This past January the guys at over at the Burn the Fat websites completed their first ever body transformation challenge contest. I myself, was a contestant!

But their contest was NOTHING like the biggest loser.

In fact, Josh Ketter, the overall men’s winner, and Ryan Cochrane, one of the finalists, only lost a pound.

Now, you must be thinking, “what the heck kind of weird body transformation contest were they running where the winner and the finalists only drop a pound?

Well, it would seem weird if you thought that success at body transformation meant dropping weight on the scale

But did you ever stop to think about the difference between fat weight and muscle weight?

Think about it – if those contestants on the biggest loser gain muscle – they get penalized, right?

Penalize someone for gaining muscle?

Shouldn’t contestants be REWARDED for gaining muscle as well as burning fat?

That’s the problem with wt loss contests today and with a lot of people in the industry in general – they are obsessed with scale weight but they don’t pay any attention to body composition (the fat-to-muscle ratio).

Of course, some of the contestants in that contest did drop a lot of fat – 15, 20, even 25 lbs in only 50 days. But the person who dropped the most pounds was NOT necessarily voted as the winner.

That explains how the judging was done – some of the winners were rewarded because they made tremendous improvements in their body composition, even though their scale weight didn’t change that much.

Josh lost 8 pounds of fat and gained 7 pounds of muscle in just 50 days.  He only lost a pound on the scale because the muscle weight replaced the fat weight.

Ryan Cochrane lost 8 pounds of fat while gaining 7.7 lbs of muscle in 50 days. His weight hardly changed.

Sarah kensington actually GAINED a pound, from 119 to 120 but her body fat decreased from 19% to a ripped 12.6%. Thats a 7.9 pound GAIN in lean body mass and a 7 pound loss of body fat – remarkable for a MAN, almost unheard of for a woman!

When you look at their before and after pictures, you can see that even though their weight changed by less than a pound, they TOTALLY TRANSFORMED THEIR BODIES!

How?

They gained muscle and lost fat at the same time!

Maybe you’re thinking, “wait a minute, I thought it was impossible to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time? Don’t you need a calorie deficit to burn fat and a calorie surplus to build muscle?”

Well, yes and no. Calories do matter, but according to fat loss expert Tom Venuto, the guy who sponsored the recent body composition fitness contest, it’s much more complicated than that because of things like within-day energy balance, hormonal fluctuations and “energy partitioning.”

It was these unusual contest results that prompted Tom to dig into the scientific research on concurrent muscle gain and fat loss and create a new program that he calls:

“THE HOLY GRAIL BODY TRANSFORMATION SYSTEM:
How to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time”

This is not an easy goal to achieve – So I’m sorry, but I have no miracle for you. If you’re looking for magic bullets, go elsewhere. This is a serious and very strategic program.

Concurrent muscle gain and fat loss is the most difficult goal to achieve.

That’s why people call it the “holy grail”; because it’s so elusive.

BUT MAKE NO MISTAKE: IT IS POSSIBLE.

I’m sure you’ve heard this subject debated ad nauseum on discussion forums. Those debates probably left you confused and not sure what to believe either.

This new ebook sets the record straight in such a way that you could say it’s the LAST WORD on gaining muscle and burning fat at the same time; it’s impressively referenced with peer-reviewed research and frankly, it just makes sense.

Tom Venuto’s previous best selling ebook, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM) has become known to many as a “fat loss bible”

Click here to see for yourself!

But BFFM is designed specifically for fat loss.
what if you want to lose fat AND gain muscle?

That’s exactly why this new program was created.

It’s the first course of it’s kind that builds on the techniques of BFFM and teaches a system for gaining muscle and burning fat simultaneously, and explains the process scientifically.

If you’re skeptical, I don’t blame you. Even I was skeptical when I heard about it.

But when you see BOTH; real-world case studies AND the scientific proof, it makes you want to stop and take a look.

Right now the 1st edition of Tom’s new HOLY GRAIL body transformation ebook is available for just the next 2 days in limited release.

It’s actually not even for sale separately yet.

What Tom decided to do was offer the holy grail ebook as bonus with the purchase of his Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle ebook.

