attmandu’s BodyBlog

Want to burn more fat, right?

We store (get) fat because of two basic reasons.  We eat too much and exercise too little. So based on that premise the solution is pretty simple.  Eat less food than you are consuming presently or exercise more and continue to eat the same… no increase in volume or change in diet selection.  Sounds pretty simple, eh?  The tricky part is that your body will respond to the added stress of exercising more by making your appetite greater or if you restrict calories too much it will hoard fat like a selfish child with a bag of candy… Sooo that requires us to implement some tricky strategies too.  Luckily they are pretty simple also.

First you have to add some supplements… yes, I use them and they are extremely important.  If you want to look like I do you will become more familiar with them and their effects on your body composition and fat loss, however, back to supps later.  First a couple of cardinal rules of eating, never… I repeat, never eat fats and carbs in the same meal.  You can ingest fat and protein or carbs and protein, but remember never fat and carbs.  Why you ask? Because fats and carbs can be stored as body fat and if you eat them together you’re creating a surplus amount… most certainly some will be stored as fat.  Let me further explain…

If you eat protein and complex carbs together (i.e… meat and green veggies) it actually takes more calories to digest the meal than actually derived from it… so you are in a calorie deficit situation (that’s good).  This means your body will have to burn additional calories from some other source (Hello…. existing body fat) to digest this meal.  Is that cool or what!  You get to eat and burn fat at the same time!!  However you have to start eating good healthy fats… flax seed oil, fish oil and olive oil to name a few… unsalted nuts (especially walnuts and cashews) would also fall into this category.  These all contain omega 3’s and omega 6’s. It’s vitally Important to good health but essential to low body fat and significant fat loss. Why? Because these healthy fats are not readily stored as body fat however they do signal the body that your are ingesting fat… so the body doesn’t feel the need to store fat. When we restrict fat from or restrict calories in our diet or body does just the opposite… it stores fat like a madman.  It goes into survival mode, that’s why you always hear about people who lost weight but they complain about being just as fat or flabbier. THEY LOST MUSCLE… NOT FAT!!!!  

Yes, they weigh less…but they lost lean mass and that sucks.  It takes more calories to maintain muscle… so if your more muscular you’ll become a bigger badder fat burner… THAT’S THE GOAL!!!! You’ll be burning calories just sitting around.  Don’t pay attention to scales… pay attention to the fat you can pinch or by looking in the mirror or how your clothing fits… baggie = fat loss… tight =… well you get the picture, right?  Back to meals… you can eat fat/protein together or carbs/protein (just remember the #1 rule!).  Fat and protein would be like.. meats (chicken, lean beef and fish… about 6 to 8 oz., that’s about the size of a deck of cards) or a small handful of nuts.  I usually eat these types of meal in the middle part of the day. Carbs (cooked rice or oatmeal) and protein (bars or more meat) in the mornings. Then after my evening work out… some more simple carbs and protein… because protein is carried into muscles for recovery and growth on the backs of simple carbs.  Before bed it’s usually only protein or in combination with a green salad (complex carbs).

Salmon… has healthy fats and protien. It’s okay to eat them with complex carbs… like salad or steamed brocolli. It’s simple carbs (any that are high on the glycemic index) that should be avoided in combination with fats, in general.  Note to Self… google "complex carbs" for a list of appropriate carb sources, also check out the "glycemic index" so you can learn which carbs are more likely to be store as fat if you eat a surplus amount of them!

I have about 8-10 meals a day… however couple of them consist of a protein bar…. but for pre-contest you will want to limit them because of the higher calorie content.  Also a couple meals a day are protein shakes with some fruit… I usually make this as soon as I get home from my evening work out… simple carbs and protein (pretty low sugar too). I generally allow myself to eat all the leafy green veggies I want throughout the day… I only use oil and vinegar as a dressing or oil and vinegar store bought Italian type.  As you tighten up your diet as you get closer to competition/goal you will severely limit your simple carbs… to promote further extreme fat loss.

The last month I only eat carbs (like rice and oatmeal) about every 3 or 4 day. As you reduce your carbs I highly recommend adding Metamucil bulk fiber to your shakes in the evening and a couple of spoonful with water in the morning… it will keep your bowel feeling full… thereby reducing hunger pains… because you’ll feel fuller and it keeps you regular. Which is always a good thing!

Supplement must haves are as follows…. flax seed oil and fish oil ( a combination of 4-6 capsules twice a day). If you are working out several times a week I would also recommend these vitamins as well… Before work-out: B-6, B-12, C, Multi mineral/vitamin, potassium, creatine and a quart of water. Post work-out: Calcium, Zinc, Magnesium and a protein shake with some simple carbs (like fruit or dextrose or malto dextrine they are basically like sugar).  I do take a fat burner… last show prep I tried Lipo 6 with very good results.

Speaking of sugar… remove it from your diet where ever possible… only eat processed foods with 8 grams of sugar per serving or less.  This is a very important tip! White sugar, white bread and white flour are WHITE DEATH… don’t do it!  Worst meal on the planet (if you’re cutting)… PBJ sandwich…   fats + sugars + simple carb… every part converts immediately to stored fat… unless you happen to be running a marathon… lol! 

Good luck!

This entry was posted on Monday, June 16th, 2008 at 12:27 am and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.