5 Foods To Avoid On A Weight Loss Diet

A good weight loss program should combine a balanced and nutritious diet with regular exercise. Most diets tell you what to eat and here we can include good sources of carbohydrates (whole grains, fruits and vegetables), proteins (lean meat, eggs, fish etc.) and healthy fats (avocados, olive oil, nuts), yet many of them don’t tell you what foods to avoid, foods that will definitely sabotage your hard work. And among them we can find highly processed aliments, products high in sugar or fat and foods that don’t bring any nutritional value to your body.

1. Simple Carbohydrates

Try to eliminate or reduce as much as possible foods that have a lot of sugar and refined flour, and here we can include all sweets, white bread and pastries. A simple doughnut has about 250 calories and a cookie bar almost 230 calories. Most of them come from unhealthy fats and do not offer any macro or micro-nutrients to your body.

2. Fast Food

The reason to avoid eating at fast foods is simple: most of their products are high in fat, salt or sugar and they have A LOT of calories. Not only they will ruin your weight loss diet, but can also cause serious health problems, including heart disease or diabetes.

3. Fat Meat

Try as much as possible to replace the fatty cuts of meat with lean meat. Many types of meat (especially the red ones) are high in saturated fats which may cause various heart problems. Consume chicken and fish and when you buy pork or beef look for the lean cuts, for sirloin or tenderloin.

4. Soft Drinks

An Unusual Interview with Vince del Monte - Pro Fitness Model & Skinny Guy Savior

We know him from all over the internet. He has thousands of videos, articles, fans as well as some great Fitness Programs. His name is Vince delMonte, also known as “The Skinny Guy Savior”. You can find many interviews out there asking him the basic questions related to his programs and his own body transformation, so for today we’ll ask him something totally different! 

1. How your love life has changed once you gained muscle? Were hot chicks all over you? :)

I probably have the most popular and publicized "skinny to muscular" transformation stories in the world.  A real “hard-gainer” – although I don’t really believe in that term anymore. “Hard gainers” often just are uneducated on what it takes to build a muscular physique.

Anyway, I was clearly the poster boy for all of the guys out there that can’t seem to gain weight and can’t get the girl.  I am sure you all know my nickname being “Skinny Vinny” in my younger days, and I am pretty sure it had something to do with the fact I weighed somewhere between 140 and 150 soaking wet! This nickname stuck with me through college.

Let me be the first to tell you, when you go from 150 to 190 pounds…EVERYTHING in your life changes. People starting looking at you and treating you differently – yes, “hot chicks” included.

2. How does it feel to be at the Yoga class surrounded by LOTS of women?

What a sweet deal! Just don’t tell my wife I said that. But seriously, it doesn’t really faze me. When I am working out – this includes Yoga –  I get in “the zone”. It is pretty hard to distract me at that point.

3. Being a little more serious now…how does your wife Flavia supports you with your career?

We complement each other well and this greatly helps both of our businesses.  Where I am more of the dreamer and entrepreneur, Flavia helps keep me on task and organized. It is great to be part of a relationship were our individuality allows us to become greater as a whole.

4. Which is your answer to people saying that since you’re working with Ben Pakulski you’re not as big and muscular as you used to?

Do You Need Muscle To Burn Fat? – The Truth About Toning

One of the most under-looked aspects of most weight loss programs is weight training. People don’t realize that muscle is very metabolically active, meaning that it burns calories 24/7, even while you sleep or watch TV. That’s right, you CAN burn fat in your sleep! And even if some weight loss programs include weight training, most people are afraid of having muscle…they are afraid of bulking up and becoming “too big” and they just want to “get toned”.

What they don’t realize is that being toned means having a good percentage of muscle mass and a small percentage of body fat. Being lean is what actually gives you that toned and sexy look. And building lean muscle  mass is REALLY difficult! You don’t just lift weights for a few times and suddenly become big. Those huge bodybuilders you see in magazines have been lifting heavy weights for many years and most of them are also using anabolic steroids. They would definitely laugh if they would hear a beginner saying that “building muscle is easy”.

The only case when you can become bulkier than you were before is if you don’t change your poor diet! If you gain muscle AND fat at the same time, of course you will look bigger and bulkier. But with a proper diet you can actually lose fat WHILE building lean muscle mass.

Weight Loss vs. Fat Loss

She Loves To Help Moms Get In Shape -- An Interview with Sumi

1. Let’s begin by saying a few things about yourself

I’m Sumi Singh and I’m a personal trainer in Austin TX, a group fitness instructor (boot camps, yoga, and dance), a fitness model and an online diet coach. I also write regularly for a bodybuilding blog and a supplement review site.

I have a Master’s Degree from Duke, and a Bachelor’s from Tufts. My 5-year old will tell you my actual job is “MOMMY!!!” So, I’m an all around bad-ass :)

2. For how long you’ve been working out and why you decided to start this journey?

I officially became hooked on fitness the moment I first laid hands on a set of my dad’s dumbbells when I was 12.  My family’s encouragement of my athletic endeavors took me on a fitness journey where I achieved several milestones: losing all the baby weight less than 2 months after a C-section and bench pressing my own body weight.

These proud moments are especially important to me as an Indian woman given the tendency of our culture to dismiss the value of athletic activities, and I am motivated to be a role model for everyone seeking healthier lifestyles. And as a single mom, I hope to encourage many moms to reach their fitness goals (and to defeat the many mommy excuses).

3. Tell us your favorite Fitness exercise!

What To Eat To Gain Muscle

When it comes to building muscle, nutrition is just as important as weight training! In order to gain muscle you must be in a caloric surplus, that means to eat more than your maintenance level and also according to how active you are (you can calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate here). Research has shown that subjects who ate more calories gained more muscle, but only to a certain extent. If you overdo it, you will also gain fat along the way and I’m sure you don’t want that. Eating a lot of junk food might help you gain weight, but not the one you are looking for (aka muscle). So that’s why it is important to eat quality, nutritious food commonly known as “clean food”. 

1. Lean Protein

One of the best sources of quality protein consists of lean cuts of meat. They contain about 7 grams of protein per ounce (25 grams per 100 grams, depending on the type of meat) and they will help you build lean muscle mass. Some of the best sources of lean protein include chicken, fish, turkey and lean beef.  

Combine them with eggs, milk, cottage cheese as well as vegetable protein and you will offer your body all the protein it needs to build new muscles. When eating too much food becomes difficult, you can definitely add a protein shake in the equation. And the best source is whey protein.

2. Complex Carbohydrates

They are the best type of carbs for building lean muscle because they are slowly digesting, offering a gradual release of energy (unlike fast absorbing carbs). They minimize fat gain and give you enough energy to train hard and to build new muscle. Sources of complex carbs include brown rice, sweet potatoes, yams, oats and whole grains (as well as derivate products such as: whole grain bread, pasta, macaroni, cereals etc).  

The only time when it is actually recommended to consume high-glycemic (fast absorbing) carbohydrates is immediately after your workout. This will replenish your energy, help with growth and recovery and will also spike insulin to deliver nutrients to the muscle. Sources include any type of sweets or foods high in sugar (and especially high in glucose), white bread and white potatoes.
 
3. Healthy Fats

Not only they offer high amounts of calories, but they are also healthy for your heart and can improve testosterone levels, which is great for building muscle. Sources of healthy fats include olive oil, avocados, peanut butter and different types of nuts and seeds – almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, cashew, peanuts, sunflower seeds, flax seeds etc.