In the first week, more than 4 million people clicked through the post. On one hand, part of me felt like we succeeded. On the other hand, my growing frustration shifted to something much bigger: Are any of these articles really helping you improve your diet?

Sure, you could say that not reaching for a tapeworm or cabbage soup is a win, but I’m not sure that anyone who chooses those options feels like they’ve found the perfect way to eat. Instead, they’re just trying to get small wins, even if it means taking a short-term loss in enjoyment from eating.

The frustration and guilt I experienced from that article changed my career (I left my job shortly after) and the way I wanted to help people. Just as importantly, it made me rethink which diets are really dangerous.

And, rather than starting with the obvious, I started to wonder if a timeless staple — chicken and broccoli — was a part of the problem.

If your diet only consists of chicken and broccoli, it should be because that’s your choice. Not because you believe bland foods are the only way to a better body and improved health.

What Is The Chicken And Broccoli Diet And Why The Craze?

It’s not as much a “diet” as it is a mentality of what you must eat in order to be healthy. As you’ll see, when you survey diet coaches, RD’s, and nutritionists, the majority point to “chicken and broccoli” as being a staple of a healthy diet.

Why is eating chicken and broccoli seen as the picture of health? On the surface, there are many obvious and fair reasons. Skinless chicken breast is lean meat that is a good source of lean protein. And, when it comes to vegetables, the “broccoli diet” approach is as old as time. Need a vegetable? Just add broccoli.

The combination is high protein, low fat, low carb, and not very caloric. It’s the reason why it became the staple of old-school bodybuilding diets because that combination helps control body fat when substituted for multiple meals per day.

It became a craze because it works…technically. If you eat chicken and broccoli multiple times per day it can help you lose weight and insert “healthier” options into your diet.

But, if following a healthy diet was as simple as pressing the “chicken broccoli” easy button, then no one would ever struggle with their weight.

The reality is that following a diet (any diet!) is incredibly difficult. Research has compared 4 popular diets and found that on each one, the longer you were on the diet the harder it was to follow the diet.

It didn’t matter if it was high protein, low fat, low carb, or some variation of a balanced approach.

And some of that is the result of a chicken and broccoli mentality. If you believe that eating a limited number of foods — and options that you might, admittedly, find less-than-desirable —then burnout is very likely to happen and weight loss won’t last.

Why Dietary Ends Don’t Justify Dieting Means

Let’s return to the idea of “dangerous diets.” It’s fascinating to think about because even though many of them are seemingly crazy (honestly, who wants a tapeworm?), people are still willing to give these diets a try.

The desire to lose weight, build muscle, or live longer is such a powerful end-goal that we’re willing to go the farthest lengths to try almost anything to achieve the results we desire.

There are three important factors to keep in mind when considering your own diet.

1. Chasing a goal gives us a rush. We know that the anticipation of something gives us a bigger shot of dopamine than the end result. It’s why it’s important to enjoy the journey, but also something to keep in mind when selecting diets. The idea of getting fast results (with higher cost or discomfort) will charge your brain with feel-good chemicals that can blind you from what the actual experience will be like.
2. Diet culture is messing with your perception. If you’re willing to eat (or more appropriately, not eat) almost anything to lose weight, then some prior experience must have made extreme scenarios appear doable. Hold this thought for a moment because it’s incredibly important. 
3. Don’t take the quick weight-loss bait. Just remember, if it sounds too good to be true or extremely temporary, then it’s unlikely to give you the results you want. Or, it’ll be all smoke and mirrors. If your goal is to lose fat, you don’t need to lose 10 pounds really quickly only to gain it back just as fast. This does far more damage than we can begin to explain. (Yeah, we’re looking at all those 7-day cleanse diets.)

For a moment, let’s revisit point #2 about the current diet culture. Your willingness to pursue extremes might be the result of the nutritional institution of unfair diets.

What’s an “unfair diet?” Any plan that instills the belief that healthy eating must be:

1. Limiting or restrictive
2. Unenjoyable
3. Bland and flavorless
4. Inflexible
5. Shifting from one extreme to another

While many coaches scoff at the juice cleanses and cabbage soup diets of the world (myself included), are these really that much worse than “healthy” plans that result in you losing your mind, binging, thinking your body is broken, or believing that a good diet is impossible to maintain?

It’s easy to see how both are a problem, but when you grab the tapeworm, at least you have a sense that you’re going to an extreme. When you follow the “never eat dessert” diet, you’re building a belief that health requires long-term sacrifices that don’t feel sustainable.

It doesn’t have to be a black-and-white decision between extremes.

The Unofficial Great Diet Experiment

What happens when you ask a nutrition expert to put together “the perfect human diet?” You might be surprised.

To get a sense of what is shaping your opinion of “healthy diets,” I ran an experiment. I reached out to diet and nutrition coaches with social media followings (combined) of at least 50,000 people. Admittedly, some were credentialed RD’s, others had nutrition certifications, and others fell into an unclear category of expertise.

The goal was to understand how people position the foods you should be eating. I wanted the coaches’ opinions on the type of diet they would create for a client, and I provided some very specific guidelines.

The final tally of contributors included: 3 RD’s, 2 people with a master’s in science, 3 “nutrition coaches” with varying levels of certifications, and 2 diet coaches who worked with bodybuilders and physique competitors.

I purposely avoided experts I’ve worked with before. After all, I didn’t want any experimenter bias interfering with my selections. [Translation: if I know how someone will respond, what’s the point in asking.]

Each person received the following email:

Hey, [insert name here],

I’m writing an article where I’m collecting the thoughts of some influencers in the world of health and fitness. Here’s the hypothetical scenario I’d like you to troubleshoot: if you could put together your version of the healthiest, most sustainable and enjoyable diet, what would you recommend?

Your individual answer may or may not be used. In your response, please highlight the primary goal of the diet. (For instance, it could be for general health, fat loss, muscle gain, sports performance, or any other specified goal.) Feel free to be as detailed as you want, and be sure to design for enjoyment but without sacrificing results. Thanks for your time and consideration

The Perfect Human Diet (And Why It’s F*cked)

I received 10 responses, and all of the contributors decided to create “the perfect human diet” designed for fat loss.

I reviewed all of their diets and pooled together common responses. These included:

• 80 percent of the respondents included “chicken and broccoli” in at least 2 meals per day. 
• 100 percent avoided bread, dairy, or grains of any type.
• 100 percent did not include any type of dessert, even a small allowance such as a piece of chocolate or even a non-dessert like a bowl of cereal.
• 100 percent included protein shakes, meal replacement bars, or powders
• 70 percent did not allow for any condiments or dressings other than olive oil.
• 50 percent did not include any starch, not even natural options like potatoes.
• 0 percent of respondents recommended white rice (a crushing blow to my rice-loving ways)

This very informal survey (yeah, I admit it’s not exactly a peer-reviewed meta-analysis) pointed me towards a very simple conclusion:

Most diet plans—and the experts creating them—consider “The perfect human diet” to not be very human.

The growing diet battle isn’t just about helping people identify healthy foods. It’s about meeting people where they are, creating sustainable plans, and helping people see that some freedom in a diet plan can help them believe they can stick to the plan for the long term.

Most people know what is good for them and what isn’t.

Sure, more education can help offset confusing food marketing, but the expert’s job isn’t to make the simple act of eating seem so difficult to follow.

The perceived lack of variety and freedom is a big reason why so many people are unable to sustain better eating habits and maintain a healthy body weight.

Undoing Unfair Diets: How to Fix Your Diet

Part of me wonders how many experts understand how to cater their vault of knowledge into realistic practices and habits that still deliver great results.

Many people know the basics or even more complicated aspects of nutrition science; but, they don’t know (or choose not to take the personalized path) to help people build a plan around foods they could enjoy.

These experts are still stuck in a “clean eating” mindset, where the idea of good foods versus bad foods dominates the conversation.

They blindly suggest a low-carb diet (keto diet), hop on the intermittent fasting bandwagon, or try another weight loss diet trend without fully understanding the individual’s needs and lifestyle.

While I’ll admit any diet should consist of less processed foods, more fruits and vegetables, and sources of protein, the black-and-white mindset is the foundation of what is wrong with most diet plans.

You don’t need to go cold-turkey on most foods. You can eat pasta, potatoes, rice, and dessert and still be healthy and lean.

There are limits to dietary freedom. Building a diet around Pop-Tarts, ice cream, and pizza as long as it “fits your macros” isn’t the best use of macronutrient science.

Instead of building a plan around those foods, find a way to fit them into your life around everything else.

Building the “You” Diet

The healthiest diet is the one that considers both the foods you should be eating for nutritious reasons—proteins (meat/chicken/eggs/fish/plant sources), fats (oils, nuts, dairy sources, avocados, seeds), and carbohydrates (fruits, veggies, rice, potatoes, grains)—and the food items that you enjoy and need to add for the sake of pleasure and mental sanity.

If your diet only consists of chicken and broccoli, it should be because that’s your choice. Not because you believe bland foods are the only way to a better body and improved health.

If you stop fearing foods, you’ll eventually see how many different plans can be a good solution, without having to break the bank (or your sanity) trying to be healthy.

A little less stress and a lot more understanding will go a long way towards not only making your diet more enjoyable and something you can follow for the long run.

Simplify Your Eating

Need help with your diet? What to eat, when to eat, and realistic tips to make it easier to snack, enjoy, and still lose weight? Find out how you can have your meal plans (and workouts) personalized with Born Fitness coaching.

READ MORE: 

How Much Fat Should I Eat?

Do Carbs Actually Make You Fat?

How to Lose Weight: Why Sleep Can Make You Fat

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post Do You Really Need to Eat Chicken and Broccoli? appeared first on Born Fitness.

There are seemingly two main camps that disagree about the relationship between muscle and metabolism. On one side, some people believe that build more muscle means your metabolism works at a much higher rate and burns more. On the other side, you have people who suggest muscle does not burn that many calories, so its impact on your daily calorie burn is minimal.

As it turns out, technically, both sides are correct. 

Before you lose your mind, research paints a clear picture of what’s likely best for your body if you want to improve your metabolism and support fat loss or a healthy weight. 

How Many Calories Does Muscle Burn? (Be Prepared to Be Disappointed)

For as long as I can remember, people have stated that for every 1-pound of muscle you gain, your body burns an additional 50 calories. On paper, this sounds awesome. Add 5 pounds of muscle, and you’ll burn an extra 250 calories per day, or about a pound every 2 weeks. 

The philosophy has led to plenty of people rationalizing increasing how much they eat with the belief that their muscle mass will prevent additional weight gain.

Unfortunately, it’s not true.

Research suggests that every pound of muscle is more likely to burn about 6 calories per day. 

You’re probably thinking, “Just 6 calories?”

Comparatively, a pound of fat will burn approximately 2 calories per day. 

This isn’t exactly the best campaign for weight training. But, focusing on how many calories muscle burns is only a small piece of the metabolism picture. 

If you really want to understand the impact on your metabolism, you have to look at what it takes to build muscle. 

Better Question: Does Building Muscle Improve Your Metabolism?

It’s important to differentiate the metabolic benefits of having muscle and building muscle. 

While adding 10 pounds of muscle could take years and only burn about 60 extra calories per day when all is said done, the work you’d need to put in to build (and maintain) that muscle would still positive changes for your body and metabolism.

In fact, research has shown that weight training burns more calories than we originally thought — and the act of resistance training can keep your metabolism elevated for up to 48 hours after you finish your workout. 

Some research suggests that 90% of the total calories you burn from weight training might occur after you finish your workout because of the “afterburn” effect. 

That’s not to say that weight training doesn’t burn a lot of calories while you’re training. Research from Christopher Scott suggests that an 8-minute high-intensity circuit can burn up to 250 calories. And that’s just 8 minutes, which shows you how many calories you might be burning if you can potentially double that amount from the afterburn. 

Research also suggests that building muscle improves your insulin sensitivity, which means you process carbs more efficiently and you lessen the likelihood of diabetes. 

That’s a fancy way of saying more muscle changes the way that your body reacts to food. That’s because your muscles need the energy to repair, maintain, or grow.

So, the more muscle you add, the more your body processes food and calories differently and makes it less likely that what you eat will be stored as fat. 

Is Exercise Necessary for Fat Loss?

There are many ways to burn calories. And, if you’re trying to lose weight, research suggests that you’re going to need to make dietary changes. 

However, just because your earned muscle won’t burn calories all day doesn’t mean that earning that muscle isn’t a key part of your ideal fat-loss plan. 

Research has compared people who exercised 3 times per week doing cardio (aerobic exercise), aerobic exercise and weight training, or no exercise at all.

The exercise groups lost a similar amount of weight, but the people who were lifting weights lost about 40 percent more fat. (The total amount of exercise time was the same between cardio-only and the cardio and weights conditions.)

In general, research examining people who diet compared to those who weight train find that weight training helps you preserve (or gain) muscle and lose more weight from fat. The benefits change how you look and feel after you’ve lost weight, and increase the likelihood that you’ll keep the weight off. 

What’s the Best Metabolism Boost?

Your metabolism is very complex and, oftentimes, misunderstood. The biggest impact on your daily calorie burn has nothing to do with exercise. About 50 to 70 percent of your daily calorie burn (AKA energy expenditure) is used for the basic function of staying alive, such as powering your heart, lungs, and brain. 

The basic functioning of your metabolism is also partially dependent on your body size. The bigger you are and the more you weigh, the more calories you burn. The idea that thin people have faster metabolisms is actually a myth because body weight is directly tied to the most significant impact on your daily calorie burn. 

Another 10 percent of your metabolism is influenced by what you eat. Also known as the “thermic effect of food” (or TEF), it’s the rate at which your body burns proteins, carbs, and fats. And, it’s the reason the number of meals you eat doesn’t matter and why protein is helpful when trying to lose fat. 

The rest of your metabolism — anywhere from 20 to 40 percent — is then influenced by physical activity. This is a combination of walking, daily movements (like fidgeting or standing up and sitting down), and your traditional exercise. 

