Tweaking The Diet
Hey Ray,Â
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  I keep forgetting to book an appointment to sit down to try and lose more fat off my tire, so I’ll try and type out my diet thoughts here. It’s going to get long winded but here it goes. I’m sitting at 195lbs down from 242lbs after reading your book, and of course it’s not good enough for me. I have been eating the same portions and food since day 1 when I set up the meal plans for 226lbs. Here’s my game plan, let me know of it makes sense or not please.Â
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- Doing the wild rose cleanse this week starting Thursday.Â
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- At this point changing portions to adjust to 195lb BBE calculations but up the protein from .8/lb to 1g/lb.  Not a lot of change for my diet actually for the cleanse except for fish instead of poultry, plan to keep protein levels high just using fish (likely lots of salmon), everything else is a match… or close to anyway….Â
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- When I am done the cleanse and go back to poultry, cottage cheese etc, I am looking at a few changes. The carbohydratess are a no brainer, just cut back a bit. For proteins I eat a pretty standard set of foods: Meal 1 - cottage cheese  2- chicken / turkey   3- chicken or salmon  4-chicken / turkey  5 & 6- burgers or pork chops, just something other than chicken or turkey. My thoughts are to keep the daily proteins the same except maybe more emphasis on turkey, but change the night meals to white fish or some type - crab, cod, halibut, stuff like that with very low fat contents…. or should I be switching everything to white fish to try and cut fat from the diet?Â
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- Still have a protein shake at 10 am and eat ice cream at night (usually an ice cream bar)Â Ice cream is because I found myself getting dizzy a lot and realized it was lack of sugar, have felt a lot better since starting this…. anything I can do different as I realize its not the best thing for attaining a 6 pack!Â
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Work outs: Going to start running 3 miles, 2 or 3 days a week before work (this assumes I can drag my butt out of bed) to see if I can get things moving some more, otherwise I am fairly active in the evenings…. more so when my shoulder smartens up.Â
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Thoughts? Â
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Thanks againÂ
MackÂ
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From Ray:Â
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First I think you should start looking at body fat percentages now instead of the scale. I saw you the other night and you are getting really lean. I don’t know if you have a certain number you want to see on the scale, but if not, I would be more concerned with body composition than getting that scale to go down any more. After all, do you want to fight at 160 lbs and 10% body fat or 190 lbs and 10% body fat? Just a choice so let me know.Â
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Now on to the diet. The cleanse is going to make you feel awesome after and I think you will see great benefits from it. So that is a go. As for the BEE calculations, I wouldn’t drop as low as 195. I would only go for a 210 for now. Big changes usually cause the body to freak out and rebel. You don’t want that, you have to just tease it a little and not totally tick it off.Â
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With your activity level, I would not decrease the carbohydrates for the increase in protein. This is my opinion but I feel that if the carbohydrates are not available then your body is going to go after the protein next since it is not the macronutrient that is needed for survival, fat is. So it is extra muscle you are after, then add the protein on top but don’t decrease your carbohydrates right now. Not for an athlete.Â
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As for fat, you do not want to cut it out totally. Fat should be at least 15% of your calories. You need this for hormone production buddy. I like the way you cycle your protein sources, keep that up and I would actually go for more fatty meats at night along with fibrous carbohydrates if fat storage is a concern. If that makes no sense to you then we can talk about the science on that later.Â
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As for the ice cream at night, this is weird. You are considering cutting back on carbs for the sake of increased protein but then eating ice cream at night for the sugar you need. See what is happening there? This is another good reason why you need to keep your carb intake at the present levels or even bump them up just a bit. You only need to add a few grams of complex carbs here and there and the light headedness will go away. Try some oatmeal with a banana any time you need a sugar/carb fix. It will break down fast at the start and slow burn on the end from the banana and oatmeal combo.Â
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Now for the extra activity. I know you know the math of fat loss. 3500 calories per pound of fat is the magic number. Now how many calories are you in deficit when you calculate your classes, gym sessions and good eating. If you are in deficit then the extra running should only be because you like it or need to improve your performance in running. Doing excess work to burn calories can throw you into overtraining really fast. Watch yourself. I think you are doing enough activity already with the MMA, my class and the gym. If anything I would go with sprints in the morning if you must go for a run. 10 sprints for 100 yards with 30 seconds rest in between.Â
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Hope that helps buddy!
-Ray L BurtonÂ
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Dieting Is Hard
OK, I am a bit overwhelmed after reading the book fat to fit.
Meal planning I can see being my weakness. I am not much for counting calories. I used to do Body-For-Life …. eating a ton of brown rice and chicken / veggies, using the palm/fist measurement.   - that diet of bland food DID work combined with exercise, but it was a diet, not a lifestyle change - and I fell hard after that one and gained all my weight back.Â
I want to be able to enjoy my food and not be so restriced, but making healthy choices to BURN FAT.  Â
The food part of any diet is the reason I always sabotage myself - fail to plan, plan to fail
ANY ideas for food to make it easier for me would be greatly appreciated.
