Recent Posts

Lose Fat and Gain Muscle – Simultaneously?

Posted by Joel Marion on August 15, 2010 532 Comments

Yesterday was our last full day of our honeymoon here in the beautiful Dominican Republic.

Sad times leaving such gorgeous beaches and views, but hey, life does go on and it’s back to Tampa for us today!

BUT, not without the start of a brand new blog series…about…

Gaining muscle and losing fat at the SAME time!

What inspired the topic?  Well, believe it or not, apart from the many “couldn’t care less about my body” folks lounging here at the resort, there were actually quite a few really good looking peeps sporting some pretty killer bods!

Lean and muscular – which I think most of my male readers would agree to be the “ideal” physique.

I mean, even if you’re female, you’re bound to want something similar – lean and “toned”, if you will.

Everybody wants a lean, sexy body they can be proud of…that’s why we do what we do.

But just how do you go about achieving THAT body?

Muscle first, then body fat? Vice versa?

OR maybe you might try to lose fat and gain muscle at the SAME time.

Unfortunately, 99% of people who try the latter option fail miserably.

Can it be done?

Yes. But ONLY with a very strategic approach.

Weight training + fat loss diet does NOT equal simultaneous fat loss and muscle gain.

Sorry, there’s a heck of a lot more to it than that.

Have you ever tried to lose fat and gain muscle simultaneously?  What were your experiences?

Would you like to know how to REALLY lose fat and gain lean muscle at the same time?

At least 350 comments and I’ll be back before you know it to go over several critical components to simultaneous fat loss and lean body mass gain.  And as long as the comments keep coming, I promise to give you killer content on this subject all week.

Talk to you in the comments section!

Joel

P.S.  In addition to what I’m going to share, perhaps the best “complete system”, combining the most cutting edge methods for stripping body fat and gaining calorie burning lean muscle at the SAME time can be found HERE.

Is this “The Holy Grail” ? <—— Yes.

High Protein Banana Yogurt Waffles (Mmmmmm)

Posted by Joel Marion on August 13, 2010 8 Comments

Ohhhhhh yeah, killer recipe for your Saturday morning:  High Protein Banana Yogurt Waffles!

And if you don’t have a waffle maker, this tasty high protein batter works just as well as pancakes!

Enjoy :)

High Protein Banana Yogurt Waffles

Ingredients

1/2 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 scoop of Prograde Protein (the Vanilla flavored, Stevia sweetened protein powder)
1/2 cup plain low fat yogurt
1/2 cup skim milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon zest
1 medium banana

Directions

Preheat a waffle maker.

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and protein powder together. Add the yogurt, milk and vanilla extract. Shave in the lemon zest. Mix well for about 10 seconds. If the mixture appears too thick, add a little water (1 tsp at a time) to lighten.

In a separate bowl, mash the banana with the backside of a fork and then add it to the other wet ingredients. Mix all for another 10-20 seconds. If batter needs thinner consistency, add a little more water (again, 1 tsp at a time).

Pour the batter into your waffle maker and follow the cooking instructions that accompany your particular model.

If you do not have a waffle maker, this recipe works well as pancakes.

Makes 2 Servings

Super easy.  Super tasty. Super healthy.  And just in time for the weekend :)

Want 197 other delicious, fat-burning recipes for a whopping $4.95?

==> http://ProgradeStore.com/cookbook

As an act of good will our friends at Prograde have put together a kick-butt fat-burning recipe book, and you can get all 197 of them for under 5 bucks.  That’s a whole 2.5 cents per recipe.

It’s a one time payment and there is NO “catch”.  197 healthy and delicious (and EASY) recipes for under $5.  That’s all there is to it.

Do you have to buy it?  No.

Is it less than $5?  Yes.

Will it give you 197 new ideas to spice up your diet?  Yes.

The rest is for you to decide.

==> http://ProgradStore.com/cookbook

Be easy and enjoy the weekend (and the waffles!)

