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The one thing that will guarantee your success in diet, fitness and health for 2011.

Hi,

Are You Willing To Do The Number One Thing That Will Guarantee Success In Your Diet, Fitness and Health Programs for 2011?

This one thing always works.  It actually works for anything you attempt to do – it doesn’t just have to be with your health or fitness.

Yet, it is something that almost no one does.

Part of it is because they aren’t even aware of it.  Part of that is because they aren’t aware of how important this is.  Part of it is because they don’t understand how to do it. 

So what is this thing? 

It is commitment. 

So now you are aware of it. 

It is everything. 

So now you are aware of how important it is. 

We will get into how to do it later.

So exactly what is commitment? 

Commitment has many different definitions.  Here are a few that I like:

The trait of sincere and steadfast fixity of purpose.

The act of binding yourself to a course of action.

Sticking with something long after the mood you have said it in has left you… by jojo 11 Sep 20, 2008

Commitment is what transforms the promise into reality.
It is the words that speak boldly of your intentions.
And the actions which speak louder than the words.
It is making the time when there is none.
Coming through time after time after time, year after year after year.
Commitment is the stuff character is made of.
It is the power to change the face of things.
It is the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism…by Ashbash Jan 13, 2005
Wow.  I know that is a lot of definitions. 

But, let’s look at just a couple of them. 

First of all it is an act.  It is something you do.  

It is not something you just do by rote – like brushing your teeth or breathing – it is something you have to think about and then act upon.

So start out your commitment by deciding what it is you really, really want.  You have to want this more than anything. 

You can not commit to something that you really don’t care about.  Remember it is something that you really, really want. 

The operative word here is “you”.  If it is something that someone else wants for you, that will never work. 

If you spouse wants you to lose weight and you are only lukewarm to the idea, it is not going to happen.  Oh sure, you might make some pathetic attempts, but they won’t stick. 

You must be the one that really, really wants it. 

Since we are talking about your health let’s say you want to lose 25 pounds and “tone” your muscles (there is really no such thing as toning your muscles, but since it is a common term I am going to use it here).

You know that the 25 pounds aren’t just going to fall off by themselves.  You are actually going to have to do something. 

The first step is figuring out what that something is. 

Now maybe that something is eating less food or eating healthier foods or starting an exercise program.  Or a combination of the above.

Now you know what you really, really want to do.  That is to lose 25 pounds.

And you know what you have to do.  That is to eat healthier foods and exercise more. 

This is actually the easy part. 

Now comes the commitment.  Now comes the time to act upon what your want to do and have to do.

You have taken the first step.  Remember the saying that the first step is the hardest?  Well, that is a lie.

The first step is actually the easiest. 

The next post we will get into the harder part and the second part of commitment to your diet, fitness and health program for 2011.

 Thanks,

Mike Val

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Imaginary Diet

Hi,

Imagine eating your favorite food.  Really imagine it.

Imagine how it smells, how it looks.

Imagine how it tastes, how it feels on your tongue.

Imagine the pleasure you are getting from imagining all of this.

Now, what if I told you that doing this will help you really lose weight?

You might think I am a little crazy.  Well, you might be right about that part. 

But, what I said is true.

ABC News showed a report about imagining eating and the effects it had on real weight loss.

They used M&M’s in the study.  The subjects imagined eating M&M’s.  they imagined the first one in as much detail as possible.  Then they repeated the process another 29 times. 

Another group didn’t do any imagining.

The study then put a bowl of M&M’s on the table and measured how many each group ate.

They originally thought that the imagining group would eat a lot more of the M&M’s.  But, the opposite happened. 

The imagining group ate about 1/2 of the amount the non-imagining group did.

Turns out that all this imagining stimulated the release of dopamine in the brain.  In this case dopamine satiated the hunger receptors and therefore the appetitie.

So the imagining group actually felt full and therefore only ate 1/2 of what the non imagining group did.

Talk about the power of imagination. 

So how can you use this – especially with all the holiday meals coming up.

Do you have to imagine 30 times. or is 1 or 2 times enough.  Unfortunately, there were no details on this.  But, I will try to find out more and post it at a later time. 

For now at least try to imagine eating your favorite food for a few minutes before you eat, or drink.  (Maybe it also works with drinking – either alcohol or soda.)

Try it and see if the imaginary diet will work for you.

