Miss A Day? Just Click On The Preceding Days Below…

Day 1: tinyurl.com/fatloss-course-1
Password: kcal

Day 2: tinyurl.com/fatloss-course-2
Password: hydrate

Is Rapid Fat Loss Possible?

Welcome to Day 3 of your 7-Day Personal Fat Loss Certification Course! Congratulations on completing the first two days of “basic training” — an overview of fat loss nutrition basics, with a bit of advanced-level material tossed in for good measure.

Today’s lesson is going to be controversial — rapid fat loss. You may wonder why I devoted an entire day’s lesson to what is essentially one topic.

You’re about to find out…

Defining Rapid Fat Loss

Let’s start out by defining “rapid fat loss” as I define it: Fat loss equal to or greater than 1.5-2 pounds per week, preferably without the sacrifice of lean tissue. That may not seem “rapid” to you. But look at the facts. Clinically speaking, a successful dieter averages at best only about one pound of fat loss per week on the average diet, and this can only be sustained for about 10-16 weeks on average.

That is not fast enough for most people, myself included.

The late Dan Duchaine was a rogue nutritionist and a huge influence on my own approach to fat loss nutrition. Dan always maintained that much more rapid fat loss was not only possible, but desirable; both physically and psychologically. Physically, a more rapid pace for fat loss can increase energy, health and vitality. Psychologically, the effects are far more powerful. Once you see something working at a pace that seems relatively quick, you become more apt to stick to the plan.

Let’s do some math.

Say you carry 100 pounds of unwanted body fat. That’s quite a bit more than average, but it’s a good starting point for our lesson. Burning off one pound per week for sixteen weeks is obviously sixteen pounds of pure fat metabolized. (It should be noted that I am not talking about weight — weight loss can and should be even greater. We will cover that in a moment.)

Doesn’t this seem like a drop in the bucket? Just sixteen measly pounds? Look at this this way: After about four weeks of “resting” — not going backwards, but not pushing fat loss any further to allow the body to adjust to its new fat mass — one could continue on at this pace of one pound per week for another sixteen weeks, then another, then another.

Now, picture how you would feel right this very moment if you would have started this process 365 days ago.

Go ahead: Think back to last year around this time. I bet you can remember where you were at and what you were doing if you try. And I bet that you feel how fast time “flew by” — another year, just like that.

Interesting from that perspective, isn’t it?

You see, when we look forward, we tend to see things day by day. When we look backwards, we see time in a much larger scale. Had you in fact started a diet plan one year ago where you only lost sixteen pounds of fat every twenty weeks (remember, this is not “rapid” fat loss) you would now be about forty pounds leaner.

Would you like to be forty pounds leaner right this very moment? Many of us would. Of course you may not be forty pounds overweight…and that makes this even easier to say, “Yes, of course!” when we consider the question.

When we look backwards in time, we see time and weight loss for what it really is: No where near as prolonged as it feels in the present. The fact is last year flew by, and had you engaged in a dietary plan like The Every Other Day Diet this time last year you would be MORE than forty pounds leaner.

Why is that? Because my plans focus on both rapid and long-term fat loss. Both are essential. The “one pound of fat per week” model is simply too conservative, even though when looking at it in hindsight it remains a perfectly reasonable and satisfactory objective.

I prefer 1.5-2 pounds of fat or more per week (give or take a few weeks of plateaus and excess cheating…hey, we’re only human), dipping only two weeks into a “no fat loss” zone, then bumping that fat loss through the roof to the tune of 2.5 pounds of fat or more per week for a period of 21 days. That is what The Radical Fat Loss Blueprint can do for you when you combine it with a lifestyle fat loss plan like the one found in my book The Every Other Day Diet.

Radical Fat Loss Blueprint will be yours for free in just five days. And it will call for you to implement a long-term fat loss diet after the 21 days are over. You need to start planning for this long-term strategy right now if you want to see yourself this time next year possessing the body you desire.

Pick up The Every Other Day Diet and begin your journey now:

So, we have determined:

1. Losing one pound per week, the “accepted norm” in fat loss, is adequate — much more so when we look at things in hindsight — but can and should be accelerated.

2. This level of acceleration is possible to the tune of at least half a pound of fat per week over the long-term with short “bursts” of extremely rapid fat loss (2.5 pounds per week or more) and even more rapid “weight” loss (up to 21 pounds in 21 days) by using a combination of the plans in Radical Fat Loss Blueprint and The Every Other Day Diet.

