Archive for the ‘Nutrition’ Category

Roy Interviews Sam Bakhtiar from Fitconcepts.com on nutrition

Here’s an interview Roy did with Sam Bakhtiar who is a fitness and weight loss guru in Chino Hills, CA. Sam has a track record that Roy and I aspire to with getting his clients great, life-changing results. We listen to him, and so should you!

Don’t forget to check out his blog at http://www.fitnessgurusam.com/

Chocolate Milk and Your Best Body Ever!

Ok, so you know how Roy and I are always harping on you guys to get in more protein, especially post workout as a protein/carb drink for full protein synthesis and glycogen replenishment?

Well check this out. Because your body has a certain time frame after a workout to get these nutrients into the system for optimal recovery, you need to drink your protein/carb, not eat it!

That’s why you don’t see Roy walking around snacking on a chicken breast after a workout, you see him drinking a protein shake (I think he uses the SNAC brand product, Proglycosyn, which is a great product. You’ll have to ask Roy directly if you want to try it…).

So if you want the next best thing, check out this article that Bill sent me:

http://www.health.am/ab/more/chocolate-milk-is-a-natural-for-post-exercise-recovery/

By the way, if you haven’t heard already, the cat’s out of the bag! We’ve officially announced our 21-Day Rapid Fat Loss program, and we’ve already sold out of our 6pm time slot! (maybe I could fit one or two more in…).

We still have a few 9am and 7pm spots available in Foster City, and 6am in Mountain View, so call me right away at 650-771-5149 if you want in on it. This offer isn’t for people who like to “think about it” or who’d like to put it off for another year. This is for people who want to get lean and toned NOW!

And for $97, what have you got to lose…except for inches off your waist! ; )

OUR NEW ONLINE MAGAZINE IS LAUNCHED!!

Hi there, Forrest here,

I’ve got great news for you today! We’ve just launched our online magazine and it totally rocks! Check it out and forward your favorite articles to your friends or on Facebook!

Don’t forget to check out all the cool exercise videos! =)

Fit For Life Solutions Magazine

Fitness Magazine Articles

Your Trainers For Life,

Forrest and Roy

Eating Frequency For Fat Loss

Here’s a cool post by our go-to registered dietician, Jayson Hunter. Enjoy!

Q: I’ve heard that eating more frequently will increase my metabolism and help me lose weight? Is this true and how does this happen? I thought you had to eat less to lose weight.

A: You’ve probably heard this advice from many different places: personal trainers at your gym, online weight-loss websites, and popular diet books. Even though it has some merit, it may not be entirely correct, especially if your physical activity levels are low or non-existent.

The suggestion to increase your eating frequency, meaning going from eating three square meals a day to six smaller meals and snacks, stems from both research and anecdotal findings. Some of the benefits attributed to eating more often include reducing hunger and caloric intake, boosting your metabolic rate, and controlling hormones that increase your desire for food. For some people this is true, for others, not so much.

In the research world, scientists have shown certain benefits from eating more often compared to less:

• By eating the same amount of calories in several meals spread throughout the day there’s a suppression of free fatty acid release from adipose tissue, which enhances your ability to use glucose (from carbohydrate foods) as fuel
• The amount of insulin secreted from your pancreas to help you use the nutrients you’re eating is reduced, so there is less potential for those nutrients to be stored in fat cells. Instead, the insulin that is released sends those calories to your needy muscle cells where they’re used to provide energy for daily movement
• Your stomach is stretched less with smaller meals, which slows the rate at which food is delivered to your intestine, and in turn, your blood stream. This creates a consistent flow of energy to your body rather than one fast, large dump of nutrients
• Blood total and LDL-cholesterol levels in your body are decreased due to less cholesterol synthesis and increased cholesterol removal

Despite these findings, reviews of all the scientific investigations looking at the effect of increased eating on weight loss have not shown that eating more often reduces body weight. The recent review by Palmer and colleagues in 2009, and the ones by Bellisle and colleagues in 1997 both found this same result; eating more often does not seem to decrease body weight in every person. Explanations for this finding includes the fact that the energy density of our food has increased over the years, even though we’re evolutionarily meant to be “grazers”. Even with lower calories, eating more frequently does not help decrease the numbers on the scale by itself.

For body composition, some observations of people that eat more rather than less show that their body carries less fat. However, research investigations have not shown that just going from eating less to eating more magically lowers body fat. Those people that eat more may simply burn more calories naturally during the day, or expend more calories in movement. Then there are those people that never gain fat no matter how hard they try (not the norm nowadays though).

