madsweat:

Move more than you have been prevents you from having to continually reduce your calorie intake in order to maintain progress. The more you move the more you burn and the more you can eat. Get Moving by doing any of th flowing.

• Incorporate activity into your daily routine. You can do this…

exercisescience:

A fresh article was published in the New England Journal of Medicine yesterday that looks at the most common myths, presumptions, and facts about obesity. What really makes this paper intriguing is that the authors used internet searches to find these. Since some of you might not have assess…

thespartanwarrior:

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) more than 1.4 billion adults, 20 and older, are overweight. It is no wonder why people are becoming more and more obsessed with dieting when the numbers point to growing increases in weight and health risks. This is not to mention that the pressure…

thespartanwarrior:

As people were getting ready for the holiday season and its accompanying waist expansion late last year, Dr. Mehmet Oz let viewers of his TV show in on a timely little secret. “Everybody wants to know what’s the newest, fastest fat buster,” said the board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon and one of People magazine’s sexiest men alive. “How can I burn fat without spending every waking moment exercising and dieting?”

He then told his audience about a “breakthrough,” “magic,” “holy grail,” even “revolutionary” new fat buster. “I want you to write it down,” America’s doctor urged his audience with a serious and trustworthy stare. After carefully wrapping his lips around the exotic words “Garcinia cambogia,” he added, sternly: “It may be the simple solution you’ve been looking for to bust your body fat for good.”

In Dr. Oz’s New York City studio, garcinia extract—or hydroxycitric acid found in fruits like purple mangosteen—sounded fantastic, a promising new tool for the battle against flab. Outside the Oprah-ordained doctor’s sensational world of amazing new diets, there’s no real debate about whether garcinia works: The best evidence is unequivocally against it.

The miracle cure isn’t really a miracle at all. It’s not even new. Garcinia cambogia has been studied as a weight-loss aid for more than 15 years. A 1998 randomized controlled trial looked at the effects of garcinia as a potential “antiobesity agent” in 135 people. The conclusion: The pills were no better than placebo for weight and fat loss.

Read More

I have always told anyone that has asked me about this man the same exact thing each time — Dr. Oz is a joke. The fact that he is in the public eye giving out advice on health should be punishable by a public tar and feathering. This man not only perpetuates constant misinformation, but is a major player in pulling society backwards in understanding nutrition fundamentally.

Don’t listen to just anyone when it comes to your health. Find the sources that are backed by relevant and current research that want to lead you to better health and not just out to make a dollar out of you buying into their nonsense.

thespartanwarrior:

Important Things to Remember

• Cardio does not fix a bad diet.
• The key to fat loss is an energy deficit that can be created through a caloric deficit or increasing activity levels. However, too large of a deficit will be detrimental.
• Aim for a loss of .5-1.5% of body weight weekly if the…

It’s a biggie.

First of all, I have actually compiled a pretty good amount of research but the main two that I will be pulling from both come from T Nation. Now don’t just think that since the article come from a big bodybuilder website where they use fable words and phrases like (abs as deep as the sand andreas fault) that the people who write the articles aren’t reputable. Anyone thinking that is generally douche enough to tell you Wikipedia isn’t a valid source. So enough of the rant, let’s get to the good stuff here.

The first major article found here:

 http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sex_news_sports_funny/a_muscleheads_guide_to_alcohol_1

If you haven’t heard of the author yet, he is a great wealth of knowledge! He is a master of nutrition and has trained many champions. Alan Aragon has become a staple in most of my development in nutrition. The main points of the article talk about how the chemical process of alcohol is generally shunted from the body. It also takes many more calories to break down and process alcohol because, first, alcohol is much more potent in calories (Don’t believe me? Throw a match at a bottle of 151). Second, the body has no use for alcohol! It is not like other compounds that can be broken down and stored like glucose.

