Understand Your Metabolism and Unlock Your Weight Loss Results

Have you ever seen an ad for the next latest and greatest weight loss program or diet pill, only to see in fine print that this person also ate a balanced diet and did regular exercise? The other common complaint all the time is "I workout hard everyday and I don't lose a pound." Does this sound like you? The key to achieving health weight loss and keeping it off for a lifetime is understanding your metabolism.

When you think about weight loss you want to think in terms of a diet fitness program. The problem many people do is they only focus on one aspect which leaves them always falling short of their goals.

What is metabolism any way?

Your metabolism doesn't have to be confusing. Let's break your metabolism down in to two aspects. First, is your body's ability to break down food that you eat and convert it into energy or store it. You can store fat in your fat cells though you do store carbohydrates in your muscle cells to be used as energy later. The second is the rate at which your body produces energy, or do you have a fast or slow metabolism? The other key part to your metabolism is what you are burning for energy.

Your metabolism wants small amounts of food at regular intervals throughout the day. Typically every 2-3 hours is a good time to eat. This isn't eating the average American meal 5 times a day, more cutting your meal in half and eating that amount throughout the day. When we go longer than 3 hours between meals are body starts to store the food we do eat as fat, and can burn away muscle tissue for energy instead of using your food. When you eat 5 small meals a day you train your body to use fat as your main fuel source. A proper metabolism burns 70% fat as its main source of energy all day long. Just think while you are working sitting at your chair you are burning fat.

It is through exercise that we raise our metabolism up. The amount of calories we burn is not as important as the rate at which we burn calories. If burning 3500 calories worked than all the walkers at the gym would be the thinnest people. You typically see runners much thinner than walkers and that is because running burns calories at a greater rate and raises up your metabolism. You burn more calories by raising up your metabolism the entire day than you can in any workout.

Cardio interval training is considered one of the best ways of raising up your metabolism. Interval training is short burst of high intensity follow by short durations of low intensity and then repeated. People after doing an interval workout burn more fat as a source of energy for the entire day after than any other form of cardio. You only want to do one interval workout per week as over doing it creates over training and a drop in results.

Combining exercise and eating 5 small meals and you will unlock your weight loss potential. This not only the fastest ways to lose weight these habits work for the rest of your life to have more energy and keep the fat off your body.

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Five Easy Steps to Fat Loss and Building Lean Muscle Mass

Successfully building lean muscle tissue can be a challenge. So often people gain muscle only to add fat as well. With 5 simple steps you can add size without adding the weight you don't want.

1. Eat 4-6 small meals daily.

Spreading your calories out during the day keeps your metabolism moving and your energy levels high. "It may be the most important aspect in fat loss" says Bobby Hiatt, online fitness trainer. It's also important to make sure that each meal contains a balance of nutrients, namely protein, carbohydrate and fat. Good sources of protein include fish, lean meat, chicken, eggs, turkey, and whey protein. Preferred sources of carbohydrates include fruit, vegetables, beans, and whole grains. Olive oil, nuts (including peanuts) and fish oils are a healthy source of fat. If you're too busy to cook and prepare regular high-protein, low-fat meals, then meal replacements (such as Max-Meal High Protein) and nutrition bars (like Cyclone Bars and Max-Meal bars) will help you to feed your body with the nutrients it needs to burn fat and build muscle.

2. Choose the right carbohydrates.

Complex carbohydrates that are high in fiber (like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, beans and nuts). Highly refined carbohydrates like sugary cereals, cookies, chips, fizzy drinks and chocolate bars have little nutritional value and can easily be stored as body fat. Eat these foods in moderation only. If you have cravings for chocolate, Max-Meal bars will help to satisfy your cravings for rich, delicious food without making you feel guilty.

3. Don't forget completely about the fat.

Despite the hype in the 80's and 90's, fat IS an important part of everyone's diet and is necessary for fat loss. In fact, the latest research shows that CLA, a type of fat called Conjugated Linoleic Acid (known also as CLA), can make losing fat and building muscle faster and easier. CLA refers to a family of naturally occurring polyunsaturated fats found primarily in beef, lamb, and dairy products. Unlike stimulant-based fat burners, CLA is natural and safe. Many previous trials show that CLA also has potent muscle-building effects. Every fat cell in the body wants to get big. What the CLA does is force that fat cell to stay little by affecting a number of enzymes that are ordinarily responsible for filling it with lipids. In other words, CLA literally diverts the calories you eat away from fat and into muscle tissue. .

