Fundamentals of Fat Loss Continued....

ARE YOU READY?

It’s time to improve your nutrition and begin to eat supportively. I have some good news for you. Once you incorporate and live by the 10 Rules listed below, you can expect to begin losing at the very least 1 pound of fat per week….simply from the above nutritional changes. Add in your metabolism boosting exercises and you’ll experience your transformation twice as fast!

Fundamental #3

Accelerate Your Metabolism: 10 Rules to Live By

1. Eat a supportive meal every 3 to 3 ½ hours. This routine has the tremendous power to rev up your metabolism. The more often you eat supportive foods throughout the day the easier it will be to burn fat. Why? Every time you eat your metabolism goes up! Supportive foods require more energy to be digested. This is called the “thermic effect” of food (calories used to digest food) and is part of the reason why, when you begin to eat the supportively you are going to feel like you are eating what appears to be a tremendous amount of food. That’s because you’re taking out so many of those empty calorie foods and replacing them with high quality proteins and complex , nutrient rich carbohydrates.

To truly grasp the metabolism concept – picture your metabolism as a fire. The food you eat will fuel this fire. The stronger your fire burns, the more calories and fat your body will burn. But if you don't replenish the fuel often enough, the fire will die down which means your body is burning less calories (energy). So, if you don't eat often enough, your metabolism slows down and you don't burn through calories very quickly. Worse yet, your body will begin storing almost everything that you do eat as fat! In essence, every time you starve yourself in your honest effort to "lose weight", you are actually slowing down your metabolism as well as making your body more efficient at storing fat.

Bonus: By eating frequently you will also have more control over your blood sugar levels. Controlling your blood sugar is key to suppressing your appetite and prevents fatigue.

2. Eat Supportive Foods. The types of foods that you eat along with how big of a caloric deficit you create will be the main factors in determining if you are going to lose fat only or both fat and muscle. To build your fat burning muscle without packing on body fat, you've got to eat the right kind of calories. High quality fuel “supportive foods”– are your quality proteins, complex carbohydrates and fibrous carbohydrates that must be eaten frequently throughout the day. Specific examples are provided in the Menu Design Planner, in tomorrow's lesson.

Each meal you eat should be a balanced combination of these supportive foods. Everything you eat is basically made of carbohydrates, fats and protein. Despite what some fad diets preach, you do need all three for they are a vital source of vitamins, minerals and many other elements your body needs to protect your health and rev up your metabolism. Supportive food choices are low in calories and loaded with the building blocks needed to achieve a healthy and lean body. For rapid results, strive to eat at least 1 serving of protein and 1 serving of fruits and veggies with every meal you create.

Carbohydrates: The majority of your calories will come from carbohydrates, for this is your body’s first source of fuel – especially when you are exercising. If you do not have the right amount in your body, when you do exercise, your body will turn to its next source of fuel – the protein in your muscles. Your body will begin to break down the very muscle you are trying to build.

Proteins: Beside water, protein is the most plentiful substance in the body. Proteins are the “building blocks” of the body. They help build and repair tissues of the body, provide energy and are involved in preservation of the immune system. However, eating too much protein does have it’s draw backs. Consuming more than 30% o0f your total caloric intake forces the kidneys to over work, depletes calcium levels of the body and contributes to dehydration.

Fat: Fats are a major source of energy, especially for aerobic activity. Fat helps protect the body and helps keep organs in place. It is the major insulator of the body. It helps transport vitamins A, D, E, and K.

3. Portion Sizes. When planning your meals, it is extremely important to measure out the foods you are eating. This is not a guessing game. If you have no idea how many calories you are consuming, you may never be able to achieve fat loss. You must initially be accurate in measuring your food intake in order to be successful and see results. Pay attention to what method of measurement is being used as well (ex. tbs. verses tsp.).

4. Supplement your Efforts FACT: Nothing burns fat better than healthy muscles. The surest way to maintain and even build lean muscle is to ensure all of your nutrient needs are being met. If you’re going to cut back your calories at all, you have to make sure that you are not depriving your body of vital nutrients. In fact, now that you’ll be exercising more (or more intensely), your nutrient requirements are going to increase so your body can recover from your workouts.

Add the fact that you lead a busy lifestyle. There are some days when you just don’t have the time or opportunity to eat often enough or even choose the best foods. The holes left in your nutrition plan must be filled with nutrients in some manner. IF NOT, your body will take them from your muscles – which will ultimately lead to a slower metabolism.

The best solution to this is adding calorie-free, whole food nutrients into your nutritional plan. I recommend that you start with Shaklee Vitalizer or at minimum Shaklee Vita-Lea to ensure that you have the nutrients your body needs to maintain and even add lean muscle. Your body will be more prepared to fight illnesses and have the raw materials necessary to achieve a lean, fit physique.

