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It’s not just what you eat that’s important, it’s also when you eat certain things that can make a big difference in how effective your diet or nutrition plan is. So here are a few guidelines to help you have effective nutrient timing.

First of all, make sure that you’re eating consistently through the day. You’ve probably heard this before, but I feel it’s important enough to mention again here. Eating 3 times a day is not the optimal eating plan. It is much better to break up your eating into more frequent and smaller meals during the day. Also, make sure you’re eating enough for your goals.

So when we talk about nutrient timing, we’re mainly talking about when certain types of the main nutrients (protein, carbs, fat) are best absorbed by the body. Here are some general guidelines:

- Protein that digests rather quickly is best eaten during and after exercise as well
- Protein that digests rather slowly is best eaten outside the time that you exercise
- Meals with high carbs are best eaten during and after exercise
- Meals that are higher in fat are best eaten outside of the time you exercise

For more information about nutrient timing, check out some of these articles by John Berardi, owner of Precision Nutrition:

The Science of Nutrient Timing Part 1
The Science of Nutrient Timing Part 2

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The other day Tom Venuto left a really good article on his blog, BurnTheFatBlog.com, talking about the difference between people that only focus on short term fat loss and long term fat loss. (You can read his full post here: Listen To Maintainers, Not To Losers)

In this article Tom is making a comparison between what he calls “losers” and what he calls “maintainers”. Both lost weight (or more specifically fat), but the biggest difference was how long they kept it off. Basically, a maintainer is someone that can keep the weight off for a longer period of time - at least a year but hopefully more. Which would you rather be? Do you just want to lose weight and bounce back in a few months, or keep it off for a longer period of time?

So what was the big difference between the two groups? Well, according to Tom’s research the group of people that actually maintained the weight loss did a few key things differently than the “losers”:

- Developed a more active lifestyle
- Trained with weights
- Tracked things like calories eaten, body fat, meal planning, etc.
- Stopped making excuses for not exercising, eating right, etc.

Most of these shouldn’t surprise you at all. The one that I find the most interesting and important is number 4: they stopped making excuses. This just goes to show how important it is to have the right mindset for your exercise program. I would have to say that keeping the right mindset week in and week out for the long haul is one of the hardest things to do. That’s why its the most crucial! If you don’t have the motivation, nothing else will happen. Motivation and mindset is everything! So if you have to start somewhere, start with that.

Thanks to Tom Venuto for more great information! Make sure you check out the full article for a good read.

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The other day I was reading a post on LoseWeightGuru.com that talked about a concept called the “Pause Diet”. Apparently he had read about it somewhere else, but here’s the basic concept behind this idea as posted on LoseWeightGuru.com:

So this is basically the “pause diet”.

1. Pause before you buy / serve yourself something
2. Pause before your next spoonful or bite
3. Pause halfway through what you are eating

So let’s think about this a little bit. How often do you just act without thinking and it causes you to not reach your goals in the long run? As a personal example, on Friday at work they had some birthday cake in the breakroom. I figured “hey, its Friday. I’ve had a long week and I’m going to eat some cake!” So I had a piece. Granted, I probably shouldn’t have even done that. But about 30 minutes later I said to one of my co-workers “I think I’m going to go and get another piece.” I took a few steps towards the break room but then paused, thought about it a minute, and in the end decided that it wasn’t worth it. Yes, it might taste good, but when I paused and just thought about my goals the the temptation was easier to beat.

So while the “Pause Diet” is not really a full on diet program, it can really help you to avoid making the mistakes in your diet that you know you shouldn’t make. Let’s break it down a little bit more:

Rule 1: Pause before you buy / serve yourself something
This rule goes along with the general rule that you should never shop on an empty stomach. Before you grab that candy bar or just order the big order of cheese fries think about what you’re doing. Make sure you’re making the right decision for yourself and a decision that will help you reach your goals.

Rule 2: Pause before your next spoonful or bite
This rule will help you to not overeat during your meals. I especially run into this problem when eating out or eating at a relative’s house. What if you applied this rule to the holiday season? Don’t most people gain weight over the holidays just because there is so much food in front of you all the time? If you combine rules one and two, you should also be able to get through the holidays with little damage.

Rule 3: Pause halfway through what you are eating
This rule is similar to Rule 2. Not only that, but it could liven up the conversation at the table because you can’t really talk when you’re stuffing your face (at least you shouldn’t if you mother taught you appropriate manners ).

This is a very simple concept, but by applying these principles should really help you reach your goals.

