SUSHIL TYAGI

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Fish Oil May Help You Burn Fat

Fish Oil May Help You Burn Fat...
But Not THAT Much Fat!

What the latest research says about omega-3 fatty acids and weight loss

Unless you've been living under a rock somewhere for the last several years, you've probably heard about the health benefits of eating fatty fish or taking fish oil supplements. Well, it looks like you might be able to add fat loss alongside the other benefits like heart, blood (cholesterol/triglycerides), brain, skin and joint health (and the rest of the list, which is too long to print here).

The biologically active ingredients that seem to make fatty fish so beneficial are are the long chain omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids, EPA and DHA. At least a half a dozen human studies and more than two dozen animal studies have been completed in the last 10 years which suggest that these omega-3 fatty acids found in fish may help you lose more fat. However, the fat loss benefit is not as much as some people want you to believe…

The results of two new studies on fish oil and fat loss were just released earlier this year. In one study published by the International Journal of Obesity, researchers from Reykjavik Iceland tested the effects of fish or fish oil consumption equivalent to 1.5 grams of combined EPA/DHA on body weight and body composition as part of a calorie restricted diet. (1)

The subjects were 324 young overweight men and women who followed one of four experimental protocols for 8 weeks:

(1) sunflower oil capsules (control)
(2) lean fish
(3) fatty fish (salmon)
(4) fish oil capsules

The researchers reported the following results:

"In young, overweight men, the inclusion of either lean or fatty fish, or fish oil as part of a hypoenergetic diet resulted in 1 kilogram more weight loss after 4 weeks than a similar diet without seafood or supplement of marine origin. The addition of seafood to a nutritionally balanced energy-restricted diet may boost weight loss."

It should be noted that the study was supported by the Seafood Plus organization and there were some limitations in the design that could have influenced the subject's compliance.

The second study, conducted at the University of South Australia and published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2) investigated the effect of combining fish oil supplements with regular aerobic exercise.

In a 12-week, placebo-controlled study, the subjects were divided into four groups:

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(1) sunflower oil
(2) sunflower oil plus exercise
(3) fish oil
(4) fish oil plus exercise.

The fish oil groups were given 6 grams of high DHA fish oil per day, which contained a total of 1.9 grams of long chain omega-3 fatty acids. The exercising groups performed aerobic exercise three days per week for 45 minutes.

As you might expect, the fish oil plus exercise group came out with the best results:

minus 1.2% body fat (compared to no decrease in the other groups)
minus 2 kilograms/4.4 lbs (compared to no decrease in the non exercise group).

Unfortunately, there was a limitation in this study as well: The food intake of the subjects was self reported, which is known to be notoriously inaccurate.

There have been several other human studies on fish oil and fat loss in the last ten years or so and the majority of the findings have been positive. The research is compelling and there have been numerous, and very plausible mechanisms of action proposed.

However, more and more often, I am hearing people in the health, fitness and nutrition industries making some pretty bold and I daresay, premature and outrageous claims about what fish oil can do for fat loss; claims which are not supported by the research.

The studies on fish oil and fat loss are encouraging, but the vast majority of research has been on animals (rats, mice and hamsters) and there have been limitations in nearly all the human studies so far, including:

Small sample sizes, short study durations, statistically insignificant results, lack of randomization, no control groups, imprecise body composition testing, measurement errors, self-reporting of food intake, low compliance control and fish industry or supplement industry-sponsored bias.

Even if you take the results of the existing research at face value, the fat loss really isn't all that impressive - an extra pound here, an extra kilo there.

Many of the research results barely reach statistical significance, and you even have to wonder if these small improvements in fat loss are simply correcting omega-3 deficiency or fixing omega-3 and omega-6 imbalance… therefore, will they continue over a longer time period or is this a one time improvement?

One of the earlier studies showed the same kind of measurable but modest results: The fish oil group that took 1.8 grams of combined EPA/DHA daily lost 2 pounds and the non fish oil group lost only 0.7 pounds after 3 weeks (3).

Of course, you'll probably take all the fat loss help that you can get, and since there are already enough good reasons to eat fatty fish for cardiovascular disease prevention and other health benefits, it's really a no brainer to eat fish such as salmon, trout, mackerel or sardines at least twice a week. (By the way, with the exception of King Mackerel, these are species which have not been reported as having problems with mercury contamination).

Alternately, you can use a fish oil supplement to get the equivalent in omega-3 fatty acids as found in the fish. Non fish eaters or vegetarians can use flaxseed oil, a plant-based source of Alpha Linolenic Acid (ALA) which converts in the body to EPA and DHA (the efficiency and amount of conversion has been a subject of controversy, however).

Based on the three studies cited above, it looks like 1.5 to 2.0 grams per day of combined DHA/EPA is the right dose when fat loss is the goal (although some suggest you should consider body weight when choosing the dosage, i.e., 1 gram total fish oil for each 20 lbs body weight, so a big guy might go with as much as 3.0 grams)

Most fish oil capsules come in 1,000 mg size at a 30% concentration, so if you took five 1000mg capsules a day, that would give you 1.5 grams of EPA/DHA; about the same as you'd get in 3 ounces (85 g) of salmon.

Note: other studies on fish oil and fat loss tested 3.0 to 4.0 g/day of EPA/DHA, but the American Heart Association has warned against taking more than 3 g EPA/DHA per day without a physicians supervision, as there may be potential contraindications and side effects such as increased bleeding time. Based on the research, more fish oil will NOT burn more fat, so be wary of the "mega dose gurus."

Another tip: Don't fall for the "premium price" necessarily means better quality party line. Quality and purity are important, but you can get molecularly-distilled, mercury, PCB, Dioxin, Organochlorine-free, 3rd party tested-to-meet-label-claims fish oil for less than ten bucks per bottle of 400 (one gram) capsules… yet I have seen "fish oil gurus" selling the exact same thing for $50 to $60 claiming that everyone else's products are "contaminated" and "inferior" in quality. If that's true, then I'd like to see those products submitted to consumer lab for voluntary 3rd party independent analysis and head to head comparison on purity AND cost effectiveness. If they come out superior and cost effective, I will gladly publicize the results myself.

The bottom line is it looks like fish oil may be a legitimate help to your fat loss efforts, especially when combined with exercise, as there may be an important synergy there. However, the idea that fish oil is some kind of miracle fat burner is just not true.

Like Mulder on the X-files, "I want to believe"… but we need much, much more research before we can say for certain exactly how much body composition improvement you can really expect from eating fatty fish or taking fish oil supplements.

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Fat Burners: The Unadulterated Truth

Fat burner supplements are advertised everywhere these days - on the internet, in magazines and even on TV. The ads almost always feature a very lean fitness model or bodybuilder and claim that these products, usually pills, were the secret to their six pack abs and very low body fat levels. Some of these ads suggest that the only way to get as lean as the "hot bodies" you see in the ads is by taking their "miracle pills" and that proper nutrition and exercise alone is not enough.

While I won't dismiss the fact that there are ingredients in some fat "burner" products that might help a little bit, I take great displeasure in seeing misleading advertising claims as well as the misleading use of models who are often paid to endorse the product even though they may never have even used it (they're just models!)

Many "fat burner" companies have been sued by the Federal Trade Commission for false advertising, false claims and falsifying before and after photos.

The best you get is a slight thermogenic effect and possibly some slight appetite suppression. A few products might work through other mechanisms like improving thyroid, but if you forgive me the generalization, I consider the effects of all these "fat burner" products to be minutia.

In one of my previous newsletters, I said that in my opinion, 97% of your results come from nutrition and training and maybe you get an extra 3% advantage from supplements. Just so you know those numbers arent something I just pulled out of thin air, lets take an example:

I have reviewed scientific data that EGCG, the active ingredient in green tea extract, if consumed in enough quantity, could increase thermogenesis / metabolic rate by an average of about 75 calories in 24 hours. Since ephedrine was taken off the market, green tea extract appears in many ephedra-free formulas these days. What is a typical calorie expenditure for an active male in 24 hours? lets say 2700 calories per day. 75/2700 = 2.7%.

That little extra doesnt hurt, especially when it's delivered in a healthful package such as green tea (rather than central nervous system stimulants), but it's minutia in the bigger picture. Another way to put this into perspective is to make a list of what other things would burn 75 calories (for 150 lb person:)

walk your dog for 15 minutes
walk for 5 minutes at normal casual pace three times a day
30 minutes of ironing
bagging leaves and grass clippings for 14 minutes
re arrange your furniture for 10 minutes
wash your car, 15 minutes
vacuuming for 15 minutes
7.2 minutes of walking up stairs (could be spread throughout the day)

Ah yes, but why move your body when you can take the pill and metabolism increases while you sit and watch TV? How about for your health? A body that is not moved, rots away. Unlike a car which only has so many miles on it and wears out from over-use, people are the only "machines" on earth that fall apart from under-use.

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Here's what any good personal trainer will always tell you: No amount of calorie restriction or pill-popping will ever give you FITNESS. It willl never give you STRENGTH. it will never get you MUSCULARITY. It will never give you FUNCTIONALITY. At best it will help you reduce body mass slightly.