Now don’t magically thing that this means you can go chug a ton of alcohol. It is a poison! The other main point of this article is that it focuses on the paradigm of 1-2 drinks per day. This can be considered healthy if taken from a hearty red wine due to the high antioxidant levels. If heart health is what you are after, then alcohol may be the thing for you!

Real talk…. You guys don’t give to poops about the heart benefits of alcohol though. You want to know if you can keep sippin mimosas and get shredded! That is pretty complicated.

There have not been many studies in this field. It is more difficult than you can imagine trying to get cleared for research where you have someone get drunk and then lift heavy things. Though most people would do this willingly… apparently it is dangerous.

One major study outlined in the article above was where two groups where given a particular amount of food, such as 1500 calories. One group however, instead of all 1500 calories coming from food had several hundred replaced with alcohol. They were then placed on an exercise system to reduce bodyfat. After the study the group on alcohol had lost a more fat then the other group.

Don’t go praising the alcohol gods as some kind of fat loss drug! Look at the study more analytically, you can see that one croup had less food calories than the other group. Given what we know above, it is only natural to have lost weight. No real study has used alcohol as a supplement to a regular diet!

So for two weeks I tried just that. It was an interesting week! Here were the parameters. I would stick to 1500 calories (my normal fat loss diet) with up to two drinks. Not mixed or light beer were my only two options. I will go into why that is a little later.

Here were some of the upsides. Due to the high diuretic qualities of alcohol, I was cycling water much faster. This  generally would give lower weights in the morning. Now that was mostly water weight, so not much to brag about here. Other than that one upside, there was no real great upside, so let me get on the much larger bitch list

1.       I was more tired every morning

2.       If I did not go immediately to bed, the alcohol got me into a heavy snacking mode!

3.       I had to pound water to get over the liquid I lost from all the extra excretion

4.       Lost some strength due mostly to fatigue

5.       Cardio sessions always felt like a bitch. Always.

6.       Any negative side effect from sleep deprivation (I was sleeping more, but REM sleep suffered)

There was more, but you get the point. Now I did lose about 3 pounds during that two week period. Two major things to keep in mind though. 1500 calories is the absolute lowest amount of calories someone at my size should eat to expect maximum fat loss, so even with two shots, I was still at less calories then I needed to maintain weight.

The other article greatly enough also coming from T nation found here

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most…/ditch_the_6pack_to_build_6pack_abs

Paints a much different picture. The studies around this article states that alcohol generally reacts the same as a high carbohydrate diet. Read the article for the specifics. The major things to consider here, is the premise of the second article is mostly based on the chemistry, not on an actual study. They are pretty tough to find, just like we talked about. They also give a great list that I will give to you as to the negative effects of alcohol. Keep in mind that this is more based on HEAVY drinking, and not the 1-2 drink limit we set above.

Want stronger bones?

Researchers at Tufts University concluded that two or more drinks per day can lead to lower bone mineral densities (BMD).

Want to stay healthy?

Alcohol is also an immunosuppressant. It’ll be harder to avoid that cold everyone in your office seems to be catching, which translates into lost training time and crappy eating (i.e. ginger ale, sodium infused microwavable soups, and saltines) as you recover. Oh, and we’re not mentioning the missed time at work, which means less time on TNation, scoping out the latest training and nutrition advice. Hey, at least you’ll be home on your own computer instead of violating your workplace’s acceptable internet usage policy.

Want to lose weight?   

Alcohol is calorie dense, packing 7 kcal per gram. So if you’re looking to peel off that stubborn layer of fat that covers your midsection, the answer is quite obvious if you’re a drinker. You should strongly consider cutting back, or preferably halting consumption altogether.

Trust me, it won’t take long to notice the weekly or daily subtraction of hundreds, or potentially, thousands of calories. Beer can range from 60 to 250 calories per serving; one shot of liquor contains up to 200 calories – and when you’re tossing that in a sugary fruit juice or soda, you’re looking at hundreds more calories per drink!

Want to stop bedwetting?

