One of the most important things when dieting has nothing to do with what you eat!!! It's knowing what you eat! Write everything down! It doesn't take that much time! Just carry a small notebook with you and write. If you have a good memory (which most of us don't) do it at night! This way you will know what works and what doesn't and you will know how many calories you are taking in!!

Let’s talk CALORIES!!! Some people don’t really get the importance of knowing how many calories you eat every day!!! It is essential to your new LIFESTYLE. Stop calling it a diet; you are just setting yourself up for failure! Whether you want to loose a few pounds, compete as bodybuilders, put on muscle mass, maintain your weight or even if you are an athlete getting ready for the Olympics!! Almost everyone saw the reports on Michael Phelps diet and the fact that he ate like 10,000calories a day!!! Now some people saw that and thought; wow how lucky, he can eat whatever he wants!! It goes way beyond that! See, he is has the best of the best watching over him and they know that if he wanted to sustain that level of training and win, he had to eat. Why? Because he was burning a ridiculous amount of calories a day! If he didn’t eat that much he would be eating his muscle up, feeling fatigue and feeling over trained.

With that being said most of us aren’t getting ready for the Olympics but we are trying to be as fit as possible!! That’s where websites like fitday.com come into play. You have to know how many calories your food has. That’s what is going to teach you the key to eating; basically PORTION CONTROL!!! I’ve had so many clients tell me, “JP, I eat healthy but I just don’t loose weight!! Well you could eat all the chicken and brown rice you want, but if you don’t know the portions you need to be having for yourself (not what your friend eats who looks great or your other friend who is on weight watchers) you will not lose weight. I know some of you think it’s a pain in the gluteus, but I guarantee that after a few weeks you will be looking at what you eat and drink totally different! Plus, once you do it a few times you’ll know what most of your foods contain! I mean really, how many of you get totally different things at the grocery store every time you go??? No one does! You basically get the same things (except for the time you get that dark chocolate or some other treat while you’re waiting in line!! Or is that just me, lol) Anyway, after a few weeks you will know, this 5oz chicken breast has 240 calories and this ¾ cup of veggies has 45! Also you have to measure the food a few times to see what ½ a cup really looks like. If you look at the back of the Oatmeal box most of them say 150cals for ½ a cup!! You’d be surprised what ½ a cup looks like!!! I know I was!

So get off the “DIET” and make this a new lifestyle!! It’s not that hard. It just takes a little effort. For those of you who have kids this is a great way to lead them down the right path in there life! Teach them portion control. Teach them how to make better choices. Life is all about CHOICES! Reward yourself and your kids if you want. If you eat good all week then have 1 cheat meal on Sunday! That will not break your progress but it will make you feel better. You might even notice that you don’t crave bad things that much anymore!!

So remember www.FITDAY.com! It’s free and easy!! NO EXCUSES! Also here are the formulas to calculate how many calories you need. Now remember this is to maintain your current weight. So drop it by 250-500 calories and see how you feel! You never want to eat under 1200! But that’s another post in itself. Also do yourself a favor and write everything down or use the log online. That way you know what’s working and what isn’t!! GOOD LUCK CUTNATION!

One of my hardest working clients spanish soap star Alejandro Chaban has such an inspirational story you can't miss out on....Check out our video ....

   
Alright CUT NATION; this is probably one of the most important components to your new lifestyle! Calories! How many do you take in? How many do you burn? Why do you need to know this?? Because simply put; it is the only way you will loose or gain weight!!!!


 Ok I’ve spent most of my adult life in the fitness world. Either trying to get bigger (which was very ego based when I was young) or trying to get ripped! I have tried hundreds of diets! Mediterranean diet, Atkins diet, South Beach diet, low carbs diet etc! I never really thought about calories. I thought ok, not eating carbs will help me loose weight and you know what; it did! I also started getting nose bleeds after 4 months of that and I lost tons of muscle! But why did it work! Well, the wrong carbs are high in calories so when I cut them out I cut my calories down as well. I was also doing an hour of long distance running in the morning and weight lifting in the afternoon. What happened; I went from 215 to 170 in 4 months but I didn’t have such a great 6 pack and with a shirt on I just looked skinny; hell even with my shirt off I still looked flat and soft!! That was not the look I was going for! The problem is that your body needs carbs!!!!! Your brain runs on carbs. Your workouts are fueled by carbs!! After that I put some weight on again. I trained my ass off. Those who know me, know how hard I train and I still couldn’t get ripped!!!!!!! I was so frustrated......