Your friend,

Joel

Simple Nutrition for Fat Loss

Posted by Joel Marion on August 11, 2010 19 Comments

Honeymoon is ON!  I’m officially relaxing on the beach with my beautiful wife (wow, crazy to say that!) in the Dominican Republic and my main main Craig Ballantyne has stepped up to the plate to deliver a killer article breaking down fat loss nutrition in to 3 EASY Steps!

Check it out!

3 EASY steps to Fat Loss Nutrition
By Craig Ballantyne

Nutrition is simple. Research even proves it. Let me show you how, just by taking a look at a few simple studies that destroy classic “nutrition myths” and prove eating whole, natural food is a simple way to lose fat.

The first myth to bust with scientific research is that “fruit makes you fat”.

This is such a joke, but I continue to hear it all of the time. What does the research say?

In a study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (85: 1465-1477, 2007) researchers put subjects into one of two low-fat diet groups. The only difference was that one group ate more fruits and vegetables. At the end of the 1-year study, the subjects who ate more fruits and vegetables lost more weight than the other group.

Moreover, the fruit-and-vegetable eaters reported being less hungry but were also able to eat more food (that is, they were able to eat a lot of low-calorie fruits and vegetables that kept them full all of the time).

Bottom line, fruit doesn’t make you fat. In fact, it helps you lose weight, as does eating more vegetables. That’s why fruits and vegetables are 2 of the 3 components of the Simple Nutrition Fat Loss Diet Foundation.

The other component of the Fat Loss Diet Foundation is raw nuts.

Now most people believe that eating nuts will make you fat, but research shows otherwise. According to a review study published in the Journal of Nutrition (138:1741S-1745S, 2008), nuts are associated with a lower body mass index. In addition, when subjects add nuts to their diet, it did NOT cause weight gain.

The researchers believe that nuts help fill you up (thanks to the fiber) and it’s possible that not all of the calories from nuts are absorbed into your body.

And finally, some research even found that it was easier for people to stick to a diet when nuts were in their meal plan.

Recent research has also shown that subjects lost more fat mass and had a greater reduction in their systolic blood pressure when they substituted almonds for complex carbohydrates in their diet.

(Reference: Wien, M., et al. Almonds vs complex carbohydrates in a weight reduction program. Int. J. Obes. 27: 1365-1372, 2003.)

So despite the common belief that nuts will make you fat, there is no research to back that up.

In fact, nuts will help you stay satisfied and will give you fiber, healthy fats, and even some protein. And that’s why nuts are the third component of the Simple Nutrition Fat Loss Diet Foundation.

Once you’ve laid the foundation by basing your diet and meal plan on raw fruits, vegetables, and nuts, you can then begin to add whole grains, meat, milk, and even supplements, etc.

There is no “one best way” to eat. If you want to be a vegetarian, that’s fine. You can be lean and strong and sexy without eating meat. If you want to have meat every night for dinner, you can also lose belly fat with that type of diet too, however you must make sure that the meat is high quality, and you should understand that there may be negative health consequences to a diet high in processed red meat.

But with the Simple Nutrition approach, you’ll lose fat by eating healthy, high-fiber and low-sugar whole foods such as vegetables (broccoli, peppers, and greens), fruit (oranges, apples, strawberries, & blueberries), nuts (almonds, cashews, and walnuts), and whole grains (oatmeal and multi-grain bread). And you can also enjoy ample portions beef, chicken, & fish.

Plus, you get your cheat meals to look forward to and have them work their magic :)

Fat loss nutrition really is that simple.  Enjoy!

———————————————————-

I love the way Craig breaks fat loss nutrition down in to SIMPLE, easy-to-understand guidelines that anyone can follow and implement.  In fact, Craig’s put together a really cool dirt-cheap resource detailing his complete “simple” approach that includes things like the his very own personal grocery lists and meal plans (the same one’s he uses to maintain single digit body fat year round)!

