The 12 important lessons necessary to learn for weight loss

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Fat Loss Lie #9: "Exercise is not necessary... all you need is a diet"
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The Truth About The Diet Versus Exercise Debate
Yes, you CAN lose weight by cutting calories. But as you learned in the first part of this course ("the starvation diet lie"), there is danger in using very low calorie diets; you almost always re-gain weight that's lost with highly restrictive diets.
Some people use calorie restriction out of necessity. For example, I know some wheelchair-bound individuals who lost weight with calorie restriction alone. I also know some people who were very obese and had orthopedic problems (making exercise difficult at first), who chose to get started only with dietary restriction, then they added the exercise later. They also lost weight.
However, for able-bodied people, dieting is the absolute WORST way to lose weight.
Two Ways To Create A Calorie Deficit And Lose The Fat
As you learned in part 5 on calories, to lose fat, you need a calorie deficit. However, there's more than one way to create a calorie deficit. One is to decrease the amount of calories you consume (eat less). The other is to increase the amount of calories you burn (exercise more).
Of the two ways, burning the calories with increased activity is the superior method. Or, you can also combine the two - eat a little less, and exercise more.
Paradoxical as it seems, the most effective approach of all is to eat more and exercise a LOT more (as long as you still keep your calorie deficit). Nutritionist and exercise physiologist Dr. John Berardi calls this a "HIGH ENGERY FLUX," which simply means, higher energy input, higher energy output. The result is a high level of nutrition and a turbo-charged metabolism.
Top 10 reasons why exercising ("burn"), not dieting ("starve"), is the superior method of losing body fat:
The most effective fat-burning programs in the world always contain two types of exercise - weight training and cardiovascular training. The reasons to include both could go on for pages, but here are the top 10:
1. Exercise increases your metabolism.
2. Exercise creates a caloric deficit without triggering starvation mode.
3. Exercise helps you sleep better and manage stress better.
4. Exercise (strength training) tells your body to keep the muscle. Dieting causes muscle loss.
5. Exercise increases bone density.
6. Exercise helps prevent diabetes, control blood sugar, and improve insulin sensitivity.
7. Exercise improves cardiovascular health.
8. Exercise improves mood, helps relieve depression and increases self esteem
9. Exercise increasese mobility and quality of life as you get older
10. Exercise helps you keep the weight off long term.
The Science Behind Burning More, Not Eating Less
The role of energy expenditure in weight loss (diet vs exercise) is still the subject of controversy. For years I've been a strong advocate of weight training and cardiovascular training to "burn the fat" instead of just cutting calories (and being a "couch potato"). Take a look at some of the research-proven benefits of the "burn more" approach and see for yourself:
“Strength training may have greater implications than initially proposed for decreasing body fat and sustaining fat free mass. Research suggests that adding exercise programs to dietary restriction can promote more favourable changes in body composition than diet or physical activity on its own.”
-Stiegler, Sports Medicine, 2006
“Treatments relying only on energy restriction commonly cause substantial loss of lean tissue…” - Walberg, Sports Med, 1989: “Increasing daily activity and regular exercise plays an important role in weight maintenance due to an impact on daily energy expenditure and a direct enhancement of insulin sensitivity.”
- Astrup, Int J Vitam Nutr res, 76:4, 2006”
“Physical activity is a critical factor for successful body weight regulation. Physical activity facilitates weight maintenance through direct energy expenditure and improved physical fitness.”
- Saris, Int J Obes relat Metab Disord, 1998:
“Reduced energy expenditure appears to facilitate weight gain in individuals susceptible to obesity."
- Saltzman, Nutr rev, 1995:
The Lies And Deceptions That Fuel The $50 Billion Weight Loss Machine
With this kind of proof, why is there any debate at all? Well, the biggest reason is because the weight loss industry thrives on novelty. Without “what’s new,” there's no story. People want to hear about some cutting edge new revolutionary pill or unique new diet breakthrough.
The industry also bets on laziness. Exercise is a hard sell because it's perceived as hard work.</B> Advertisers know there's a lazy side hard wired into human nature, so they do everything they can to make their weight loss solutions look quick, easy and painless.
I believe the fact that we need to exercise - for health, quality of life AND for improved body composition - is such a common sense and intuitive conclusion that I find it almost comedic that there's any debate about it at all.
Think about it: What will your body shape look like by dieting without doing any training??? Diet without exercise tends to create a “skinny fat person” - someone with a low body weight but little if any muscle, and the last 10-15 lbs of stubborn fat is left defiantly clinging to your hips, butt, thighs, abs or "love handles!"
Here's what else I believe about exercise vs dieting:

• I believe that the human body is the only machine on the face of the earth that wears out and breaks down from not using it enough
• I believe that much obesity and disease are a direct result of inactivity
• I believe that much of the deterioration that happens as you age is a direct result of a sedentary lifestyle and a loss of muscle
• I believe that cardiovascular exercise + weight training + a small calorie reduction is vastly superior for fat loss purposes than a calorie reduction alone, both in the short and long term
• I believe that calorie restriction alone is a short-sighted and incomplete approach to a complex problem, and it requires a complete change in lifestyle habits to achieve better health, better body composition and results that last
• I believe that everyone who is able-bodied should get some type of physical activity almost every single day
• I believe that anyone who is healthy and physically able should get involved in weight training 3 days per week (up to 4 - 5 times per week for athletes and bodybuilders)
• I believe that anyone healthy and physically able should do at least 3 days per week of vigorous cardiovascular exercise (jogging, brisk walking, treadmills, stairclimbers, ellipticals, aerobics classes, etc), and they may increase their exercise frequency, intensity and or duration if necessary, to accelerate fat loss
• I believe that more people should stop taking their bodies for granted and start appreciating that those wheelchair-bound individuals I mentioned earlier would give anything to be able to run or ride a bike

It's tempting to keep looking for some kind of "no-sweat" secret, whether in the form of a special diet technique, a magic fat burning pill or whatever, but in the end, it always, comes back to this: You need a calorie deficit to lose weight... and it's better to burn more calories than to cut more calories.
Exercise - including weight training and cardio training - should be a part of every weight management program and a part of your lifestyle. This is one of the ultimate secrets to fat loss and long term weight control:
Remember, don't starve the fat, "BURN THE FAT."
In the next lesson, you'll discover the dark side of rapid weight loss and hear the truth about how quickly you can safely take off the pounds - for good - without risking a rebound. Until then...
Train hard and expect success,

 

Fat Loss Lie #10: "Fat loss can be quick and permanent"
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The "Quick Fat Loss" Lie Exposed
"Lose 30 pounds In 30 Days!"

