Five fact diet companies won’t tell you

Summer time and the diets are anything but easy. Fortunes are made promising you everything for a small cash investment and then leaving you short on cash on even shorter on progress. Sure some diets work, others are an absolute waste of time and money and some will even make you fatter in the long term and the worst put your healthy in jeopardy. A lot of diet companies make a lot of money by giving you partial facts, here are five facts they don’t usually share but you need to know to make the best decisions and achieve your goals.

It really is all about you:

The first rule of weight loss is the rule of individual differences, a fancy way of saying what works for one person may not work as well or at all for another because they are different from genetics to psychological makeup. So just because Bob at the office shed a quick 20 pounds on a particular diet doesn’t mean it will work for you. You will need to do some self examination of what you can tolerate and then some experimentation to see what works best for you. Don’t get discouraged just be willing to try things to you find what works for you.

Without proper nutrition and a sound exercise plan supplements are a waste of money:

No supplement regardless of what the label or ad promises can get you results if your nutrition and exercise program aren’t sound. Any of those spokes models claiming to have lost weight just taking a pill and eating whatever they want are either lying or in desperate need of medical attention to remove a tapeworm.

Too much weight loss to quickly actually is a bad thing:

Ever see someone who sheds a lot of weight in a short period of time then six months later is bigger than they were before the shedding? The reason this is common is because shedding too much weight to quickly is the result of actions that in the long term slow down your metabolism and reduce your lean muscle mass and thus allow future weight to come on quick and easy.

Our spokes people may have never used our products:

Spokes people are paid to represent a brand, even brands they have no past experience with. Even in the social media age it is still common for someone to attach themselves to a brand or product and profess its virtues without having ever tried it. I recently had a diet pill company ask about sponsoring this site. Sure we are interested in sponsorships but I do not consider the specific type of product they produce to be of any value so I passed. So be careful whose endorsement you let influence your decision.

The real secret is dedication and hard work over time:

If all weight loss companies had to be honest they would tell you with proper nutrition and moderate & consistent exercise done over time you will get close to your goals and at best they can contribute 5-10% towards your goals until you’re within view of the goal weight when they can be a greater contribution (the first 50 comes off a lot easier than the final 5). So experiment and find a sound nutritional program you like and that produces results for you and find an exercise program that enjoy and will do consistently and you will get there and hopefully you can spare yourself a bit of heartbreak and a few bucks by not getting suckered into over hyped bottles of empty promises.

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YOU CAN SEE THE FULL US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT RANKING OF WEIGHT LOSS DIETS HERE

Their top 5

1) Weight Watchers – A point system based on a thorough health value ranking of every type of food

2) Jenny Craig – personalized diet plan (1200 -2300 calories) & exercise plan from a consultant built around their prepacked meals

2) Raw Food *tie you eat food that  hasn’t been cooked, processed, microwaved, irradiated, genetically engineered, or exposed to pesticides or herbicides.

4) Volumetrics – eating high amounts of low calorie foods

5) Slim-Fast you eat 1,200 calories a day from three snacks,  two Slim-Fast meal replacements  and one 500-calorie real meal

I can see why Weight Watchers came in first place, the program is reasonably priced, comprehensive, offers support to keep you on the program, and actually teaches people to eat real food so that even once they reach their goal they learned the skills to keep their weight in check and can easily lose any unwanted pounds that might creep on. With that said I don’t know how Jenny Craig took second and Slim- Fast took second and fifth respectively since they are based on prepackaged foods. I am not against prepacked food diets, I actually used and have recommended Medifast (which ranks at the bottom of their list) for quick weight loss, but not as a long term option. A long term option needs to be built around real, healthy foods and the dieter needs to be in control of their selections that control is empowerment and that empowerment is key to substaining a long term weight loss plan. Volumetrics and The Raw Food diet are interesting top five placers since both can be cumbersome to follow.

Instead of ranking my top five I am instead going to do two sets of top threes, one for fast short term weight loss and another for long term weight loss.

Short term top three

1) Medifast – myself and a dozen people I know have lost a lot of weight in a 8-10 weeks on this program, so I know it works. It is easy to follow (they basically take the thinking out of the equation for you) and it can be an excellent way to kick of a weight loss program as long as you have a long term plan behind it otherwise any weight you do lose will come back and then some.

2) Slim-fast – same as above, 1200 calories a day should take weight off anybody

3) Nutrisystem – takes the thinking out of it with prepacked foods.