Definitely worth checking out if you’d like a true “insider’s guide” to simplifying your diet.

>> Simple Nutrition for Fat Loss <——- Click here to simplify your diet (and still get awesome results)

Catch ya soon!

Joel

P.S.  Drop a facebook comment or a “regular” ol’ blog comment below!

The Best Diet Tip EVER

Posted by Joel Marion on August 2, 2010 222 Comments

Today’s post is going to be short, sweet and to the point.

That said, it may be the most valuable piece of dietary advice that I could EVER give you.

You see, last night around 9:30 PM while watching my DVR-ed episoded of Entourage my appetite started acting up and I began to have some pretty intense cravings.

A couple minutes later, I found myself in the kitchen rummaging through the fridge, cupboards, and pantry looking for something to satisfy my hunger (yes, I’m human and I deal with cravings, too).

After scoping out what was available, I ultimately ended up eating some sliced flank steak and big portion of fresh green beans.

Do you know what stopped me from downing a bowl of ice cream or reaching for a bag of potato chips last night?

Simple.  These foods aren’t in my house.

Do you want to end your struggle with late night snacking (with the wrong foods) and increase your dietary adherence ten-fold?  Then here it is, the best diet tip I could ever give you:

Click here to continue reading

Are Artificial Sweeteners Keeping You Fat?

Posted by Joel Marion on July 29, 2010 177 Comments

Yesterday we covered much of research regarding the safety of aspartame and most other non-nutritive sweeteners, but what about their affect on weight loss?
 
Are artificial sweeteners keeping you fat?

Again, let’s take a look at what the RESEARCH has to say:

1. Kanders BS et al. An evaluation of the effect of aspartame on weight loss. Appetite. 1988; 11 Suppl 1:73-84.

In this study, two groups were analyzed: diet only and diet plus aspartame. In the end, the diet plus aspartame group resulted in 33% greater weight loss over a 12 week period.

2. Blackburn GL et al. The effect of aspartame as part of a multidisciplinary weight-control program on short- and long-term control of body weight. Am J Clin Nutr. 1997 Feb;65(2):409-18.

In this study, researchers at Harvard Medical School analyzed aspartame’s impact on weight loss and long-term maintenance of lost weight. Over a 19-week period, study participants regularly consuming aspartame lost more weight than those abstaining from its use. Moreover, the aspartame group was able to better maintain lost weight over a 2 year follow-up period when compared to the non-aspartame group.

Click here to continue reading

Actual RESEARCH (not hearsay) on Aspartame and Safety

Posted by Joel Marion on July 27, 2010 267 Comments

Alright, so I ended up causing quite a stir with my post about artificial sweeteners yesterday, and today I’m back to share some research as promised. When talking artificial sweeteners, there are generally two major concerns:

1. Safety
2. Fat Loss

Let’s discuss the research surrounding both. First up, safety.

1. Butchko HH et al. Aspartame: review of safety. Regul Toxicol Pharmacol. 2002 Apr;35(2 Pt 2):S1-93.

In this 2002 paper, over 20 years since the food additive was approved by the FDA, a comprehensive review of all aspartame research to date concluded that aspartame is indeed safe when consumed by normal humans in acceptable amounts (more on acceptable amounts in a minute).

2. Magnuson BA, Burdock GA, Doull J, et al. (2007). Aspartame: a safety evaluation based on current use levels, regulations, and toxicological and epidemiological studies. Crit. Rev. Toxicol. 37 (8): 629-727.

Click here to continue reading

The TRUTH About Artificial Sweeteners

Posted by Joel Marion on July 26, 2010 658 Comments

Time: 7:12 AM.

Location: a little “fitness” event I attended a few weeks back in Austin, TX.

State: tired.

So what did I do? What 99% of the rest of the world does in that type of situation – I got myself a cup of coffee.

And THEN—believe it or not—I proceeded to pour the contents of two little blue packets to my morning cup of joe.