The more muscle you have, the more likely you are to earn it from workouts. And, the more you work out, the more intensity you can apply to those workouts to improve your metabolism. 

While exercise will never be the primary mover of metabolism, science does suggest that the process of building or maintaining muscle can have a significant impact on your metabolism and help with fat loss. 

Read More:

How Much Fat Should I Eat?

Is Sugar Bad For You? (You’ll Be Surprised)

Understanding Proteins, Carbs and Fats

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post Does Having More Muscle Really Increase Your Metabolism? appeared first on Born Fitness.

Originally, the story was going to be a step-by-step guide on “How to lose the last 10 pounds.”

But, since this was Men’s Health, the focus shifted to getting abs. (Side note: the photoshoot for the story ended up being one of the weirder things I’ve done. I was reminded that I’m definitely no Zoolander.)

If I was going to help people see their abs, then so be it. But, I was hell-bent on not doing what was always done. From my perspective, the world didn’t need another insane workout with unrealistic time commitments.

I wanted the “get abs” plan to be doable. That meant I wanted dessert. And, I wanted it multiple times per week.

What Science Says About Losing Weight (And Keeping It Off)

I enjoy a good celeb story as much as anyone, and I’ve interviewed dozen of big-name stars and shared their workouts and diets.

But here’s the thing: it’s one thing to break down the routine of an actor, actress, or athlete whose primary goal and day are built around diet and exercise. It’s fun to read about, but it’s not exactly practical for the average person.

Real plans for real people can’t be too extreme or insane because it’s not realistic for others to replicate. For me, that meant no two-a-day-workouts or personal chefs. And, as I mentioned, I wanted to eat dessert each week.

I believe in eating good food. I also happen to love cheesecake, brownies, cookies, and ice cream. And, so do many other people.

More importantly, I needed to solve my own internal conflict between what I know is true and what I believed.

I love science. I’ve built my career around being evidence-based. Everything in my understanding of getting lean told me that calories matter and eating dessert while getting lean is possible.

After all, this is how a professor can go on a “Twinkie Diet “for 10 weeks and lose 27 pounds.

Or, how research suggests that eating dessert with breakfast led to longer-term weight loss compared to people who avoided a dessert-filled first meal. In fact, that study suggested that dessert eaters keep losing weight (an additional 15 pounds lost) while those that restricted dessert gained most of it back (22 pounds put back on).

In my opinion, I wasn’t blessed with the world’s greatest genetics. In fact, I was overweight my entire childhood.

So, if I’m being honest, I was skeptical whether I could actually get great results if I ate dessert. Maybe it works for others, but it just didn’t seem like it could work for me.

I knew the assignment was the ultimate test. I set the rules, the stakes were high, and the story was going to be published.

So, what happened?

I ate my desserts, and, at the end of the 12-week process, I was 8 percent body fat.

Women who ate small desserts four times a week lost 9 more pounds than those who enjoyed a larger splurge whenever they wanted.

Why You Should Eat Dessert (On Any Diet Plan)

For starters, complete food withdrawal is more likely to lead to falling off your diet than experiencing long-term success. [Note: I’m not saying you shouldn’t occasionally try to remove foods from your diet that seem to be causing issues. That’s a different story. I’m talking about creating a plan based on complete restriction.]

One of the biggest barriers to weight loss is the grind. Diets tend to be frustrating and mentally exhausting. And that frustration and exhaustion lead to stress and cravings. It’s a downward spiral to inevitably leads to you “cheating” on your diet, binging on foods you’ve missed, feeling guilty, eating more bad food, and then saying “F it!” and quitting the plan.

Some variation of this happens to everyone. And, it’s not just psychological. As you restrict calories and lose weight, your body adjusts, hormones shift, and hunger increases.

What should you do? You need to eat foods that fill you up and keep you satisfied (think proteins, fiber, and veggies), but you also benefit from dessert.

Desserts and treats can decrease cravings for sweet, starchy, and fatty foods. These are the “hyper-palatable” foods that derail diets. And, your desire to eat more of them happens when you completely restrict them. But, if you have a little, it can limit you from having too much.

It’s why my dessert and abs experience was so eye-opening. I ate real food, desserts, and treats. No, I wasn’t crushing massive slices of cheesecake three times per day, but I wasn’t starving for sugar, fat, and salt, either.

In many ways, it was the anti-diet approach. Instead of waiting for the moment where I wanted to quit, I proactively way prevented where most diets go wrong: cravings and withdrawal.

That’s why finding your sweet spot with some treats is important. After all, when you compare most diets you’ll find that a lot of them work. So, why choose one that makes you miserable or you’ll be forced to abandon it before and you stay on it long enough to see the real results?

Yes, you still need to create a diet the consists of vegetables, fruits, proteins, and healthy fats. But, that’s a message we all know by now. What’s still lost in translation is that what you eat doesn’t have to make you miserable.

Remember, part of the trick to healthy living is consistency and patience. It works for diet and exercise. No magic. Just consistency and sustainability.

The Dessert “Rules” (Sugar Not Sold Separately)

When you’re trying to lose weight, the worst thing you can do is ban all indulgences, which creates a feeling of withdrawal.

A more effective approach is one that allows you to satisfy your cravings in controlled portions.

Research from Alabama found that when overweight women ate small desserts four times a week, they lost 9 more pounds than those who enjoyed a larger splurge whenever they wanted.

The small sweets provide the psychological edge that allows you to stay motivated, without derailing your eating plan.

Within any diet, 10 to 20 percent of your calories can be directed toward a little treat. The key is watching the portion size (yes, always tricky), so that a cup of ice cream doesn’t turn into an all-night feast at the 24-hour buffet. Or, in many situations, putting yourself in a position where you have the support to make sure that those types of binges are harder to occur.

But you know what? Going from one scoop of ice cream to an entire pint is much less likely when you don’t feel like the food is off-limits.

Learn your limits. Understand your triggers. And build a system that helps you succeed.

But, if you want the highest likelihood of weight loss success that lats, then don’t remove all the foods you love. It’s one of the most common reasons why so many diets fail.

READ MORE: 

The Abs Workout: A Real Way to Transform Your Midsection

Want to Burn More Calories? Add This to Your Fat Loss Plan

Why Weights are Better Than Cardio for Fat Loss

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post Eat The Damn Dessert appeared first on Born Fitness.

Those are the first two things you need to know when considering if sugar is bad. After all, your body is perfectly designed to metabolize sugar. When you eat carbohydrates (any carbohydrates, vegetables included) your body eventually breaks them down into glucose (AKA sugar).

So, the idea that sugar is bad when your body is designed to use it and convert it into energy just doesn’t make sense.

Now, that’s not to say that too much sugar can’t be a problem. It can, but understanding your limits can make your diet a lot less stressful and a lot more delicious. Let’s dig in.

Is Sugar The Cause of Obesity and Diabetes?

If you’re going to stand up for sugar for anything (because, again, it has some downsides, which we’ll discuss), it’s the belief that sugar is the cause of diseases like obesity and diabetes.

Yes, sugar can play an indirect role in both. But, data and research don’t align to suggest that both diseases are driven by sugar.

Over the last 40 years, our sugar consumption has shifted from 20.8 teaspoons of sugar per day in the 1970s to about 23 teaspoons of sugar per day. Both numbers are too high, but the ~2.2 teaspoons increase is only about 32 added extra calories. Again, too much sugar, but the increase in sugar is not what’s driving obesity.

After all, according to USDA data, calorie consumption has increased by anywhere from 600 to 700 calories over the same time period. For reference, the consumption of fats and oils jumped from 52 pounds per year (per person) in the 1970s to 82 pounds per year more recently.

The problem with obesity is too many calories. And that is a complicated problem that includes many factors such as food availability, hyper-palatable foods (think fat, salty, and sweet combined), psychological factors, social factors, and genetics.

Can sugar potentially make you desire to eat more? Yes. But, as you’ll find out, the poison is in the dose and the source. It’s not one or the other.

The same goes for diabetes. Many people believe that sugar causes diabetes. In reality, it’s excess body fat that triggers the disease. If you have too much body fat, then it creates insulin resistance, which means your body’s natural glucose control breaks and you start storing and processing sugar differently. That’s what leads to prediabetes and, ultimately, diabetes.

So Why Do People Think Sugar is Toxic?

The short answer: because it makes for a compelling narrative in a book or documentary.

Listen, sugar has its downsides, and limiting sugar is a good thing. But, the idea that you need to avoid all sugar isn’t supported by science.

If sugar is bad and “toxic,” then what should you think about fruit?

Before you buy into the easy-to-sell idea that sugar is the root of all evil, you might want to consider that over the last 50 years, different ingredients or macronutrients tend to be blamed for all health issues.

Despite science that suggests one food is not the reason for all health shortcomings, many are convinced that carbs and sugar are inherently bad.

Sugar’s real “toxicity” level is something like 6 pounds per day (test in rats). That’s not happening to even the biggest sweet tooth.

When people talk about toxicity, they usually are referring to the addictive nature of sugar. The anti-sugar crowd likes to compare it with addictive drugs.

But, if you were to eat a spoonful of sugar (cue Mary Poppins), how much would you want to shovel down a second, third, or fourth spoonful?

The answer is most people wouldn’t because sugar alone does not drive palatability. There are many factors, which include:

• A combination of sweet, starch, and fat
• Mouth-feel
• Salt
• Consistency

Even research suggests that sugar-alone isn’t driving food obsession. A comprehensive review found that sugar was not addictive, but that high-fat savory and high-fat sweet foods are much more likely to be overeaten than mostly sugary sweet foods.

Which Sugars Are Better and Healthier?

Sugar is far more than just the white stuff you spoon into your coffee. (That’s sucrose.)

In biochemistry, sugar is either a monosaccharide or a disaccharide (“saccharides” being another name for “carbohydrates”).

• A monosaccharide is a simple sugar.
• A disaccharide is a sugar composed of two simple sugars.
• An oligosaccharide is composed of two to ten simple sugars.
• A polysaccharide is composed of two or more simple sugars (300 to 1,000 glucose molecules in starch).

In short, all carbohydrates are composed of single sugars. If we go back to the example of sucrose, or table sugar, that’s actually a disaccharide of the simple sugars glucose and fructose.

Meanwhile, starch, dietary fiber, and cellulose are polysaccharides. That’s an important distinction for those of you keeping score at home: fiber — something most people know as good — is also a form of sugar.

Of those three, we can only digest starch, which is composed of glucose. Starch is also what you’ve probably heard call “complex carbs” or “slow carbs” — slow because the body needs time to break them down into single sugars (notably glucose, the “blood sugar”).

So the idea of a true non-sugar diet means kicking out a lot of foods that are perfectly healthy. Sure, you can live without ingesting sugars, or even carbs … but only because your body can synthesize the glucose its needs out of fatty acids and amino acids.

This happens because your body needs sugar. Glucose is needed as fuel for important functions, like your nervous system and your brain. (Yes, your brain doesn’t only function on glucose, but it does need glucose; and glucose also helps cells interact.)

Maybe more importantly: there are many perfectly healthy foods that contain sugar (see below).

Any no-sugar diet that removes all of the following foods is likely flawed. And that’s the point: any diet that veers towards extremes oftentimes is misguided, and that includes the catch-all “don’t eat any sugar.”

When Does Sugar Become Bad For You?

Like most things in life, the poison is in the dose.

As we’ve seen, your body actually needs sugars, to the point that it’ll manufacture some even if you avoid all carbohydrates.

We already discussed that body fatness is the main driver of type-II diabetes and obesity. But sugar can contribute to overeating. And, too much sugar also results in an increase in advanced glycation end products, and so in skin damage and a greater risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease.

That’s why added sugar can be dangerous: not because it’s “as addictive as cocaine.”

The real danger with sugar is not that it’s inherently fattening. A gram of sugar is still just 4 calories. And 4 calories will not make you fat.

However, you can eat a lot of sugar and not feel full. And that’s the typical pattern. You eat some sugar (usually combined with other foods and hidden in beverages)…and then some more…and then some more…and next thing you know a box of cookies are gone, a can of soda, and sugary coffee drink are all gone…and you’re still feeling hungry.

Added sugars are too easy to over-consume. That’s true of every added sugar, no matter how healthy-sounding it may be.

Is Honey Better Than Cane Sugar?

Don’t be fooled into thinking honey or maple syrup or agave is better for you. Sugar is sugar. Even the much-vilified high-fructose corn syrup (55% fructose, 45% glucose, usually) isn’t a lot worse than sucrose (50% fructose, 50% glucose).

What are especially treacherous are sugars in liquid form. You can drink and drink and drink mass quantities of them—enough calories to account for a five-course meal—and yet still feel hungry.

Perhaps it’s unsurprising that soft drinks are linked to the current obesity epidemic. Sodas and colas are by far the main source of added sugar in the average American’s diet, accounting for 34.4% of the added sugar consumed by U.S. adults and children.

In that respect, fruit juices aren’t any healthier. In fact, they can be even worse.

Why? Because the sugar in fruit juice is fructose, which can stress the liver (only the liver can metabolize fructose in any large amounts).

There’s one “sugary” drink that doesn’t pose the same threat: milk.

While milk contains sugar (lactose, a disaccharide of glucose and galactose), it has far less than fruit juice, since milk also contains protein and fat. Back in the day when fats were the enemy, low-fat milk was considered healthier than whole milk; the same isn’t true today.

Now that fats have been (partially) redeemed, whole milk is back in fashion — and backed by lots of evidence.

Is The Sugar In Fruit Bad?

No, fruit is not bad for you. If we could scream it from the mountain tops and plaster over every Instagram feed, we would tell you:

There is no evidence that eating fruit, even in high amounts, will harm your health.

Unlike fruit juices, whole fruits are filling. Apples, though solid, are 10% sugar … and 85% water; that alone makes them very hard to overeat. In addition, recent studies show that whole fruits may help regulate blood sugar.

How Much Added Sugar Is Safe?

