Category: Fat loss

In that I am a bit obsessive compulsive about my field of interest, I have a driving desire to read anything and everything related to it.  I also happen to particular enjoy reading older books.  They often contain forgotten gems of wisdom.  More often they show that the brand spanking new idea you thought you came up with is 30 years old.

Trying to Figure Out Swimming

A little while back, in trying to fix my own ignorance about swimming, I read what is often considered a classic in the field of training literature which is the book “The Science of Swimming” by James ‘Doc’ Counsilman.  Written in 1968, the book represented one of the first attempts to apply much in the way of science to the technique of swimming.

Suffice to say that swimming is very strange and, so far as I can tell even in 2010, nobody is exactly sure how swimming “works”.   … Keep Reading

Question: I’ve long seen it claimed that cardio has to be done first thing in the morning on an empty stomach (i.e. fasted cardio) for optimal fat loss, is this true?

Answer: This is probably one of the most commonly asked questions which is why it’s worth addressing. It’s worth keeping in mind that this idea usually comes out of the bodybuilding subculture, usually contest bodybuilders who, assuming their diet is working properly, are getting towards the low-end of body fat levels.  And the short-answer to your question is that the body fat of the person is going to be the main determinant of whether doing cardio fasted in the morning is important or not.

How is Bodyfat “Burned”?

To understand that, I need to cover a bit of background physiology, I’d mention that this is discussed in much more detail in both my Ultimate Diet 2.0 and The Stubborn Fat Solution for anybody who is truly interested in the topic. … Keep Reading

A while back, I did a Q&A about excess dietary protein and whether or not it could lead to fat storage.  The short answer was that, while the biochemical pathway exists, the likelihood of it ever happening are roughly zero.   For some reason, despite my answer being written in what I felt was a clear way, many people seemed confused.  Among other silly inferences, people somehow heard me saying that overeating carbs or protein can’t make someone fat.  And that was not true.  So to clear it up, let me look at the simple issue of how we get fat.

Energy Balance

.At a fundamental level, fat storage occurs when caloric intake exceeds caloric output and there is a surplus energy balance.  Now, I know that a lot of people claim that basic thermodynamics don’t hold for humans. Simply, they are wrong.  Invariably, the studies used to support this position are based on a faulty data set: to whit, they are drawing poor conclusions about what people SAY that they are eating.… Keep Reading

A question that comes up quite often is how much fat someone can lose when they are dieting down to the single digit range.  It’s often claimed that losing more than two pounds per week will cause muscle loss or that the ratio of fat to muscle lost will start to shift in a negative direction.  Even that data is usually based on studies of the obese and it is likely to change as people get leaner.  So what’s the reality.  How fast can fat be lost in lean individuals without muscle loss.

The 2 Pound Per Week Limit

The idea that weekly weight loss should be limited to 2 pounds has been bouncing around for decades although nobody seems to know where it came from.  There’s no real physiological reason for this to be a weekly maximum and much larger rates of both weight and fat loss can be achieved with extreme deficit diets.… Keep Reading

Over the many years I’ve been involved in the fat loss game, I’ve seen some weird stuff happen.  When I was in my 20’s and only thought I knew what I was talking about (as opposed to now when I’m simply usually sure I do), I had observed one of the things I’m going to talk about today but didn’t have any real clue why it happened.  With clients or whatever, the only answer I could give was “Because it does.” or “Magic!”.

Now, I have a bit more clue what’s going on, or at least what I think is going on so I’m going to share one of these with you (I’ll address others in future articles).  Today I want to talk about something that I like to call the LTDFLE,  an acronym that I genuinely hope you will use at every possible chance on forums to confuse people, and which will make sense shortly.… Keep Reading