AtoZfitness Article Blog » Tom Venuto

How much longer will you wait?

lewis — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 12:42:28 +0000

Audrey Eickwort said, "I spent 15 years waiting for a 'good time' to lose weight."

When she finally threw away all her excuses and decided that the good time was NOW, she achieved a body transformation so remarkable, it won her the overall title of the Burn the Fat summer challenge champion…

And it won her an all-expenses paid vacation to Maui Hawaii, the grand prize in the Challenge competition.

Today Audrey joins us with a special guest article:

http://www.atozfitness.com/dt/burn_the_fat_inner_circle.php

Read this and you'll discover:

* The 3 biggest excuses for not getting fitter and healthier over the holidays… and why you should toss them all in the fireplace

* Why the challenge is such an amazing opportunity for improving your body, your health and even your social life

* How you can enjoy yourself over the holidays and get leaner and fitter without depriving yourself

* Why you CAN do this, even if you're busy

* And of course, you'll learn what it really feels like posting "the dreaded" BEFORE pictures… from the viewpoint of someone looking back AFTER

http://www.atozfitness.com/dt/burn_the_fat_inner_circle.php

And remember, the Burn the Fat Challenge Contest – Season 5:

Holidays 2011 – is open for registration, but there are only 3 1/2 days left to get in!

It's possible this may be the last holiday challenge ever – we won't know for sure until the final registration stats are in.

But if you wait … you may never have this chance again.

Get information about the Burn the Fat contest, how you can transform your body in only 49 days (even with the holidays) and how you can win a trip for two to Maui, on this page:

http://www.atozfitness.com/dt/burn_the_fat_inner_circle.php

Enjoy the challenge!!!!

– Lewis

PS. Enter the transformation contest just to challenge yourself to get fitter this holiday season, and drop 5-10 pounds of fat… OR, go in it to win it and you could win a trip to Maui – Audrey won… and I've sent 16 other people to tropical paradise so far. You could be next. learn more:

http://www.atozfitness.com/dt/burn_the_fat_inner_circle.php

Your friend,
Lewis

Till next time,,
Lewis
Publisher
www.atozfitness.com

#1 Tip To Avoid Holiday Weight Gain

lewis — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:37:45 +0000

Every year I read articles about how to avoid holiday weight gain. Some of them are written on mainstream news or gossip websites and they’re usually rather lame…

Let’s see, they include gems like these: Skip the party snacks, never go to a party hungry, mind your portions and don’t just decorate your tree, decorate your plate (with colorful veggies). Maybe useful, but not so Earth shattering.

Today I wanted to share the #1 tip to avoid Holiday Weight Gain – here it is…

The best way EVER invented to avoid holiday weight gain is not only to set a real goal – to set goals “scientifically” – but to set up an accountability, social support and reward system to make sure you follow through and achieve that goal.

After years of hard work and trial and error, my buddy Tom Venuto has created and perfected such a system.

He's already done the set up work for you, and not only that, his system has now been proven two years in a row (this is our third year), so we KNOW this works.

If you're curious, want to transform your body, and win a all-expenses paid trip to Maui then check out this link:

http://www.atozfitness.com/dt/burn_the_fat_inner_circle.php

You'll be happy that you did!
To your most successful Holiday Season yet.

Your friend,
Lewis

Till next time,
Lewis
Publisher
www.atozfitness.com

The Body Fat Solution Reviewed

lewis — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 22:15:50 +0000

CPT Sarah reviews Tom Venuto's The Body Fat Solution Hardcover Book

I am long overdue with this review folks; busy is really not strong enough a word to describe my days lately. Still I have something for you today, something which won’t earn me a dime in commission at all, you’re going to have to physically go to a book store and buy this one OTC (over the counter)

This entire week, I’ve been wondering how best to approach the write-up on this book for you. I’m not sure where this idea came from, maybe mo love of old Western movies? I suddenly had this image of a stage coach veering off course because it only had three horses pulling it rather than four. (I think some used 6, but you see my point, balance!)

You see, you have a goal. Hopefully a tangible one with precise numbers and dates. You’ve purchased a workout and nutrition program (maybe even BFFM ?). You’ve made your plan and started out on your journey. You hold the reins of your team of horses (see stagecoach above), but somehow they keep pulling you off to the side …

That’s because you have one horse pulling alone in the front, your Goal horse, and two behind, Workout and Nutrition. You’re missing the fourth horse to pair up with Goal in order to bring balance and keep you going forward on the chosen path.

I want you to pull in to the first corral you see (aka bookstore). This is the place to purchase your second lead horse, Mindset! You’ll find him in the shape and form of Tom Venuto’s hardcover book The Body Fat Solution which was released in January (told you this is overdue!)

BFFM in January of 2006. I was able to master my subconscious and had really nice success with the program. However, at the time there was no support group in the form of Burn The Fat Inner Circle which is now available to members, and the underlying parts of my subconscious wasn’t strong enough to keep me on track once that initial goal was met. I slipped backwards and had to fight my way back again.

I know many of you have been or even are right now, in that same situation.on.

Tom’s new hardcover book takes care of the one thing no diet or exercise program does – sure, some have a chapter on mind set, one has an entire on-line audio program – but this is a tangible and entire book, dedicated to showing you why you stray and how not to!

Everything is covered, such as emotional eating, how to set powerful goals, attitude, myths and their debunking, nutrition, metabolism, training, social support, and … last but not least: maintaining your goal results!

Now that you have added Mindset to your team of horses, they are equally strong on both sides, pulling you straight for your goal. That doesn’t mean the ride won’t be bumpy or won’t have uphill struggles or even a deviation or two, but your team of four will get you right back on track without effort and take you to your destination.

The Body Fat Solution hard-cover book and a membership in the Burn the Fat Inner Circle, you’ll be well on your way to success in combating your bodyfat and related health issues; if you want to go all out, you can add Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle e-book as well (there’s an update in the works, most likely free to owners of the original version, so you might want to grab a copy now).

Tom Venuto was my first fat burning mentor, and to this day remains a person I turn to for advice. Ask your GPS where the nearest book store is if you’re not sure … grab that book! Or give it to someone you know could need it, it’s a great gift idea as well.

Sarah, CPT
www.trainwithsarah.com

Yours in fitness,
Sarah, CPT
Lewis, Publisher
www.articles.atozfitness.com
AtoZfitness.com Google's #1 fitness site.
www.atozfitness.com

If you have any questions, you can contact me by clicking here.

Speed Eating and Fat Loss: Diet Advice Your Mom Was Right About All Along

lewis — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:32:59 +0000

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Speed Eating and Fat Loss: Diet Advice Your Mom Was Right About All Along

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By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
www.burnallyourfat.com

A new study just published in a recent issue of the journal Obesity has revealed that thin people eat very differently than heavy people at all-you-can-eat buffet restaurants.

Researcher Brian Wansink and his team from the Cornell University Food and Brand Laboratory observed diners at 11 different Chinese buffet restaurants across the United States.

Their goal was to find out whether the eating behaviors of people at all-you-can-eat buffets varied based on their body mass.

Trained observers recorded the height, weight, gender, age, and behavior of 213 patrons. The various seating, serving and eating behaviors were then compared across BMI levels.

The heavier (higher BMI) patrons:

ate more quickly
chewed more food per bite
used forks
sat facing the food buffet

The thin (lower BMI) patrons:

ate more slowly
chewed less food per bite
used chopsticks
sat facing away from the food buffet

This study confirms earlier research from the University of Rhode Island published in the journal of the American Dietetic Association which found that eating slowly leads to decreases in energy intake.

Scientists even have a name for this now:

"TIME-ENERGY DISPLACEMENT"

Time-Energy Displacement means that the more time you take to eat, the less energy (calories) you are likely to consume. The faster you eat, the more energy (calories) you’re likely to consume.

But wait, there’s even more! A study from the University of Alabama looked at satiety (how full a food makes you feel), energy density (calories per unit of volume) and eating time of various foods. To maximize the effects of Time-Energy Displacement, it was found even more advantageous to choose foods that FORCE you to ingest calories more slowly.

