5 Surprising Things That Make You Leaner

[ Editor's Note: Fitness author Jon Benson shared this letter with me and gave me permission to share it with you. ]

Want to be leaner?

Good deal… here’s 5 tips that will help you along…

TIP 1
Ditch The Starch

Starches, such as rice, potatoes, some veggies, oats, etc. are often considered “health foods.”

While they can be healthy, they can also pack on stomach bodyfat like crazy if you overdo them.

As you may know, my “Every Other Day Diet” System (EODD) actually encourages you to eat starches and even sweets several days a week to get rid of excess weight:

http://www.jonbensonfitness.com/go//eodd <-- click.

( Some of you may see a survey here on how best to help with your bodyweight goals. )

Well... how does THAT work?

Simple: Timing is everything.

And we take a "weekly" approach to foods rather than a daily approach. This keeps your metabolism guessing. If your body cannot figure out what you're up to, fatburning is that much more powerful. And you can get by with eating starches... at least a specific times on specific days.

But if you're not going to do EODD, then you'll have to wing it. And the best way to wing it is to simply cut starches out entirely for 4-8 weeks. Then slowly add them back a few days per week.

This is no where near as effective (or as fun) as the EODD method, but it will get you pointed in the right direction.

TIP 2
Can The Sodas

This one is really hard for me. I've been hooked on diet-soda on and off for years. When I go to get into top shape (like I am now) I have to get rid of the diet-sodas... yes, DIET-sodas. Need I say "real" sodas too? They are loaded with sugar.

Why diet-sodas? A recent study revealed that people who drank diet-sodas actually increased bodyfat when compared to those who drank sugar-sodas. What the... ??

Yep. Your body cannot be fooled by aspartame and chemicals. Sorry, but that's the truth.

Here's a personal story: When I cut out the diet-sodas my bodyfat drops like a rock in a pond of clear water.

And that's what you need to be drinking: A quart of pure water per 50 lbs of bodyweight a day.

I mix it with lemon and a bit of Stevia (an herbal sweetener) and make lemonade. It's wonderful!

TIP 3
Stay Hungry

Arnold's first movie was "Stay Hungry" (well, after "Pumping Iron" that is). You cannot rest on your butt and stay hungry. You cannot think you've "arrived" and stay hungry.

It takes a special person to be hungry... and an even greater one to stay that way.

I want you to stay hungry in two ways: In how you workout and literally... stay a bit hungry before you go to bed. Not "starving"... just a bit hungry.

For your workouts, I have a great solution. If you pick up EODD you'll get a limited shot at "7 Minute Body"... my combination of "7 Minute Muscle" and "The 7 Minute In-Home Workout" in one book... and for more than half off... but that's a very limited deal. Gotta have EODD... you'll need them both...

http://www.jonbensonfitness.com/go//eodd <-- click.

( Some of you may see a survey here on how best to help with your bodyweight goals. )

You see, progression -- "forced" progression -- is the best way to stay hungry. 7 Minute Body forces you to progress without thinking about it. Progression is built into the System.

As far as staying hungry at night? Check with your doctor and if he/she okays it take 500mg of potassium and 1000mg of magnesium/calcium a few hours prior to bed. This helps with the hunger pangs. Also, keep hard-boiled eggs in the fridge. If you get really hungry, eat one with half the yolk (toss the other half.) It keeps me full for an hour at least.

TIP 4
Cardio Clarity

Hours and hours of cardio a day is not the answer. However, you can do "light" cardio (i.e. brisk walking, or riding the bike at 60% of your max) just to burn off calories. That's okay... and personally I don't find it that boring if I'm watching a TV show. It does not interfere with my main fatloss exercise (weight training... YES!) and it burns off about 400 calories an hour.

What does work is early morning fasting cardio... but you only need 9-15 minutes. I explain the GXP Protocol (Modified) in the 7 Minute Body book, available only if you pick up EODD, and you can get it at more than half off:

http://www.jonbensonfitness.com/go//eodd <-- click.

( Some of you may see a survey here on how best to help with your bodyweight goals. )

TIP 5
Get Raw At Night

Raw veggies with your last meal and as a snack will really help your fatburning along. I started with red peppers because they're sweet. Now I eat virtually every veggie raw at night without thinking about it. Give this a shot. The fatloss is well worth it.