However, there are clear benefits to eating more often:

• You stave off hunger before it sets in and pushes you to overeat
• You give yourself more energy to exercise harder
• You prevent swings in your blood sugar levels which can make you cranky, unhappy and lethargic

As far as increasing your metabolism, eating more often can potentially increase the amount of calories you burn in a day, by a mechanism known as the “Thermic Effect of Feeding”. However, this effect is relatively small and can be made easily obsolete with poor food choices and excess caloric intake.

It is true though that when you eat more often rather than less, you’re more likely to meet your exercise goals instead of not having the energy to even begin to do anything. Then, when you exercise more, especially a combination of weight training and cardio, you can increase your muscle mass and lower your body fat, which makes your body look tighter and fit better in clothing. And who doesn’t want that?

However, eating more often doesn’t work for everyone: If you’re not exercising, eating more will definitely cause fat gain – those calories have no where else to go! And, when you eat more you still have to make good food choices and balance your intake of protein, carbohydrates and fat; eating more chocolate and soda will not help your metabolism at all. Considering that most “snack” foods are based off sugar and starchy carbohydrates (crackers, granola bars, etc), it’s really easy to over-consume carbs and miss out on important proteins and fats.

Bottom line: Eating more can help meet your body composition and weight goals if you’re selecting your nutrients wisely and using them to help you exercise consistently.

Click here to see 7 powerful nutrients that boost your metabolism

Resources:
Palmer MA, Capra S, & Baines SK. Association between eating frequency, weight, and health. Review
Nutr Rev. 2009 Jul;67(7):379-90

Bellisle F, McDevitt R, Prentice A. Meal frequency and energy balance. Brit J Nutrition. 1997;77(Suppl 1):S57–S70

Jenkins D, Wolever T, Vuksan V, et al. Nibbling versus gorging: metabolic advantages of increased meal frequency. N Engl J Med. 1989;321:929–934

Frequent Eating Associated with Lower Lipid Concentrations. JWatch General. 2002: 3-3
Farshchi HR, Taylor MA, Macdonald IA. Beneficial metabolic effects of regular meal frequency on dietary thermogenesis, insulin sensitivity, and fasting lipid profiles in healthy obese women. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2005;81:16-24

Ruidavets JB, Bongard V, Bataille V, et al. Eating frequency and body fatness in middle-aged men International Journal of Obesity. 2002; 26: 1476-1483

3 Fitness Survival Tips for College Students

If you want to beat the “freshman 15″ and make your way through college in as good or better shape than when you started, here are simple 3 tips to make sure you come out on top.

1) Do your own shopping and plan your foods for the week. Getting in the habit of brown-baggin’ is the best way to make sure you stay away from the fast food and vending machines while saving some duckets for the weekend.

Yes, I know you’re a super-busy student , and it takes some prep time and extra work, but it’s all worth it. Do you think it’s going to get any easier when you’re an on-the-go working professional? The habits you start now last a lifetime.

If you want to be on your A-game, keep your energy levels up and your mind sharp, make sure you eat every 3 and 1/2 hours to stabalize your blood sugar levels.

2) Join a college fitness class, sport or a bootcamp to keep you accountable and motivated to exercise. You know as well as I do that if you don’t have to do it, you probably won’t. However, if you sign up for something, you’re way more likely to follow through because you’ve made a commitment.

Remember – If you don’t make exercise a priority, it just won’t happen. And the thing is, now that you’re in college, no one really cares if you exercise or not. YOU have to be the one that cares about your body now!

“You’re all growns up!” – Swingers (if you haven’t seen it, make sure you Netflix it!)

3) Keep the drinking to the weekends. Yes, I went there. Yes, I’m a hypocrite, looking back on my college days. But really, if you keep the drinking until the weekends, you’re not only going to be sharper during the week to stay on top of your studies, but you’ll have more energy during your day (which is way sexier than being all hung-over in class), and you’ll steer clear of tons of unwanted booze-and-brew calories.

Hope this helps!

And props go out to Greg Solin and SFSU!!

Your Trainers For Life,

Forrest and Roy

Bonus Tip: I know you need energy for those long nights of studying, but please stay away from those sugary, high-calorie energy drinks like Redbull and Rockstar. A healthier energy drink is the one Lance Armstrong endorses, called FRS Healthy Energy. Another option is to take a good multi-vitamin.