On one hand, I'm tempted to say that everything counts and that yes, 75 calories here and 75 calories there, it ALL adds up, because it does. After you're exercising regularly and all your fundamentals are in place, details and little things do matter.

I'm simply asking you to put the benefits of any fat burners in proper perspective and realize that (1) there is no "need" for taking them and (2) the claims made in the ads are often erroneous or exagerrated.

My advice on fat burners:

1. NEVER buy a fat burner unless you get independent verification of the claims made for the product.

How do you KNOW they really work? Are you SERIOUSLY going to take the advertisers word for it? Are you SERIOUSLY going to take someone else's testimonial as fact? Get verification for yourself by going to the pub med data base and looking for the primary research.

2. Put it in perspective

With those products that work, such as those providing a small thermogenic effect, put that in perspective as compared to how easily you could burn that many calories with even light exercise like walking or housework. Keep in mind the additional fitness and strength benefits you will obtain from exercise as opposed to doing nothing and popping a pill.

3. See if there are any side effects or health warnings.

With all supplements and especially with prohormones or stronger thermogenics like the ephedrine and caffeine stack, (if you still have access to them), understand the risk to benefit ratio, and be certain you know the dangers and contraindications.

4. Read the label and see if the product contains enough active ingredient to even work.

A classic scam is when a "fat burner" advertisement quotes research that a certain inredient boosts metabolism, which might be true. What they may not tell you is that all the research with positive results used a large dosage of the ingredient, which might not be cheap. So the supplement company includes a "pinch" or "light dusting" of that ingredient just so they can say it's in the bottle, even though it's nothing more than "label decoration." Then they have the audacity to invoke the research studies in their advertisements when the amount of the ingredient in their product is no where near what was used in the research!

5. Proprietary blend scam.

Some companies don't let you see how much ingredient is in the product formula, because it contains multiple ingredients and they say their formula is a "trade secret" aka "proprietary", so they list what is in the product but not how much. Well, if you don't know how much is in there then how are you supposed to know whether it contains the proper dosage? (answer: you don't!)

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6. Make sure there is human research, not just rodent research.

In many cases, advertisements cite studies on rats and mice as "proof" under the assumption that the product will produce the same results in humans. Animal research is an important part of the scientific method, as it is often used to help find areas of research where human study should be pursued, or in the other direction, to trace back the mechanism that makes something work. However, for obesity research in particular, a positive finding in rats does not mean the same thing will happen in humans.

7. Look for more than one human study.

Consider trying a supplement after it has human research that has been replicated by different research groups which are not industry-sponsored. My policy is that I will usually only give a "buy" rating to a supplement when a product has an intitial well-designed human controlled trial published and then similar research has been replicated by another research group that is not supplement-industry funded.

Actually, I think it's a good thing that nutrition and supplement companies fund and sponsor some of the research. They should. They should not only back up their claims with published clinical trials, they should share some of the cost of this expensive research.

However, a basic principle of the scientific method is replication. Other researchers should be able to duplicate the findings. Therefore, while the funding source does not necessarily prove bias, if there is only one study available on a supplement and it is company or industry sponsored, I usually take it with a grain of salt and put an asterisk next to it while I wait for confirmation from another study. (You might be surprised at how infrequently this type of confirmation occurs).

Do you really need "more" than nutrition and exercise?

Now, when you weigh the fact that even the products with research backing them only help a little, with the fact that many of the ads lie to you about research, exagerrate claims and hide vital information about ingredients, and with the fact that you can do a few more minutes of exercise per day and get the same results for free, how enthusiastic are you about fat burners? Yeah, that's why I'm not real excited about them either and based on the fact that I use no drugs and no "fat burner" supplements and I compete in bodybuilding - very successfully - I'd say that the assertion, "it takes more than nutrition and exercise to get six pack abs" is patently false.

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Facebook and Consumer Learning Process

A great deal of successful marketing today depends on closely understanding consumer behavior. As a marketer, you may always be curious to understand what excites or motivates your customers into buying either your products or those of your competitor. Depending on the buying and consumption cycle of your product, there can be several factors that will determine the sales conversion ratio for your product.

Toward Right Learning

A successful sale happens when your customer understands his need and is convinced that your product can satisfy that need in a reliable way. Both these steps happen through a process, which is known as learning. Hence as a marketer, your job begins by ensuring that the customer perceives his need and, more importantly, finds the solution in your product

Right Learning and Right Conversations

At this very moment, you may be reading this article on your laptop or desktop. Remember the day when you had decided to buy your first computer. You must have considered many factors before finalizing which computer to purchase. One of the important decision points for a buyer is his circle of reference. It is natural for you, as a buyer, to discuss with your informed friends about the best brand. Positive references from friends and acquaintances help one make a decision.

How has Facebook changed all of this?

Research has shown that buyers do a great deal of product research on the Internet and most of the time choose to purchase the product either online or offline. The power of the Internet as a research and information resource has been realized to a great extent by customers worldwide.

The basics of consumer behavior, learning, reference groups, and buying decisions have remained exactly the same. But what has changed significantly is the speed with which everything happens. Technology has brought down the barriers in global communication. Social networking sites, and more importantly the rising popularity of Facebook, bears a strong testimony to the growing power of the Internet as a mode of communication and a source of information.

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Before and After Facebook

Like we discussed, most of the learning before the proliferation of Facebook and social media happened through advertisements on television. During the days of conventional media dominance, marketing was driven by the power to broadcast. Marketing communication was primarily unidirectional through blaring advertisements and press releases.

Word of mouth happened on a one-on-one basis, where the conversation would begin and end around a small group of people.

Today, a search on your favorite brand on Facebook may reveal many conversations about the brand, which may depict user's positive or negative experiences with the brand. Unlike the clandestine brand gossip of earlier days, the Facebook era ensures that conversations are documented and made easily available through social networking sites.

Brands trying to ignore this new medium find themselves in a state similar to an ostrich, with its head buried in sand, thinking the world cannot see it. The real image of the brand in people's minds shows up aloud these days through conversations on Facebook.

Facebook and Online Reputation

The power of Facebook, as discussed, has extended the scope of Word of Mouth beyond the good old conversation between friends. Today, each and every Facebook user is free to publish his views on your brand. The true effect of this happens whenever these conversations appear in searches and influence people's opinion about the brand image.

This is where online reputation, primarily on a widely accepted medium like Facebook, matters.

In a nutshell..
Managing a positive image of your brand requires you to expand your reach, more than what you would do in case of conventional media. The conversational nature of social networking sites, such as Facebook, demands a different approach. Unlike one-time broadcast by the conventional medium, Facebook stores each and every conversation and makes it available through the search option for anyone who is curious to know more about your brand.

That is the reason why it is a critical part of any brand plan to feature positively on social networking sites, such as Facebook. Engaging consultants who have experience in managing brands through the new era of social networks is a growing practice that can help brands manage the new wave.

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The Double-Edged Sword of “Healthy” Fast Food

What's on the menu at the big fast food chains lately? Oddly enough, the answer is… "health food!" Even more incongruous, many are marketing their food for weight loss. Healthy weight loss food at Taco Bell and McDonalds? Is this a noble move to be applauded, is it a big corporate money grab, or is it a double edged sword?

Remember Jared Fogle, the Subway guy? He lost 245 pounds while eating at Subway regularly. He simply picked the lower calorie menu items. Seeing an opportunity, the local store owner pitched Subway corporate with an idea. Before long, Jared was the company spokesperson in their nationwide advertising campaigns which became known as The Subway Diet.

Sales doubled to 8.2 billion. How much the increase came from the weight loss ads is unknown, but there's little doubt that using weight loss as a marketing platform was a boon for the sandwich maker. Other fast food chains picked up the weight loss torch where Subway left off.

The latest is the Taco Bell Drive through diet, with their own skinny spokesperson: Christine! The ads, which are admittedly conservative, perhaps due to more stringent FTC laws, say Christine lost 54 lbs over 2 years by reducing her calories to 1250 a day, and choosing Taco Bell's new lower calorie "Fresco" items.

These include "7 diet items with 150 to 240 calories and under 9 grams of fat." For example, there's a chicken soft taco with only 170 calories and 4 grams of fat.

For people who refuse to give up eating at fast food restaurants, this is arguably a positive thing. Take my brother for example, He's not a total junk food junkie, but left to his own devices, he WILL make a beeline to Taco Bell and McDonalds.

I went to McDonalds with him a few months ago (I was dragged there), and he was about to order a bacon cheeseburger. I glanced at the menu and said, "That's 790 calories!" I glanced down at his belly then continued, "Look, they have chicken wraps. Why don't you have one of those?" Without questioning me, he agreed, apparently happy to get any McDonalds fix.

Right there at the counter they had the nutrition information sheets:

McDonald's honey mustard grilled chicken wrap: 260 calories, 9 grams fat, 27 grams of carbs, 18 grams of protein.

That saved him 530 calories. Am I happy there was something with only 260 calories on the menu? Absolutely. Do I applaud the fast food restaurants for offering lower calorie choices? You bet. But the big question is: are these really "healthy choices?"

A few journalists and bloggers recently answered, "These fast food diet items are NOT healthy, they're only 'healthi-ER.'"