Here’s something we can all celebrate: you don’t need to feel guilty each time you eat added sugar. But, you should stay aware of your consumption and do your best not to exceed these limits:

• 100 calories/day if you’re a woman (about six teaspoons, or 25 g);
• 150 calories/day if you’re a man (about nine teaspoons, or 36 g)

What does that mean in real food?

That’s the equivalent of about 1 full-sized Snickers bar or about 7-8 Oreo cookies.

That’s not to say you should add Snickers or Oreos to your daily eating plan. The example simply illustrates the safe, maximum amount you can have each day.

The reason it’s not so simple is that added sugar winds up in a lot of unexpected places, like soup, pizza, and granola.

While the average consumption of sugar in the United States may be decreasing, it’s still way too high.

If you want an easier way to keep your sugar consumption in check, use the guide below. It’s based on the model of the old school Food Guide Pyramid, which was released in 1992 and replaced in 2005 by MyPyramid—before that was eventually replaced by whatever this thing is that the government is using nowadays.

The Sugar Pyramid is a new spin on dietary sanity.

The base of a healthy sugar pyramid is made of vegetables and fruits: Not only are they filling, but they also provide you with fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals (biologically active compounds found in plants, some of which are beneficial to our health).

Whole milk also fits into the base of the Sugar Pyramid. The little sugar naturally occurring in bread doesn’t count as added sugar, either—but the sugar that’s often added during manufacturing in the U.S. does.

As for fruit juices, honey, and maple syrup, they all count as added sugar, as does high-fructose corn syrup.

If the base of your personal sugar pyramid is wide, then sprinkling a little added sugar at the top won’t make it collapse. It’s only when most of the sugar in your diet comes from soft drinks, sweets, cookies, and breakfast cereals that your pyramid is likely to topple, and your health along with it.

READ MORE: 

Do Carbs Actually Make You Fat?

Winning the War on Hunger: Practical Solutions to Overeating

Healthy Fat: Which Foods Should You Really Be Eating?

Kamal Patel is director of Examine.com, an education company he cofounded in 2011. Since that time, Examine.com’s growing team of researchers has reviewed thousands of studies on supplementation and nutrition. Today, over a million visitors each month rely on Examine.com to separate marketing hyperbole from scientific evidence.

The post Is Sugar Bad For You? appeared first on Born Fitness.

Are carbs bad? Are carbs unhealthy? Do carbs make you fat?

If you look back at the history of dieting, this is nothing new. In the 80s and 90s, you could replace “carbs” with “fat” and you’d be having the same conversation.

But, as time goes on and research improves we should have a better sense of what drives weight gain and weight loss. Unfortunately, carbs missed the science train and been stuck on the pseudoscience rollercoaster.

For years, I’ve heard some variation of, “I know that if I eat fewer calories I’ll lose weight. But, if I eat a couple of slices of bread or some rice, I’ll get fat.”

Fortunately, this isn’t true. You can eat carbs. Anyone can. And they are not the cause of weight gain. However, there are a few details that will help you figure out how many carbs you can eat and the types of carbs that are likely to be best for your body.

Why Do People Think Carbs Are Bad?

The easy answer is that most of the delicious foods that we can easily associate with weight gain also happen to be carbohydrates. Think candies, cookies, donuts, and any other deliciousness you can find at a bakery. All sugary sodas (and sugar, for that matter) fall into the carbohydrate category.

There are certain limits on how many (and how much) of those foods you can eat. They are not 100 percent off-limits (here are some guidelines for how much sugar you can have, and it’s not zero), but the more you eat those foods, the more you’re likely to pack on pounds.

But, carbohydrates also include fruits and vegetables, oats and grains, quinoa, and lentils. The Mediterranean Diet, which has a good amount of research supporting its ability to help maintain a healthy weight and reduce the likelihood of heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases, is a high-carb diet that features all of those healthy carb options.

Even rice — yes, white rice too — is a staple of the Japanese diet, which is linked to longer life and lower weight.

Some of the confusion is linked to the carbohydrate-insulin model of obesity. In a nutshell, this theory states that obesity is caused by carbohydrates, not calories. The idea is that carbohydrates increase insulin, which reduces the way our body is typically fueled (by glucose and free fatty acids). Instead, the insulin drives fat into our fat cells, we gain weight, become hungrier for more carbs (and insulin), and this becomes a hamster-wheel of weight gain.

There’s just one problem: whenever the model is tested, the claims don’t hold up and research does not suggest that carbs make us fat.

Just as importantly, if carbs were the driver of weight gain, then other macronutrients (like fat), arguably wouldn’t make us gain weight.

But, that’s also not the case. Two different studies have compared what happens when you eat too many carbs or fat. (You can find the research here and here.) What happened? Overeating fat resulted in the same outcome as overeating carbs, and sometimes overeating fat led to more fat gain than overeating carbs.

Now, this doesn’t prove that eating carbs don’t make you fat. However, it’s evidence that suggests you can gain weight regardless of insulin levels.

In other words, the goal isn’t to avoid carbs completely, but, instead, find the sweet spot for your body so you can enjoy foods, stress less, and be in control of your weight.

Are Higher-Carb Diets Healthy?

A healthy diet can (and arguably should) include carbs. After all, carbs help fuel many important processes in your body. This includes:

1. Powering your heart and brain.
2. Fueling anaerobic activity (think weight lifting) via glycolysis (the breakdown of carbohydrates).
3. Helping with recovery by restocking glycogen (carb stores) that has been depleted through hard training.
4. Supporting an anabolic (muscle-building) environment after training.

Safe to say carbs are not bad, regardless of your activity level. But, eating in a way that supports your activity level is important so that excess carbs don’t become unwanted weight gain.

Some people will thrive on more carbs, while others require less. The easy way to determine how many carbs you need (and how high you can go with your carb intake) is based on your activity levels (more on this soon).

That said, you can be very healthy on a higher-carb diet, and, at the very least, you should feel comfortable having some carbs in your diet without fear that it will lead to weight gain.

Need proof? The best example is a meta-analysis that compared carbohydrate intake ranging anywhere from 4 (super low carbs) to 45 percent (pretty high) of total calories, and fat content at 30 percent or lower in low-fat diets.

Here’s what the researchers found:

1. Low-fat diets were slightly more effective at lowering total cholesterol and LDL.
2. Low-carb diets were more effective at increasing HDL and decreasing triglycerides
3. Neither diet was more effective than the other at reducing body weight, waist girth, blood pressure, glucose, and insulin levels.

This overall lack of differential effects led the authors to conclude that both low-carb and low-fat diets are viable options for reducing weight and improving metabolic risk factors. Read that one again.

And it’s not like this was a small study. It included 23 trials from multiple countries and totaled 2,788 participants.

What’s more, the cuisines of some of the healthiest populations in the world consist of diets that are heavy on carbs. The best examples are “The Blue Zones,” which are known as “longevity hotspots that have the longest life expectancies and the lowest rates of chronic and degenerative diseases.”

The main energy sources for all of these Blue Zones are carbohydrates. Need more evidence? The Top-10 countries in the world with the lowest obesity rates all consume a carb-dominant diet. 

OK, So What Are Healthy Carbs?

The easy answer is fruits and vegetables. The more complicated answer is that any type of carb can fit into your diet if you know how many carbs (and what types) you need, based on your activity levels.

People who exercise regularly have very different dietary needs than sedentary populations.

If you are relatively sedentary or most of your exercise consists of low-intensity activities (such as walking), then you won’t burn through as many carbohydrates. In other words, if you don’t exercise often or at a higher intensity, your carbohydrate needs are much less.

If you’re inactive, you really only need to worry about providing adequate carbohydrates to fuel your brain and central nervous system at rest, which is primarily regulated by your liver glycogen stores.

Could you go the super low carb route? Of course, that’s also an option. But, for most people, it’s unsustainable and it does not offer any type of superior fat burning.

So, if it’s a good system for the way you like to eat, then you can cut carbs very low. If not, you just need to lower how many carbs you eat, not eliminate them completely.

How Many Carbs Should You Eat?

If you’re more inactive, an effective low-carb, non-ketogenic diet can be accomplished with roughly 100 to 125 grams of carbs a day from non-starchy vegetables, legumes (like beans), whole fruit, as well as a little bit of starch (such as oats, rice, or even pasta or bread). Preferably, the starch will only make up about 30 percent of your carb intake.

But, here’s the key point: 100 to 125 grams of carbohydrates is hardly a “no carb” diet, but it’s still low-carb.

High carbohydrate intakes, on the other hand, are more appropriate for gym rats and athletes that engage in intense muscle tearing, glycogen (carbohydrate)-depleting training sessions.

When you exercise, your body undergoes cyclical depletion (through training) and repletion (through carb intake) of muscle glycogen stores. As a point of reference, your muscles can store about 300 to 600 grams of carbohydrates.

The more you weigh (or the more you want to weigh), the higher you can go on the carb scale. And the more you train intensely, the more carbs you can eat and store as part of your recovery and growth.

While it’s true that lower-carb diets provide many health benefits and can help with weight loss, don’t confuse “low carb” with no carbs. Dropping all carbs is unnecessary, and — in many cases — that extra behavior leads to extreme struggles that result in binges and weight gain.

Instead, enjoy your carbs. Eat them based on your activity level and your personal experiences and sensitivities with different types of foods. If you’ve struggled with dieting, accepting that carbs are good and won’t make you fat is one of the most liberating decisions you can make.

Eat The Way You Want (Carbs included)

If you want help building muscle, losing fat, or for me to personally design a customized exercise and diet plan, join me in my coaching program. You can apply here.

READ MORE: 

How Many Eggs are Safe to Eat?

Healthy Fat: Which Foods Should You Really Be Eating?

Fix Your Diet: Understanding Proteins, Carbs and Fats

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post Do Carbs Make You Fat? appeared first on Born Fitness.

Plenty of research has found that the artificially sweetened diet drinks do not cause you to gain more weight. In fact, they might help with weight loss indirectly by reducing appetite.

So, why do artificial sweeteners have such a bad reputation? Probably for the same reason that people believe white rice will make you fat (it doesn’t). 

Nutritional dogma is always stronger than nutritional details. So, if you see an artificial sweetener on a label, here’s what you really need to know.

Do Artificial Sweeteners Make You Gain Fat?

Most of the negative research about diet sodas are done within studies with rats. But, when humans are tested, the negative results are not replicated.

And yet, even if research doesn’t support the idea that diet soda causes weight gain directly (seriously, diet soda does not make you fat), plenty of people still believe it disrupts insulin sensitivity and, thereby, makes it easier to store fat.

In a new study, participants had two drinks per day of either 330ml of an artificially sweetened drink or 330ml of carbonated water (they tested carbonated water, so it’d be harder to tell the 2 drinks apart).

The artificially sweetened drink contained 129 mg of aspartame and 13mg of acesulfame K (about what you’d find in your favorite diet beverage, regardless of whether you’re a Coke or Pepsi fan). What happened?

After 12 weeks, there was no difference in insulin sensitivity, body weight, or waist circumference. As in, drinking the diet soda was just as “bad” (or good!) as carbonated water.

Do Artificial Sweeteners Effect Insulin?

A couple of years ago, we sent out a popular email that asked the question: Do Artificial Sweeteners F*ck Up Your Insulin?

The answer, according to research, was a resounding no.

Recently, scientists took it a step further. They essentially asked: Do Artificial Sweeteners F*ck up ANYTHING?

They wanted to see if there was any relationship whatsoever between non-caloric sweeteners (such as Stevia, Splenda, or Aspartame) and a myriad of things, like:

• eating behavior
• cancer
• cardiovascular disease
• kidney disease
• mood
• behavior
• cognition

They then conducted a meta-analysis of 56 studies, including 21 controlled trials. (A meta-analysis examines a large number of independent studies, and is generally considered a stronger standard of evidence.)

The findings? A whole lot of nothing. Here is part of there scientist’s conclusions:

“Most health outcomes did not seem to have differences between the [artificial sweetener] exposed and unexposed groups. Of the few studies identified for each outcome, most had few participants, were of short duration, and their methodological and reporting quality was limited,” the authors wrote.

It’s important to note: To date, nearly all the scary-sounding headlines about artificial sweeteners have come from research on lab rats. This analysis focused exclusively on research with either healthy or obese adults and children.

Do Artificial Sweeteners Disrupt Gut Health?

While some people still worry about the impact of diet soda on gut health (the microbiome), research is still so young in that area. But, we have found that some artificial sweeteners, while not “dangerous,” can create more GI discomfort than you might like. 

According to a recent meta-analysis, only saccharin and sucralose shift the populations of gut microbiota.

Or, maybe more importantly for your comfort of being around others, some artificial sweeteners can make you a bit gassy or even disrupt your normal pooping experience. (Yeah, we just said poop. It’s a first on this blog). 

But, not all artificial sweeteners are created equal. The one’s to watch out for include:

• erythritol
• isomalt
• lactitol
• maltitol
• mannitol
• sorbitol
• xylitol 

Are There Reasons To Avoid Artificial Sweeteners?

Like any food, there will be great reasons for you to avoid artificial sweeteners. For example, if you drink diet soda and it makes you feel like crap, then don’t drink it. That doesn’t mean it’s inherently bad; just means it’s a bad fit for you. This goes for any food. You don’t need science to tell you what makes you feel your best.

What’s more, it’s also possible — pending several factors — that artificial sweeteners can affect some people’s neurobiology and make them crave sweet stuff.

This is not to say it makes you gain weight. Just as the reduction in appetite some experience when drinking diet soda doesn’t guarantee weight loss, the potential of increasing cravings doesn’t ensure weight gain.

But, if you find yourself with an insatiable need for sugar, this could be a reason. 

The Final Verdict on Artificial Sweeteners

Artificial sweeteners are misunderstood, and dozens of studies show that they are fairly neutral for most people, and more likely to help with fat loss than hurt (if that’s your goal).

Put more simply, “Not Good, Not Bad,” as the New York Times declared.