5. Breakfast. Always eat breakfast! This is the most important meal of the day. Skipping breakfast will only send the message to your body that you're starving because you haven't had food in over 8+ hours. Plan your meals so that you eat within an hour of waking. Eating a supportive breakfast will give you a boost of energy and prevent your from craving high sugar/high fat foods later in the day.

6. Spread calories evenly throughout the day. It’s important to change your perception of what a meal consists of. It is quite common to think of breakfast as a small quick meal (or worse yet, a meal that can be skipped – see the consequences below) and dinner as a large sit-down meal. However, if food is the fuel that will accelerate results, it only makes sense that every time we fuel the body we want to give it the right types and the right amounts.

Your task now is to get into the practice of balancing each meal out by creating meals that are equal in size. For Example: If your calorie needs are 1600 for the day, and you are eating 5 meals, then each meal you consume should be around 300 to 350 calories. Use the Menu Design Planner to help you create balanced meals. When in doubt, use the following rule of thumb: On a 9 inch plate, each food group should visually be about the same size.

7. Refuel for Quick Results. Want results fast? Recovery is the key! While you will only be in the gym engaging in intense resistance exercise for less than one hour, it is what you eat in the 60 minutes before and the 30-45 minutes after that workout that can determine how effective all your hard work will be at moving you towards your goals.

Do you exercise on an empty stomach? What is your body using for fuel? Give up? Your body is using muscle protein for fuel because it doesn't have enough carbohydrates to burn. If you start your workout well-fueled, your body will burn a combination of the carbohydrates stored in your muscles and the fat stored in your fat cells. Eat within one hour of working out, keep your metabolism burning strong and to spare your muscle.

During resistance training, your muscle is forced to work harder than usual and the muscle cells become damaged. In an attempt to prevent future damage and soreness, your body will not only repair the damage, it will also build your muscles back just a little bit stronger than they were before.

This is what causes the actual gains in muscle size, strength, and efficiency, which ultimately lead to a faster metabolism helping you get the results you’re after

The best way to speed the recovery process, as well as the results you want to see, is to follow each workout with a proper post-workout recovery meal. You need to quickly and efficiently refuel the muscles and then provide them with the raw materials they need to rebuild themselves to be bigger and stronger. A liquid source, such as Shaklee Physique Post-Workout Maximizer is ideal because it can be digested and utilized faster which increases your chances for a quick recovery and faster results.

8. Eliminate Sugar. There are foods with nutrients that can interrupt the process of boosting your metabolism. The nutrients to avoid are: simple sugars and refined carbohydrates – “Processed Foods” (soda, fast food, chips, white bread, white pasta, white rice or meals in a box/bag). These foods are high in calories and have little to no nutritional value. Eating foods from this category means you are not filling your body with supportive foods. Processed carbohydrates rapidly increase and decrease your blood sugar levels, resulting in hunger and fatigue which causes your body to go into fat storage mode and will slow your metabolism

9. Drink Water. Over 70% of your bodily functions take place in water – a lack of water causes all your systems to slow down - including your metabolism. Consume at least 8-12 eight ounce glasses of water throughout the day. Water is the most important nutrient in the human body and has many benefits involving fat loss. Proper hydration will increase the amount of oxygen in the bloodstream which in return will increase your body’s fat burning ability.

Bonus: When a craving hits, down a glass of water and wait about 10 minutes. Chances are, you were just thirsty. Drinking plenty of water keeps you satisfied, energetic, young and on track!

10. Follow the 90/10 Rule. Eating supportively should not leave you feeling deprived. The 90/10 Rule is the perfect method for eating those not-so-supportive foods without blowing your ability to achieve results. The general rule on cheating is this: make sure that no more than 10% of your meals are missed or cheat meals. So if you’re eating five meals a day, seven days a week (for a total of 35 meals per week), then no more than 3 of those meals should be misses or cheats. If you can achieve 90% adherence - and anyone can - you can get the results you want.



The only way to measure your progress by eating supportively, is to DO IT!

And YOU can do it!

All you really have to do is think about the foods you are about to eat. Are they going to bring you closer to your goal? Or will they make you feel like crap and take you farther away from the body that you want? Yes it's going to take effort and at times it will be tedious. You want to get your body back and look great, right? Well nothing tastes as good as lean and fit feels. Eating supportively is simply a matter of making health and fitness a priority in your life and taking daily action to achieve your best body.

Stay tuned for the Menu Design Planner...

Live Fit,

Ryan