I think they're both mistaken. I think this food is not healthy nor is it healthier. It's only lower in calories. If you eat lower calorie food, that can help you lose weight and if you lose weight, that can improve your health. But what if your definition of healthy food includes nutrition, nutrient density and absence of artificial ingredients?

Let's take a look at that very low calorie chicken wrap. Is it really healthier just because it's got 1/3 the calories of a bacon cheeseburger?

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Here's the ingredients straight from McDonald's website:

McDonald's Grilled Chicken Breast Filet (wrap): Chicken breast filets with rib meat, water, seasoning (salt, sugar, food starch-modified, maltodextrin, spices, dextrose, autolyzed yeast extract, hydrolyzed [corn gluten, soy, wheat gluten] proteins, garlic powder, paprika, chicken fat, chicken broth, natural flavors (plant and animal source), caramel color, polysorbate 80, xanthan gum, onion powder, extractives of paprika), modified potato starch, and sodium phosphates. CONTAINS: SOY AND WHEAT. Prepared with Liquid Margarine: Liquid soybean oil, water, partially hydrogenated cottonseed and soybean oils, salt, hydrogenated cottonseed oil, soy lecithin, mono- and diglycerides, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate (preservative), artificial flavor, citric acid, vitamin A palmitate, beta carotene (color). (and don't forget the 800 mg of sodium).

HOLY CRAP! Shouldn't chicken breast be just one ingredient… chicken breast?

This is not food. It's more like what author Michael Pollan would call an "edible food-like substance."

What about the honey mustard sauce? The first ingredient after water is… SUGAR!

The flour tortilla ingredients? Enriched bleached wheat flour, also made with vegetable shortening (may contain one or more of the following: hydrogenated soybean oil, soybean oil, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, hydrogenated cottonseed oil with mono- and diglycerides added), contains 2% or less of the following: sugar, leavening (sodium aluminum sulfate, calcium sulfate, sodium phosphate, baking soda, corn starch, monocalcium phosphate), salt, wheat gluten, dough conditioners, sodium metabisulfite, distilled monoglycerides.

Trans fats? Sugar? Aluminum? Stuff you can't pronounce and have to look up to find out it's preservatives and disinfectants?

Don't confuse the issues: weight loss and health…. Calories and nutrition. There IS a difference, and that is what makes "healthy" fast food a double edged sword at best.

Some people, like my brother, simply aren't going to give up fast food completely. If I can get him to make better bad choices, that could help him control his weight. If that works, then I'm pleased that the fast food restaurants have such choices to offer.

But if you wanted to make a good choice - a healthy choice - you'd forget about "driving through" anywhere on a regular basis. You'd shop for whole, fresh, natural real food, keep a well-stocked kitchen… and learn how to cook.

The Subway diet, the Drive Through diet, or the Weight Watchers approved McDonalds menu (yes its true, what a pair that is!) Don't kid yourself – this is not only not healthy, it's not healthier – it's lower calorie junk food.

"Welcome to our restaurant sir. Would you like a large plate of dog poo or a small plate of dog poo?"

"No thank you, I will take neither. No matter what the serving size, crap is still crap."

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Count Down To Fitness Success

Count Down To Fitness Success
And Keep Your Motivation Drive Alive

There are many fantastic ways to get focused and motivated to begin a diet or exercise program, but often the most difficult thing to do is keep that drive and ambition alive for more than a few weeks and see your goal through to completion.

Within just weeks of starting, many people have already hit their first snag or setback, and as a result, have slipped backwards in the mental focus and motivation department. Setting goals in writing is an essential step to success, but how do you stay focused on them? One technique I have used ever since my very first bodybuilding competition 18 years ago, is...

The "contest countdown calendar."

I have used it ever since, through 28 competitions and it will work for you too, for any fitness goal.

I purchase a desk or wall calendar - the type that shows each week stretching horizontally across the page with an open block of space for each day.

After I set my goal and place a deadline on it, I do NOT stop there. I take out my calendar and start counting backwards from my target goal deadline to the present day.

T-minus 117 days....

T-minus 116 days...

T-minus 115 days....

I also fill in my workouts for the entire 3-4 month period, which is the typical length I allow for my mid-range goals like contest prep.

you would be shocked - pleasantly so - just how focused this keeps you. Even better still, you get MORE and MORE motivated with each passing day you countdown because the deadline is getting closer

Deadlines are absolutely critical to your success. Little gets done without deadlines.

There is a saying in management and psychology that "work will always expand to fill the time allowed for it's completion."

Remember term papers in school? when you were given a term paper assignment and you had the entire semeseter to do it, did you run home that first night and get crankin on it?

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How about after a week? two weeks? A month? TWO MONTHS?

probably not, eh?

If youre like most people, you put it off until the last minute and you barely got it turned in on time. In fact, there are always a few people who pull all nighters the night before!

Alas, the power of the deadline!

In your fitness endeavors, if you dont have IMPENDING deadlines that give you that twinge in your stomach that says "take action now, or else!" then you find it very easy to say to yourself, ' I have plenty of time so this one cheat meal doesnt matter... it doesnt make much difference at this point if I skip this one workout... I have time to make it up..."

And then, just like the term paper, you are scrambling at the last minute to reach your weight goal. But in the case of a your body, the consequences are more severe and painful than just a bad grade or late penalty.

Inevitably, you succumb to crash dieting and overtraining or other unhealthy fast-weight-loss madness, which eats up your own muscle like a hungry cannibal and sends you spiraling into the dark pit of metabolic damage and the inevitable plateau and weight gain that follow.

But the solution is so simple: Count your way down to success!

Don't stop with setting goals. Put your goal countdown on paper, review your goals every single day, AND know, every single day, how many days there are until your target goal date. You will stay more consciously focused and even better, your unconscious mind will go to work for you in keeping you motivated, on track, and on schedule. You'll come in for a landing on your goal deadline date like an F-16 landing on an aircraft carrier.

I just did my countdown calendar earlier this week... T minus 117 days til my next bodybuilding competition, and thanks to this simple but powerful technique, I'm already focused like a laser beam and have been making steady progress without so much as a hiccup...

Don't under-estimate this simple technique... Give it an honest test... because it's often the simplest motivational techniques that are the most powerful of all!.

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What is cortisol?

Cortisol is a hormone produced by your adrenal glands. It falls into a category of hormones known as "glucocorticoids", referring to their ability to increase blood glucose levels. Cortisol is the primary glucocorticoid.

Why does your body produce cortisol?

Cortisol is a stress hormone. Your body produces cortisol in response to stress, physical, mental or emotional. This can include extremely low calorie diets, intense training, high volume training, lack of quality sleep as well as common daily stresses such as job pressures, fights with your spouse or being caught in a traffic jam. Trauma, injury and surgery are also major stressors to the body (Note: much of the research done on cortisol and stress has been done on recovering patients, and such findings may not carry over to healthy, athletic populations).

What does cortisol do?

Cortisol is part of the fight or flight response. Faced with a "life or death" situation, cortisol increases the flow of glucose (as well as protein and fat) out of your tissues and into the bloodstream in order to increase energy and physical readiness to handle the stressful situation or threat.

How do you know whether your cortisol levels are high?

You can get your cortisol levels tested if you choose to. The most common method of testing is a blood test (blood cortisol levels). Saliva and 24 hour urine tests are also available.

What is a normal level of cortisol?

Cortisol levels are higher in adults than children and levels fluctuate throughout each 24 hour period, so tests must account for the time of day. Cortisol concentrations are highest in the early morning around 6 – 8 a.m. and they are also elevated after exercise (a normal part of your body's response to exercise). The lowest levels are usually around midnight. According to the Medline Encyclopedia, normal levels of cortisol in the bloodstream at 8:00 a.m. are 6-23 mcg/dl.

Should you get your cortisol levels tested?

For serious competitive athletes, it may be worth the time, expense and inconvenience to have cortisol tests done on a regular basis. Some strength and conditioning coaches insist on it. For the average trainee, as long as you are aware of the factors that produce excessive cortisol and take steps to keep it in the normal, healthy range, then testing is probably not necessary.

Is cortisol related to abdominal obesity?

Yes. There is a link between high cortisol levels and storage of body fat, particularly "visceral" abdominal body fat (also known as intra-abdominal fat). Visceral fat is stored deeper in the abdominal cavity and around the internal organs, whereas "regular" fat is stored below the skin (known as subcutaneous fat). Visceral fat is particularly unhealthy because it is a risk factor for heart disease and diabetes.

Does Cortisol Make you fat?

No, cortisol is not "the thing" that makes you fat. In fact, one of the effects of cortisol is to increase the breakdown of stored adipose tissue into glycerol and fatty acids where it can enter the bloodstream and then be used as energy. High levels of cortisol are merely one contributing factor to storage of abdominal fat, not the primary cause. An excess of calories from too much food and not enough exercise is what makes you fat.

If cortisol is related to abdominal obesity, then will taking a cortisol suppressing pill get rid of abdominal (belly) fat?

No. Just because there is an association between high cortisol levels and abdominal body fat doesn't mean that a taking a cortisol-suppressing pill will remove abdominal body fat. The studies which showed a relationship between cortisol and body fat did not test whether suppressing cortisol removes fat that is already deposited on your body.