As far as we know now (and this stuff has been tested a lot) if you drink diet soda in moderation, there’s no reason to fear your diet soda consumption.

If safety is your concern (it’s always ours), the overwhelming majority of governing health bodies around the world approve of artificial sweeteners, including:

• The Federal Department of Agriculture (FDA),
• The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA),
• The National Cancer Institute 
• The Joint Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
• The World Health Organization (WHO)
• The Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA).

Or, as a 2019 review paper revealed:

“A few rodent studies with saccharin have reported changes in the gut microbiome, but primarily at high doses that bear no relevance to human consumption. This and other studies suggesting an effect of low/no-calorie sweeteners (LNCS) on the gut microbiota were found to show no evidence of an actual adverse effect on human health.

If diet beverages or artificial sweeteners find their way into your healthy eating plan and it works for you, there’s no compelling reason to give them up. But, if they aren’t things you eat, there’s no reason to start, either. 

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post What Everyone Gets Wrong About Artificial Sweeteners appeared first on Born Fitness.

The reason for the struggle is that it’s not clear where to begin to fix the problem. It’s not like eating one food suddenly improves your diet.

In fact, you’re likely already aware of what stands in your way. We hear three common barriers: 

1. Time (or lack thereof)
2. Confusion (not being sure of what to do or believe)
3. Motivation

A lack of time is a struggle for everyone. But, trying to make time becomes easier if you can eliminate confusion and increases motivation. 

And, despite being different issues, they are both deeply connected.

What Prevents Good Diets From Working

In the book Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, authors Chip and Dan Heath explain that your lack of clarity undercuts both.

In their book, the Heath Brothers were speaking about business and answering the question, “Why won’t your employees do what you want?”

The answer is “Because they don’t know exactly what that is, or how to do it.”

That’s true for your health, too.

Let’s say you set out to make a big change in your life, such as losing 10, 20, or even 100 pounds. It feels exciting but also overwhelming. After all, you think to yourself, “I need to adjust my diet, exercise, and even my sleep. Where do I start?”

Maybe you decide to start by eating better, but what exactly does that mean?

Or, you say: “I’m going to work out more.” But, in the back of your mind, you wonder, “How much is ‘more’? Will it be enough to make a difference? And do I really have the time for that?”

These are the sorts of questions that can kill your motivation before you even begin. You aren’t sure what to do next, so you do nothing. Or, maybe you take a step or two, but then feel you aren’t getting results. Soon, the entire plan starts falling apart.

When you aren’t confident that a change is going to make a difference, it’s hard to truly commit to that change.

4 Habits That Make Any Diet More Effective

Before you can gain confidence in your plan, it helps to have more clarity in your plan.

The Heath Brothers explain that when you know exactly what changes to make — and you see them make a difference — you want to keep doing them.

That’s essentially the same idea behind habit-based coaching. You take one step, then another, and another.

The changes needed for weight loss start with something that seems simple. Painfully simple. Perhaps, even boring.

If you’re looking to build a healthy diet, it doesn’t start with extreme restrictions, blood tests, or need to measure every ounce of food. It begins with habits that help put you in control of your diet, no matter your food preferences or lifestyle.

This includes time-tested techniques such as:

• Eating slowly
• Chewing more
• Getting enough vegetables and fruit (yes, fruit. Fruits are not evil. Neither are carbs.)
• Sleeping 7-8 hours a night

All those habits are a big part of an effective diet plan, but you rarely hear them discussed.

Eating slowly and chewing more helps ensure that the right signals are sent to your brain to indicate when you’re full. 

Fruits and vegetables keep you fuller for longer, are loaded with valuable nutrients, and have been proven to help you eat less of the things you love but know you need to limit (hello brownie sundae).

And, sleep is likely the most-underrated diet secret because lack of sleep does everything from make you hungry to increase your cravings for salty and sweet foods.

All of that knowledge is great, but following those simple habits can feel like a chore. So, how can you “make yourself” do it?

How to Stay Motivated (Even When The Scale Goes Up)

Motivation is tricky because it feels as if it’s just a decision, but it’s actually far more complex. Motivation is actually part-psychology and part-biology, according to Eleanor Simpson, associate professor of clinical neurobiology at Columbia University.

Beneath every choice you make, your brain does a complex cost-benefit analysis. The calculation takes into account your surroundings, your history, and how you are feeling at that very moment.

That math is more likely to come out in your favor if you’re already seeing results. Think about it: when you’re down a pound or two from last week, or you feel a little stronger in your next workout, it’s easier to keep pushing and believe you’re on the right track.

But, what if you’re just getting started, feeling stuck, or you’re not seeing any changes? This is when you lose faith and motivation, and even the best plan falls apart.

That’s when you need to realize two things:

1. Remember that weight fluctuation (spikes, dips, and plateaus) are part of the process. Within any given week, if you weigh yourself daily, you’ll see days where your weight goes up. This is normal. It could be a result of how you slept, whether you had more salt or carbs than usual, stress levels, and several other reasons. But, assuming you’re staying on track with your plan, the weekly and monthly trend should be headed down, which is exactly what matters.
2. To help you get through those days when you see a spike or you “don’t feel like it,” make sure you’ve connected your goals to a larger mission. Or, you need to remind yourself what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and that it’s time to get things done and make your goals a reality, even if it feels like it’s not going to happen. 

How to Stick To Your Diet 

If you’re looking for a simple technique to help keep yourself accountable, you might want to borrow a tactic that comes from General Stanley McChrystal, a retired four-star general who once led the U.S.’s Joint Special Operations Command, which oversees units like the Navy SEALs and Army Rangers. 

According to motivation writer Eric Barker, McChrystal always tells his soldiers:

1. Here’s what I’m asking you to do.
2. Here’s why it’s important.
3. Here’s why I know you can do it.
4. Think about what you’ve done together before.
5. Now let’s go and do it.

Now imagine this as a conversation between you and your body. You say:

1. I’m asking you to go for a walk three times per week.
2. It’s important because we’re trying to shed 20 pounds and walking burns calories.
3. I know you can do it because you walk from your parking spot to the office every morning.
4. You’ve dedicated hours at a time to those TPS reports at work, so you have the attention span to do this.
5. Let’s go and get moving. 

Try that for any change you make this year. And if it doesn’t work, try listening to the Rocky theme before you do it.

That may sound ridiculous, but it’s effective. Barker explains that, when all else fails, energetic music can improve your performance. (And it doesn’t have to be Rocky. If you prefer hip hop, R&B or even metal, do your thing.) That’s not his opinion, it’s science.

Interested In A Custom Nutrition Plan?

At Born Fitness, we know every individual is unique. There’s no one-size-fits-all nutrition plan. Our team can develop a plan around your lifestyle to help you reach your goals.

If you’re looking for more personalization and hands-on support, our online coaching program may be right for you. Every client is assigned two coaches — one for nutrition and one for fitness. Find out more here. 

READ MORE: 

The Beginner’s Guide To Fat Loss

A New Approach To Fat Loss Nutrition

Eating At Night Does Not Make You Fat

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post What No One Tells You To Look For In A Healthy Diet appeared first on Born Fitness.

From building muscle to surviving your endurance runs, the rules of workout nutrition have completely changed. But, there’s one big problem: few people are aware of what really helps you fuel before a workout and recover afterward.

Which is why this is both your warning and a sigh of relief. The latest breakthroughs have rewritten the script, and that’s good news for anyone who likes to exercise. Gone are the days of carb-loading or rushing to have protein within 30 minutes of finishing your workout.

In fact, both nutrient timing and workout nutrition needs have liberating truth: Neither matters as much as we once believed.

So, while you might look at the past as wasted, it’s best to view these new rules for what they are: a serious fitness upgrade that makes it easier than ever to eat the right way to fuel performance, strip away fat, or even build extra muscle without all the extra, unnecessary eating.

Confusion 101: Are Sports Drinks Better Than Water?

If you really want to know why the advice has been so misguided, you don’t have to look any farther than the sports drink aisle at your grocery store.

For most weekend warriors, the need for a sports drink (think Gatorade, Powerade, or any other energetic adjective + “ade”) isn’t as real as the ads make it seem.

Yes, there can be benefits to sports drinks. But, the liquid rejuvenation is limited to a very select group of exercises that deplete their bodies of certain nutrients.

And, for most gym-goers, runners, and weekend warriors, it’s rare that you ever push your body to the point of needing the type of energy locked inside the bottle.

You see, most people’s workouts fall into one of 2 categories:

1. High intensity but shorter duration (think less than 1 hour of gym activity)
2. Lower or moderate intensity for a longer duration (think 1-2 hour runs)

In both of these cases, the only necessary hydration is water. If you want a little boost, then you might want to sip on some electrolytes (think more sodium and potassium than you’ll find in sports drinks, as well as calcium and magnesium), and a few carbs to help with hydration — but not the 30 grams of sugar packed into your favorite sports drink.

When you’re working out at a high intensity and for longer periods of time (think more than 2 to 3 hours), that’s when sports drinks offer the most benefits because they refill what is lost during that type of extreme condition.

If you regularly sweat out 2 to 3 percent of your body’s weight during long duration, intense exercise—3 to 6 pounds, for most of us—you probably need more sodium. That’s what a sports drink provides.

The same goes for the minerals you lose through heavy sweating. For example, most athletes know about electrolytes. In particular—potassium, magnesium, and sodium—are essential (and have the name “electrolyte) because your body needs them to transmit electrical signals from your brain to your muscles. This is what allows your body to function.

But, the same type of research that was used to formulate products like Gatorade was also the basis of your workout strategy. In other words, Gatorade was designed more for high-level athletes than high-level executives, mothers, fathers, and typical gym-goers.

This was the basis of nutrient timing theory: The high carb amounts. The immediate need for protein. The fear of fats slowing down recovery.

The reality? None of it was really designed for your body.

Do You Have To Eat Directly After Your Workout?

Let’s set one thing clear: What food you put into your body is still very important and determines how hard you can exercise and how well you recover.

The bigger issue is exactly what you should be eating, or maybe, more importantly, when you should be eating it.

The idea of the “anabolic window” or that you need to eat as soon as possible after finishing your workouts is one of the most misleading pieces of fitness advice that has persevered for decades.

It’s based on a fear-driven, scientifically-debunked mentality that your muscles live in an hourglass, and with each passing second of eating before or after a workout you were losing out on improvement.

For the past 20 years, the prevailing idea was that you had about 30 to 60 minutes to eat something after your workout. If not, your body would become catabolic (a state of stress) and you would lose muscle, not recover fast enough, and fail to see the benefits from all your hard work and time invested.

When you think about it, the theory seems crazy. How could the human body have such a small window for recovery?

That was the question exercise physiologist Dr. Brad Schoenfeld aimed to solve.

He reviewed a large number of studies that examined nutrient timing and set out to answer a simple question: Is there such thing as the “anabolic window?”

Turns out there is—but it’s much bigger than anyone ever suggested. And the timing of your meals after a workout isn’t even the biggest indicator of your success. (More on that in a moment.)

When Should You Eat After Your Workout?

After you exercise you burn up your main energy store of carbohydrates, also known as glycogen. So, it only makes sense that you need to refuel glycogen by eating lots of carbs to replace what was lost.

But, when food was consumed in a shorter window of time after a workout there was no significant difference than when it was consumed after a long delay.

In fact, the research would go as far as suggesting that your post-workout window is actually the entire 24 hours after you train, with the key time to eat ideally occurring anywhere within 4 hours after you finish your last set, stop your run, or end your athletic event.

Not exactly the same message as slug your protein shake before your muscles shrink.

How did this massive misunderstanding occur?

It goes back to the sports drink phenomenon. The “glycogen emptying” idea wasn’t really applicable to the average person. In reality, it takes a tremendous effort to completely deplete your glycogen stores.

Extreme marathoners can do it. Bodybuilders who train twice per day can do it. NFL athletes who play a 3-hour game can do it.

But you? It’s a different story.

Most people don’t’ go to the gym completely fasted or do workouts that completely tap-out your energy reserves (even if you feel exhausted). And yet, those were the test conditions used to determine what to eat after your workout.

While it might feel like your body needs food immediately, the ROI of rushing to or even forcing food into your system is minimal: you won’t see added strength, additional muscle, faster fat loss, improved endurance, or a boost in recovery.

The new rules of nutrient timing focus on the bigger picture. If you want to perform and look your best, then you need to consider three factors: what you eat before your workout, what you eat after, and what type of activity you perform.

Need help understanding the proper foods to fuel your body? Our coaches can create a plan for you. Find out more here.

How to Fuel Your Workouts The Right Way

Just because the timing of your post-workout meal has been reduced from urgent to “apply on your time,” doesn’t mean the entire concept of nutrient timing is dead.

In fact, it’s just the opposite. There’s never been a clearer idea of exactly what you should be eating to help your body. And the biggest breakthrough is clear. Protein is the new carbs.

It used to be that you needed to fuel up with carbs prior to your workout and then replenish after your workout. This all ties back to glycogen as a primary source of energy and fuel for your body. Most research tested the benefits of using carbohydrates as fuel and then tested different amounts of carbs.

But, even that rationale was a bit flawed. Nutrient timing should focus on three aspects that help improve your performance and appearance.

Glycogen replenishment: Glycogen is your fuel. The more you have the harder you can push your body for longer periods of time.

Protein breakdown: If you want to gain muscle, protein synthesis (anabolism) has to be greater than protein breakdown (catabolism).

Protein Building – Protein Breakdown = Muscle Growth or Loss

So, it only makes sense that you want to slow the breakdown process.

Protein synthesis: Eating protein after a workout is supposed to optimize the other side of the same equation by increasing muscle protein synthesis, the process that helps you repair and rebuild muscle.

Combined, all three of these factors influence how hard you can train (endurance, strength, work capacity), how well you recover, and your ability to build muscle and burn fat. So it only makes sense that what you eat should target any or all of these goals.

Do Carbs Help Your Workouts?

Carbs are a great source of fuel for your body. But, eating more carbs doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have more energy. And that’s because depleting glycogen is actually very difficult.