Top Three for long term weight loss

1) Mediterranean diet- you get to eat the best foods out there and have a host of seasoning options, can easily modify it to increase or continue your weight loss, and it is great for heart health. I have been on this type of diet for a couple months and I can’t imagine anything more customizable, satisfying or better for overall health and well being. I can even use it with a carb cycling program to shed unwanted pounds. You do have to take ownership of what you eat because to much of even the best of foods will put weight on.

WHY I AM ON THE  MEDITERRANEAN DIET

MY FIVE WEEK REVIEW OF THE  MEDITERRANEAN DIET

2) Weight Watchers – basically it teaches you to make smart decisions in the real world by taking complicated nutritional information and simplying it into a points system.

3) Ornish diet – teaches you to make smart decisions by simplying your food choices into five groupings based on health value.

As you can see quick diets take the thinking out of the equation for you (afterall if we were capable of making smart food decisions on our own we wouldn’t be overweight) and long term plans empower the dieter to be able to make smart decisions on their own (the key to long term weight loss success is owning your decisions). I used and have recommended using a short term approach to get the weight loss ball rolling and then follow it up with a long term approach so you can continue to see progress and adapt a healthy eating lifestyle. The short term plans shouldn’t be used for more than 8 – 10 weeks before you adapt a long term plan. As with most things in life the best long term approach will come down to your individual situation, lifestyle and preference.

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It is common for someone who wants to lose weight to cut out carbs completely, and most likely they will see the scale go down which makes them think they are doing the right thing. This practice works so well at getting pounds off that entire companies exist to sell diet programs pushing this simple idea. But what if some of those pounds you lose actually make it easier for your body to add more unwanted pounds once you return to normal eating?

Now I know some people live a no carb lifestyle year round and love it, and for some people that may work, but for the rest of us the science has to be considered. Your muscles run of glycogen which is a fancy word for stored carbohydrates. When you eliminate carbs your muscle not only can’t grow they actually will break down and the loss of muscle results in a slowing down of your metabolism which means more of what you eat will convert to stored fat, which is what you were trying to eliminate in the first place!

So am I saying pig out on plates of carbs? No (I wish that was the case though). What I am saying is use your body’s physiology to maximize your loses while avoiding any negative effects. The easiest way to do this is through carb cycling. By switching between low, moderate and high carb days you get the weight loss advantage of carb reduction without the long term negative effect of lost muscle mass. Carb cycling is very common amongst athletes and body builders as a way to shed unwanted body fat while maintaining and even increasing over all muscle mass.

A carb cycle system is actually pretty simple. Mine is as follows (a bit about me, I am a few months from 40, 6 foot 3, 235 – 240, work out five days a week, & have lost over 100 pounds in the past couple years and am working on the final 30): I alternate 3 – 4 days of low carb (for me low is around 50 grams a day, you will need to experiment a bit to find the right number for you) one day of moderate carbs and one day of high carbs. Implementing this is actually really easy to do, my meals on the various carb days look like this:

Low carb:

• meal 1 protein shake
• meal 2 egg whites
• meal 3 protein shake & handful of almonds
• meal 3 4 – 6 ounces of lean protein and a mixed green salad
• meal 4 protein shake
• meal 5 6 -8 ounces of lean protein and a mixed green salad
• meal 6 protein shake

Moderate carb:

• meal 1 protein shake
• meal 2 oatmeal with raisons
• meal 3 apple with natural peanut butter
• meal 3 sandwich
• meal 4 protein shake
• meal 5 6 -8 ounces of lean protein and a sweet potato
• meal 6 protein shake

High carb:

• meal 1 protein shake & piece of fruit
• meal 2 oatmeal & raisons
• meal 3 protein shake & bowl of fruit
• meal 3 sandwich
• meal 4 protein shake and piece of fruit
• meal 5 reward meal (anything I want but typically pizza)
• meal 6 protein shake & reward snack (anything I want typically dark chocolate covered almonds

I don’t get into complicated micro nutrient calculations because I simply don’t have that type of time in my schedule & I don’t get to worried about fat since I don’t consume to much of it and keep my eating really clean with the exception of the reward meals. I do measurements every two weeks and check my weight every week and this program always seems to do the job without me losing muscle mass of feeling tired or hungry.