Does stress make you fat?

No. If it did, then everyone who is stressed would be gaining fat. Many people lose weight while under stress. In some studies, test subjects with the highest cortisol (and stress) levels lost the most weight. Stress, by itself, does not increase body fat. However, if stress stimulates appetite and leads to overeating, then the excess calories from "stress eating" can make you fatter.

Is cortisol is bad for you?

Cortisol is not "bad for you," it is a hormone that is essential for life as part of our natural stress response. There are many hormones in our bodies, which in the proper amounts, maintain good health, but in excess or in deficiency, have negative effects or even contribute to health problems or diseases. Cortisol is no different. For example, Cushing's syndrome is a disease of high cortisol levels, while Addison's is a disease of low cortisol levels. You want to maintain a healthy, normal level of cortisol, not suppress your cortisol to nothing or allow it to remain elevated.

Chronically elevated cortisol levels may have a variety of negative effects. Cortisol is catabolic and elevated cortisol levels can cause the loss of muscle tissue by facilitating the process of converting lean tissue into glucose. An excess of cortisol can also lead to a decrease in insulin sensitivity, increased insulin resistance, reduced kidney function, hypertension, suppressed immune function, reduced growth hormone levels, and reduced connective tissue strength. Chronically elevated levels of cortisol can also decrease strength and performance in athletes.

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Can suppressing cortisol improve your muscle growth and strength?

High cortisol levels can increase muscle protein breakdown and inhibit protein synthesis (building up muscle proteins), so a chronically elevated cortisol level is clearly counterproductive to building muscle. Bringing elevated cortisol levels back to normal may improve recovery, strength, hypertrophy and performance. However, there is no scientific evidence that reducing your cortisol levels below normal will have any effect on increasing strength or muscle growth.

Should you take a cortisol-suppressing supplement to help you lose weight?

In my opinion, no, absolutely not. Cortisol suppressing supplements are not a valid solution for losing weight. The FTC has filed lawsuits against the makers of Cortislim and Cortistress, charging them with making false and unsubstantiated claims that their products can cause weight loss. Lydia Parnes, acting director of the FTC's bureau of consumer protection says, "The defendant's claims fly in the face of reality. No pill can replace a healthy program of diet and exercise." Reducing excessively high cortisol levels through supplement use may prove beneficial in some ways for hard training athletes. However, pills do not make you lose fat. Body fat is lost by creating a caloric deficit through exercise and nutrition.

Should you take a cortisol-suppressing supplement to help control your stress levels?

There are quite a few supplements, mostly herbs, which are reputed to have "calming," "relaxing," "tranquilizing," "stress-relieving" or "anti-anxiety" effects. These include Magnolia bark, kava kava, valerian, L-theanine and too many others to mention. However, very few studies exist which have directly tested the effects of these herbs on cortisol levels. Although some people may find value in these types of products, the ideal solution is to reduce the stress or change your perception of the stress to lessen its physical effects. Treating symptoms does not remove causes. It can be dangerous to "band-aid" the effects of stress while the stress remains in place.

What should you do if you have a lot of stress in your life?

It makes sense to take steps to reduce stress in your life and lessen the impact of stressors that cannot be avoided. Trying to avoid stress completely is not possible, nor is it desirable. Stress is an important part of life because you can't achieve positive adaptations and growth without stress to trigger them. It's continuous stress that you want to avoid. It's okay to expose yourself to stress, provided there is a sufficient period of rest afterwards so you can fully recover.

One of the best ways to keep cortisol in the normal range is to reduce stress and allow time for recovery and renewal. There are effective and natural means of reducing stress that don't cost a penny, including getting out in nature, deep breathing, enhancing sleep quality, relaxation exercises, meditation and visualization-guided imagery. It's important to develop a calm mind and sense of tranquility.

What's in those cortisol pills anyway?

The ingredients can vary in type and quantity from one brand to the next. Some ingredients are included in the formulations to have a relaxing or stress reducing effect, some are included to reduce cortisol levels, while others are aimed at insulin and blood sugar stabilization. Cortislim, for example, contains Magnolia bark, beta sitosoterol, theanine, green tea extract, bitter orange peel extract (source of synephrine), banaba leaf extract, vanadium, vitamin C, calcium and Chromium.

Other ingredients that are often used in the various product formulations include Epidemium, phytosterols, tyrosine, Branched chain amino acids, ginseng, ashwaganda, astragalus, kava kava, St. John's wort, Melatonin, SAM-e, Valerian, Gingko Biloba, Phosphatidyl Serine (PS), Acetyl L-carnitine and Glutamine. Reviewing all of these is beyond the scope of this article.

If you decide to take a cortisol suppressing supplement what should you look for?

Before you even think about supplements (or drugs), keep in mind that unnatural suppression of cortisol may not be wise or necessary, especially if you haven't used all the natural cortisol and stress management strategies at your disposal first. Once your nutrition, training and recovery bases are covered, there is some solid research showing that certain supplements may be beneficial, especially for athletes engaged in extremely hard training.

Carbohydrate consumed with lean protein immediately after training has a cortisol suppressing effect. High glycemic index (GI) carbs in particular, cause an insulin spike, which not only helps restore muscle glycogen, stimulates protein synthesis and kick starts the recovery process, it also helps lower the exercise-induced rise in cortisol. The research supporting this practice is substantial. (This should serve as a warning to people on low carb diets that are so strict that they don't even allow small amounts of carbs after workouts). Rather than solid food, many athletes prefer a liquid "meal" using a commercial post workout drink containing whey protein and maltodextrin plus dextrose or glucose (fast acting protein and high GI carbs) because the rapid absorption time may speed recovery.

Vitamin C, known mainly for cold or flu protection and antioxidant properties, may decrease cortisol levels. A study by Marsit, et al showed a reduction in cortisol levels in elite weightlifters taking 1000 mg. of vitamin C per day. Other studies have reported similar findings.

Phosphatidyl serine (PS) is a phospholipid, which appears to have cortisol suppressing properties. Studies by Fahey and Monteleone have shown that daily doses of 800 mg can reduce cortisol. These studies did not conclude that PS would help you lose weight or gain more muscle.

Glutamine is an amino acid, which in some studies, has been shown to decrease cortisol and prevent a decrease in protein synthesis. Many strength athletes swear by glutamine for improved recovery, but the research is still not conclusive about efficacy or dosages for athletes or bodybuilders. Much of the research on Glutamine was performed on patients recovering from surgery, burns or traumas (severe stresses to the body).

Acetyl-L Carnitine (ALC) has been studied in Alzheimers patients as a method of improving cognitive function. One study showed that long term use of Acetyl L Carnitine lowered cortisol in the Alzheimers patients. Research on rats and mice has shown that ALC increases luteinizing hormone, which may in turn elevate testosterone. Whether these findings carry over to healthy athletes has yet to be proven, but some coaches and athletes believe that ALC lowers cortisol and elevates testosterone.

It's important to note that the research on some of these substances is often conflicting and inconclusive. It's also important to note that many of the cortisol suppressing supplements which are marketed to athletes or to people seeking weight loss do not contain doses anywhere near the amounts that were used in the research. (Yet another way that supplement companies deceive consumers).

How can you lower your cortisol levels naturally?

You can lower cortisol naturally. In fact, if you are overtrained, unnatural cortisol suppression may be nothing more than a "band aid," and continued overtraining can lead to adrenal exhaustion, which could take months to remedy. Sometimes the best thing you can do is take a rest or decrease your training volume and intensity rather than artificially attempt to suppress cortisol. Symptoms of overtraining include elevated resting pulse, sleep disturbances, fatigue, decreased strength and decreased performance.

Avoid very low calorie diets, especially for prolonged periods of time. Low calorie dieting is a major stress to the body. Low calorie diets increase cortisol while decreasing testosterone.
Use stress reduction techniques (stress, anger, anxiety, and fear can raise cortisol)
Avoid continuous stress. Stress is an important part of growth. It's when you remain under constant stress without periods of recovery that you begin breaking down.
Avoid overtraining by keeping workouts intense, but brief (cortisol rises sharply after 45-60 min of strength training)
Avoid overtraining by matching your intensity, volume and duration to your recovery ability. Decrease your training frequency, and or take a layoff if necessary.
Suppress cortisol and maximize recovery after workouts with proper nutrition: Consume a carb-protein meal or drink immediately after your workout.
Get plenty of quality sleep (sleep deprivation, as a stressor, can raise cortisol).
Avoid or minimize use of stimulants; caffeine, ephedrine, synephrine, etc.
Limit alcohol (large doses of alcohol elevate cortisol).
Stay well hydrated (at least one study has suggested that dehydration may raise cortisol).

How do you spot a weight loss pill scam?

The cortisol pill is just one in a long string of bogus weight loss products, and it won't be the last! Why? Because weight loss supplements are big business! Eight or nine figure fortunes have been made from the sales of a single product, which was later proven to be a total farce.