Now, let’s get more specific…

The Difference Between Fat Loss and Weight Loss

Not all of the weight you lose is going to be fat. That’s just the way it is. Some of it will be unwanted water weight, which is mostly a good thing, if not somewhat temporary. Some of it will be built-up fecal matter and “gunk” in the intestines, which is a very good thing. In fact, this gunk may very well be making you frequently ill and slowing down fat loss due to a lack of proper nutrient absorption. The first 4 days of Radical Fat Loss Blueprint is a “mini cleanse” that helps remove some or all of this gunk from your system.

Some of your weight loss will almost invariably be muscle mass, which is a tragic thing. However, this can be all but avoided with the use of proper resistance training. We will cover resistance training in detail in Day 5. For now, you need to accept the fact that the worst form of weight loss is muscle mass, which is also the most common form of weight loss on most diet plans. Remember that muscle burns calories at rest; therefore the more of it you have the more calories you can burn while you sleep, while you exercise, and while you carry on about your day.

During periods of rapid weight loss it is not uncommon to lose a bit of muscle, but using the Radical Fat Loss Blueprint plan and the recomended RFLB Supplement Kit, this can be totally avoided. Many people actually gain muscle, even during this time of rapid weight loss, due to the inclusion of specific supplements and the timing used for both resistance and cardiovascular exercise on the plan.

Assuming you perform four cycles per year of the Radical Fat Loss Blueprint, with each cycle lasting only 21 days, followed by The Every Other Day Diet system of eating, your sheer fat loss would jump from forty pounds in a year (as shown above) to well over 80 pounds — more than double the results of traditional dieting.

Now that is rapid fat loss. And, that does not include weight loss. The average dieter will lose up to 30 pounds per year in built-up matter and water weight on a well-designed dietary protocol.

It all begins with…

The Sprint Principle ®

The Sprint Principle ® is my term for modulating between bursts of rapid fat loss and longer periods of moderate to moderately-fast fat loss. The system was designed around the metabolic effects of literal sprinting.

If you look at an Olympic sprinter you will see a superb physical specimen — highly athletic, possessing extremely low levels of body fat and extraordinary lean muscle mass. Now, compare that to an Olympic marathoner. Marathoners are lean, but not as lean as sprinters. The average Olympic sprinter is 2% leaner than the average marathoner! Needless to say, the marathoner does not possess the power nor the muscle mass of the sprinter.

Your dietary strategy should be designed like a sprint: Bursts of speed followed by brisk walks back to the starting blocks.

Our “bursts of speed” come in 21-day intervals via Radical Fat Loss Blueprint, or “RFLB” for short. RFLB cannot be prolonged more than 21 days, just as a sprint cannot be prolonged without turning into a jog or failing from sheer exhaustion. The idea behind RFLB is to force the body into a state of hyper-adaptation and accelerated fat loss by using every natural metabolic trick there is. This is followed by a “brisk walk back” to the blocks — or more specifically, a lifestyle fat loss plan such as The Every Other Day Diet, or “EODD” for short.

The back and forth process prevents boredom, stimulates the metabolism, and lends itself to psychological peace of mind. While you may go through a short period of slower or no fat loss, these periods will be well offset by the more sustained fat loss provided by EODD and rapid fat loss provided by RFLB.

The Sprint Principle works because it utilizes the body’s natural inclination to progress in spurts rather than in one long “marathon”. Most all progression comes in spurts, from financial to physical. Why not tap into this and use it to our advantage — to PLAN the spurts and exert more control over them? This is the path to rapid fat loss — and more importantly, sustainable weight loss.

Rapid Weight Loss Foolishness: The Yo-Yo Syndrome

We must clarify the difference between accepting and adopting a more rapid form of weight loss and going on a quick weight loss fad diet. These two ideas may sound similar, but they are night and day different.

Our plan is controlled, measured, and reasonable; designed from the ground up to be a lifestyle approach as well as a rapid fat loss system. Fad diets are predesigned to END. If you can think of one fad weight loss diet that does NOT have an end to it, be sure to let me know in the comments below!

Ending a diet is similar to ending a savings plan. Do you really think you stand a chance of accumulating wealth if you plan to STOP saving money, or plan to invest only for a few months out of the year?

The only real diet is a a lifestyle diet. This is a system of eating that, while regulated, allows you the mental and physical freedom to enjoy food and enjoy your life. Diets based on deprivation for long periods of time are destined to fail. The body cannot stand deprivation and will fight for its survival.