You should have seen the stares from the fitness crowd.

I immediately checked my zipper, but surprisingly, I was already all-systems-go on that front.

Hmmm.

Why then the stares?

Well, it wasn’t but a couple seconds later when a friend of mine blurted out “you use that stuff??” as if I had committed some moral sin.

My reply?

Click here to continue reading

Win a FREE copy of Ninja Nutrition Tactics!

Posted by Joel Marion on July 16, 2010 505 Comments

I’m going to make this post extremely quick and easy.

To enter to win one of TEN copies of Ninja Nutrition Tactics system that I’m GIVING AWAY today, simply reply in the comments section below this post (reply form is at the bottom of the page) with the following information:

In 250 words or less, I want you to tell me exactly why YOU should be chosen to win a copy over all the others replys.  Essentially, tell me why you deserve to win more than the next person.

I want to make sure that these FREE copies are going in to the hands of individuals who will USE them.  Convince me that you’re an action taker!

I will keep the contest open for a full 24 hours, and then will go through the replies and notify the winners via email sometime on Saturday!

Reply below!

Good luck!

Joel

NOTE:  THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED AND THE WINNERS HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED VIA EMAIL.

Ninja Nutrition Tactic #8 – Macronutrient and Carb Cycling

Posted by Joel Marion on July 15, 2010 31 Comments

There are like a bajillion ways to do this, and I’ll give quite a few examples, but here’s a little background on why it works:

Remember leptin?  Yeah, the dictator hormone that controls everything—even Fidel Castro.

Respect.

Wellllll…just so happens that leptin has yet another thing that controls IT (he’s not really as powerful as he thinks, when you’re a ninja, that is).

We already know that leptin levels are dictated by two things:  body fat levels and calorie intake.  A third thing that has been shown to have a significant effect on leptin levels is carbohydrate intake (even independent of calorie intake), or more specifically, the insulin response resulting from said carbohydrate intake.

For instance, check out this study:

Boden G et al.  J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1996 Sep;81(9):3419-23.

Effect of fasting on serum leptin in normal human subjects.

In this study, researchers at the Temple University School of Medicine monitored leptin levels while a group of participants fasted.

The result, leptin levels droped off to their nadir after about 36 hours as expected.

But then they did something very interesting:  they intravenously maintained insulin levels in these individuals, in the face of fasting, just to see what would happen.  And the results were pretty crazy.

Despite the fact that these people were STILL fasting, leptin levels shot right back up to baseline (as well as other important metabolism related hormones) just because of the normal presence of insulin.

This was a HUGE discovery.  Yes, leptin does control appetite to a large degree and leptin is heavily involved in that feedback circle, but there seems to be one thing that trumps everything else when it comes to leptin regulation:  insulin.

So how do we capitalize on this information?

Using what we’ve learned from this study, we can begin to implement carbohydrate cycling strategies—even within our reduced calorie diets—to keep leptin happy, bust through plateaus, and fat loss a’comin.

Another tool in the toolbox (and after reading this manual, you’re going to have a heck of a lot of tools).

Here are two of my favorite carbohydrate cycling strategies:

Method #1: The Reverse Taper

With this approach, you gradually increase carbohydrate content AND type throughout the week:

Day 1: Low carb
Day 2: Same as day 1
Day 3: More carbs, but Low GI
Day 4: Same as day 3
Day 5: Even more carbs, but mostly High GI
Day 6: Same as day 5
Day 7: Cheat Day

We already know that leptin tends to fall off gradually over the course of a week of dieting—this single approach combats that in 3 ways.

1.  The weekly leptin-boosting cheat day
2.  More carbs are progressively added throughout the week when leptin when normally be dropping off
3.  Higher GI carbs are added (to produce more insulin) deeper into the week

And all this is done while still remaining in a caloric deficit and being a fat burning machine.  This is the main approach that we use in the Cheat Your Way Thin program.