This includes choosing more:

Foods that have a high satiety factor such as high fiber and high water foods (so you feel fuller more quickly):

Peas
Red beans
Raspberries
Broccoli
Green beans
Chick Peas

Foods with a high “chew factor” (so you can’t eat them fast if you tried; you have to chew them thoroughly):

Lean meats such as top round, lean sirloin
Celery
Apples
Pears
Peaches

Foods with a low energy density such as salad vegetables and greens (so you’d get tired of eating before you took in a lot of calories):

Tomatoes
Artichoke
Cucumber
Salad Greens
Cabbage
Okra

These results also confirm all the studies that have been advising us not to drink our calories. Liquid calories, especially soft drinks and dessert coffees are two of the biggest sources of excess calories in the typical American’s diet.

The problem: calories in liquid form can have a very high caloric density and can be consumed very quickly. Liquid calories also do not activate the satiety mechanism in your brain and gastrointestinal tract the way solid food does.

"Don't inhale your food" used to be an admonishment about proper eating etiquette you heard from your mom. It is now scientifically-proven fat loss advice.

To learn more research-proven tips for burning fat, visit the “Burn The Fat” website at www.burnallyourfat.com

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto
Fat Loss Coach
www.burnallyour.com

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnallyourfat.com

Sincerely,
Lewis & Sarah
Publisher - AtoZfitness Total Body Makeover

If you have any questions, you can contact me by clicking here.

Stop Cravings and Stop Binge Eating: Advice from a Pizza Man

lewis — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:28:33 +0000

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Stop Cravings and Stop Binge Eating: Advice from a Pizza Man

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By Tom Venuto
www.burnallyourfat.com

In a surprising comment made during a popular UK radio show, the founder of one of the largest Pizza chains in the United States and United Kingdom told listeners not to eat too much pizza!

In an interview with host Adam Shaw on BBC’s Radio Four program, John Schnatter, the founder of Papa John’s pizza, was asked whether he was concerned about the British government’s recent actions in the fast food restaurant business to help put the brakes on obesity.

Schnatter said, “Pizza is actually healthy for you if you don’t eat too much of it. You can’t eat five or six slices but if you eat one or two slices it’s very nutritious.”

Laughing, Shaw replied, “I’m not sure your investors would want to hear you tell people, ‘don’t eat too much of our pizzas!”’

Across the web, bloggers and tweeters have been putting in their two cents. Some say he was a little TOO honest. Others say this was either the worst PR screw up ever… or the best PR move ever (you know what they say about “bad” publicity).

Although I wouldn’t call pizza health food, I think his advice to eat pizza, but only in moderation was the responsible thing for a fast food owner to do at a time where obesity is reaching epidemic proportions, not just in the United States but in the U.K. and other countries as well.

Moreover, it was just plain good diet advice! One reason people are failing to control their weight is because of all-or-none thinking, i.e, “I can’t eat ANY pizza EVER again!” or, “I have to follow my diet 100% or not at all.”

In my experience, all or none thinking is one of the biggest causes of diet failure. It’s far better from a psychological perspective to eat your pizza; simply enjoy it infrequently and in small quantities.

Think of you on a diet like a pressure cooker on a burner. The longer you keep that pot on the heat, the more the steam pressure builds up inside. If there’s no outlet or release valve on that thing, eventually the pressure builds up so much that even if it’s made of steel and the lid is bolted down, she’s gonna blow, sooner or later.

Well, in the beginning, you might think your willpower is made of steel and that you’re bolted tigher than a submarine hatch, but the longer you’re on a diet with no relief, the greater the pressure builds up until YOU blow your top… and that means massive binge eating.

But if you let off a little steam in the form of a “free meal” (or two) and enjoy that slice of pizza (or whatever is your favorite ‘poison’) on occasion, that relieves the pressure. Alas, you never even feel the urge to binge… because you HAD your pizza and the urge was satisfied. Since the meal was planned and you kept the calories under control, it had little or no effect on your fat loss results.

This topic of conversation was prompted on the BBC radio show during a discussion about how the Pizza business was doing during the recession and about efforts to stem the growing obesity crisis in the UK.

Earlier last month, The Food Standards Agency in the UK started negotiating with UK food, pub and sandwich chains to display calories on their menus to try to provide education about healthier options for consumers who eat out frequently.

The move is similar to one made in New York City last year, where restaurant chains that have more than 15 locations must print calories on the menus. According to an article in the British Medical Journal, this has resulted in an average reduction of 50-100 calories for each food order. Not much, but at least it’s something.

In the case of pizza, a 2.2 ounce thin-crusted slice of cheese pizza could have as little as 190 calories. One slice of “meat lover’s” pizza, on the other hand, could set you back almost 500 calories! If you knew the difference, would it change what kind and how much you ate?

I’m totally in favor of posting calories on menus, despite the critics who say it won’t make a difference. I think anything that raises calorie awareness is going to affect behavior in a positive way and help make for better food decisions. Whether it should be mandatory by law is debatable. I say, let the restaurants decide and then let the marketplace sort itself out.

I would be more likely to recommend or support the restaurants who opted to post calories, increase their range of healthy choices… and on that rare occasion, have a CEO who actually says, “Eat my food, but not too much!!”

Now, if we can only get those Mcdonalds’s execs to say the same thing!

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto
Fat Loss Coach
www.burnallyourfat.com

P.S. No relation to Venuto's Pizza, hahaha

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, independent nutrition researcher, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnallyourfat.com

Sincerely,
Lewis & Sarah
Publisher - AtoZfitness Total Body Makeover

If you have any questions, you can contact me by clicking here.

The 2 Pounds Per Week Rule and How to Burn Fat Faster

lewis — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:30:04 +0000

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The 2 Pounds Per Week Rule and How to Burn Fat Faster

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By Tom Venuto
www.burnallyourfat.com

Why do you always hear that 2 pounds per week is the maximum amount of fat you should safely lose? If you train really hard while watching calories closely shouldn’t you be able to lose more fat without losing muscle or damaging your health? What if you want to lose fat faster? How do you explain the fast weight losses on The Biggest Loser? These are all good questions that I’ve been asked many times. With the diet marketplace being flooded every day with rapid weight loss claims, these questions desperately need and deserve some honest answers. Want to know where that 2 pounds per week rule comes from and what it really takes to burn more than 2 pounds of fat per week? Read on.

Why Only 2 Pounds Per Week?

The truth is, two pounds is not the maximum amount you can safely lose in a week. That’s only a general recommendation and a good benchmark for setting weekly goals. It’s also sensible and realistic because it’s based on average or typical results.

The actual amount of fat you can lose depends on many factors. For example, weight losses tend to be relative to body size. The more body fat you carry, the more likely you’ll be able to safely lose more than two pounds per week. Therefore, we could individualize our weekly guideline a bit by recommending a goal of 1-2 lbs of fat loss per week or up to 1% of your total weight. If you weighed 300 lbs, that would be 3 lbs per week.

Body Weight Vs Body Composition

Weight loss is somewhat meaningless unless you also talk about body composition; the fat to muscle ratio, as well as water weight. Ask any wrestler about fast weight loss and he’ll tell you things like, “I cut 10 lbs overnight to make a weight class. It was easy - I just sweated it off.”

You’ve also probably seen people that went on some extreme induction program or a lemon juice and water fast for the first week and dropped an enormous amount of weight. But once again, you can bet that a lot of that weight was water and lean tissue and in both cases, you can bet that those people put the weight right back on.

The main potential advantage of any type of induction period for rapid weight loss in the first week is that a large drop on the scale is a motivational boost for many people (even if it is mostly water weight).

Why do you hear so many diet and fitness professionals insist on 2 lbs a week max? Where does that number come from? Well, aside from the fact that it’s a recommendation in government health guidelines and in position statements of most nutrition and exercise organizations, it’s just math. The math is based on what’s practical given the number of calories an average person burns in a day and how much food someone can reasonably cut in a day.

How Do You Lose More Than 2 Pounds Per Week?

Can you lose more than 2 lbs of pure fat in a week? Yes, although it’s easier in the beginning. It gets harder as your diet progresses. How do you do it? My rule is, extraordinary results require extraordinary efforts. An extraordinary effort means a particularly strict diet, as well as burning more calories through training because you can only cut your calories so far from food before you’re starving and suffering from severe hunger.

Simply put, you need a bigger calorie deficit.