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I was reading an article today from Real Solutions Magazine about the same topic that we covered on Wednesday and felt that it deserved some mention here as well. The article goes over 5 of the deadly mistakes that a lot of people make when trying to lose weight. Several of the points that the author makes are along the same lines of the ones mentioned previously, but he also includes a few that are also very important to consider.

One that we didn’t mention the other day is getting enough sleep. In order for your body to really be functioning properly, you need to make sure that you’re getting adequate rest. Have you noticed that when you’re sleep deprived you really don’t function very well? Your body is trying to tell you something!

Anyway, here’s a link to article. Check it out and good luck in your weight loss efforts!

The 5 Most Common Fat-Loss Mistakes

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Everyone is looking for the new miracle method to lose weight. The thing that they’re overlooking is the basic fundamental things you need to be doing to lose weight. Sometimes I wonder if we’ve forgotten that people used to lose weight before weight loss pills ever existed. So why wouldn’t you be able to lose weight without them?

Some may argue with me on this one and say “well, things have changed these days. Our food is more processed and it’s harder to get the nutrients that one needs to be healthy and maintain a good weight.” There is some truth to this statement, but it also sounds a lot like an excuse to me for why you don’t look and feel better. Is it going to be easy to build a better body? Probably not! But the work is worth it.

So here are some basic tips to consider for optimal and natural weight loss:

1. Eat More Often
We’ve all been hearing this from every fitness book and program for years. Three square meals a day just isn’t the best way to eat. Instead, break your eating up into 5-6 small meals a day, trying to get a good mix of carbs and protein in each meal.

2. Eat Real Food
Don’t eat a lot of processed food. Make sure you’re getting good portions of food that you cook yourself, not just throw in the microwave because its convenient. You’ll get a lot more out of food that you put together because the individual ingredients are usually better for you.

3. Get Some Exercise
Do both cardio and weight training. To effectively lose weight, you need to be doing cardio to help your overall health and you also need to be doing weight training to build more muscle for optimal fat burning.

4. Watch Your Calories
You don’t have to count your calories every single day. But you will need to do it often enough so that you know if you’re in the right range of what you should be eating. Remember, if you burn more calories than you eat, then you’ll be setting yourself up to be losing weight. If you’re eating too much or no exercising enough, then the equation won’t work out.

5. Visualize Your Goal
Don’t overlook this one. Keep yourself motivated by looking at realistic images of what you want to look like. Keep that goal in front of you and keep on working towards that.

I personally feel that tip 5 is the most important. If you can’t keep yourself motivated, it doesn’t matter what you do because you’re less likely to stick with it. So find your motivation and keep motivating yourself. Of course, there are other tips that we could put on this list. If you can at least get started with these basic principles you’ll be putting yourself in a good position to start losing weight.

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Here’s a sad, but also well known truth: Americans watch a lot of TV. Here are some interesting statistics from TVTurnoff.org:

- The average American home has the TV on for 8 hours a day
- The average American watches 4 hours and 35 minutes of television each day
- The average American household is 2.55 people, but the average home also has 2.73 televisions

These statistics tell us that as a people we are spending a ton of time in front of the TV. We aren’t suggesting that you all turn off your TV for good (although that might not be a bad thing), but rather suggesting that you at least make some good use of this time. Either during the show you’re watching or at least during the boring commercials, get down and do some pushups. During a standard commercial break you could probably get in at least 20-40 pushups depending on your level. Then maybe during another break do some crunches or other body weight exercise. The idea here is that if you’re going to sit around a watch TV, at least do something productive and helpful for your fitness/weight loss goals.

Here is a short list of exercises that you can easily do at home that require little or no equipment that you could do while watching TV:

- Pushups
- Wall Squats
- One-Leg Squats
- Quick Jog Around the House
- Chair Dips
- Angled Calf Raises
- Anything with Bands or Free Weights you have at home

Get creative! You could even come up with little mini workouts you can do, or even have a competition between you and other people watching the show. See who can do the most pushups before the show comes back on. That way not only are you getting in some good exercise, but you’re also have a good time with those around you and motivating each other to achieve your best.

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Just last night I watching a season finale of “The Biggest Loser”. I’m pretty sure it was an old episode, but I have to say that after seeing a few episodes of this show I feel that it is probably the most positive and actually helpful “reality” shows on TV. So many of the other ones are just junk, but this one actually can have a positive effect on the people watching the show from home.

