"3 Simple Ingredients for Successful Fat Loss"

Nutrition. Exercise. Lean Muscle. Strength... N.E.LM.S. Fitness

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The 3 Simple Ingredients for Successful Fat Loss

There is no magic pill.

It is nearly impossible to lose 30 pounds in 30 days, no matter what the advertisements say.

You cannot preferentially lose abdominal fat by doing hundreds of crunches.

It’s time to acknowledge that fat loss takes some work, don’t you think? Wouldn’t it be better to embrace the truth sooner, rather than later? How many more dollars are going to be wasted before everyone realizes that there is nothing “fast”, there is nothing “easy”, and there is nothing “magical” about fat loss? How much more time, energy, and money will YOU waste?

Sometimes, it is the tough questions that make us think and help us to see reality.

The good news is that there are only 3 simple ingredients for successful fat loss. Successful fat loss is not rocket science, and the principles behind it are pretty straightforward. Note, however, that “simple” does not mean “easy”. So, what are the 3 ingredients?

Intelligent, Supportive Nutrition

The first ingredient is, of course, intelligent nutrition. Fortunately, eating properly for fat loss is not as difficult as the media has made it out to be. Before we delve into the specifics, though, let’s briefly look at America’s fat loss diet history.

We have gone through different diet phases in the last few decades, with radical approaches following one after another in rapid succession. First, it was low fat diets that promised a cure for the obesity epidemic running rampant in the United States. Food companies removed the fat from snack foods and desserts and added sugar and refined carbohydrates to make it taste better. Ultimately, the low fat diet was responsible for the obesity epidemic worsening, as people recklessly increased their consumption of simple carbohydrates.

As people gained more body fat, we were led to the “no carb” phase of our dieting history, and people indulged in gluttonous amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol. Fruits, vegetables, fiber, vitamins, and minerals were ignored altogether. People lost weight, even though up to 50% of their weight loss was muscle. This muscle loss led to a drastic reduction in metabolism, and when people got tired of hot dogs, sausage, bacon, cheese, steaks, and hamburgers at every meal, they went back to eating all of the things they had been craving. Unfortunately, bodies now betrayed their owners, and the combination of withering metabolisms and binge eating created an ability to gain fat that has never before been seen.

For many of you, that brings us to today, right now, as you read this article.

The great news is that nutrition for losing body fat allows for balance. Proper nutrition for fat loss allows for good carbohydrates, good proteins, and good fats, each and everyday. Believe it or not, most people are often able to eat more frequently than they are accustomed to eating now. In fact, it is this more frequent eating that begins to repair the floundering metabolism. So, the first ingredient of successful fat loss is intelligent, supportive nutrition that aids in revving up the metabolism.

Cardiovascular Work

The second ingredient for successful fat loss is cardiovascular work. However, I have bad news for a lot of people reading this. Cardiovascular work is not a miraculous solution to fat loss. Historically, especially in the female population, endless amounts of cardiovascular work have been incorrectly utilized as a mechanism to attempt to lose body fat. Note that the key word is “attempt”.

The problem with traditional cardiovascular work is that the body becomes more efficient at creating energy by utilizing body fat. While that may sound like a good thing, it actually isn’t. Basically, the body becomes more efficient and needs to burn FEWER calories to do the same amount of work. Allow me to elaborate.

When a person starts a running program, the body isn’t very efficient. It takes a lot of work to run a mile the first time you try it, right? Or, when you start to swim for the first time, you really struggle to get through the water, don’t you? These beginning efforts burn a lot of calories, as you attempt to learn new skills. You’ll notice that you breathe quite heavily during these initial cardio sessions; it is because you are inefficiently working and burning a ton of calories. Now, here is the key: as things get easier, your body becomes more efficient, and you don’t have to work as hard to achieve the same result.

What once was very difficult to achieve is now easier. On one hand, this is great progress, and you should be congratulated for it. On the other hand, it means you are currently burning fewer calories. So, you must continuously increase your cardiovascular work just to burn the same amount of calories that you once did. Just as an example, let’s say that you burned 100 calories the first time you ran a mile. After practice, you become more efficient and now may burn only 80 calories. So, you must either run harder or run longer, or both, to expend 100 calories. At what point, however, will you be limited by how much farther or faster you can go?

Cardiovascular work is an essential ingredient of successful fat loss, but make sure it isn’t an activity that you can always do easily. In fact, the reality is that very little of your cardiovascular work should be easy. If it is, you are wasting your time, and your efforts could be much more productive. Remember, the principles of fat loss are easy, but the exercise sometimes is not.

If there was a “secret” to fat loss, it would be hidden in the third ingredient. When people think of fat loss, it is the third ingredient that people think of the least. To make matters worse, the third ingredient is probably even more confusing and misunderstood than the other two. It is the key, however, to consistent fat loss, because nothing else raises your metabolism more than the third ingredient.

Third Ingredient: a Contest!

What is it? This month, you’re going to have to guess…but you can earn something for it!

Before we share the third ingredient, we would like to have a little contest, complete with prizes. You are probably aware that the Homesteader runs a “fake ad” contest in each issue. If you haven’t read about it, yet, make sure to read the issue thoroughly, since they give away a $50 gift certificate each month to a reader that emails them with the fake ad! On a similar note, we would like to extend an offer to the first 10 readers that both sign up for the NELMS Fitness free weekly newsletter and submit a guess about the third ingredient of successful fat loss.

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Jeremy Nelms is the fitness director at Prescott Racquet Club and co-owner of Prescott’s Adventure Boot Camp for Women. He can be reached at www.PrescottBootCamp.com or www.NelmsFitness.com. Each week, this e-zine will bring you the concepts and methods and tips that have been proven to create lifelong, effective results for individuals – just like you – who started off with a strong desire to change his or her appearance, health, and future. Call (928) 257-1348 to schedule a consultation with NELMS Fitness today!

 

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