I say this in all seriousness, because alcohol inhibits the pituitary glands production of vasopressin, also known as anti-diuretic hormone, or ADH. ADH’s main role is to regulate extracellular fluid volume via renal handling of water, leading to a decrease in urine formation.

Did you ever “break the seal” or piss your bed while passed out? If you answered “yes,” not only are you not allowed to crash at my house, you likely drank enough to affect ADH secretion, thereby seriously limiting your couch-surfing options.

Want to sleep better?

Studies have shown that rapid eye movement (REM) sleep patterns are disrupted by alcohol consumption, and as we all know, sleep, or lack thereof, affects the secretion of Testosterone and growth hormone. Blood alcohol content of just 0.10% – which a 200-pound male can achieve, if he consumes four drinks in an hour – was shown to delay REM sleep and disrupt sleep throughout the night, due to alcohol withdrawal.

Want to avoid hangovers?

Hangovers are a misunderstood phenomena. Researchers have theorized that hangovers are nothing more than alcohol withdrawal. Though that’s a plausible hypothesis, hangovers are most likely the result of acetaldehyde, which is a product of alcohol metabolism.

Additionally, congeners, which are preservatives that add color to liquors such as brandy, wine, and whiskey may exacerbate hangovers. The rate at which you consume alcohol, the quantity you ingest, and how your body metabolizes alcohol may also determine the severity of your hangover.

Home remedies such as gulping an electrolyte enriched sports drink with a handful of Ibuprofen before bed following a night of heavy drinking to old skool “hair of the dog” (slugging an alcoholic beverage upon awakening) have been suggested to prevent and overcome hangovers, but remain anecdotal.

Unless you’re a hardened alcoholic or Keith Richards, you’ll likely be sacked by the resultant headaches, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which will also throw a toolbox full of wrenches in your training program and diet. The effects of a hangover may linger for few days, sapping you of the requisite energy to complete a vigorous workout.

Want optimal brain functioning?

Unless your day consists of XBox Live and soap operas or you stuff junk mail in envelopes for a paycheck, you’re going to need your brain to function at a high level. Alcohol inhibits that acutely and long term.

Mental acuity and behavior are adversely affected by alcohol, and rather than write a thesis on the topic, I’ll highlight just some of the things alcohol does to your brain.

Alcohol decreases the excitatory actions of the neurotransmitters and boosts the inhibitory actions of the neurotransmitters, thus reducing brain activity. Studies have shown that alcohol also triggers a powerful dopamine response and affects serotonin receptors. And yes folks, it can cause brain damage; just refer to the image to the left.

This info can be found on the last page of the hyperlink I pasted above. There are some cool pictures too!

Now that we have a better understanding of alcohol we can set some good limitations. Knowing that alcohol itself is pretty difficult for the body to process, you should pick your drinks more carefully. So mixers that contain a butt load of sugar (like a jack and coke, or a daiquiri) have fructose ADDED to them from the sugary things you want to make the alcohol more bearable. Those calories are easy to process and  are not buffered by the alcohol, so yes, those will make you fat and easily take a light beer from 150 calories (on the high end) to  several hundred! Easy to binge huh?

Sad as it might be I might have to give a short plug to the Marines new drinking rule. 0013. 0 underage drinkers, 0 drinks if driving 1 drink an hour and 3 drinks per event. Sounds ridiculous, but if a good body and good health are what you are after, this might be a good rule of thumb to follow. Other things that are helpful is if your drinking is not interfering with your training, then its fine. If you are not a drinker, there is no need to really start! If you are, keep it to lights, simple mixers, or diet sodas (here the lesser of two evils applies though it is still evil).

Questions?!

tarastileseats:

Squash soup, Candied Sweet Potato Fries & Fresh Cucumbers!

