The look on Frank’s face says it all. Frank C. was on a road trip to visit the offices of Bistro MD and Cederquist Medical Wellness Center in Naples, FL. Caroline J. Cederquist, M.D., Founder of BistroMD and Medical Director of the Cederquist Medical Wellness Center schooled Frank on what 5 pounds of fat looked like and what the difference in losing 5 lbs of fat was compared to losing 5 lbs of water weight.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

5 lbs of Fat vs 5 lbs of Water

Alycia Kluegl

Perhaps you’d like to be the same size you were years ago, but that may mean dropping more than 40 pounds. Don’t go there — not yet, at least. Set a smaller goal of losing 5% to 10% of your weight, and give yourself plenty of time and some flexibility to reach that goal, keeping in mind that most people take at least half a year to achieve that amount of weight loss.

2. Monitor yourself.

Keeping a food and exercise log can help you gain awareness of your behaviors and track your changes toward specific goals.

3. Support networks work!

Find at least one fitness partner to help motivate you and hold you accountable. In-person groups, like those offered by Weight Watchers, can serve this purpose; so can online support groups.

4. Think outside the box.

Try a new form of exercise. Swim laps at a local pool; go dancing; play Frisbee. Finding a form of exercise that you really enjoy will make it easier to stick to an exercise routine — and incorporating new types of exercise can keep you challenged and less likely to become bored.

5. The importance of sleep.

Research shows inadequate sleep can lead to weight gain. Most people need about eight hours of sleep a night, but there’s a lot of variability — some people need more, some less. You can tell if you’re getting enough sleep if you wake up feeling refreshed and ready to go, rather than groggy and grouchy.

6. Eating breakfast matters.

Many people skip breakfast because they’re too rushed or they aren’t hungry. Try getting up 15 minutes earlier (which means going to bed earlier so you don’t sacrifice sleep time) to make time for breakfast.

7. Limit your screen time.

People often complain that they don’t have enough time to exercise or to shop for and prepare healthy meals. But in fact, most people spend many hours watching TV or using their computer for fun. Keep track of your screen time for a week, then try scaling back the number of hours by a quarter or a third, and devote that time to your weight-loss efforts.

For more information on weight loss or healthy living, please go to www.empoweryourbody.com or contact Alycia Kluegl at alycia@empoweryourbody.com.

Thank you. Be well. Alycia

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Some Tips to Help You Lose Weight & Improve Your Fitness

In the fall of 1997, I was a freshman in high school. I wasn’t equipped for the first day. I went to an all-Black high school so the average boy my age was about 5’ 4” and weighed about 125lbs. I was 4’11” and weighed around 180lbs, but, I was cute and I had straight hair so I got by. Noticing the stares as I entered the gym, but never really caring because I always hid behind one of my other attributes. It wasn’t until I had to participate in gym class that all the insecurities that should have plagued me came at me full force. I can recall a relay race where people told me that I looked as if I were going 25 mph but really I was barely jogging. It made me feel inadequate and less than. From then on, I participated in things that I knew didn’t require me to show off my body. Baggy gym clothes helped tremendously.

I had become a Marine Cadet at 15 and relied on my brains to get ahead. I only out ranked my smaller counterparts simply because I was smarter in certain areas AND didn’t bother with the physical. You wouldn’t have wanted me to attempt a pull up at this time; it probably would’ve hurt you. Nonetheless, I was as gun-ho as they come; going so far as actually joining the Marines after high school only to be turned away because of my weight. The Marines have a fit first policy. You have to have a good level of fitness before you become Marine fit. Instead of dropping to 215lbs from the 250lbs I weighed as they told me, I gained 25lbs and was on my way to college instead, in the summer of 2001.

At 18, I was 5’ 7”, 280lbs and starting a new chapter in life. The “freshman 15” was actually the freshman 45 for me. By April of 2002 I weighed a whopping 315lbs but didn’t look it. But I sure felt it. The men in my family have a great way of hiding our weight; just ask my cousin Frank C. Between January and April of 2002, I saw 6 doctors. Men and women who were experts in their respective fields and they all said the same thing, “Rainier, you’re going to die if you continue on this path.” Being as young as I was, the thought of death was the last thing I wanted to think about. By this time, I had had several problems develop and begin to develop. The list is long but worth mentioning. I had become pre-diabetic; I developed a mysterious mass around my left lung and was prescribed albuterol as if I had asthma; my joints were that of a man 40 years older than me and I had trouble breathing in my sleep.

By May of 2002, I had had enough of people telling me that I was to die soon. I had made a buddy out of a Marine who was in college with me. Upon telling him my issue and asking for his help in getting fit, he asked me to meet him on the school’s rooftop track. He told me to bring 2 things, “my balls and water.” It was a hot day in late May when my friend yelled at me to run my first mile. It took me 40 minutes to complete it when it takes most people 25 to walk. Every bone in my body ached. Every muscle was screaming to stop. And I was HOOKED! For 7 weeks, I went to the gym 6 days a week for 2 hours at a time. I had lost the first 45lbs and I wanted more. It was so easy. I ate my mother’s cooking but instead of 3 plates, I ate 2/3 of one helping. I was in control. I didn’t want to give it up. This cycle would continue until the winter of 2005. In a matter of 3 years, I went from 315lbs at 5’7” to 185lbs at 5’9 ½”. I loved it!

Reality struck that winter. The stress that I put my body through caught up with me and my world with weight loss came to an end for the first time since its beginning. During those 3 years I had cycled on losing fat and gaining muscle, all the while either losing or maintaining weight. I had participated in power lifting competitions and also 3 triathlons. I didn’t realize the damage I was doing. The powerful supplements I was MISUSING had begun to wear off and I was left defenseless when real life began after college. When working 12 hour days had become the norm and not having facilities readily available any longer I had entered a new dark world in 2006. Years of putting my body through what was supposed to be good for me, did the opposite due to the way I went about doing it.

This began the yo-yo lifestyle to which I would become familiar with. For the last 4 years, I have lost and gained more than 150lbs. In as many as 3 or 4 months I would get on a health kick and lose between 30lbs and 50lbs and then turn around and gain 50lbs or 60lbs back in an instant. Over the last 2 years however, the yo-yo seems to be slowing down. I’ve managed to go to the gym regularly and maintain a weight of between 230lbs and 240lbs. This is good news; however, to me this is still too big. The struggle doesn’t always lie in the weight you need to lose but rather in the weight you haven’t lost. When looking back on a life with so much promise, however short it might be, I still find myself wanting more. Definitely not to the extent I did in my early 20’s, but now as my 20’s are coming to an end, I see that it’s a part of growing up. Its time to live and live right; its time to cut the string to that yo-yo and turn the switch on to that treadmill; its time to live right.

I will be keeping you all abreast of my journey. Look out…

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Rainier’s Weight Loss Blog

I saw family that I hadn’t seen in years, cousins I grew up with as if they were my brothers. I remember playing basket ball with my cousin Bobbie, riding bikes through Puerto Rico with my cousin Tim, wrestling with my little cousin Brian, and I even got to share time with my cousin Eduardo who was too old for me to ever get acquainted with. I’ve got to tell you there is no greater feeling, then the feeling of being with the people you love and hold near to your heart. But they’re recognition of how much I’ve grown and changed over this period of time was an even greater feeling, and was a positive reinforcement that has put the fire back in my soul.

