Have a look at the video below for some ideas on food for fat loss…
Sample Fat Loss Workout
I have put the sample workout below for you, this is similar to the workouts we do on week 1 at bodyfit academy.
The 6 exercises are as follows:
1. Squats
2. Jumping jacks
3. plank (straight arm)
4. Isometric squat
5. Burpees
6. High knees (jogging on spot)
The warm up and cool down are included in the video and the main workout is 30s work then 30s rest x 4 rounds. Just follow along to the video 
P.S. Let me know how you get on with it and how it felt, just drop a comment below
Sleep!
Now, before I get started I just want to say that this isn’t one of those ‘wake up slim by taking this magic pill’ type of things. Just facts around fat loss and how sleep will actually boost it!
Numerous scientific studies have investigated the connection between fat loss and sleep. The results are very interesting and it is something you need to know, especially if your looking for getting the most out of fat loss. You cannot get optimum fat loss just by doing one thing like changing your nutritional plan or starting a training programme.
Sure, by doing those things currently you will get fat loss but were talking optimum fat loss. There are so many parts to the equation when it comes for that, here are just a few components (not in any specific order):
- Resistance training
- Having the right mindset
- Supplements
- Interval training
- Sleep protocols
- Clean nutrition plans
- Carb cycling
- Intermittent fasting
- Metabolic conditioning
- Hormone manipulation
Anyway, today I am just going to have a brief look at sleep. A lack of sleep can affect things like your metabolism, insulin sensitivity, appetite control and energy levels.
Now, insulin resistance is the one you may be a little confused with. So, if you suffer from insulin resistance, it basically means your body has to produce extra insulin to lower your blood sugar levels. Insulin is a hormone, which is released to bring down the sugar levels in your blood from the foods you have eaten by storing the excess sugar as FAT. This insulin resistance happens because your insulin receptors become less sensitive to insulin, so you need to produce more to have the same effect.
Sleep loss can create an appetite and craving for high GI carbs (which will bring up blood sugar levels) and so, creating insulin resistance in the long term. This insulin resistance is obviously not a good thing, I will let you guess whether its good or bad for fat loss.
Cortisol, your stress hormone, will stop fat loss when elevated as it directly influences blood sugar levels. Lack of sleep will influence cortisol levels. Cortisol should be high in the mornings and then start to drop throughout the day and be low at in the evening. Now, with many people, because of stress in everyday life, alcohol, caffeine etc. this is nor usually the typical case. Usually it is still high at night when it should be low which is not a good thing. A lack of sleep will also increase cortisol levels, one study has in fact shown a 37% rise in cortisol levels from 4 hours sleep.
It is not just the hormone cortisol which is disrupted due to poor sleep, it is also ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin is an enzyme produced by stomach lining cells which stimulates appetite. Leptin is a protein which is produced by fat cells and regulates fat storage in the body and also lets your brain know when you have eaten enough. These two play a role in appetite, fat loss and metabolism.
A lack of sleep causes low leptin and high ghrelin, basically meaning that you get more hungry and your less likely to stop eating when you should. A recipe for disaster when it comes to weight control. Now, of course, just because you eat a little more does not mean you can’t reduce body fat, it just boils down to what your eating. But, that’s another story for another day and I DO NOT recommend that you should count calories. Period.
I hope this helps you understand that a lack of a decent nights sleep can actually make you fat, and can definitely prevent you from burning fat when trying to lose inches and dress sizes.
The obvious question here you may be asking {!firstname_fix} is…
What can you do to have a good nights sleep?…
My top tips for a TOP nights sleep are as follows:
- Don’t wait up until late just to watch a TV programme – just record it
- Try to get 7-8 hours sleep, the best times would be from something like 10pm until around 6am
- Have a COLD shower before going to bed
- Have a cup of Tulsi Tea to help control your cortisol levels and have a GREAT nights sleep
- Look at Magnesium supplements if you struggle to sleep
- Turn your bedroom into a sleep inducing environment: Quiet, dark and cool
- Ditch the late night TV at least an hour before bed, especially the news so it does not fill your head with worry (stress = increased cortisol = fat storage)
- Ditch the caffeine and alcohol as they interfere with cortisol
- Get regular exercise
I hope this has taught you enough about sleep for you to seriously consider it an important part of your fat loss journey!
In summary…
Good Nights Sleep = Burn More Fat and Higher Energy Levels
Any questions then just get in touch and make sure you get a decent nights sleep at least 6 days a week for great recovery and ultimate fat burning!
Its EASY to get fat
I wanted to write a quick little piece on the fact that it is pretty easy to get fat these days. There are so many influencing factors to help you gain weight these days it can get pretty frustrating.
The thing that sparked this trail of thought this week was that I was driving and I seen one of those huge billboards where one of the leading supermarkets was advertising some microwave meals for JUST £1.
Immediately I just found it a little bit frustrating for a number of reasons…
Firstly, just think of the QUALITY of the food that’s in there, it has to be made, packaged, stuff added to preserve shelf life, packaged, delivered AND be sold to make a profit. So, were probably taking 40-70p to make this thing, then sold to people to make a profit…all on £1!!!
Now, tell me that you already know that the quality of this food is absolute frickin’ horrible, right? I mean, stuff you microwave is asking for trouble anyway, but even if you put them in the oven (which probably less than 1% of people actually do) they are still have poor nutritional value. You would be better off eating the packaging it came in!
The second thing is that sure, many people will actually know that they are not good for you, some may even know the real truth and know HOW bad they actually are, but a lot of people may not have a choice because they just need to be buying it because its cheap.