Thanks,

Mike Val

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Lose Weight VS Nicer Body

Hi,

Would you rather just lose weight or have a nicer body?

Now you might think that just losing weight will automatically make you have a nicer body.  And this is true for some people.

It is usually true for those that already have a more active lifestyle.

But, for most people, losing weight doesn’t really change their appearance too much.  Except they are a smaller version of theirselves.

This is because if you just lose weight you are losing weight from not only body fat, but also from muscle tissue.

If is muscle tissue that will help you have a nicer body. 

Now some people are born with a naturally nice looking body.  Others aren’t.  That has to do with genetics.

While you can’t change genetics, you can help it.

Having a muscular body will help determine your shape.  Now that does not mean you have to have huge muscles. 

But, having firm, strong and shapely muscles is something that is considered appealing in most societies.  This is whether you are male or female.

Just losing weight does nothing for your shape.  To change your shape you have to do something for your muscles.

That means moving more.  Maybe it is just walking, maybe just jogging, maybe a fitness class, or maybe weight training. 

You know how much you are moving and exercising now.  If your body isn’t in the shape you want it to be in, then you will have to do more of the moving and exercising part.

And while you are doing that you will be raising your metabolism which means that you will be burning more body fat. 

Ergo, you will be losing weight from body fat and not from muscle tissue.  That way you will be able to transform your body, not just make it smaller. 

I think that in the losing weight vs having a nicer body, that having a nicer body is actually the way to go.

So get out there and start moving and exercising more. 

Thanks,

Mike Val 

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The Real Truth About the Twinkie Diet

Hi,

I just saw this headline and had to write this now.  The headline was: Twinkie Diet Helps Nutrition Professor Lose 27 Pounds.  Here is the link: twinkie diet

There are a few points that this article brings up. 

One is the point that -as I have said many times – it doesn’t matter what you eat for weight loss.  The bottom line is if you take in less calories than you burn you will lose weight. 

Now there are variations of how this works based on macro nutrients, but that is a different story.

So even if you eat nothing but junk fook you can lose weight on it. 

But, this professor wasn’t eating just junk food.  Although if you only read the headline and the first couple of paragraphs that is what you would belive.

He was eating: Twinkies. Nutty bars. Powdered donuts. Hostess and Little Debbie snacks, Doritos chips, sugary cereals and Oreos.

The above was 2/3 of his diet. 

And he lost 27 pounds in 10 weeks.  He did this by dropping 800 calories per day.  That is a pretty good weight loss over that time period.

This article also stated that his LDL or what is called bad cholesterol was reduced by 20%.  the HDL (increased) increased by 20 percent and his triglycerides  were reduced by 39%. 

So why did a diet of 2/3 junk food help reduce the bad fats and increase the good cholesterol.

Two reasons.

One is that the other 1/3 of his diet was pretty good.  He had a multivitamin pill and protein shake every day.  He also ate vegetables every day.  Even though they were canned vegetables mixed with regular vegetables. 

The good stuff he was eating possibly counter acted the junk food he was eating. 

The other point is that this experiment only lasted 10 weeks.  It can take months and years before problems become apparent.

The body is very adaptable.  It will keep functioning for a long time with no apparant consequences.

But, once it reaches a certain point then the problems become very apparent.

I’ll give you an example from my own family.   My dad smoked pretty much all his life and he smoked unfiltered Pell Mells. 

My mom smoked filtered Benson and Hedges before she was married and after the kids were all in school. 

My mom died at 53 years old of lung cancer.  My dad lived to 81.  So whether it is smoking or eating junk food the consequences will catch up with you.

Sometimes it will be sooner and sometimes later.  And before you think my dad was in good health up to 81 you would be mistaken.  His last 20 years were not so great and he suffered a lot even though he finally stopped smoking around 65. 

So what is the bottom line here.  Yes, you can eat junk food all your life.

If you only eat a little bit and counter it with good nutritious food then you can probably postpone the consequences.

However, maybe you will be like my mom and die young because of your choices. 

You don’t know. 

The choices are always yours.  My choice is to eat nutritious foods as much as I can.  And yes, there is room for some junk food. 

Not much, but it does taste good. 

And I exercise every day.  Sometimes it is only stretching, sometimes, cardio, sometimes weight lifting, sometimes fat burning workouts. 

Combine exercise with an overall good nutrition program and you have the best of both worlds.

So stay off the twinkie diet, but if you like them don’t cut them entirely out of your diet.