Our NEW Solution to Healthy Nutrition and Fat Loss!

Roy and I have been doing a lot of research lately, trying to find a comprehensive nutrition system that we can recommend to you so you can get the best results in 2010.

In the past we had used various nutrition strategies that covered the basics, but we wanted something that could not only get you results, but help you create healthy eating habits for life.

Great news. We’ve found it!

You see, one of the things Roy and I believe is that your nutrition can’t be a cookie-cutter approach. Everyone is different. This program is customized to your unique metabolism and body type. It even has you take a metabolic typing test before you get started, that’s how dialed-in this program is to YOUR body!

It also shows you that it’s not just how many calories you eat but where your calories come from that matters when you are trying to reshape your body and develop your health.

If all we cared about was your weight, we could just tell you to eat celery and non-buttered popcorn all day and you would lose weight. BUT you’d also lose precious, metabolism-boosting muscle tissue, you’d have low energy, get headaches and feel grumpy all day. You wouldn’t even have the energy to exercise properly in that state. Not Good.

In this plan, developed by nutritionist Isabele De Los Rios, you will learn all the best foods to stabalize your blood sugar, maximize your vitamin and mineral intake, boost your energy, and build healthy, lean muscle tissue.

The program comes with a manual, the metabolic typing test, a quick-start guide, a success journal, a shopping guide, and done-for-you meal plans.

The plan also comes with bonuses, including a 14-Day fast results plan, the top 10 nutrition mistakes booklet, and a recipe guide.

I’m even adding in a bonus of my own for you if you order here through our link today, which is an article I’ve written entitled “You will NEVER get a slimmer waistline by doing ab exercises…PERIOD!” This article finally uncovers the truth about getting a flat stomach and what strategy you need to use to get there. (just e-mail me after you place your order and I’ll send it to you.)

One of the best things about this program is that it’s in downloadable PDF form, so you’ll be able to access it and start implementing it right away. You won’t need to sit around waiting for a hard copy, because there is none. Just straightforward information in an easy-to-understand format that you can print it out right there at home immediately after purchase.

I included a link to her nutrition plan and presentation video below.

*NOTE* – The video is very informative and will help you understand a lot about this nutritional approach. However, you need to get past the first 2 minutes or so to get to the good stuff, trust me on this one.

Just click here for your nutrition plan.

Your Trainer For Life,

Forrest

P.S. – You can e-mail me at Forrest@fitforlifesolutions.com if you have any questions. I’m really excited about sharing this program with you, and believe in it’s approach of creating higher energy and burning fat 100%.

Top 10 Worst Foods List

The following is our top 10 list of worst foods. The foods in this list are chosen based on several factors including: “bad” fat content, carcinogens, toxicity to the body, free radical damage, preservatives, probability to raise LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol), liver stress, probability to reduce energy levels, and probability to increase body fat.

We’ll count the list backwards, starting from 10, like the Late Show with David Letterman!

#10) Soda – high fructose corn syrup, caffeine, calories, sugar…lot’s of sugar. Why drink your calories? I recommend a water with a slice of lemon. You don’t NEED the soda to enjoy yourself as much as you think you do.

#9) Fried Foods – Salt, fat and cancer causing carcinogens. Things like eggrolls, fried shrimp, and french fries are all high in fat, raise your cholesterol and put you at risk for heart disease. Is it worth it? I know they taste good, but look for another option on the menu if a healthy body is important to you.

#8) Bacon – Salt, fat, calories, nitrates. Darn! I love bacon! Anything in moderation, right?

#7) Fast Food Burger – Some burgers are over 1000 calories! Other burgers have so many preservatives that you can keep them unrefridgerated for years and they won’t decompose! Not only that, but when I eat a fast-food burger, I feel very low on energy. If you must have a burger, try a home-cooked burger with lean ground beef using the George Foreman Grill. You’ll have less fat, and it won’t make you feel lethargic after you eat it.

#6) Hot dogs and lunch meats – Hot dogs are the mystery meat! Lunch meats and hot dogs are high in sodium, nitrates and nitrites. You have a 67% higher chance of developing pancreatic cancer when you eat these foods! Just check out this link: http://www.organicconsumers.org/foodsafety/processedmeat050305.cfm

#5) Twinkies, Ho-Ho’s, Oreo Cookie’s, ect. – high in trans fat, sugar, calories. You know these are bad for you…ever heard of apple, strawberries, grapes? I heard that in the 50’s people stockpiled Twinkies in bomb shelters because they last forever. Preservatives that effective just can’t be good for you!