If you have a 2500 calorie daily maintenance level, and you want to drop 3 lbs of fat per week withe diet alone, you’d need a huge daily deficit of 1500 calories, which would equate to eating 1000 calories per day. You would lose weight rapidly for as long as you could maintain that deficit (although it would slow down over time). Most people aren’t going to last long on so little food and they often end with a period of binge eating. It’s not practical (or fun) to cut calories so much and in some cases it could be unhealthy.

The other alternative is to train for hours and hours a day, literally. People ask me all the time, “Tom, how is it possible for the Biggest Loser contestants to lose so much weight? Well first of all they’re not measuring body fat, only body weight. Then you have the high starting body weights and the large water weight loss in the beginning. After that, just do the math – they’re training hours a day so they’re creating a huge calorie deficit.

But without that team of trainers, dieticians, teammates, a national audience and all that prize money, do you think they’d be motivated and accountable enough to do anywhere near that amount and intensity of exercise in the real world? Would it even be possible if they had a job and family? Not likely, is it? It’s not practical to do that much exercise, and it’s not practical to cut your calories below a 1000 a day and remain compliant. If you manage to achieve the latter, it’s very difficult not to rebound and regain the weight afterwards for a variety of physiological and psychological reasons.

For Fast Fat Loss: Less Food Or Harder Training?

Trainers are becoming more inventive these days in coming up with high intensity workouts that burn a large amount of calories and really give the metabolism a boost. This can help speed up the fat loss within a given amount of time. But as you begin to utilize higher intensity workouts, you have to start being on guard for overtraining or overuse injuries.That’s why strict nutrition with an aggressive calorie deficit is going to have to be a major part of any fast fat loss strategy. Unfortunately, very low calorie dieting has its own risks in the way of lean tissue loss, slower metabolism, extreme hunger, and greater chance of weight re-gain.

My approach to long term weight control is to lose weight slowly and patiently and follow a nutrition plan that is well balanced between lean protein, healthy fats and natural carbs and doesn’t demonize any entire food group. To lose fat, you simply create a caloric deficit by burning more and eating less (keeping the nutrient density of those calories as high as possible, of course).

But to achieve the extraordinary goals such as photo-shoot-ready, super-low body fat or simply faster than average fat loss, while minimizing the risks, I often turn to a stricter cyclical low carb diet for brief “peaking” programs. I explain this method in chapter 12 of my e-book Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle (it’s my “phase III” or “competition” diet).

The cyclical aspect of the diet means that after three to six days of an aggressive calorie deficit and strict diet, you take a high calorie / high carb day to re-feed the body and re-stimulate the metabolism. Essentially, this helps reduce the starvation signals your body is receiving. It’s also a psychological break from the deprivation which helps improve compliance and prevent relapse.

The higher protein intake can help prevent lean tissue loss and curb the hunger. A high protein diet also helps by ramping up dietary thermogenesis. A high intake of greens, fibrous vegetables and low calorie fruits can help tip the energy balance equation in your favor as fibrous veggies are very low in calorie density and some of the calories in the fiber are not metabolizable. Healthy fats are added in adequate quantities, while the calorie-dense simple sugars and starchy carbs are kept to a minimum except on refeed days and after (or around) intense workouts.

There’s No Magic, Just Math

In my experience, a high protein, reduced carb approach in conjunction with weights and cardio can help maximize fat loss – both in terms of increasing speed of fat loss and particularly for getting rid of the last of the stubborn fat. It helps with appetite control too. But always bear in mind that the faster fat loss occurs primarily as a result of the larger calorie deficit (which is easily achieved with sugars and starches minimized), not some type of “low carb magic.” If your diet were high in natural carbs but you were able to diligently maintain the same large calorie deficit, the results would be similar.

I’m seeing more and more advertisements that not only promise rapid weight loss, but go so far as saying that you’re doing it wrong if you’re losing “only” two pounds per week. “Why settle” for slow weight loss, they insist. Well, it’s certainly possible to lose more than two pounds per week, but it’s critically important to understand that there’s a world of difference between rapid weight loss and permanent fat loss.

It’s also vital to know that there’s no magic in faster fat loss, just math. All the new-fangled dietary manipulations and high intensity training programs that really do help increase the speed of fat loss all come full circle to the calorie balance equation in the end, even if they claim their method works for other reasons and they don’t mention calories burned or consumed at all.

Beware of The Quick Fix

Faster fat loss IS possible. My question is, are you willing to tolerate the hunger, low calories and high intensity exercise for that kind of deficit? Do you have the work ethic? Do you have the supreme level of dietary restraint necessary to stop yourself from bingeing and putting the weight right back on when that aggressive diet is over? Or would you rather do it in a more moderate way where you’re not killing yourself, but instead are making slow and steady lifestyle changes and taking off 1-2 lbs of pure fat per week, while keeping all your hard-earned muscle?

Remember, 1-2 pounds per week is 50-100 pounds in a year. Is that really so slow or is that an astounding transformation? You don’t gain 50-100 pounds over night, so why should anyone expect to take it off overnight? Personally, I think short-term thinking and the pursuit of quick fixes are the worst diseases of our generation.

If you want to be one of those “results not typical” fat loss transformations, it can be done and it may be a perfectly appropriate short-term goal for the savvy and sophisticated fitness enthusiast. It’s your call. But when you set your goals, it might be wise to remember that old fable of the tortoise and the hare, and buyer beware if you go shopping for a fast weight loss program in today’s shady marketplace.

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto
Fat Loss Coach
www.burnallyourfat.com

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, independent nutrition researcher, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnallyourfat.com

Lewis & Sarah
Publisher - AtoZfitness Total Body Makeover

If you have any questions, you can contact me by clicking here.

8 Reasons Why You Keep Falling Off The Diet Wagon

lewis — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 10:21:01 +0000

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8 Reasons Why You Keep Falling Off The Diet Wagon

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By Tom Venuto
www.burnallyourfat.com

Clearly, we have an obesity problem in America and many other countries across our planet. Yet, I propose that we do not have a weight loss problem today. In case you’re confused at this apparent contradiction, consider these statistics:

According to a study from Oxford University published in the International Journal of Obesity, within 3 to 5 years, about 80 percent of all ‘weight losers’ have regained the lost weight, and often gained back a little extra.

According to research by the National Weight Control Registry, that relapse rate may be as high as 95 percent.

For comparison, relapse rates for drug, alcohol and tobacco dependency have been reported in the range of 50-90%.

This means that lots and lots of people have “successfully” lost weight. But not many have kept it off. Therefore, we don’t have a weight loss problem, we have a weight-relapse problem; we have a “not sticking with it” problem. Wouldn’t you agree?

In fact, the fall and subsequent weight-regain usually doesn’t take years. Many people have abandoned their new year’s resolutions within weeks. By the time the Super Bowl party rolls around, their diet is history!

If this is true, then shouldn’t we put more of our attention onto figuring out why you haven’t been sticking with your program, and what you should do about it?

I put together this new list (below) of the top 8 reasons why you fall off the wagon.

Rather than worrying about the minutiae of your diet plan, like whether you should be on low carb or high carb, Mediterranean or Okinawan, vegetarian or meat eater, I propose that if you simply focus on these 8 issues, you’ll start getting more lasting results.

How? By being able to stick with whichever plan you decided was best for you! After all, even if you have the best nutrition program in the world - on paper - it doesn’t do you much good if you can’t stick with it in practice!

THE 8 REASONS

1. No focus: you didn’t set goals, you didn’t put your goals in writing, and/or you didn’t stay focused on your goals daily (by reading them, affirming them, looking at a vision board, etc.)

2. No priorities: you may have set a goal, but you didn’t put it on or near the top of your priorities list. For example, your goal is six pack abs, but drinking beer and eating fast food on the weekend is higher on your priorities list than having a flat stomach.

3. No support system: you tried to go at it alone; no buddy system, training partners, family, spouse, friends, mentors or coaches to turn to for information and emotional support when the going got tough.

4. No Accountability: you didn’t keep score for your own accountability – with a progress chart, weight record, measurements, food journal, training journal, and you didn’t set up external accountability (ie, report to someone else or show your results to someone else)

5. No patience: you were only thinking short term and had unrealistic expectations. You expected 10 pounds a week or 5 pounds a week or 3 pounds a week, so the first week you lost “only” 1 or 2 pounds or hit a plateau, you gave up.

