How To Get Rid Of Cellulite

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Exercise and Cellulite

When Mike turned 65, he was 25 pounds overweight. By strict dieting, he shed the extra pounds, but he lost more weight; he also lost his energy and vitality. He was always exhausted, and his friends, seeing his gaunt, drawn face, worried about his health.

By the time volunteered for a particular fitness program two years later, he had put 25 extra pounds back on. After 6 months of exercise and some willpower at the dinner table, Mike slimmed down again. This time he felt better than he ever had, brimming with energy and glowing with good health.

What made the difference?

The first time Mike lost weight; the second time he lost fat. The distinction is important. According to research, a large portion of the weight lost by dieting alone is active tissue, such as muscle and connective tissue, while a smaller fraction is excess fat.

Exercise has the opposite effect. It increased his lean body mass and decreased his excess fat.

Same thing goes with cellulite. Most people tend to think that cellulites are only present to people who are obese. That is why they sometimes associate cellulite with fats and obesity.

Actually, even if cellulite refers to the chain of wrinkled “fat cells” and “subcutaneous connective tissues” beneath the layer of the skin, it should never be associated with people who are fat or obese. In fact, there are many people who have cellulite but are not fat at all, I mean there are many, a whole lot.

In reality, nobody knows the main reason why some people accumulate cellulite. However, there are some factors that health experts are considering such as the structure of the fat cells or the poison that entered the body. Some experts say it may be caused by some hormonal changes in the body. But none of these things has been proven to cause cellulites.

However, the only main reason why most of the cellulite cases are abundant in women is that the connective tissues of women are more rigid and firm than men. Hence, whenever a woman gets fat, the fatty cells tend to swell and get bigger. It creates a protruding appearance to the skin producing an “orange peel” look.

For this reason, women are more prone to cellulite than men. That is why it is important for women to be more careful with their body as they have higher chances of accumulating cellulite.

Fats and Cellulite

With the many cases of obese people having cellulites in their body, most of them believed that their cellulites are caused by being too fat.

However, this is still dependent on the structure of the cells. If an individual’s cell structure does not inhibit the tendency to bulge or expand even if fat deposits accumulate, then there will be no cellulites.

So, the most important thing to remember here is to keep those connective tissues firm and strong and avoid accumulating excess fats so as to avoid the development of cellulite.

How? Start an exercise routine program.

Transforming food into fat seems all too easy for most of us. Losing fat is far more difficult, and to accomplish this, we have only three alternatives: (1) decrease food intake and keep activity constant; (2) increase activity and keep food intake constant; or (3) combine both approaches: diet and exercise.

Physical activity can help reverse the results of inactivity. An hour of vigorous exercise burns up 300 to 600 calories. If you also cut 300 to 500 calories from your daily menu, you can also lose weight at the rate of one to two pounds a week.

Without exercise, you would have to eat 500 to 1,000 fewer calories a day to lose the same number of pounds in a week. Exercise is not for everyone who is over-fat, however. The severely obese person should exercise only under medical supervision to prevent strain on the cardiovascular system and connective tissue. And no one should restrict food intake drastically without consulting doctor.

Resorting to this kind of activity will only get the matter worse. Remember what happened to Mike? He thought that when he started dieting, he would eventually lose all the excess fats he has accumulated, thus also getting rid of cellulite. The problem is that he lost those connective tissues rather than excess fat.

For people who are prone to cellulites, this will be a greater problem. Losing connective tissues instead of fat by strict dieting can only make the skin more prone to greater problems but the fat cells are still there. That only means that the problem is not solved at all.

Hence, if you wish to get rid of those cellulites, it would be better to loose those fats first. The idea here is to burn those fats by increasing your metabolism by 7.5% to 28% more than your normal rate.

It is for this reason that exercising is an important factor in getting rid of cellulite. So for a more cellulite free body, always engage in an exercise routine.