When you think about it why do we try so hard to transform our bodies and our lives? Maybe so we can feel good, look good, be more athletic, more attractive, to have more confidence, or self esteem. But when it all boils down to it we really just want people to notice all these differences when they see us. After all who are we trying to impress with this weight loss? Our own selves’ when we look in the mirror? Well yes of course we want to be proud of ourselves, but what we really want, is to amaze those people who see us outside of the bathroom.

The bottom line is we want people to notice. We want people to ask “How’d you do it?” Let me tell you that is one of the greatest rewards for me. Being able to share my success and achievements with others, especially with the people closest to me; is one of the greatest positive reinforcements that help me to stay on the right track. We should all try and find our own positive reinforcements, I believe that is truly the only way we will be successful. We need something to remind us of why we work so hard day after day, week after week, month after month, and so on.

But after all that was said, I’ve got to be honest with you guys. I didn’t do a great job at demonstrating how I made that transformation. Due to the fact that I cheated on my diet for the two weeks that they were here! I was only supposed to cheat for one week but it’s like I got caught in a web. Next thing you know one week stretched to two. But the good thing is I stopped it there, and did not let it go any further then that.

So my question to you is what is your positive reinforcement? What are you using to keep you eye on the prize? Who do you have to hold you accountable? What are your goals, and how do you remind yourself of them everyday? These are questions that you should have answers for. Thank you for reading, Be Blessed.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Positive Reinforcements

By far, my least favorite of all the filthy, scandalous four-letter words in the English language is “DIET”. No other word has the ability to make my toes curl and skin crawl like the dreaded “D” word. Tell me that the idea of having to go on a “diet“, or the memory of having been on a “diet”, isn’t enough to give you nightmares. Ok, so maybe I’m being a tad bit over-dramatic here, but you and I both know that dieting sucks.

For me, being on diet used to be like a dirty little secret that I kept hidden from the rest of the world, in absolute fear that they might find out. Why I thought of it as a secret, I don’t know. It’s not like people couldn’t just look at me and tell that maybe I needed to start watching what I ate. I guess maybe what I was really afraid of was the questions:

“What diet are you on?”,
“How long have you been on it?”,
“Lose anything yet?”,
“How much are you looking to lose?”
“How many Weight Watchers points would this be?”
“Should you be eating that?”

On top of hating the unending barrage of questions, I was also trying to protect my pride. See, I acknowledge fully that I have serious pride issues. If everyone knew I was on a diet, and I couldn’t do it, then that would mean everyone would know I was weak and a failure. To me, there is nothing worse than letting other people know that I can’t do something. I have a hard time asking for help, and an even harder time walking away from something I haven’t finished. The idea that people would look at me as weak or incapable is unacceptable for me. If people are going to judge me, then I am going to give them something to judge. I welcome the challenge. I finish what I start. I push through the hard parts. I don’t walk away.

EXCEPT when it comes to weight loss. For some reason, when it comes to dieting, I find it so easy to just give up. I have no idea why time and time again, this is the one thing that I seem to be so quick to walk away from. I’ve spent a lot of years thinking about this and have come to realize that I have a 50 pound or 6 month limit. Any diet I have ever been on has only been effective for that amount of time or that amount of weight. And, of course, the weight has always come back. All that hard work and sacrifice tossed aside. This was the story of my dieting life.

Until this time! Right? Uh no, sorry, not so much….

I had been deluding myself into thinking that this was the first time in my life that the weight wasn’t going to come back. Woo hoo, go me! I had been counting that fact as a minor victory. See, it had been about a year, and I was only about halfway to my ultimate goal. I hadn’t really seen much movement on the scale in that time, and I thought I was still living a focused, balanced lifestyle. Then this morning I got on the scale for the first time in months and saw that the numbers were going the wrong way. Twenty pounds in the wrong direction, to be exact.

After suppressing the urge to vomit, and wiping away a few tears, I realized I wasn’t really all that surprised. I had gotten to the point where I was feeling so frustrated and completely unmotivated to do anything about losing anymore weight. The last few months had thrown me completely off course, and I was starting to see and feel the negative changes in my body with each passing day. I ignored it for as long as I could, but those numbers on the scale made it reality. The fat was coming back, and there was no one to blame, but myself….AGAIN.

And the truth is….I’m scared. Terrified, actually. I can’t go back to where I was – sick, sad and lost. I’d love to summon that “all go, no quit” part of my personality that would grab my psyche by its temptation-loving throat and throw its flabby backside onto the elliptical machine, but I can’t. I’m stuck, free-falling backwards, and since I already threw out all my super-sized fat clothes, the idea of gaining back all that weight is simply not an option.

So now I’m turning to you, FMU’s faithful readers. I’m making this public because I need the challenge. I need to hold myself accountable, not only to myself, but to those who care about me, and want to see me succeed. Sounds silly, I know, but I lost the first half of the weight in a Biggest Loser competition at my job, and probably wouldn’t have done as well if I hadn’t been in the spotlight. I’m putting this out into the universe, and hoping that once again, my pride will take over and I’ll be able to set myself straight again. Wish me luck.

Photo courtesy Hendrick’s Photos.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Coming Out of the Dieting Closet

This time of year many of my patients come to me requesting information on weight loss. There is a lot of information, and misinformation, available to the public which often times is contradictory and confusing. My very first comments to patients wanting to go on a weight loss program, are, that there are no “miracle methods” to weight loss. To achieve long-term and sustainable weight loss, there are still only two important factors: proper diet and exercise. Nevertheless, patients ask me what they can do to at least get started on weight loss. I’ve compiled some basic weight loss procedures, and my thoughts on them. If you have any more specific questions about the topics, post them in the comments and I will try to address the ones that I can.

The first aspect to address is diet. Many patients want to know which diet is the best. Companies, doctors, and researchers have made numerous recommendations from low-fat, to low carbohydrate, to cabbage soup. I find that the most sustainable is low fat, and relatively low carbohydrate diets. I also recommend trying to place a daily calorie intake limit. This depends upon the size and age of the patient when they first come in. Patients also want to know about some of the structured programs that provide all of the food. These programs depend upon a specific fat, carbohydrate and calorie intake per day. These often work well, but this depends upon the patient’s motivation, and willingness to pay for the meals. Some people need to be regimented and eat only pre-packaged food that is specifically portioned. This is fine, but the food program must be strictly adhered to. Cheating will negate any benefits. There are medically prescribed “liquid diets” that also work very well. Once again, however, these must be followed perfectly, or they will not work. Sneaking in other food will make the diet less useful. No matter what diet is chosen, you need to make a long-term commitment to sticking with it. Healthy eating is a life-time process.

Patients also want to know about weight loss medications. Once again, these can be useful to get a start, but are not long-term solutions. One example of a prescription weight loss medication is Phenteramine, which is an appetite suppressant. This seems to work somewhat for a short period of time. It can have some side-effects such as an upset stomach. The effectiveness of phenteramine is usually only for one to three months. Meridia is another appetite suppressant that may work for some individuals. Xenical is a fat absorption inhibitor that keeps people from eating fatty foods, because when doing so, they can feel bad with diarrhea and abdominal pain. Patients often ask about the numerous over-the-counter weight loss medicines. Many of these contain ephedrine, a stimulant, which I do not recommend.