4. Don't cut your calories too low.

Drastic calorie cutting attempts usually result in failure. If you want lasting results and not just a quick fix, then your best bet is to reduce the number of calories in each meal, rather than skipping meals. A great and easy way to do this is by replacing some of the starchy carbohydrate in your diet with fruit and vegetables. For example, instead of having a bowl full of cereal, cut the serving size in half, and replace it with berries (such as strawberries or raspberries). Using whey protein (such as Promax) and water instead of milk will also help to increase the protein content of your diet.

5. Give yourself one cheat day per week.

If you are eating "clean" 6 days a week, you deserve a cheat day. Pick one day per week and save all your cravings for that special day. Make a chocolate dessert, or have some extra pasta with dinner. Whatever it is, after 6 days of keeping your diet in order you deserve a day of eating some of your favourite foods. Your body can handle it. Remember that you can't gain a significant amount of fat in just one day. It takes weeks of poor eating to add that weight.

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Tips to Achieve Ripped Muscles

The challenge has always been for people not just to lose a few pounds, but how do I get ripped muscles and abs. We have all been to the gym and think we look better though the belly still doesn't look the way we want. So instead of making it overwhelming, if you stick to some basic principles it may be the fast track for you to a ripped body. Most people inherently are doing typically one or two destructive simple things everyday that they are not aware of that keeps them from their goals.

1. 5 Small Meals – You may have heard that eating throughout the day is important though do you do it. Eating every 2-3 hours trains your body to burn fat as its major source of energy. Also, 5 small meals shuts off your body from storing fat into your fat cells. If you are not eating every 2-3 hours than every day you are doing something that stores fat and burns away muscle tissue. We know where most people store fat which is their belly or thighs. Meal replacement shakes are bars are perfect quick choices to help get a good meal with our stressful and hurried lives. Make sure your supplement has carbs for energy as protein only bars don't have the energy your body needs to keep burning fat.

2. Drink water and water – Yah, yah, I have heard that before. Though most people know they are supposed to drink water 6-8 glasses a day, the reality is people still don't do it. Making sure you get your water is an essential key to allowing your body to perform optimally. Without adequate water intake you have no chance to get a ripped lean body. If you take products like creatine you need more water as creatine absorbs water into your muscle cells. Water is need for all physiological process including your metabolism to function properly and to remove harmful toxins that damage your muscle cells out of your body.

3. Eat after 6pm – Most people think that they shouldn't eat after 6 pm or don't eat before going to bed. You want to eat as mentioned before every 2-3 hours. If you eat dinner at 6 pm and are up to 10 pm than you want another small snack at around 9 pm. People who starve themselves by not eating after 6 pm burn muscle tissue away all night. Your body needs energy; if you give your body energy in small portions throughout the day your body will reward you with a lean, mean, fat burning machine. Your body doesn't care about the time of day. Also, most people say don't eat a large meal before going to bed it is the large part that is the problem not the meal.

4. You do have do Cardio – Most people who want to rip up typically only exercise with strength training. To develop big muscles you do need to focus on strength training. To support ripping up though, you need to be able to shed extra fat off your body. Interval cardio training is considered one of the most effective ways to raise your metabolism and burn fat. People after doing an interval workout burn more fat during the entire day than any other form of cardio exercise. Interval workouts are short durations of high intensity followed by short durations of low intensity, and then repeated. Proper cardio training is best done with a heart rate monitor and having specific heart rate zones designed for your physiology.

5. Carbs and Protein – Most people attempting to rip up over do their protein intake. You can feel the extra protein going through you because extra gas or issues with your stools. Your body does need protein to rebuild muscle tissue and is essential in each on of your 5 small meals to get lean proteins into your diet. Most people cut carbs because they see the pounds on the scale drop when they do. Carbs absorb water and when you cut carbs your weight loss is coming from water not fat. During strength training your only source of energy is carbohydrates. If you are cutting carbs out of your diet or reducing them to low levels you will never have the energy to train at your max and develop the muscle mass size you want. You want at least 50-55% of your calories coming from complex carbs. As you get more ripped you increase total amount of all carbs, fats, and proteins, not just add more protein.

6. Antioxidants – The harder you train the most energy you produce. Energy or calorie production creates by-products that are toxic if left in the body. Especially, with people who train often and intensely they do not get adequate amounts of antioxidants to remove the harmful metabolic wastes. Metabolic wastes or free radicals left in the body do muscle cell damage and prevent you from developing lean muscle tissue from your hard work. Add a multivitamin with antioxidants or I recommend Meridium XN which is the most powerful antioxidant on the market.

The last thing for one more tip is get your sleep. All your body's adaptations and results occurs while you are sleeping. If today you had the world's greatest diet and fitness program and then got 5 hours of sleep you pretty much wasted al that effort. It is also important to get up the same time everyday including weekends.

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