6. No planning: you winged it. You walked into the gym without having a workout in hand, on paper, you didn’t plan your workouts into your weekly schedule; you didn’t have a menu on paper, you didn’t make time (so instead you made excuses, like “I’m too busy”)

7. No balance: your diet or training program was too extreme. You went the all or nothing, “I want it now” route instead of the moderate, slow-and-steady wins the race route.

8. No personalization: your nutrition or training program was the wrong one for you. It might have worked for someone else, but it didn’t suit your schedule, personality, lifestyle, disposition or body type.

So there you have it – 8 reasons why most people fall off the wagon! Have you been making these mistakes? If so, the solutions are clear and simple: focus, prioritize, get support, be accountable, be patient, plan, balance and personalize.

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto
Fat Loss Coach
www.burnallyourfat.com

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, independent nutrition researcher, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnallyourfat.com

Lewis & Sarah
Publisher - AtoZfitness Total Body Makeover

If you have any questions, you can contact me by clicking here.

The Little Thing in Your Head That’s Keeping You Fat

lewis — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 12:38:58 +0000

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The Little Thing in Your Head That's Keeping You Fat

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Compliments of Tom Venuto
http://burnallyourfat.com

I have no doubt that a scientist somewhere just read the title of this article and said out loud, “YES! Venuto is right! That little thing in your head – the hypothalamus – it IS the thing that is keeping you fat! By George, that Venuto guy isn’t a dumb bodybuilder after all – he’s been doing his research!” At which moment, I will be shaking my head and thinking, “you need to get out of the laboratory and into the real world, with real people, buddy.” Okay, okay, to be fair, Neuro-endocrine control of appetite and body fat really is quite fascinating. But today, I’m talking about PSYCH-ology, not PHYSI-ology. The little thing in your head that’s keeping you fat is actually just a….

Limiting belief!

Self-limiting beliefs are among the biggest problems that people deal with in their struggles to achieve a healthy ideal weight. They’re also one of the reasons that so many people start to falter or fall off the diet and exercise wagon as early as late January or early February in their New Year’s goal pursuits.

If you’re that science guy I spoke of and you’re about to bail because you’re thinking, “Here we go again… another psycho-babble, self help article,” then think again. A belief is the force behind the placebo effect, which is well known by every scientist and medical professional. A respected doctor gives a patient a pill and is told it’s a powerful drug. The patient gets well immediately, not knowing that the “miraculous” substance was a dummy pill. Inert. Sugar. The miracle was in the mind.

But beliefs are not only involved in the mind-body connection, they are unconscious programs that control your behavior. The most important factor in whether you achieve the body and the health you want is NOT what diet or training program you follow. It’s what makes you follow your diet and training program. And guess what? What you believe controls your behavior - whether you will stick with your program or sabotage it with cheating, bingeing or inconsistency.

What to do about limiting beliefs

Ok, so now you agree that beliefs are psychological factors that affect you physically by controlling your behavior, including your eating, exercising and lifestyle. What now? 3 steps. 2 questions.

STEP 1: IDENTIFY LIMITING BELIEFS

You are fully aware of many of your beliefs. For example, beliefs about spirituality or politics are usually in the front of your conscious mind.

But the beliefs that hold back your health and physical development the most are usually the ones you don’t even know you have. They are like unconscious “brain software,” running silently in the background.

So the first step is to bring those unconscious and potentially damaging beliefs up to the surface so you are aware of them. You can’t fix a problem if you don’t know you have one.

2 Quick Questions That Will Help Draw Out Your Beliefs

Beliefs can go back to childhood, but don’t worry, you don’t have to go to a psychotherapist and be regressed back to kindergarten. It’s simpler than that. But it does pay to do this questioning process as a formal “exercise” with serious quiet time, with pen and paper (instead of just thinking about it).

Question #1: What causes me to be overweight (or unhealthy, or not having the body I want)?

Question #2: What’s preventing me from getting leaner? (or healthier?)

Spend some time with it and see how big of a list you can create. Ask yourself whether each belief helps or hurts you. Does it move you forward or backward. Does it empower or disempower you? The ones that hurt you or hold you back will be obvious. You may come up with beliefs such as:

“I’m overweight and I can’t get leaner because”:

I have no time
I’m too old
I can’t stop eating
I hate exercise
You just can’t do it when you have 4 kids
It’s impossible after having a hip replacement

But the million dollar question is: are these beliefs actually true?

Beliefs are not facts. You may hold your beliefs as absolute reality, but when you deconstruct them and challenge them, you may see that they don’t hold any water.

Self limiting beliefs are false interpretations (negative thought patterns) that hold you back. And you keep holding on to them because making excuses and staying the same is a lot more convenient than changing, isn’t it? Change requires hard work, effort and leaving your comfort zone.

Your mission now: weaken the limiting beliefs and get rid of them

STEP 2: CHALLENGE THOSE BELIEFS

How do you challenge a belief? 4 ways:

(A) Challenge it directly: Is the belief even valid at all? See if you can find a “counter example” that disproves your belief. For example; if you think that after you’ve had 3 or 4 kids, it’s impossible to get a nice flat stomach, what will you say after I introduce you to a dozen of my clients and readers who had 3 or 4 kids and went from bulging belly to rock-hard flat stomach? If they did it, then how could your belief be valid? Answer: It WASN’T! You believed something false and inaccurate and it was holding you back!

(B) Challenge the source: Is it your belief, or have you been living what your parents, peers or culture handed down to you? Just the realization that a belief wasn’t yours to begin with is enough to shatter it.

(C) Challenge the usefulness of the belief: Ok, so you believed something when you were younger. Does still believing it has any usefulness today? Does it help you move closer to what you want in your life today? If not, then wouldn't today be a good time to get rid of it?

(D) Challenging the belief by weighing the consequences: If you keep this belief, what is it going to cost you? What will the pain be like? What will you miss? And what will these consequences be if you don’t change it NOW?

STEP 3: INSTALL A NEW BELIEF

Nature abhors a vacuum, as Spinoza once said. You don’t simply get rid of a belief, you must also replace it. What things would you want and need to believe instead that would create positive behaviors that would move you toward your goal? Write them down, then massage them into an affirmation. For example, if you’ve hung your hat on the belief that you didn’t have time to exercise, could you write a new affirmation of belief similar to this?

“I’m a very busy person, so that means I must set clear priorities and I must keep my health and body on the top of my priority list. I always schedule time for my most important priorities, I am efficient with my training, and I use every minute of my day wisely. And if Barack Obama, the busiest person in the world, can train for 45 minutes a day 6 days a week, there’s no excuse for me. I can do it too.”

Write down your new belief affirmations and read them, right along with your goals, every day.

Then “activate” this affirmation by doing what Olympic and professional athletes do: engaging in mental rehearsal. Visualize yourself carrying out the behaviors that this belief would generate. Think about and feel what it would be like to take those positive actions steps and play mental movies of how your life would change by doing so. Involve all your senses: see it, hear it, feel it.

Keep it up until you start to see your behavior change and your habitual actions come into alignment with your goals/intentions. If you’re diligent, you’ll see changes in attitude and behavior with 21-30 days. It may happen sooner. It may take longer if you’ve carried deep, lifelong limiting beliefs. But in less than a month, the roots of the new belief pattern will be formed.

Then you can update your goals and affirmations to reflect your current priorities and move on to the next goal you want to achieve or the next limiting belief you want to change. Keep THAT up, and pretty soon, you will be LIMIT-LESS!

BELIEVE ME, spending quality time understanding and working on your beliefs is a lot more productive than spending time in forums arguing about whether a low carb program is better than a high carb program… or even whether the cure for obesity is found in the arcuate nucleus of the lower hypothalamus. It’s in your head all right… but most people have been looking in the wrong place.

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto
Fat Loss Coach
http://burnallyourfat.com

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, independent nutrition researcher, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: http://burnallyourfat.com

Sincerely,
Lewis & Sarah
Publisher - AtoZfitness Total Body Makeover

If you have any questions, you can contact me by clicking here.