Patients commonly ask be about weight loss surgery, which is also referred to as bariatric surgery. Recent advances in techniques for this surgery have made it much safer and successful. Some examples of this surgery include stomach stapling, gastric bands, and gastric bypass. These procedures are performed by qualified surgeons and require extensive pre-operative testing, as well as aggressive weight loss attempts prior to even considering surgery.

Exercise is the cornerstone of weight loss. I advise patients to start slow and develop an exercise program that includes both core strengthening and aerobic exercise. I recommend that they work their way up to aerobic exercise for a period of 30 to 40 minutes three times a week. Common examples of aerobic exercise include running on a treadmill, riding an exercise bicycle, or using elliptical trainers.

To summarize, while there are ways to get a fast start to weight loss, these will all fail unless you develop a good nutrition and exercise program that can be adhered to for a lifetime.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Ask Dr. Rybicki: Basic Weight Loss Procedures

This was only 6 weeks, I wasn’t messing around.

They say that “Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.” This statement couldn’t be truer in this instance. It is safe to say that I have had some bad judgment. It was not on a grand level of bank robbery or grand theft auto, unless you count the video games. My mistakes were in diet and training. My mistakes were in the approach and understanding of my fat loss. I have since learned a thing or two and I wanted to share my mistakes and lessons learned with the world, in hopes to help others make their own mistakes, but end up victorious.

A few years ago I was average; average body, average hair, average defeats, and average achievements. I didn’t envision much for my future that was special or spectacular. I had hopes for certain dreams, but in the end I knew in my heart they were just that, hopes. This is usually where a person will dive into their “change moment” and to be truthful I didn’t have one of those. No, what I had was an “inspirational moment.”

I was friends with Leigh Peele. If not aware, Leigh Peele is an author and a trainer who specializes in fat loss and metabolism problems. I had seen the changes she had made in her life and I had seen the changes she had made in others lives, and I was jealous. I was jealous of their passion and their drive and I wanted a piece of that for myself. I wanted to be somebody like that to people, I wanted to do something with my life that was more than just “getting by” so I asked her for help and started getting educated about things. Okay and maybe I lost some fat along the way.

Beyond just fat loss, beyond desire of a better personal appearance, I became a personal trainer and started helping others. Helping others achieve their dreams is downright addictive because it helps you as well. I have my days where I struggle too and it is their stories that help me stay inspired to keep going. People always forget that the answer is in the story; you just have to know how to see it. It is not like I knew then when I started I was going to be another before and after, but now that I am I want to help you become one.

Tip #1: Write Your “Before”
A story is always better on paper. You need to write down everything that you have done, everything that has worked, hasn’t worked, and you hope know will work. Write down your dreams, your fears, your victories, and most importantly your plan.

Tip# 2: Log Your “During”
You can’t know how to fix something if you don’t know what you are doing could be wrong. This journey is a big deal so treat it as such by logging your calories, sleep, emotions, and training sessions. This will help you to see patterns where you could be having problems that are hindering your success, and when you are getting it right you can see yourself shine! It is best to always try to learn why.

Tip# 3: Prepare for After
Since you will be done with this journey and are going to be an “after” you are going to have to get ready for this. Buy goal outfits, set up trips and vacations to places you didn’t used to feel at ease going because of your body or health. Prepare for the life you always wanted because now it is your time to grab it!

For more information on Katie’s transformation and others you can go to http://www.FatLossTroubleShoot.com

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

A Tip is Just a Tip, but a Before and After is My Life

There has been a debate among many experts in the field of fitness regarding this one burning question that are in the minds of hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Many people are willing to pay top dollar in order to find an immediate solution to this one question. Yes, many are arguing the fastest method on how to lose weight and it seems that there are many answers out there and ironically, it makes people even more confused!

To me, the real secret is simple. I use the formula derived from research, test it for myself and see whether it works. If it does, that’s the blue print for success. The formula for how to lose weight is governed by FITT. FITT stands for frequency, intensity, time and type of training. Many people know about this and have heard of it but it is well worth repeating it because by following this formula, you can really lose body fat and keep it off for the long term.

Lets explore FITT in more detail.

The F stands for frequency. If you want to lose weight, you need to exercise at least 3 times a week and if you desire optimum fat loss, you need to train 5 times a week. Don’t fool yourself thinking that your body needs more rest or somebody told you it’s best to do it alternate days. This is recommended by the American College Of Sports Medicine. So if you really want to lose weight, if that is really what you desire, schedule your time and make sure you get your workout done. Period!

The I stands for intensity. If you want to use the fat in the fat cells as energy during your workout, you can’t achieve it by walking on the treadmill for 20 minutes and call it a day. You need to get the heart rate up so that the body will tap into the body fat stores and use the fats for energy. This is vital! I have seen too many people dragging themselves into the gym, hop onto the bike and peddle away while reading the morning paper! Surely they won’t get results even after a thousand years!

You need to get your heart rate up to 75% to 85 % of your maximum heart rate in order to achieve fat loss. If you’re under medical conditions or if by walking your heart rate is already up to 75%, then you need to stick to walking or your doctors recommendations.

The first T stands for time, which means the duration of your workout. I would suggest that you spend at least 30 to 45 minutes for cardiovascular training and 30 to 45 minutes on weight training. If you are doing just cardio, do 45 minutes. If you are planning to do cardio training after your weights, go for 30 minutes.

The final T stands for type of training. If you really want to lose that stubborn body fat, you need to combine weight training and cardio training. There is no way you can separate the two. You need weight training to increase your muscle mass and boost up your metabolism. An additional 1-pound of muscle can help you burn 50 calories more without you doing anything! Imagine if you put on 4 pounds of lean muscle? You can burn an extra 200 calories per day by not doing anything at all!

When you do your workout and your cardio you will be burning so many more calories from the additional muscle mass you have put on. You also need to do cardio if you really want to get lean. This is because cardio training can raise your heart rate up for a long period of time and this enables your body to burn body fat.

So, now you know exactly what to do if you want to shed the pounds. In summary, train 3 to 5 times a week, your cardio intensity should be around 75% to 85% of your max heart rate, each cardio session is 45 minutes and if your are doing weights and cardio, spend 45 minutes of weights and 30 minutes on cardio. Also, combine cardio and weight training for best fat loss results.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

FITT: How To Lose Weight Action Plan

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Yuri Elkaim, a nutrition, fitness, and fat loss expert.

Have you noticed that animals (in the wild) are not fat? Obesity is not something that occurs in nature.

So why is that we humans are battling the bulge?

Well, what if I told you that the simple act of cooking our foods is making us fat and unhealthy! That’s right…cooking. Have you ever seen an animal cooking their food? Of course not…because it doesn’t happen.

For whatever reason, we are the only species on planet earth that feels it necessary to cook our food.

The reason that cooking food makes us fat and unhealthy is that heating a food above 118 F destroys its precious enzymes.

How Will Food Enzymes Help Me Lose Weight?

It’s very simple. Enzymes are required for every single reaction in the body. For instance, the breakdown of fat requires enzymes such as lipase. If lipase (and other fat burning enzymes) is not present then you cannot readily use your fat reserves for energy. As a result, more fat is stored and you pack on the pounds.

Eating foods (especially fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds) in their living or raw state ensures that all of their respective enzymes are in tact. The result – less energy needed to breakdown your meals, more enzymes to breakdown fat and rev up your metabolism, and greater energy and vitality.

