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I recently sent out an article about holiday weight gain to subscribers of my Fat Loss Bible Newsletter. After receiving much positive feedback, I figured I’d also share it with my blog readers. Here’s the article in it’s entirety (BTW, if you would like to receive my Fat Loss Bible Newsletter, simply visit AnthonyColpo.com and sign-up - it’s free!):

Avoiding Holiday Weight Gain

Most of us eagerly look forward to Christmas, but there is one aspect of the holiday season that most people aren’t so keen on: weight gain!

With lots of food and drink on offer, it’s no surprise the festive season is associated with expanding waistlines. According to a 2000 National Institutes of Health report, Americans gain less weight over the winter holidays than is commonly believed. While most people believe they gain 5 pounds or more during the winter holiday period from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, the actual average weight gain is 1.08 pounds.

That might not sound like a whole lot, but repeated on annual basis this weight gain may be a major contributor to the increase in body weight that often occurs during adulthood. And if you are already overweight or obese, even a small amount of fat gain is a further ominous step in the wrong direction.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Here are some tips to let you experience the joys of the festive season without experiencing unwanted weight gain.

1. Learn How to Say “No”.

This might seem rather obvious, but it’s often the basics that are most overlooked. The fact is that you are ultimately responsible for what goes into your mouth. If you’ve already eaten your fill or are offered foods that you know are counterproductive to your weight and health goals, then simply say the following two magical words: “No thanks”.

C’mon, you’re a grown up now! Take responsibility for your own actions and don’t let anyone pressure you into eating or drinking when you don’t want to. Trust me, if you politely decline food that you know you shouldn’t be eating, no-one’s going to physically attack you or send you to Outer Siberia to spend the rest of your days in exile.

When your host is attempting to pile even more food onto your plate, don’t just offer a verbal decline - it’s important to institute a physical impediment as well. Relax, I’m not about to suggest body-slamming Auntie Grace. Simply extend your arm over your plate and tactfully make the stop motion with your hand. If you offer only verbal protestations, your host may go ahead and heap more food onto your plate. And then what do you think will happen? That’s right - you’ll end up eating it, even when you know full well that you’ve eaten your fill already!

2. Stop Making Excuses

People often attempt to quell the inner voice that warns against holiday overindulgences by using rationalizations such as:

“It’s only for a couple of weeks during the Christmas break. I’ll make up for it in the New Year.”

“It’s the holidays and I’m going to enjoy myself. Hey, I’ve earned it!”

“How can I possibly control my weight with all the food and drink on offer? Everyone puts on a little weight over the holidays, right?”

“If I refuse food or drink, I’ll feel like a party pooper”.

These are all excuses, and none of them even begin to change the fact that you do have a choice and that you do have control over your own actions. Kidding yourself didn’t work last year, and it won’t work now!

3. Eat Until You Are Satiated - and No More!

Slow down your pace of eating. Not only will this allow you to more fully savor the taste and texture of your food, but it will give your stomach a chance to tell you when it is full. Eating at a rapid pace will make it much more likely that you will eat too many calories before the satiety signals start kicking in. When you do reach the feeling of satiety, stop eating. If you look back in time, I’m sure you’ll agree that the most memorable meals were not the ones where you ate too much - they were the ones where you ate to the point of pleasant satiation and no more.

4. Stick to the ‘Single Plate’ Rule

At festive gatherings, there’s often a smorgasbord of tempting foods on offer. Attempting to sample all the different delicacies while maintaining your usual serving sizes is a recipe for disaster.

If you don’t want to miss out on Mother’s lovingly roasted turkey, Grandma’s legendary lasagna, or Auntie Sandra’s mouth-watering cheesecake, then go ahead and enjoy them all. Just make sure that you eat smaller amounts of each than normal!

To facilitate this goal, use the single plate rule: load up one plate, and only one plate, with food - as you would for a typical meal. That way, you will be forced to place smaller amounts of the various foods on your plate.

5. Avoid Calorie-Containing Beverages

Along with an abundance of food, the festive season is marked by a steady flow of calorie-containing beverages: beer, wine, champagne, spirits, fruit punch, soft drinks, and fruit juices.

