Do You Want to Achieve Fat Loss Before Christmas?

How to achieve your natural body shape!
No one I know is immune to the following:

Processed food
Junk food
Consuming excessive calories
Eating the wrong kind of calories
Leading a sedentary lifestyle
Not managing stress levels

Very few of us can get away with contributing zero time to regular exercise and eat any type of calories and still look good. I would say less than 1% of the population but bear in mind that this lucky 1% won’t have the health benefits of someone who exercises and eats healthily. If you want to look your best it is absolutely essential you know which foods to eat and apply it to your lifestyle in order to be able to enjoy all the benefits.

On the other side of the coin you could still be unhealthy if you follow eating guidelines that are wrong for your body type no matter who tells you otherwise. In some cases you could even be worse off for exercising by doing too much than someone who doesn’t do any at all. What I am trying to get across is that the answer is always in front of your eyes, if you are not happy with the way you look it is highly likely that your current eating plan or lifestyle is wrong for you. If it works for someone else it doesn’t mean it will work for you. Many people spend years doing the same thing over and over again without getting the results they want, in my mind this is madness. There are always reasons for not achieving results and there will always be alternatives to try.

But how many people actually try different approaches before quitting?

Exercising or eating a certain way and not changing in anyway, shape or form is a sign to wake up and time to take a reality check. See if any of the actions below are familiar to you.

Deprived sleep
Living on stimulants
Skipping breakfast
Eating processed food
Eating junk food
Smoking
Not drinking enough water
Consuming excessive calories
Consuming the wrong calories
Extreme dieting
High stress levels
Leading a sedentary lifestyle
Not doing any resistance type movements
Binge eating
Binge drinking
Prioritising the wrong kind of exercises
Doing too much exercise with not enough rest

Any of the above can lead to a poor body image and a negative state of mind. The sooner you can change your lifestyle the sooner you will achieve fat loss.
How to achieve your natural body shape!

Are Glossy Magazines Preventing You From Losing Weight & Fat?

Put the magazines down if you want to shift stubborn weight and fat!
The kind of magazines I am talking about is the kind that heavily feature celebrities. In these magazines you can find unattainable body shapes and unhealthy diet crazes. One look at these magazines is enough to throw anyone off course and feel inferior. Just how healthy do you think these stick insect celebrities actually are?

The media is responsible for distorting and cherry picking health and fitness related information in order to gain your attention so they can stay in business by selling more copies. It is very important to be cautious when reading and using advice in these publications. The full picture is seldom discussed in the magazine or newspaper article. It is best for you and your fat loss goals if you steer away from these publications for your own good. If a diet sounds too good to be true it normally means it isn’t true and is just made up to make it sound interesting.
Put the magazines down if you want to shift stubborn weight and fat!

How to Lose a Third of Your Body Fat in Just Four Weeks Without Starving

This is how a professional footballer lost a third of his body fat in four weeks!
When a professional footballer approached me for help one of the first things he told me was how ultra professional he had always been throughout his career with the way he looked after himself. Alcohol was limited to a glass of wine with a meal now and again and he never spent any time in smoky clubs or bars, he also told me he always went to bed before midnight to make sure he got his eight hours sleep every night. He went on to say he had always accepted that certain people are naturally fitter than others but it had always struck him that despite his healthy lifestyle he never felt as fit as he thought he should have been.

Having felt this way for quite a long time he had finally had enough and decided to get his diet checked to find out if he was missing anything out or doing something wrong to explain the way he felt. As well as leading a healthy lifestyle he had always followed what is widely regarded as a very healthy diet. Plenty of pasta, potatoes, salad and vegetables, a little red meat, chicken and the odd helping of fish. On shopping trips to the supermarket he would always go for the low fat versions of everything he saw. He was taking the advice of the health magazines and most of the other sources of media that said fat is bad for you and should be avoided at all costs.

As soon as I started explaining about the myths surrounding nutrition he was surprised and got a lot more than he expected. I introduced him to how to identify the foods that made him feel lethargic, hungry or irritable and helped him to recognise the foods that made him feel the total opposite. If certain foods make you feel terrible and do nothing to quench your appetite then it makes perfect sense to eliminate that food from your diet especially if you want to excel at your sport.

One of the keys to success with eating for optimal sports performance is to learn which foods belong to which food group. As soon as you are able to identify different food groups you have a better chance of controlling hunger. This is because different food groups will give you different responses. Once you become familiar with the foods that leave you feeling a certain way you will be able to prepare meals that work for the body and not against it. All this requires is modification with the portion sizes. In other words you may need less carbohydrates and more protein with each meal in order to satisfy your hunger and prevent your energy levels dipping.

The good thing is that it isn’t even dieting; it is all about feeding the body the correct nutrients in the proper ratios so you don’t suffer any negative effects after a meal.

Since my first meeting with the professional footballer he has changed his diet in a big way and adopted the principles above. He has not needed to rely on pasta, bread and potatoes for his energy needs because he felt he didn’t need them. He has never felt fitter and has lost a third of his body fat levels in just four weeks without changing his exercise regime.
This is how a professional footballer lost a third of his body fat in four weeks!