Unfortunately, we are seeing more and more overweight and obese domesticated pets. What do you think the reason might be? If you said because we’re feeding them cooked, processed, and mechanized food, then you’re right!

I mean where on earth do you see an overweight dog or cat in the wild? You don’t – until humans domesticate it!

Here are two ways to get more enzymes into your diet for better fat loss results:

1. Eat more raw fruits and vegetables

2. If eating cooked foods, then use digestive enzymes before your meal to alleviate the stress on your digestive system and provide some much needed fat-burning catalysts.

At the end of the day, dieting will not help you lose weight unless you can provide your body with life-giving and fat-burning food enzymes. The key is to eat more of what nature intended for you to eat – natural whole foods! When you do so you’ll see the fat melt off your body!

Yuri Elkaim is a nutrition, fitness, and fat loss expert. He is also the author of the book, Eating for Energy, which has helped thousands of people in over 80 countries regain control of their health and weight.

Photo courtesy of Steffe.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Why Are We Fatter Than the Animals at the Zoo?

6:15 – Morning cardio Meal ~200 cals– Protein shake, or something high in protein and low carb, either before or after your morning cardio. Depends on your stomach.

* 6:30 – Hop on treadmill for 30-45 mins, low speed, full incline *

8:00 – Breakfast, ~500 cals – heavy on carbs, with protein and fish oil or other supplement for fats.

10:15 – Mid-morning snack, ~300 cals – moderate carb, high protein, little fat

1:00 – Lunch, ~600 cals – moderate carb, high protein, little fat

4:15 – Pre-workout meal ~600 cals – mass/weight gain protein shake OR high carb snack with some fat and protein

* 5:15-5:30 WORKOUT *

7:00 – Post workout shake ~400 cals – My recommendation is a protein shake, with 2-3 scoops of dextrose (or gatorade powder) for quick absorption of calories.

8:00 – Post workout meal ~500 cals – Protein and healthy fats! Boiled chicken, vegetables, lightly oiled with virgin olive oil or something similar. Your body will convert excess carbs into fat, you don’t want very much after your post workout shake! Vegetables, maybe a small portion of rice for some carbs.

10:00 – Before bed – this is a good time for casein protein, low-fat yogurt or cottage cheese, steak, something high in protein to help keep you anabolic instead of catabolic while you’re asleep.

That’s about ~2800 calories a day, adjust your meals accordingly (if you’re trying to gain weight, lose weight – of course, this is dependent upon your basal metabolism and not the recommended 2,000 calories a day!) Average person burns about 2500 calories, in my opinion, so this would work well for an above average person who does both cardio (going for a jog or treadmill), and does a weight training workout to maintain muscle, lose fat, and overall just get fit.

This is a very flexible plan and if you need more calories simply add more meals, I feel it’s better to consume food more often rather then bigger portions. +/- 100 calories over 8 meals makes for 800 extra calories a day, over a week that’s 4,000+ calories – and if your body doesn’t use them, what does that become? Fat! One pound of fat equals 3,500 calories – so think, for all the extra you eat gets added up over years, day in and day out. That could equal to 20-30 pounds a year (some days you’re active, some you’re not, Christmas you eat huge portions, but summer time you may never take the time to eat). Over 10-15 years, this number just keeps getting bigger and bigger until you’re very unhealthy, and unhappy with yourself. Make the change sooner, rather than later!

I talk about pretty bland meals, but you can spice things up accordingly … just think of what you’re trying to accomplish, staying high-energy (eating more carbs), staying lean (eating more protein), or pre/post workout if you don’t like shakes!

Remember, everyone has there own thing that works for them. The above may not work for you, but you won’t know that until you try.

What does your nutritional breakdown look like? Maybe you can share with us what you eat?

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Cut the B.S. Diets: Part Deux

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Jenny Clark. She primarily blogs about teaching and education related issues. She teaches 2nd grade in an urban Midwest school. You can see her blog at http://doinitjensway.blogspot.com.

First I’d like to say that I’m no expert on this. Please see the Overeaters Anonymous (OA) website www.OA.org for official information. Okay, now that that’s out of the way, I’d like to share my story. I’ve struggled with my weight, and had body issues for as long as I can remember. I remember thinking that I was fat as early as 1st grade. I went on the grapefruit diet when I was in third grade. I’ve since tried: the egg-banana-hotdog diet, anything a magazine told me to do, bulimia, Atkins, South Beach, medical research programs, poopy pills (they blocked the fat, but gave you the poops), and almost any other diet program you can think of. Regardless, my weight just kept increasing. I’ve had a few short lived periods of success, but in general, I’ve always failed. It didn’t make sense. I’m an over-achiever. I’m successful, why is it I couldn’t manage this?

Several years ago, I heard about Overeaters Anonymous meetings. I attended a couple of meetings… cried, listened, read, and decided that it wasn’t for me. I wasn’t ready yet. Finally, this summer, I’d had enough. My doctor had started mentioning my weight at every visit. I was constantly worrying that I would have a heart attack, and felt terrible. I decided that things had to change. I decided to approach this from all my angles. I went to my doctor and got some blood work done. I started seeing a therapist, I’ve met a couple of times with a nutritionist, I started reading, exercising, and I began attending OA
meetings.

It started out rather uncomfortable. Overeaters Anonymous was definitely the hardest. It was hard just to get to the meeting. At the meeting it was hard to speak. It was hard to believe that I was in the right spot. I spent a lot of my time at those initial meetings judging the other people. I sort of knew I was in the right place, but I didn’t want to admit that I was the same as the people I was judging. Then, at about my 5th meeting, a person made a comment about stealing food from the families they were babysitting for. I flashed back to my babysitting years. I totally did that. I would eat little bits of lots of their food and try to put it back in just the same spot so it wouldn’t be noticed. Other people in the room also admitted to doing the same thing. It was then that it clicked. I was among people who, for whatever reason, shared my story. We don’t, and probably never have responded to food like most people. Many of them have overcome their weight problems by working the OA program (not just short term- these folks have been successful for years, and they keep coming back to sustain their success, and to help us newcomers).

After that I got “abstinent.” In Overeaters Anonymous (OA), abstinent, means that you pick a food/life plan, and stick to it. They don’t tell you what to pick, you know your trigger foods better than anyone else. Just like in AA, you keep track of your abstinence. I’ve now been abstinent for 26 days. I thought it would be terrible. I thought I’d constantly be feeling sorry for myself. Honestly, there have been hard parts, but overall, it’s been the most freeing thing of my life. I’m not constantly thinking about food. I’m finally free to be me. I’ve spent my whole life eating to deal with a painful experiences, now, I’m finally dealing with life without eating. I’m finally finding my spiritual path. I’m finally finding my voice, and letting it shine. After a year of abstinence, a person celebrates their “birthday,” now I understand why.

The things I hear in OA, the people I meet, the literature I’ve read, has all been amazing (once I got over the initial discomfort). I feel like a new person. I know that I’ll always have people right there to support me when things are tough. There are no fees, there’s nothing commercial, just people in all different stages of recovery to support each other.

*Image Courtesy OA.org

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Overeaters Anonymous (OA) Meetings – An Inside Look

What are the benefits of having some type of support when trying to change a habit?