You’ll Need

1 Squash

1 onion

1 garlic clove

1 sweet potato

1 cucumber

2 stalks of celery

1 table spoon maple syrup

1 table spoon olive oil

3 cups of veggie stock

sea salt

vitamix or immersion blender

Now What

Cut up squash into 2 inch cubes

Dice up a couple stalks of celery

Dice up onion and garlic

Place diced up squash, onion, celery, and garlic on cookie sheet

Bake it up for 30 minutes on 450 degrees

Peel off skins of squash

Put everything in the blender or vitamix - including veggie stock

vitamix it up

Put everything in sauce pan and stir and simmer it up

Enjoy!

Candied Sweet Potatoes

Chop up 1 sweet potato 

mix up 2 table spoons of maple syrup, 1 table spoon olive oil and some sea salt

mix up potato slices in syrup mixture

bake on cookie sheet at 450 for 30 minutes

Enjoy!

Adorn with sliced cucumbers!

Enjoy!!

Warning:

There is math ahead, so if that is not your thing, continue not getting results.

I have seen many articles over the past few years that talk about the cheat day. What a great concept. I maintain great intake all week and to help me stay motivated, I get an entire day to do whatever I want! MARVELOUS! I have also heard of just one cheat meal as well, but I will get into that.

Cheat day can be a decent idea if applied very carefully. The problem is, normally these are associated with diets, which don’t work. So therein lies our first big problem. If you are on a diet, you are destined to fail. There is a different between going on a diet, and managing your diet. Diet as a term simply refers to the intake we as people ingest over a given amount of time. Over the years that has taken a dramatic change to mean eating less, or eating “better”. Due to most of these being terribly drastic, most people end up becoming fat to skinny to fat yo-yos. Enter the cheat day, you get your weekly fix of dopamine and macro nutrients to keep your cravings at bay for another week. Ok so now the ridiculous diet plan has become more manageable over time, yet the scales are moving…. Are you really undoing an entire week in one fowl swoop?! Yes. The only thing your cheat day is cheating, is your overall results.

On average, for a 200 pound male,  (I use simplified numbers for ease here) he should be taking in 2000 calories a day in order to maintain that weight. Billy now wants to lose weight though. So he is going to cut back to 1500 calories each day. We know that this is going to create a 500 calorie deficit every day towards a weekly deficit of 3500 calories. That is an awesome deficit that will basically help him to lose a pound of fat a week. This sounds pretty simple on paper, but for someone who has become accustomed to eating 2000 calories every day, this is actually a pretty tough cutback. Pretty soon the brain will start to force cravings that make Billy really want a large meal.

Real talk, I was recently out to eat with my wife. I had eaten all of my regular meals (so I was on track to be at 1500 calories) for the day. She wanted to  go on a date for dinner so we go to the local Chile’s. Thinking I would get something that isn’t heavily fried to stay feeling light, I order chicken tacos. This is a pretty small serving for the place, so I feel confident I haven’t done that much damage. Looking into it later…. those tiny tacos were a whopping 1600 calories plus rice and beans for over 2200. So even staying on track for the whole day other than this meal (keep in mind this is a cheat meal, not even a day) I was at 3300 calories for the day…… minus the deficit that I had created for the week at 3500-1800= 1700 calories now as a deficit. (remember I was going to be eating 1500 calories anyway so we subtracted that from 3300). So now I am about half a pound a fat a week, AND that assumes wee live in a perfect world where every calorie deficit is thrown towards fat loss and not just water, protein, and carbs being burned. 

One meal is all it took to basically erase an entire week of hard work. I have said this to probably every one of my clients. I can do my job and get the you the greatest plan to workout. If you dont fix the nutrition piece, just stay home.

What is more manageable is for you to find foods that you already love and cut back to the portions needed to maintain the calorie count for the day. Only by getting serious with yourself about the goals you want to achieve, will you ever get close to getting them. In staying with this approach, the stomach will shrink and eating these smaller meals will be much more manageable and fulfilling. The big thing that you need to ask yourself, is do you want to eat the food, or do you want to get results. Then and only then will you be able to take the steps needed to change.