Reasons Not to Get Weighed If You Are on a Diet

What do you want to achieve from your diet?
If you are following a diet and want to lose weight then it is only natural to think you need to weigh yourself frequently to see if you are losing weight. You have to ask yourself what do you want to achieve from your diet, is it to look slimmer or is it to reach a number on the scales? Think very carefully before you answer that question because they are completely different things.

You don’t need to get weighed to see if you are getting slimmer, all you need is a mirror and a tape measure. To be completely honest you don’t even need a tape measure because if you are sticking to the right kind of diet you will be able to see results without the confirmation of a few measurements to satisfy your mind.

If you follow the right kind of diet you should be able to see changes through the mirror every ten days and should feel energised and look healthy. The weighing scales can’t tell you how you look or how you feel. Are you prepared to allow the scales to tell you otherwise with a number?

The real reason dieters like to go through the mental torture of routinely getting weighed is because they are looking for something to make them feel better for their lack of effort. They simply aren’t trying hard enough and allowing too many banned foods into their diets. They rely on the scales to tell them a number they want to see to make everything all right even though they know deep inside everything isn’t as it should be.

Getting weighed everyday or even every week simply isn’t necessary for you to reach your goal. You are going to get results if you follow the right kind of diet regardless of whether you get weighed or not. Achieving results with a diet begins inside your mind. Cheating yourself won’t get you very far and turning to the scales in the hope they will make you feel better is a never ending waste of time which will help you fail.

Any success with dieting always shows on the outside of your body with the way you look. The biggest achievement with progress is how you feel inside, if you feel healthy and have loads of energy then you know you are on to a winner. Remember you don’t need weighing scales; a tape measure or even a mirror to achieve results, all you need is to just stick to a proper diet.
What do you want to achieve from your diet?

Some of The Best Ways to Transform Body Shape

Free exercise tips!
Clocking in at the gym and putting the time in doesn’t mean you are going to end up with the body of your dreams. Forget marathon type workouts where they only allow you to exercise half-heartedly. It is time to stop guessing and living your life in hope of waking up one day and miraculously discovering the abs you have always wanted. You must try different approaches to get the best results. You are expecting too much if you think the same exercise routine will give you everything you want. It is important to modify and experiment with different exercise routines as you go along or you will never reach your goal.

Here are some of the best ways to stop your body adapting to exercise and keep progress running smoothly.

#1 Assess strengths and weaknesses
Before you start do you know which muscles are tight in your body and need stretching? Do you know if other muscles are compensating when you perform a movement because of a weakness in the chain? Do you know which exercises will make your posture or pain worse? How do you know you are doing the right exercises that are right for your body? These are just some of the questions that need answering before embarking on a regular exercise programme.

#2 Train intense but keep it real
This means training within your capabilities that allows a minimum of a good technique on everything you do. This mainly points to lifting a weight that is too heavy, doing part of the range of movement or doing more reps than you can manage resulting in quick and poorly performed reps. Good reps are real reps; you can either work the body part the exercise is designed for or take the stress away from the body part by performing a poor rep, it’s as simple as that.

#3 Include big movements in your workout
Multi joint exercises work more muscles and burn more calories than isolation exercises. Most pieces of gym equipment cater for working only one or two muscles at a time. Performing multi joint exercises like squats and bent over rows correctly have the best carry over effect that helps you in work, sports and many of life’s tasks.

#4 Use gravity
Have you noticed the physiques of gymnasts? You will never see overweight or out of shape gymnast, that’s because training against gravity is one of the best things you can do to look your best. The feedback I get from clients that do bodyweight exercises within their exercise routines report how challenging and how much effort they take to perform. Make sure to include gravity-based exercises in your exercise programme. You can start off basic by doing floor exercises and work up to more demanding exercises where you push or pull your bodyweight with your feet off the ground.
Free exercise tips!

How To Get Lean Using Dumbbells

How to have a challenging workout using light dumbbells at home!
There is a way of achieving muscle fatigue if all you have are a pair of light dumbbells kicking around in your spare room. As long as you stick to some guidelines you will be able to feel the burn with all your workouts.

Here are the rules:

#1 Choose isolation exercises
#2 Perform high repetitions
#3 Use a short rest between each set

If you have a pair of adjustable dumbbells, ones where you are able to make one heavy dumbbell from the two opt for single limb exercises to achieve more intensity when possible.

Example exercises using dumbbells:

Legs
Squats, progress to split squat or lunges. Advanced option is to squat, curl and overhead press or squat holding the dumbbells overhead.

Chest
Dumbbell Chest fly - with back on the floor.
Press ups – no weights required.

Back
Bent over rowing holding the body in static bent over position and bringing the dumbbells to the side of the chest.
Upright rowing – row the dumbbells as high as the collarbone.

Shoulders
Side raises followed by overhead pressing.
Bent over side raise.