Building a support system is the single most important thing you can do to incorporate and maintain the “Habits of Health” program, or any program for that matter. Without a support system, your chances of changing your lifestyle go down dramatically. Once you’ve learned how to take control of
the most important health-related areas of your life, which are: eating, motion, and sleep, the thing that will hold all of those together is support.

There are different kinds of support systems, and depending on your personality, you should choose which type works for you. There are three methods that will help you master the program in my upcoming book “Habits of Health.”

1) Studying: which includes attending trainings and using other resources so you can gain knowledge.
2) Doing: or actually making a change in your life that will lead you toward optimal health.
3) Modeling: the people that we hold up as role models can have a great affect on our lives. The people we are close to and emulate are what we become, particularly if they are the same sex.

In my book, I discuss the importance of what I call a bionetwork. This is a type of comprehensive support system. It takes all different kinds of supports and utilizes all of them so that you can get the most out of your new healthy lifestyle. This bionetwork can include a large number of people like a health coach, an Internet-based support, peers, virtual clinic, etc. The bionetwork can also include support systems made up of friends, family, informal group settings, formal settings and online programs.

Have you tried using a support system like this? If so, how did it work for you? What was your best option?

A new book due out this summer, by well-respected physician Dr. Wayne Andersen, seeks to take a revolutionary approach to creating optimal health and weight management by offering common sense advice and direction, supported by proven, medical data. In his book, Habits of Health, Dr. Andersen, a board certified critical care physician, does not advocate fad dieting or a miracle wonder cure; rather, it provides the knowledge and support to help people achieve optimal health. The book seeks to offer an easy guide to establish long-lasting, improved health.

Dr. Andersen graduated from the University for the Health Sciences medical school in Kansas City, where he was valedictorian of his graduating class. Dr. Andersen became the tenth physician Board Certified in Critical Care. For 18 years, Dr. Andersen directed the Surgical Critical Care Program at
Grandview Medical Center in Dayton, Ohio, and was Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology. Dr. Andersen is currently Medical Director of Medifast, Inc., an innovative leader in the production, distribution and sale of weight management and health management products. As the chief architect of Take Shape for Life, Dr. Andersen has built an integrated support system that helps people make the necessary changes in their lifestyles to create optimal health. Dr. Andersen provides leading nutritional solutions, medical support and the support of caring individuals, to provide the necessary one-on-one interaction so vital in changing peoples lives. Dr. Andersen resides in Annapolis, Md.

Habits of Health seeks to help people to be the healthiest they can be with what they have. Through his book and the accompanying workbook, Dr. Andersen provides a roadmap and an opportunity for people to choose a better life.

“This book stresses the fact that achieving optimal health is an active process, and it is reminds people that the small things we do every day make all the difference,” Andersen said. “Everyone has the fundamental choice and opportunity to choose a better life for themselves, and in this book I show them how to do that. I want to show people they have the power to create optimal health within themselves.”

The book is available for preorder at the beginning of July and will go on sale in bookstores nationwide end of July.

Visit Dr. Wayne Andersen to learn more and purchase “Habits of Health.”

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Dr. Wayne Andersen on Habit Changing Support

We all know at least one or many of the ‘”Conventional” benefits of weight loss:

• increased energy & stamina
• lower blood pressure
• increase metabolism
• reduce risk factors of heart disease, diabetes,etc

We are all aware of the numerous negative effects of obesity and living an unhealthy lifestyle have on the human body. The list is endless.

I think it’s safe to say that if you’ve done your homework, watched the news, read the newspaper, or have spent a blink of an eye’s amount of time on the internet, you’d come to the conclusion that weight loss is nothing but a BENEFIT.

So what about Unconventional Benefits?

: not conventional : not bound by or in accordance with convention : being out of the ordinary

The list was already started on the original post. Everything from avoiding that auspicious meteor, saving money on water, to being able to see your feet without bending over.

What are your thoughts on some unconventional benefits of weight loss? What benefits have you discovered along the path of becoming that Lean, Mean, Fighting Machine.

Israel has kindly agreed to add your comments and suggestions to the master list, bearing in mind that we all behave with our comments!

Without further ado, I would like to add the following:

Master List of Unconventional Benefits of Weight Loss

- you get to donate your old clothes to charity! ( a great tax deduction)

-certain body parts stop jiggling when you laugh or cough (or wave goodbye)

-get that tattoo you always wanted (since before you wouldn’t go without covering up)

9 updates added, thanks Tony, Richard, and Tom.

-Not be the last person to have someone sit next to you on the bus

-Be able to eat a dairy queen ice cream cone in public without being embarrassed

-You will no longer have the owner of a buffet restaurant stare at you with a sad look on their face.

- play with youur kids more

- easier to pick up new sports

- cheaper to travel

-use less fabric for your clothes therefore aiding in conservation of materials

-able to purchase or ride in a compact car

-only need 1 bleacher seat at sporting events

More Updates:

- not having to worry about ABC gum getting stuck to that part of your shirt when your belly protrudes beneath a table or desk that is too small.

- being able to sit in a booth in a restaurant and actually enjoy the meal

- from experience, much, much better sex. Yes, it does make a very big difference.

- not having to explain to your kid why he has to wear a seatbelt, but Daddy does not.

-no longer having to ask the cute petite girl at the department store if and when they will get that certain style shirt in 4XL.

-no longer having to ask the cute petite girl at the department store if they carry that style of pants with a 56 inch waist.

-no longer having to ask your wife – in front of the kids – to help you button your pants.

-no more Sumo wrestling with your socks – (think about it for a minute, and then try to get the image out of your mind)

-Improved self-esteem

-Increase confidence

-get that tattoo you always wanted”

-make the tattoo you got when you used to be skinny to look like it should again.

_______________

I look forward to seeing how long this list can get.

To Be Strong

Carpe Diem

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Master List of Unconventional Benefits of Weight Loss

WeightView is a digital and personalized motivational tool that uses the power of visualization to help to achieve weight loss success! The site basically works like this: You submit your before photo, they send you back an after photo. You then use that as your motivation. Sounds pretty simple to me.

My first impression of WeightView is that it is a genuinely useful program. Looking at their results page shows many individuals that have submitted their before photos for editing. In one video interview a lady mentions how it actually helped her stay motivated, leading to weight loss. WeightView clearly states that “Seeing is Believing.” This is something that I strongly believe in. It’s the reason I have my old in-shape photos on my fridge and why I have my in-shape before pictures on my about page. I’ve actually considered PhotoShop-ing some photos.

They are clearly proud of the number of people that use their service, which is an impressive 60,000 and growing! That’s a lot of photo editing. I took the time to submit an old picture of my heavier days and am pleased to say that it only took them about 12 hours to turn around a digitally altered after photo. Here it is:

It’s supposed to be me 50 lbs lighter. It’s not ideally how I would want to look, but it’s a damn good start. To be honest, it’s uncannily close to how my real after 50 lb loss picture looks. The See Results section shows all of the folks that have tried the free service. Some are more stunning then others. I would like to see a member page where a member can add their REAL after photo. That would be cool.

Speaking of which, the site needs a more social aspect to it. With all of the press they have been getting, it would be a much stickier site if they had some form of user interaction on the site. As it stands right now a user submits their photo then leaves the site only to return when they get an email saying their photo is ready. Then they leave forever after saving the photo to their computer or printing it. There is no real reason to stay, unless you are curious how the site is evolving or want to submit another before photo.