What The New Low Carb Study REALLY Says

lewis — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 10:32:15 +0000

What The New "Low Carb" Study REALLY Says

Tom Venuto CSCS, NSCA-CPT
http://burnallyourfat.com

A news media feeding frenzy erupted earlier this week when a new diet study broke in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) on Thursday, July 17th. Almost all the reporters got it wrong, wrong WRONG! So did most of the gloating low carb forumites and bloggers. Come to think of, almost everyone interpreted this study wrong. Some valuable insights came out of this study, but almost everyone missed them because they were too busy believing what the news said or defending their own cherished belief systems...

The new study, titled, "Weight Loss With a Low-Carbohydrate, Mediterranean, or Low-Fat Diet" was published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) in issue 359, number 3.

I quickly read the full text of the research paper the day it was published. Then, I shook my head in dismay as I scanned the news headlines.

I found it amusing that the media turned this into a three ring circus, putting a misleading "low carb versus high carb," "Atkins vindicated" or "Diet wars" spin on the story. But that's mainstream journalism for you, right? Gotta sell those papers!

Just look at some of these headlines:

"Study Tips Scales in Atkins Diets Favor: Low Carb Regimen Better Than Low Fat Diet For Weight And Cholesterol, Major Study Shows. "

"Low-Carb and Low-Fat Diets Face Off "

"The Never-Ending Diet Wars"

"Low Carb Beats Low Fat in Diet Duel."

"Atkins Diet is Safe and Far More Effective Than a Low-Fat One, Study Says"

"Unrestricted Low-Carb Diet Wins Hands Down"

Some of these headlines are hilarious! I wonder if any of these reporters actually read the whole study. Geez. Is it too much trouble to read 13 pages before you write a story that will be read by millions of already confused people suffering the pain and frustration of obesity?

Here's a quick look at the study design.

The low fat restricted calorie diet was based on American Heart Association guidelines. Calorie intake was set at 1500 for women, 1800 a day for men with 30% of calories from fat, and only 10% from saturated fat. Participants were instructed to eat low fat grains, vegetables, fruits and legumes and to limit their consumption of additional fats, sweets and high fat snacks.

The Mediterranean diet group was placed on a moderate fat, restricted calorie program rich in vegetables and low in red meat, with poultry and fish replacing beef and lamb. Energy intake was restricted to 1500 calories per day for women and 1800 calories per day for men with a goal of no more than 35% of calorie from fat. Added fat came mostly from nuts and olive oil.

The low carb diet was a non-restricted calorie plan aimed at providing 20 grams of carbs per day for the 2 month induction phase with a gradual increase to 120 grams per day to maintain the weight loss. Intakes of total calories, protein and fat were not limited. However, the participants were counseled to choose vegetarian sources of protein (more on that bizarre-twist shortly).

The study subjects were mostly male (86%), overweight (BMI 31) and middle age (mean age 52)

Here were the study results:

Click-Here to read the rest of this great article on Burn the Fat Inner Circle.

In order to get to your maximum fitness potential you need to understand how the 5th Element is the missing piece of the fitness puzzle.

The first 4 Elements are:

1. Proper Nutrition
2. Strength Training
3. The Right Mindset
4. The right amount of cardio

but what is the 5th Element? The 5th critical component to achieving your best body ever?

I have arranged for you to recieve a FREE copy of an amazing Special Report that the Fat Loss Guru Tom Venuto has created for you.

Simply click here to get your hands on this special report!

Get the 5th Element
Special Report Now!

I am sure that this report will help you achieve even better results!

If you're interested in leveraging the power of accountability and social support to help you stick with your program better and get leaner, faster, then check out what the Inner Circle has to offer by clicking here.

Sincerely,,
Lewis & Sarahh
Publisher - AtoZfitness Total Body Makeover

If you have any questions, you can contact me by clicking here.

How To Build A Motivational Propulsion System: Programming Your Mind to Automatically & Habitually Exercise Your Body!

lewis — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:00:18 +0000

How To Build A Motivational Propulsion System: Programming Your Mind to Automatically & Habitually Exercise Your Body!

By Jonathan Altfeld, NLP Trainer

The Truth... will set you free.

There's a famous scene in the movie "the Matrix," where Morpheus gives Neo a choice between either remaining mentally imprisoned by his own ignorance and lack of action, or finally hearing the truth and emerging from his unconscious prison and finally living a life of intention & freedom.

I'd like to give a similar choice, now... to anyone who isn't exercising enough -- for whatever reason.

If you take the blue pill, then you stop reading now, you get to go back to your sense of feeling stuck and unmotivated and unhealthy, and you won't need to commit to taking any effort to improve things. You'll forget about all the good things that could come to pass, and you'll decide you don't want any of that rewarding, healthy lifestyle.

But if you take the red pill... you're going to learn something about the truth of the matter:

you're going to come face to face with how small the difference is between your mindset... and a mindset like Tom Venuto has... that keeps him in extraordinary shape, year round.

In order to take the red pill, all you have to do... is make sure that the ONLY thing you're doing, when reading this blog entry, is reading this blog entry. No telephone, no snacking, no anything else. Just read.

So do you stop here? Or read on? Consider yourself warned in advance that if you continue reading... ...life is about to change for the better.

I'm Jonathan Altfeld, and I'm a trainer of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). And I'm also seriously overweight. And some years ago, I was also in terrible health, sedentary and inactive. I couldn't comfortably walk a mile. I couldn't jog 10 feet let alone run. I couldn't do 30 crunches without getting gut cramps. I couldn't touch my toes, I couldn't bench press 70 pounds, I couldn't c.url 40 pounds. I didn't sleep well, and I had other growing concerns.

Business was going fine, though, and I do have my areas of expertise -- after all, Tom counts me as one of his trainers on a number of subjects including work with beliefs and belief systems (you'll see my name graciously thanked in the credits of his new book -- "The Body Fat Solution").

I knew then, and still know, the success formula as Tom Venuto so plainly states it -- to burn more fat, we need to create a caloric deficit, either with better diet, more/regular exercise, or both. To a man like Tom, that's just taking multiple steps in a formulaic way, and building a body as impressive as his is.

But I well know that to most of you... that's been (inappropriately) equated to the impossible task of fighting a war on two fronts (that's how Hitler was defeated -- even the 1940's German War machine couldn't successfully fight a war on two fronts against both the Allies and the Russians).

Never mind that for now, though, because I'm going to help you obliterate that limiting belief and the inappropriateness of that metaphor, at the end of this blog entry.

For now, just understand that 2 years ago, I felt the same way. So I made a simple, single choice, to attack one area first, and to make sure I licked that one area, thoroughly, and well. I made a choice to become so active, that I would begin to view exercise as not only desirable, but a driving daily HABIT.

So I turned to what I know in NLP -- how can we fire up a motivational response so powerful, that it becomes a compulsion? Second nature. Automatic. A built-in, new habit.

You need two things. You need a Propulsion System... and you need Accountability.

Click-Here to read the rest of this great article on Burn the Fat Inner Circle.

In order to get to your maximum fitness potential you need to understand how the 5th Element is the missing piece of the fitness puzzle.

The first 4 Elements are:

1. Proper Nutrition
2. Strength Training
3. The Right Mindset
4. The right amount of cardio

but what is the 5th Element? The 5th critical component to achieving your best body ever?

I have arranged for you to recieve a FREE copy of an amazing Special Report that the Fat Loss Guru Tom Venuto has created for you.

Simply click here to get your hands on this special report!

Get the 5th Element
Special Report Now!

I am sure that this report will help you achieve even better results!

Sincerely,,
Lewis & Sarahh
Publisher - AtoZfitness Total Body Makeover

If you have any questions, you can contact me by clicking here.

Tom Venuto on how to challenge limiting beliefs

lewis — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 12:24:04 +0000

hey there,

For today’s fat loss tip my buddy Tom Venuto was kind enough to let me to share this motivation/mindset question and answer that he recently answered on the Burn The Fat Inner Circle member forums because he thinks that self limiting beliefs are an issue that many people deal with and it’s one of the reasons people start to falter as early as late January or early February in their 2009 goal pursuits.

QUESTION:

"Tom, I’ve followed your guidelines by writing down all my goals, and I’ve also identified all my self-limiting beliefs (and believe me there were a lot, including a belief that I didn’t deserve it).