A typical schedule for me would be low carbs Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, moderate carbs Friday, high carbs Saturday and then back to low carbs for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday then moderate carbs for Thursday high carbs for Friday etc. I always make sure Sunday is a low carb day since I don’t work out on Sunday and weigh myself on Mondays.  I find this program works great with the Mediterranean Diet I have adopted for heart health because I do get salads daily, plenty of lean proteins and flavor everything with olive oil.

If you try this program remember it will take a little bit of experimenting to figure the right amount of carbs to eat each day but that little bit of effort is a lot better than losing that hard earned muscle on a no carb program (besides who doesn’t love a weekly reward meal!).

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As often is the case in life when it comes to transforming your body timing is everything. Manipulating the timing of your meals and workouts can cause dramatic changes that bring you closer to your goals. This workout is based on taking advantage of your body’s natural process to burn the most fat when your body is most inclined to burn fat as fuel in a way in which it will burn the most fat for fuel.

Now there are some counter opinions to this believe (check google) but I have done this very program for one week and dropped 4 pounds after losing 13 in the prior 5 weeks, while maintaining the same diet. ( I follow a Mediterranean diet which you can read about here) This idea has been around for a long time and was recently validated in a 2006 study but always remember the first rule of fitness is that how your body adapts to any program is largely a matter of genetics, so while this program is clearly working for me and has worked for many others there is always the possibility it might not be ideal for everyone. So if you try it and do not get the desired results you may need to either modify it or try a different program to get where you want to go.

With that said the program really is simple: do 15 minutes of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) cardio right after doing strength training 3 to 5 days a week. Some studies used moderate paced cardio but in my experience HIIT cardio always has gotten better results and best of all you can be done a lot quicker, and lets face it cardio sucks. The strength training below uses super sets so that the strength training session can be done in just under an hour. Give your self a minute rest between sets of supersets and one to two minutes before moving to the next pair of supersets. Remember the point of this program is mainly to burn fat so you will be moving quickly which is keep your heart rate up.

The science behind this type of training is simple; when you start exercising your body is going to go to the glycogen in the muscles (stored carbohydrates) to provide energy to perform. Once this glycogen storage is depleted your body then uses stored glycogen in the liver and once that is gone it turns to fat (a process know as lipolysis) for energy to continue working. So the weight training will deplete the muscles of the glycogen (weight training is ideal for this process) and the cardio will be fuelled by fat being broken down for fuel, sounds pretty good right?

The workout program we came up with is three different sessions, and you can do 3 -5 a week (I did five and will show you which ones and why below). The workouts are as follows & all are followed by 15 minutes of HIIT cardio (I used a stationary bike)

Workout A: Chest, Back & Abs (rep count is 10 – 15 for each)

Superset                                                                    sets      

Incline press & dumbbell shrugs                     4

Incline Fly & barbell row                                    4

Flat bench & lying row                                         3

Pullovers & 180s                                                    3

Crunches & Mountain climbers                       2 *  reps to failure

Workout B: Triceps, Biceps, Abs

Supersets                                                                   Sets

Skull crushers & Ez bar curls                                4

Close grip bench & Hammer curls                     4

Tricep ext & incline curls                                      4

Kick Backs & Reverse grip curls                          4

Dips & 180s                                                                  3

Crunches & mountain climbers                          2 * reps to failure

Workout C: Legs & Shoulders

Supersets                                                                     reps

Squats & stiff leg deadlifts                                       4

Leg extensions & hamstring curls                       4

Military press & 180s                                                4

Calf raises & lateral raises                                       4

Front raises & mountain climbers                      3 (mt climbers to failure)

Bent over raises & crunches                                 3 (crunches to failure)

Weekly breakdown

You can do this workout three to five times a week, I am using this five day a week plan:

Monday workout A, Tuesday workout B, Wednesday Rest, Thursday workout A, Friday workout B, Saturday workout C, Sunday Rest

I set up this plan to train the areas I most want to improve twice a week and train the areas that for me need the least work once a week. You can manipulate this training however you see fit, from doing full body training three times a week to single body part training six days a week, the real key to this program working is using up all the glycogen storage you have for strength training (where you get the most benefit from it) and doing your cardio when your body is in fat burning mode (which cardio is best for). Give this workout a try for a couple weeks and let me know what you think.

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I have been on a Mediterranean Diet for five weeks so I figured that is enough time to write an assessment. Well I have lost 13 pounds, while managing to increase my muscle mass (noticeably visually as well as confirmed through measurements). My energy has been fantastic and I have to say I have felt great and have not felt really hungry once that I can remember.  You can read why I went on this particular diet here.