The viral nature of the site is slightly touched upon with the tell-a-friend feature, but they need way more user/community interaction. Possibly adding a forum or some other social network type of functionality would help take the site to the next level. This would also help cover some of the costs of the site and the free nature of it. I’m not saying to charge for the service, free is good. What I am saying is that with more traffic they can turn themselves into a weight loss social network of sorts and make money from their traffic. Aside from some banners, they are relying on the online shop where you can find diets and other weight loss solutions and aesthetic products. You can find them all at the WeightView Mall.

Ultimately a website like this can only do so much, it is up to YOU to take action to lose weight. WeightView is a great motivator and could be all you need to get started losing weight and getting in shape. It’s a useful website presenting an innovative idea: the power of self-motivation through your own modified images, picturing yourself with considerably less weight.

Fake it till you make it, right? What do you think of the site? Have you heard of it or uploaded your own before photo?

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Seeing is Believing with WeightView

Why am I doing this? I want to test my will power and test my body. I read and hear of countless people fasting for days on end and they live to tell about it. I plan on doing it for a few days at most. I have read of 2 week fasts. But that’s not something I am interested in doing. I will continue to exercise and go throughout the day as I normally would. That won’t change. I hope.

Now usually I would not do something like this, but I think it’s a welcomed shock to my system. I will make an update the minute I start eating again, which I hope isn’t until Saturday at the earliest. Wow, just thinking about the possibility of fasting for so long amazes me.

I guess we will see if I can last being stranded on a deserted island.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Fasting Diet: No Food, All Water

1. Drink tons of water. They give out water bottles, so take them! Make sure to stay hydrated, but not so much that you drown your body. It is possible. So know when enough water is enough.

2. Network your but off. Walk around and meet as many people as you can. You will be astonished by how much walking you actually do as you network.

3. Book your hotel as far away from the event as possible. It’s important to note that I did not plan to do this, but I booked the flight and hotel too late and ended up having to stay 2 miles from the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino. I figured it wouldn’t be a bad walk since there was a lot of sight seeing to do, but after a few minutes of lugging around a 20 lb backpack it got pretty tiring. I walked back and forth from my hotel to the Summit. That is 2 miles of walking each way, totaling 4 miles. Add that to the walking you do at the summit from networking and it’s a pretty good workout.

4. Do Burpees. What the heck are burpees? I learned what burpees were many years ago while in the military. I didn’t know they were referred to as burpees, but a couple of weeks ago Hoodworkout, a reader of Fat Man Unleashed, posted a video of with Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs fame performing burpees. I did these in the military and they kick your butt. There are several variations of the burrpee. For Example, in basic training they had us go down, perform a push up and alternate kicking our legs back and forth.

5. Wear layers. I wore 3 layers of clothing. I learned that it was always best to where layers, not matter what weather. It’s best to be able to shed layers, then it is to need to add layers. For the summit I wore my undershirt, my shirt, a sweater and then a vest or jacket. Can you say back sweat?

6. Go sightseeing. It’s a no brainer really, but if you are somewhere you have never been it’s a good idea to go sight seeing. Unless you are in some kind of dangerous ghetto or rain forest. Then I would advise you seek professional guides. But, otherwise just go walking and sight seeing, preferably during day light hours. Make sure to keep a map with you and remember your hotel name and address.

Well, that was my quick hitting 5 step list on how to lose weight while at a convention. Hope it helps.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

6 Steps for Losing Weight at a Convention

1. You’re Lazy. Plain and simple. The thought of exercising just makes you want another 200 calorie soda.
2. Your job rules your life. Whether you’re a full-time mom or a business executive, you probably don’t have time to eat healthy.
3. You have too much free time to spend eating. If you did more things rather than watch TV or sit at the computer chatting on facebook, maybe you could lose weight
4. You work from home and have a house full of goodies. The temptation is all around you. Doritos in the cabinet, cookies in the jar, ice cream in the freezer. Forget salad!
5. You eat anger/depression away. You can’t help but hate the world, your job, your car, your kids, your friends, your boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse. Why not have another Oreo?
6. Your friends are fat and they drag you down. They eat out a lot, they snack, they order pizza/chinese and invite you over. It’s inevitable to happen.
7. You just don’t care about calories, fat content, carbs, you eat what you want because you only get one life to live.

How do we correct these issues?

There’s no simple way to stop a horrible habit. Fact is, you make goals and never follow through. It’s a bad character flaw and we have it and hate ourselves for it. I don’t expect you to change your life style in order to be thin and conform. If you’re happy with who you are, stay that way and don’t let anyone pull you down.

Take your problem one step at a time, attempt to eliminate the things that are causing you to be overweight and unhappy. Like I said, don’t become a vegetarian or vow to never eat chocolate again, just think little. Moderate how you intake these fatty (yet delicious) foods, slowly adjust your body to different and better eating habits. Change your thinking, control your mind, and it’ll change your body.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

7 Reasons You’re Fat and Why You’ll Probably Stay Fat

Anyway, back to lifting weights after surgery. I have been looking forward to this day for a few weeks. It sucked pretty bad to go down when I did because I was in a good rhythm with my current work out routine. That one is an intense, short, fat burning, multi-joint exercise routine. I happen to like it a lot. It gets me going pretty quickly. I plan on continuing that for the next 3 to 4 weeks with one change to it. I will be adding squats 3 times a week to it.

Why more squatting? For starters, Mehdi from Strong Lifts just randomly contacted me introducing himself and recommending that I make that light tweak to my workout. I had never been to his site, but it is a good one. He has tons of fat loss and muscle building info, plus his ebook is off the hizzy! It has a great workout that he has put together, which I plan on undertaking after my current workout. Another reason I want to squat more is because I how great I feel when I squat. Squatting makes me stronger. Period. I used to squat 3 times a week when I played high school football. That was all year round. I didn’t always like it, but when I was done I felt great.

One of the good things about having had my appendix removal surgery is that it heals relatively quickly. That allows for lifting weights after surgery a lot sooner than a typical surgery. That may not seem like a benefit, but I suppose I am looking at the glass half full on this one. I will post an update on the success, or failure, of my new workouts.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Lifting Weights After Surgery

Many people set unrealistic, and unachievable goals. Corporations, small-town gyms, health food stores, supplement stores, and most everyone else loves New Years for the reason that thousands of people are going to be buying new products, gym memberships, more “whole” or “organic” foods, and all this spins into people buying exercise equipment, clothing, shoes – everything that goes along with their resolutions.

Now, what happens to each and every one of these cardio-bunnies and wanna-be gym rats that show up for the first few weeks of the New Year? Well, besides the fact they take up space in the gym? … after the 15th or 20th of January rolls around, you never see these people again

And why is that?

They wanted to get “fit” or “sexy” in the New Year! I am going to share some ideas that everyone can follow to make sure that in 2008, they exceed their goals and prepare themselves for a even better 2009!