Calorie-containing beverages are the Trojan Horses of weight gain. While quenching your thirst with these beverages may seem perfectly innocent and harmless, the truth is that they are sneaking extra calories into your body. And study after study has shown that the body does not compensate for these extra calories by reducing subsequent food intake. You continue to eat just as much as ever, making fat gain a very likely outcome.

Play it safe and stick to the refreshing calorie-free fluid humans were designed to drink - water! And if you’re one of these self-conscious types who worries what others will think, ask for fashionable and “hip” forms of H20 like soda water or mineral water. That way, you can stay hydrated and skip the unwanted calories, without feeling like an outcast.

6. Make Good on Your New Year Resolution to Get in Shape!

Weight loss is probably the most popular of all New Year’s resolutions. It’s also the one most likely to never be fulfilled. One major reason is because most folks really don’t know how to effectively go about losing weight.

Shameless plug: The Fat Loss Bible is a foolproof step-by-step guide to stripping unwanted chub from your body! It destroys all those nonsensical diet myths that have led you astray over the years, then shows you exactly what you need to do - in step-by-step fashion - to finally make your fat loss dreams a reality. Don’t believe me? Fine - try the program for 8 full weeks, and if it doesn’t help you lose a chunk of weight then I’ll cheerfully refund every last penny - no questions asked!

Find out for yourself why people are enthusiastically praising The Fat Loss Bible simply by clicking here:

http://www.thefatlossbible.net/

For those of you who already have The Fat Loss Bible, now is the perfect time to download the most recent expanded version (all updates are free for current customers), and read through it again to reinforce in your mind exactly what you need to do to start melting away that ugly body fat!

Wishing you all a Merry Xmas and a very safe, happy New Year,

Anthony.

by Anthony Colpo.

The creator of the popular “Kimkins” diet has been exposed as a grossly overweight-and-out-of-shape pretender posing as a diet guru.

The creator of the Kimkins diet ‘Kimmer’ is in fact Heidi Diaz who weighs in at a hefty 300 pounds. The widely-publicized picture of the attractive girl that was supposedly the ‘new’ dieted-down Kimmer was in fact taken from a Russian mail order bride web site.

Left: The Kimmer that never was.

On FOX’s The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, former Kimkins dieter and spokesperson Christin Sherburne revealed having to admit herself into an emergency ward after experiencing severe heart palpitations. Other side effects from the extremely low-calorie/low-carb/low-fat diet, which Sherburne describes as “Atkins meets anorexia”, included hair loss, dizzy spells, menstrual disturbances, constipation, and nausea.

The Morning Show footage can be viewed at the following links:

Kimkins Diet Scam On FOX’s The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet Pt 1

Kimkins Diet Scam On FOX’s The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet Pt 2

Kimkins Diet Scam On FOX’s The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet Pt 3

Kimkins Diet Scam On FOX’s The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet Pt 4

Folks, when you come across someone pushing a starvation-style diet, promptly push yourself in the opposite direction. Semi-starvation diets that involve absurdly low calorie intakes are not an intelligent weight loss strategy, especially when undertaken without close medical supervision.

By Anthony Colpo.

I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Mark McManus from MuscleHack.com. The interview covers such topics as:

• The single most important ingredient for long-term fat loss and training success;
• Why low-carbohydrate diets are not taken seriously by the health and medical establishment;
• The fallacy of metabolic advantage dogma (MAD);
• The blatant double-standard displayed by Michael Eades (co-author of Protein Power) and his followers;
• My own training and supplementation.

The interview can be accessed simply by clicking the following link:

http://www.musclehack.com/theyre-all-mad…//

Enjoy!

Anthony.

By Anthony Colpo.

The term “metabolic advantage” was first popularized by the late Dr. Atkins, who claimed in his best-selling book that a person could gain weight on a high-carb diet of 2,000 calories yet lose weight on a low-carb diet of 2,000 calories. Metabolic advantage dogma, which bears the highly appropriate synonym of MAD, basically insists that by following a low-carb diet, one can lose weight on calorie intakes that on a high-carb diet would not produce fat loss or would even cause fat gain.

This is nonsense.