As for what I ate, well I tried to keep it as simple as possible: every morning began with a protein shake followed by a half cup of oatmeal with a quarter cup of raisons about an hour later. Then about three hours after the oatmeal I had an apple and two tablespoons of natural peanut butter and two hours after that a turkey wrap in a whole wheat tortilla. Then I would have a post workout protein shake, and for dinner I would have chicken, salmon or a turkey burger with salad or sweet potato, or whole grain pasta with olive oil sauce, or a bean burrito in a whole grain tortilla and right before bed I had a casein protein shake. For a snack I had dark chocolate covered almonds (I ate them throughout the day but never had more than 4 at a time). I also had watermelon and other fruit a few times over the five weeks but always a single serving portion (1 – 2 cups) and kept my calorie consumption on most days between 1700 & 2300.

During these five weeks I couldn’t work out for four days because of an ear infection, and skipped another four days for reasons I can’t remember (though I bet they sounded really good at the time). Here is the exact workout I did follow when I did workout though. I also had a birthday so there was cake and pizza, actually pizza happened three times, and I ate out four other times. So all in all I think my success was pretty good and I was able to live a normal live and ev en treat myself a few times.

I would say the most important factor to consider if you undertake this diet for weight loss is portion control. Eating too much of food any food no matter how good that food is for you won’t get those pounds off, so measure what you eat before you eat it and keep track of your total calories using a food journal. This diet is excellent if you are training hard because it gives you plenty of fuel to power through those workouts (my workout sessions lasted on average 90 minutes and I didn’t get gassed and was able to function the next day). During this five week I also tried to keep my active rest as active as possible so I painted my house, did some landscaping and generally kept moving as much as possible. I also drank a lot of water (around 150 ounces a day) and did my best to get a solid night’s sleep on a regular basis.

As a whole I would say this five weeks was a success, I had a lot of food options to choose from, including easy options to pick off restaurant menus, never felt like I was starving or depriving myself, lost a good amount of weight while make visually noticeably gains in muscle, and had great energy. For the next five weeks I am going to work on cleaning up the diet a bit since I still have weight I want to lose and will be increasing the protein to try to increase my muscle mass. I will be changing my work out to five day a week weight training followed immediately by high intensity interval cardio in the hopes of earning even greater muscle mass gains (I will be publishing the workout once I have had the chance to perform it a couple times). For the following five weeks I will also be focused on changes in measurement more than changes in weight since one of my goals is to increase muscle mass. So wish me luck and stay tuned for future progress reports.

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The 4 X 4 X 4 Body Transformation Workout

This workout is designed to transform your body by mainly shedding that excess body fat as well as build some muscle so overall you will look visually better as well as feel better. The workout is not an easy one and isn’t designed for beginners or those with medical conditions; this is a intense workout which will cause a radical jump start towards your fitness goals. You should expect to be fully drained at the end of this workout (the first week I did this routine I ended the sessions on the floor covered in sweat and gasping for breath) and should only do this workout three times a week giving yourself at least a day off between sessions.

This isn’t a workout you can do easily at a gym because you will be tying up to much space and equipment, so either do it at home or go to the gym when it is least crowded and have back up exercises so you can keep moving through your workout. Combine this workout with High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) cardio sessions of 15 – 25 minutes on three of your off days and take one day completely off to rest your body.

4 X 4 X 4

The workout is made up of four circuits which are comprised of four stations (exercises) which you will do four sets of. Rest between sets (which is one complete circuit there is no rest between exercises within the circuit) should be limited to 30 to 120 seconds and rest between circuits should be limited to 60 – 120 seconds. For each exercise try to keep your repetitions in the 12 – 16 range but reduce the weight or stop if need be once you can no longer perform the exercise with proper form. Expect to be breathing heavy throughout this workout.

You can do this workout for 4 – 6 weeks before you will need to change it up to continue to see the progress you want. As for diet I am on a Mediterranean Diet and combined with this workout program have shed 11 pounds of fat in 3 weeks while seeing a noticeable increase in my lean muscle mass, you can read about why I am on a Mediterranean Diet and my supplement plan here.