Burn the Fat and Feed The Muscle! Discover The Simple Proven Science Of Fat Loss No One Else Will Tell You About… Are you ready? Click here to get the rest of this story…

To Your Immediate and Lasting Success,

Kenney Jr.
Director

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How an Overweight Man Changed His Life

By Craig Ballantyne
Discover How To Lose Weight In Just 3 Short, But Intense Workouts Here…

“How a 50-Year Old, Former 2-Sport College Athlete got in the Best Shape of His Life”

Todd Thompson emailed me 4 years ago with the goal of getting back into shape by losing a lot of body fat. Since then, Todd’s been a great client, using the right workouts (Strength training plus interval training) with great success. Todd made such a triumphant return to healthy living that he even developed a website dedicated to men’s health.

In this interview Todd shares his tips and tricks to getting the most out of your fat loss efforts and lifestyle changes. These will come in handy on those days that you don’t have the motivation or direction to train. Todd’s the true definition of a “Fat Loss Success Story” and I’m proud to have worked with him.

CB: What impact does Turbulence Training have on your energy levels?

Todd Thompson:
I find I have a lot more energy when I’m in full training mode, and I use heavy weights and supersets almost exclusively in my weight training. My energy levels seem to be directly associated with how much excess fat weight I carry around, and this keeps it off better than anything I’ve tried.

Of course, I follow proper eating guidelines as well, and this goes a long way toward keeping me filled with the right foods. It’s basically hard work plus clean eating. It’s the efficiency of strength and interval workouts that makes it more appealing to me than any other routine I’ve followed for any length of time.

CB: What time of day do you train and how do you structure your meals around this training time?

TT:
Craig, as you may recall, when I started getting into shape last year, after a 25 year layoff, I made the commitment to work out the first thing every morning so that nothing would get in the way of my training.

After reaching my weight loss goals last year, and working it into my schedule differently, I moved my workout time to early evenings, right after I get home from work. I eat my regular noon meal, something like cottage cheese or tuna with some good carbs, and then I have an afternoon snack of high protein content. Then, when I get home from work, the first thing I do is drink a half serving of a protein shake, or eat some cottage cheese. This gives me about a 30 minute time period before I get my clothes changed and head off to the gym, which is perfect for digesting it.

I hit the weights hard, which takes about 40 minutes, and then I get on the elliptical or bike for my HIIT (interval training). As soon as I get off the machine, I drink a protein shake. I’m usually finished with the whole thing around 6:30 p.m. At that time, my wife and I usually have dinner. On workout days especially, I make sure my evening meal has some excellent protein choices, low fat, and good carbohydrates.

CB: What nutrition tips work best for you?

TT:
I’m no expert on nutrition, but my experience this past year is that I need a little more carbohydrates than what a lot of the newer nutrition programs are recommended. When I drop carbohydrates to a minimal level, it does seem to have an effect on my energy levels. I think of carbohydrates as an energy provider, and on workout days, I make sure I get enough carbohydrates to get my energy level where it needs to be for my workout.

CB: So overall, what is your impression of strength training and interval training?

TT:
It keeps it from getting boring, and I have a bit of a creative streak in me. This seems to keep things interesting. No matter what workout I’m doing, the strength and interval program is the design I use.

There are three basic things I do, no matter whether or not the exact exercises are called for:

1. Do 18-22 sets, emphasizing full body. Sometimes, I may emphasize certain muscle groups for an entire workout, but that’s rare. I usually make sure there is some impact on every muscle group at each workout.

2. Do “superset” style without a rest period between sets within each superset. Each superset is designed as a push-pull superset, or sometimes just the use of opposing muscle groups. I like push-pull supersets best.

(CB note: Here’s a tough push-pull superset that you can do in a crowded gym or at home - DB Presses & DB Rows)

3. Every workout ends in an hour or less and is capped off with a very intense HIIT session. I don’t let myself feel guilty if I only have time to do a 12 to 15 minute HIIT. The intensity is so great that I don’t have to worry about whether I’m working hard enough or not.

CB: Do you have a favorite part of the workout?

TT:
It’s basically a flurry of non-stop activity, so I don’t really think about favorite parts. However, I think I enjoy the various forms of rows that I employ. Your program calls for Seated Cable Rows and DB Rows, and I have gotten so much stronger in these that I probably have to say I enjoy these most of all.

Truly, though, getting finished each day is what I like best. I always do a full body assessment of how I feel after each workout.

Seldom do I walk away from a workout thinking I could have worked a little harder on any one muscle group. When it’s done, I’m spent. Maybe, it’s just because I turn 50 years old this year, but I’ve talked to a lot of younger guys who are doing strength and intervals as well, and they say the same thing.