For example, let’s say you did a full-body workout of 9 exercises, performed 3 sets of each exercise (so 27 sets total), and pushed at a high intensity of 80 percent of your 1 rep max. That’d be a grueling workout, but when researchers tested this exact protocol, they found that it only depleted about one-third of total glycogen stores.

Even crazier? When a similar workout was tested and followed with no food, about 75 percent of the depleted glycogen was replenished within 6 hours.

So what’s going on? Your body is protective of your energy. The more you deplete your glycogen, the faster resynthesis occurs. The higher your intensity, the quicker you recharge. Even in marathon runners and endurance athletes, complete resynthesis is usually complete within 24 hours.

That’s not a call to avoid carbs. They are important and necessary, and if you’re exercising they need to be a part of your plan.

But, the extreme nature of pre-workout (carb-loading) and post-workout (insulin-spiking) carb needs were overblown. You don’t need to fuel up with hundreds of grams of fuel pre, during, and post-workout because you’re not tapping out your glycogen.

When your tank is empty, you’ll know it without question. So, your ideal carb plan will ultimately depend on the type of activity you perform.

How Much Protein Should You Eat After a Workout?

When eating protein and carbs was compared to carbs alone, it instantly became clear that protein is your body’s best friend. Adding protein improved recovery, muscle protein synthesis, and protein breakdown.

But most interesting? When protein and carbs (25 grams of protein and 50 grams of carbs) was compared to just protein alone (25 grams), there was no additional benefit in terms of muscle protein synthesis or muscle protein breakdown when the carbs were added.

The verdict: Protein is the new king of workout nutrition.

And it doesn’t end there. While we know that protein is important for preventing muscle protein breakdown and fueling muscle protein synthesis, and some carbs (but not too much) are good for glycogen, how much you eat around your workout should not be your primary consideration.

Research shows that the most important dietary factor for performance and appearance was not how much protein or carbs you had before or after your workout, but rather how much you ate in the entire day.

In essence, even if your pre- or post-workout nutrition was less than optimal (say, if you’re in a rush to get to work), as long as you still ate the right amount of nutrients (proteins, carbs, and fats) for the entire day, then you would still see benefits.

The Best Pre- and Post-Workout Nutrition Plan

Timing nutrition around your workout is a good idea for both fueling your performance and helping recovery. But, you don’t need to stress the timing as much as we once thought. Instead, the urgency of nutrition depends more on the activity you perform and whether you eat something before you exercise.

When you enjoy a pre-workout meal, that will determine what you need after a workout. That’s because eating before your workout ensures that your insulin, amino acid, and glucose levels are still going to be high several hours after the workout.

Most mixed meals will keep your insulin levels high enough to stop protein breakdown for 4-6 hours. A 45-gram dose of whey protein will do the same for about two hours. Most studies have shown that if you eat protein before, immediately after, or several hours after your workout, your muscle protein synthesis will be about the same.

Translation: choose a pre- and post-workout nutrition approach that works for you.

If you don’t like to eat before a workout, then don’t. But you’ll want to emphasize that post-workout meal more because you won’t have protein or carbs in your system.

If you do like a meal before exercise, there’s no rush to refuel immediately after. Not to mention, if you load up on carbs (such as with oatmeal or some fruit), depending on your type of activity you might not even need post-workout carbs.

The closer your meal is to the training bout, the longer your window following the session. And both are dependent on your primary training goal. Meaning there isn’t a gold standard for what you should be eating around your workouts. Instead, you should fuel your body based on the type of activity you perform.

And remember, as long as you consume enough protein by the end of the day, your body generally has no trouble growing new muscle tissue, recovering, or having the energy needed to push through and become better.

To help you figure out your needs, use the activity chart below — based on the latest research — to help determine exactly what you need for your body and your goals.

The Ultimate Guide to Workout Nutrition

Your Goal: Endurance Sports

Examples: Long-distance track and cycling events, marathons, basketball, soccer, MMA

What to eat: Carbohydrates for replenishing muscle glycogen, maintaining stamina, and maintaining energy during your event.

What to remember: It’s easy to argue that nutrient timing is most important for endurance athletes because of the duration and demands of the activity. Performance is the main goal, therefore making carbohydrates more important as a fuel source during the activity and after for recovery. Protein, while useful for minimizing protein loss, is not as essential in the moment for these athletes, but is still important for recovery and retention of muscle.

Your Nutrition Plan

• The Focus: carbs and protein
• The dose: 0.2-0.25 g/lb target bodyweight for both protein and carbs

During your workout

• For every hour of endurance activity, consume 8-15 g protein and about 15-30 grams of carbs. Liquids and gels are usually best for this.

Your Goal: Strength/Power Sports

Examples: Olympic weightlifting, football, powerlifting, bodybuilding, high-intensity intervals

What to eat: Protein for optimizing muscle recovery and growth and minimizing muscle damage

What to remember: Based on the length of time and type of activity, muscle glycogen is not depleted to the extent of endurance sports. Protein is important for supporting strength and muscle growth while minimizing muscle damage and loss. Carbohydrates are important, but less so, and are generally taken care of by meeting total daily calorie and macronutrient goals.

Your Nutrition Plan

• A balanced, full meal consisting of carbs and protein, 0.2-0.25 g/lb target bodyweight for both protein and carbs

Your Goal: Weight-Loss

Examples: Any type of activity geared towards losing weight. This is your typical cardiovascular type of activity (walking, treadmill, stairstepper) or weight training. NOTE: This is not high-intensity work or something like CrossFit, which is more likely to fit into the strength or endurance categories.

What to eat: Fewer calories (calorie deficit) and more protein

Want a personalized fat loss plan? Our coaches can create a plan for you. Find out more here.

What to remember: The most important thing to keep in mind is you must burn more calories than you bring into your body. Create a calorie deficit first, and then worry about dialing in your pre- and post-workout nutrition.

Your Nutrition Plan

• Eat a balanced, full meal consisting of carbs and protein, 0.2-0.25 g/lb target bodyweight for both protein and carbs

Your Next Steps

Remember that nutrient timing should focus on three core aspects: glycogen replenishment, protein breakdown, and protein synthesis. And rather than stressing over timing, focus on giving your body the proper nutrition based on what type of activity you perform.

Have questions? Share them in the comments below.

Or if you’re looking for more personalization and hands-on support our online coaching program may be right for you. Every client is assigned two coaches — one for nutrition and one for fitness. Find out more here. 

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post What to Eat Before and After a Workout appeared first on Born Fitness.

Just because the high intensity is good, doesn’t mean adding more and more work is better. 

The biggest problem with HIIT workouts is that people took a great concept (higher intensity, less rest) and destroyed the execution.

The mindset looks something like this:

“If four minutes is great, then eight minutes must be incredible. And if eight minutes is incredible, then 16 minutes must be mind-blowing.”

This is the opposite of what you want to do. Adding more time does not make all workouts more effective. And, with HIIT, you could easily argue it could reduce the effectiveness of the training.

Why HIIT Workouts Are So Effective

The name of the game is efficiency. There are many ways to train, but scientists are fascinated by high-intensity interval workouts because, when done correctly, you can see great benefits in less time.

The key with good HIIT programming is doing everything you can to maximize intensity. It’s that intensity that enables you to keep the workouts shorter and experience benefits like muscle building, fat loss, and cardiovascular improvements that you typically see in longer workouts.

But, if you don’t set up your workouts in a way that keeps intensity high, then you start to take away from the power of HIIT.

In general, HIIT workouts are characterized by the following: 

• Go hard (work at a high intensity, either heavy weights or lots of reps).
• Rest.
• Repeat.

What makes HIIT so effective is the exercise-to-rest ratio. As decorated strength coach Robert Dos Remedios explains in this blog post, a lot of the most popular training protocols are totally backward when it comes to their work-rest ratio. 

Translation: People train for way too long of a period, followed by far too little rest.

Coach Dos explains that for a truly all-out effort, you should rest for as much as 5-6 times the time you spent working. When you train for longer periods while resting for shorter ones, the training winds up being more of a cardio/aerobic challenge — which is okay if that’s your goal. 

When you go for too long with too short of rest, you’re likely to decrease the intensity of your work, which is the whole point of high-intensity training.  

What is the Best HIIT Workout?

If you want HIIT to work for your body (and schedule) and lead to body transformation and health benefits (HIIT workouts are also shown to improve cognition), then shorter rest periods will necessitate shorter workouts. This is all done to maximize intensity and results. Long HIIT workouts with short rest periods are more likely to lead to burnout and not get the desired effects.

In other words, your “work” periods will influence your rest periods. Keep the work short per Dos Remedios’s recommendations, and as the interval work time increases, make sure your rest increases as well.

An ideal work-to-rest ratio for all-out high-intensity intervals could be:

• 10 seconds of work, followed by 50 seconds of rest
• 20 seconds of work, followed by 100 seconds of rest
• 30 seconds of work, followed by 150 seconds of rest

Now, that’s not to say you can’t do more common intervals like 20 seconds of work followed by 40 seconds of rest.

If you do that, either realize that later sets will be lower intensity, or make sure you do fewer total sets in order to maintain your intensity.

After all (and we can’t stress this enough), the key to HIIT is the intensity. Push your body to maximum output, rest for just enough time to keep that intensity at its highest, and then get back to work.

How Long Should a HIIT Workout Be?

So, what’s the sweet spot? Everyone is going to be a little different based on body type, training experience, and goals. And there are really two important aspects: how many days per week you should do high-intensity training and how many sets you should perform per session.

Craig Marker, Ph.D., an associate professor at Mercer University, explains that you should stop if you are noticing a drop off in your performance from set to set.

“I stop most of my athletes at seven sets as it is difficult to maintain that pace for the full eight. Tabata’s team was working with elite athletes. For the everyday athlete, I might even suggest fewer sets, like three to five.” (You can read more about his approach here).

How Often Should You Do HIIT Workouts?

Because these workouts take more time to recover, it’s recommended that you do a HIIT workout anywhere from 1-3 times per week, depending on the overall volume of your training.

For example, if you’re weight training 4-5 times per week, you’ll respond better if you only do an additional 1-2 HIIT sessions per week. Otherwise, you’ll never recover properly and week-over-week you won’t see as much progress with your training or changes to your body.

If you only train with weights 2-3 times per week, then it’s possible for you to add 2-3 sessions of HIIT per week.

How To Do A HIIT Workout

Using the guidelines above for frequency, here’s how you can build your own HIIT workout using the exercises of your choice. Follow this 2-step process, and then limit your work sets to 4 to 8 rounds, based on your level of fitness.

Step 1: Select The Best HIIT Exercises

As the name would suggest, HIIT workouts should be something that allows you to push at a very high intensity.

If you choose to walk, then you must be able to sprint. If you want to bike, then pedal harder (if you can increase the resistance) or faster. If you’re swimming, swim faster. And, if you’re lifting weights, you’re picking a weight that you can lift for about six reps or where you can move quickly and explosively (think medicine ball slams).

Here are exercises you can pick from (many more exist) to create your HIIT workout:

• Sprint
• Bike
• Rower
• Kettlebell swings
• Versaclimber or stair-stepper
• Jump rope
• Tire flips
• Jump lunges
• Cleans
• Thrusters
• Med ball slams
• Deadlifts or squats

Step 2: Select How Long to Make Your HIIT Workout Last

• 10 seconds of high-intensity work.
• 50 seconds of rest or low-intensity work.
• Repeat for 4-8 rounds.

OR

• 20 seconds of high-intensity work.
• 100 seconds of rest or low-intensity work.
• Repeat for 4-8 rounds.

Step 3: Recover

Remember, intensity isn’t just about how much time you have to recover during a workout, it’s also what you do between workouts. To maintain intensity during your workout, remember to focus on resting 5-6 times as long as your work sets. And, don’t perform HIIT workouts every day because, at some point, your overall intensity will decrease, you won’t make progress from one training session to the next, and that will limit your results.

Now Go Get Your Sweat On

We’ve laid out why high-intensity interval training is effective, what the best HIIT workout practices are, and provided examples of some of our favorite exercises. Remember, the key to proper HIIT training is maintaining a high level of intensity for the entire workout.

Have questions? Share them in the comments below.

Or if you’re looking for more personalization and hands-on support our online coaching program may be right for you. Every client is assigned two coaches — one for nutrition and one for fitness. Find out more here. 

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post High-Intensity Training: The Most Common HIIT Workout Mistake appeared first on Born Fitness.

After helping thousands of people lose weight, the key to building an effective fat loss plan is knowing where to start, building a plan that is sustainable (think easy over restrictive), and having guardrails to help you stay on track. 

You’ve been fed a steady diet of misinformation about what your body needs in order to look its best. 

In this Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Fat Loss, we’ll teach you everything you need to know in this 10,000+ word post. Here’s a breakdown of what’s included:

Where Do I Start With Fat Loss?

All (and we do mean all) successful fat loss diets and programs have one thing in common: they are sustainable. 

No one diet is best for fat loss. And, that’s maybe the hardest idea to accept because of diet culture. It is a gross overstatement to say that avoiding any one food is “all it takes” to lose fat.

It doesn’t matter if it’s carbs, fat, wheat, dairy, gluten, sugar, late-night eating, or processed and/or packaged foods. And that’s not a guess. Yale researchers took a look at many diets and compared low-carb, low-fat, low-glycemic, Mediterranean, mixed/balanced (DASH), Paleolithic, vegan, and elements of other diets. 

Their findings? There isn’t a clear winner because all can work for fat loss. The real secret is relying on a few principles (more protein, fruits, and vegetables, fewer processed foods), and finding a plan that you can stick with for a long period of time. 

The diets that work all share one common trait: help you create a calorie deficit that you can maintain for a long period of time. 

That second part — the duration — is the most underrated and important part of making fat loss last. Most people have experienced losing weight, but it’s usually for a short period of time, somewhere around 2 to 8 weeks. It feels good when it happens, but it’s incredibly frustrating when the weight loss stops and the pounds find a way back on to your body. 