The Circuits

Circuit 1 – flat dumbbell bench presses, flat dumbbell flyes, lying bench back rows, military press

Circuit 2 – incline reverse grip bench press, squats, barbell back rows, shrugs

Circuit 3 – ez bar close grip bench press into skull crushers, crunches, ez bar bicep curls, lateral raises

Circuit 4 – Dips, 180s, hammer curls, front raises

Give this workout a try, remember it is designed to drain you so don’t be surprised if you are a little weak in the knees after the first time, I was, but after three weeks I can tell you I can see and feel a difference and have become more accustomed to this rough workout.

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Despite never feeling any ill effects of my non fluffy LDL the Statin sure packed a punch. In about five weeks of taking the drug as directed I gained over twenty pounds despite regular exercise and a calorie controlled diet. I also had the pleasure of experiencing odd muscle and nerve pain which made sleeping difficult and my head was in the clouds which was compounded by the lack of sleep and weight gain depression. Needless to say the side effects from the Statin for me were worse than the potential problem it was suppose to address so I searched out for a natural solution to my bad LDL issue.

Now nothing in this article is medical advice, in fact as the title says I am living Against Medical Advice (AMA).  I can tell you I feel a thousand times better after being off the Statin for a couple weeks and the side effects have gone away. These side effects are not very common with Statin use, especially having three different ones, and many people take Statin for years and never have these types of problems but since I did I decided to see if I could figure a natural solution. Obviously it will not be easy to gauge the effectiveness of my natural program but I will be getting my levels tested again in six months to see if what I am doing is working, so at this point all of what follows is speculation. I could have gotten another type of Statin in the hopes of not suffering the same side effects but if I could find a natural solution I know I will be better off since you can never really tell the long term side effects of prescription drugs.

To begin with when researching heart issues it is interesting to discover that heart disease is a modern problem, very few people prior to the 20^th century died of heart disease. Sure some of that has to do with lower life spans (not living long enough to die of heart issues) but the diet was also dramatically different. People ate whole pure foods more fish and less beef and there was no such thing as processed and packaged foods, so I decided to start my program with diet.

MY HEART HEALTHY DIET

All modern diet programs claim to be heart healthy, let’s face it who would buy into a program that wasn’t advertised as heart healthy when heart disease is so rampant? So I pealed back beyond the hype and tried to base my diet around those of people who don’t suffer from heart disease like we do in the US. I ended up choosing the Mediterranean Diet which is basically built upon the eating habits and lifestyle of a region with much less heart problems than we do here. The building blocks of this diet are healthy fats, olive oil, whole grains, fish and lots of fresh vegetables and fruits. My biggest concern with this diet is potential weight gain since the carbohydrates can be high on this diet but right now I am more concerned about my heart health than my weight and I know that as long as I keep the portion control in line I should be able to lose weight on this diet. Portion control is key to successful weight loss on this plan. My diet will be simple, no red meat but instead poultry and fish as my meats, beans, nuts (in moderation) whole grains (in moderation) fresh fruit (in moderation) and lots of salads and water. The plus of this diet is most of the food I will be eating is very fiber full and filling so I shouldn’t be feeling hungry to often despite the limited portion sizes.  I will be using flavored olive oils as my seasoning on almost everything. This diet also calls for me to reduce the amount of coffee I drink to three cups a day and the removal of all packaged and heavily processed foods from my menu, which means no more chips and also no more protein shakes or bars. The diet at its core is simple; eat whole real foods in moderation. Here is my first shopping list on this diet to give you a better idea of what I am going to be eating:

Whole grains breads and pasta

Olive oil (flavored) (extra virgin the best)

Almonds and walnuts (in moderation)

Chicken and Turkey

Fresh fruit and vegetables (make up the majority of what you eat)

Fish

Fat free yogurt

Low fat cheese

Beans

Sunflower seeds

Most of my meal will be a mixed salad so I can stick to the diet while allowing myself enough food to feel full without adding extra calories. This diet actually is pretty easy to stick to even when eating out, order a salad made of fresh vegetables with oil and vinegar dressing and either a grilled or broiled fish or poultry and your set (no fried food on this plan).

EXERCISE

One of the essential elements to a healthy lifestyle is exercise and on this program the exercise of choice is walking. For people living in the Mediterranean walking is a way of life so I plan on relying on walking as my main form of cardio, oddly enough walking was key to me losing eighty pounds as I detail in my book, Diary of a Former Fatman (ADD LINK).

For strength training I am going to follow this superset and triset workout program and add some basic yoga to my routine.