1. Set an attainable goal!
   I hate to be rude, and blunt, but if someone 150lbs overweight they probably won’t have a bikini-body for June. Instead, why not look better in current swimwear/clothing? Shedding 20, 30, or even 50lbs between now and then will make a HUGE difference to outward appearance.
2. Stay simple, get back to the basics.
   As I repeatedly say in my articles, the simplest answer is usually the right one. Don’t make things more complicated than they need to be, if all a person does this year is cut their calorie intake by 1/3rd, do some easy cardio (walk an hour a day), and get the right amount of sleep – change will happen. These are easy goals, that hour walk might be 30 minute walk to work and back home? The hardest part is usually putting down the Cola and getting off the couch.
3. Find a partner!
   No, this isn’t saying sign up at a new dating site … finding a workout partner is a great way to motivate yourself, because when my workout partner is too lazy to get up it does not only affect them, but my own workouts as well. I need a strong, dependable, and most of all – a workout partner I can trust. I put my life into their hands, imagine getting stuck under a 315lb bench press or quadruple digits on a leg press machine, very unsafe if I can’t squeeze out that last rep and get caught at the bottom, or half way.
4. Track progress
   Many, many, many websites out there offer some form of logging or tracking of workouts. There are a few reasons I do this – for one, it keeps me honest. It’s also very inspiring, when you have a group of people following your workouts and they leave comments or suggestions. My personal motto is to better myself everytime I step into the gym, if I did not do more reps or more weight than the last time I did that exercise … I failed myself. The only way I know this is if I keep a log, I use the bodybuilding forums at IronMass, which is a very supportive community for beginners, with veteran fitness enthusiasts and beginners all helping each other.
5. Use a mirror, not a scale!
   When someone says they lost some fat, or weight, people immediately ask “How much?” – well, that’s not always correct. What if you lost 15lbs of fat, but gained 5lbs of muscle? You really only lost 10lbs, but the muscle you put on will help incinerate even more fat. I generally step on the scale twice a month, the 1st and 15th. I keep track of this, and always weigh in at the same time of day (ie: right after I wake up, use the bathroom, and hop onto the scale before I get into the shower — naked, no extra weight just me). This gets rid of any fluids, or solids, you may have in your body that can affect the weight +/- a pound or two. That’s enough to not see a change between weeks, and make some people want to quit. That’s not the case, weight fluctuates depending on dozens of factors and may go up and down from Breakfast to Noon. Watch the trend — if I’m losing weight for 6 straight weigh-ins I figure I’m doing something right, but if I jump up a pound on my next weigh in – I won’t freak out, and wait 2 weeks and see where I am the next time. If I’m up more than a pound or two, then it’s probably time to change things up.

So with that all said; apply these very, very basic principles to your 2008 Resolutions (and comment with what yours is!) and I’ll see you at the beach!

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

5 Ways To Keep Your Resolution

Fat Loss Tip # 1

The Morning After Pill: Your A.M. PRE-BRUSH Routine

Before you brush your teeth or hair, make sure to turn on your body’s engine. Don’t sneak in breakfast before this routine either, an empty stomach is better. As soon you roll out of bed stand up, spread your legs a little wider than shoulder length apart and reach up for the sky. Get a good stretch in this manner and re-align your bones and awaken your muscles. After that do this speedy day starter routine:

1. Perform 25 shoulder width push ups
2. Perform 25 close grip push ups
3. Perform 20 Crunches
4. Perform 20 weight-less Squats, use a broom stick if you like
5. Perform 20 more Crunches
6. Perform 20 Jumping Jacks
7. Perform 15 Push ups, your choice of type
8. Perform 20 more Crunches
9. Perform 20 more Jumping Jacks
10. Perform 20 more Squats
11. Perform a Shower Marine!

NOTE: Perform all these exercises consecutive with as little rest as possible, 30 seconds at maximum. The point of the Morning After is kick start your day with a major sweat. You are starting your body’s fire on an empty stomach.

Fat Loss Tip # 2

Consume Fire Starter Foods

Proper ignition is key in any fire. Same holds true with getting your metabolism rolling towards optimal weight loss. So with that being said, implement these seldom considered diet and health aides.

1. Cayenne – Simply put, Cayenne is pure gun powder. It pops viruses out your system and fortifies your little immune system soldiers. On top of that overall health benefit Cayenne is a metabolic dynamo, it’ll make you sweat and remember sweat is GOOD!Try to consume two teaspoons daily. Whether you mix it your vegetables or dump it on top of a chicken breast, no matter, just bury it down the hatchet.
2. Ginger – Hard training can put a strain on your immune system. It is not uncommon for individuals pushing themselves hard during weight loss training to come down with nasty viral infections. The reason is simple: you are taken your body where it hasn’t been before and this shock to the system can leave your immune system reeling and open for invasion. This is where Ginger can aid. Ginger is a stomach healer. Ginger will calm down even the most upset stomachs. Besides its tummy benefits it soothes the throat. And if that weren’t enough, yes Ginger does get your metabolism activated. Burning calories and keeping them burning are what Ginger can do. Buy at least 2 pounds of Ginger. Take those two pounds and boil it in half a gallon of water (get the big pot from grandma) for 6 minutes on high. Let it sit for 9 minutes and pour into a big pitcher. Drink at least 3 cups a day. Chill it and bring it to work. As an added bonus Ginger kills yucky mouth germs!
3. Lemon – Add it to water and let it cut the grease in your body. Lemons are a known catalyst in fat melting. Consume at least half a lemon a day and you could burn off a pound a week! Squeeze a lemon on your salad or over your chicken breast. I tend not to over recommend lemon because of the latest trend of individuals developing “Acid reflux” and other esophageal issues. I personally believe these people are predisposed because of years of damage with the consumption of fake, preservative filled juices. But nevertheless don’t let me get side tracked…this is a no wimps edition! Eat lemons and burn fat every second. The vitamin C laden lemon will also provide muscle and immune system support. So get sour and fit.

Fat Loss Tip # 3

Take on a Full Contact Approach

Fighting burns calories and that cannot be denied. An intense bout that utilizes all the limbs lasting 45 minutes can burn 1600 calories! But before you jump in the ring and get yourself knocked out perhaps consider investing in a pair of 16 ounce boxing gloves and a heavy bag. You can pound away your aggression, just imagine it’s your boss’s face (or your mother in law, ladies). Start out with a quick 3 minute shadow boxing warm up. Next, start pounding the heavy bag. Go at it for an intense 10 minutes and even get your elbow and knees involved for some vicious strikes. Eventually after four weeks work your way up to 20 minutes of pounding, just be careful not to slip on all the sweat that will be pouring out of you.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

New Year’s Resolution: Kick Start Fat and Weight Loss

Fat loss is important, REMEMBER THAT. That’s why I shy away from saying weight loss only. Changing the body’s composition from fat to lean muscle is the number one goal. Weight loss will naturally follow. Implement these quick hitter weight loss tips to your weight loss arsenal and see results. Good luck to everyone and keep those New Year’s Resolutions!

1. Chew more gum, try 4 sticks or pieces a day (try sugarless).

Method to the madness: If you keep your mouth engaged and chewing you cut the chance of filling it with junk. A fresh mouth is a clean mouth and keeping that feeling doesn’t involve Big Macs!

An added bonus is the extra calories you’ll burn chewing (not a lot I must admit) and not to mention the awesome jaw development you will enjoy. Happy chewing future Jay Leno.

2. Brush your teeth five times a day.

Same theory as the gum, the fresher your mouth the more effort it took to make it clean the less likely you will be to ruin it with overeating. Plus you’ll be all sexy with your new white teeth. Yipeee!

3. Eat 2 pounds of Blueberries a day.

As close to God’s food as possible. Good fiber source, tons of antioxidants…some benefits that scientist haven’t even uncovered yet. Blueberries are also excellent for eye health for all your four eyes.