How do you protect yourself? Do your homework! Don't take anything unless you know exactly what's in the product, why it's in the product and how much is in the product. Review the scientific research. Don't buy a weight loss product just because a radio personality says it works! Don't jump on the phone with your credit card in hand after watching a thirty-minute infomercial! In this day and age, you have to be smarter than that!

Conclusions

Excessive cortisol is not good. But cortisol is not inherently bad; it's a vitally important hormone and part of your body's natural stress response. Cortisol does not make you fat. Stress does not make you fat. Stress may lead to increased appetite… Increased appetite may lead to eating too much… Eating too much makes you gain fat. Make sense?

Cortisol suppressing agents may have some practical uses. But rather than thinking of cortisol supplements as a weight loss miracle (which they most surely are not), get yourself on a solid exercise and nutrition program and seek natural ways to enhance recovery and reduce stress. By doing this first, you may be pleasantly surprised to find that you're losing fat and gaining muscle and there isn't a need to take supplements at all.

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Building A Better Body One Brick At A Time

The quest to develop a stunningly fit, lean and attractive body is a long, slow journey. It's not something you achieve overnight by popping a few pills or strapping an electric gizmo to your belly.

Which reminds me, did you know that by the time the FTC finally blew the whistle on the electronic ab belt scam, the makers of those "ab zappers" had swindled over $100 million dollars from unsuspecting consumers? Fortunately, some of those companies had to pay it back, and then some! The FTC charged three companies - Fast Abs, Ab Tronic and Ab Energizer - with false advertising and deceptive warranty practices for these "ABSurd" products.

But I digress… back to what I was saying about the journey to a better body...

Last week I looked out my window, and where there was once nothing but a dirt-filled empty lot, there stood a sprawling six story brick condo complex. If someone looked at this massive completed structure for the first time, they might not be impressed. However, since I observed the entire construction process unfold from my living room window, I was impressed - amazed even - at what goes into erecting this kind of structure.

I remember watching the crew humming around diligently every day like busy bees, laying one brick after another. From one day to the next, it didn't seem like much changed. But slowly, over a period of a year and a half, I watched the building gradually morph into the finished product.

When you look at someone with an incredible body as a finished product, you often tend to dismiss the long, arduous journey and hard work it took to build that body. Unless you were side by side with that person in the gym (and in the kitchen), observing the work involved, it's easy to attribute such a chiseled physique to genetics or give credit to a supplement (they just took product XYZ and voila - overnight abs). What you don't see or appreciate are all the months and years of sweat and hard work.

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Getting in shape is a lot like a construction project. First, there must be a picture in the mind. Then the vision goes onto paper as a blueprint. It takes months just to lay the foundation. More months of work will follow. On a daily basis, it doesn't seem like much is happening. You look in the mirror and appear, for the most part, the same as you did yesterday. But sure enough, the small improvements are slowly accumulating like compounding interest in the bank. One day, you look in the mirror and "suddenly," your blueprint has become reality.

The body of a fitness pro or bodybuilding champion is no more likely to be built overnight than a high rise is to be built overnight. It's not physically possible. Accepting the idea that any type of pill, powder, drug, supplement or machine of any kind will make it happen sooner is pure folly. You can't force it.

Growth and development of any kind always requires a gestation period. For a baby, it's nine months. For corn, I believe it's about three months. If you were an expectant mother, would you want to hurry the process? Could any new development in nutrition or medical science speed up this wonderful miracle even one iota? If you were a farmer, would you try to harvest your crop before it was ripe? Would you dig up your seeds to see if anything was growing down there?

The answers are obvious. If only we would adopt the same patient, nurturing "mother's" or "farmer's mindset" towards getting in shape, then no one would waste their money on "fast abs" or "exercise in a bottle" or any such silliness ever again. We would understand that one must sow first, then reap the harvest, but that you can't sow and reap in the same season.

If you ever get frustrated with your rate of progress (and who doesn't), just remember; success is always guaranteed to the persistent. Nothing in the world can stop someone who knows what they want and is willing to continue paying the price until they get it. It just takes time.

Become the architect and builder of your own dream body. You WILL build the body you want eventually if you're patient enough and you refuse to quit. And set your goals HIGH! Create a fantastic blueprint. Michelangelo said, "The greatest danger is not that we set our goals too high and miss them, the greatest danger is that we set our goals too low and we reach them."

Envision a castle - a veritable Taj Mahal of a body! There's nothing wrong with building castles in the sky, as long as you patiently work at putting the foundations underneath them. There are very few unrealistic goals; only goals with unrealistic deadlines. So keep laying those "bricks" - every day - one at a time - and sure enough, eventually, you'll build yourself a palace.

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The Difference Between Losing Fat And Losing Inches

Body Wraps and Waist Wraps: The Difference Between Losing Fat And Losing Inches

"Body wraps" have been around for ages in the weight loss and spa industry. Claims include loss of body weight, loss of body fat, and loss of inches. Infomercials for rubber "waist belts" are also back on TV and similar claims are made for these types of wraps as well. What few people realize is that there is a huge difference between losing fat and losing inches. When your body fat decreases, your circumference measurements will usually also decrease, but "fat" loss and "inch" loss are not one in the same. If you don't know how to tell the difference, you could be falling for one of the oldest, most notorious fitness and weight loss scams in the book.

The truth is, body wraps and waist belts do not shrink fat cells or burn body fat - no matter what type of wrap is used: bandages, plastic, foil, vinyl, or rubber and regardless of what you are wrapped in: herbs, minerals, enzymes, seaweed, clay, or mud - it doesn't matter. Fat can only be lost with a caloric deficit from a reduction in food intake, an increase in activity or ideally, a combination of both.

Whenever you see fat loss claims for wraps or any other product which doesn't involve a caloric deficit created though nutrition or exercise, the "scam alarm" should go off in your head, and you should always stay away, no matter how compelling the sales pitch.

Furthermore, the companies making fat loss claims would be in hot water with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) if they were investigated and caught because claims for body fat reduction from wraps cannot be supported with scientific evidence.

The FTC as well as numerous state attorney general's offices have already taken action against body wrap companies in the past for false advertising and unsupported claims. Some companies simply had to stop making false claims, others had to pay stiff fines as well. The problem, from a legal and ethical standpoint, is the claim being made. Remember, "inches" and "fat" are not the same thing.

Some types of wraps can definitely take off inches (for example, they might reduce the circumference measurement of your waist, hips, arms and legs), but it's not fat, its water weight and fluid, and the results are temporary.

Suppose this claim is made in an advertisement:

* Lose Up To 15 inches in 1 Hour! *

This is legal advertising because the claim "lose inches" might be supportable (if enough circumference measurements are taken with a tape measure at enough sites, that might add up to a total of 15 inches in circumference loss)

However I believe that these types of claims are misleading (and probably intentionally so), because "inches" is not the same as body fat but the product vendors know that you might easily confuse "inches" with "fat."

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Contrast that claim with this one:

* Lose Body Fat without diet or exercise in 1 Hour!*

That claim is totally false and scientifically unsupportable.

Again, body wraps cannot burn fat or "shrink fat cells."

If fat loss could be achieved with body wraps, it would be very easy to test and prove.

Body composition (body fat) testing (rather than measurements of inches) could be performed before and after the wrap, and the answer ("does it work") would become easily exposed.

Since it doesn't work, you won't find any wrap people accepting your challenge to allow you to do independent body composition testing, nor will you find a shred of scientific evidence showing reduction of bodyfat from wraps.

Unfortunately, bogus fat loss claims are still quite widespread, as a simple Internet search for "body wrap" will demonstrate. The most frequently used claims however, are for loss of "inches."

The inches lost simply come from loss of fluid. And guess what - those inches (and or water weight) will come right back in days if not hours, as soon as you completely re-hydrate yourself.

Other claims made for body wraps include detoxification, improved circulation and tighter, smoother and clearer skin. Most health and fitness researchers, as well as government agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will tell you that these claims are "debatable" and mostly anecdotal.

Some experts even warn that certain types of wraps can be dangerous, mainly due to the rapid and excessive fluid loss/dehydration.

If you want to get wrapped because you find it relaxing or you consider it a "spa-like" treatment, that's one thing. Just remember, wraps have absolutely nothing to do with fat loss.

I'd suggest completely avoiding any companies that advertise fat loss when it's only water and inches you're losing, because a dishonest company is one you don't want to patronize at all.

One last thing – this is a timely subject because although "body wraps" have been around for ages and it's old news, I noticed that infomercials for "waist belts" or "sauna wraps" are back on TV in force and I see that they are replaying the ads over and over again, which means people are buying it.

Everything I just said about body wraps also applies to those rubber waist belts too.

On a web search I just did for those rubber belt waist wraps, I noticed some of the websites are STILL making claims like "Melt fat" (totally bogus, unsupported and illegal claim).

Other sites seem to be wary of the FTC paying them a visit, so they do a whole song and dance around the legal issues by saying stuff like, "sweat away inches," "therapeutic heat", "target your problem areas" and so on. Even if these claims are not illegal, the promotions are still deceptive…

The professional fitness model is pictured taking off the rubber belt, revealing ripped six pack abs below... as if those abs are a result of wearing the belt! Wishful thinking! These are professional models, folks. They got the abs the same way everyone else with abs got them - with a calorie deficit from a combination of strict diet and hard training!