One thing I wish they would do on this show is give the viewers more details about what they are actually doing with the participants as far as training and diet rather than focusing on the emotional side of things. Granted, I’m sure they do this for ratings, but I think that if they gave more details it would actually help more people get off their butts and have at least a starting point on what they could do to start losing weight. Now on the flip side of that, I understand that they are probably following a more customized routine or workout for those individual people and so there are many reasons not to share all of the specifics of what each individual person is doing. The least they could do is try to teach the viewers what to do on a basic level so that the show could really affect more people in the country.

Anyway, this is just my commentary on “The Biggest Loser” after watching a few episodes. I still think they’re doing a great job and I wish more of these so-called reality shows were actually in some way beneficial to the viewers beyond just entertainment value. Kudos to the creators and everyone involved with that show!

Dan Patterson
BodyFitnessInfo.com Editor

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Sponsored Post:

When trying to lose weight (or even gain weight for that matter) you may not want to track every single calorie that you eat, but you will want to get an idea from time to time of what you are eating. In order to do this we would recommend using some type of calorie counter like the one you will find for free at MyFitnessPal.com.

With MyFitnessPal.com you have access to a lot of great features to help you on your fitness journey. Here are some of these features:

- Easy to use food diary
- Food database with information on 6,000 different foods (and growing)
- A personal food database
- Discussion forums for support and motivation
- Personalized diet profile
- Flexibility

The best part about MyFitnessPal.com is that it is always 100% free. They don’t charge any fees for any of these services.

One of the best features of MyFitnessPal.com is the community side. Having the support of others in your weight loss or muscle building efforts could be the missing key to your success. That’s why its always recommended that you have a training partner and also that you hang out with people headed in the same direction that you are. While you may not get a training partner (although you might find a local buddy there), you can at least get some great moral support. Check them out sometime!

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Recently Tom Venuto posted a few interviews on his Burn the Fat Blog that are well worth the time to read them. For those of you that don’t know who Tom Venuto is, he is the author of the number one best selling health/weight loss/fitness ebook on the web, Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle. Tom is also the man behind the site BodyBuildingSecrets.com, where he posts some of his favorite workouts and intensity techniques from time to time. Other projects/sites by Tom are TomVenuto.com and AmazingAbdominals.com. Needless to say, you’ll get a lot of good information whenever you read something written by Tom Venuto.

Tom’s interview is conducted by Chris Mohr who also has quite the resume. You can read more about Chris at the bottom of the interview, but just to give you an idea he has been a nutrition consultant to many companies like Clif Bar, Discovery Health Channel, Fit Fuel, and more.

This particular interview comes in two parts and mainly has to do with fat loss. Very good information from a guy who practices what he preaches!

Fat Burning Secrets Revealed - The Interview, Pt 1
Fat Burning Secrets Revealed - The Interview, Pt 2

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These days there are so many programs being advertised that promise to help you lose weight or gain muscle that its almost impossible to choose one. This has created a huge problem of people trying a program for about a week, then jumping to another one for a week, and then jumping to another one … you get the idea. Honestly, you’re unlikely to get results from doing this.

First of all, we have to realize that a lot of the ‘programs’ out there are not very good. So before you start to follow any given program, make sure its a good one. Here are a few things to look for:

Is it too strict?
In order for a program to be effective for you there has to be some degree of flexibility. There is no such this as a “one-size-fits-all” fitness program.

Does it focus on the basics?
A good program will focus on the old tried and proven methods for either losing weight and/or gaining muscle. If it starts with something like “The new revolutionary way to (fill in the blank) in a week or less!” there is a good chance that its mostly hype. Feel free to check it out, just watch out for too much hype and not enough reality.

Does it have a good nutrition program?
If the program claims to be a complete program but doesn’t give you good suggestions on nutrition, then it isn’t a complete program. Refer to point number 2 for this one as well.

Is it appropriate for your body type?
If you’re a high ectomorph, don’t do the same training program that a high mesomorph or endomorph is doing. You have to train appropriately for your body type to really get good results. This is a constant problem with programs found in many of the muscle magazines.

There are other things we could add to this list, but I think that these three basically sum it up. You also have to realize that in order for any program to be effective, it has to have time to be effective. Jumping from program to program won’t get you anywhere. Yes, you do need to change up what you’re doing from time to time, but a good fitness program will have this worked into the program as well.

Take some good time when choosing a program to follow. Decide on what your overall goal is and then research some programs before you just jump into one. This will help you have a better chance of success.

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