4. Eat 2 pounds of unsalted, unsweetened mixed nuts.

Get super charged with Omega-3 fatty acids with almonds, walnuts, pecans, peanuts, etc. Lubricate your arteries with the right fats that nuts possess. Also enjoy nuts as a protein source. Mix them with raisin and dates for a pick me up.

5. Drink 7 cups of Green Tea, no sugar.

Cleanse your insides and detoxify. Antioxidants and a serene calming affect is what Green Tea offers. Drinking Green Tea is also a great way to take in more water, since its main ingredient is water, I’m a genius.

6. Eat green leaf salads, no dressing, just Olive oil twice a day.

Green Leaf vegetables provide iron, fiber, and essential vitamin and minerals. Some up your intake of spinach, watercress, and romaine lettuce. Salad is a key player in digestion and gives our bellies the right roughage needed to process our foods most efficiently. Use olive oil as the only topping. Olive oil is awesome on its own, I drink it right out the bottle twice a day.

7. Don’t drink any juice, of any kind.

While trying to lose weight do your best to reject juice. Unless you are “juicing” yourself with a processor and fresh vegetables and or fruits. My stance on this is firm, just take a look at the back nutritional label of your favorite juice. You will find the sugar content per serving to be 32 grams on the low and up to 45 grams. Too many preservatives as well. Concentrate, not from concentrate, who cares just stay away. I am a fan of pomegranate, cranberry, blueberry and raspberry juices but for the initial 8 weeks of your training program you should refrain.

Good luck and I have seven more Weight Loss Tips coming.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Weight Loss Tips

Low calorie and fat content does not always equal bland food. Which diet gives you this? The Sonoma Diet does just that. This diet puts emphasis on flavorful foods, flavorful foods that will help you stick to your diet because they taste great. The diet was written by the Connie Guttersen, PhD. The Sonoma Diet consists of several recipes that will teach you how to create flavor filled meals using fresh, healthy foods. The ingredients were inspired by the Mediterranean diet, which are foods that are healthy for your body, flavorful with few calories, helping you loose weight.

These foods are also filled with nutrients, helping you maintain a healthy body. The Sonoma Diet is mainly based on the Top Ten Power Foods. These power foods include tomatoes, spinach, broccoli, whole grain foods, almonds, blueberries, bell peppers, grapes, olive oil, and strawberries. These ingredients are incorporated into the diet’s meals. The Sonoma Diet is organized into five meals per day: breakfast, lunch, dinner, a snack, and dessert. By the end of the day, all of your meals will cover the nutrients and vitamins your body needs for that day.

The diet is also quite lenient because it allows you to have tasty, healthy snacks and desserts such as apple blueberry tarts. There are organized meal plans when you join that will help you loose weight starting on day one. There are also useful tools on the site such as a meal planner and shopping list that you can use. You can also take advantage of their online community for support and other success stories. Signing up is simple, all you need to do is submit your specifications (weight, target weight, gender, height and age), providing them specific details will help them find what will work best for you.

Where to Get It: The Sonoma Diet Plan Online

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Weight Loss with Flavorful Foods

First we have to see how training affects one’s body. If cardio is done early in the morning, I would advise a whey protein shake upon waking up with any fat burners to take, as well as multivitamin. Stressing highly on not eating, but rather drinking the whey shake to contrast the effects of catabolism during sleep (where body is repairing itself, but no nutritional calories available, body makes use of existing tissues). The body will stay semi-anabolic, or at least not destroying muscle, and expending stored calories.

Now let’s break this down.

First thing is first, and that’s to get some protein in your body. You’ve got muscle and you WANT to keep it! A whey protein shake like ON 100% Whey, along with dozens of other brands, is a good start.

Second is a multivitamin. The drug store may carry a good vitamin, but it’s not the best. If you’re a hardcore gym enthusiast or amateur athlete, then you cannot starve your body of anything less than Animal-Pak. Read the info, it’s a PACKET of vitamins and not just a horse pill. Optimum Opti-Men or Opti-Women are good, cheap multivitamins. Good thing about these is they are 3 pills to a serving for men, which means you can take one before early workout and then the other 2 with breakfast as normally.

Third is the rest of your supplement arsenal you want to use to obliterate fat, while I feel this is completely achievable without, and with, the use of supplements. Products like Green Tea Extract, Melting Point, Venom Hyperdrive 3.0, and complete supplement systems target this problem. Remember, supplements make up for a LACK OF. If you haven’t put forth 100%, how do you know what you’re lacking in?

Combining these things, and finding how they work for you will lead to a dramatic increase in overall fat loss. Working out on an empty stomach is brutally effective at destroying fat, and if possible to do within a half hour of waking up. It’s good to workout then, because cardio tends to be long and boring and I’m still half-asleep I don’t realize I’m walking until it’s over!

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Starting the Day with Supplements

Today I decided to step onto my nemesis to see where I am for the month since I plan on undergoing a rigorous cardio workout this month. I clocked in at 303.6 lbs. I should be able to get to my goal of being under 300 lbs before the end of the year. I may even be able to get to the 270′s, which is something that I have been looking forward to for a while. But, to keep it realistic I only want to set a goal of 10 lbs of weight loss for December. If I lose more, then fine. If I lose less, well then dammit, I need to do better.

So, taking my 10 lb weight loss goal into consideration, I should be at 293.6 lbs on January 1st, 2008. The third of the 4 Big Holidays is coming up in a couple of weeks. That’s going to be a big test for me. Christmas dinners are usually very tasty.

Well, enough for tonight.

Peace and be safe.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

A Weight Loss of 2 Pounds is Not Bad

In the past I have taken Hydroxycut and Xenadrine, but they made me feel too “wired.” I wasn’t able to go to sleep until late at night too. I guess that’s what ecstasy feels like. I wouldn’t know though. This time around I have chosen to try Metabodrene 356, with 10mg Ephedra Extract. It’s comparable to Metabolife 356. I usually go for name brand supplements, but it was free so I can’t complain. Thanks Armando, . Some of it’s active ingredients are: Ephedra (Ma Huang) extract, (ephedrine group alkaloids) aerial part, Magnesium, Vitamin E, Zinc, and Chromium. It has a “Proprietary Blend” of Guarana (Seed), Bee Pollen, Eleuthro (root), Ginger (root), Lecithin Damiana (leaf), Sarsaparilla (root), Goldenseal (whole plant), Nettle (leaf), Gotu Kola (aerial part), Spirulina, and Royal Jelly. I may have spelled some of those wrong, so don’t shoot me if I did.

It’s supposed to make you burn fat, but we shall see. I don’t think I have a problem with burning fat once I get into a routine, but every bit helps. It’s good to keep in mind that supplements are just that, supplements. They shouldn’t be considered the end all be all for weight loss. It’s good to consult a professional before incorporating any new weight loss supplements into your diet.

I had initially started out taking a fat burner and energy supplement, but decided to wait until I hit a wall. While I haven’t hit a wall yet physically, I feel like I have hit a wall mentally. I’m certain this will kick start my motivation, sort of like a placebo effect. That’s the main reason I’m taking these. This is the first of a few different weight loss and fat burner supplements I plan on taking over the next few months. I will let you guys know if I notice any changes over the next 30 days.

Have any of you taken any fat burner supplements? If so, which and what effects did you have?

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Supplementing with a Fat Burner