==> You DO own Cheat Your Way Thin, right? :)

Method #2 – For the Lower-carb Dieter

I would not use this method during a low-carb prime (to reset leptin/insulin sensitivity), but for those who do well and enjoy the low carb approach, and choose to transition into that type of approach for the “main” diet, here’s an awesome way to set it up.

Day 1: Low carb (diet level cals)
Day 2: Low carb (diet level cals)
Day 3: Low carb (diet level cals)
Day 4: Low carb (diet level cals)
Day 5: Low carb (diet level cals)
Day 6: Higher carb with carbs at 50% of daily cals (maintenance level cals)
Day 7: Higher carb with carbs at 50% of daily cals (maintenance level cals)

OR

Day 1: Low carb (diet level cals)
Day 2: Low carb (diet level cals)
Day 3: Low carb (diet level cals)
Day 4: Higher carb with carbs at 50% of daily cals (maintenance level cals)
Day 5: Low carb (diet level cals)
Day 6: Low carb (diet level cals)
Day 7: Higher carb with carbs at 50% of daily cals (maintenance level cals)

With this approach, I’d include a full blown Cheat Day once every 2 weeks in place of one of the higher carb days.

NINJA HINT:  As your shogun, I’d recommend the second approach.  But, some people prefer to have back to back high carb days, which is cool, but slightly less stealth (read: effective).

Again, there are so many different ways to cycle carbs and macronutrients as a whole.  The above just happen to be two (well, actually 3) of my most favorite options.  And just so you know, they’re my favorites because they work the best. :)

And this is just one of ELEVEN ninja plateau-busting strategies that I share in the NNT manual.  And then there’s a whole other chapter with even more killer strategies that I don’t even count as part of the 11.

If you enjoyed today’s blog, hit the Facebook “Like” button to share it with your friends. If we get enough “likes”, I’ll be back tomorrow to give away some FREE copies of Ninja Nutrition Tactics.

If you’d like to see me do that, click on the “Like” button below!

What REALLY causes fat loss plateaus

Posted by Joel Marion on July 13, 2010 28 Comments

Understanding Fat Loss Plateaus (From the introduction of Ninja Nutrition Tactics)

So, what REALLY causes fat loss plateaus to happen and why is getting exceptionally lean incredibly difficult?

Well, that’s two questions, so let’s address them one at a time :)

A general fat loss plateau or stall in weight loss can happen for many reasons, but they all basically come down to metabolism and hormones.

If you’ve read some of my previous writing, then you’re probably pretty familiar with leptin, so while I’ll save you the long science, I do believe a brief explanation is in order.

Leptin, AKA the anti-starvation hormone, is basic the “control” hormone when it comes to weight loss, particularly fat loss.  Other important hormones with regards to metabolism and weight loss, such as the appetite regulating hormones neuropeptide-Y and ghrelin, and the metabolic thyroid hormones are all more or less dependent on leptin.

As an analogy, Leptin is the “Sergeant” hormone from which all other hormones take commands.  Either that or leptin is just REALLY cool and the other guys simply base everything they do around what leptin’s doing.

Bunch of lame-ass follower hormones.

I digress.

The point is, if you hope to have any success when it comes to weight loss, then you need to understand and learn to manipulate leptin.

To make things extremely simplistic:

High leptin levels = Heightened fat burning and metabolism

Low leptin levels = Decreased fat burning and metabolism

Unless of course you suffer from leptin resistance, which we’ll talk about momentarily.

So how is leptin mediated?  Two ways:

1.  Leptin is mediated by body fat levels.

Because leptin is secreted by fat cells, it makes sense that there is a direct, linear relationship between the amount of body fat you are carrying and the amount of leptin you have floating around.  That is to say, the more fat you have, the more leptin you have, and vice versa.

This is THE major reason why losing those last few pounds is exceptionally difficult.

Oops, looks like we are answering the second question before we fully answer the first.  I tend to do that.

