Posted by Nikoletta Ventseslavova

Read this if : you are tired of scams and confusing advises on exercise and dieting and you want simple and working techniques for weight reduction without muscle loss

There are over 100 million overweight people in the USA. 55% of the adult population is at risk of developing one or more of the multiple health problems related to excess body fat. Today everyone is dieting, trying to combat extra pounds. The popular methods for reducing weight often result in muscle mass and organ mass loss, too. I am sure that no one wants to have an unnourished look and to live off canned tuna and rice cakes. A lean body without muscle is just not attractive.

[If you are interested in burning fat, you will need your muscles for that. Muscle craves fat, glycogen and protein to fuel up. And the more muscle mass we have, the better we burn fat. If we diet and reduce calories to below our basal metabolic rate, our body needs to compensate the shortfall by burning fat and muscle mass. Common wisdom dictates that it is impossible to avoid muscle loss while reducing weight. I will surprise you. Read on.]

One of the most famous experts in this field is Tom Venuto. He is member of the American College of Sports Medicine, the National Strength and Conditioning Association and all of the weight loss research societies. Tom possesses many trophies in bodybuilding. His champion spirit and passion inspired him to start writing and give others access to his secret for perfect body. He is the author of the most widely read fat loss diet and nutrition book in Internet history “Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle”. Tom is also a trainer and founder of the Burn The Fat Inner Circle fat loss support website.

So why are we raving about Tom Venuto? Are we selling his book? No, the reason is to show you the who lies behind the facts you are reading here. This is no portly doctor telling you to cut back on sweets, or a 97 pound weakling advocating a vegan diet as a way to fitness. After 14 years of work and research, Tom Venuto has perfected a strategy for permanent fat loss while muscle mass remains intact. In his book he explains that the only way to lose body fat is to create a calorie deficit by either decreasing calorie intake, or by increasing the amount of burnt calories through exercise.

“No miracle cures”

As a person with 9% body fat, who has never relied on drugs and supplements to sustain his perfect shape he affirms that supplements, fat burning pills and stimulants are useless, because they aren’t effective as the advertisements promise. All we need to achieve lean and tight body is real food we can buy in the supermarket. Tom maintains his excellent shape all year around. The athlete gets as ripped as he wants to be by manipulating his food intake in cyclical programs that vary between pre-contest “cutting” diets and off-season “maintenance” diets.

Integrity is the key, diets don’t work

With conventional diets we achieve temporary fat loss while our metabolism and muscle mass decrease, and the body enters starvation mode, a condition where the metabolism slows down and only essential life support functions are carried out. Once this dieter begins eating normally the body, still in starvation mode has a calorie surplus, and the lost weight goes straight back on.

Tom Venuto’s fat burning program is effective because it teaches us how to change our habits and maintain our good shape, with no yo-yo effects. It merges proper nutrition with exercise – the most efficient, healthy and permanent solution for lean body. Instead, fats are burnt via exercise, while muscle mass remains intact. The secret is to eat more nutrient dense foods and exercise in order to burn fat and create calorie deficit, without slowing down the metabolism.

To achieve permanent fat loss with no muscle loss, we need to:

• Form new nutrition habits and forget about fad diets.
• Build and maintain muscle mass with weight training – the more muscles we have, the more calories we burn. Ladies – don’t worry about looking like a beast. Women can carry plenty of muscle without looking like a body builder. A fit body is sexy.
• Decrease calories a little and increase activity a lot – Venuto recommends a 15-20% calorie reduction ( if our maintenance level is 2100 calories, then our calorie deficit should be 420 calories, which means 1680 calories per day). Cutting more than 20% from our maintenance level cause muscle loss and metabolism to slow down.
• Eat more with no starvation diets and let training burn the fat – exercise teaches your body to keep the muscles and not burn it for energy,  by increasing fat-burning enzymes and hormones. When we visit the gym often, our cells’ sensitivity to insulin increases and carbs are burnt for energy and then stored as glycogen, instead of being stored as fat. Remember, exercise is a pre-condition for weight loss, not an option. Dieting with no weight training results in loss of lean body mass, and the onset of starvation mode.
• Eat frequently (every three hours) with scheduled meal times and do not skip them
• Stay away from trans fats and give prominence to healthy fats;
• Include “negative calorie foods” in our menu – or foods that require more energy to be digested than they contain (lean protein foods like fish, lean red meat, eggs have the highest thermic effect)

Proper management of protein, carbohydrate and fat

Once we have figured out our calorie needs, based on activity, goals, body weight and lean body mass, we need to divide them into the right macronutrient (carbs, proteins and fats) ratios. Tom resists the idea of separating carbs and proteins and recommends well balanced and diverse diet which combines lean proteins and complex carbohydrates. A meal combination for fat burning should include proteins, starchy carbohydrates and fibrous carbohydrate eaten together, for example: brown rice (complex carb), green salad (complex fibrous carb) and salmon (lean protein). [ed. watch those starches if you are over 30 - you need less of them. Eat in moderation.]

To maximize fat loss and muscle growth it is necessary to consume protein and carbs with every meal. Muscles’ growth requires that we retain more protein than we excrete, which means that we have to consume protein with every meal. If we consume carbohydrate with no protein, our will break down the muscles when it needs amino acids. Carbs are also essential for the transmission of amino acids into the muscle cells. Eating carbs by themselves provokes cravings and hunger, due to rapid variations in blood sugar levels. Protein slows down the digestion of carbs, resulting in steadier blood sugar levels and moderate output of insulin and enhances the thermic effect, which speeds up our metabolism.

If you are healthy and don’t have a special medical condition, skip any programs calling for high carbohydrate intake, scarce in fat and protein. The right strategy is to follow high carbohydrate/protein/fat, or the 60-30-10 nutrient ratio program Tom firstly used when he began training and competing. He won multiple bodybuilding titles and experimented with different nutrient ratios. The champion managed to stay leaner all year around maintaining 7-9% body fat percentage with no difficulties. His secret – nutrient ratio 50-30-20 – he ate more fat, by dropping the carbs by 5-10% and adding in 5-10% healthy fat (from sources such as flax oil, natural peanut butter, fatty fish and olive oil).

In a nutshell, we need to divide our plate into six parts: 3 of them should be filled up with natural carbohydrates like potatoes, yams, oatmeal, grains, fruit and vegetables, or 330 grams of carbs for a 2400-calorie-per-day diet; 2 of them with lean proteins like egg whites, which makes 180 grams protein, chicken or fish and the last part belongs to fats, or 40 grams fat.

All it takes is perseverance!

Read also:

• Build muscle and lose fat at the same time
• Lose weight with a delicious anti-junk food menu
• The truth behind food labels
• Staying in Shape. How much Exercise is the Minimum?
• Avoid Junk Food – Sweat Free and Unfat
• The Fastest Way to a Six-Pack Stomach
• The lies in the media about fat