No matter what dietary strategy you choose (low-carb, counting macros and calories, etc.) or workout plan you follow, you can’t escape the physics of fat loss. To lose fat, you need to consume fewer calories than your body burns every day. This is called a “calorie deficit.” It’s like gravity. 

Because you’re eating fewer calories than you need, your body will burn stored fat for energy. This is how fat loss happens. 

Here’s another way to think of it: Your body needs a certain number of calories just to handle its daily functioning, such as keeping your heart beating, fueling your brain, powering digestion, and helping you move around.  

This is called your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). When you think of your metabolism, this is what we’re talking about. 

You can create a calorie deficit a few different ways, but it’s most efficient to do with a combination of diet and exercise. And, we’ll show you exactly how to make that happen.

Fat Loss Diets: The 3 Rules You Must Follow

There are dozens of different methods (and we’ll talk about some of those below) that can help you create a calorie deficit. And, while that could feel stressful, it should be freeing. It means you don’t need to swear off pasta, pizza, or other foods you love. 

Do you need to adjust how much you eat of those foods? Sure. But, knowing that every effect fat loss diet has some flexibility is a game-changer. In fact, research from the University of Alabama found that people who follow diets where they have flexibility are more likely to lose fat — and keep the weight off. 

More importantly, you don’t need to try dozens of methods. You just need one that fits you.

The mindset of doing multiple things to cut calories is where most people go wrong. Radical, dramatic diet methods and workouts lead to burnout and falling off your diet once again. You need a plan that is stable and sustainable.

Take a ketogenic (keto) diet as an example. It can definitely work for fat loss, but it’s very restrictive and not a good fit for anyone that likes carbs. Can you try it? Sure. But, if you can only sustain it for 1-2 months, within 3-4 months there’s a high likelihood you’ll weigh more than when you started, and that’s not a good trade. 

The truth is, there are only 3 fat loss rules that matter. Focus on these 3 rules (and you don’t have to be perfect) and you will lose fat. 

Want a personalized fat loss plan? Our coaches can create a plan for you. Find out more here.

Rule #1: Adjust Your Diet

Fat loss doesn’t have to be painfully hard, but it does require changes that result in you eating few enough calories so your body can burn fat. 

While many diets will suggest there’s another barrier — whether it’s carbohydrates and insulin, or gluten and inflammation, or lectins and toxins — science has shown over and over again that you need a caloric deficit to lose weight.

Your belly comes from eating too many unused calories. If you overeat, you’ll store fat, regardless of what foods those calories come from.

Now, that’s not to say some people don’t need to avoid certain foods or ingredients due to food allergies (which is an entirely different, super-interesting topic), but the truth is most people are overreacting and cutting foods from their diet because they’ve been tricked into believing these “bad foods” are a health problem. They’re not.

If you’re trying to understand nutrition, it’s best to consider the words of Mike Israetel, Ph.D., professor of exercise science at Temple University:

“Ultimately, successfully countering weight gain and obesity is a combination of many nutrition and behavioral principles that keep the fundamentals (like calorie balance) in mind. Catchphrase demonization of a single nutrient as a magic-bullet cure is unlikely to ever be the solution, and–in fact–more likely to create problems and confusion about how to fight obesity.”

Now you might be thinking, “But, everyone says that if I just remove carbs I’ll lose weight.”

Researchers have examined that exact thing. One study in particular compared carbohydrate intake ranging anywhere from 4 to 45 percent of total calories in low-carb diets, and fat content at 30 percent or lower in low-fat diets

Here’s what the researchers found:

1. Low-fat diets were slightly more effective at lowering total cholesterol and LDL.
2. Low-carb diets were more effective at increasing HDL and decreasing triglycerides
3. Neither diet was more effective than the other at reducing bodyweight, waist girth, blood pressure, glucose, and insulin levels.

This overall lack of differential effects led the authors to conclude that both low-carb and low-fat diets are viable options for reducing weight.

We need to stop trying to blame individual foods. They are not the problem. Certain tactics — like eating fruits and vegetables — might help with weight loss and maintenance. But, at the end of the day, controlling weight gain is more about total calorie balance than any particular food. If you can make that your focus, you will go a long way towards ending the vicious cycle of going on (and off) diets and feel more in control of the entire fat loss process. 

Rule #2: Prioritize Strength Training

You’ve probably heard that you can’t “out-train” (or out-cardio) your diet, right? 

And that’s true. How much you eat will dictate the majority of your fat loss efforts, no matter how hard you work in the gym. 

Here’s why: you don’t actually burn that many calories during your workout. A hard 30-minute strength training session will burn anywhere from 180-266 calories for most people. 

That’s not a lot. A Starbucks Vanilla Latte takes care of that.

However, strength training is important if you want to shed unwanted pounds of fat, and more importantly, keep them off. 

Here’s why: When you’re eating in a calorie deficit, your body has to find energy somewhere. Ideally, you want your body to pull this energy from your fat stores. 

But, your body can also break down existing muscle for energy depending on how you’re training. 

And that’s no good because when you start to lose hard-earned muscle, your body will begin burning less and less calories each day. This makes it harder for you to keep losing fat. 

That’s why “weight loss” shouldn’t be your goal. The goal is to reduce your body fat while keeping (or even increasing) the amount of muscle you have. 

And the best way to do that is by training hard during your diet. This signals your body to hold on for dear life to that muscle — because it needs it. 

Oh, and here’s an added bonus: when you add resistance training to your routine, it can speed up the weight loss process by making your muscles more efficient fat-burning furnaces.

When the now-more-muscular you (looking good!) exercises, you’re able to do more work, which will help you burn more calories during the workout and your day-to-day life. 

Not sure where to start with a workout? Don’t worry, we gotchu. You’ll find a complete 12-week fat loss strength training below. 

Rule #3: Don’t Underestimate Sleep

Chances are, you’re not sleeping enough (thanks, Netflix). 

And here’s why that’s a big problem. Not sleeping enough can make you hungrier, desire bigger portions, and crave higher-calorie foods. 

Oh, and it can cause you to lose muscle instead of fat during your diet. 

Yikes.

Sleeping less than six hours triggers the area of your brain that increases your need for food while also depressing leptin and stimulating ghrelin (hormones that help control or stimulate your appetite).

If that’s not enough, sleep loss also creates an internal battle that makes it feel almost impossible to lose fat.

When you don’t sleep enough, your cortisol levels rise. This is the stress hormone that is frequently associated with fat gain. Cortisol also activates reward centers in your brain that make you want food.

At the same time, the loss of sleep causes your body to produce more ghrelin. A combination of high ghrelin and cortisol shut down the areas of your brain that leave you feeling satisfied after a meal, meaning you feel hungry all the time—even if you just ate a big meal.

And, it gets worse.

When you’re sleepy (as little as 1-2 hours of missed sleep), you’re much more likely to eat foods you would typically be able to resist.

According to researchers at the University of Chicago, sleep deprivation is kinda like getting high. “Sleep restriction seems to augment the endocannabinoid system, the same system targeted by the active ingredient of marijuana, to enhance the desire for food intake.”

In other words, you’re far more likely to say “screw it” and eat high-calorie foods that can easily sabotage your fat loss. 

Finally, according to researchers in South Carolina, sleeping one hour less per night for a week could cause you to hold on to more fat and lose more muscle when trying to lose weight.

Even more interesting, the study participants were allowed to catch up on sleep as much as they wanted on the weekends, but still went from losing mostly fat to losing primarily lean mass.

The bottom line: Not enough sleep means you’re likely to feel hungry, reach for bigger portions, and desire every type of food that is bad for you—and you don’t have the proper brain functioning to tell yourself, “No!”

How Do I Know What Good Sleep Is?

A great night of sleep starts with small decisions you make during the day. To set yourself up for success, when possible, curb your alcohol and caffeine consumption around 3 pm. (We realize on some nights this just won’t be possible, but — remember — you don’t need to be perfect, just need to be consistent.)

Here’s why: while alcohol can make you feel sleepy, it disrupts your deep sleep cycles. So, while you might be asleep, you’re not getting the restorative sleep your body craves.

What’s more, alcohol can also reduce your melatonin production by up to 20 percent.  

Ever noticed that when you drink, you wake up feeling even more tired? A lack of restorative sleep is part of the reason why. 

The same goes for caffeine. For most of us, it brings us life every morning. But, the stimulating effects of coffee can linger in your system. A small cup of coffee will affect your mind and body (and therefore disrupt your sleep) up to 5 hours after you drink it. So, the seemingly innocent cup around 4 pm or after dinner can have more of a negative impact than you might think. 

When it’s time for bed, try to prioritize your sleep hygiene. Here are a few simple tips that will help you improve your sleep. 

• Limit your time spent on electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bed. 
• Keep your room as dark as possible. Can’t see your hand in front of your face? You’re on the right track. 
• Keep your room cold, around 65-67 degrees seems to work best for most people. 

For more detailed (and surprising) reasons you might be struggling with your sleep, check out this article. 

How Do I Eat for Fat Loss?

Now that you know the rules of fat loss, it’s time to put them into action. We’ll provide the tips that will help you find the right diet for you, as well as how to navigate all of the typical traps that cause you to fall off your plan. 

Fat Loss 101: How to Create A Caloric Deficit You Can Maintain

Remember, creating a calorie deficit is the foundation of any fat loss because without it you will not lose weight. 

To create a calorie deficit you need to burn more calories than you consume. That can be done in two ways. 

1. Increasing physical activity (this can be as simple as increasing the number of steps you take per day).
2. Reducing the number of calories you eat. 

In most cases, it takes a combination of the two so you don’t fall into the common burnout traps of extreme dieting or training. 

There is a lot of information and a lot of confusion about dieting: which plan to pick, how to stay consistent, what to do when eating out, conflicting information about supplements, and what the heck is a macro anyway?

But, we’ve got your back. Everything you need to know from why most diets fail to if you can have alcohol on a diet plan. Read on and find out how to eat for fat loss.  

Want a personalized fat loss plan? Our coaches can create a plan for you. Find out more here.

2 Reasons Why Most Diets Fail

You may be asking yourself, “why can’t I lose weight?” 

You may believe you are destined to never lose weight because dieting is too hard. 

You may have tried and failed at several types of diets and can’t figure out why nothing is working.

No matter what you think or believe, we’ve worked with everyone from those who need to lose 10 pounds to those who need to lose 150 pounds. We know the hurdles and understand what it takes to overcome them.

Here are two reasons why most diets fail for most people and how to set yourself up for success. If you can avoid these mistakes, the fat loss process becomes much easier

Fat Loss Mistake #1: Choosing Perfection Over Consistency 

Screw perfection. No one is perfect, so it is time you cut yourself a break when it comes to your diet. You need to have self-compassion and patience if you’re going to succeed in any goal, and that includes fat loss.

Many people quit fat loss programs because they screw up once and think, “I ruined it!” That could not be further from the truth. 

You’re going to have days where you can’t (or didn’t) eat as well as you want.  The key is to not abandon the plan when you have an off-plan day. Instead, clear the slate and get right back on your plan as soon as possible. 

You should also know that being perfect doesn’t mean “eating clean” all the time. This sets you up for failure early on. It creates the idea that you are either on or off a plan–this shows up as the “all or nothing” feeling. 

There is a lot of space between eating “clean” and eating like a dumpster fire. 

How to stop the “all-or-nothing” cycle.

If you are like most people who try to lose weight, you have experienced the all-or-nothing feeling of dieting. 

It feels something like this:

You did great all week. Then, a co-worker brings donuts in on Friday morning to celebrate a birthday. You enjoy a couple of donuts and now you feel like you failed. So you think, “screw it, I messed up so I may as well have more and start again on Monday.” 

Later that day you have cake at lunch because screw it.

That night you order the extra cheese appetizer and drink all the beer — because, you know, “screw it, I already messed up today.”

You notice how all or nothing mentality starts to become a slippery slope and will ultimately prevent you from making progress. 

Here is what you need to do instead.

Think of your food choices on a scale from 1- 10. 

1 = the worst possible food you can think of. Perhaps a greasy burger, deep-fried in lard, with bacon and cheese. (This is the “ALL”)

10 = the healthiest food you can imagine. Kale salad with lean protein sprinkled with magic pixie dust. (This is the “NOTHING”)

Next, consider everything you eat and all the choices you make exist somewhere in between 1 and 10. You have the opportunity to eat foods that fall between the two extremes.

Your goal is to think of ways you can make each meal “a little bit better” and move up the scale one or two steps. 

Here is an example.

Starting with a double bacon cheeseburger and fries. Let’s call this a 2 on the scale. 

Swap the double for a single. Exchange the fries for a baked potato. You just moved up the scale from a 2 to a 5. Pretty awesome!

Add a side salad and you are looking at a solid 6 or 7. 

When you start to look at food as a scale rather than all or nothing, you have a lot of control to make adjustments to the foods you eat without completely giving up on the diet or restricting all the foods you love. 

Fat Loss Mistake #2: Having The Wrong Plan

Oftentimes, diets fail because they don’t match the person. Just because a diet worked for Susan the keto-loving yogi doesn’t mean it will work for you. 

Sometimes, a diet plan is just not a good fit. 

Remember Susan the yogi? She hates carbs, so keto was a great route for her. 

You? Your middle name is “unlimited pasta.” Good luck feeling confident about sticking to keto for more than 30 days. 

There are many ways to “diet”, make sure you are picking a method that works best for you based on your lifestyle and preferences. 

How to Match Your Personality to a Diet

The Best Fat Loss Diets

We gave you the pros and cons of many popular diets. But, you may still be curious about the “best” diet. 

[drumroll…]

Research has proven that the best diet is the one you can stick with for a long period of time (depending on the goal) while maintaining high compliance. 

High compliance means you are flowing the plan 80-90% of the time during the week. 