This brings us back to caloric staggering. This is the skill of “planned deprivation” — a short period of caloric restriction followed by a shorter period of structured re-feeding. This is your ticket to weight loss paradise, and I suggest you take it.

The alternative is a lifetime of “yo-yo dieting”, or going up and down in body weight, never really losing any weight over the long haul at all. In fact, the vast majority gain weight slowly over time when yo-yo dieting, making it fool-hearty at best and downright dangerous at worst.

Most diets fail because there is no end in sight to the deprivation. The result is emotional and physical frustration, followed by long periods of overeating. This is not a weakness on your part as much as it is a natural physical reaction, just as running might be after being caged up for a period of time. The body craves balance. When balance is removed it usually results in a pendulum swing to the other side. In this case, the swing is to high-calorie foods and emotional eating after being drained by low-calorie foods and emotional stress.

Stress is the key player in yo-yo dieting. Diets that cause emotional stress will fail on multiple levels. Stress causes cortisol, the “fat-friendly” hormone, to be secreted in greater amounts. Talk about going in opposite directions! A “stressful diet” is literally an oxymoron. The two cannot coexist, as one nullifies the other.

When I created the low-stress dietary principles in EODD I did so with a purpose. I knew from my own experience with obesity and emotional overeating that stress, particularly emotional stress, was a key factor in my weight gain. Dieting too severely and with too much restriction for too long a period of time not only shut down the metabolic processes that burn fat, such as lowering thyroid output and increasing cortisol levels, it also led to emotional frustration and burn-out. And we all know what that leads to: Overeating.

It was only through learning how to manage my “bad foods” and actually use them to my weight loss advantage (yes, you can do this!) that I was able to adopt what I call a “real-world approach to dieting.” One that did not restrict myself from any food for too long a period of time, yet one that promoted long-term fat loss with periods of rapid fat loss.

EODD is just what the doctor ordered.

The Science Behind Rapid Fat Loss

We will conclude with a bit of science. What makes this approach to fat loss more rapid than traditional dieting? Are there studies to support the fact that humans can metabolize more than one pound of fat per week? And how does this happen?

Let me start by saying this: If I covered all the research that went into EODD and RFLB, this would be a 400-page book and would probably bore you to tears. What I will share with you are just a few of the scientific explanations and verifications for more rapid fat loss occurrence and how this all ties in with the protocols I prescribe.

First, can the human body burn more than 1.5 pounds of body fat per week? Of course — yet there’s a myth out there stating that it cannot… that it is “biologically impossible.” This is utter nonsense. Just a cursory glance through Metabolism, one of the many body composition-focused medical journals, will show this to be patently false.

While I could list dozens of studies, just one is needed to give us validation that it is possible. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center conducted a study involving 14 obese women. They were fed a low-calorie liquid diet for (shocker) 21 days that was high in calcium. The result: three pounds of fat (sheer fat) burned off per week. That’s three times the accepted norm. Weight loss was even greater, averaging thirteen pounds. And they did it all wrong to boot. They restricted calories too much and did not include re-feeds to keep thyroid levels optimized.

But the point is clear: You can burn much more than 1-1.5 pounds of fat per week.

Here’s a valid point, however: You cannot do so for prolonged periods of time, nor should you even try. Still, we bump that “1 pound” to “1.5-2 pounds” on EODD, which along with RFLB gives us a 200% increase in fat loss as compared to traditional dieting.

And you are never deprived of your favorite foods in EODD. Did I mention that? We use these foods during re-feeds (at specific times and in specific amounts) to create physical and psychological changes that foster greater and longer-lasting weight loss results.

But as we have already seen, calories are only one part of the story. Hormones are where the real action is. When it comes to fat loss, growth hormone (gH), thyroid hormone, and testosterone (in men and women) rule the roost. Thyroid hormone is kept within normal range whenever the body only kept in “starvation mode” for very short periods of time. This is metabolic trickery at its finest: Fool the body into burning off its fat by temporarily reducing calories below normal and using specific supplements (covered later) to help metabolize more bodyfat… then re-feeding the body at specific intervals to prevent thyroid (T4) decrease. We get all the benefits from lower calories with none of the drawbacks.

But what about the most potent of fat-burners, gH? For that, let’s revisit The Sprint Principle.