The Holy Grail ebook is available only for the next 2 days at:

www.BurnTheFat.com

(offer expires on Friday march 5th, 2010)

On March 6th, he’s going to take the holy grail course off the market for a while, to correspond with some of his new customers and collect feedback and case studies to incorporate in the 2nd edition.

Then the grail ebook will be officially re-released later this year at the regular retail price.

So, this is a great opportunity to pick up Tom’s fat loss bible AND get the holy grail ebook for fr-ree at the same time.

If you’d like to be in this first wave of people to try this new combined muscle-building and fat burning system, this is the ONLY way to order at the moment:

www.BurnTheFat.com

Purchase a copy of Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle ebook, and the HOLY GRAIL body transformation ebook comes along with BFFM for fr-ee.

Sincerely,

Karen

PS. You may have already heard of Tom’s Burn the Fat, Feed the
Muscle book before, so if you already have it, the other way you
can get his new Holy Grail program is by joining the Burn the Fat
Inner Circle – all members there are also getting access to it
this week up until Friday the 5th. More info on Tom’s inner circle at:

www.burnthefat.com/innercirclespecialvip

Measuring your body fat percentage is a valuable tool to chart your progress on your quest to get six pack abs. Hopefully most people realize by now that abdominal exercises don’t burn fat off your stomach. Abs are made in the kitchen, not just in the gym. No matter how much you work out, if you don’t eat right and achieve a calorie deficit, your abs will remain covered in a layer of adipose.

When the realization hits you that you must reduce your body fat percentage to see your abs, one of the biggest questions that pops into your mind is, “how low do I have to get my body fat percentage to see my abs?”  It’s a tough question and the answer may be different for men than women.

Here’s what I’d recommend:

First, get familiar with some benchmarks for body fat levels.

My Burn The Fat System has a body fat rating scale, which includes averages and my suggested optimal body fat percentages. This is my own chart, which I created with a combination of research literature and my own personal experience.

Burn The Fat Body fat rating scale:

WOMEN:

Competition Shape (“ripped”): 8-12%
Very Lean (excellent): < 15%
Lean (good): 16-20%
Satisfactory (fair): 21-25%
Improvement needed (poor): 26-30%
Major improvement needed (Very poor): 31-40%+

MEN:

Competition Shape (“ripped”): 3-6%
Very Lean (excellent): < 9%
Lean (good): 10-14%
Satisfactory (fair): 15-19%
Improvement needed (poor): 20-25%
Major improvement needed (Very poor): 26-30%+

Just a quick note: You’re not destined to get fatter as you get older, but in the general population (not fitness and bodybuilding folks), the average older person has more body fat.

What I did to accommodate this was to include a body fat range instead of one number, so younger people can use the low end of the range and older people can use the higher number.

Also, just so the average reader can keep things in perspective, single digit body fat for women and low single digits for men is far beyond lean – it’s RIPPED – and that’s usually solely the domain of competitive physique athletes.

Competition body fat levels were not meant to be maintained all year round. It’s not realistic and it may not be healthy, particularly for women.

For most women, 12% body fat or thereabouts is ripped, and for many, that’s contest ready (figure or fitness competition).

Just for comparison, I’ve done over 7,000 body fat tests during my career, and the lowest I have ever measured on a female was 8.9% (4-site skinfold method). She was a national-level figure competitor and she was shredded – full six pack of abs… “onion skin!”

However, I do know some women who get down to 11-13% body fat – by all standards extremely lean, complete with six pack abs – but oddly, they still had a few stubborn fat spots – usually the hips and lower body.

What about guys? Well, I know a guy who looks absolutely chiseled in his abs at 11% body fat, but other guys don’t look really cut in the abs until they get down to 6-8% body fat. Bodybuilders usually aren’t ready for competition until they get below 6%.

That’s the trouble with trying to pin down one specific body fat number as THE body fat level for seeing 6-pack abs (or being ripped and contest-ready): Everyone distributes their body fat differently and two people may look different at the same percentage.

The average guy or gal should probably aim for the “lean” category as a realistic year round goal, or if you’re really ambitious and dedicated, the “very lean category.”

You’ll probably have to hit the “very lean” category for six pack abs. However, the bottom line is that there’s no “perfect” body fat percentage where you’re assured of seeing your abs.