But yes, low body fat levels unquestionably mean low baseline levels of leptin.  Essentially, with every pound of fat you lose, the lower baseline leptin levels fall, making it even more difficult to lose the next pound.

Fun stuff, I know.

To recap:

Low body fat levels = low leptin

High body fat levels = high leptin

Uh oh.  Now I have to explain why “fat” people, if they indeed have the highest leptin levels because of their large amount of body fat, aren’t the leanest people in the world if leptin is so metabolic.

Good question, my smart fellow, but there is indeed an explanation, and that explanation is called “leptin resistance”.

Similar to insulin resistance, if leptin receptors are constantly being bombarded by high levels of leptin, they start to become less sensitive to the hormone.

This is what happens with insulin in Type II diabetics.  People eat crap food and loads of highly processed carbohydrates for years, flood their bloodstream with insulin every hour of the day, and gradually over time insulin receptors become so desensitized to the hormone to the point that insulin no longer “works”.

The same occurs with leptin.  Overweight people, who have been overweight for years, become resistant to the hormone due to massive amounts of leptin (caused by high body fat levels and high calorie intakes, which we’ll talk about in a minute) slamming receptors for extended periods of time.

I won’t go into too much further detail about leptin resistance and sensitivity here, but for the sake of the conversation, we’ll just say that leptin is “broke” in these individuals.

Can it be fixed?  Yes.  And I actually cover exactly how to do this in the Ninja Nutrition Tactics manual.

2.  Leptin is mediated by calorie intake.

In addition to leptin’s relationship with body fat, leptin is also pretty chummy with the amount of food you’re taking in on a daily basis.  That is, your calorie intake.

High calorie intakes = high leptin levels

Low calorie intakes = low leptin levels

That said, that darned “common sense” does come into play here as well (i.e. you can’t eat 5,000 calories a day and expect your high leptin levels to cancel out the rules of mathematics).

The important thing to recognize is that typical dieting, in which you are restricting calories on a daily/weekly/monthly basis, derails leptin “fo’ sheezy” (as the kids say), and there’s no getting around that.

This means that with chronic dieting, you WILL screw with leptin and you WILL hit a fat loss plateau, period.  It WILL happen-so whatcha gonna do about it?

That’s where Ninja Nutrition Tactics come in, and in the NNT manual, I reveal not one, not two, but ELEVEN of my absolute BEST methods for dealing with and overcoming any fat loss plateau.

Oh yeah, and I also talk quite a bit about the whole “getting really lean” thing, too, so let’s go back to that real quick.

As mentioned, the number one reason losing those last few pounds of fat is such a curse word is low leptin and the fact that your body does not WANT you to be single digit body fat-at all.

It’s all like “Noooooooooo, stay fat and keep me warmmmmm.  I’m colddddd.  And what are we going to do if we end up like Tom Hanks in that one movie-you know, the one with the volley ball.  That could happen.”

And theoretically, your body is correct.  But, being lean is way cooler than Tom Hanks (sorry, it’s true, I took a poll), so if you’re going to ever get exceptionally lean, you’re going to have to learn the ways of the Ninja.

And in addition to hormonal and leptin manipulation, there are quite a few other things that come into play which I openly share in the NNT manual.

Bottom line, it AINT easy to figure out, but the good news is that you don’t have to since I already did it for you.

Are you ready to embrace the Ninja code?  Are you ready for Ninja Nutrition Tactics?

Next week, I’ll be releasing the entire 63 page manual, detailing ALL 11 ninja strategies, for a few short days.  BUT, as I promised yesterday, I’ll be back tomorrow with a sample tactic straight from the manual just to give you a little “taste” of what you can expect.

Stay tuned!  Until then…

*Ninja vanish*

Shogun Marion

P.S.  Oh, in the meantime, if you’re interested in getting a jump start on finally losing those last 10 lbs of stubborn body fat, you can save $60 on John Romaniello’s Final Phase Fat Loss training program by visiting the special “hidden” page located HERE.