Wraps and waist belt products might take off some inches or water weight, but they can't take off a single ounce of fat. Buyer beware.

Programs like Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle are focused on FAT LOSS, not water loss or loss of inches. When body fat decreases, circumferences in inches will also decrease, but "fat" lost and "inches" lost are not one in the same.

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Avoid This Killer Weight Regain Mistake

If you want to burn off fat and keep it off permanently, there are a few things you absolutely must do, and a new study from Wake Forest University has just uncovered another one…

Previous research has concluded without a shred of doubt that high levels of exercise are one of the keys to keeping fat off and maintaining your ideal weight. In this new study just published in the October 2008 issue of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, researchers found for the first time, proof that the drop in physical activity that happens automatically during calorie restriction is directly correlated to weight regain.

We've known for some time that when you restrict calories, your level of non exercise physical activity (non exercise activity thermogenesis or NEAT), drops spontaneously, even if you don't realize it's happening.

Your physical activity energy expenditure (PAEE) also tends to drop when you restrict calories.

Basically, when you cut calories, you get sluggish, you move your body less, you don't feel like exercising and if you do exercise, you do it with with less "gusto."

This means that unless you intentionally counter this tendency by pushing yourself to keep active and keep up the intensity, despite your low calorie intake, your weight loss will slow down automatically as you continue with caloric restriction. (can you say, "fat loss plateau?")

The new twist to this story is that in this latest study the researchers followed up on the subjects through the maintenance period - with 6 month and 12 month checkups.

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This is significant, because most fat loss "success stories" are reported immediately after the weight loss phase, but you never know what happened to them afterwards.

Not surprisingly, it wasn't much of a "maintanence" period… almost everyone regained most of the weight.

The surprise was WHY they regained back the weight and WHO regained the most…

The drop in physical activity during the diet was directly related to the weight regain after the diet!

The researchers wrote,

"The greater the decrease in physical activity energy expenditure (PAEE) during the energy deficit, the greater the weight gain during the follow up."

"That won't happen to me," you say? Think again. That drop in activity usually happens unconsciously. It's part of the "starvation response" (or "weight-regulating mechanism" if you prefer). Your body tricks you in countless ways, in order to restore energy balance and stabilize your weight.

If you believe that diet alone is the answer or that you can skimp on the training, you are shooting yourself in the foot and thinking short-term.

When you extend out your time frame to a year or longer, you get a whole new perspective.

For years, I have been imploring my readers and subscribers to "burn the fat" with higher levels of exercise - strength training AND cardio training - while "feeding the muscle" with a higher intake of clean food, instead of simply "starving the fat" with low calorie diets and little or no exercise.

"Eat More, Burn More"… "BURN The fat FEED the muscle." those are the mottos you want to remember.

Can you lose weight without exercise? Of course. Just be sure you have a dietary-induced calorie deficit. Is it the best way? Not by a long shot.

Bottom line: If you want to MAXIMIZE your fat loss, and keep fat off permanently, it is imperative not only to keep up a high level of energy expenditure (BURN calories not just cut them), but also to make a conscious effort to make sure your activity level does not drop as you lose weight during the calorie deficit.

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3500 Calories To Lose A Pound - Is This Formula All Wrong?

Most fitness conscious people have heard that there are 3,500 calories in a pound of fat, so if you create a deficit of 3500 calories in a week, you lose a pound of weight. If you create a deficit of 7000 calories in a week, you lose two pounds, and so on. Right? Well, not so fast…

Dr. Kevin Hall, an investigator at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda has done some interesting research about the mechanisms regulating human body weight. He recently published a new paper in the International Journal of Obesity that throws a wrench in works of the "3500 calories to lose a pound" idea.

Some of the equations in his paper made my head hurt, but despite the complex math he used to come to his conclusions, his article clearly prompts the question, "3500 calories to lose a pound of WHAT?" His paper also contained a lot of simple and practical tips you can use to properly balance your caloric intake with output, fine tune your calorie deficit and help you retain more muscle when you diet.

Below, I've distilled some of the information into a simple bullet-point summary that any non-scientist can understand. Then I wrap up with my interpretation of how you can apply this data in your own fat loss program:

Calculating the calories required to lose a pound and fine-tuning your caloric deficit

3500 calories to lose a pound has always been the rule of thumb. However, this 3500 calories figure goes back to research which assumed that all the weight lost would be adipose tissue (which would be ideal, of course).
But as we all know (unfortunately), lean body mass is lost along with body fat, which would indicate that the 3500 calorie figure could be an oversimplification.
The amount of lean body mass lost is based on initial body fat level and size of the calorie deficit
Lean people tend to lose more lean body mass and retain more fat.
Fat people tend to lose more body fat and retain more lean tissue (revealing why obese people can tolerate aggressive low calorie diets better than already lean people)
Very aggressive low calorie diets tend to erode lean body mass to a greater degree than more conservative diets.
whether the weight loss is lean or fat gives you the real answer of what is the required energy deficit per unit of weight loss
The metabolizable energy in fat is different than the metabolizable energy in muscle tissue. A pound of muscle is not 3500 calories. A pound of muscle yields about 600 calories.
If you lose lean body mass, then you lose more weight than if you lose fat.
If you create a 3500 calorie deficit in one week and you lose 100% body fat, you will lose one pound.
But if you create a 3500 calorie weekly deficit and as a result of that deficit, lose 100% muscle, you would lose almost 6 pounds of body weight! (of course, if you manage to lose 100% muscle, you will be forced to wear the Dieter's Dunce cap)
If you have a high initial body fat percentage, then you are going to lose more fat relative to lean, so you may need a larger deficit to lose the same amount of weight as compared to a lean person
Creating a calorie deficit once at the beginning of a diet and maintaining that same caloric intake for the duration of the diet and after major weight loss fails to account for how your body decreases energy expenditure with reduced body weight
Weight loss typically slows down over time for a prescribed constant diet (the "plateau"). This is either due to the decreased metabolism mentioned above, or a relaxing of the diet compliance, or both (most people just can't hack aggressive calorie reductions for long)
Progressive resistance training and or high protein diets can modify the proportion of weight lost from body fat versus lean tissue (which is why weight training and sufficient protein while on calorie restricted diets are absolute musts!)

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So, based on this info, should you throw out the old calorie formulas?

Well, not necessarily. You can still use the standard calorie formulas to figure out how much you should eat, and you can use a 500-1000 calorie per day deficit (below maintenance) as a generic guideline to figure where to set your calories to lose one or two pounds per week respectively (at least that works "on paper" anyway).

Even better however, you could use this info to fine tune your caloric deficit using a percentage method and also base your deficit on your starting body fat level, to get a much more personalized and effective approach:

15-20% below maintenance calories = conservative deficit
20-25% below maintenance calories = moderate deficit
25-30% below maintenance calories = aggressive deficit
31-40% below maintenance calories = very aggressive deficit (risky)
50%+ below maintenance calories = semi starvation/starvation (potentially dangerous and unhealthy)

(Note: According to exercise physiologists Katch & Mcardle, the average female between the ages of 23 and 50 has a maintenance level of about 2000-2100 calories per day and the average male about 2700-2900 calories per day)

Usually, we would suggest starting with a conservative deficit of around 15-20% below maintenance. Based on this research, however, we see that there can be a big difference between lean and overweight people in how many calories they can or should cut.

If you have very high body fat to begin with, the typical rule of thumb on calorie deficits may underestimate the deficit required to lose a pound. It may also be too conservative, and you can probably use a more aggressive deficit safely without as much worry about muscle loss or metabolic slowdown.

If you are extremely lean, like a bodybuilder trying to get ready for competition, you would want to be very cautious about using aggressive calorie deficits. You'd be better off keeping the deficit conservative and starting your diet/cutting phase earlier to allow for a slow, but safe rate of fat loss, with maximum retention of muscle tissue.

The bottom line is that it's not quite so simple as 3,500 calories being the deficit to lose a pound. Like lots of other things in nutrition that vary from person to person, the ideal amount of calories to cut "depends"…

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5 Unusually Fast Fat Loss Tips!

Put These To Work And You'll Start Burning Stubborn Flab Much Faster...

TIP 1: EXERCISE EFFICIENCY

The idea here is that we're all very busy, and I don't have time to spend hours at the gym or workout nearly every day of the week. I know most people are in the same boat.

So what is needed is an exercise routine that can be performed infrequently and takes very little time, but still gives you great results...

...now the only way to do this is to use a form of exercise that produces fat loss in the time that you're NOT working out.

Most popular forms of exercise provide most of their calorie and fat burning during the exercise…but this is not efficient because we can only exercise so much…even the aerobic and cardio fanatics out there can only stand say 5-10 hours a week of exercise.

So with 24 hours a day times 7 days, that gives us 168 hours in a week… so even working out 5-10 hours a week still leaves us with 160 or more hours that we won't be working out...

...it is these 160 hours we should be focusing on if we want maximum fat loss in minimum time...

...and when you can do that, now you've got exercise efficiency. So the idea is to get the most fat burning out of those 160+ hours that you're not working out...