"Lose 9 Pounds Every 11 Days!" Lose 10 Pounds This Weekend!
You see ad claims like these all the time, and they sure are enticing, aren't they? They play on our emotions and our desires for instant gratification.
Patience is the one thing you never seem to have when you’ve got a body fat problem. You want the fat gone and you want it gone now! And why not? It seems so do-able. Everywhere you look, you hear promises of quick weight loss and you even see people losing weight quickly.
We have reality TV shows that actually encourage people to attempt “extreme” body makeovers or see who can lose weight the fastest, and the winners (or shall we say, the "losers", as if that's a flattering title to earn), are rewarded generously with fortune, fame and congratulations.
Let’s face it. Everyone wants to get the fat off as quickly as possible - and having that desire is not wrong – it’s simply human nature. However...
Serious Problems Can Occur If You Try To
Force It And Lose Weight Too Quickly
The faster you lose weight, the more muscle you will lose right along with the fat, and that can really mess up your metabolism.
An even bigger problem with fast weight loss is that it just won’t last. The faster you lose, the more likely you are to gain it back. It's the the "yo-yo diet effect" - weight does down, but always comes back up. Think about it: We don’t have a weight loss problem today, we have a “keeping weight off” problem
Weight loss will be the healthiest, safest and most likely to be permanent if you set your goal for about two pounds per week (and even if you lose only a single pound each week, that is healthy progress). This is the recommendation of almost every legitimate and respected dietician, nutritionist, exercise physiologist and personal trainer on the planet, as well as exercise organizations such as the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Dietetic Association.
Are there any exceptions? Yes. It may be ok to lose more than two pounds per week if you have a lot of weight to lose, because the rate of weight loss tends to be relative to your total starting body weight. Generally the rule is that it’s safe to lose up to 1% of your total body weight per week, so if you weigh 300 lbs to start, then 3 lbs a week is a reasonable goal.
But there IS a catch.
What Really Matters Is Not How Much WEIGHT
You Lose, But How Much FAT You Lose
Where did your weight loss come from? Did you lose body fat or lean body mass? "Weight" is not the same as "fat." Weight includes muscle, bone, internal organs as well as lots and lots of water.
Let’s look at an example with some numbers so you can really grasp this concept of weight versus fat and then you can see, illustrated with specific examples, what will happen when you lose weight too quickly.
As an example, let’s take a 260 pound man who has a lot of body fat to lose - let’s call it 32%. With 32% fat, a 260 pounder has 83.2 pounds of body fat and 176.8 pounds of lean mass. Using this example, let’s look at a few possible scenarios with losses ranging from two to four pounds per week.
Weight Loss Scenario 1:
Suppose our 260 pound subject loses four full pounds instead of the recommended two pounds per week. Is this bad? Well, let’s see:
If he loses a half a percent of body fat, here are his body composition results:
256 lbs
31.5% body fat
80.6 lbs fat
175.4 lbs lean body mass
Out of the four pounds lost, 2.8 pounds were fat and 1.2 were lean mass. Not a disaster, but not good either. Thirty percent of the weight lost was lean tissue.
Weight Loss Scenario 2:
If he loses a half a percent of body fat and only three pounds, here are his results:
257 lbs
31.5% body fat
80.9 lbs fat
176.1 lbs lean body mass
These results are better. Although he lost less body weight than scenario one, in this instance, 2.3 pounds of fat and only 0.7 lbs of lean mass were lost.
Weight Loss Scenario 3:
What if he only lost two pounds? Here are the results:
258 lbs
31.5% body fat
81.2 lbs fat
176.8 lbs lean body mass
These results are perfect. Even though our subject has only lost two pounds, which seems slow, 100% of the two pound weight loss came from fat and he kept ALL the muscle!
Weight Loss Scenario 4:
Now let’s suppose he loses three pounds but he loses more body fat: .8%
257 lbs
31.2% body fat
80.2 lbs fat
176.8 lbs lean body mass
These are the best results of all. When the weekly fat loss is .8% (better than average), 100% of the three pounds lost is fat. So as you can see, yes, it’s safe to lose more than two pounds per week… but only if the weight is fat. If you lose three or four pounds per week, and you know it’s all fat, not lean tissue, then more power to you! If you lose four pounds and two of those pounds are muscle, you just shot yourself in the foot!
If as little as 20%-30% of your weight loss comes from muscle, when compounded over a few months, you’re talking about a massive muscle tissue loss which can dramatically slow down your metabolism, weaken you and turn you into nothing more than a “skinny fat person” (that's a person with low body weight because they lost so much muscle, but still holding stubborn fat because they shut down their metabolism).
Don't Be Fooled By Water Weight Losses
One thing you should also know is that it’s very common to lose 3 - 5 pounds in the first week on nearly any diet and exercise program and often even more on low carb diets. Just remember, its NOT all fat - WATER LOSS IS NOT FAT LOSS!
The only way to know if you've actually lost FAT is with body composition testing. For home body fat self-testing, I recommend the Accu-Measure skinfold caliper as first choice. Even better, get a multi site skinfold caliper test from an experienced tester at a health club, or even an underwater (hydrostatic) or air (bod pod) displacement test.
From literally hundreds of client case studies, I can confirm that it’s rare to lose more than 1.5 - 2.0 lbs of weight per week without losing some muscle along with it. If you exceed 2.0 to 3.0 pounds per week, the probability of losing muscle is extremely high. If you lose muscle, you are damaging your metabolism and this will lead to a plateau and ultimately to relapse.
The Biggest Weight Loss Mistake That Is
FATAL To Your Long Term Success
Lack of patience is one of the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to losing body fat. If you want to lose FAT, not muscle, and if you want to keep the fat off for good, then you have to take off the pounds slowly. (of course, if you want to crash diet the weight off fast, lose muscle with the fat and gain all the fat back later, be my guest)
This is one of the toughest lessons that overweight men and women have to learn - and they can be very hard learners. They fight kicking and screaming, insisting that they CAN and they MUST lose it faster.
Then you have these TV shows that encourage the masses that rapid, crash weight loss is okay. To the producers of these shows, I say SHAME ON YOU! To the personal trainers, registered dieticians and medical doctors who are associated with these programs, I say DOUBLE SHAME ON YOU, because you of all people should know better. These shows are not "motivating" or "inspiring" - they are DAMAGING! They are a DISGRACE!
The rapid weight loss being promoted by the media for the sake of ratings and by the weight loss companies for the sake of profits makes it even harder for legitimate fitness and nutrition professionals because our clients say, “But look at so and so on TV - he lost 26 pounds in a week!”
Sure, but 26 pounds of WHAT - and do you have any idea what the long term consequences are?
Short term thinking… foolish.
Do it the right way. The healthy way. Take off pounds slowly, steadily and sensibly with an intelligent nutrition and exercise program like Burn The Fat, measure your body fat, not just your body weight, and make this a new lifestyle, not a race, and you will never have to take the pounds off again, because they will be gone forever the first time.
We're getting close to the end of this series and next time, in part 11 of 12, you'll find out about the scandal that is taking place in the medical and pharmaceutical industries ("The big pharma lie")... Plus, you'll also learn the truth about steroids and other performance-enhancing and fat-burning drugs. Until then...
Train hard and expect success,