Besides, body fat is one of those numbers that gets fudged and exaggerated all the time. I hear reports of women with body fat between 4% and 8% and I usually dismiss it as error in measurement (or there’s some “assistance” involved).

Body fat testing, especially with skinfolds, is not an exact science. All body fat tests are estimations and there is always room for human error.

The low numbers are nice for bragging rights, but the judges don’t measure your body fat on stage. What counts is how you look and whether you’re happy with that (or whether the judges are happy with it, if you’re competing).

You can use my chart to help you set some initial goals, but for the most part, I recommend using body fat testing as a way of charting your progress over time to see if you’re improving rather than pursuing some holy grail number.

In my Burn The fat, Feed The Muscle program, you can learn more about how to measure your body fat – professionally or even by yourself in the privacy of your own home.

Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle explains why body mass index and height and weight charts are virtually worthless, and shows you how to track your body composition over time and “tweak” your nutrition and training according to your weekly results.

Get more details at: www.BurnTheFat.com

Tom Venuto, author of
Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle
www.BurnTheFat.com

Founder & CEO of
Burn The Fat Inner Circle
www.BurnTheFatInnerCircle.com

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.BurnTheFat.com or

]]> http://www.newstarthealthandfitness.com/experts-excerpts/what-is-the-ideal-body-fat-to-see-your-abs/feed 1 http://www.newstarthealthandfitness.com/blog/damage-control-for-holiday-eating-accidents-part-2 http://www.newstarthealthandfitness.com/blog/damage-control-for-holiday-eating-accidents-part-2#comments Thu, 26 Nov 2009 04:42:24 +0000 Karen http://www.newstarthealthandfitness.com/?p=874

It’s lunchtime, and you’re trying to decide what to make today. Normally, you would have your regular chicken salad with mixed nuts, but today is different. You’re going to a party in the evening, and even though you’re not quite sure what to expect, you know there will be a ton of food in an atmosphere of very little restraint. You decide that it’s probably best to eat a lighter lunch than usual, to prepare for the evening calorie-surge.

This is commonly known as “banking calories” which is analagous to saving calories like money because you’re going to consume more later.

I usually do not recommend this. Here’s why:

If you skip meals earlier in the day to “prepare” (bank calories) for a big feast at night, you are thinking only in terms of calories, but skipping meals is also depriving yourself of protein (amino acids), carbohydrates, essential fats, vitamins, minerals and other valuable nutrients that come from healthy food, as well as the small frequent meals which help control your appetite, stabilize your blood sugar and provide a steady flow of amino acids to your muscles. Skipping breakfast is especially detrimental.

Not only that, but eating less early in the day in anticipation of overeating later in the day is much more likely to increase your appetite, causing you to binge or eat even MORE than you thought you would at night when the big meal does arrive.

In fact, eating healthy, high fiber and lean protein food, as usual, earlier in the day is likely to make you LESS hungry for the holiday party meal and you’ll be more likely to eat only a harmlessly small amount of “party” foods.

I dont like the concept of “banking calories” if it means skipping meals or if it’s used as justification for binge eating.

Even if it worked the way you wanted it to, the starving and bingeing pattern may cause more damage than an occasional oversize meal, even if only on a psychological level. Some dieticians might even argue that this kind of behavior borders on disordered eating.

A better approach is to stay on your regular menu of healthy foods and small meals through the entire day – business as usual – and then go ahead and enjoy yourself at your party by treating yourself to a SMALL amount of “BAD” food.

This is supported by the 2nd Corollary of the law of calorie balance:

“Small amounts of ANYTHING – even junk food- will probably not be stored as fat as long as you are in a calorie deficit where you are eating fewer calories than you burn.”

It should be a big relief for you to know that when you’re at a party, a banquet, dining out or eating at a relative’s house for a special occasion, you can eat whatever you want with little or no ill effect on body composition, as long as you respect the law of calorie balance ans as long as it is done infrequently.

However, you CANNOT starve and binge and expect not to reap negative consequences.

If you sincerely want to burn fat and be healthy, then you have to have the discipline to stick with your nutrition plan consistently and control your portion sizes.

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto CSCS, NSCA-CPT
Fat Loss Coach
www.BurnTheFat.com

To learn more about burning fat naturally in a healthy, sensible way, then be sure to take a look at Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, independent nutrition researcher, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com

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