Now, I am not the only on with this problem. Look around you at the gym. You will see people that train 5 days a week for a year and they look the same if not worse! Now; even though some of that is due to lack of knowledge on training and how the body works; but the biggest reason is because people don’t know how to eat. I was included in this. “Oh but I eat salad and chicken breast’s,” to that I say, so what!!! So many people think that salads is the answer but then they put 5 tablespoons of dressing in it and up their 300 calorie salad to 800 calories in one serving!!!

 

OK so what do you do?? First you have to know how many calories you need to maintain your current weight and go under that! Here is a formula to help you with that! Common CUT NATION it will take you 2 minutes (with a calculator!!).
Formula Page

Let’s talk abs!


I got all your questions and everyone keeps asking about:

ABS, ABS, ABS!!! This is probably the area where I get the most questions actually. It’s the first thing I hear when I meet my clients for the first time. “So I want to loose this!!” and they grab there belly fat!! Or I’ll be in a training session and I’ll say, “Ok, now we’re going to do some sprints.” The client usually gives me the face of death and then asks, “Well are we going to do abs today?” Some people just don’t understand that most of the things they have learned about having a six pack are wrong!


Here are some of the 5 biggest myths when it comes to getting a six pack:


1. You need to do abs exercise to “get” Abs = You already have Abs!!!! They’re just covered by a layer of fat!....


2. You can get a six pack by working your Abs for 5 min a day = You can have the strongest Abs (core) in the world but that doesn’t mean you’ll see them! Again you have to remove the layer of fat that’s covering them!....


3. You can just loose your love handles = There is no ways to spot reduce!!! You have to loose body fat all over your body!....


4. You can do special exercises for your lower abs = NO, NO, NO, again you just haven’t lost enough fat to see all of the Abs!....


5. You can do thirty minutes of Abs work and you’ll be ripped = Your better off spending that time doing cardio. ....


I am not suggesting that doing Abs exercise is bad or that they are useless!! They are great to build strength in your core which helps immensely for all different types of back pain, posture, and overall strength. And they are great for sports. I’d say that in every sport it is advantageous to have a strong core!


So with that being said you might be asking yourself then how do I get six pack abs? First and for most diet!! You have to burn more calories than you take in!!!

Second is cardio or conditioning work. Cardio will help you burn those extra calories! Now cardio work really only refers to “cardiovascular exercise” like jogging or moving continuously for a certain amount of time. This is great for the heart and I recommend it for endurance type training also but it’s not the best for burning fat FAST. That’s where interval training comes in. So if you’re interested in learning more about interval training then stay tuned for my next blog!

Please keep the questions and comments coming!

Video Blog coming next week!

It will change your life......

Lift like if you were going to compete in a Strongman competition!! YES, even Women!

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All of you have probably seen a strongman competition at one time or another while channel surfing. You’ve see these guys; 6’5, 300lbs and they are usually lifting or pulling cars, throwing kegs, or holding incredible amounts of weight for a period of time. So what does that have to do with me you may ask? I don’t want to look like that!!!

 If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard, “I don’t want to lift heavy weight; I don’t want to get really big.” OK, LADIES, YOU WILL NOT GET HUGE OR BIG IN ANY WAY BY LIFTING HEAVY WEIGHTS!!! Yes, I put it in Caps because this might make the biggest difference in your physique.

Girls you just don’t have the hormones for huge muscle building! I’ll get into that in a later post.

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Now back to the strongman competitions. Ok, so most of us do not want to look like those guys.  However, you do want to lift heavy. Lifting heavy will constantly challenge your muscles. Remember muscles only change/grow to adapt to the demand that you are putting on it! 40 reps with 5lbs weights will not do the trick! If you can do more than 20 reps then it’s probably to light. If you can’t do at least 4 reps with no help then it’s too heavy! Ladies do not be afraid to grab those 10’s, 12’lbs or higher if you could. I guarantee that it will start giving you that hard toned look you’re going for.

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Guys you fall into this too. I have seen a lot of guys in the gym that just do the same weight day in and day out!! You are doing something wrong!!! If you are not going up in reps and you are doing the same exercise you’ve been doing for a few weeks then there is something wrong. Maybe you are not eating enough, or not resting enough for recovery, but something is wrong.

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So don’t be afraid of those weights!! But keep your form. For guys that means getting your ego in check and doing the weight you can lift with perfect form, no jerking movements! You will benefit more from it, trust me! Now for most of you lifting heavy means making a really funny faces (I am guilty of this) for others it’s grunting or screaming. If you are the type of person that is going to the gym to meet someone then the face thing might not work!! If you’re a girl the grunting will definitely not work!!  (LOL)  Lift hard and try to lift heavier every time!! Your body will change drastically. You will also see better fat burning effects from it because you have to work harder to lift heavier and in turn you will burn more calories!!!