SUPPLEMENTS

Some natural supplements have been shown to have similar if not greater effects that Statin on bad LDL especially when combined with a proper diet and exercise program. The following is based on my own research of medical reports please do your own research before making any decisions on supplements.  What I am taking to combat my bad LDL include:  Fish Oil (omega 3) 1000 – 3000 mg a day, CoQ10 100- 300 mg a day, Red Yeast Rice 1200 mg a day, standardized trans-resveratrol 400 mg a day, Folic acid 500 mcg a day, B12 400 mcg a day, B6 50 mg a day, Niacin 50 mg, and Natural Full Spectrum Vitamin E (400 IU of alpha-tocopherol and mixed tocopherols, along with 400 mg of mixed tocotrienols) along with vitamin D 1000 IU a day. While you might be able to find one pill with most or all of these ingredients I prefer to buy each one separately so I know what I am getting and am not getting any unneeded products or fillers.

As I said this program is living AMA and it will be really hard to tell if I am right or not, but I can tell you as a Christian I am much less worried about death than I am about living with life diminishing side effects of Statin, the way I look at it life isn’t about the number of years you live but what you do with those years that matters.

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If you checkout a lot of workouts you will notice that for the most part they share particular exercises. The reason for this is the basics work, they have worked for years, and they continue to work. In fact be skeptical of workouts that aren’t built upon the basics like squats, bench presses, dead lifts, barbell curls, skull crushers and military presses. Despite workouts being build upon the same exercises trainers constantly tell you to change up your workouts every two to three weeks, and all sorts of people use these same exercises to get different results ranging from fitness models to power lifters. Both variety and varied results are achieved by changes in the repetitions done and the rest between sets.

The key to Power

Power is essential to fitness. Enough of this jazzercising in our living rooms to a repetitive beat, there is nothing like an improvement in your power to improve your fitness. Sure getting lean is a great accomplishment but you don’t want to sacrifice your power for it. Power is achieved by lifting very heavy weights for 3-6 repetitions and taking longer rest periods (three to four minutes). Now before you panic and go running to the treadmill power doesn’t always mean an increase in size, you also need a high calorie diet and a long time spent focusing on power lifting to develop the type of size you see guys display in strongman competitions. Sure the scale may go up but your clothes will fit the same or more likely better. Work a few power elements into your workout say with the bench press, dead lift and squat and watch the weight you rack go up and up and enjoy the benefits you will feel during your other workouts.

Bodybuilding Sets

Typically body builders, in the search for symmetry, size and definition do 12-18 repetitions with shorter rest periods, ranging from sixty seconds to three minutes.  If you are looking to get a great beach body (and come on who isn’t) these should be the basis of your workouts. To get more fat burning effects go with the higher end of the rep range and keeps the rests shorter. Because these workouts cause an increase in muscle size you should expect the scale to move up, a clean diet will keep the increase to a minimum but cutting your calories to low will not provide enough energy to fully complete this style of workout and you increase the risks of injury and overtraining.

The shred and pump sets

If you want to shed more fat than you could spending hours on a treadmill do a high rep short set workout routine. Keep your reps in the 25 – 50 range (yep I said 50) and build the workout on supersets, trisets, and quadsets so your moving from exercise to exercise which will get the fat burning. The high reps give you that pump you show up at the gym for in the first place. These types of workouts are great for leaning out on a calorie restricted diet and are the “secret” to those infomercial magical programs.

For overall fitness you want to incorporate all three types of sets into your workouts. You can easily do this by dedicating a couple months to one type then switching to another and then to another. You can even incorporate all three into one workout by starting with power, and then moving to bodybuilding sets and finishing with the high rep/low rest sets. You can also use these set type to build a program to achieve your short term fitness goals. Want to look better at the beach this summer start with power sets during winter, move to body building sets and a lower calorie diet during late winter/early spring and finish with a calorie restricted, low carbohydrate diet and high rep low rest sets as summer gets closer.