#4) Donuts – Mmmmmmm…donuts…High in trans fat, sugar, calories, but the cops like ‘em, so they must have some value…NOT! (That’s my Wayne’s World impression for the day!)

#3) Potato chips – MSG, high fat, salt, preservatives, hydrogenated oil, calories. Need I say more? These are empty calories people! Eat something with some nutritional value!!

#2) Onion rings – high fat, carcinogens, calories, sodium. Oh, man! Speaking of onion rings, have you tried the Bloomin Onion at the Outback Steakhouse? This thing is over 2,000 calories and has 135 grams of fat! That’ll set you back a few weeks on your weight loss goals, don’t ‘ya think?

AND, DRUM ROLL PLEASE…………………………

#1) IN OUR TOP 10 WORST FOODS IS:

French Fries! – High fat, carcinogens, calories, sodium, and research shows increases risk of developing cancer. Plus they taste great! No wonder they’re so dangerous!

I’d love to hear your comments! Please give some feedback below!

-Forrest

Nutrition Fundamentals, Macronutrients, and Sumo Wrestlers

In upcoming blogs I plan to go over some advanced fat loss and nutrition strategies. However, sometimes when I get into more advanced strategies I can lose my audience when they don’t have the nutrition basics down. One important basic piece of nutrition knowledge is to understand what macronutrients are.

Macronutrients can be defined as being the classes of chemical compounds humans consume in the largest quantities and which provide bulk energy.

The 3 major macronutrients are: Proteins, Carbohydrates and Fats.

To get a better understanding of the macronutrients, I’ve put together a four-minute educational video. Even if you already know these fundamentals, it’s good to get a refresher course from time-to-time. I also go over examples for each of the macronutrients so you can start planning your healthy eating right away.

You can also find out from this video the nutritional strategy of most sumo wrestlers, how they gain massive amounts of FAT, and how you might be inadvertently eating with the same strategy!!

Please subscribe to our Youtube channel if you feel this video gave you some good information (just click on the video to enter the Youtube site) – and don’t forget to give us a rating. Thanks!

- Forrest Folen, MCT

PART ONE – HOW THE BODY GAINS WEIGHT

A 2-year study from the New England Journal of Medicine included a low-fat diet, a low-carbohydrate diet and a Mediterranean diet. The findings indicate that it’s not what foods you eat, but it’s the amount of foods eaten, that leads to weight loss.

I’ll even go one step further than them and say it’s the amount of foods NOT eaten that leads to weight loss.

But before we get into that, let’s talk about what leads to weight gain.

As you already know, the foods you eat are energy. The term we use for that energy is Calories.

Most people that are overweight gain weight as a very slow process.

For instance, if you gain 1 pound of fat, over the course of the month, you probably weren’t sitting around gorging on burgers, fries, and chocolate shakes all day during the whole month…well, hopefully not.

What you did do however was take in more calories than you were expending.

The body burns calories in 3 major categories. The first is the amount of calories your body burns while at rest (RMR). Your body burns calories just to work it’s normal metabolic functions and to keep you alive, keep the organs and brain working, and keep other systems, such as the cardiovascular system, in working order.

The second major category is your daily activity level. In other words, for most of your waking hours, what are you doing? Are you sitting at a computer or in front of a television all day – are you sedentary? Do you stand on your feet all day, like a retail clerk at a grocery store? Maybe you work for UPS and unload 50 lb boxes from trucks all day (I actually used to do that years ago at the Oakland hub). Whatever the case, your activity level is a factor for consideration when determining how many calories you need in a day to lose weight.

The last major category is your exercise. A 180 pound individual burns about 250 calories walking at a normal pace, let’s say 2.5 mph, in one hour. That means that to burn 1 pound of fat, you would have to walk for 14 hours! (I personally prefer higher intensity workouts, such as our bootcamp, to cut my workout time down to only 4 hours…but that’s another article.)

So if you gained 1 pound over the course of a month, that means you ate an extra 3,500 calories – ON TOP OF WHAT YOU NORMALLY EAT. Divide 3,500 calories over the 30 days for the month, and you get 116. That 116 calories per day is all you would need to have eaten over the amount that your body needed to gain weight that 1 pound in a month.

Some days you eat a little more, some days a little less, but your average still comes out to be at 116 calories over your daily need per day.