How do you know if your nutrition compliance is high? Use this mindset as a reference:

Fat loss occurs over time. It’s not one day at a time. It’s more like 1-2 weeks at a time. That’s where the 80% rule comes in: If you look at things in a 2-week spurt, and you have 14 days, that means you only need to be on point 11 out of 14 days. You can also break this down by meals. So say 3 meals per day, then 52 meals every 2 weeks. That would mean 42 meals on point, or 10 meals where you let loose.

If you’re interested in learning more, Born Fitness founder Adam Bornstein breaks down his thoughts here.

Do I Need To Track My Food?

You don’t have to track your food in a diary or food tracking app to have a successful fat loss journey. 

But, if you have stubborn fat that won’t budge and you have no idea what your calorie intake is over the course of an entire week (including the weekend), you may benefit from tracking for a couple of weeks. 

Here’s why tracking your food works.

Most people grossly underestimate how much they eat and significantly overestimate how much physical activity they get. When you use a food log, you can see how much you are consuming rather than assuming you are not eating more than you need. 

One study does a wonderful job of highlighting this problem. The research looked at people who believed they were resistant to weight loss (they self-reported that they were eating as low as 1200 calories per day). 

Once food was tracked, the participants discovered that their actual food intake was under-reported by an average 47% and they over-reported their physical activity by 51%. There were no indications of a slow metabolism. 

The key to tracking: be honest with yourself. 

Nutrition coach Natalie has worked with hundreds of clients who ask this same question. Here is what she has to say about food tracking. 

Want a personalized fat loss plan? Our coaches can create a plan for you. Find out more here.

How Do I Track My Calories?

You have two options: 

1. Pick a free calorie tracking app (we like MyFitnessPal, Lifesum, and FitBit–but you can use any app that you like).
2. Log your food manually in a journal 

Once you have decided where you want to enter your food logs, track the food you eat for 14 days.

Worried about time? On average, it takes people between 5-10 minutes per day to track all of their meals. Most people spend more time than that on social media or watching tv each day. 

Add your meals as you go so you don’t forget anything. Pay close attention to the serving sizes you eat. If you are not sure about your serving sizes you may want to practice with a food scale at home. 

Stay on the lookout for hidden calories — things like sauces, dressings and dips. Be sure to record other sneaky calories sources like bites of food throughout the day (aka: snacking), and calorie-containing beverages, such as juice, soda or alcoholic beverages. 

THE KEY: Be honest in your food tracking. Just because you don’t log something doesn’t mean you didn’t eat it. Those calories still count. 

After you have two weeks of data, retake your body weight. Weigh yourself first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach, after using the bathroom. 

If your weight has gone down over the 14-day period, congratulations you are eating in a calorie deficit. Keep going.

If your weight has gone up over the 14-day period, then you are eating more calories than your body needs. Time to adjust your calories.

If your weight has stayed the same throughout the two-week period, you’ll know you’re consuming a maintenance level of calories. Time to adjust your calories.

How to adjust your calories for weight loss

Gained or maintained weight during the 14-day food tracking period:

• If your daily average is less than 2500 calories, subtract 200-300 calories per day.
• If your daily average is more than 2500 calories, subtract 500 calories per day.

Rate of weight loss

Adjust your daily calorie intake up or down so you are losing weight at a rate of 0.5-1% body weight per week. (Example: 0.5-1% body weight of a 200 lb person = 1-2 pounds per week)

How Can I Eat At Restaurants And Still Lose Fat?

Listen, we love eating at restaurants, but it has some disadvantages. The benefit of cooking meals at home is you can control the ingredients and portions. It gives you full control over hidden calories that go into your food — oils, butters, sugars, etc. It also gives you control of adding larger portions of low calorie, high satiety foods such as leafy greens, vegetables, fruits, lean protein. 

But, it’s not realistic to think that you will be able to cook 100% meals at home 100% of the time. 

With most things, planning ahead will help you stay in better control when you dine out. Because you can eat out and lose fat. 

If you know where you are eating, look for a menu online before you arrive. Get an overview of what options will be available and how you can make them work for you. Getting a sense of what options may be tempting to you before you arrive will give you  the foresight to be smart about your choices rather than forcing you to rely on willpower. 

Even if you can’t prep, you can master eating out at restaurants by following these three simple steps. 

Step 1: Start By Focusing On The Main Entrees (We Will Come Back To Appetizers).

Look for a meal that has lean protein and vegetables. For vegan/vegetarian look for meals with complex carbohydrates such as quinoa, whole grains, and beans.

Once you have your meal selected, ask yourself if there are ways you can make it a little bit better. For example: ask for sauces on the side (or not at all), swap creamy dressings for vinegar, hold the chips. If you struggle with overeating portions, be prepared to ask for a to-go box right away and put some away for later. This is an example of using the 1-10 scale in the section discussing the reasons why diets fail Mistake #1 Choosing Perfection Over Consistency.

Step 2: Look At Appetizers And Sides. 

Now that you have selected your main meal. Is there anything missing that you should have included? It is likely the main dish is enough calories to keep you satisfied, and you don’t need anything more. But, if the dish is lacking in vegetables add a side of ‘veggies of the day” or an appetizer like vegetables and hummus. 

Step 3: Close The Menu. 

Continuing to read all of the delicious details and look at the savory pictures can heighten automatic responses to hunger (salvation, grumbling belly). This natural reaction can start to make you feel more out of control and impulsive about ordering food–hello cheese fries! If you followed steps 1 and 2, have confidence in your choice and move on. 

Still not sure what to order? We still have you covered. We created a Born Fitness Restaurant Survival Guide to help you get started and navigate tricky menus. This guide gives you ordering options for 17 of the most popular cuisines, including finding premade meals at grocery stores. 

Restaurant Survival Guide

Your Fat Loss Meal Plan (And Grocery List) 

Here’s something most people won’t tell you: Meal plans can be a problem. 

And it’s not because you’re often eating the same 4-6 meals over and over again (there’s no real health danger in that). The issue with meal plans is dependency. If you only know one way to eat and life throws you curveballs, you’re more likely to be derailed.

That’s why it’s important to use a meal plan like training wheels. Get a hang of things, learn how to feel confident and believe you can do it, and then remove some of the security only to learn you can do so much more when not restricted. 

That’s dieting. Restrictive plans lead to failure. But, initial restriction that builds confidence can change your life forever because it puts you in control of your eating. 

This 2-week plan will provide you with the control and comfort you need, so you can eventually add more variety and freedom and still lose fat by using all of the other tips we’ve provided. 

Here’s Your Two-Week Meal and Grocery Plan.

The Best Fat Loss Workout

The goal here is simple: crush fat. The best way to do that is total body workouts. These workouts focus on general fatigue (your heart is pumping) instead of local fatigue (no single body part will ever feel like it’s “done”).

Plus, to enhance the fat-burning effects, we’ll use single-arm and single-leg movements where we can. This means more reps and more “metabolic stress” (aka fat-burning magic).

Use a weight that helps you reach the goal reps listed. And—as you progress with each phase—you’ll get stronger and bump up the weights when the rep ranges become easy.

Each 4-week phase will include new exercises and progressions to make things a little harder. 

There are 3 phases that will last a total of 12 weeks. Perform each phase for 4 weeks before moving on to the next. 

Workout Guidelines

The totals listed below are your work sets. So, if the workout called for 3 sets of 8 reps, you have 3 work sets of 8 reps. 

You may wish to include a warm-up set or two for each exercise. In a warm-up set, you’ll start with a light weight (say 50-60% of what your working sets will be) and then progressively add weight over the next set until you’re ready to jump into your work sets. 

Take a 45-second rest between each exercise set. 

PHASE 1 (4 WEEKS)

Workout 1

Workout 2  

PHASE 2 (4 WEEKS)

Workout 1

Workout 2  

PHASE 3 (4 WEEKS)

Workout 1  

Workout 2 

How Often Should I Work Out? 

There are 2 workouts in each training phase (4-week block). Each session will be a total body workout.  

Your goal is to train 4 days per week. Alternate between Day 1 and Day 2, working toward 3-4 sessions per week. That’s the ideal training volume. But, if you’re able to get in only 3 workouts per week, that is still solid. 

Please note: We don’t recommend performing more than 2 resistance workouts consecutively. Try to take a day of rest (or cardio) between each lifting session if possible. 

If you’re not sure how to set up your workouts based on your schedule, here are 2 sample training weeks: 

Sample Training Week #1 

Time available each week: 4-6 hours

Sample Training Week #2 

Time available each week: 3-5 hours

Overwhelmed trying to figure out the right workout balance? Let our coaches help you.

Do The Workouts Have To Be Done In A Gym?

The workouts require some equipment but there’s no need to join a fancy gym. Most of the workouts can be completed with just a few dumbbells, a lat pulldown, and a cable machine.  

In fact, most hotel gyms would be more than adequate.  

However, if you don’t have access to any equipment, we’ve gotchu. We’ve created a bodyweight-only version of The Beginner’s Guide to Fat Loss workout for you. Just click here.

What If I have Injuries? 

If you have an existing injury please consult your doctor before beginning this exercise program. 

Unfortunately, injuries happen. While we fully customize our online client’s programs to work around any aches or pains they have, we’re obviously not able to do that for this program. 

However, here are some common injuries and how to work around them in this (or any) program. 

Shoulder pain.

Limit your overhead pressing. 

Substitute any overhead press exercise with push-ups. Why push-ups? A push-up allows your shoulder blades to move freely, which makes them shoulder-friendly. 

Plus, push-ups are a “closed chain” exercise. This means that instead of stabilizing a DB overhead (which is “open chain” and more demanding on your shoulder joint), you can create stability by pressing into the ground. 

Low-back pain.

Rule #1 with back pain is to avoid any exercise that causes pain. Back pain is not something you want to “push through” because you risk making things far worse. 

For most people, exercises that require you to bend at the hips (like an RDL or deadlift) will cause the most pain. 

To adjust, decide if you’d like to work more on your glutes or hamstrings. If you’d like to target the glutes, replace these exercises with hip thrust variations. And for the hamstrings, we’ve found that machine-based hamstring curls are often pain-free. 

Knee pain.

The answer to knee-pain (unless you’re dealing with an injury) is often to get your glutes more involved. 

When you squat, “reach back” with your hips during the movement. This will shift your weight back and prevents the knees from traveling too far forward.

If you’re experiencing knee pain during a lunge, try this. As you step back (or forward) into the lunge, fold at your hips and let your chest lean towards the ground. This will take the pressure off your knee and put more of the load on your glutes.  

I hate running. What about cardio? 

Cardio is not the key to fat loss. 

But, a little bit of cardio can give you a little extra edge needed to tip the scales in your favor simply because it’s helping create a calorie deficit. 

Here’s what we suggest: Start with 1-2 low-intensity (easy movement with your heart rate staying below 120bpm) sessions per week. 

You don’t need to log excess hours on the treadmill. You can use any piece of equipment you like, or even go on a nice long walk. 

Then, during the last 2 phases of your training plan (weeks 5-12 below), we’ll introduce high-intensity Intervals during your workouts to help kick the fat loss into high gear.

Recovery

During a hard workout in the gym, you tear down the fibers in your muscles. When you sleep, your body is able to repair the damage (this is how you get stronger and build more muscle). 

Remember, building muscle is important for fat loss because the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism. 

And taking a few days off each week might seem counterintuitive to fat loss but it’s the hidden key that will unlock long-term results. 

You only need to train hard 3-4 days a week to see great results. Train more than that, and you risk elevating stress hormones in your body that can make losing fat very difficult. 

On your off days, try to stay active. Go on a long walk, or try yoga. 

How Do I Know If My Fat Loss Plan Is Working?

At the start of your fat loss plan, it can be rough to take your first round of progress photos and record your starting weight. This part can be uncomfortable. 

But, taking progress photos and your measurements is important. If you’re aren’t tracking, there’s no way to tell if you’re making any progress. And, at the end of the day, we’re here to help you get results. 

Remember: Your photos and measurements are just a snapshot in time. They’re the starting point on your fat loss map. 

And in no way are they judgments on your value or worth as a person, OK? (*hugs*)

Should I Weigh Myself? 

Ah, the scale. Everyone’s favorite piece of the bathroom to hate. 

Here’s something you may have heard before: The scale is a lousy way to gauge your progress.

Even if you have heard it before, it’s worth repeating: You can’t rely on the scale alone to gauge your progress.

Why? Because there are so many factors that can affect the number you see on the scale each day. And most of them have nothing to do with whether or not you’ve gained body fat.

For example, here are just a few of the reasons why the number you see on the scale could go up:

• You’re stressed.
• Your salt intake was higher thanks to those fajitas at your favorite Mexican food place.
• You’re constipated because who needs vegetables?
• Or, you just drank a big ol’ glass of water.

But, you should still weigh yourself if you’re trying to lose fat. Although the scale will lie at times (because of the reasons above), it’s an important fat loss metric. 

How Do I Take Measurements And Photos? 

We want to make sure the scale number you’re getting is accurate. Here are some rules for getting good data out of the scale:

• Weigh yourself first thing in the morning.
• Do it after going to the bathroom, but before getting anything to eat or drink. Yes, this includes coffee (but you better believe I start the kettle going before I jump on the scale…)
• And do it without clothing — or if you do wear clothing, use the same outfit every time.

Because the scale will fluctuate at times, we need to combine it with other tools to measure whether or not you are truly making progress.

That’s where progress photos and body measurements come in.

Progress photos give you clear visual evidence that your body is changing. 

And body measurements track the changes at specific locations across your body. For example, if your waist is decreasing in size, you’re likely losing fat.

To take your photos, follow these steps: 

1. Chose a space to take photos that has consistent lighting. 
2. Get your full body in the shot, and take a photo from the front, side, and back (don’t forget your phone has a timer function!). Wear minimal clothing. For guys, board shorts or tights work best. For women, you can wear a swimsuit or sports bra and shorts.

To get your body measurements, all you need is a tape measure. We recommend this one to our clients, but a regular one you’d use for home improvement projects (if you’re handy, which I am not) could also work. 

Take your measurements with your muscles “tensed.” This will help make your measurements more consistent.