Researchers compared growth hormone levels in humans engaged in various forms of exercise, all involving “bursts” of intensity followed by longer bouts of lower intensity exercise. They were tested resting, after a 6 second cycle sprint, and after 30 second cycle sprint. The 6 second sprint method actually increased gH slightly, which tells you how sensitive the body is to bursts of intensity. However, the 30 second all-out effort sprint increased HGH by 530% over resting baseline and 450% over the lesser intensity sprint. (Courtesy NIH)

Human growth hormone is one of the most potent fat-burners on earth as well as a natural muscle-builder, which explains why sprinters look the way they do. But you can mimic this Sprint Principle in both exercise and nutrition to reap the same rewards. Plus, you will be using another metabolic trick to even further increase natural gH levels: Exercising while fasting. This must be done in a specific way in order to be effective. Several studies show a massive increase in gH when fasting exercise is conducted versus non-fasting exercise.

For details on how to accomplish this, you must wait to receive your free copy of The Radical Fat Loss Blueprint available to you in just five more days and after completing this course. Supplementation is VITAL to pull this off without losing muscle mass, so be prepared to make a small investment in your self (as covered in day one.) It’s one of the most lucrative investments you’ll ever make if you consider your health and your desired body the treasure that it is.

Within the RFLB Supplement Kit (links will be available to you once you receive your Blueprint e-book in 5 days) you will find two of my “secret weapons” for facilitating faster fat loss. One of them is noted in the study below… but for sake of keeping your interest I will not give its name. I’m dedicated to seeing you through this entire 7-day Course!

A group of test subjects received a standard diet with or without three grams per day of (RFLB SUPPLEMENT) for 10 days. Protein turnover and fat oxidation were investigated after administration. Body fat mass (BFM), total body water (TBW), and lean body mass (LBM) were calculated by using bioelectric impedance analysis. (RFLB SUPPLEMENT) led to a significant increase in 13C-fat oxidation (15.8% v 19.3%; P = .021) whereas protein synthesis and breakdown rates (3.7 and 3.4 g/kg/d, respectively) remained unchanged, indicating that the increased dietary fat oxidation was not accompanied by protein catabolism.

In plain English: These people lost more bodyfat over just 10 days without losing ANY muscle mass simply by including one of my seven RFLB supplements in their dietary protocols. Imagine if they had all seven and included all the other things we’ve learned today about rapid fat loss!

Now you can see the reality of the situation: You CAN lose fat much more rapidly than most dietary and medical professionals believe is possible. However, you must combine both short-term and long-term dietary and exercise strategies that you can live with in order to see long-term results. Using a combination of EODD, RFLB, and my principles of stress-free exercise found in 7 Minute Muscle you have the ultimate plan for life-long results.

We will cover more specifics over the next two day’s worth of lessons: The Truth About Supplements and The Six Types Of Exercise For Body-shaping starting tomorrow.

Stay tuned. Things are about to heat up!

: : THIS CONCLUDES DAY THREE   |   TAKE THE QUIZ BELOW TO PROCEED : :

Click Here Now To Take The Quiz For Day 3

Share on Facebook

Miss A Day? Just Click On The Preceding Days Below…

Day 1: tinyurl.com/fatloss-course-1
Password: kcal

The Foundations of Fat-Burning, Part 2

Welcome to Day 2 of your 7-Day Personal Fat Loss Certification Course! Yesterday we covered the first two nutrition basics — macronutrients and calories. We also discussed the importance of combining specific forms of exercise in order to accelerate fat loss.

Today we will cover the other two resources we have for calorie management: Increasing thermogenesis and optimizing our hormones.

We will then cover the remaining three components of fat-burning nutrition:

1. Fiber
2. Water
3. Supplementation

Let’s begin…

Thermogenesis
Thermogenesis is a fancy word for an increase in the core temperature of the body. Since calories are units of heat, an increase in heat utilizes more energy at rest. This is a good thing on any dietary program: Burn more calories at rest!

But how do we achieve it?

On Day 4 (The Truth About Supplements) we will cover increasing thermogenesis via ergogenic (supplement) aid. Until then, we will cover some nutrition and exercise tricks to get the job done.

Delaying your post-cardio meal can increase thermogenesis. This works for resistance training as well, however there is a trade-off in the fact that resistance training demands nutrients immediately afterwards to reap optimal results. Therefore I suggest using this technique only after cardiovascular workouts. Simply wait 30-45 minutes before eating unless you feel light-headed, then eat as soon as possible.

