of glucose and fructose) is associated with a high energy intake, increased body weight, and the occurrence of metabolic and cardiovascular disorders. There is, however, no unequivocal evidence that fructose intake at moderate doses is directly related with adverse metabolic effects. There has also been much concern that consumption of free fructose, as provided in high fructose corn syrup, may cause more adverse effects than consumption of fructose consumed with sucrose. There is, however, no direct evidence for more serious metabolic consequences of high fructose corn syrup versus sucrose consumption."

http://weightology.net/weightologyweekly/?page_id=19

"If you see a product with HFCS and a similar product with natural table sugar, don’t assume the product with natural sugar is any better. Rather than worrying about whether something contains HFCS, you should strive to reduce your intake of all types of added sugar and refined carbohydrates in your diet. It is much more important to look at the big picture; keep your physical activity high, manage your overall food intake, make sure most of your food is from minimally refined sources, and keep your protein intake high. This is what will help you lose weight and keep it off, rather than singling out HFCS in your diet. Don’t let the fructose fear-mongerers fool you"

Agave, a more "natural" sugar actually contains more fructose than HFCS

  

Increased food energy supply (alone) is more than sufficient to explain the US epidemic of obesity

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19828708

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/straight-talk-about-high-fructose-corn-syrup-what-it-is-and-what-it-aint-research-review.html

It would take an absurd amount of say, fruit, to provide enough fructose to the diet to cause problems. The liver can generally handle approximately 50 grams of fructose or so before you start to see conversion to triglycerides or other negatives.  Only achievable by someone consuming a lot of sugary soda, but again, anyone consuming gallons of sugary soda per day has bigger issues in their diet than the high fructose intake.

HFCS is in no way unique amount sugars, with a composition identical to sucrose as well as the supposedly ‘healthy’ honey. Increased caloric intake since the 1970′s is the driver for increased obesity, with no relationship with HFCS intake per se.   In that all fructose-glucose solutions (whether HFCS, sucrose or honey) are metabolized in exactly the same fashion in the body, there is simply no reason to think that HFCS per se is particularly obesity promoting outside of being a caloric source.

In terms of sweetener comparison, table sugar and HFCS are very, very similar. Only reason HFCS sells is because it's cheaper to make.  The human body does not metabolise HFCS any differently to regular sugar.