So let’s say you repeated that scenario over the course of 12 months. Well, that means you just gained 12 pounds, right? Let’s repeat that for 10 years. That means that you will have gained 120 pounds in ten years…JUST BY EATING 116 CALORIES OVER YOUR DAILY CALORIC NEED PER DAY!!

Now this is what I hear all the time. “Forrest, you’re gonna have to work me extra hard today…I just gained 2 pounds over the weekend!”

No you didn’t!

It may say that on the scale, but that’s just water weight (possibly from the alcohol and salty foods you ate at the Olive Garden the night before).

There’s NO WAY you gained two pounds of fat over the weekend. Not unless you ate about 12 big macs ON TOP OF the amount of food you normally eat in a day.

The way weight gain occurs in the real world is in small increments, calorie by calorie, day by day, month by month, and year by year.

So now that we have weight gain in perspective, we can talk about weight loss, and understand that the same concepts apply.

Weight loss, to me, means fat loss. In other words, I believe that when losing weight, it’s best to do weights training, not just cardio and diet, to reduce body weight.

That way, you can keep muscle, and keep your metabolism, and even add to your body’s ability to burn more calories.

More on how the body loses weight with Part II later.

Your Trainer For Life,

Forrest Folen, MCT

The Caveman Diet

Ever wonder why, despite all our low-fat and low-sugar foods, America keeps getting fatter and fatter?

Sorry. It’s not poor will power.

Here’s one perspective that I happen to agree with.

Don’t forget to post your feedback below. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one!

-Forrest

5 Tips to a Slimmer Stomach!

1. Don’t waste time with crunches. In real life the deeper core used for stabilization and strength are the ones you want to develop. That means that variations of plank exercises are the best for a strong core. If you really wantto cut down that layer of fat to expose those abs of steel that are lying underneath, view #2 below!
2. Focus on compound movements and work them in a circuit. Compound movements such as Push-Ups, Squats, Rows and Lunges use the most muscles AND burn the most calories!
3. Concentrate on eating foods that are in their natural state. I call it “Eating Clean”. Brown rice, oatmeal, salmon, chicken breast, tuna, fresh fruits and veggies, avocados, almonds, egg whites, extra virgin olive oil, salads. In fact, if you stuck with just these foods for 2 weeks I guarantee you will see incredible fat-burning results as long as you….. view #4!!!!
4. Eat 6 small carb/protein meals per day. You want to eat every 3 and a half hours…. even if you’re not hungry! You’ll be doing yourself a favor by stabilizing your blood sugar levels, keeping your hunger at bay, and burning more calories through thermogenesis. But you still have to…… View #5!!!!
5. Stop making excuses for yourself to eat fat and sugar. Look, I like sweets as much as the next person, but if you keep reaching for that after dinner cookie or ice cream despite your desire to lose weight, you’re being controlled by an addiction. Do what i do, eat every 3 and a half hours to curb hunger, then eat a small piece of dark chocolate, savoring it, to satisfy that sweet tooth!!
    
   BONUS TIP!!!!!!
6. Join our fitness Bootcamp! Research shows that accountability and professional instruction are two key factors for success in any weight loss program. In fact we are having a limited time promotion to kick off our NEW Fit For Life Bootcamp membership!!!

You can catch the details here :

www.FitForLifeSolutions.com/bootcamp

Your trainer for life,

Forrest

P.S.- This promo expires Thursday the 25th at 11:59pm. Don’t Miss Out!!!!!

www.FitForLifeSolutions.com/bootcamp

3 Fitness Journey Tips and the Big Picture

Hey, I’m a fitness guy.  It’s my job to talk to you about weight loss, how to lose bodyfat more effectively, and exercise.

However, I’m also aware of the bigger picture.  Your life.

What’s practical.  What’s do-able.  What “fit’s in” to your unique situation.

It’s not the same for everybody.

Regardless of your unique situation, here are 3 things I’d like you to keep in mind during your fat loss and fitness journey.

1. The goal is important, but so is the journey. Make sure whatever activity you’re doing, to enjoy it! Hopefully you can find a friend or group to work out with that shares the same positive energy about exercise that you have. And what if you’re the one who has negative feelings about exercise. That can be changed too!
2. Attitude!! Your attitude towards fitness and health is the largest determining factor. If you believe you are a healthy person that stays fit, then that’s what you’ll become. But you have to believe it NOW. If you always tell yourself “some day” then that day will never come. (Huh…Someday Never Comes…is that a Creedence or Beatles song or something?)
3. If you’ve made the step and committed to the process of becoming fit and healthy, don’t make the BIGGEST FITNESS MISTAKE EVER! Don’t quit!!! Just because you don’t see results right away, doesn’t mean you should throw in the towel. Commitment to your exercise and to yourself isn’t a one-time thing. You have to re-commit, get back out there, and push forward!