Over the last four decades, researchers have repeatedly tested the metabolic advantage theory in the most tightly controlled manner possible – that is, in metabolic ward studies – and it has repeatedly shown itself to be a dud. As The Fat Loss Bible clearly explains, when low- and high-carb diets of equal caloric content are compared under strictly controlled metabolic ward conditions, there is no difference in fat loss.

I recently created a new e-book called They’re All MAD. It’s a very revealing, no-holds-barred exposé of the MAD movement that highlights the scientific untenability of the claims made by folks like Michael Eades (co-author of Protein Power), Gary Taubes (author of Good Calories, Bad Calories), and the research duo of Richard Feinman and Eugene Fine.

I had originally intended it to be exclusively available only to purchasers of The Fat Loss Bible, but I am so appalled by the antics of the metabolic advantage movement, I have decided to make it freely available.

You can download the book FREE of charge simply by clicking the following link:

http://www.thefatlossbible.net/They_Are_All_Mad.pdf

Feel free to spread this PDF (in its original form) far and wide. MAD is a sham, and it’s time more people were exposed to the truth.

Enjoy,

Anthony.

By Anthony Colpo.

Fat loss supplement manufacturers will hate me for saying this, but it has to be said: Most of their products are worthless junk.

And even when their products do produce fat loss, the effect is typically so small that most people simply wouldn’t notice any difference. Nor would most folks part with their hard-earned cash if they truly knew the miniscule results they could expect.

To illustrate my point, let’s take a quick look at three supplements currently being hyped for their alleged fat-burning properties: CLA, green tea, and Hoodia Gordonii.

CLA Makes Your Wallet Slimmer

A recent and widely publicized paper published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition concluded that conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) “does have a beneficial effect on human body composition.” Sounds great, until you look closely at the results. After averaging the results from various CLA trials, the authors concluded that CLA at a daily dose of 3.2 grams resulted in an average reduction in fat mass of 90 grams a week [1]. At that snail-like pace, it will take you 3 months to shed a single kilo!

The longest-running double-blind trial compared the effects of two different CLA supplements (at a daily dose of 4.5 grams) with a placebo. After 12 months, the average body fat changes in the CLA groups were - 1.7 and - 2.4 kilograms, compared to +0.2 kilograms in the placebo group [2]. For a trial that lasted a full year, these results are miniscule! Most people adhering to an intelligently structured diet and exercise program can easily lose this amount of fat in less than 2 weeks!

If you think the piddling fat loss effects of CLA are worth parting with hundreds of dollars, then go for it. If not, leave the CLA supplements on the shelf and get your intake of this fatty acid the way nature intended – from animal fats. Fat from grass-fed animals, by the way, has a higher CLA content than that from grain-fed animals [3,4].

Green Tea – Drink it For Health, Not Weight Loss

Green tea has received a lot of press over the last decade, and deservedly so. An increasing volume of research suggests that this antioxidant-packed beverage possesses a whole host of important health benefits, including protection against cancer.

While the health benefits of green tea may hold much promise, don’t let anyone convince you that drinking tea is the answer to your fat loss dreams. Such a claim is little more than untenable hyperbole.

Much commotion was caused by a study published in a 2005 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that reported increased fat loss in men consuming a high-potency tea extract. Those who bothered to read the study for themselves quickly realized the results were little to be excited about.

For twelve weeks a group of Japanese men consumed, in double blind fashion, one bottle daily of a “high-strength” oolong tea mixture or a bottle of low-strength oolong tea (oolong tea is produced by halting the fermentation process before the leaves are fully blackened, resulting in a beverage that is ‘between’ green and black tea).

After 12 weeks, the men drinking the high potency oolong tea shed 1.4 kg of fat compared to 700g in the control group. Waist circumference decreased 3.4 cm in the treatment group, and 1.1 cm in the control group [5]. It goes without saying, but to lose an extra 700 grams of fat over 3 months is hardly an earth-shattering result. Folks, we’re not exactly talking a dud-to-stud transformation here!

It should also be mentioned this study was conducted by the same company who produced and marketed the tea extract. Other trials, conducted by Dutch researchers, have failed to confirm a fat loss effect from green tea [6,7].

