thenaturalone’s BodyBlog

As you probably know everyone and their brother, sister and cousin has a book out there about how to lose weight. There’s the Atkins diet, the South Beach diet, nutri system, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, and the Hollywood diet just to name a few. With so many different theories and ideas about weight loss it’s no wonder why it remains to be the single most confusing topic out there in terms of health and fitness. So which diets or weight loss plans actually work? Well, to tell you the truth, they all work to a certain point. The one common denominator of every single weight loss diet plan out there is that they all are reduced calorie diets. Any time you go on a plan where you maintain a calorie deficit diet for an extended period of time rather than flying by the seat of your pants eating whatever, whenever, then you will most definately lose weight. In the bodybuilding world the low carb diets are most popular for fat loss. And yes low carb diets do work well but they work by being a calorie deficit diet. An average person would be better off by reducing the portion size of all the macronutrients, that is fat, carbohydrates, and protein in order to cut calories, lose weight and still obtain a well balanced diet. Bodybuilders on the other hand will do better on a lower carb diet with more emphesis on protein in order to provide maximum building blocks to preserve and build the muscles which are constantly under a heavy work load and reducing carbohydrates and saturated fats in order to minumize  total bodyfat content at the same time which makes a bodybuilders situation more unique in this respect. However, taking extra supplements is an absolute must in order to obtain a well balanced diet when carbohydrate intake is low. Lots of fiberous carbs should replace startchy carbs. By fiberous carbs I mean lots of green leafy veggies like broccoli, asparagus, spinach, green beans, and mixed greens. This is important to provide low glycemic index carbohydrates which will provide energy with out causing big surges in insulin that will lead to bodyfat storage, they also provide vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber. A multivatamin, essential fats like flax oil, extra virgin olive oil, fish oil, and extra calcium and vitamin C need to be supplemented on a daily basis. Also branched chain amino acids and creatine ethylester should be taken before and after workouts to provide more energy and enhance muscle recovery and also keep blood sugar levels more stable. A good whey protein isolate supplement can very helpful to control food craving and also help fullfill the craving for sweets. Whey isolate is good to bridge the gaps between meals to keep up energy and also to take along with branched chain amino acids and creatine ethylester after your workouts to further enhance muscle recovery. Now in case your wondering why I suggest creatine ethylester as apposed to creatine monohydrate, it’s because creatine monohydrate requires alot of sugar to be taken with it in order to absorb which wont help fat loss on a low carb diet, creatine ethylester doesnt require sugar to be absorbed. It is also a good idea to try to take in smaller food portions on a more frequent basis to have a more optimal effect on increasing your metabolism. While it is important to reduce calories, it is also important to try to take in 5-6 small food portions per day composed of mainly lean protein sources and fiberous carbohydrates like green leafy vegetables. Eating in this manner will help preserve muscle tissue better which will keep your metabolic rate higher. The idea here is to increase the amount of nutrients you take in while reducing the amount of calories. The bottom line is that it isn’t one particular nutrient or one single thing you eat that makes you fat. It’s any calories consumed beyond your bodies maintenance and growth needs is what makes you fat. The idea is to create an energy deficit in the body which will force it to have to rely on stored bodyfat for energy. You make this happen simply by burning off more calories than you take in during the day. This means cut back on calories and increase the amount of exercise you do. Simple mathematics really. There’s 3600 calories in a pound of fat. With the modifications you make in your life style to do more exercise and eat fewer calories you may complete one week with a negative calorie balance of 3600-7200 calories. This means that you lost 1-2 pounds of fat. If you gain 1-2 pounds then you have taken in 3600-7200 calories during the week that your body didn’t need. Success here depends strictly on discipline to make a valid effort to cut back calories and keep up on a regular exercise plan. The more consistant you are with these two things the greater extent of weight loss you can achieve. I will be the first to admit, trying to lose weight is not fun, nor is it always  comfortable because in order to be cosistant on a weight loss plan you have to constantly turn down unhealthy food. That is a big reason why americans in general are becoming increasingly over weight, is because there is far too much unhealthy food available in way too many places. How often you turn away from these unhealthy food opportunities will reflect just how serious you are about creating a lean healthy body. All I can say is, the next time your boss brings in dounuts to work for a job well done, having the lean, healthy, strong, muscular body you’ve always dreamed of will feel 1000 X better than that dounut will taste! Be strong, stay disciplined and the rewards will be great! 