Exercising of any kind in a fasting state increases thermogenesis when you consume ice cold water both before and during exercise. The cold water forces the body to heat up and the result is a mild but efficient state of thermogenesis.

Spices like black pepper and turmeric can increase thermogenesis. Combined with caffeine in the form of coffee or tea, a “spice cocktail” of capsaicin, black pepper and turmeric on your eggs or chicken breast makes for a terrific high-thermo meal.

Hormonal Optimization
The most important factor in fat loss is not calories. It is not exercise. It is your hormones. Think of hormones as oil and your body as a car. You can put as much gas as you want in the car (in our case, gas is great diet-food) and you can service the car weekly (in our case, this is exercise) but without oil the car goes nowhere for very long. “Grinding gears” is the appropriate analogy for exercising and dieting when your hormones are in a depleted or less than optimal state.

Thyroid hormone is absolutely critical for fat loss and metabolism. Testosterone and estrogen must be balanced in order to gain muscle and keep fat off unwanted places. Your adrenal glands, if stressed, will shut a diet down in its tracks.

Are you beginning to see the importance of hormones?

Past the age of 35 our hormones go on a steady decline due mostly to environmental and dietary stress. Our environment is highly “estrogenic” in that there are a variety of compounds used in our daily food, body care, and various other household products that can create an estrogen imbalance. This leads to a decline in testosterone levels, resulting in poor muscle development, weakened bone structure, and easy weight gain.

I recommend that you pick up Dr. Holly Lucille’s excellent audio series NaturaPause if you feel you need hormonal help. Dr. Lucille takes an all-natural approach to hormone therapy that I highly endorse.

Make sure you take the proper steps to ensure your hormone health and check out Dr. Lucille’s audios today –

A few key tests at your doctor’s office can determine if you need some assistance with restoring your hormone balance. These tests include free and total testosterone, TSH, reverse and free T3/T4, cortisol, and estradiol. Your doctor may include more tests based on your specific history and present condition.

Once you have your hormones properly balanced and operating a peak efficiency, you can be sure that your diet and exercise program has the best chance possible to render the results you desire.

Fiber

Fiber is probably the least understood component of fat-burning nutrition this side of supplementation. Fiber comes in two varieties: soluble and insoluble. “Soluble” fiber is fiber that can dissolve in water, where insoluble fiber cannot. Neither forms of fiber can be digested and therefore can increase thermogenesis during its conversion or elimination from the body. Fiber requires about two calories per gram to either break down into fatty acids or process via elimination.

Perhaps you’ve heard the term “negative-calorie food.” While most of these claims are somewhat exaggerated, it is true that foods like celery — a food included in substantial quantity over 21 days in Radical Fat Loss Blueprint, does in fact require more calories to process than the food itself contains. Celery is actually jam-packed with energy, but due to the high cellulose content (a form of sugar that is very difficult for the body to utilize) it requires more energy in the form of heat to metabolize than the food provides in the form of calories. The difference is not much, but you should consider it the ideal diet snack nonetheless.

Celery provides ample amounts of insoluble fiber to help with elimination. It helps to fill you up as well. Insoluble fiber can blunt the appetite as it is requires considerable energy to process. If you recall, “calories” are units of heat, or energy. You can trick the body into a state of elevated thermogenesis by over-feeding it insoluble fiber from celery and other green vegetables without the additional calories that most insoluble fiber foods contain.

For example, whole grains and nuts are also loaded with insoluble fiber but often pose problems on a fat-burning diet. I recommend a small quantity of nuts on my fat-burning plans (even Radical Fat Loss!) but very little whole grains. The controversial but factual bottom line is that whole grains have not been in the human diet but for a blip on the radar screen of time.

Consider paleolithic man: Do you think his diet was high in brown rice and yams? Hardly. In fact most paleo researchers believe early man consumed mostly animal fats, proteins, nuts, seeds, and anything grown above ground during times when warmer weather was present. Whole grains were not consumed in bulk until after mankind moved from a hunter/gatherer mode to an agrarian, or “farming” mode. In my opinion, this is why lower-carbohydrate diets still outperform higher-carbohydrate diets in head-to-head weight loss studies. Our bodies are genetically more adept at processing fats and proteins than carbohydrates.

This does not mean carbs are “bad for you”. This simply means that you should build your fat-burning diet around foods the body is more accustomed to ingesting: Healthy fats, animal or non-animal sources of protein, plants, and so-on.