----> Note From Jay: Jon is still giving away “Radical Fatloss Blueprint” along with EODD for a few more days. And he is giving a lucky few the chance to pick up the Supplement-Kit that comes with Radical Fatloss for almost 100 bucks off… the video and details are here:

http://www.jonbensonfitness.com/go//eodd <– click.

Body Building is Growing

The popularity of body building

There are people that take exceptional pleasure in being big. They like to have large muscles and might even enjoy the fact that other people are admiring their physic. On occasions this might become an obsession that can have dangerous consequences for the individual. They need to think of their health first and foremost before even attempting any exercises that might not be in their best interests. Moreover it is imperative that the people that are in this situation ensure that they do not take dangerous medication in an effort to get the right body shape. It is far better to be healthy than to have tones of muscles. Nevertheless here are a few things that they might want to take into consideration as part of their program:

• Specific programs: Generic exercise is good for general fitness but one has to also consider the merits of exercises that are geared towards specific parts of the body. Some of these exercises can be very challenging for the individual but they have the effect of improving their shape and giving them the confidence to face the world without fear. The exercises might include references to schedules that concentrate on certain parts of the body. For example some women have found comfort in exercise to reduce hips. It keeps them in shape and also ensures that they are tackling an area of the body that is giving them confidence problems.

• Flexibility in exercise: Doing a full body building program is almost like building a house. The person has to work very hard to ensure that they are at the top of the game. They need to look for ways of improving the way that the handle the exercise at all levels. They have to react with their body. If a particular pattern of exercise is not working then they need to adjust it accordingly. Those that are lucky enough might find that yoga for weight loss works for them. They will develop the flexibility and stamina that is a prerequisite for a healthy lifestyle. They will also develop the kind of calmness that is essential in order to avoid the disruptions of stress and life challenges.

• Avoid steroids: The message has been sent over and over again. However some people are refusing to listen. The basic fact is that steroids are very bad for you. They harm your health and do nothing to improve your mental wellbeing. They also have some anti social side effects that can end up isolating you within the community. Above all these drugs can kill if they are abused. Sometimes one hears stories of young men in their prime who have fallen to these steroids just because they wanted a bigger body.

• Diet is the key: Exercise has to be complemented by a good diet. There are specific food groups that have been known to help people to bulk up. The issue is to ensure that these are added to the menu and that the person endeavors to follow the regime.

6 Tips on the Best Weight Loss Exercises You Can Use Today

All of the world’s most effective diet regimens are worthless, or will only succeed in short term, if you don’t have the best weight loss exercises to maintain and improve the results you got from them. The most efficient way to losing weight permanently is to go on a weight loss diet, and complement it with some regular physical activity, to make sure that all the fat and cholesterol you have lost will not come back again.

For people who are not accustomed to extensive physical activities, the best weight loss exercises are those that don’t stray far from their previous daily routines. Low impact exercises such as brisk walking and jogging will serve for a while. As soon as their body starts to become limber, they can start to improve by following these tips:

-Visit your local gym. Most communities have free gym facilities or offer some sort of discount. If you’re not strapped for cash, you may even hire a personal trainer, which could greatly help especially if you are not familiar to regular exercises. Note that you shouldn’t jump with both feet in. Start with easy resistance training and progress to higher levels in time.

-Be more active in everything. Forget about your sedentary lifestyle in the past. Continue brisk walking in the morning, or take the stairs instead of the elevator if you’re not running late. Do some swimming or cycling. If you have a pet dog, you can hit two birds in one stone by regularly taking him for a walk twice in a single day.

-Do some stretching every once in a while. This will also help in situations where you can’t visit the gym due to a busy schedule. This helps keep your body limber and prevent those fats from creeping up again. Some stretching exercises such as yoga and tai chi can also help you relax and improve mental health.

-Use home exercise equipment if you have it, or if you can afford them. This has the added benefit of letting you do some other leisure activities while maintaining your body’s health. For example, you can still watch TV or read a book while on a treadmill.

-Drink lots of water. I can’t stress this enough. While exercising, your body fat will get burned and will usually be expelled through your sweat. If you run out of body liquids you can’t perspire, so you need to regularly replenish your body liquids by drinking copious amounts of water. You also need to remember that failing to replenish your body’s water while exercising can be fatal, since it would lead to heat stroke or dehydration.

