"THE #1 FAT LOSS TIP OF THE YEAR" BY
TOM VENUTO
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The #1 Fat
Loss Tip Of The Year
If
you stopped me on the street to ask me what my number one fat loss tip
for this year is, there are a hundred different directions I could lead
you. Of course, there is one strategy that stands out among the others,
and in almost all cases, this would be the first thing I suggest. This
is the one absolute requirement for weight loss, and it's
something you have probably heard of before. However,
there is one critical distinction about this familiar advice
that you might not have considered - and this one thing makes all the
difference in the world....
Let me quote Melvin
Williams, PhD, professor emeritus of exercise science at
Old Dominion University and author of the textbook Nutrition for Health, Fitness & Sport (McGraw
Hill):
“Human
energy systems are governed by the same laws of
physics that rule all energy transformations. No substantial evidence
is available to disprove the caloric theory. It is still the physical
basis for bodyweight control.”
There are a variety of diet programs and weight loss "gurus" who claim
that calories don't
count. They insist that if you eat certain foods or avoid certain
foods, that's all you have to do to lose weight. Dozens,
maybe hundreds of such diets exist, with certain "magic
foods" put up on a pedestal or certain "evil
fat-storing foods" banished into the forbidden foods zone.
Other weight loss "experts" invoke the
insulin/carbohydrate
hypothesis which claims that carbs drive insulin
which drives body fat. That's akin to saying "Carbs
are the reason for the obesity crisis today, not excess
calories."
They are
all mistaken.
Of course, there IS more to nutrition than calories. Food quality and
nutrition content matters for good health. In addition, your food
choices can affect your energy intake. We could even point the finger
at an excess of refined starches and grains, sugar and soft drinks
(carbs!) as major contributing factors to the surplus calories that
lead to obesity.
However, that brings us back to excess calories as the pivotal point in
the chain of causation, not carbs. A caloric deficit is a required
condition for weight loss - even if you opt for the low carb approach -
and that's where your focus should go - on the
deficit.
Now,
here’s that critical distinction…
You've heard it said, "exercise more and eat
less" a million times. However, saying "focus on
the deficit" is NOT the same thing. If you do not
understand the difference, you could end up spinning your wheels for
years.
You could exercise more, but if you compensate by eating more, you
cancel your deficit.
You could eat less, but if you compensate by moving less, again you
cancel your deficit.
This type of compensation can happen unconsciously, which leads to
confusion about why you're not losing weight or why
you're gaining. That often leads you to make excuses or blame
the wrong thing…anything
but the calories.
Therefore, "focus on the deficit" more accurately
states the most important key to weight loss than "exercise
more and eat less."
Make sure
you understand this distinction
and then follow this advice.
Last but not least, keep in mind that there are a lot of ways to
establish a deficit and many of those ways are really dumb. Eating
nothing but grapefruits, cabbage, twinkies… but in a
deficit?… Dumb!
A calorie deficit is required for
fat loss, but once your deficit is
established, the composition of your hypo-caloric diet DOES matter.
That’s why any good fat loss program starts with calories but
doesn’t stop there - you also need to look at protein,
essential fats, macronutrients, micronutrients, food quality and how
the diet you choose fits into your lifestyle.
Don’t let the simplicity of this idea fool you. This is the
#1 key to your successful weight loss this year, and every year:
Focus
on the deficit!
Train hard and expect success,
Tom Venuto
Fat Loss Coach
www.BurnTheFat.com
About
the Author:
Want to know more about fitness nutrition?
Click here
for an in-depth information on sports nutrition.
While I do not normally recommend diets themselves, healthy eating is
important to any health, fitness, or weight loss program. Click Here
to learn more about Diet To Go
meals.
P. S. If you want to learn more about why Diets Don't Work,
please click here.
If you want to learn how to burn fat, a great book to read is Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle by Tom
Venuto
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