Think of it this way: There is no such thing as an “essential carbohydrate.” There are essential proteins (amino acids) and essential fatty acids. The body can produce glucose (sugar) without consuming carbohydrate at ALL through the process of gluconeogenesis. This is where the body converts protein into glucose. Obviously this means you want to have sufficient protein intake, otherwise your muscle mass and a myriad of bodily functions will suffer. Nonetheless, gluconeogenesis is ample evidence of how our bodies function. We can create sugar for instant energy, but we cannot create certain amino acids (proteins) or essential fats.

So what does this have to do with fiber? Plenty.

Soluble fiber breaks down into short-chain fatty acids which can be used for energy. If you’ll take a look at soluble fiber sources, you’ll find they are predominantly starchy carbohydrates like oats, beans (both a protein and a starch), oat flour, and root vegetables like potatoes and yams. Some green vegetables are also soluble, such as broccoli, although most also contain insoluble fiber.

Our goal is to force the body to use as much of it’s stored body fat for fuel as possible. One way we do this is to remove short-term fuel sources from much of the menu. These include most carbohydrate-rich foods, sugar, and shorter-chain fatty acids. Medium and long-chain fatty acids are “slow-burning” fuel sources. The inclusion of these foods into the diet forces the body to find other sources of more immediate fuel. Once blood sugar is tapped, the body will turn to stored sugar (glycogen) and stored fat, converting each to immediate fuel sources. Avoiding excessive shorter-chain fatty acids is important during fat loss phases for this reason, just as removing other forms of fast-burning fuel such as rapidly-digested carbohydrates.

Both forms of fiber are healthy and should be included in your long-term dietary plan. In The Every Other Day Diet, both forms of fiber are included every day. But fat loss is accelerated by the ingestion of insoluble fiber more-so than soluble fiber.

Learn more by picking it up today –

Fiber is also crucial for elimination, although less so on a higher-fat diet than a higher-carbohydrate diet. While many health care professionals suggest that one should have a bowel movement “2 to 3 times per day”, those on higher protein/fat, lower carbohydrate diets often report much less frequent bowel movements. If your insoluble fiber content is high enough (15-25 grams per day) then rarely will a low-carb diet pose a health problem, even with more infrequent elimination.

One reason for for this is the fact that fats lubricate the system and help with elimination. Another is the fact that, for many people, the foods consumed on a lower-carb diet are utilized more efficiently, producing less waste byproducts. More frequent bowel movements are important for anyone consuming a higher-carbohydrate diet, but less important for a higher fat diet.

What is important is the distinction between constipation and infrequent bowel movements. Constipation is defined as both infrequent AND painful or stressful elimination, while infrequent bowel movements simply implies that you go less frequently but without stress, pain or difficulty. If constipation is an issue, increasing fiber from both soluble and insoluble sources may help, as well as increasing dietary fat.

Water

Water is probably the most potent fat-burner there is.

People are often surprised when they hear me say that, but it’s true. The cycle of fat-burning begins with hydration. Without proper hydration, the kidneys cannot function at an optimal level. Your kidneys are responsible for the elimination and filtering of toxins and waste in the form of urine. Over 200 quarts of blood per day is filtered through a pair of healthy kidneys.

The kidneys depend upon hydration in the form of ingested water to properly perform their functions. When water intake is too low, kidney performance suffers and the liver is taxed to help the waste removal process. The liver’s job is also classified in part as waste removal, but its primary job is to metabolize fat. If the liver is not allowed to do its job due to dehydration, fat-burning slows down considerably. In some cases it can virtually stop completely, halting any weight loss and damaging both sets of organs in the process.

This entire fat metabolism cycle hinges on one simple thing: Hydration. When you consider the fact that you are holding on to excess water right now, it can become a bit confusing. How can you be dehydrated and hold water weight? The biochemical processes behind this are considerably complex, and this is just one example. Another is how drinking water releases stored water yet hydrates the body at the same time. For our purposes it’s sufficient to know that water is a vital component of fat-burning.

Things become even more complicate when you consider that many fat-burning agents like caffeine are dehydrating agents as well. Coffee dehydrates the body, yet it can also accelerate fat loss, especially when consumed prior to exercise. What’s required is an increase in water intake for any dehydrating agents consumed. For example, simply drinking a glass of pure water along with your coffee can offset the dehydration effects while still allowing caffeine to work its magic in the fat-burning process. The more dehydrating agents you consume, greater amounts of water are required.