Biceps
Curls and hammer curls.

Triceps
Triceps extension - with back on the floor.
Close grip press ups. No weights required.

Abs
Seated reverse wood chops.
Abdominal crunches holding the dumbbells with straight arms directly above the chest.

Repetition range:
Don’t be afraid to try anything up to 50 repetitions per exercise. Just because you are lifting light dumbbells doesn’t mean you can rush the set. Never sacrifice proper training technique no matter what the circumstances are. A strict training technique makes the targeted muscle group work harder and brings quicker results.

Recommended sets and rest:
If you choose to work on one exercise at a time and you are doing over 15 repetitions because of the light dumbbells it is recommended to rest no more than 60 seconds before you repeat the set. Depending on how difficult the next sets are will determine if you can afford to shave seconds from your rest time in between sets.

For best results at least 2-3 sets per exercises is required to create a training response.

An example legs, chest and abs workout using light dumbbells:

50 bodyweight squats
No rest and immediately followed by
25 dumbbell squats
Up to 60 seconds rest and repeat until 2-4 rounds are completed.

25-50 Chest flies
No rest and immediately followed by
Press-ups to failure
Up to 60 seconds rest and repeat until 2-4 rounds are completed.

Seated reverse wood chops – up to 30 each side
No rest and immediately followed by
Up to 30 abdominal crunches holding the dumbbells with straight arms directly above the chest
Up to 60 seconds rest and repeat until 2-4 rounds are completed.
How to have a challenging workout using light dumbbells at home!

How to Write A Personalised Diet Plan - Achieve Fat Loss Over Your Abs!

I will show you how to stop eating the foods that contribute to more fat on the body!
Are you sick and tired of wasting your time on diets that never work? I am going to teach you how to write a simple fat loss plan and show you an example of how it should look.

I know time is precious for many of you so I will keep this short and as brief as possible.

In order to progress it is very important to set goals. Without goals you are on a road to nowhere. You should have an end goal in mind and little goals leading up to it. The way forward is to achieve each little goal until you accomplish them all and end up where you want to be. This system is ridiculously easy and straightforward but how many people set goals properly and put effort into achieving them?

Don’t make the mistake of being over ambitious with each goal you set because that will only knock you back if you fail to reach them.

The next step then is to set a time frame for each goal. The reason for doing this is to turn on a little pressure and is also a great way to make you try harder. Only you know what results you want so it is critical you write down your own goals and plan a time frame that you think you are capable of achieving.

In my example I will show you how to stop eating the foods that contribute to more fat on the body. Lets look at Mr X; Mr X wants to lose weight and fat but the biggest obstacle that stands in his way is that he likes to eat a lot when he gets in from work and enjoys a Beer or three after dinner. This is what his last meal of the day looks like:

Pringles and different flavoured dips
Pizza or flavoured pasta or chicken pie with baked beans or jacket potato with baked beans
Ice cream
Beer

To stop eating all those foods straight away and change to healthier alternatives would be too much of a struggle for most people. People fail with diets because they try too hard too soon. Trying to do everything at once nearly always results in packing it in altogether and resorting back to old habits.

The following method is the best way for Mr X to turn his eating habits around for his last meal of the day.

He’s got a beach holiday booked in 12 weeks time; this not only is a massive incentive for him but can also be used as a deadline for his goals. Already we have a fat loss plan unfolding in front of us.

1. The end goal is to lose weight and fat
2. The time frame is 12 weeks
3. The first goal is to change his last meal of the day to a healthier alternative, hoping it will give him the ambition to change his other meals in the same way.

This is how to breakdown the goal:
The best place to start would be to trim down the meal i.e. stop having the Pringles, ice cream and the Beers.

The second step then would be to replace the main meal for something healthier. But without getting too carried away too soon lets look at the little goals.

Week 1 – either have the Pringles or the ice cream but not both! Don’t have more than one Beer. Make sure to drink enough pure water everyday.

Week 2 – have the Pringles or the ice cream every other night but not every night and don’t have both! Have a Beer every other night but not every night!

Week 3 – have the Pringles or the ice cream just 2 nights per week preferably at the weekend. Have a Beer just 2 nights a week also preferably at the weekend. Begin to look at healthier options for the main meal and introduce at least one vegetable everyday to your diet.

Week 4 - have the Pringles or the ice cream just 1 night per week and don’t have both! Have a Beer just one night per week. Introduce another vegetable to your diet so you are eating 2 different types of vegetables a day with your main meal. Eat non-processed foods with your main meal i.e. fish or meat.

Week 5 – Stick to the above guidelines if you are finding it tough going. If you aren’t then introduce the above methods to other meals. The guidelines are to change processed foods to non-processed foods, increase protein intake from natural sources and eat mainly vegetables in place of grains.

It may be necessary to make little goals for the other meals too. In which case by the time the 12-week deadline comes around the diet will be cleaned up dramatically and all the effort will be evident when on the beach.
I will show you how to stop eating the foods that contribute to more fat on the body!