So, if you’re measuring your waist, brace your midsection first, and then take the measurements.

How Often Should I Take Measurements? 

You don’t need to jump on the scale every morning. In fact, we suggest recording your bodyweight only once per week. 

Can you track your weight every day? You can if you want to but keep in mind what we talked about: your weight will fluctuate from day to day. 

And most of those shifts won’t be a big deal. What matters is how your body weight changes over time. We want to look for trends upward or downward over a longer period.

Visual changes take longer to measure with photos and measurements. You only need to take your photos once every month and your measurements every 2-4 weeks. 

Do Gender And Hormones Affect Fat Loss? 

The path to fat loss is the same for both men and women. However, how each gender deposits fat might be different, so where you lose weight first could differ. 

Women tend to carry more fat around the hips and thighs, while men carry more fat around the midsection. 

You may notice the areas your body favors fat gain are also the areas that lose fat last when you are dieting. While you can build muscle in specific areas, there is no way to “spot reduce” body fat. 

But, you are not doomed to carry unwanted body fat. Finding a training program and nutrition strategy that you can sustain for several weeks and months help you move that “stubborn” fat. In other words: it takes time, but it will happen. 

Do Men And Women Have To Train Differently? 

If you’re a woman, getting stronger is the most empowering thing you can do in the gym. Nothing will make you feel more bad-ass than busting out your first set of chin-ups.

More importantly, strength training can benefit women in so many ways — from fat loss to improved aging.

And, while it’s true that men start with more muscle mass and strength, pound for pound, women will gain strength faster than men.

The stronger you get, the more muscle you’ll be able to build (and we talked about why that’s important above). 

And, if you’re a woman, you don’t need to worry about becoming bulky. Adding “bulk” is a result of how many calories you eat. Lifting will make you a stronger version of yourself. You’ll gain muscle and strength relative to your physique.

How Does My Metabolism And Hormones Impact Fat Loss?

Do you ever feel like your metabolism is broken? You’re not alone, and the good news is your metabolism is likely OK.

Certain medical conditions such as untreated Cushing’s disease or hypothyroidism can slow your metabolism. If properly diagnosed and treated, individuals with these diseases have the same ability to lose fat as someone without the disease. 

But, that is the exception to the rule. Your metabolism is likely just fine, and it doesn’t work the way you think.

Despite what common sense would have you believe, leaner people have slower metabolisms than heavier people. Those who carry more bodyweight have a faster metabolism than thinner individuals because the body requires more energy to carry out daily functions. The bigger you are, the more calories you burn each day.

More mass = more work required = more energy burned.

It may be hard to accept, but staying on top of food intake and activity level is the key to losing weight and keeping it off. 

That’s not to say that genetics or hormones don’t play a role. They most definitely do. Some people just don’t gain weight as easily, but it’s not because of a broken metabolism. And that’s why focusing on habits that are proven to help people of any size lose weight is more effective than restrictive, fringe behaviors that only might work for a small group of people. 

PMS/Craving 

PMS cravings are no joke! At the very least, we can actually blame this one on hormones and not on our “willpower.”

Estrogen, cortisol, and serotonin are the three big players that contribute to PMS cravings. 

Estrogen and cortisol go up and serotonin levels go down. These hormonal shifts make women more metabolically charged and as a result are HUNGRY. 

The biggest cravings are for carbs (sugars) because they digest fast and make us feel good. That is why the ‘not so healthy’ stuff becomes everything you want and can’t seem to say no to. 

So what can you do? Stay ahead of it. 

If you track your menstrual cycle you may have some idea when to expect your period and the joys that go with it (fatigue, hunger, mood swings, etc). If you don’t, you should start. Knowing when these hormone shifts are coming will help you stay in control. 

If you feed your cravings (and moods) early, then you can avoid being face deep in treats later.

Use these FIVE tricks to outsmart your PMS cravings and stay in control:

• Slow digestion by including healthy fats. Try tuna on crackers, salmon, saffron oil, avocados. Slowing digestion helps you feel satisfied longer. 
• Increase calories with complex carbohydrates. In the week leading up to your period increase your servings of complex carbs. Start with an additional 1-2 servings from this list. Complex Carbs vs. Simple Carbs
• Drink more water. Increasing water will help fight fatigue. Feeling tired is a big player in increased cravings and overeating. 
• Take a brisk walk. Go for a brisk walk or do a light exercise to get your body moving and help your mood. Improving your mood helps to avoid binging. You may not feel 100% up for a full workout, but getting your body moving can help your mind.
• Be kind to yourself during this time. We can certainly do our best to curb our hunger, but don’t be hard on yourself if things are not perfect.

How To Personalize Your Fat Loss Plan

From alcohol to supplements and fitness trackers, here are all the finer details that will help you stay ahead in the fat loss game. 

Want a personalized fat loss plan? Our coaches can create a plan for you. Find out more here.

Can I Drink Alcohol And Lose Fat?

Generally speaking, drinking alcohol shouldn’t be demonized when the goal is improved health and/or a better body composition. In fact, moderate alcohol consumption has been linked to a variety of health benefits, and some research even suggests alcohol consumption is tied to a longer life. 

But, if you’re consistently over-consuming alcohol, however, then you might run into trouble. Over consuming not only sends all of the health benefits out the window, but it can also lead to over-consuming calories. 

Over-consuming calories means you are not in the necessary calorie deficit needed for weight loss. And that means weight loss will not occur. 

Fact: Alcohol has calories. 7 calories per gram to be exact. Compared to protein (4 calories per 1 g), carbohydrates (4 calories per 1 g), and fat (9 calories per 1g). 

More often than not, the problem with calories is not from alcohol, but the behaviors associated with drinking. 

People get the “drunkies” and the “munchies” when drinking. A loss of inhibition can lead to eating more food. Appetizers with drinks, pizza after drinks, and late-night pantry raid after drinking all adds up, and even a couple nights a week of this behavior could prevent you from losing weight. 

It is safe to bet that you can drink alcohol and still lose body fat. Enjoy yourself when you’re out, but be aware of the foods you are eating during and after drinking. 

Your Guide To Alcohol And Fat Loss

Avoid: sugary drinks, added fruit juices, calorie-dense mixers like tonic water.

Better: Light beer (4.9 ABV%), red or white wine

Best: clear liquor (80 proof) with calorie-free mixers like club soda

How many calories are in your drink?

What Is Considered “Healthy” Alcohol Consumption?

If you do not drink alcohol, there is no reason to start drinking now. 

Drinking more alcohol increases risks of alcoholism, high blood pressure, obesity, stroke, suicide, and accidental deaths. For these reasons, The American Heart Association cautions people not to start drinking.

If you do drink alcohol, The Guidelines for Americans suggests up to 1 drink per day for women and up to 1- 2 drinks per day for men.

What Supplements Should I Take For Fat Loss?

While things like protein powders can have some impact (because they help you hit your protein goals and keep you fuller), supplements are far less important than total calorie intake (energy balance) and daily habits/behaviors. 

Not to mention, there’s no fat loss pill that will make any significant difference. 

Focusing on supplements before you work on behavior changes is like throwing a 12-ounce bottle of water on a blazing skyscraper. It simply won’t make a difference. And, in the case of supplements, it could cost you a lot of money for something that has a very small impact.

What matters the most is creating a calorie deficit and changing behaviors.

There are times when a supplement may be useful. That is when you have a known deficiency such as a vitamin or mineral deficiency. Best to get a blood test to confirm this with your doctor—don’t assume you do (or don’t). Once you know with certainty that you need a specific vitamin or mineral, your doctor can recommend the right amount for you. 

You may find having a protein powder on hand helps fill in the gap when you are not able to have a meal. Protein powder should not be your primary source of protein. Always aim for lean protein from whole food sources first–chicken, lean beef, and fish.

Not all protein powders are created equal. Because the regulations on supplements are not as strict as the foods we eat, you may not always be getting what they say is on the label. To make sure you are getting top-quality, look for the NSF Certified for Sport label. This label indicates that every single batch has been tested for quality and safety. 

Want to know more about supplement safety? Read this short article on supplement safety from Ladder.

Should You Use A Fitness Tracker? 

Fat loss comes down to consuming fewer calories than you burn (no matter what diet or workout program you follow). So, if you’re not losing weight, you’re consuming too many calories. 

But, that’s easy to do if you make the mistake of “eating back” the calories you burn during workouts.

On the surface, it makes sense. If you “earned” 500 calories during your workout, you should be able to consume 500 extra calories that day and still lose weight as long as you remain in a deficit. 

However, there are two issues here: 

First, activity trackers – like the FitBit or Apple Watch – greatly overestimate calorie expenditure. 

A study published in the Journal of Personalized Medicine found that the numbers given for energy expenditure (calories burned), by a variety of wrist-worn devices, were off by 27.4% to 93%. 

Second, most fat loss calorie equations already include your activity in their formula. 

They’ve already factored your workouts (and daily movement) in so you don’t have to. That means the calories you’re eating back add to your total for the day and this can easily stall your fat loss (or even cause you to gain weight). 

This isn’t to say that activity trackers aren’t valuable. Your workout data can serve as a benchmark instead of a calorie measurement. This will give you a good idea of if you did more or less activity than yesterday (or last week). 

But don’t let this data factor into the number of calories you eat. Keep your diet plan consistent. If you’re not losing weight (and your body circumference measurements aren’t budging either), slowly reduce your calorie intake.

How Should I Track My Workouts?

Most workout tracking apps offer a clunky user experience that complicates (not improves) your gym experience. 

However, if you’d like to give them a shot, I recommend checking out either HeavySet or Strong. 

For most, the best option is going to be an old school workout journal. It’s the simplest, most effective way to record your progress. 

For a great example of how to use a workout journal, check out James Clear’s post here. 

Cut The BS: Fat Loss Techniques To Ignore

Life is too short to spend more time banging your head against a wall of fat loss lies. Here’s what you can completely avoid if you’re trying to drop a few pounds (and make that weight loss last).

Not Worth It: Detoxes And Cleanses

The promise of rapid weight loss in a few days is tempting. As is the idea of cleaning out your insides to “reset” your body. 

We are here to tell you, save your money and your frustration. 

There is no amount of lemon juice, kale, turmeric, or “super blend” that will do the job of your liver and kidneys. 

If both of these organs are functioning properly, then you don’t need to do anything more to “detox or cleanse”. Your liver and kidneys do not store toxins. Period. 

What they do is a series of chemical reactions to filter your body of toxic materials for excretion (aka: going to the bathroom). If your liver or kidneys are not functioning properly, you will know and likely be heading to the emergency room. 

Furthermore, your cells do a deep body cleanse every single day. It is a process called autophagy. And it is happening all the time in your body.

Autophagy is the body’s way of identifying and removing damaged or malfunctioning cells. Want to know more about the science of autophagy and how it works? Read this article before you even consider buying a detox scam.

You may be wondering about all the weight-loss promises around detoxes and cleanses. This has to do with math, not the juice. 

Typically during a detox or cleanse, calories are dramatically reduced. Drinking 800 calories of juice is a big difference from that 3,000 calorie weekend you had. It should be no surprise when the weight comes down. The problem is the weight will come right back if new behaviors have not been established. 

Is Any Detox Worth Your Time?

The best way to rid your body of toxins is to let your body do its job, then reduce or eliminate them from the start. 

Reduce alcohol intake, processed food intake, added sugars, and trans fats. 

It is not incorrect to believe that more fresh fruits and vegetables are beneficial. They provide a lot of nutrients and keep you feeling full when working on a fat loss goal, but they do not have magic detox powers. 

The Final Word: How Much Fat Loss Is Too Much?

When losing fat, do not focus on eating as little as humanly possible on a diet. 

Restriction not only encourages a bad relationship with food and poor health, but it can make it much harder to lose fat.

When calories are super low for an extended period of time, your body will compensate. 

You’ll feel more tired, weaker in your training, a drop in sex drive, and an increase in mood swings increase. Hormones sound the alarm and tell your body to conserve energy, and your metabolic rate will drop to save energy for vital functions. 

This is why crash dieting can be so deceiving. After your initial weight loss, your progress will stop and it can be hard to jump-start the process. The only way to get the scale moving again is to drop calories even more. But, if you are already low on calories there isn’t much room to go down and you are backed into a corner. 

And, if you do manage to drop more calories, you will get more tired, weaker from muscle loss, and dieting is going to suck. Ultimately, you will yo-yo right back up and be more frustrated than before. 

The solution: Eat as much as possible to keep the scale going down, and then make small adjustments when it stalls. 

To maximize health, adherence, and performance this is what we suggest:

• Rate: Aim for a weight loss goal 0.5-1.0% of body weight per week. If you are losing more than that you may want to increase your calories slightly to avoid crashing later. 
• Length: A diet phase should be between 8-12 weeks. Then give yourself a few days (at least 7-14 days) to take a break before another diet block. 
• Limit: No more than 10% of body weight loss per diet block
• After: Increase calories to maintain new bodyweight before the next phase. 

Your Next Steps

We’ve provided you with all of the tools to help you lose weight if that’s your goal. Remember, fat loss should be a health goal, but not a means to an end. Obsessing over weight or appearance is a slippery slope that can be mentally draining. So, don’t buy-in to diet obsession. Instead, gain control by making small changes that put you in power of how you feel, exercise, and eat. 

Have questions? Share them in the comments below.

Or if you’re looking for more personalization and hands-on support our online coaching program may be right for you. Every client is assigned two coaches — one for nutrition and one for fitness. Find out more here. 

BJ Ward

B.J. holds a B.S. in Health and Human Performance and multiple certifications, including Precision Nutrition Level 1 and BioForce Certified Conditioning Coach. Over his 14-year coaching career, he’s been fortunate enough to coach a wide range of clients. From online clients looking to get in great shape to CEO Nate Checketts (Rhone) and CEO Marcelo Claure (Softbank), and professional skateboarder Sean Malto. Before beginning his training career, he was a sports science lab research assistant.

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