Ok, but what do I do now? Do I visualize my goals or work on repeating my new beliefs? I also took the list of limiting beliefs and made a new list called ‘self enhancing beliefs’. This is the list of beliefs that I am wondering if I should affirm everyday until they sink in.
Should I do this BEFORE affirming my goals?

I Very much appreciate your advice.

TOM VENUTO ANSWERS:

We could break this down into 2 major steps, 2 quick questions and
4 ways to challenge a limiting belief.

STEP 1: IDENTIFY LIMITING BELIEFS

We’re well aware of some of our beliefs because beliefs about spirituality or politics or animal rights any other topic are the types of beliefs that are usually conscious.

But the beliefs that affect us the most in our physical development are NOT conscious. They are unconscious.

So the first step, which you’ve already done, is to make sure you’ve flushed them all out. For our readers who haven’t done this yet, here’s how:

————————————————
2 Quick Questions Will Draw Out Your Beliefs
————————————————

It pays to do this as a formal "exercise" with serious quiet time and pen and paper.

Question #1. What causes me to be overweight (or unhealthy, not having body I want, etc)?

Question #2. What’s preventing me from getting leaner?

Spend some time with it.

Consider the answers; what you may come up with may be legitimate issues that you can deal with or which you have no control over, but either way, you will also see limiting beliefs flushed out through this questioning process.

Example: "I can’t because I have no time, I’m too old, I can’t stop eating, I hate exercise, You just can’t do it when you have 4 kids, after a hip replacement, it’s impossible…
And so on….

Thing is, those are not accurate facts. Those are beliefs (negative thought patterns) that hold you back.

STEP 2: CHALLENGE THOSE BELIEFS

How do you challenge a belief? 4 ways:

(A) Challenge it directly: is it even valid at all? See if you
can find a counter example. For example; you think that when
you’ve had 3 or 4 kids you cant get a nice flat stomach, meet
Maxine or Bonnie , or any one of our other super fit moms who have been profiled within the Inner Circle.

Now… if they did it, then how could this belief be valid?
Answer: It WASN’T valid! Your belief wasn’t true. You were
believing in something false and inaccurate and it was holding
you back!

Out of all the psychological techniques that we can apply to
create belief change, I have never found a way easier or better
than finding role models that are counter-examples, therefore
dis-proving a limiting belief.

(B) Challenge the source: is it your belief, or have you been
living what someone else handed down to you? Just the realization
that a belief wasn’t yours to begin with is enough to shatter it.

(C) Challenge the usefulness of the belief. Ok so you believed
something before, does still believing it has any usefulness today?
Does it help you move closer to what you want in your life?

(D) Challenging the belief by weighing the consequences. If
you keep this belief what is it going to cost you? what will
the pain be like? What will you miss? And what will these
consequences be if you don’t change it NOW?

Last but not least, You’re RIGHT about "deservability." So start
with an affirmation every day that "I deserve it."

keep in mind that affirmations alone won’t do it in the case
of having feelings of unworthiness. You MUST take massive action.
The more action you take, the more you will feel "worthy" of
receiving.

That’s why it’s harmful to seek something for nothing; you
can’t get something for nothing in the long run anyway, but
even if you could, you would not feel worthy.

There would be an incongruous feeling inside you and you’d
sabotage yourself… kind of like those lottery winners who
win a million dollars overnight, but they never became millionaires (in their mind/self image), so they blow the money faster than they got it…

You can create affirmations about all kinds of things and work on
them at the same time – things you want to change, get, improve, attract. Goals get turned into affirmations. Beliefs can be written as affirmations.

Affirmations are simply stating your goals or your desired empowering belief in a way that your subconscious mind is receptive to.

The difference between a belief affirmation and a goal affirmation
is that goals all have end points. Beliefs don’t. Most of your
empowering beliefs you will want to keep. But when a goal is achieved, you have to set new ones.

So when you’ve found that belief that you know is limiting you,
write an affirmation for what belief you would want / need to
hold instead. Read it right along with your goals every day. Keep
it up until you start to see your behavior change and your results
fall in line with what you want.

If you’re diligent, you will see changes in attitude and
behavior with 21-30 days. It may take longer if you’ve carried
deep, lifelong, life-impacting limiting beliefs, but the roots
of the new pattern will be formed.

Then you can move on to another goal or belief you want
to work on… and the effect of changing a few beliefs one after another can be nothing short of life-transforming.

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto
Author of "Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle"
Burn the Fat inner circle

Sincerely,
Lewis & Sarah
Publisher – AtoZfitness Total Body Makeover

If you have any questions, you can contact me by clicking here.

Instead of New Year’s Resolutions, Set S.M.A.R.T.E.R. Goals

lewis — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 10:32:28 +0000

Instead of New Year’s Resolutions, Set S.M.A.R.T.E.R. Goals

By Tom Venuto
www.BurnTheFat.com

Why do new year’s resolutions usually fail? Why do you start with guns blazing on January 1st, but by February, you’re losing motivation, cheating on your diet, skipping workouts, and slipping back into old patterns? John LaValle, a master trainer of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) suggests that we should take a closer look at the meaning behind the word “Resolution.” Being derived from the word “re-solve," it really means “to solve again.” And isn’t that exactly what happens? You solve the same problem again and again, year after year?

You know what I’m talking about… That 20 pounds you lost last year, and promptly gained it right back… you are now resolving to take it off again aren’t you? The very nature of the word resolution implies gaining it back again.

Suggestion: don’t make resolutions. Set SMARTER goals.

Resolutions aren’t real goals. They’re more like wishes, and wishes are wishy-washy. A wish becomes a goal the moment you put it in writing. When you write your goals in a certain way, following scientific principles of success psychology, you’ll skyrocket your chances of getting what you want this year… and keeping it.

One of the most tried and true methods for goal achievement is the SMART goals formula. If you searched the net for SMART goals, you would probably find a dozen different variations on the SMART goal acronym. Here’s my version of SMART goals, along with a little extra to make them even SMART-ER.

1. Specific. Set goals with clarity. Your mind does not respond well to vague generalities. If you say your goal is to lose weight and then you lose one pound, then you’ve reached your goal. Is that what you really wanted? Get clear. Be precise. Be specific.

2. Measurable. Set goals that can be quantified in measurable units such as pounds, body fat percentage, lean body mass, inches and clothing sizes. Performance goals can include strength (lbs or kilos lifted) and repetitions completed. Don’t forget to include health goals as well, such as blood pressure and blood lipids.

3. Accountable. Set goals you can be held accountable to. First be accountable to yourself by using a weekly progress chart, a daily nutrition diary and a training journal. Then double your motivation with external accountability and submit your results and journals to someone else who will hold you to your commitments.

4. Realistic. Set goals that are attainable and maintainable. If you lose two pounds of fat per week, you are doing awesome. 30 pounds in 30 days sounds great in the advertisements, but it is not typical, and rapid weight loss is likely to consist of muscle and water, not fat, and is nearly impossible to maintain.

5. Time Bound. Set goals with deadlines. Time limits are highly motivating. With no time limit, there is no urgency for completion. Set goals for daily workouts and nutrition, weekly weight and body composition and 12 week changes in weight, body fat or measurements. Set long term goals as well for one year, five years and even beyond. For all time periods, be certain that your deadline is realistic.

Now we add some motivational ooompf for this year by making your goals even SMART-ER!

6. Emotional. Goals give you a direction, but strong emotions are the propulsion system that drives you in that direction. Build up a burning desire by focusing on the emotional reasons why you want to achieve your goal. Connect your goals to your values. What’s most important to you about reaching your goal? If you reach 9% body fat, or whatever is your target, what will that do for you? What will your life look like then? How will it make you FEEL?

7. Reviewed often. Resolutions fail because they are casually set once at the beginning of the year and easily forgotten. Stay laser-focused by writing and reading your goals every day. Repetition is one of the keys to re-programming your mental computer for success. Use the goal card technique. Write your single most important body or fitness goal on a small card, then carry it with you every where you go, reading it several times a day.

S.M.A.R.T.E.R. GOALS is a simple, memorable formula for goal setting and goal getting. It may not be new, but then again, there are no new fundamentals. Methods and tactics may change, but scientific principles of success never change. And don’t forget to make your goals even smarter this year. A goal that’s not strongly desired and kept in front of you every day will be forgotten. Stay focused, eat right, train hard and expect success!