Green tea is a pleasant and potentially healthful beverage. Just don’t expect it to help you lose a whole lot of weight, as current clinical evidence suggests the results will range from minimal to none.

Hoodwinked by Hoodia?

Hoodia is currently being vigorously marketed as an appetite suppressant. I went looking for supportive data and could only find research showing that rats injected or tube-fed with a glycoside extracted from Hoodia subsequently reduced their caloric intake and lost weight [8,9]. What this means for humans taking oral Hoodia supplements is anyone’s guess; I couldn’t find any studies examining its use in real live humans. In other words, all the Hoodia hype is predicated entirely on rodent research.

Readers should be very careful when extrapolating the results of animal research onto humans; calcium and DHEA, for example, produce significant weight loss in rodents but have no such effect in healthy Homo sapiens. Save your money until it can be proven that Hoodia produces meaningful fat loss in humans.

Show Me the Research!

When presented with hyperbolic fat loss claims from supplement marketers and media outlets, you should always ask the following question:

“Where’s the tightly controlled clinical research with real live humans to support these claims?”

If the aforementioned sources cannot provide you with any such research, then keep your money in your pocket and treat any future claims these folks make with the utmost suspicion. If these sources can provide you with concrete research citations, seek them out and read through the studies for yourself. See whether the results truly justify the fuss being made, or whether they are worthy of nothing more than a great big yawn. With online resources such as Pubmed and nutritional/medical journal web sites, this task is actually a lot easier than it sounds. The few minutes you take to do this could easily save you hundreds of dollars.

[Shameless plug: For a more extensive review of fat loss supplements, be sure to check out The Truth About Weight Loss Supplements, which is FREE with every copy of The Fat Loss Bible!]

References
1. Whigham LD, et al. Efficacy of conjugated linoleic acid for reducing fat mass: a meta-analysis in humans. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, May, 2007; 85 (5): 1203-1211.
2. Gaullier JM, et al. Conjugated linoleic acid supplementation for 1 y reduces body fat mass in healthy overweight humans. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Jun, 2004; 79: 1118-1125.
3. Dhiman TR, et al. Conjugated linoleic acid content of milk from cows fed different diets. Journal of Dairy Science, Oct, 1999; 82 (10): 2146-2156.
4. French P, et al. Fatty acid composition, including conjugated linoleic acid, of intramuscular fat from steers offered grazed grass, grass silage, or concentrate-based diets. Journal of Animal Science, Nov, 2000; 78 (11): 2849-2855.
5. Nagao T, et al. Ingestion of a tea rich in catechins leads to a reduction in body fat and malondialdehyde-modified LDL in men. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Jan 2005; 81: 122-129.
6. Diepvens K, et al. Effect of green tea on resting energy expenditure and substrate oxidation during weight loss in overweight females. British Journal of Nutrition, Dec, 2005; 94 (6): 1026-1034.
7. Kovacs EM, et al. Effects of green tea on weight maintenance after body-weight loss. British Journal of Nutrition, Mar, 2004; 91 (3): 431-437.
8. MacLean DB, Luo LG. Increased ATP content/production in the hypothalamus may be a signal for energy-sensing of satiety: studies of the anorectic mechanism of a plant steroidal glycoside. Brain Research, Sep 10, 2004; 1020 (1-2): 1-11.
9. van Heerden FR, et al. An appetite suppressant from Hoodia species. Phytochemistry, Oct, 2007; 68 (20): 2545-2553.

By Anthony Colpo

Magnesium could quite possibly be the most important nutritional supplement you will ever take. Without magnesium, you can’t produce adenosine tri-phosphate (ATP), the substance that every cell in your body ultimately uses for energy.

Magnesium has a huge impact on healthy heart function. Deficiencies of this mineral have been implicated in hypertension, atherosclerosis, cardiac arrhythmia, and deadly heart attacks. Low magnesium intake has also been linked to diabetes, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, cramping, and exaggerated harmful responses to stress.