 

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Fat Loss Lie #11: "Drugs or surgery will take the fat off and keep it off"
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Drugs. Magic Bullet Or Lethal Mistake?

For many people who are frustrated with little or no results, despite their best intentions, physique-enhancing drugs or hormones appear to be the only legitmate "miracle cure." After all, supplements are iffy, but drugs are, well, drugs!
Steroids have been around for a long time. So have obesity drugs. Lately, there's been a push for the use of Human Growth Hormone or Testosterone under the harmless sounding labels of "anti-aging medicine" and "Hormone replacement therapy."
Of course, these are sometimes needed for clinical purposes, but the sales pitch I'm referring to is being made to perfectly healthy baby boomers, who desperately want to regain their youthful looks and vitality or to young people who want a "short cut."
Dramatic short-term results in body composition can be achieved from using all kinds of weight loss drugs, steroids, thermogenics, thyroid drugs, growth hormone and other chemicals. No doubt about that. One look around my own sport of bodybuilding is proof of that.
However, appearances can be deceiving. The road of drug use for cosmetic enhancement can be a wild ride in the beginning, but in the long run, it's a dead end street.
What The Pharmaceutical Companies
Don't Want You To Know About
Regardless of whether we're talking about illegal steroids and performance enhancers, prescription obesity drugs, or even over the counter "fat burning" drugs like ephedrine, these are all really one in the same:
(1) multi million dollar moneymakers, and
(2) Short-term attempts at treating effects, not causes.
Lets take weight loss drugs, for example:
What would happen if the pharmaceutical companies finally came out with a "safe and effective" obesity drug and brought it to the marketplace on a massive scale?
Here's exactly what would happen:
THE PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES WOULD GET RICHER
AND THE OBESITY PROBLEM WOULD CONTINUE!
Think about it: Did Xenical cure obesity? How about Phentermine? Meridia? Adipex? Bontril? Didrex? Tenuate?
What about Ephedrine? Tens of millions of people were taking it. Did that solve the obesity problem?
How about surgery? Gastric bypasses? 100,000 were performed last year. Did that solve the obesity problem?
In a few cases where someone's health is at stake, and when time is of the essence, the benefits of drugs may outweigh and justify the risks.
However, most people are not facing life-threatening obesity, and even in these rare cases, you have to concede that drugs or surgeries are last-resort treatments - not first lines of defense. They are absolutely not a substitute for proper nutrition, exercise and lifestyle change.
Here's the fatal flaw with thinking that any drugs will be a long-term solution:
We live in an orderly universe where everything happens for a reason (by "law"). For every effect, there is a cause. There are no accidents.
A lean body never happens by accident.
An overweight body never happens by accident.
A lean body and an overweight body are effects. Both of these effects have causes. If you're overweight, you can create lasting changes 100% of the time if you uncover the cause of the overweight condition and remove it.
The cause of body fat in nearly all cases is inactivity, poor nutrition and often negative self-image issues. Drugs and surgery can only treat an effect (the fat). Even if the fat (the effect) is temporarily removed, it will come back if the cause is still there.
You can't expect pills, drugs or surgical procedures that only treat symptoms/effects to create permanent changes.
Depending on your genetics, you may never look like a bodybuilder or fitness cover model, but you always have the power to improve your body and your health above and beyond where you are today.
You can always improve, no matter where you are now and no matter what your genetic disposition.
How? By accepting responsibility for your situation and then taking positive action every day for the rest of your life to improve it. You simply have to change your lifestyle!
Try to fight "the law" or shirk hard work by looking for short cuts if you want, but in the end, you'll always lose.
Try to ignore "the law" if you want, but ignorance of the law does not excuse you from its operation.
Lifelong health, fitness and a perfect body weight do not come out of a bottle or needle and never will - no matter what new concoction they cook up in the lab.
Those who think otherwise may gain temporary relief from health woes or enjoy some short-term benefits, but unless they alter their lifestyles, they'll have hard lessons to learn in the long run.
I envision a day when both the medical and fitness communities will join together to help stop this error in thinking, and begin to teach people how to improve their lifestyles with a natural approach and alter their mental attitudes instead of writing prescriptions and selling "magic" pills.
To permanently become lean, you must identify the causes of excess fat,. These can include:

• Excessive caloric intake
• Poor nutrition choices
• Inactivity
• Unhealthy lifestyle habits
• Psychological and emotional factors

Then, you must treat THESE CAUSES. Only when the source ("the cause") of your problem is removed, will the unwanted effects disappear for good. Until then, anything else will only be a quick fix, band-aid, temporary solution
We're getting close to the end of this series and next time, in part 11 of 12, you'll finally get some definitive answers about how much time you need to commit to your exercise programs. You'll get the scoop about claims like "7 minutes in the morning," "6 second abs," and the "1 workout a week muscle revolution." Could there really be a way to train less and get more results? Find out in the 12th and final part. Until then...
Train hard and expect success,

 

Fat Loss Lie #12: "It takes just minutes a day"
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"2 MINUTE ABS"
"A FEW MINUTES IN THE MORNING!"
"THE ONE WORKOUT A WEEK FITNESS REVOLUTION!"
"CHANGE YOUR BODY IN 30 MINUTES A WEEK"
As if all the rapid weight loss claims weren't enough (big fat lie #10), the latest bombardment of advertising hype says that you're spending too much time in the gym and that if you follow their "secret" training program, you can get in tip top shape in just "minutes a day."
What do I think about that? well, you definitely don't have to "live in the gym" or train for hours every day to get great results. And you should always, of course, look for ways get the most benefit from every minute you spend in the gym. That's called "time efficiency," and that is a good thing.
But you should be very cautious of the claims about getting more results in less time. You really CAN get more results in less time with higher intensity workouts, but "higher intensity" translated, means "hard work." If it sounds too good to be true... well, you know the rest...
It's an error in thinking that you can bypass the law of cause and effect and it's a flaw in character to expect better results without putting in the necessary time and hard work(refer back to lesson #6 if necessary: "The quick and easy lie.").
There's a fine line between training enough to stimulate growth and overtraining. We are warned continually not to overtrain or we'll "hold back our strength and muscle gains." We are also cautioned not to do too much aerobics or we'll "lose the muscle" we already have.
It's true that many people are overtraining. But just as there's fine a line between optimal training and overtraining, there's also a fine line between optimal training and undertraining.
The minimalist "less is more" approach is highly appealing because it represents the ultimate "lazy man (or woman's)" approach. And most of all, it SELLS!
The promoters are basically saying, "Hey, you're spending too much time in the gym and it's holding back your gains. Buy my secret miracle training program from Bulgaria, and you only have to train once or twice a week for a few minutes and you'll double your results."
Briefer and less frequent workouts are only good to the extent to which they prevent you from overtraining and they optimize hormonal response to training. Minimalism as a marketing appeal is a completely different story. Make sure you recognize the difference between the two.
I thought the "just minutes in the morning" idea was ridiculous (but brilliant from a marketing perspective), now someone just wrote a book called 2-minute abs. What's next? 30-second abs? Massive muscles in five minutes? The one rep muscle revolution?
Your body is begging for exercise - it's an amazing machine that was designed to be used often and vigorously. In fact, your body is the only machine that wears out faster when you don't use it!
Training for basic health benefits and training for maximum fat loss and muscle growth may not be the same thing. To get maximum changes in body composition, you need a much higher frequency, duration and intensity.
You can get health benefits from very small amounts of exercise. Even walking to work or class, or raking the leaves in your yard can have health benefits. But you get even greater health benefits from larger amounts of exercise.
You can get a training effect (muscle growth and strength increase) in as few as two or three thirty-minute workouts per week, especially if you use highly time efficient training methods such as high intensity interval training for cardio and supersets, circuits and short rest intervals for strength training.
However, you cannot expect to become super lean and highly muscular without putting in the time and effort.
Here's what it all boils down to: You reap what you sow... The rewards you take out will always come in direct proportion to the work you put in. The best bodies - with the best body composition and fat-to-muscle ratios - are built with high levels of physical activity. There's simply no quick fix.
That's it for the BIG FAT LIES mini course. THANK YOU for reading and giving me the opportunity to share with you.
Sincerely,
Tom Venuto.