...and the best way to do it that I've found is by using a very high level of intensity combined with resistance training exercises performed in fairly rapid succession.

This type of exercise will burn fat for up to 2-3 days after the workout is over, so you can see why just 2-3 sessions a week of this type of exercise can double or even triple the amount of fat loss that can occur with typical type of exercise in the so called "fat burning zone".

TIP 2: FOCUS ON MICRONUTRIENTS FIRST

Perhaps the most important tip I can give anyone trying to get and stay lean is to look at food from a micronutrient standpoint.

This is not something you'll hear from most nutrition experts, in fact they'll tell you just the opposite, to look at your food from a macronutrient view (protein, carbs, fats)...

...this is what most people end up doing, and it is still important for fat loss, but the big turning point in my personal fat loss journey happened when I started to focus on eating most of my calories from foods that are super loaded with nutrients instead of stressing out over my protein, fat, and carb ratios.

The foods I'm talking about are vegetables, fruits, beans, legumes, nuts, seeds.

Now don't mistake this for a vegetarian or vegan diet, that's not what I'm talking about, but a diet that supplies the body with the nutrients it requires to burn fat optimally.

Now, you'll notice that I didn't include lean animal meats on this list. Well, that doesn't mean these foods won't help you burn fat, they will, but what I'm saying is you need to take your focus off of the whole protein first mindset and instead go with a "nutrient first" mindset.

I was raised, as I'm sure a lot of people are, that any good meal needs to start with a big portion of beef or poultry, and that the nutrient rich foods (like vegetables, fruits, beans, etc.) are a small part of that meal, if at all.

I'm saying you have to flip that equation entirely and that most of your meal should be based in the nutrient loaded foods, with a smaller bit of the animal proteins.

The fact is that these foods have the most nutrients, and when you give your body the required nutrients without overloading it with foods that have little nutrients, fat loss become so much easier because the hunger and cravings that plague dieters almost disappears.

TIP 3: STOP DOING SITUPS AND USING ABS GIZMOS TO LOSE STOMACH FLAB!

OK, so this is a big one because six pack abs are like a status symbol these days on whether or not you're lean.

I mean back in the 70s and 80s, it was enough just to have a flat stomach, but now it's all about the six pack…for whatever reason.

It probably has more to do with the fact that people are fatter than ever and things like six pack abs are becoming more rare and of course they are that much more desirable because of it.

So, a lot of people are still mystified by the spot reducing myth that you can do exercise a specific area of the body and create localized fat loss.

I should know because I hammer my newsletter subscribers with this myth several times, but I still get question after question about which abs or belly exercises or gut blaster 3000 will get them a set of six pack abs!

Look, you really can't lose fat from one area of your body specifically...

...the only way you can lose belly fat, thigh fat, butt fat or any other fat is by lowering your overall body fat percentage. In other words, losing overall body fat.

The reason you have problem areas or body parts is because you simply have more fat cells stored in that area genetically.

And we can't lose these fat cells, we are stuck with them unless we resort to surgery, but we can shrink them, and that's what happens when we lose fat. We shrink the fat cells.

So the key here is forgetting about all those abs specific exercises for a while and instead focus on lowering your overall body fat percentage by creating a calorie deficit through the right diet strategies and adding lean muscle to your body.

Truth be told, a good set of barbell squats to muscular failure done a couple times a week will do more for losing belly fat and getting six pack abs than 1000 crunches a week because the amount of calories and fat that will be burned from the squats will far outweigh those crunches.

Yeah, you'll need some abs specific exercises to build the abdominal muscles, but no one will see them if they're covered up by layers of body fat.

TIP 4: DON'T JUDGE YOUR FAT LOSS PROGRESS ON A SCALE

Alright another huge mistake people make when determining how successful their fat loss program. First off, we're talking about fat loss here, not weight loss.

Weight loss is the predominant term, unfortunately, because that's what we are taught at an early age.

But when it comes to losing actual body fat, we have to look at our body composition, not how much we weigh on the scale, but how much of our body is fat weight.

This is really the only way to know if you're losing fat or just losing water weight or muscle, which is very common on most crash or fad diets...

...people will end up losing a few pounds really fast and get excit, but they don't look much better in the mirror!

I mean they could look better in clothes because water loss and muscle loss will make you look smaller in clothes sometimes, but when the clothes come off...

...yikes!

This is the skinny-fat look that a lot of people have…they have high body fat percentages, but because of a small bone structure they look acceptable to people while in clothes.

I know nobody wants to look like that, which is why body fat percentage must be the key measurement for fat loss.

OK, another reason we can't rely on the scale is because of muscle mass...

...if we're doing this right, our exercise is going to be geared toward gaining lean muscle as this is the best way to create a calorie deficit almost immediately.

Especially as we age because our bodies naturally lose muscle mass every year once we hit our mid 30s or so… by the way that's the main reason so many people who were in good shape in their 20s and 30s wake up in their 40s 20-30 pounds of fat heavier.

So if you're measuring your progress by the scale and you gain 5 pounds of muscle, the scale could show no fat loss or even a small gain because muscle weighs more than fat...

...it's more dense and takes up less space. This can cause you to freak out and think your efforts are causing weight gain when in reality your creating the perfect environment for 24 hour a day fat burning.

So, easy ways to track your bf% are with a skinfold caliper, which you can find online, some of those body fat scales or hand grippers (though there are some tricks to using those correctly).

I actually have a body fat percentage analyzer available for my newsletter subscribers for free which you can get on my website…this is a great little tool and it's there for anyone who wants to accurately track your fat loss.

So that's the idea here... track your body fat percentage, not just your bodyweight! It's fat loss , not weight loss we're after.

TIP 5: KNOW YOUR FAT LOSS NUMBERS

I'm talking about keeping score and knowing your numbers here...

...if you don't know the numbers, you have little chance of success in fat loss and fitness.

Just like anything else in life, if you're not tracking what works and what doesn't work, you'll be using a shotgun approach that will take much longer and not work as well as an approach that includes tracking.

This is especially important in relation to your exercise and fat loss and fitness progress. Let's look at the business world for a moment. In any business, at the end of the day, results are measured by revenue, or the money that was made.

If the business owner doesn't know the numbers, they won't know if they've made any money. And thus they literally have no business! It's crazy and pretty simple, but the most powerful metric a business owner can track.

I'm a big NBA basketball fan, but do you think I'd enjoy watching my favorite team if they didn't keep score? Of course not!

If they don't keep score, we don't know who's winning, and thus there is no "game" to win or lose. They have to know their numbers to know who wins and who loses.

Again, strikingly simple, but the fact is that most people don't track their exercise routines at all. How do they know if they're winning or losing the fat loss game?

In fat loss and fitness it's all about monitoring a few key numbers, primarily strength gains, inches in your body part measurements, and body fat percentage.

If you don't know these numbers from week to week, month to month, you'll have a tough time judging your progress…and thus you'll second guess yourself, the methods you're using and have little change of succeeding.

This is also important because with any type of exercise or diet plan, you'll need to make slight adjustments as you progress, and how the heck are you going to do that if you don't know what or when to adjust?

So recording your progress on a weekly and month basis is key to getting that lean and fit body you desire… and if you're not doing it, you're using the shotgun approach: just spraying bullets and hoping you hit something.

This is a big reason people give up on their programs...

...not measuring their progress accurately. When you do this right, it can also give you that positive reinforcement to work even hard toward your goals.

Once you sniff something that actually is working, I don't know about you, but I'll do everything I can do magnify that effect for as long as I can.

So, bottom line, make sure to keep accurate records of your workouts and your progress. Just like in any business or in sports, you won't know if you're winning if you don't keep score.

My wife Kalen and I lost over 101 pounds by using these 3 tricks (along with a few other techniques), and you'll also find it interesting that:

We did it by enjoying delicious foods several times a day, every day, almost never hungry...
We DID NOT do one minute of 'cardio', but still lowered our resting heart rate and re-captured that near boundless energy of our 20s...
I also lost nearly 10 inches of stomach flab, and Kalen dropped 8 dress sizes, going from a 12 to a 4...

We put together a little presentation where you're going to learn everything else you need to know (including our inspiring before & after pics) here:

Unusual tips and unique tricks that fight fat fast... <--- Click Here (Presentation)

You also learn the 5 biggest mistakes you've probably been making trying to fight the flab, among all the tricky little details of our truly life-changing discovery...

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Wu Long Tea (oolong tea): Does it really help you lose weight?

You've probably seen the advertisements:

"Drink wu long tea and lose a jeans size every 7 days!"…

"Burn 20 lbs of fat in 30 days with wu long tea!" …

Maybe you even watched Oprah a few years ago when Dr. Perricone said that switching your coffee for green tea would help you take off the pounds.

You may have also read or watched countless news stories which say how healthy it is to drink green tea.

The odds are good that if you're interested in improving your health and losing fat, you probably either drink tea, take a green tea supplement or you've at least thought about it.

But what if I told you that most of the fat reducing claims for green tea were absolute, total BS, based on misinterpretation or deliberate misreporting of the research?

Unfortunately, it's true. If you've bought green tea based on the claim that it causes large reductions in body fat, then you have been scammed.