CB: How do these workouts compare to others that you have done in the past?

TT:
The intensity is awesome. From the time I drink my pre-workout shake until I finish HIIT an hour or so later, it’s like I’m heading down the field on a long run, and I’m not going to let anyone keep me from scoring. I don’t stop for anything. If an area is being used, I just go to the next superset and pick the other one later in the workout. I think the benefit is that it is very time-efficient and manageable, and it’s really hard to get bored with it.

CB: What are the health benefits you have achieved in your return to training?

TT:
In short, I have better health, stronger muscle (and more of it), great cardio endurance for my every day life, and I’m looking good.

Altogether, these benefits have helped me enjoy my life a lot more, and that’s the ultimate benefit as far as I’m concerned. My life is much better disciplined now, and even when I cheat on my eating, I don’t worry about it any more. I know the commitment is strong, and I’ll get back. This has caused me to enjoy life to the fullest. Recently, I got into an elite musical performing group, and I find that I have much better stamina than before, and a whole lot more motivation to succeed and to live a better life.

Recently, you were made aware that I had given my body a break for a month or so. That went on a lot longer than I intended, and consequently, I put on about 10 pounds. I must say, however, that I knew all I had to do was start back on my workouts, and it would all come back to me.

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit http://www.TurbulenceTraining.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Craig_Ballantyne

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How to Get Rid Of Love Handles

The love handles expert reveals the secret to getting rid of love handles here…

Ahh the age old question here is really, can we spot reduce?

Can we target a specific area and lose weight in that particular area any time we want?

This is an argument that has been debated for years and years. And will continues to be argued for many years to come.

How To Get Rid Of Love Handles… Let’s look at what we do know.

Muscle and fat are two distinct tissues with different properties and characteristics. “Fat is Burned” and “Muscle is Toned/Gained/Strengthened”.

We use energy to perform any movement we make. As a matter of fact we burn most of our energy just being alive and our daily activities. Think of your body like a car. If you got up in the morning and went out and turned the car on, then just let it sit there all day running. It would probably run out of gas. A car gets it’s energy from gas and we get ours from the foods we consume. If your car runs out of gas you can’t make it to the corner station, same for us. We need energy to exercise. We need energy to properly perform everyday. Every action are body does takes energy.

We also know that the type of energy we burn (fat, muscle, carbs) is determined by the intensity and duration of the activity we are doing and by the storage of energy we have available. Yes, you can burn muscle, I call it “cannibalism”. How? If your body doesn’t get the fuel it needs to perform or recover it will find the energy from somewhere. So, if it needs protein and you don’t have enough from the foods you’ve eaten then it will take the energy it needs from your muscles.

Back to how do we know what energy system we are working? For instance, if we lift weights we are working the anaerobic system, and if we go on a 20 minute jog we are using the aerobic system. It’s the aerobic system that “burns the fat”. That energy also comes from the entire body and not just the area being worked.

BUT this is where it gets interesting and the arguments begin to flare…

Let me first say that the reason there are so many arguments about this is because there isn’t a conclusive concrete explanation for this phenom I am about to explain. And in the world we live in, if a scientist doesn’t “tell you it’s true”, it must be false, because we can’t explain it. Right?

Argument #1: Where fat is stored is genetically predetermined and we “can not” control where we will carry “most” of our weight. This is also something that cannot be altered by performing specific movements.

Argument #2 (the unexplainable): Where fat is stored is genetically predetermined, BUT we “can” change where we carry “most” of it. Basically we can take control of our “body fat” destiny.

Let me ask you this (really think about it), have you ever seen a shot putter or a football line or a heavy weight Olympic wrestler?

On the whole, what do these people have in common, in relationship to their body styles? Most of their weight is stored in their upper body. Why? I believe that it’s because of the amount of muscle they carry in their legs and butt. In the areas of your body where you have a good amount of good strong muscle, you will see less fat there. The fat has a tendency to go else where to be stored.

So, then we do have control over where our fat is stored. Hmmm.

Do you think that it’s such a coincidence that most all of them store their fat this way?

So how does all this help you get rid of those love handles?