Thanks

Mike Val

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Discernment and Your Health

Hi,

What does discernment have to do with your health?  How about everything.

So what exactly is descernment.  It is keenness of insight and judgement.  This means once you are given a piece of information you have the ability to have an insight about it and make a judgement.

The only thing I would add is a correct judgement.  This is of course very subjective in some cases.  And it is based upon past experiences that you have in your life.

A child hasn’t had a lot of experience in making decisions about things so they can’t discern the right or wrong of something.

But, as you get older this should be something that governs your life if you want to live life to the fullest.

So what does this have to do with your health?

Let’s use an example.  You see an advertisement for a new way to lose weight.  You can lose 20 pounds faster than you can imagine. 

You buy the product and find out that all you have to do is blink your eyes 100 more times per day. 

I would hope that you would discern that the statement is BS.  You can even think of discernment as your BS meter. 

Unfortunately, most people can not discern most of the marketing about weight loss, burning fat, exercise toys and programs and so on and so on.  To the tune of billions of dollars a year. 

Just look at the acai berry scam.  This is a good one because a good lie or scam has an element of truth in it. 

There is nothing wrong with the acai berry.  It does have antioxidants – just like every other berry in the world.

The problem is that the marketing world has taken the acai berry and made it the latest miracle berry that can do everything.

It has been promised to burn fat – no scientific evidence.

It has been promised to help you digest better – no scientific evidence.

It has been promised to give you energy – no scientific evidence. 

It has been promised… oh, well you get the idea.

All these marketing promises can make it hard to discern what is true and what is not. 

And almost every new health and nutrition product has tons and tons of miracle promises.

It is up to you to register it somewhere on your BS meter. 

Now you might think that the government is supposed to do that for you.   I could go on and on about personal responsibility and not giving that up to the government, but I’ll just leave you to think about that.

Just know that no government can police every single product and every single advertisement in the country. 

So it comes back to you. 

You have probably eaten berries before.  Did any of them cause you to drop 20 pounds of fat overnight? 

It is up to you to discern that the statement about burning fat is not true.  Or at the least do some more research to find out for yourself if the statements in the marketing ads are true or not. 

We’ll pick this up in the next post.

Thanks,

Mike Val

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Fat Burning Revolution

Hi,

Are you ready for the fat burning revolution?

No, I am not talking about some new pill, or miracle exercise program.

I am talking about what is going on with you.

I am going to compare you to a forest.  I know, sort of crazy, but bear with me for a few minutes.

Many times a forest gets overgrown.  And that makes it prime for an explosion.  One bolt of lightening and there is a fire that destroys everything. 

Or at least everything above ground. 

But underneath the ground, that is where the revolution is going on.  Seeds are germinating and propagating. 

And sure enough in a few years you can see a new forest beginning. 

So how does that relate to you.  Maybe, over the years, you too have become overgrown.  This usually translates into too much weight.

Too much weight and poor food choices helps cause inflamation in your body and that primes it for a lightening strike.

Only the lightening in this case could be a heart attack, stroke, diabetes, cancer and a few hundred other diseases.

And, just like the world needs lightening and fires in order to restart, maybe that is what you need to start a revolution. 

I am hoping that you don’t wait that long. 

Why wait until you are overweight, maybe even obese, out of shape and primed for an explosion?

That could be the catalyst for change for you.  If you survive the initial attack.

If you don’t, then there is nothing.

If you do, then you can change.  The body is very adaptable and it will react positively to new changes and it will regrow. 

There might be repurcussions though.  Like large hospital bills, like a paralyzed limb, like a weakened heart, like being on medications for the rest of your life.

My question is why would you want to wait until those things happen when you could change them right now – in an instant.

Instead of becoming overgrown like the forest, let’s start trimming back now.

That means eating nutritious foods, exercising more and turning your life around. 

Anyone can do this and do it now.  It only takes a decision. 

Maybe you don’t know exactly what to do or how to go about doing it.

That is actually the easy part.  The hard part is making the decision. 

Once you do then the fat burning revolution is on the way. 

Yes, it will take some time, just like the forest takes some time to grow back, but once started it is inevitable.

Thanks,

Mike Val

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McDonald’s Pays for Manager’s Obesity

Hi,

Did you see the story about the Brazilian McDonald’s manager?

Turns out he gained 65 pounds over 12 years working at McDonald’s.  That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone, but I guess it was to him.