“A goal that is casually set and lightly taken will be freely abandoned at the first obstacle.” – Zig Ziglar, Motivational Speaker

Your friend and coach,

Tom Venuto
Fat Loss Coach
www.BurnTheFat.com

About the Author:

Sincerely,
Lewis & Sarah
Publisher – AtoZfitness Total Body Makeover

If you have any questions, you can contact me by clicking here.

5 Excuses That Won’t Fly in 2009

lewis — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 07:00:16 +0000

5 Excuses That Won’t Fly in 2009

By Tom Venuto
www.BurnTheFat.com

It’s 2009. Your old excuses for not getting in shape won’t work. As Dr. Evil (Austin Powers) said, ZIP IT! I don’t want to hear them anymore! Read em’, then haul your excuseless butt to the gym!

1. I have no time.

According to a story in a recent issue of Men’s Health magazine, Barack Obama works out for 45 minutes a day, 6 days a week. Obama doesn’t just play basketball either. Our new president stays fit to lead with cardio and weight lifting. He also says he wishes he could train 90 minutes a day. Have you ever seen what the daily schedule of a U.S. president looks like? If the busiest man in the world can train every day for 45 minutes a day, then what’s your excuse? ZIP IT! You ain’t got one!

2. It’s too expensive.

Getting in shape certainly is expensive… if you keep wasting hundreds of dollars, month after month on worthless “miracle” weight loss pills, internal cleansing gimmicks and “magic” potions that all claim to make you slim. Deceptive advertising and slick marketing for bogus diet aids is more rampant than ever. 2008 was the year of thewu-long tea scam, the acai berry scam, and, of course, the ubiquitous “cleansing” and “detox” gimmicks . Unless you put on your critical thinking cap and learn to investigate before you invest, then you’ll get scammed by 2009’s flavor of the year as well. Your quest for those elusive “6-pack” abs will not only continue to be expensive, you’ll go broke. Walking, jogging, calisthenics and body weight exercises are FREE. If you want to know what’s really expensive, tally up the cost of legitimate expenses like natural food, gym memberships, fitness education, dumbbells and so on, and compare that to your doctor’s bill when you’re sick.

3. No one will support me.

Experts on social influence say your income will be approximately equal to the average of your 5 closest friends. Not only do I think that’s pretty darn accurate, I also believe that your health is your greatest wealth, and your physical condition will be about equal to the average of your 5 closest friends. It’s a real challenge to stay positive, focused and active when you’re surrounded by critical people and negative influences. However, in 2009, lack of support is no longer a valid excuse. Online social networking is exploding (check outTwitter and Facebook ) and more IN PERSON friendships and associations are being made from an internet connection than ever before. Training buddies can be found online. Connect with them. Mentors and coaches are easily found online. Hire them. Support forums have been around for years. Use them. No support from your current friends? Stop whining, start reaching out and go make new ones. In 2009, support partners and new friends are just a click away.

4. I can’t lose weight because of my genetics.

The marvels of modern medical and biological research are astonishing. Our top scientists have mapped the human genome! In the past few years, numerous genes linked to obesity have been discovered. However, the obesity epidemic we’re facing today has only developed over the past 50 years and genetic mutations that lead to serious obesity are extremely rare. Genetic predisposition only means that you have a tendency. It’s when the genetics meet lifestyle and environment that the genes express themselves. If you have a family history of heart disease, is it smart to smoke, eat junk, be a stressed-out, type-A maniac and a couch potato? Well of course not, and it’s the same with obesity. If you have a tendency predisposing you towards obesity, you’d better be the person doing the MOST exercise, not the least. You’d better be the person paying the MOST attention to your nutrition. You’d better be the person with the healthiest lifestyle. But unfortunately, it’s usually the opposite. Most people throw up their arms in frustration saying, “what’s the use, I was dealt a bad hand.” Sorry. That won’t fly in 2009. The latest research says genetics are a factor, but a tendency is not a destiny!

5. I don’t know how.

The lamest excuse of them all in 2009 is “I don’t know how.” NO ONE KNOWS HOW TO DO ANYTHING UNTIL AFTER THEY HAVE ACTUALLY DONE IT! Ponder that for a while. You don’t need to know how at first. To get started, you only need to know WHAT… what is the goal? Setting well-formed goals is the master skill of success. Not wishy-washy resolutions that have no resolve behind them, but real goals. In writing. With emotional ooompf! As you continue to affirm, visualize and focus on your goal with clarity, belief, and expectation, your new goal or intention will be received by your subconscious. Once a goal is accepted into your subconscious mind, your brain, being a goal-seeking mechanism, will turn on your attention filters to seek out all the information you will ever need to reach your goal. It will also turn on an infallible navigation system to guide you to your goal like a torpedo to its target. As your brain guides your attention, your direction and your behavior, you will discover that today, in 2009, there is more good information, coaching and instruction available than ever before. And when you’ve activated that “success radar” in your brain by setting goals effectively, it’s not as hard to find honest, accurate and helpful HOW-TO advice as you might think. In fact, you found this webpage, so you’re doing pretty good right now, aren’t you?

No more excuses. In 2009, remember my Body Fat Solution Creed: You can either make excuses or get results, but you can’t do both!

Your friend and coach,

Tom Venuto
Fat Loss Coach
www.BurnTheFat.com

About the Author:

Sincerely,
Lewis & Sarah
Publisher – AtoZfitness Total Body Makeover

If you have any questions, you can contact me by clicking here.

Burn The Fat Inner Circle – Accountability for a Buck !

lewis — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:14:59 +0000

"You’re Only Seconds Away From Getting
"Insider Access" To This Powerful Support Group
And Virtual Gold Mine Of Fat Burning Secrets…"

‘Insiders’ are people who know things that most people don’t know, or they are privy to private information that most people do not have access to.

Members of the Burn The Fat Inner Circle will be "insiders" in the truest sense of the word.

They will have the opportunity to learn some very cool, very rare, very fascinating and very powerful information about burning fat and achieving top physical condition in a completely natural and healthy way…. in a place where no supplements, no pills, no gimmicks and no quick fix solutions will EVER be sold!

Best part: The Inner Circle will be the ONLY place on the Internet(along with his blog), where members can interact with Tom Venuto personally, as he will be posting and participating on the forums and message boards (and perhaps doing more than that as time goes by and the community grows).

Insiders will also have access to a support community of other like-minded people – regular people as well as experts – "newbies" as well as veterans – all "master-minding" together in a way never seen before on the Internet.

Sarah is one of the Inner Circle moderators on Tom’s invitation after she burned 55 lbs of bodyfat using the Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle program.

You probably realize that forums are everywhere these days. Many are freee and some are quite excellent. Unfortunately, many are quite awful and literally waste your precious time with posts from people with nothing to offer but spam, destructive criticism and useless debate.

The quality-control factor in a *member’s only* support community forum allows the Burn The Fat Inner Circle forums to provide an environment of mutual support and learning that you will NEVER see on a public forum..

Plus, the forum and support community aspect of the Inner Circle is JUST ONE of countless benefits of Inner Circle membership.

The "Burn The Fat Inner Circle" has hardly even been advertised, yet it is one of the most talked about fitness and Fat Loss websites and communities on the Internet.

It’s about an "ELEMENT" or piece that may be missing from your fat loss "puzzle" that – if applied – could supercharge your fat loss engine and skyrocket your results!

Here’s a true story:

"My initial weight: 425+ lbs… Walking 10-15 steps was killer then…

Today: 218 Lbs of fat put to rest! It changed my very foundation in life; there is absolutely no feeling like having control of your entire life again… there’s just no price you can put on it" – Mike Boyd

Inner Circle Member Mike Boyd discarded 218 pounds of unwanted, excess body fat. In his own words, he has begun what can only be described as "a new life."

If Mike can transform his body and start a new chapter in his life, then why not you? If Mike can slash 218 lbs of adipose tissue (fancy words for body fat), then what’s preventing you from losing 100, 50, or even just 10-15 lbs?

The answer is, nothing is stopping you — except maybe a limiting belief and the lack of support, motivation, knowledge and an effective plan. If you choose, you’re only seconds away from getting all of those things inside what might be the most educational, most motivational and the most supportive fat loss community to ever hit the internet.

