Step1
Step One
We must start with this to remove the biggest fallacy of weight loss, spot
reducing. This is to remind you that the only way you can spot reduce fat off
your body is with a surgical procedure. You cannot burn fat by weight
training or resistance training. You have a better chance of washing your car
and then miraculously finding that your house is clean also. Body fat burns
systematically, from everywhere at once. Generally, this process starts when
you lower your calories or increase your activity level. Some are still doing
hundreds of sit ups, waist bends, and leg lifts thinking these areas will
tighten up because of the constant burning. I sympathize for people when
they tell me, “ I’m really trying to trim up this waist, I’m doing a hundred
million sit ups a day”. Or the famous girl from a popular TV show when she
responded to a question some talk show host asked her. He wanted to know
her secret to a great stomach. “Oh, I do a hundred sit-ups a day!” she
responded. Get a clue! . Please remember, weights build and maintain
muscle, and diet and cardio burns fat. When you do a weight training
exercise and feel a burn in a certain muscle group, what your feeling is the
muscle burning not the fat burning. If you want to lose the soft stuff around
your waist or thighs and you do waist or thigh exercises your not burning fat
your building muscle.
This goes for all areas of the body. Some of the popular ways people try this
type of magic are doing butt exercises to make the butt smaller (wrong)!
Doing arm exercises to lose the fat in the back of the arm (never)! Doing
inner thigh movements to get rid of the soft spots on the inside of the leg
(impossible)! You have a much better chance of building those areas bigger
than you do of making them smaller. If you want to lose fat, remember it
burns systematically off your body.
Step2
Step Two
Before you even think of starting a fat loss program you must recognize and
identify exactly what you want from it first. Properly identifying and
recognizing what you want will make all the difference in the world! The
story of a client of mine really explains it all. I was employed as a fitness
center manager. My office was positioned so I could see every member as
they entered the gym area. I had an office door that had one of those glass
windows in the center of it. As I was doing my paper work one day, I felt
someone looking at me. I looked up and saw a young man with a very odd
looking expression on his face. He was motioning as if he wanted to come in
and talk. He had a not so happy, frustrated look on his face and it looked
like I was in for a membership problem. I waved him in and found out that
it wasn’t a membership problem. He introduced himself to me as a member
who wasn’t really using his membership. He went on to tell me that he was
in his third year of trying to be a consistent exerciser. He was trying to lose
weight but it never worked. He was 5’6, 265 lbs. and only 31yrs old. Let’s
just say that the weight wasn’t all muscle (to say the least). I asked him what
type of workouts he had done. He had tried everything. Fad diets, workout
tapes, home programs, treadmills, miracle diets, meat grinders, toothpicks
under the fingernails, nothing worked! After some more discussion I also
found out that he hadn’t done any of them for more than 4 wks. He didn’t
know why he lost motivation immediately after he started. I asked him if he
had properly identified his major fitness goal . He explained to me that he
wanted to lose about 100 lbs.
As quickly as he was explaining his goal I was identifying his key obstacle.
I asked John if he had ever heard the old adage about goal setting. It was
about looking at the top of the big mountain before climbing up. That can be
kind of intimidating. I encouraged John to change his general 100lb. goal to
something smaller such as 1 lb. of fat loss per week. It’s not as
overwhelming, allowing him to focus on a smaller 1 pound rather than large
intimidating 100 pound goal. He agreed. He decided to pursue that one
pound per week goal. John came back 3 months later. I instantly recognized
his changed attitude. It was obvious that he had lost a significant amount of
weight. He explained to me that according to the scale he is 5 pounds lighter
than he was at our previous meeting
Step3
Step Three
Without this action step, your expectations for results may get unfocused. It
reminds you to use your common sense when thinking of losing fat. It has to
do with the difference between muscle and fat. It keeps you correctly
focused. I make this point first because 9 out of 10 people who start
exercising, start because of a desire to reduce size. Some forget to use their
common sense. They forget to take in consideration the simplicity of how
the body works. Blindly, most just want to see that weight come off. First of
all, if your goal is to lose weight, you want to lose fat, not muscle or weight
necessarily. Think of a pound of fat which has a caloric consistency of 3500
calories. If you took one pound of fat and put it in front of you it would
equal a grapefruit in size. If you take a pound of muscle which has a caloric
consistency of 600 calories and put it in front of you it would equal an
orange in size. Looking at both you’ll find that they are both the same
weight but one pound of fat is bigger and takes up a lot more room. If you
lose 10 grapefruits off your body, and gain ten oranges, and they both
individually weigh one pound, you would be the same weight but a lot
smaller afterward. Because of this size difference you may see your clothes
get bigger on you, your inches go down, and people telling you that it looks
like you lost weight. However, if you get on the scale you may stay the
same weight and appear to be a lot smaller. This happens when you do a
regular exercise program because you always initially build muscle. Usually
2-4 pounds for a woman, and 5-10 pounds for a man. This can happen
within the first few months. When measuring your results by the scale, you
may be heavier or the same weight. This is because you will build muscle
faster than you will lose fat. But after your muscle building slows down,
after the initial growth period (1-3mo’s), you can count on seeing fat
consistently peeling off your body. You can lose 1-2 pounds of fat a week.