Water is also key to the mental processes behind fat-burning. Everything that happens in the body is controlled by the brain and nervous system. Often when the sensation of hunger is felt, a signal given off by the brain, the actual condition is dehydration. The brain only knows that it needs more energy for digestion and waste metabolism. Energy can come from calories, obviously, but it can also come from water indirectly.

Water restores metabolic functions which require energy. Simply drinking water the next time you feel those afternoon or night-time hunger signals can often eliminate the desire to eat as it may just be a signal from the brain that your liver requires energy. Digestion and metabolism is by far the most energy-draining process in the human body. Ensuring the organs work at peak efficiency can lead to less “false hunger” signals and greater fat loss via less needless calories consumed.

Water is also the principle component in the human body, comprising about 60% of its overall mass. Muscle is over 75% water, yet you never hear about “water supplements to build muscle mass.” Why is that? Well, other than bottled water, it’s hard to sell. Like protein, also a key component in muscle, ingesting more water will not directly lead to more muscle mass. However, without adequate water you cannot build lean muscle mass.

This is not an issue of supplying more than is needed, but rather an issue of making sure enough water is supplied. The same is true of protein. More protein will not lead to more muscle per-se, but consuming adequate levels of protein — even more than is needed at times — ensures there is ‘enough’ protein to do the job. So think of water in the same fashion. It is better to err on the “too much” side than the “too little” side when it comes to water and protein.

On the other hand, body fat is only 15% water. Fat is the most inactive tissue in the body until processed for fuel. One of the reasons for this is the lack of water within a fat cell. Your body is basically a bioelectric machine. Water is a conduit for neuroelectrical processes. Less water means less cellular activity. While fat mass is not totally dormant, burning about 2 calories per day per pound, it is nowhere near as active as muscle, burning anywhere from 6 on the low-end to 15 on the high end of calories per day per pound — even more when used during exercise.

In order to ensure proper hydration, it is best to consume at least one quart of pure water for every 50 pounds of body weight. This is over the “eight glasses per day” amount you may have heard, but this is due to the fact that (a) you will be engaging in exercise, which is dehydrating; (b) you will be consuming some caffeine (if okayed by your physician) which is dehydrating; and (c) we want to err on the side of more rather than less.

In rare cases you can drink too much water, although that would be difficult to do without drinking too much at one sitting. That is why you should spread your water intake out throughout the day. Putting freshly-squeezed lemon or lemon juice in with pure water is a well-known natural diuretic and helps to rid the body of unwanted water weight while supplying it with the water it needs at the same time.

Supplementation

For longer than any of us have been alive mankind has searched for the “magic weight loss pill”. In this pursuit, hundreds of people have died (if not thousands) by taking a variety of drugs, herbs and other so-called “fat-burners” such as ephedrine, Fen-phen, and a variety of CNS (central nervous system) stimulants.

While an “obesity drug” may be on the horizon, it will never be the answer to the problem of overeating. So, let’s get this point clear from the start: There is no such thing as a magic pill for weight loss.

However, that does not mean that there are not supplements that help the process along. Some help it along to a remarkable degree, while others are just hype and myth.

We will cover supplements in detail in Day 4: The Truth About Supplements. But for now, you have one simple take-away lesson:

Diet, exercise, and supplementation must work together as one unit in order to achieve more rapid fat loss.

Fat loss does not come in a pill, but there are supplements that accelerate the process. This Course will tell you the truth about them — that they must be used in specific doses, at specific times, and with specific dietary protocols to be effective. The manufacturers will rarely if ever tell you this! It does not bode well for sales. However, when used properly, supplements can be a tremendous help when it comes to weight loss.

The Radical Fat Loss Blueprint System requires specific supplements in order to even work. Most of these supplements are designed to sustain metabolic processes during a very specific diet and exercise protocol which lasts for 21 days. There are also “fat-burning” supplements included, although none with stimulants.

All of this is designed for one thing: The most rapid fat loss possible.

But hold on:

What else is needed for rapid fat loss… and how “rapid” is “rapid”?

What about long-term fat loss?

These questions and more are covered in tomorrow’s lesson.

: : THIS CONCLUDES DAY TWO   |   TAKE THE QUIZ BELOW TO PROCEED : :

Click Here Now To Take The Quiz For Day 2

Share on Facebook