I am a bit lost, but I will make this happen for myself.Â
Would this be an acceptable day?  Â
Breakfast:Â 1-WW english muffin with peanut butter
Snack: yogurt / appleÂ
Lunch - Turkey Sandwich - on ww bread — side of carrot / celery sticks
Snack - 1/2 cup brown rice - 1/2 chicken breast
Dinner - 4 oz Flank Steak - broccoli - baked potatoe
Nothing after dinner - maybe a small bowl of Fibre cereal?
Thanks for your help Ray.
Brent
Yes, that is an acceptable day. I think your right with your lifestyle approach. The amount of focus and change you put on your diet will directly effect the amount of change and how quickly it happens.
If you are fine with slow and steady progress towards your goal then the meal you showed me along with intense exercise will get you there. If you want to get there a little faster then you should follow the outline in the book.
I do a combo of both year round. I will go strict for a month or two when a sunny vacation is coming up and then go to a more rounded eating plan for the rest of the year.
Hope that helps you out Brent!
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Tips for Weight Loss Success
5 Secrets For Successful Weight Loss
This probably isn’t the first time you have started reading a weight loss article with the hopes of finding a new training idea or totally secret fat busting strategy. I can sympathize. I’ve seen clients spend months on routines and techniques that were just the flavor of the month that got some press. Its alright though, your about to learn some real solid advice that’s free of charge and will serve you well on your quest to getting in shape.
The first secret of getting in shape and losing some weight is to make sure you know what you are doing! Make sure you have the proper information that you need to help speed you toward your specific goal. Make sure you know how to eat properly and train correctly to get that result you desire. Power lifters eat and train differently than fitness models and you should know the differences. The best way to acquire this knowledge is through articles like this as well as mimicking. Find an expert in the area you wish to excel in and then follow their advice. While this can back fire sometimes, it is still the surest bet to success.
The second step to success on your weight loss journey is to make sure you can quantify your success. In other words, know when you have achieved your weight loss goal. Make sure you can measure it! Then once you know your weight loss goal and how to measure it, you need to make a map to getting there.
If you have a child, then you know the importance of directions and sticking to a plan. If you are walking to the store that is 10 minutes down the road, this trip could easily turn into an hour if you didn’t step in with directions every now and then. You can picture it cant you? Walking along, then there is a butterfly, then a cool rock and look, a swing set! Sometimes to get things done in an efficient manner, you need to know what you are trying to accomplish and how you plan to get there. If you don’t, it could take you forever.
In the number three spot of weight loss secrets, we have self-confidence and belief. Go ahead and tell me you can’t lose weight. Go ahead! Done? Good, now this is where I tell you that you are absolutely correct. Shocking isn’t it? Cant is a word that makes you sit there defeated. Nothing gets done in a defeated state! Its actually better to get angry than defeated, because then at least you are spurred to action. Trying is better than “Cantingâ€. Here is the big mind smack though; belief is so strong that hypnotized people that have an ice cube put on them but are told that it is a hot coal, will develop a blister.
Sometimes you just have to fake it until you make it. Fake that you believe in yourself until the concept doesn’t seem so foreign that maybe it will become true for you. The fact of the matter is that you should believe in yourself because with proper knowledge and dedication, everyone can achieve their weight loss goals.
If you have been reading this far then the number four secret of weight loss success is very, very important. Are you ready for it? Here it is; Stop listening to every piece of advice you get! This seems kind of ironic since here I am giving you more advice, but it is still true. Nothing can short circuit your forward momentum like a piece of advice that is the opposite of what you have been doing. It rocks your world! This can be good if you were just shooting in the dark hoping for the best, but if you have a solid weight loss plan that you were given by a solid source and then get messed up by Joe the local gym expert, you’re sunk. Make sure that you are confident in your information source right from the beginning and then resolve to stick with that information. A lot of different methods will work to achieve weight loss, but these methods usually work as a system. Therefore, if you jump from system to system, you will not get the benefits from any given weight loss system.
We are almost at the end of our weight loss secrets for today. Of course there are more weight loss tips and tricks, but five is about right for a weight loss knowledge snack. So onto the number five secret to losing weight; Don’t overdo it. Simple huh? Think about the number of times you have started off with both guns blazing and then ran out of ammunition. I know, I do this for a living. What happens is that most people figure they are going to lose 30 pounds in 30 days and they are going to kick butt to do it. So they start off all fired up, get real sore, their immune system crashes, they get sick and then they give up. Wow, that was like I had a camera following you, scary. Its just that it happens to a lot of weight loss hopefuls.
So how do you avoid revving the engine and running out of gas? You avoid rapid starts and stops. Ease onto the gas, and maintain steady pressure. You only need to do resistance training a couple of times a week along with 3-4 cardio sessions to realize your weight loss success. Don’t rush the cookies! You can’t crank the stove to 600 degrees and get home made cookies in 3 minutes. They will burn. You’ll burn out too if you rush your way to losing weight.
Here is the recap to weight loss success. Get the information you need to achieve your desired goal that you have picked out. Make a plan with success markers along the way and believe every step of the way that you are going to lose the weight this time. Fake it until you make it. Never let anyone shake you confidence with bogus advice and remember to slow bake your cookies!
Ray Burton
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