Let’s be real first, you can’t go out and do thousands of sit ups and discover one day that you have no more love handles. They’ll still be there if you don’t combine those abdominal and oblique workouts with “fat burning” workouts and proper food consumption.

But if you will do the right type of mid section exercises and workouts consistently, then you will increase your ability to burn the fat in love handle area faster and finally get rid of that stubborn fat storage around the waist and stomach.

Hey, make sure you check with your significant other first, they may want to keep “the love”. Just joking.

One last point, the reason most people can’t get rid of love handles is because they have the least amount of strong dense muscle in the area. I know dense sounds bad, but really dense just means compact, and in that area that’s good. You must be careful though, to much muscle their will not be good either.

Discover How To Get Rid Of Love Handles Once and For All! If you would like to take an all out assault on your love handles, and Get Rid of Stubborn Fat Fast, then check out this article “Remove Love Handles - How to Melt Away Love Handles NOW”! Go ahead, head on over there…

To Your Immediate and Lasting Success,

Kenney Jr.
Director

Technorati Tags: how to get rid of love handles, weight loss, lose weight, get rid of stomach fat, spot reduction

Why We Gain Weight

Turbulance Training…

There are many reasons why a person gains weight. It can be as simple as overeating and not getting enough exercise to counteract the number of calories that are being consumed, to it being a gene that is passed down generation to generation.

To properly understand how a person is going to lose weight, you do have to understand why we gain it. In this section we are going to describe the different reasons why we gain weight.
Consumption of calories

This is when we just eat more calories than our bodies use each day. When we eat food our body converts the material into sugars. It is actually an evolutionary response our bodies have to store excess energy sources when food was scarce. When food wasn’t readily available, humans were able to use their body fat as a means of sustaining their regular daily activities between other meals. It was easier for a person to get by when the food sources were low, if they had a little extra storage.

Even though our early ancestors began the storage of fat in their bodies, they had to work very hard to find or harvest food, so the excess fat was usually burned off. They didn’t have the same problems with obesity that we do today.

Today, for the most part, food is readily available for each of us to consume. And, far too often we indulge ourselves in the edible luxuries that we have today.

So now today, we are forced to find alternative methods of trying to lose weight that has built up as storage for lasting between meals. Understanding how the body retains fat and how it is burned is our only weapon against gaining weight, as our bodies have not yet had the time to catch up to our rapid development in society, and our ability to produce food whenever we want it.

Reasons for weight gain

Low Metabolism - Metabolism can be linked to genetics, but it has more to do with how active we are, and the amount of muscle tissue we have compared with fat.

Our muscles actively burn off the calories that we consume. They require more energy to work effectively. If we are living an inactive lifestyle, our muscles break down and they don’t burn the calories like they should. Therefore, if our muscles are not breaking down the calories we consumed, it gets converted to fat cells.

When we are not active, our metabolism decreases, and as a result less calories are burned for energy and more are stored as fat.

A more active person slows the decline of their muscles mass and may even increase the overall muscle mass, depending on activity, and then the metabolism is higher. This makes it easier for a person to lose weight.

How do you increase your metabolism?

Exercise that helps build muscle, also helps increase metabolism. Any exercise will help.

Eat smaller meals more frequently. If you have a small, healthy snack in between meals you can actually jumpstart your metabolism.

Don’t starve yourself when trying to lose weight. If your body has nothing to metabolize, it will slow down completely. Then when you go to eat, your body will have a very difficult time breaking down food without it turning straight into fat.

One of the best low-impact exercises to do is walking. Try walking for 30 minutes three times a week. It will increase your metabolism considerably.

Make sure you eat breakfast. If you don’t start your day getting your metabolism going, you could have a hard time doing it when you eat a big lunch or big dinner.

How you eat – Your eating habits can play a huge role in determining your weight. Do you eat smaller, lean servings instead of gorging yourself on your mother’s world-famous spaghetti and meatballs? What about how fast you eat? All of these things have an effect on your ability to gain and lose weight.

Here are a few tips on your eating habits that can have a profound effect on your battle to lose weight.

High-fat, high calorie foods are tough on the body, and it takes a long time to break them down. You are at greater risk if you are eating foods like this. Pastas with cheeses and or cream sauces are an example of high fat and high-calorie.