I used to be the same! Back when I was in Uni I used to be a student meal freak…while studying my Sports Science Degree…not too good right? But, that was back in the day…I don’t do it any more!
You wouldn’t put chip pan oil in your car to run it would you? In fact, if anything goes wrong with your car most people would panic and want it fixing straight away…nothing but the best for your car! So why is your body any different?
Sure, I know it comes back to cost again, and most people think its expensive to eat healthy, but think about it for a second…your putting a price on your health. CRAZY!
Anyway, you can be surprised on how cheap it can actually be to eat healthy if your smart about it.
Now, that’s just one thing that makes it easy to gain lots of fat, cheap ready made, easy to ‘cook’ food.
Thing about some of the other obvious things like:
- The amount of added junk to foods, things like sugar, preservatives, things you cant even pronounce
- The fact that many foods which are promoted as being ‘healthy’ are actually not too good for you…things like cereal, milk, wheat etc.
- The lack of physical activity because of sedentary jobs being sat down all day
- The lifestyle that does not match our bodies, we get physically or mentally stressed, release cortisol to deal with the stress, which ultimately makes you store more fat around your belly
- Big companies are telling us their products are good for us when actually they are really bad! (It is beyond me how they are able to get away with it)
- Same thing goes for the training side too, things like those REDICULOUS ‘tone up’ shoes
- The lack of education about health and fat loss within the general public. That’s not anybody’s fault as an individual, but more the message that people get from the media etc. Most people want to lose weight, so they just reduce calories and then go jogging/Zumba. That’s probably the best way to either stay the same or put on more weight!
That’s pretty much it from me for now. I’m going to stop before I go on a serious rampage!
But, I hope it has opened your eyes a little, start making those small changes if you have not done so already.
I know its coming up to Christmas but do you really want to be gaining a huge amount of fat for the next 5 weeks and then just think its ok because come New Year you can set yourself that resolution of losing weight, just like most other people…and then not actually getting anywhere with it?
Or do you want to burn fat, prepare your body so you don’t pile it on over the holidays, have some treats over Christmas without gaining lots of fat and then having to worry about it so much?
I know which one I would do!
Keep it awesome!
Ben
Bulletproof Fat Loss
Here is a recording of the online seminar I did a couple of months back on how to become unstoppable when you are looking to drop body fat and get your body looking HOT!
Drop me a comment below to let me know what you thought of it
What the F*CK has fat loss got to do with zombies?…Part 1
As per the title, you may be spending hours each day wondering what fat loss has to do with zombies…well pretty lucky I done this blog post then isn’t it?!
Well, you may have seen the film Zombieland which is pretty cool, so if you haven’t then I suggest you get on it. Anyway, I have stolen the 32 zombie survival rules off that film to use and relate to fat loss! Im going to cover the first 16 here today, then the second half at a later date.
I have used the rules off the film which was listed on a website so they may not be 100% matching the film. But, then again its on the internet so it must be true 
WARNING: This list will may or may not help in a zombie attack but will help for fat loss (just have to mention this in case there are any court case trigger happy geeks reading this and decide to sue me for misleading info).
Rule #1: Cardio
Cardio sucks when it comes to fat loss. Its as simple as that.
Well, it does in terms of LSD training. By LSD I am talking long, slow distance training and nothing to do with drugs.
So, if you spend a lot of time jogging, swimming, cycling, x-trainer blasting, cardio classing etc. then you are not getting the most fat loss. The best way is HIIT…this is high intensity interval training, this will hit up EPOC which is excess post exercise oxygen consumption. This means your going to burn fat AFTER your workout for unto 48 hours, which is awesome!
Rule #2: Double Tap
For this one, it has to be super sets. Doubling up on exercises at the gym or in your workout is a great way to add intensity to your workout. So, instead of doing a couple of sets of an exercise and then moving onto another exercise to do a couple of sets on that one etc. you should double up!
So, do exercise 1, then pretty much straight to exercise 2 with little or no rest, then have your normal set rest then repeat your sets like this, so you are jumping back and forth between two instead of one exercise with rest between. The key is to work different muscle groups, so do an upper body and lower body exercise pair, or a pushing muscle group and a pulling muscle group pair.
Top 7 Tips To STORE More Belly Fat
Lets get straight into it…
…Here are my top 7 tips to STORE more belly fat and help develop your gut and your muffin top and gain a little more weight…
Number 1
Focus on training for more than 1 hour at a time. This will help your bodyrelease catabolic hormones which will break down muscle tissue and in turn slow down your metabolic rate. This is great to help you pile on the fat around your stomach.
A great option here is to do two classes back to back at the gym and then go for a swim taking a good two or three hours at the gym exercising. Burn up your muscle to really give your fat storage a boost…after all, less muscle means less tissue to burn fat so happy days!
Number 2
Only focus on doing isolated exercises and never do compound movements. This means forget the big energy burning exercises which use multiple joints and muscle groups like squats and press ups. Just focus on small movements which do not burn much energy like bicep curls and crunches. This training will give your body chance to store energy as fat instead of burning it for fuel.
Warm Up
This video below is a simple warm up you can do for a fat burning training session. It includes dynamic stretches and basic warm up exercises.
You should also do a secondary warm up specific to the exercises you will be doing in the main part of your workout but at a lower intensity.
The video below shows your warm up which can actually be done 3-4 times to make a really simple basic workout if you have not exercised in a long time. you only need to do this once if you are using it for a warm up or twice if you need a longer warm up.