Clearly, magnesium is one nutrient you definitely do not want to skimp on - but that’s exactly what most people do. A survey by the Centers for Disease Control found that most American adults have a woefully inadequate magnesium intake. Per day, on average, Caucasian men get only 352 mg, African-American men get only 278 mg, Caucasian women get only 256 mg, and African-American women get only 202 mg. These amounts are well below the minimal recommended daily allowance of magnesium - 420 mg for men and 320 mg for women.

Many of you eating a “healthy” diet may think you are getting enough magnesium. The chances are you are not. And it could be holding back your performance in the gym. When a group of subjects were placed on a leg-training regimen for 7 weeks, those supplementing with magnesium experienced a 26% increase in leg torque, compared to only 11% in the control group. During the study, the combined intake of dietary and supplemental magnesium averaged 504 mg in the treatment group; the total magnesium intake in the control group was a paltry 247 mg[2].

Brazil nuts, pumpkin seeds, halibut, molasses, tomato paste, spinach, artichokes, cashews, and almonds are some of the foods that are high in magnesium. But the best way to ensure optimal intake is with supplements. Avoid the oxide form of magnesium, as it is often poorly absorbed by the body. Instead, use magnesium citrate, aspartate, chloride, or malate. My personal favorite is nigari, a Japanese seawater extract that is rich in magnesium chloride. Mix the nigari with water and drink it throughout the day.

Gradually increase your daily dose of magnesium until you notice a loosening of your stools. When this occurs, decrease the dosage slightly and maintain.

References

1. Ford ES, Mokdad, AH. Dietary Magnesium Intake in a National Sample of U.S. Adults. Journal of Nutrition, 2003; 133: 2879-2882.

2. Brilla LR, Haley TF. Effect of magnesium supplementation on strength training in humans. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Jun, 1992; 11 (3): 326-329.

By Anthony Colpo.

Weight loss has to be one of the most talked-about topics in the world. Much of this abundant discussion is centered around ‘miracle’ diets, ‘fat-burning’ supplements, and ‘time-saving’ exercise gadgets.

There is, however, a crucial aspect of weight loss that receives far too little attention. This aspect of weight loss is every bit as important as diet and exercise.

I’m talking about the mental aspect of attempting to lose weight.

I know, I know - the psychosocial aspect of weight loss isn’t exactly considered a sexy subject. Everyone wants to ‘discover’ the hottest new diet, or learn about some new fat loss pill that will magically make their excess chub melt away.

However - no matter how well-designed your weight loss program - if your mental outlook is all wrong, then significant and lasting weight loss simply won’t happen.

Over the years, I’ve observed that people who take stock of possible future obstacles before attempting to lose weight tend to do far better than those who just fly in blind. It’s not enough to rush out and buy the latest fat loss book, get excited by the author’s hype, and plunge straight in. Losing weight is an important endeavor, and should be treated accordingly.

If you are about to engage in an attempt to lose weight, have you stopped to consider how you will handle the following common scenarios:

• Negative emotions (e.g., eating when sad or anxious)?
• Availability (e.g., eating when food is readily available, such as at a party)?
• Social pressure (e.g., declining food when others are encouraging eating)?
• Eating away from scheduled mealtimes and when not truly hungry (e.g., eating when watching television or sitting at your computer)?
• Disparaging remarks from co-workers/friends/family who (though they won’t admit it) feel threatened/jealous by your new weight loss and exercise efforts?

If not, then you need to do so right away, because all of these obstacles can easily sabotage your chances of success. Don’t be like the overconfident fighter who underestimates his opponent, cruises through his fight preparation in a half-hearted manner - and then gets his butt kicked.

If you want to win the war on fat, then do some pre-fight planning to ensure you emerge the victor.

And be very careful who you take your advice from. Most commentators in the weight loss arena truly have no idea what they are talking about. Despite a complete lack of scientific evidence, famous diet ‘gurus’ still insist on claiming that, at equal caloric intakes, eating low-carb/ketogenic/low-fat/vegetarian diets/[insert other flavor-of-the-month diet here], or eating one meal a day, or eating six meals a day, or avoiding carbs after 6pm, or eating a small dinner, will speed up your metabolism and accelerate weight loss. Those who’ve read The Fat Loss Bible will know that all these claims rapidly disintegrate when held up to tightly controlled scientific scrutiny.