Take your time when you eat – for a number of reasons. First, your stomach takes time to tell your brain you are full. You risk overeating when you eat too fast. Second, if you chew your food completely, the enzymes in your saliva aid in the breaking down of complex compounds in your foods, making it easier for your body to keep up. It’s also worth mentioning that the faster you eat, the greater chance you have of building up gas.

Eat smaller portions more often. We discussed this earlier, and you can boost your metabolism by making it work in smaller session more often. Also it helps when you eat smaller portions, because you don’t risk overeating and forcing your body to keep up with your eating.

Your genetic makeup – Your metabolism may already be determined for you by the genes your parents passed down. But, this is NOT an excuse for not doing what you can to raise your metabolism if you have been passed down a slower one by nature. Just as people with higher metabolism can lower it by reducing activity and having poor eating habits.

Many people who are overweight or obese will say, “it’s hereditary.” This can be the case, but your genes are just a small part of the overall picture. They only determine whether or not there is a likelihood of a person having a predisposition for obesity.

Exercise – Everyone needs to get exercise. There is no replacement for getting the heart pumping and building up those muscles when it comes to losing weight. But, not enough of us make the time to get it. Exercise doesn’t have to be pumping iron at the gym or even taking a 10-mile bike ride. Take your dog for a 30-minute walk around the park. He will love it, and you will feel better, too.

You’ve all heard the benefits of exercise before, but they are worth mentioning again:

You will feel better. Isn’t that a good start? Exercise rejuvenates the mind, body and spirit.

Exercise rebuilds muscles and therefore increases your metabolism. Remember muscles are burners of energy and the more muscles the more calories are burned.

Exercise lowers stress. Studies have shown that even 20 minutes of exercise, three times a week can have a dramatic effect on your stress level.

Exercise burns calories. When you get further into this blog, and learn the process for losing weight over the long haul, you will understand why burning calories is so important. If you burn more calories than you eat, then your body starts burning the fat.

If you don’t exercise on a regular basis, you will gain weight. That is almost as sure as death and taxes. Especially if you continue eating at a rate where you would be packing on the pounds if you did do some exercise.

Always remember that exercise can be any physical activity – walking, cycling, swimming, sex – anything where you are raising your heart rate for an extended period of time. For some people, that could even be working in the garden.
Is society partly to blame?

You could say that the advent of ‘super-sized’ fast-food meals, and even fast food in general could be a problem for many people. Our lifestyles don’t permit the time it takes to put together a good solid meal for ourselves, or to even get enough exercise.

But, is society really to blame? I don’t think so. Everyone has the choice to lead a healthy lifestyle. And when asked, probably every person would say they would prefer to life a healthy lifestyle and live longer, rather than continue on the trend they are on now.

As humans, we have been given the opportunity to make choices. Those choices come in many different shapes and sizes. The choice to lead a healthy lifestyle is one of those many forks in the road.

Lose Fat and Gain Muscle With Just 3 Short In Home Workouts. Get them today…

To Your Immediate and Lasting Success,

Kenney Jr.
Director

Technorati Tags: natural weight loss, why do you gain weight, how to lose weight fast

Why Lose Weight?

Do you look in the mirror and you just don’t like what you see?

An inflatable tube has taken up residence on your waist, and your butt seems to have dropped a couple of inches. You take a look at your face and you start to see the development of a little bit of waddle underneath the chin.

What do you do? Why is this happening? Better yet, what is happening to my body when I gain weight? These are all fantastic questions that are going to be answered this article and on this blog on how to lose weight, and keep it off.

Many people ogle the beautiful bodies on the beach – men and women alike. Nice, tight round bottoms, flat stomachs and well toned bodies. I’ll be honest, there are some who don’t need to do a darn thing and they stay in relatively good shape, but for the vast majority of people need to take notice of what they eat, how much they eat, and how much daily exercise they are getting.

Why does our weight matter so much to us? Probably for two reason – physical appearance and health.

Physical appearance

No one really wants to be fat. Plain and simple. For many people physical appearance is linked directly to their self-esteem. If they believe their body is undesirable to others, they can become depressed, or stressed and it causes serious emotional problems. Worse yet, in some, it can trigger the impulse to eat even more, making the problem worse.