Imagine losing a pound of fat every week! That’s 52 pounds in one year
(imagine 52 grapefruits off your body). So remember to use common sense
when thinking of fat loss: don’t just think of weight loss.
Step4
Step Four
Most fat-loss failures could be avoided if people will just absorb this next
step. This helps you to remember that by doing weight training you can
prevent committing “exercise suicide“. Here’s why: If everyday you
willingly lost muscle off your body, don’t you agree after a while you
wouldn’t be around much longer? It would be like you were intentionally
trying to kill yourself, right? Don’t you agree, that deliberately letting this
happen could be perceived as a ridiculous method of suicide? Thousands of
exercisers everyday are doing this. They don’t directly commit suicide, they
do it on the installment plan! They even confirm it with remarks like “I’m
going to lose weight first then I’ll tone”. Or, “I don’t want to weight train
now, I’m waiting until after I lose the weight.” My bones quiver when
someone says those phrases within listening range. They do this type of
suicide by trying to diet without weight training, (or something totally
different but with exactly the same result,) they do cardio exercise before
weight training. It’s all categorized as committing exercise suicide on the
installment plan. I’m going to explain to you how this happens. I’m also
going to show you how to prevent these catastrophes. I feel its time to stop
the violence! Its time to set the record straight. First lets look at the annoying
habit of dieting without weight training. I call this the “I want to lose weight
first then tone” disease. The reason this fallacy started in the first place is
because if you think about it, it appears to make sense. You have to lose your
fat first in order to then build up muscle. That statement may sound sensible,
but don’t be deceived, it’s not! This is where the exercise suicide comes in.
(If Dr. Kavorkian only knew). Our bodies are programmed to prevent
starvation. Imagine your body has 3 separate sources for food: muscle
(protein), fat and carbohydrates. Fat contains 9 calories per one gram and
muscle and carbs contain 4 calories per one gram. Fat is more valuable to
your body because it has more calorie burning power in case of starvation. It
has nine calories as opposed to four. This means that in case of starvation
one gram of fat would last longer for food supply than one gram of muscle
(protein) or carbohydrate. Fat would have a longer calorie burning period
since it has 9 calories per gram and muscle and carbohydrates have only 4
calories per gram. Imagine you needed money and someone
Step5
Step Five
You must remember to always have a steady income of fat in your diet in
order to lose fat off your body. Incorporating fat in your diet is like having
money in the bank. If you have some money in the bank, and you have a
steady income coming in regularly, you don’t mind spending some of that
money in the bank. BUT, when you have money in the bank, but no steady
income, what do you do with that money in the bank? You hold onto it and
use it sparingly. This is precisely how your body thinks. If your body sees
that you don’t have any fat intake, it gets nervous and thinks your starving. It
will not release body fat for energy. The message is to always consume 15%
of your diet from fat. Don’t be afraid to eat something you really love at
least once weekly. Make sure you pick a day and time and stick to it. Marty,
a previous client of mine, is someone who loves this concept. He really
started to see results when he incorporated a cheat meal once a week. There
was a problem though. He kept changing the “cheat day”. Originally his day
was Sunday. One Wednesday, I saw him eating in a pizza place at the local
shopping center. I approached him cautiously. I didn’t want to give him any
time to think of an excuse. I said, “Marty what are you doing here?” He
said,“ Oh, hi Rafael, I didn’t tell you, I changed my day to Wednesday now, its
not Sunday anymore.” I asked when he had decided to make the change. He
said, “Just recently when I walked by this pizza place”. A couple of days of
cheating will never hurt anyone that bad but too much inconsistency and
flexibility definitely will. Include a good percentage of fat in your diet and
eat a desert or something you really enjoy one or two times a week.