I remember 14 years ago after having learned about the negative consequences of overtraining as it applied to me personally I began a workout that involved training each muscle group on a less frequent basis. I had been training each muscle group 3 times per week and I had all the signs of over training, lack of muscle and strength gains, chronic fatgue, chronic muscle soreness and joint pain, insomnia, depression, restlessness, and lack of ambition for training. I altered my routine so that I was training each muscle group just ounce per week and doing half the amount of sets per bodypart as what I did before. It was crazy after that, my gains began to sore, I gained more muscle and more strength, my drive to train hard went through the roof, my muscle and joint pain went away, and wasn’t always tired anymore, I actually had energy! After following this new program for several weeks, one of the regulars at the gym noticed how much heavier weights I was suddenly lifting and approached me and asked me how I could possibly be lifting weights that much heavier so suddenly and I told him that I was drastically over training before working each muscle group 3 times per week and now I was training each muscle group just ounce per week and now I was making great muscle gains due to the fact that I was giving my muscles that much needed increased recovery time in order recuperate and produce muscle size and strength gains. He laughed and responded back to me " Yeh well that type of training your doing might help you gain strength, but theres no way your gonna gain much size training each muscle group just ounce per week." I then said "Oh really? Well ok, if don’t get bigger by getting stronger, than how do you get bigger? By getting weaker??? Thats right in order to get your muscles bigger they must get stronger. There is a very direct relationship between muscle size and muscle strength. On that note, make no mistake about it, as long as your getting stronger your moving in the right direction in order to get bigger. Train smarter not harder!

In terms of our diets, there is no subject in this category that has caused more confusion and controvery for people than  protein supplements. I decided to write this blog to shed some light on this subject in order to straighten out some of the confusion in regards to protein supplements. What kind of protein is the best kind to use? Are they all the same? When is the best time to take protein supplements? Are there advantages and disadvantages to using different proteins? Lets begin with the most popular of all proteins, whey protein. Not all whey proteins are created equal. Sometimes you do get what you pay for. You may know that whey protein is derived from cow’s milk. Cow’s milk has two different types of protein. Casein protein about 80% and whey protein about 20 %. The difference? Whey protein contains natuaraly higher amounts of branched chain amino acids and glutamic acid which greatly enhance muscle recovery and nitrogen balance. About one-third of our muscle tissue is composed of branched chain amino acids and roughly 10% of fuel required for muscular activity which can lead to more intense training sessions and also better muscle recovery which means better muscular gains. One other advantage to whey protein is that it is much more soluble than other protein sources so its a very fast acting protein that can deliver a fresh flood of amino acids to hungry muscle tissue in a matter of minutes. Levels of blood amino acids will peak about 1 hour after ingestion and return down back to pre-meal levels in around 4 hours. These qualities make whey a great post workout protein to use after workouts during that time sensitive window of opportunity of about 45 minutes when the muscles can super- saturate with nutrients like amino acids to begin the recovery process. With whey protein you get a much higher concentration of amino acids delivered in a much faster time frame than you would casein or caseinate protein. Now lets take a look at the different types of whey protein the compositions of each kind. First, lets look at sraight whey powder which is roughly just 11-14% protein, 63-75% lactose, and 1-1.5% milk fat. Not the best choice because all that lactose will cause some gastrointestinal disturbances and the actual protein content is very low, respectively. Then probably the most commonly used whey protein seen on the market in most whey protein supplements is whey protein concentrate. The actual protein content can vary between 25-89% depending on the quality. Lactose content can be anywhere from 10-55%, while the milk fat content can be from 2-10%. Finally, lets look at whey protein isolate. Here we have an actual protein content of 90+% of actual protein with the lactose content being very low around .5% and also the milk fat content at around .5%. There you have it, when searching for a good between meal and post workout protein, then whey protein isolate will be your best bet where you’ll get the best bang for your buck. Read the ingedients to find the protein origin of a product before you buy it! Now what about casein and caseinate proteins? These are the slowest absorbed and digested of all the proteins. Not to say that these proteins are bad, however, they should be reserved as pre-bed time proteins in order to help support a positive nitrogen balance to keep the body in an anabolic state throught the night while sleeping. These proteins will take as long as 8-10 hours to run through your system so never use them before a workout as they will keep blood in your stomach for a long period of time to slowly digest the slow absorbing protein. You don’t want blood in your stomach when your training, you want the blood in your muscles! Consider this information the next time you go to place an order for a new protein supplement to add to your regimen. I hope this information is helpful. Best of luck!