…and when things get too crazy in life, click on this link to help you remember the big picture.

Your Trainer For Life,

Forrest

Breakfast is Boring

This morning I was sitting in front of my computer struggling to come up with a catchy title for this. I was thinking – yet again – about stressing the importance of breakfast to you.

So as I sat there trying to be clever I mumbled out loud, “Breakfast is boring.”
And there you have it. That’s exactly how I came up with this title. But do NOT take this message lightly.

You see, I know you’re heard it a million times before. “You have to eat breakfast.” And I know it’s not a super sexy message. But do you have any idea how many people I meet as a fitness professional that DO NOT eat breakfast? A lot. And do you have any idea how many of those people that don’t eat breakfast are overweight? Pretty much all of them.

Look, I’m not crazy. I know you don’t have much time in the morning. And I know many of you just aren’t all that hungry right after you wake up.

So let’s look at this another way. You get up each morning and go to work every day because you want a roof over your head and food on the table, right? Day after day after day you go to work because you want the RESULT of that effort.
Well, IF you want to burn fat, feel better and have more energy you WILL eat breakfast every morning. Period. End of discussion.

Some things are boring. Some things just have to be done to get the result you want. For those of you that want to burn fat all day long, breakfast is just one of those things.

Your Trainer for Life,

Forrest Folen

PS – Prograde Lean is a DELICIOUS chocolate meal replacement shake that I recommend to all my clients. It’s the perfect solution to breakfast…and a tasty late-night dessert.

4 Cornerstone Nutrition Tips for Fat Loss

Nutrition is the topic people have been asking me about the most lately. The reason for that seems to be because everyone has been really putting in the effort in their training, and they’ve realized they can’t do it without eating the right foods.

You see, gone are the days when you can lose weight by diet or exercise alone. Today you need both.

If you lose through diet alone, you’re bound to lose muscle at the same time you’re losing fat. When that happens, and you return back to your normal eating (which inevitably happens at some point), you will regain the weight… and MORE! That’s the typical yo-yo diet nightmare; not fun.
If you attempt to lose through exercise alone, but don’t eat the right proportions of nutrients at the right times of day, you’ll be cheating yourself out of the great results you could be getting if you were to only eat the right foods.

Here’s 4 nutrition tips that are crucial for you to get results for weight loss training:

1. Eat 5-6 meals per day. You may have heard this a lot, but you still tell yourself you don’t have time for between meal healthy snacks because of your busy schedule. Look… take yourself to GNC or Max Muscle or Target, pick yourself up some ready-to-drink protein shakes (the Myoplex brand is a good one), and you’ll be half way there. Then take some fruit, cheese sticks, nuts, a few cliff bars, and some wasa crackers and you’ve got some serious snack ammo.
2. Plan your meals. Have you heard the cliché, “If you fail to plan you plan to fail”? If you don’t plan you’ll end up going for what’s most convenient, and that can sometimes be a big mistake.
3. Take 3 or so hours every Sunday to do some shopping, cook/prepare some meals, and pack them in tupperware in the fridge and the freezer for the week. This tip is worth its weight in gold. Three of my favorites dishes for this are whole wheat past w/ marinara sauce, tuna w/ low fat mayo (throw in a can of corn and some hot sauce and eat w/ a whole wheat tortilla…yummmm, and baked chicken breast w/ brown rice and a garden salad.
4. Have a protein/carb shake after every exercise session, especially the intense ones, such as our bootcamp routines. This one is a must for anyone who lifts weights. Usually an insulin spike is something you don’t want, because that means fat storage. However…if the insulin spike is within about 30 minutes after an intense exercise session, and you have the liquid protein for quick digestion such as whey protein, that insulin spike works toward muscle gain which will help you burn more fat then the fire-pits of hell on the fourth of July! Yee-Haw!! A 2 to 1 carb to protein ratio is what we recommend. That means if the shake has 30 grams of carbs, usually in the form of dextrose and maltodextrin, it should have 15 grams of protein.

There you have it. These 4 nutrition tips are the cornerstone of a fat loss nutrition strategy. Print it out. Memorize it. Magnetize it to your fridge. Whatever you do, do it!

No More Excuses!

Your Trainer For Life,

Forrest