Following the wrong advice really can mess with your head. A study in a 1984 issue of Appetite examined the mental changes that occurred in women participating in a weight loss trial of Evening Primrose Oil (for those wondering, EPO showed no such benefit). The study was conducted by a hospital obesity clinic and, as well as examining the effect of EPO, the researchers also collected data on mood change.

What they observed will probably come as no surprise to battle-weary dieters: weight loss was associated with improved mood state, while weight gain was associated with increased psychological disturbance.

These associations were strongest for patients who were new to the clinic, as opposed to refractory patients, and for patients who were initially depressed, as opposed to those who were not. The researchers warned that new patients can have “a swift psychological response to even minor changes in weight and that, because of a risk of increasing depression, particular attention should be given to obese patients who fail to show any weight loss.”[1] A more recent review of the literature found that successful weight loss can indeed produce positive changes in self-esteem[2].

Because the outcome of weight loss attempts can have very real and lasting impacts on a person’s mental outlook, those who give weight loss advice have an obligation to dispense only the most scientifically sound information available. Sadly, that responsibility is shirked by the majority of those participating in the lucrative weight loss industry today.

References

1. Weighill VE, Buglass D. Weight change and psychological state in obese women. Appetite, Jun, 1984; 5 (2): 95-102.
2. Blaine BE, et al. Weight Loss Treatment and Psychological Well-being: A Review and Meta-analysis. Journal of Health Psychology, 2007; 12: 66-82.

By Anthony Colpo.

Do you consume a post-workout recovery drink after your weight training sessions? If the answer is no, then you’re missing out on a highly effective strategy for accelerating recovery and maximizing strength and muscle gains.

Numerous studies have shown improved recovery and training progress from consuming drinks containing protein (either in the form of whey or an essential amino acid mix rich in BCAAs) and carbohydrates right after training.

Unfortunately, many athletes on low-carb diets refuse to take in carbs during or after training, for fear that post-workout carbs will promote fat storage, suppress growth hormone (GH) release or otherwise harm their health. Those of you who have read The Fat Loss Bible will know that these fears are misplaced, as numerous studies have shown post-workout carbohydrates do not promote fat gain or suppress GH release. In fact, some studies have found that post-workout carbs increase subsequent GH release!

After a workout that causes any meaningful degree of glycogen depletion, incoming carbs are fast-tracked to the muscles where they are used to restore glycogen levels. Taking in carbs right after training can temporarily double the rate of glycogen replenishment.

Post-workout carbs may offer another important benefit to those who seek to maximize the ratio of muscle to fat on their physiques. By causing a spike of the anabolic hormone insulin at just the right time, post workout carbs can improve the ability of your protein or amino supplements to minimize muscle breakdown and accelerate new muscle protein synthesis. In other words, they can help you build new muscle faster!

A recent study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology compared the effect of ingesting carbohydrate or carbohydrate + essential amino acids (EAAs) during weight training workouts. Over a period of 12 weeks, 32 untrained young men performed weight training twice a week. During each workout they consumed a mean 675 ml of either a 6% carb (Gatorade) solution, a 6 g EAA mixture (Musashi EAA formula), a combined CHO + EAA supplement, or a placebo.

Unlike previous studies where the drinks were consumed before and/or after training, the subjects in this trial were instructed to consume their drink during the weight sessions. Consumption was spaced evenly throughout the workout, with the subjects sipping on the drink between each set.

After 12 weeks, the carb + EAA group experienced the greatest increase in lean mass and muscle fiber cross-sectional area. While those in the placebo group gained 1.8 kg of lean mass, the carb + EAA group gained 4.1 kg (around 1kg more than either of the EAA or carb-only groups).

The Carb + EAA group also experienced the greatest increase in leg press strength.

If your goal is maximum muscle and strength, then ditch the carb-phobia. Controlled clinical research, as opposed to the hyperbolic rantings of famous diet gurus, shows that the protein/carb combination during and after training can boost your training results.

Source: Bird SP, et al. Independent and combined effects of liquid carbohydrate/essential amino acid ingestion on hormonal and muscular adaptations following resistance training in untrained men. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2006; 97: 225–238.