As a manager he felt it was necessary to sample the food to make sure it met the quality necessary for McDonald’s.

And the free lunches everyday probably didn’t help either. 

So instead of taking responsibility for what he was putting in his mouth, he abdicated all responsibility and blamed it on McDonald’s.  And the judge agreed!

 There are some lesssons to be learned here.   First of all, his case is not unusual.

Most people gain weight over a period of time.  Gaining 5 – 6 pounds a year like this guy did is pretty common. 

And it is so slow that most people do not even notice it.  At least not until a year or two has passed. 

But, that is the time to do something about it.  Don’t do like this guy did and just keep eating and eating for 12 years and then realize that you have gained 65 pounds. 

It is much easier to lose 5-6 pounds and keep it off than it is to lose 65 pounds. 

The other point is that somewhere along the line you and everyone else in the world has to take responsibility for your own actions.

To keep eating as you get bigger and bigger is a decision.  This guy made that decision and he got obese. 

If you are overweight, then you have to realize that it is your decisions that got you that way.  (Unless you are a child living at home, then I will cut you some slack.)

Every time you take a bite of food you are making the decision to keep eating.  Now you have to decide how much of it to eat. 

You also have to decide what kinds of food you are going to eat.  This is not rocket science.  I am sure everyone knows that broccoli is better for you than potato chips. 

Yet, more potato chips are sold than broccoli every day of the year. 

What are you deciding?

But, here is a bigger truth.  It is very easy to blame others for your life and health.

Are you overweight?  It is easy to blame others for being that way.  You can blame your parents, you can blame your job, you can blame advertising and so on. 

In reality there is only one person to blame and that is you. 

So take responsibility. 

Once you take responsibility then something fantastic happens.

You can decide to change.  This takes an instant.  An instant to change your life. 

Once you make this new decision your body will start changing also.

That is the miracle of your body.  It will react to you making good decisions.  You can lose weight and fat.  You can build muscle, get stronger.  You can have more energy.

It doesn’t matter if you are 65 pounds, or more, overweight.  It doesn’t matter if you haven’t exercised in 30 years. 

You can start on your new body as soon as you make the decision.

Take an instant right now and change.

Thanks,

Mike Val

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Hi,

Many diet companies have maintained that you can burn fat while you sleep.

All you have to do is take their magic pill and voila your are a slim, fantastic looking 20 year old fitness model in only a few days.

Well, that is pretty much BS.

However, the premise of burning fat while sleeping is not BS.

When you do certain kinds of exercise routines, you will actually raise your metabolism. 

Actually any exercise routine will raise your metabolism during the time you are doing the exercises.

However, most exercise programs are so feeble that this raised metabolism goes away almost as soon as you stop the exercise program. 

By altering your exercise routine to specifically keep your metabolism raised after the exercise stops is very possible. 

This raised metabolism can last from 24-72 hours after the exercise session. 

So if your metabolism is raised for say 48 hours the odds are you are going to be sleeping during that time.  And even though your metabolism does slow down when you sleep, it will still be slightly elevated because of your exercise session.

This process is called EPOC or excess post-exercise oxidative consumption.

That is a big long fancy term for saying that your body will burn more oxygen after the exercise is over. 

So what kind of exercise sessions will induce EPOC?

Weight training is one of them.  But, you have to really weight train, not just lift some tiny weight for 500 repetitions. 

And you have to do it long enough.  Long enough does not have to be that long however.

You are trying to induce enough muscle trauma (from lifting the weights) that your body needs to spend a lot of energy on repairing those muscles. 

4-5 sets of 10-12 repetitions is probably the easiest way to start.  The weight should be heavy enough that you can get 12 reps moderately easy on the first set. 

Your rest period is only 30 seconds at the most. 

This is much different than the 3 sets of 10 and rest 3 minutes protocol you see in many muscle building books and magazines. 

The three minute rest comes from power lifters and people lifting to be as strong as possible.  This gives you about a 95% recovery so that you will be strong on your next set.

A lot of body builders started using this 3 minute thing and of course the magazines picked it up and now everyone in the gym rests for 3 or more minutes between sets.

Even if they haven’t lifted more than a three year old girl could.

So skip that long rest.  And add one or two more sets to the standard 10 reps.  Extended sets will help the EPOC effect much more. 