The emotional side of being obese is only just being charted in the medical world. It is already understood that a person’s self worth and self-confidence can be shattered if they gain excess weight. But the emotional toll it can take over an extended period of time might be considerably more damaging.

Here’s a quick test to see if you have experienced some sort of emotional response to weight gain:

• Have you ever looked in the mirror and thought, “I am so ugly”?

• Are you comfortable with the way you look when you look in the mirror?

• Are you concerned with what your partner thinks of your body?

• Are you conscious of other people looking at your when you go out, or are seen in public?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, it is obvious that your weight has some sort of emotional control over you.

I don’t think anyone wants his or her physical appearance to have that kind of control. So, as I see it, a person has two choices: Do something about it, or live with it – and the potential ongoing emotional turmoil.

I would strongly suggest doing something about it, and we can show you how to get started in our free report “Fat Thou Art Loosed”.

Health concerns

You have no doubt heard the numerous health-related problems that come from being overweight. Even being 20 lbs. overweight can start to cause hidden health problems.

Instead of that lower back pain being from yesterday’s squash game, it’s because your body isn’t used to carrying an extra 20 lbs. on the front end. Imagine right now if you were to strap a 20-pound weight to your belly and walk around with it all day long.

An extremely high weight can put considerable stress on your joints, especially if you aren’t set up to handle that sort of weight.

Then we get to the biggies – heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure. Oh, and don’t forget diabetes. These are pretty serious players in the health world. In fact, they are the largest killers of human beings, in the world.

Medical Fact:

In a study of 5881 people over a 14-year period, doctors revealed that someone who is merely ‘overweight’ has a 34% greater chance of heart failure. A person who is considered obese has a 104% increase in risk of heart failure over someone who is in their target weight range.

Do we have your attention?
Overweight and obese

You might think, “what is the difference?” Medically speaking, there is a difference. Most doctors consider someone who is 20 to 30 per cent over their ideal body weight to be obese. You are considered overweight if you are over 25 on the body mass index. That’s anywhere from 5 to 15 per cent over your ideal body weight.

Rather than try to tell you what your ideal body weight is, here is a great website that will tell you what your best weight would be (it also includes a table on BMI (body mass index)).

http://www.halls.md/ideal-weight/body.htm

Either way, you are at a much greater risk of having one of the above diseases by being overweight. If that isn’t a reason why you should start trying to lose weight, I don’t know what is.

So, if you’ve found that you are overweight or obese by doing the above calculations, and you are serious about losing those unwanted pounds, then you have a decision to make.

Is it time to take action and make changes to your lifestyle that are going to make you healthier and happier?

If the answer is yes, then you’ll want to download our Absolutely FREE Report “Fat Thou Art Loosed -7 Secrets To Losing Weight Fast Naturally And Looking Good”.

To Your Immediate and Lasting Success,

Kenney & Kim Edwards

Technorati Tags: why lose weight, overweight, obesity, ideal body weight, natural weight loss

Induction Destruction: The Perils Of Diving Into Strict Diets Headfirst

-by Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
http://burnthefat.com

Every so often you read a sad story in the newspaper about someone who dove headfirst into a river or lake, without checking to see how deep the water was beforehand. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a shallow 18 inches and the consequence of this miscalculated plunge was a broken neck and a wheelchair.

This reminds me of the way most people impatiently dive into strict, extreme, or unbalanced crash diets, without thinking about the long term consequences, invariably crippling any chance they had for keeping the fat off in the long run.

One thing that almost all mainstream popular diets have in common is an “induction phase” (or the equivalent). This is often done under the scientific-sounding auspices of “making the metabolic switch” from “carb burner” to “fat burner.”

Another common way that popular diets begin is with a “liquid fast” or “internal cleansing” phase. This is often suggested as necessary for clearing out all the gunk that has accumulated on your insides which (says them), is the reason you feel like “blah” and can’t lose any weight.

Larrian Gillespie, the About.com guide to low carb diets, made a keen observation in a recent article. Writing about the Induction plan on programs such as the Atkins diet, she noted:

“Frankly, the only thing I object to is the induction plan concept…for ANY diet. It’s a cheap trick approach to weight management, since we as Americans are fixated on quick fixes or we toss a plan and go onto the next marketing promise.”