-Last but not the least; be consistent in your routines and schedules as well as your diet. A weight loss program’s effectiveness will lessen greatly if not done religiously, as your body may adopt itself to the irregular activity and could hinder your progress. Create a specific schedule and program for yourself, and follow it to the letter.

The Ultimate Weight Loss Exercise Program Formula

One of the most important things you can do when starting a weight loss routine is to develop a good weight loss exercise program. The best thing you can do is to find a program that you enjoy and is also beneficial. As most would agree, exercise is anything but enjoyable. It doesn’t have to be that way though. In the following article you’ll discover how to pick the best weight loss program for you.

In your journey for weight loss, designing a weight loss exercise program can help determine what you need to do. The first thing you are going to want to do is to write down your exercise program so you can come back to it in the future in case you need to make any tweaks. Second, you have to be a little flexible with the routine you choose. The last thing you want to do is to stand by your decision. Unfortunately, exercising alone will not bring the results you desire. One other thing that is so important is to start and stay on a diet plan.

Of the most important things anyone can do when attempting to lose weight, diet has to be at the top of the list. A person’s diet is 90 percent of the battle towards weight loss. I hate to sound like a broken record but again, diet is 90 percent of the battle. Would you go canoing without an oar? The same principle applies to an effective weight loss exercise program. The first thing you need to do is develop a fat burning diet. If you are having trouble coming up with a diet plan seek out a physician or nutritionist, they’ll know what to do.

Coming up with an effective weight loss exercise program that works best for you is not hard either. Answer this question, what is it that you enjoy doing? Could it be walking on the beach, playing soccer or basketball, maybe even playing a round of badminton. These are all good forms of exercise that you can develop a program around. You can even let your imagination go crazy here. The point is to pick something that will keep your body in constant motion. The key here is to find out what you enjoy and then make whatever that may be work for you.

When finding a good weight loss exercise program you simply need to find something you enjoy doing that requires constant movement. And please don’t lose sleep over trying to figure this out. All you have to do is pick something, develop a plan to coincide with it and then follow a fat burning diet regimen. The main thing is to never give up. Too many people let themselves get discouraged and you know what that leads to, failure. All you have to do is give the information above a whirl and if you stick with it, you’ll see results that you’ll be proud of, guaranteed.

The Best Weight Loss Exercise

The internet is a gateway to information but a lot of it is different so it is hard to choose who to listen to. Whatever subject you are interested in you will find at least three different ways of doing it from people online. Some may suit you, some may not. I have created this article to help those who are looking for the bet weight loss exercise. You don’t have to read this article, like I said there are other ways online, but in this article I will explain what I think to be the best weight loss exercise.

Weight Training
That’s right I think that weight training is the best way to lose weight. Let me go through it in more detail.

What is weight training
Weight training is using weights to increase muscle mass. These weights can either be weights in a gym, sand bags at home if you don’t have enough time to go to the gym or you can even use your own body weight to build up your body mass.

How does it help lose weight
Weight training not only builds up muscles but it also goes on to burn a lot of calories as you workout. It is also known that by having muscle you also lose weight faster (plus it looks pretty nice).

Cardio workout VS Weight training workout
This is a pretty tricky one to pick but I would still go for weight training. Yes cardio does burn more calories than weight training the problem is when you stop cardio your calorie burner goes down. This is the exact opposite in weight training. Weight training may not burn as many calories during the workout however, when you finish weight training your body starts to repair the muscle fibres you damaged while working out and this needs energy which comes from calorie, therefore I think that if you are looking to burn calories fast and quick go for cardio, but if you are looking to burn them over a period of time and build muscle mass as well go for weight training. You can even mix them up if you really want to.

What to do whilst working out
whilst working out an important factor you don’t want to forget is drinking water as it keeps you hydrated. Water has more uses than that though, it also helps you lose weight (didn’t know that did you?). Water increases the efficiency of the kidney which aids the liver with metabolic reactions (metabolism). By fuelling the kidney you make it easier for the liver to covert stored fat into energy. Don’t just drink water while you exercise. Drink it 8 times a day and keep your metabolism high (it also defines your muscles tone).

That is it. The best weight loss exercise in my opinion is weight training and with the help of drinking water, it is even better. You don’t have to take my word for it, go and try it out and see the results that come from this which are not weight loss but an increase in muscle mass