Step6
Step Six
Write down everything you eat for three days. Do this on three days that
you’re not pigging out. Do it on three average days of eating in your life.
Write down every piece of food or drink that goes into your mouth. Before
you do the action steps that follow, you must write down everything you eat
for three days. Doing this will allow you to do a caloric maintenance level
check. This tells you how many calories your body requires on a daily basis
to operate and maintain your weight. Doing this will let you adjust your
calories to whatever specific goals you have. If you sporadically try this
action step, your attempt at any specific fat loss goal will certainly fail. You
must, like everything else, be consistent for it to work. Losing weight,
gaining weight or maintaining weight is simple when this formula is adhered
to. Here’s what you do. Get a little note pad and take it with you everywhere
you go. Start writing down everything you eat, every morsel of food or drink
that enters your mouth for three consecutive days. After three days get a
little two dollar calorie book from the supermarket and add up your calories.
Just the calories. This gives you a great idea of how many calories it takes
your body to operate every day. To maintain your present weight. Let me
repeat. Write down everything you eat or drink for three consecutive days.
After the three days add up the caloric content of everything. Now, after you
have done all of the above divide the total. This is the magic number. This
number indicates the calories it takes your body to operate on a daily basis
and to maintain your current weight. By choosing from the 4 food groups,
you’re ready to start developing your eating plan. You can now effectively
lose weight, gain weight or maintain weight. A quick warning. If you’re like
95% of the people I have done this with, you might be saying, “I don’t have
to wait for three days, I know what I eat already, it’s in my mind!” Or,
maybe your saying, “ My diet is so bad, I eat all junk”, or “I hardly eat
anything at all”. It doesn’t matter! You must have the discipline to write
everything down for three days or you will not formulate a proper eating
plan.
Step7
Step Seven
In order to lose body fat, keep your energy levels high, and keep your
thinking capacity normal, you must follow this next action step. This will
help you remember that you must have the proper serving of each food
group included in your eating plan. It’s quite easy to do. All there is to it is to
follow the Recommended Daily Allowances (the US government pays for all
the work). Don’t be concerned, in this case, the government is right on the
money with their recommendations. Forget about any dieting concoctions
you’ve tried or heard about. Low carbohydrates, high carbohydrates, high
cal or low cal is all a confusing waste of time. There is no quick fix, miracle
diet, or any other magical potion. Since 1982 I have tried every diet, eating
plan, and fad there is. Eating is simple. Don’t complicate it by thinking
you’re different. Those roads lead to nowhere but inconsistency and
frustration. Just follow these next serving recommendations when
formulating your eating plan. Unless you have some sort of nutrient
deficiency, you need not sway from what the US government spends
millions of dollars to give you. Your goal in eating should be to get the
proper servings from the RDA and the four food groups. This is regardless
of what your goals are. The RDA for adults is 2 servings of meat or high
protein, 2 servings of milk and dairy, 4 servings of fruits or vegetables, and 4
servings of cereal and grains. A serving of meat is about a four ounce piece
of any type of meat. The serving size for vegetables, fruit, cereal and grains
is one cup. You can get a list of the foods in each book free off the Internet
or by requesting it from the federal government directly. Eat a minimum of
four small meals each day consisting of these groups, no questions asked!
They will keep your metabolism going, your energy level high, and your
functioning capacity primed. If you feel you have a very slow metabolism,
you can increase your meals to 5 or 6. These are not 7 course meals I’m
referring to. They are 1-3 regular meals and maybe 2-3 healthy snacks. So
when you go grocery shopping keep a list of the food groups. Let your
shopping revolve around them. Change your eating habits if they do not
match the RDA. You will be thankful when you’re feeling great, looking
great and staying healthy.