Not only do I agree – I would take it a step further. I believe that this radical beginning phase actually increases the chances of failure in the long term.

Gillespie continues with advice about what to do if you choose a low carb approach such as Atkins…

“This (induction) approach will trigger a rebound weight gain. Don’t overdo the induction phase. Better yet, go directly to stage 2 of the plan and begin there. There is nothing more irritating to a physician than having a patient come in with health problems as a direct result of following some crazy diet, like eating ONLY cabbage, or only grapefruit.”

“Induction” is simply a politically correct way to say you have to crash diet and starve yourself in the beginning. Look at the forums and message boards: They’re filled with posts from people about to start these programs, dreading the “initial” phase and wondering if they’ll be able to hack it (and with people telling war stories about how they “survived” it …or tried it and failed).

“Induction” has nothing to do with science, health or permanent fat loss. It has everything to do with marketing and instant gratification. Dieters flock to the gurus that promise 12 to 15 pounds of weight loss in the first two weeks, while sneering at the idea of losing a paltry 2 pounds of fat per week. “Give me results now” is the mindset, with no thought given to body composition, health or long-term consequences. What sells more books: “Quickly Lose 8-10 pounds in the first week” or “lose 8-10 pounds of fat per month and never gain it back?” Unfortunately, it is usually the former.

Over the past decade and a half I have almost always used the opposite approach with my clients – and that is, never dive into diets – instead, ease into a new way of life, one habit at a time, if necessary.

My clients are introduced to words such as habits, balance, lifestyle and patience. I sit them down, look them in the eye and ask, “Do you want to lose weight quickly and gain it back or do you want to lose fat slowly and keep it off forever and never have to “diet” again?”

When confronted face to face, the answer is always the latter (but often begrudgingly so). The patience pays off, and those who are wise enough to listen enjoy the fruits of lifelong health, leanness and fitness, never having to endure the repeated yo-yo losses and gains so many people suffer for an entire lifetime.

Consider these concepts: Do NOT crash diet only to relapse to your old, unhealthy ways. Do not even put yourself in “emergency” situations where you feel pressured to lose weight quickly. Build a foundation and master the fundamentals first, then nit pick, sweat the small stuff and try “advanced” techniques later.

Once you’ve mastered the basics, then you can slowly make your plan stricter – if necessary – based on your results. You can reduce or eliminate cheat days, and tighten up your food choices.

Yes, carbs can be s-l-o-w-l-y reduced to find that optimal level for your body type where fat loss really kicks in. Calorie levels can dropped, more cardio added, rest between sets decreased, and training intensity increased.

On and on your regimen can be gradually “tightened up” and compliance increased until the desired results are achieved. Then, it’s a gradual, comfortable transition to maintenance phase, which is never far away from the fat loss phase.

Contrast this sensible, healthy, lifestyle approach, (which most people view not only as slow, but flat out “backwards”), with the crash diet or “induction” approach:

The new dieter STARTS from day one with the strictest, most extreme version of the diet. It’s often very unbalanced with entire food groups removed, or it emphasizes only one food or food type. Sometimes, the restrictions are so tight, you even have to limit the amount of vegetables you eat! Is that CRAZY or WHAT????

The weight comes flying off… SUCCESS! Or so it appears…until all the weight has returned 6-12 months later along with the rest of the 95% of dieters who fail because they insisted on following the herd and hopping on the latest quick fix bandwagon.

No two people are exactly alike and no single nutrition program is right for everyone. For example, some people really do thrive on reduced carbohydrate diets. But one thing that‘s true for 100% of people 100% of the time is that starvation and crash dieting are a one-way ticket to eventual weight regain and metabolic destruction.

What should you do instead? Ease into it. Stick your toes in the water first. Isolate bad habits and replace them with good ones – one or two at a time – for life. Psychologists say it only takes 21 days to form a new good habit, and habits, not diets, are the key to long-term fat loss success. Any nutrition program not built squarely on a strong foundation of nutritional fundamentals and good long-term habits is an accident waiting to happen.

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder and author of the #1 best selling e-book, “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to burn fat without drugs or supplements using the little-known secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and turbo-charge your metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com. To get Tom’s free fitness newsletter, visit: www.tomvenuto.com.

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