Here are the facts:

Green tea DOES stimulate your metabolism.

However, the research is very unclear about what kind of impact this small, short term increase in metabolism will have on your bodyweight in the long term.

In the most often quoted study (Dulloo, 1999), A swiss research team found that 270 mg of green tea extract 3X a day increased metabolic rate by the equivalent of about 79 calories on average and increased the oxidation of fat as the fuel source.

If you do the math, it appears that 79 kcal a day would add up to an extra pound of fat lost every 44 days. Not much, but you'll take it, right? Hypothetically, that would add up to an extra 8 pounds lost per year.

What advertisements quoting this study don't tell you is that this and other similar studies did not even measure long term change in body fat percentage or body weight. They only measured a 24- hour increase in energy expenditure.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

One study which is used as marketing ammunition to claim that wu long tea burns 2.5 times more fat than green tea was based only on a 120-minute increase in energy expenditure! (reminds me of that Mark Twain quote: "There are lies, damned lies, and then there are statistics.")

Numerous follow up studies have confirmed the short term increase in metabolism, but the studies are mixed on whether green tea improves weight reduction or maintenance in the long term.

The research IS compelling, but not conclusive.

As for ad claims that say you'll lose a lot of weight just from drinking green tea… absolute BS! Hopefully the Federal Trade Commission will catch up with these scammers sooner rather than later, as the marketing messages on the Internet are getting louder and bolder every day.

As for health benefits - green tea is certainly a champ. It's high in antioxidants and there are more than 2,000 research citations about potential health benefits of green tea (not to mention a 5,000 year history of use in China and the far east).

Even if you're a skeptic, green tea is hard not to like and it's hard to dispute that it's a good idea to add green tea to your nutrition program as one part of a well-balanced fitness lifestyle.

But when it comes to claims for large and rapid losses in body weight and bod yfat, (especially the wu long tea ads that are currently all over the internet), buyer beware.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

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This is a exported xml file to blogger 1100 articles safe to work with adsense
Import 1100 article your your blogspot and enjoy the huge traffic

http://www.4shared.com/document/UK1pcRfK/blog-10-19-2011.html
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How to import a exported xml file blogs on Blogger
This Vedio showing you how to import it to your blogs

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Use RSS import in your Wordpress blog control panel to import file
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Monday, October 17, 2011

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Friday, October 7, 2011

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Thursday, October 6, 2011

Family Reunion Health Guide

Free_Easy_to_build_electric_generator_it_just_a_trip_to_your_local_electronic_shop>>http://sl.im/3ngn<Family Reunion Health Guide from the National Kidney Disease Education Program. The Guide has everything you need to talk about the connection between diabetes, high blood pressure, and kidney disease at your next reunion or family gathering.

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Read more at www.nkdep.nih.gov/familyreunion/guide.htm

The National Kidney Disease Education Program (NKDEP), an initiative of the National Institutes of Health, aims to improve early detection of kidney disease, help identify patients at risk for progression to kidney failure, and promote interventions to slow progression of kidney disease.

Visit the NKDEP website (www.nkdep.nih.gov) for more information.

Mobile GPRS settings

AIRTEL

AIRTEL LIVE

Account Name – Airtel live
Homepage – http://live.airtelworld.com
Username – Leave Blank
Password – Leave Blank
Proxy – Yes
Server Adress (Proxy) – 100.1.200.99
Access Point – airtelfun.com
Server Port (Proxy) – 8080
Data bearer – GPRS (Packet Data)
Authentication Type – Normal

MOBILE OFFICE

Account Name – Airtel Mobile Office
Homepage – www.techvorm.com
Username – Leave Blank
Password – Leave Blank
Proxy – No
Access Point – airtelgprs.com
Server Port – 8080
Data bearer – GPRS/Packet Data
Authentication Type – Normal

AIRTEL NOP

Account Name – Airtel NOP
Homepage – www.techvorm.com
Username – Leave Blank
Password – Leave Blank
Proxy – Yes
Server Address (Proxy) – 100.1.200.99
Access Point – airtelwap.com
Server Port (Proxy) – 8080
Data bearer – GPRS/Packet Data
Authentication Type – Normal

AIRTEL MMS

Account Name – Airtel MMS
Server Address – http://100.1.201.171:10021/mmsc
Proxy Address – 100.1.201.172
Proxy Port – 8799

IDEA

IDEA GPRS
Account Name – Idea Internet
Username – Leave Blank
Password – Leave Blank
Homepage – http://wap.ideafresh.com
Server Port (Proxy) – 8080
Server adress (Proxy) – 10.4.42.45
Databearer – GPRS /Packetdata
Access Point – imis
Proxy – Yes
Authentication Type – Normal

idea internet
ass.point-internet

VODAFONE

VODAFONE GPRS
Account Name – Vodafone GPRS
Homepage – http://live.vodafone.in
User Name – Leave Blank
Password – Leave Blank
Proxy – Yes
Proxy Address – 10.10.1.100
Proxy Port – 9401 (or 9201)
Data Bearer – Packet Data
Packet Data Access Point – portalnmms
Network type – IPV4 (Look for it in advanced settings)
Authentication – Normal

internet vodafpone
ass.point-www

TATA DOCOMO

TATA DOCOMO DIVE IN
Account Name – Docom Dive
Username – Leave Blank
Password – Leave Blank
Homepage – http://divein.tatadocomo.com
Server Port (Proxy) – 8080
Server Address (Proxy) – 10.124.94.7
Databearer – GPRS /Packetdata
Access Point – tata.docomo.dive.in
Proxy – Yes
Authentication Type – Normal

DOCOMO INTERNET

Account Name – Docom Net
Username – Leave Blank
Password – Leave Blank
Homepage – www.techvorm.com
Proxy – No
Databearer – GPRS /Packetdata
Access Point – tata.docomo.internet
Proxy – Yes
Authentication Type – Normal

DOCOMO MMS

Account Name – Docomo MMS
Username – Leave Blank
Password – Leave Blank
Access Point- tata.docomo.mms
Homepage- http://mmsc/
Proxy – Yes
Server Address (Proxy) – 10.124.26.94
Port – 8799
Databearer – GPRS/Packetdata
Proxy – Yes
Authentication Type – Normal

RELIANCE

Reliance GSM WAP (GPRS)
APN – rcomwap
Login Request Required – off
Authentication – PAP
Data Compression – off
Header Compression – off
Settings Name – Mobile World
Home Page – http://wap.rworld.co.in
Proxy – Yes
Proxy Server Address – 010.239.221.005
Port – 8080
Username – Leave Blank
Password – Leave Blank

Reliance GSM RCOMNET

Account Name – RCOMNET
APN – rcomnet
Proxy – Leave Blank
DNS – Leave Blank
Username – Leave Blank
Password – Leave Blank

Reliance MMS

APN – rcommms

Login Request Required – off
Authentication – PAP
Data Compression – off
Header Compression – off
Settings Name – Reliance MMS
Proxy – Yes
Server Address (Proxy) – 10.239.221.5
Port – 8080
Username – Leave Blank
Password – Leave Blank
Server URL: http://10.239.221.47/mms/

AIRCEL

Aircel GPRS
Accont Name – Aircel GPRS
APN – aircelgprs
Homepage – www.techvorm.com
Proxy – Leave Blank
DNS – Leave Blank
Username – Leave Blank
Password – Leave Blank
Aircel Pocket Internet (WAP)
Account Name – Aircel WAP
APN – aircelwap
Homepage – www.techvorm.com
Proxy – Leave Blank
DNS – Leave Blank
Username – Leave Blank
Password – Leave Blank

BSNL

BSNL GPRS
APN – bsnllive
IP – 10.220.67.131
Port – 8080
Homepage – http://bsnllive.in

BSNL MMS

APN – bsnlmms
IP – 10.210.10.11
Port – 8080
Homepage – http://bsnlmmsc.in
BSNL Net
APN – bsnlnet
IP – Leave Blank
Port – Leave Blank
Homepage – http://www.techvorm.com

UNINOR

Uninor GPRS
Account Name – Uninor Gprs
Username – Leave Blank
Password – Leave Blank
Homepage – www.techvorm.com
Server Port (Port) – 8080
Server Address (Proxy) –10.58.10.5
Databearer – GPRS/Packetdata
Access Point – Uninor
Proxy – Yes
Authentication Type – Normal

VIDEOCON

Videocon GPRS
Connection Name – Videocon Internet
Data Bearer – Packet Data
APN – vinternet.com
Username – Leave Blank
Password – Leave Blank
Homepage – www.techvorm.com
Proxy server – Leave Blank
Proxy port – Leave Blank

Videocon WAP

Connection Name – Videocon WAP
Data Bearer – Packet Data
APN – vgprs.com
Username – Leave Blank
Password – Leave Blank
Homepage – http://wap.live.in
Proxy Server – 10.202.5.145
Proxy Port – 8799

Videocon MMS

Connection Name – Videocon MMS
Data Bearer – Packet Data
APN – vgprs.com
Username – Leave Blank
Password – Leave Blank
Homepage – http://10.202.4.119:10021/mmsc/
Proxy Server – 10.202.5.14
Proxy Port – 8799