Looking for a workout? Check out:

Our Dumbbell only Workout

our fat torching workout

our muscle building bulking workout

Need some inspiration check out:

Lisa’s life changing transformation

Mitchie’s road from obesity to fitness model

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You can check them all out at Amazon by clicking on any one below, and if you have any songs you want us to consider post them below or email them to dan@fitnessforus.com
If you need a workout check out

Mitchie’s amazing transformation workout

Dumbbells only workout

Our welcome to the gym workout

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Have you ever wondered how figure model and fitness competitors get is such great shape?  Our friend Mitchie De Leon offered to share the program she has used to transform herself from a size 14 to a size two stage ready fitness model and figure competitor. Mitchie will be the first to tell you it takes time, dedication and commitment to a sound nutritional plan and exercise routine to truly transform your body. You will notice her diet is clean and comprised of mostly real natural foods with some protein shakes mixed in. Her workouts are outstanding, she allows her body enough time to recover from weight training while keeping her cardio varied which keeps her engaged and continues to challenge her body.  Like most hard trainers Mitchie uses supplements to help give her that little bit extra for all the hard work and dedication she puts in, while keeping it simple so she knows she is getting the results she wants and no unwanted side effects. For more on her supplement of choice, Cellucor visit her website.  The following is her plan in her own words thanks again for helping us out Mitchie, we will be cheering for you to steal the show when you step on that stage!

Here’s a sample plan of my normal nutrition plan when I’m not competing & workout plan. 

My diet/nutrition approach for my transformation

Portion control, sticking to complex carbs, quality protein and plenty of vegetables.

Sample daily eating plan

Meal 1: 1/2 cup oats cooked with almond milk and cinnamon, 4 egg whites, 2 caps Cellucor D4 Thermal Shock, 2 caps Cellucor T7 Extreme.
Meal 2: 1 scoop Cellucor IsoPro Ultra Lean. 1 medium apple or handful almonds.
Meal 3: 4oz grilled chicken breast, 2 cups salad (spinach, cucumbers, red bell peppers), 1/2 cup brown rice, 2 caps Cellucor D4 Thermal Shock, 2 caps Cellucor T7 Extreme.
Meal 4: 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1/3 cup blueberries.
Meal 5: 4oz grilled halibut or grilled chicken breast, 1 cup steamed asparagus, 1/2 cup cooked quinoa, 2 scoops BSN No-Xplode.
Meal 6: Post-workout – 1 scoop Cellucor IsoPro Ultra Lean.

My weight training approach and split during my transformation

At first I did just cardio. 3-4 times a week and 20-30 minutes on the treadmill, cycling or elliptical machine. Now I workout 6 times a week. 6 days of cardio, 5 days of weight training concentrating on two major muscles per day. For example: quads/abs, chest/hamstrings.

Monday –  Chest, Triceps and Abs. Cardio – 20 minutes HIIT plus 60 minutes boxing.
Tuesday -  Cardio – 60 minutes boxing.
Wednesday – Back, Biceps and Calves. Cardio – 20 minutes HIIT plus 60 minutes Tahitian class.
Thursday – Cardio – 60 minutes boxing.
Friday – Legs, Shoulders and Abs. Cardio – 60 minutes boxing.
Saturday – Cardio – 60 minutes treadmill.
Sunday – Rest day.

Monday
Chest, Triceps and Abs
Exercise                                   Sets                             Reps
Dumbbell Bench Press              3                                  12
Incline Bench Press                   3                                 12
Decline Bench Press                 3                                  12
Cable Tricep Extension              3                                  12
Overhead Dumbbell Extension   3                                  12
Crunches                                  3                                  Failure
Wednesday
Back, Biceps and Calves
Exercise                                   Sets                             Reps
Lat Pull Down                            3                                  12
Seated Cable Row                     3                                  12
Hyperextension                         3                                  12
Barbell Curl                               3                                  12
Alternate Dumbbell Curl             3                                  12
Seated Calf Raise                     3                                  15
Friday
Legs, Shoulders and Abs
Exercise                                   Sets                             Reps
Leg Curl                                    3                                  12
Leg Press                                 3                                  12
Shoulder Press                          2                                  12
Side Lateral Raise                     2                                  12
Rear Lateral Raise                     3                                  15
Lying Leg Raise                        3                                  12

I include cardio 6 times a week. 3 of those days M,T,TH (boxing at DG Boxing) for one hour. W (Tahitian dance class) a low impact cardio but killer on the thighs! In addition, 20-30 minutes HIIT M-Sat.

You can read more about Mitchie’s transformation story here

Don’t forget to check out Mitchie’s website

You can also find her on facebook and twitter 

For more workouts check out

Fat torching  workout

body weight workout 

and if you need some music to go along with your workout check out

our random top ten workout songs of the week 2 21 11 

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