This is a new way that you can get instant access to all the information you’ll ever need — in one place – to create a master fat burning plan that works. You’ll also get to meet and network with thousands of people from all over the world who have "burned the fat" and completely transformed their bodies.

Some of them might even live near you and you can train together and motivate each other in person; others become long-distance friends. I know, I have a few of those after being on the Inner Circle since its’ beginning.

The best part is: we’ve arranged to give you a sneak peak at this very special community. And at a very nice price too, read on!

But first, here are even more reasons to take us up on this sneak peak you’re about to receive. This is a fabulous support community, but it’s also much more: inside this "Inner Circle" community you will have access to:

–> Pick the brain of some of the world’s top fat loss and fitness experts including a team of trainers, coaches and nutrition experts led by founder Tom Venuto . ask your most burning questions any time you need answers .

–> Enjoy every episode of the Inner Circle’s audio interviews, audio Q & A’s and audio shows, all on downloadable MP3, ready for your iPOD (or burn to CD or listen on your computer through streaming audio)

–> Listen to the full details about how real people like Mike Boyd achieved their amazing body transformations, in the "fat loss success stories" department

–> Choose from an extensive and ever-expanding library of exclusive articles on every aspect of body fat reduction, nutrition and how to stay motivated — exclusives not published anywhere else on the Internet.

–> Download a huge library of members only e-books and e-reports

–> Get calorie and nutrient information at the click of a mouse

–> Calculate your personal calorie, protein, carbohydrate and fat needs using custom-built online, electronic calculators; as well as your ideal weight based on your current lean weight and your desired bodyfat percentage. No more guessing.

–> Try new fat burning recipes that have been altered from traditional ingredients to be lighter, leaner and healthier, and just as delicious. Quick and easy meals that anyone can make, even if you have no prior cooking experience.

–> See cutting edge research reviews — if you have a scientific mind and you want to see the academic side of all the best fat burning techniques.

–> Science-based supplement reviews so you can find out instantly if those diet pills or shakes you’ve been thinking about taking are really worth it.

–> And a whole lot more…

If you’re ready to make 2009 the year that you finally sculpt a lean, sexy body that has everyone turning their heads, then here’s how you can do it.

We negotiated special arrangements to offer you a test drive to the very best fat loss support community online today for only one single dollar…

Yes, just 100 pennies and you can have an entire month to test drive Tom Venuto’s Burn The Fat Inner Circle website.

It’s an all-access pass: You get the key to EVERYTHING, even the e-book and MP3 download libraries, which contain thousands of dollars worth of fat burning resources that are yours to keep, even if you decide not to keep your membership after the one dollar trial.

==> http://www.atozfitness.com/recommends/innercircle-trial.html

Tom normally only offers this special $1.00 Trial to his private customer list. We can say for certain that you will never see this offer on a public web page.

We were able to talk Tom into extending our subscribers this same special offer only because of our friendly relationship with Tom….

This offer won’t be available for long so be sure to take advantage of it now while it’s still available (I also have it on inside information that the price to join will be going up soon, so that’s all the more reason to take us up on this "test drive" if you are serious about getting into the absolute best shape of your life!)

A dollar for a one month full trial is so reasonable, it almost doesn’t make sense not to say yes to this offer. To take the test drive just visit the webpage below:

==>http://www.atozfitness.com/recommends/innercircle-trial.html

As a side note, many of you did take this opportunity at the end of 2007.

Christmas is in a week, New Year with its’ resolutions two weeks away; many of you have plans to get leaner in 2009, more muscular, whatever your goals are. Two key factors to success, are accountability and support; both of which you will get when you join the Inner Circle.

You post your before picture in the Galley, start a journal in the Progress Journal Forum, and proceed to reading previous journals, threads and looking at other success stories in the Gallery; asking questions, asking for support, and receiving answers and support! You are on your way to unstoppable success.

And for a mere 1$, what do you have to lose?

Sincerely,
Lewis & Sarah
Publisher – AtoZfitness Total Body Makeover

If you have any questions, you can contact me by clicking here.

Is THE PUMP Necessary for Muscle Growth?

lewis — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 07:00:01 +0000

Is THE PUMP Necessary for Muscle Growth?
Tom Venuto, CSCS, CPT
http://burnallyourfat.com

The pump is the short-term sensation you get during training when your muscles fill up with blood faster than the blood can leave the area, making the muscles appear fuller and larger. It’s a tight, swelled feeling, often accompanied by an increase in vascularity. Pump workouts generally involve medium (8-12) or higher (13-20+) repetitions, supersets/trisets/giant sets, and/or brief rest intervals between sets. But is going after the pump really necessary for muscle growth?

For bodybuilding and physique athletes, I believe the pump is of substantial importance and is something to pursue. For strength athletes, the pump is less significant. If it’s experienced at all, it’s a by-product rather than something sought directly.

You’ll hear some strength coaches and functional training experts knock pumping workouts because they claim pumping is cosmetic only and emphasizes “form over function.” That may be true, but if you’re interested in bodybuilding or physique development, then maximum pump can be very beneficial.

Most bodybuilders and even most exercise physiologists would agree that workouts that produce maximum pump can provide up to 20-25% of the increase in muscle size. This comes from sarcoplasmic and mitochondrial hypertrophy and increased capillarization. Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy looks good and is beneficial to bodybuilders, but you do tend to lose it more quickly with de-training.

The pump has virtually nothing to do with increased myofibrillar hypertrophy – the actual fiber growth that’s responsible for 75-80% of the increase in muscle size. That type of fiber growth comes only from heavy training, which produces much less, if any pump.

Remember something, you can get a pump by dropping down on the floor and doing a few sets of push ups, but that doesn’t mean you are going to get permanent gains in muscle fiber size.

In his book, The Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding, Arnold Schwarzenegger pointed out another benefit of the pump, the psychological effect. It feels good and is very satisfying to watch your muscles swell up and see the veins bulge right before your eyes in a matter of minutes. Arnold wrote:

“When you are pumped up, you feel better and stronger, and it’s easier to motivate yourself to train hard and achieve a high level of intensity. Sometimes you will walk into the gym and feel tired and lazy but you will get a fantastic pump after a few minutes of work and suddenly feel strong and energetic.”

A good pump can be a good indicator of an effective workout from a bodybuilding standpoint. The late bodybuilding guru and trainer of the stars, Vince Gironda, taught that a workout taken to maximum pump and then stopped before the pump began to subside was the optimal volume, tempo and duration:

“My own method would be to exercise until I noticed a pump loss,” said Vince. “I would then check back the number of sets and reps required to achieve this effect (noting the tempo and the amount of rest between sets). In this way I was able to calculate my personal exercise level.”

As important the pump might be for bodybuilders, the criteria that are more important than pump are progressive overload, intensity and of course recovery. Probably nothing is more important in bodybuilding or strength training than progressive overload. This means you must beat your previous workouts and increase the amount of weight you use in a slow, steady and systematic fashion (using periodization of course, because you can’t keep adding weight to the bar forever in a linear fashion).

Some of the best gains I have ever achieved came from combining heavy strength workouts using a 5-6 rep max on basic exercises, with maximum pumping methods such as supersets, short rest intervals and medium-high reps.

I also believe that pump workouts combined with strength workouts give the muscles a more “polished” look than low rep strength workouts alone. High rep workouts alone do little more than flush blood into the area worked and contrary to popular belief, high reps do NOT get you “ripped.”

The “ripped” look is mostly a matter of low body fat, but if body composition is equal, the trainee who has done both types of training will usually have a more “finished” look to his or her physique than the trainee who only does low reps with heavy weight. If you look at powerlifters and strongmen, you’ll notice that even the ones with low body fat usually lack the polished look that competitive bodybuilders possess.

So if you’re a strength athlete, then don’t measure your workout effectiveness based on pump. Focus on heavy weight with progressive overload on movement patterns and exercises relevant to your goals. But if you’re like me and your goal is bodybuilding or physique development, then go after BOTH: pump and heavy, intense, fiber-stimulating training with progressive overload.

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: http://burnallyourfat.com

Sincerely,
Lewis & Sarah

Publisher – AtoZfitness Total Body Makeover

If you have any questions, you can contact me by clicking here.

Burn The Fat Inner Circle – Accountability for a Buck !

lewis — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:00:00 +0000