The war on calories

Everywhere I look I see “zero calorie” this and “zero calorie” that. But since when are calories the enemy?

Just like much of us are focusing on weight loss rather than fat loss, many of us are just as focused on eating “no calories” and we are focused on eating “the right calories“. Calories area good thing. They provide us with the energy and the nutrients we need to function. If you’re trying to add lean muscle, you need calories, but you also need calories if you’re trying to burn fat. Read the rest of this entry »

fat loss vs weight loss – 5 steps for fat loss in the weight room

Part II

Weight training for fat loss

Before I got things all figured out with my training, I’d have two different workouts, one for fat loss and one for gaining lean mass and neither of them actually worked all that well. What I’d did is what a lot of people are doing, adding reps for fat loss workouts and adding weight and lowering reps for gaining muscle workouts.

When we’re trying to burn fat we think more reps = more calories expended, therefore better results when it comes to fat loss. And when we’re trying to gain muscle, we think lower reps means more weight lifted, which means bigger muscles.

Here are a few things I figured out that resulted in more lean muscle mass gained, and more fat lost.

Read the rest of this entry »

fat loss vs weight loss

Fat Loss vs Weight Loss … 3 part series

Part 1: Eating to lose fat

In the next three posts I’ll be talking about fat loss and the mentality that weight loss is the way to go. I’ll cover diet, weight training and cardio.

I hear it all the time, “my goal is to lose some weight.” But is that really the best goal to have? You see it on “The Biggest Loser” all the time. They reward weight loss rather than concentrating on fat loss. It’s a great show and it has done great things for the participants, but rewarding weight loss isn’t the best way to go about it.

Rewarding fat loss is. Read the rest of this entry »

6 steps to amazing fat loss

6 things I did to drop my bodyweight by 3% in less than 2 weeks, while spending only 3 hours a week in the gym.

If you’ve visited this site before, you’ll know that I’m not big on long, drawn out workouts; I prefer to be in and out of the gym as soon as I possibly can, and on with my day.

I was two weeks away from a trip to Maui and I wanted to shed a few pounds of fat, without sacrificing any of my muscle. Here’s the catch: I had two very busy weeks ahead and I didn’t want to spend more than 3 hours a week in the gym. I had more important things to do, but nonetheless, wanted to get in great shape for the trip. Read the rest of this entry »