Q&A - Fat Loss

Recently I was asked the following question by a fellow forum member and thought that the question and my response may be helpful to some of you. If you ever have any questions or want something that I say clarified DO NOT hesitate to just ask! I am here to help you out in any way that I can!!!

Question:
Hi! I didn't know how to find your posts so I thought I would send my question here. I love your blog and the before/after pics. I am well over 200 lbs and basically just getting started on losing - we've been doing weights for about 3 weeks now 3x a week. My question is what all did you do to get your boobs to be smaller? I'm quite large due to childbirth and so far I'm losing in my butt and my legs but not my boobs and very little in my arms (another large area).

Answer:
Thanks for the kind words. I am very happy with where I have come in such a short amount of time. It's really nice to hear that my story inspires other women because that is the reason that I started my blog in the first place!

To answer your question, my breasts slowly but surely reduced in size and there did not seem to be anything specific that really helped to get them to be smaller - it was simply a reduction in body fat percentage by eating clean, lifting weights and interval running.

My arms and breasts were the places that really held on to the fat the longest, whereas my back, butt/hips, and midsection shed fat the fastest. Everyone's body is different and it is almost impossible to "spot reduce" fat on your body. I have read that the place(s) that you gain fat the first are the last to loose the fat and that was definitely the case with my weight loss.

Try to be patient and remember that it takes just as long (or longer) to loose fat as it did to put it on. Try to keep your weight loss slow and steady (1-2 lbs per week) and you will have the most success with keeping it off long term because you will be building good habits to last you a lifetime.

When weight lifting I used the book New Rules of Lifting for Women and really loved it. I know that there are several other women on the forum that have used the same book with great success. You might consider checking it out because it was a great resource not only for weight lifting routines, but also on the science of fat loss. Be aware that not all of their menus are completely clean and you will want to follow clean eating instead of their meal plans, but other than that, the book is very informative.

Good luck on your weight loss journey and let me know if there is anything else that I can do to help you out!

Your sister in iron,
Maria

Days 5 and 6 from Alwyn Cosgrove...

Day 5

The Hierarchy of Fat Loss (cont.)

4. Activities that burn calories and elevate metabolism
The next level of fat loss programming would be a similar activity. We're still looking at activities that eat up calories and increase EPOC.

EPOC (Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption) is defined scientifically as the "recovery of metabolic rate back to pre-exercise levels" and "can require several minutes for light exercise and several hours for hard intervals."

Essentially, we're looking for activities that keep us burning more calories after the exercise session. If you aren't using fat burning programs that maximize EPOC then you are:

             1. Wasting your time

             2. Using fat burning methodologies s from last century

5. Activities that burn calories but don't necessarily maintain muscle or elevate metabolism
This is the "icing on the cake" -- adding in activities that'll burn up additional calories but don't necessarily contribute to increasing metabolism. This is the least effective tool in your arsenal as it doesn't burn much outside of the primary exercise session.

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Day 6

Today is the last day of the Afterburn Training eCourse. We are going to wrap up the course with a closer look at both resistance and interval training.

Metabolic Resistance Training
Basically we're using resistance training as the cornerstone of our fat loss programming. Our goal is to work every muscle group hard, frequently, and with an intensity that creates a massive "metabolic disturbance" or "afterburn" that leaves the metabolism elevated for several hours post-workout.

A 2002 study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology used a circuit training protocol of 12 sets in 31 minutes. EPOC was elevated significantly for 38 hours post-workout.

Thirty-eight hours is a pretty significant timeframe for metabolism to be elevated. If you trained at 9AM until 10AM on Monday morning, you're still burning more calories (without training) at midnight on Tuesday.

Can we compound this with additional training within that 38 hours? No research has been done, but I have enough case studies to believe that you can.

In my experience, full body training in a superset, tri-set, or circuit format (with non-competing exercises) in a rep range that generates lactic acid (and pushes the lactic acid threshold or LAT) seems to create the biggest metabolic demand. It makes sense: training legs, back, and chest will burn more calories and elevate metabolism more than an isolated approach training one of them.

The rep range that seems to work best is the 8-12 hypertrophy range, although going higher will work just as well with a less trained population.

High Intensity Anaerobic Interval Training
The second key "ingredient" in fat loss programming is high intensity interval training (HIIT). It burns more calories than steady state and elevates metabolism significantly more than other forms of cardio. The downside is that it flat-out sucks to do it!

The landmark study in interval training was from Tremblay et al. This study pitted 20 weeks of endurance training against 15 weeks of interval training:

Energy cost of endurance training = 28661 calories.
Energy cost of interval training = 13614 calories (less than half)

The interval training group showed a nine times greater loss in subcutaneous fat than the endurance group (when corrected for energy cost).

Read that again. Calorie for calorie, the interval training group lost nine times more fat overall. Why? Maybe it's EPOC, an upregulation of fat burning enzyme activity. I don't care. I'm a real world guy.

If the interval training group had lost the same fat as the endurance group, we'd get the same results in less time. That means interval training is a better tool in your fat loss arsenal.

If you want a fat loss program that has everything we've talked about over the past 6 days (all the good parts) and you want to lose fat at the fastest possible rate then you want Afterburn Training.

Head over to www.AfterburnTraining.com and pick up your copy today.

Hierarchy of Fat Loss

It is very nice to get a validation of the Clean Eating way of life from someone who is independent of Clean Eating. The key messages of today's eCourse from Alwyn Cosgrove is that proper Nutrition is invaluable and combining that with building lean muscle to increase your RMR will produce fat loss.

Today we starting looking at what you need to do to burn fat. But before we get started I want you to know that this is not fat burning theory. I get people lean everyday. Simply put, I can get 20 pounds of fat off a client faster than my competition.