Step8
Step Eight
This step is simply meant to inform you that 60% of your eating plan must
consist of carbohydrates (carbs). Never do a zero carb or even a low carb
eating plan. Unless you enjoy feeling weak, looking scary, becoming moody,
and appearing stringy. If you like those things cut back on your carbs and
warn those who see you on a regular basis. The people who do this type of
eating are usually the ones really determined to lose weight. This does
nothing but drop water weight. (You see a weight loss from water loss-this is
not good). Your body is 70% water. Every gram of carbohydrate in your
body attaches to 3 molecules of water. When you eat low or zero carbs, the
water leaves the body due to the lack of carbs present. When this happens,
your body panics because it thinks it is starving. Then you know what
happens...it will not release any body fat. You then leave it no choice but to
burn muscle for your everyday energy. You have then lost water and muscle,
not fat. You’ll feel as productive as a car driving down the highway with flat
tires. When you eat high carbohydrates (high meaning in proportion to your
eating plan) you feel energized, clear headed, and able to endure a workout
properly. Eat carbohydrates! Remember that rice, pasta, potatoes, bread,
cereals, fruits, veggies and the like are the preferred carbohydrate fuel for
the human body. They are the main energy source. This is one of the reasons
why the fruit, veggie, bread, and cereal group requires 4 servings in each
category. Unlike the meat and protein group which requires two.
Step9
Step Nine
This step is the logic behind losing fat. This reminds you that you must
initially subtract calories from your caloric maintenance level to lose fat.
You formulated your maintenance level when you did Step 6 and wrote
down your entire food intake for three days. Subtract calories from the
magic number of calories determined from Step 6. This will put your body in
a caloric deficiency and ready to lose fat. How many calories per day do you
need to subtract from that number to lose fat and create a caloric deficiency?
A realistic goal of fat loss is one pound per week. One pound of fat consists
of 3500calories. Divide the 7 days of the week by 3500 calories which
equals 500 calories. Subtract this amount of calories from your original
caloric maintenance level and you’ll lose one pound of fat a week (provided
you are following the other steps). Let’s say the number of calories it takes
to maintain your weight was originally 2000 calories a day. You would then
formulate an eating plan to fit in 1500 calories a day. Again, first find out
how many calories it takes you to maintain your current weight by doing
Step 6. After that, subtract 500 calories from the overall caloric intake
number then arrange the content of your food to fit RDA standards and the 4
food groups. You will now start to lose weight and fat. After you hit a
plateau, gradually and slightly continue to decrease your calories every few
weeks. Once you get as low as 1200 calories a day its time to stop
decreasing your calories. Anything lower than 1200 calories is a nutritional
risk for you. This leads to step 10.
Step10
Step Ten
If your calories get to 1200 and you still want to lose more fat, do this next
action step. It’s actually two action steps in one: Add activity and increase
your meal frequency. Let’s look at the adding activity first. Adding activity
will decrease your calories in addition to lowering them from food intake.
You can do this by walking, doing the stationary bike, maybe a light jog or
maybe adding some sports to your agenda. Whatever you do remember
every 30 minutes of light to moderate activity burns about 300 calories. This
is a great way to lose weight if you don’t like to decrease calories and you
like to eat. The next part of this action step is to increase your meal
frequency. Eating many mini meals throughout the day will keep your
metabolism high and your body burning fat throughout the day. (Don’t
confuse mini meals with Happy Meals, these are mini meals.) The best way
to do this is to pre-plan your meals ahead of time. The minimum you should
eat for fat loss is around 3-4 meals a day. If you really want to be a fat
burning machine then increase to 5-6 small meals a day. For instance you
may eat some oatmeal for breakfast, then chicken, rice and veggies for
lunch. A piece of fruit a couple of hrs. after that. Another piece of fruit, a
meal replacement shake, or some yogurt 2 hours later. For dinner some
beef, potatoes and salad. Maybe a tuna, chicken, or plain salad a few hrs.
before bed.
This is the best way to lose the fat pounds. Especially if you have a slow
metabolism and you enjoy eating like me. I love food, so I eat many mini
meals throughout the day. I stay satisfied and am less likely to binge when I
see my favorite junk food around. Basically, the gist of this is if you want to
lose fat or weight you must burn more calories than you consume daily.
Novice 