Make sure you are controlling the weight throughout the session.  Don’t race through the reps.  In fact try to extend the set for at least 36 seconds. 

This works all the different types of muscle fibers.  Short sets don’t get to the endurance fibers. 

More on this topic of burning fat while you sleep in the next post.

Thanks,

Mike Val

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Hi,

Can you gain muscle and lose fat at the same time?

Many people don’t think so.  And I think that this is a case of getting too much information and not seeing the whole picture. 

There is a new ebook out called The Holy Grail Body Transformation book.  In it Tom Venuto talks about losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time. 

Now Tom is a body builder and he looks the part.  But, more than that he is a pretty smart guy and has written a lot on the topic.

Body builders are obsessed with building muscle and losing fat.  Their normal way of doing things is to gain a lot of weight and muscle in the off season.  Some of this weight is fat.

Then they go on an extended diet to lose the body fat while keeping the muscle during the competition season. 

If they could find a way to build muscle while losing fat at the same time, then indeed that would be the holy grail for body builders.

However, I am assuming you are not a body builder and probably don’t have any desires to look like one.  At least not like the giants (male and female) that are in the sport today.

So does this gaining muscle while losing fat work for the average person. 

Bottom line is yes. 

Look anytime you start an exercise routine you are going to be affecting your muscles.  If you lift a weight you will get stronger and the muscle will grow. 

While you are doing the exercise you will also be raising your metabolism.  This will help burn body fat. 

So as you are doing this one exercise you are indeed building muscle and losing fat at the same time. 

But, as you get in better shape this dual action becomes harder to do.  That is because your body gets used to it. 

So doing the same exercise will become routine and you have to add more weight or do more reps or change the tempo. 

Now this is a good thing and it is a sign you are making progress.

But, it only works up great up to a certain point. 

That is why body builders have learned to focus on building muscle part of the time and burning fat the other time.

So Tom’s book is really making waves in the fitness world. 

I think it is a great book for anyone looking to find out more information on gaining some muscle and losing some fat at the same time. 

As I said Tom is a pretty smart guy and I enjoy his writing style.  If you want more information check out his book here:

Hope you enjoyed this gain muscle and lose fat review.  I plan on doing more of these.  Let me know if you have an interest. 

Thanks,

Mike Val

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Hi,

There is a silly debate going on in the diet guru world right now.  It has to do with calories and weight gain. 

Some say that it doesn’t matter what you eat.  It only matters how much. 

So if you eat more calories than you expend or burn then you will gain weight.  If you eat less calories than you burn then you will lose weight. 

This is pretty straight forward and easy to understand.

But, there is another group that says it is more important what you eat then how much you eat. 

Now the smarter ones in this group do add the caveat that there are limits to how much you can eat.  In other words, overall calories are important.

This group believes that if you eat more carbs, then you will gain weight.  If you eat more protein then you will lose weight or not gain.

So what is the truth?

They are both right to a degree.

This has to do with how your body uses the food or energy it takes in. 

Some people will eat and eat and eat and still not gain weight.  For some of them it doesn’t matter if they eat fat, carbs or protein.  They have a higher metabolism and can process more food without gaining weight. 

Wouldn’t you like that problem?

Well you can have it.  Just not to the same degree.

Yes, overall calories do matter.  However, your body will adjust to the overall calories.  Most people notice this when they go on a diet.

As less food comes in, the metabolism slows. 

However, when you eat more, the metabolism speeds up.  To a degree.  You can’t just eat more and more food and expect your metabolism to keep pace. 

Your body has a system of checks and balances and if this gets to far out of whack, then – in this case – weight gain is a consequence.

But, what about the high protein diets that are the rage. 

Here, is the thing.  You can eat more protein than you can carbs (especially processed carbs) and not gain body weight. 

That is because your body takes a certain amount of energy to process foods.  It takes more to process protein than it does carbs.

And your body needs protein more than it needs processed carbs.  

Too many processed carbs plays havoc with your whole hormone system which can more easily lead to weight gain. 

But eating too much protein can lead to weight gain also. 

So the bottom line is, you can not get away from the formula that more calories in than burned leads to weight gain.

However, what you eat also affects the amount of weight gain or loss you have. 

So to lose weight start by eating less processed carbs and upping your protein intake.  Even if your calorie level doesn’t change, you should see a drop in weight. 

Calories and weight gain can be tricky and we’ll talk more about this in future issues.

Thanks,

Mike Val

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