Today and tomorrow we are going to look at my hierachy of fat loss. If you want to get lean these are the things you need to pay attention to (in order!)

The Hierarchy of Fat Loss

1. Correct Nutrition
There's pretty much nothing that can be done to out-train a crappy diet. You quite simply have to create a caloric deficit while eating enough protein and essential fats. There's no way around this.


2. See #1
Yep. It really is that important. Several trainers have espoused that the only difference between training for muscle gain and training for fat loss is your diet. I think that's a massive oversimplification, but it does reinforce how important and effective correct nutrition is toward your ultimate goal.


3. Activities that burn calories, maintain/promote muscle mass, and elevate metabolism
I think it's fairly obvious that the bulk of calories burned are determined by our resting metabolic rate or RMR. The amount of calories burned outside of our resting metabolism (through exercise, thermic effect of feeding, etc.) is a smaller contributor to overall calories burned per day.


We can also accept that RMR is largely a function of how much muscle you have on your body -- and how hard it works. Therefore, adding activities that promote or maintain muscle mass will make that muscle mass work harder and elevate the metabolic rate. This will become our number one training priority when developing fat loss programs.

Last day of Big FAT Mistakes

I am guessing that this will be the last of the extremely sarcastic (and funny) tips to gain fat. I am really looking forward to what tomorrow's eCourse will entail. For today, please enjoy Alwyn Cosgrove's Big Fat Mistake 5...

Today is the last day of Big FAT Mistakes. Tomorrow we'll get into what you need to do to burn fat.

Big Fat Mistake 5: Perform the exact same workout over and over without ever increasing the intensity.

Doing the same workout each time will confirm that you haven't become any stronger or more fit, but instead have stayed exactly the same or become worse.

Fat Gaining Recommendation: Go to the gym every day and do the exact same thing. Get on the same cardio machine, in front of the same television, and walk the same speed everyday.

Why this works to store fat: This will ensure that you don't gain any lean body mass and that your workout won't limit your fat storing capabilities. You don't ever want to push yourself harder than you're used to.

Another Fun Fat Storing Tip from Mr. Cosgrove...

This is the second in the series of six emails that I am receiving from Alwyn Cosgrove's Afterburn eCourse.

Today we'll look at some nutrition mistakes people make with their fat burning.

Big FAT Mistake 2 - Follow a low fat, low calorie diet...and don't drink any water

You want to lose weight so you should eat a lot less right? I've got some news for you...The less you eat, the lower your metabolism will go, which is optimal for storing body fat.

Fat Gaining Recommendation: Keep your calories very low and deprive your body. Keep your calories around 1000-1200 per day (which is starving) and don't eat more than 15 to 20 grams of fat per day. You want your body to think it's starving so it'll hold on to body fat at all costs.

Also, don't drink any water. Drink juice instead; it'll work wonders for expanding your waistline. Why it works to store body fat: Every time you eat, your metabolism goes up. This isn't good when you're trying to store fat. Eating enough food will fuel fat burning, the opposite of what we want. You want your body to be in fat storing mode, which is best accomplished by depriving it.

Also, count your fat grams and keep your dietary fat levels low. This will teach your body to hold on to fat, another excellent method for putting on that extra adipose tissue (body fat)! And drinking water will only cause you to drop any excess water you're holding, therefore keep the water consumption low to keep you fat and bloated!

Big FAT Mistake 3 - Avoid Weight Training At All Costs

Increasing your lean body mass is the best way to increase your metabolism to burn fat. So stay away from any weight training!

Fat Gaining Recommendation: Don't touch the weights in the gym. Or, if you do, only lift ones that are small enough not to build any muscle (you know the ones - the little pink dumbbells in the ladies-only room).

Why it works to store fat: The goal is to keep your metabolism as low as possible to turn your body into a fat storing machine. Any lean muscle would be bad news when you're trying to gain fat because it would increase your metabolism and cause you to burn more calories!

Also, weight training (especially Afterburn Training) will raise your metabolism for the next 24 to 48 hours, which will never work to get that body fat up!

Big FAT Mistake 1 - Do Aerobics Everyday

I signed up for Alwyn Cosgrove's six day email eCourse that support the Afterburn Training program that he designed... I plan on sharing these with you this week as I receive them. This one made me laugh.

Welcome to the Free 6 Day Afterburn Training eCourse

Over the next 6 days I will be sending you an email everyday. The first 3 days of the course focuses on fat burning mistakes while the last 3 days of the course covers effective fat loss. Let's get started.

Big FAT Mistake 1 - Do Aerobics Everyday

Do you want to stay fat? I mean really fat? Did you know that the more aerobics you do, the more efficient your body will be at storing fat, especially if you're looking to gain some size on your thighs!  

Fat Gaining Recommendation: Go to the gym every single day and find a treadmill or Stairmaster where you can watch TV while you're working out. After all, you're going to be there for a while. Do at least an hour per day, seven days per week at a very steady state (you should be able to carry on a conversation easily the entire workout). 

Why it works to store fat: Your body will actually use fat as fuel during this workout (you should be in the "fat burning zone") which will create the perfect effect we want for the other 23 hours of the day - fat storing mode. Yes, your body will adapt to become efficient at storing fat. This workout will do nothing to increase your metabolism either. 

You'll burn off muscle, decreasing your lean muscle mass, and actually slow down your metabolism. Also, because you're using your lower body to perform this aerobic exercise, your body will adapt and will most likely store your new fat on your thighs. 

So get to the gym and start spending countless hours doing aerobics, burning off muscle, and turning your body into a fat storing machine! This is a perfect way to gain some body fat!

This is completely against most people's understanding of what they should do when trying to loose weight. But if you read the article from Alwyn Cosgrove that I posted yesterday, it soon begins to make sense. I am really excited to get the rest of the emails in this series.