Christian Finn

Get Over Your Fat Loss Hump

Let me be completely straight with you: despite the millions of advertising dollars spent on trying to convince you to the contrary, losing weight and keeping it off is not "quick and easy."

Barring the discovery of some kind of obesity drug, I don't think effective weight control will ever be "quick and easy." But it is doable, just as long as you know the most important "secret" behind almost every story of weight loss success...

The BodyGem and Why You Don't Need It

If you're trying to lose weight, you might have found yourself confused by the sheer number of ways to work out how many calories to eat. Some say that calories don't count... others recommend counting portion sizes... there are also complicated equations that take into account your age, weight, height and so forth.

One method that some are using to work out their calorie needs is a device called the BodyGem. The BodyGem is designed to estimate your resting metabolic rate via a simple breath test, providing you with a "metabolic fingerprint" that you can use to plan your diet.

Who's Right About Meal Frequency And Weight Loss?

For years, we’ve been told that eating little and often — grazing rather than gorging — helps you lose weight, control your hunger and stay healthier.

"Countless numbers of research studies have confirmed the power of eating every three hours," writes Jorge Cruise, author of the 3-Hour Diet™.

What happens if you wait more than three hours before you eat?

According to Cruise, your body "passes a tipping point and signals your body to launch its natural 'starvation protection mechanism' or your SPM. When your SPM is switched on, your body preserves the most calorie-rich tissue in the body to ensure your survival. That tissue is body fat."

"Anytime you allow more than three hours to pass without eating," Cruise adds, "your body not only preserves body fat, but worst of all it begins to cannibalize precious fat-burning muscle. Yes, by waiting more than three hours to eat you lose muscle tissue."

Lift Weights and Lose Fat: How to Drop Pounds by Picking Them Up

Despite its popularity, there still appears to be a lot of confusion about how and why resistance exercise contributes to fat loss. Based on the questions I get, it seems a lot of people still think that weight training only works for building muscle, or that you need to use light weights and high repetitions to "shape and tone" your body. Neither of these beliefs is true.

In this report, you'll discover how and why resistance exercise helps you lose fat and what kind of results to expect.

The Myth About Muscle And Your Metabolic Rate

According to Adam Zickerman, author of Power of 10: The Once-a-Week Slow Motion Fitness Revolution, "three extra pounds of lean muscle burns about 10,000 extra calories a month."

Zickerman also says that three extra pounds of muscle "burns as many calories as running 25 miles a week, or doing 25 aerobic workouts a month without leaving your couch."

How to Reveal Your Abs

Imagine you are a Hollywood film star. One of the most famous actors in the world. You've just been offered the lead role in the latest blockbuster movie. It's the biggest film you've ever done and will make or break your career.

Last month, the producers told you to get in shape in preparation for the role. So, you've been going to the gym every day for the last four weeks in a bid to gain some muscle and burn off a few pounds of excess fat

But there's only one problem...

Filming starts in eight weeks... you feel under intense pressure to look the part... there are literally millions of dollars riding on the way you look... and you haven't lost a single pound of fat!

What's going on?

Is Caffeine Making You Gain Weight?

Give up red meat... stop cooking your vegetables and eat them raw... cut out butter. Everywhere you turn, it seems like somebody, somewhere is telling you to give up something you enjoy.

The latest item on the hit list of the food police is caffeine. Why? Recent reports show that caffeine raises both blood sugar and insulin levels. This leads to temporary signs of insulin resistance, which is linked with the development of type II diabetes and heart disease. Some people also think that insulin resistance makes you gain weight.

Must-Read Facts about Water and Weight Loss

You've heard it a thousand times: To stay healthy, drink plenty of water.

Because your body consists mostly of water (50-70% of body weight), fitness magazines, newspapers and diet gurus all recommend we drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses (roughly 1.9 liters) of water a day.

According to conventional wisdom, your performance in the gym suffers if you don't drink enough water. But up until the late 1960s, athletes were advised not to drink during exercise. Experts at the time believed that it made athletic performance worse rather than better [4].

"Whatever the water is, tap or bottled, we need to drink more water," says Dr. Barbara Levine, director of the human nutrition program at the Rockefeller University in New York City. "People are drinking far too much alcohol and caffeinated beverages, which are dehydrating," she says.

Such advice is considered common knowledge, and many articles in the medical and popular press make similar recommendations.

According to a report published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, to be well hydrated, the average sedentary adult man "must consume at least 2,900 milliliters (12 cups) fluid per day, and the average sedentary adult woman at least 2,200 milliliters (9 cups) fluid per day, in the form of noncaffeinated, nonalcoholic beverages, soups, and foods" [9].

Other experts disagree, recommending that one should only consume water "when thirsty."

Why all the conflicting and confusing information? Is it true that water can help you lose weight? Can it, as some claim, reduce your risk for heart disease?

Just how much water do you really need?

Fat and How to Burn More of It

Fat is almost a national obsession. Losing fat. Trying not to get fat. Avoiding food with fat in it. It should come as no surprise that most people want to find activities and exercises that burn the most fat.

According to conventional wisdom, exercise at a moderate intensity — such as walking or cycling — puts your body in a so called fat burning "zone."

Many cardiovascular exercise machines even have special fat burning programs, which change the difficulty level of the exercise depending on your heart rate. This is based on the fact that your body burns less fat as your exercise intensity increases, such as when you move from a walk to a run.

Although it sounds great in theory, the whole idea has one big flaw that renders it completely irrelevant for anyone who wants to lose weight. Read on, and I'll explain exactly how to burn fat faster without wasting time in the gym.

Is Cortisol Making You Fat?

The list of things to blame for the rise in obesity over the last few decades continues to grow.

First, we were told it was fat that was making us fat. Then, it was carbohydrate. Faulty genetics — even an obesity virus — have also been identified as potential culprits. The next contender is cortisol, a hormone released by your body in response to stress.

The idea that cortisol promotes weight gain is based on research showing a link between stress, cortisol and abdominal fat.

However, it's a myth that cortisol alone is making you fat.

The link between stress, cortisol and fat is not as simple as you've been led to believe.