Fat 2 Fit Radio

We have three great emails this week that don't have to do with calories.  Lyrissa wrote in asking about her sore tailbone.  She's getting down on the ground and doing crunches and it's killing her tailbone.  She wants to know how to do crunches without the pain.   Check out the links below for our alternate core exercises to replace the crunch.  Elsie wrote in asking about her problem.  Her problem, extremely low body fat.  She's hit the 13% body fat level and some  bad things are happening, in particular her menstrual cycle has stopped. We are put in the position of helping her gain fat!  Weird.  Okay, so there is one question on calories in a round about way.  Jennifer wants to know how many calories she should be eating because she found out she's newly pregnant.  We did a show completely about pregnancy, but we take this opportunity to go over how you'll gain weight during your pregnancy. On the Web Report, Russ talks about the benefits of eating grapefruit.  You all remember the grapefruit diet.  Well, there might have been something to that diet after all.  Jeff shares some studies about metabolism from the May Clinic.   Jeff has a second article to share about a woman in Canada that wrote her own obituary when she was put on a waiting list to have gastric bypass surgery. Links Mentioned in the Show: Core stability ball exercises Exercise ball workout Great abs without crunches Bodybuilding.com on crunches Fat 2 Fit #86 on Pregnancy Fat 2 Fit: Getting There & Staying There Slow Metabolism? Speed Up Metabolism 10 Weight Loss Tips Diet Doctor on grapefruit Woman writes her own obituary Best butt exercises 5 exercises better than crunches Recipe of the Week: Low-Carb Chicken Tenders Motivational Quote: "No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everybody on the couch."  - Unknown  

Toning your muscles seems like a reasonable thing to want to do.  Except, there's no such thing.  What most people are looking for when they want to "tone" is they want to see their muscles.  They want to know that the hard work their putting in at the gym is not going to waste.  That's the question Marilyn asked.  She concerned about her arms, butt and abs.  Who isn't? Goal weights are the topic of a lot of emails to the podcast.  Most want to know what their goal weight should be.  Jeff lays out the "how to" on finding your ideal goal weight.  It involves finding your lean body mass, subtracting that from your weight and then backing, well you better just listen to Jeff AND head over to our calculators.  It does the same calculation to find your Goal Weight.  All  of the methods, the one that Jeff describes, and the calculator, rely on an accurate reading of your body fat. Scott, an active duty Army officer (Thank you for your service!) wants to know if he should continue doing cardio AND weight training  or concentrate on just weight training now that he's hit 40.  If you're over-the-hill like Scott, you're going to want to listen real close to this answer.  The key is, do you want look good now or when you're 50? On the Web Report, Jeff has a story about a beauty queen, Bree Boyce.  She lost over 100 lbs. of weight and won the Miss South Carolina title.  We share some clips of a recent interview with Ms. Boyce as well.  Russ has an article about changing up your workout routine.  Now that it's sunny and warm pretty much everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, time to get out of the house and do your workout outside.  We've got a top 10 list of outdoor workout suggestions. Links Mentioned in the Show: Goal Weight Calculator BMI Guidelines Outdoor Fitness Top 10 Lose 110 lbs, become beauty queen Recipe of the Week: Grlled Vegetables Motivational Quotes: "The timing will never be perfect for you to pursue your dream, so you might as well start now." ~ Chris Voss "A year from now you may wish you had started today." - Karen Lamb

What do 5% of the weight losing population do that the other 95% don't?  How about keep the weight off.  That's right.  The statistics are staggering.  According to the article on Time.com, there are four secrets that those who've lost weight use to keep it off.  Those secrets are, eating a diet rich in low-fat proteins, following a consistent exercise program, rewarding yourself for dieting and exercising, and reminding yourself of why you need to keep weight off.  Hmmm?  That sounds too easy.  If  it is, then why do most gain the weight back?  Jeff goes after this article on the Web Report.  Also, Russ has an article from Scotland about a dog that lost a significant amount of weight because it's owner did the same.  There's that old saying that people tend to look like their pets.  Take a look at your pet and see if he resembles you.  Are you both overweight?  Maybe it's time you changed both your and your pets life. Emily wrote in asking about eating breakfast and how much was enough.  She doesn't want to exercise on a full stomach and wondered if she could just eat something light like an apple.  She also doesn't want to slow down her metabolism by eating too little in the morning.  What should she do?  Barbara had a similar question telling us that she doesn't want to "bonk" when working out. Jill asks about an article she saw on a UK news site about hidden sugars in diet soda.  While there are no actual sugars, the sweeteners could be tricking your body into thinking you ate them.  That act may make you feel hungry when you actually aren't.  Dump the diet soda! Rosa wants to weigh a certain amount by a certain day.  Sounds like she's starting off on the wrong foot.  Jeff doesn't give her great odds of maintaining any weight loss with this mindset.  She also wants to know about tracking calories and our must do's for losing weight.  You could call them Power Tips. Links Mentioned In The Show: Exercise on an empty stomach burns more fat Diet Drinks Make You Fat Diet Coke on Fat Guy Radio 2005 Diet Soda Study Keep the weight off You and your fat pets need to lose weight Recipe of the Week: Baked Parmesan Tomatoes Motivational Quote: “Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn’t.” - Erica Jong

The Weight Creep.  It's not a creature.  It's what happens when you eat just a few extra calories a day that you don't burn off.  Over many years those calories add up to more fat, more weight.  What foods help in feeding weight creep?  There's a new study out of Harvard that tracked almost 121,000 people over 20 years.  They listed the top foods that helped these people put on extra weight AND the foods that helped stave off the weight creep. Some fitness and weight loss myths just won't die.  CNN had a list of the top 10 that are the most often quoted, yet are not true.  A couple favorites from the list are Number 10) Your cardio machine is counting the calories you're burning. and 4) You can spot reduce for tight abs or toned arms. In the Email and Comments portion of the show, Sergio wrote in asking about a newsletter that Jeff himself gets.  It's called the Nutrition Action Health Letter.  Russ and Jeff go over a list of recent articles including one study that showed people were influenced by the names of foods. People ate more pasta when the menu called the pasta “Succulent Tuscany Pasta” instead of “Italian Pasta”.  Brian emails asking how he can eat all this food!?  he's eating clean, on the top two tiers of the food ladder, and is having a hard time eating all the calories that he knows he needs to.  He's not hungry, so what's he supposed to do?  He also wants to know if he should resort to commercial nutrition supplements to get some extra calories in his body. Links Mentioned in the Show: 10 Fitness Myths The Weight Creep Marathoner's Diet Nutrition Action Health Letter Recipe of the Week: Frozen Banana Ice Cream Roasted Garlic Cauliflower Motivational Quote: "Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change." - Jim Rohn

What is the best meal plan?  We've received that question a lot recently.  Joanne emailed to ask this exact question. People are looking for that one food, or foods, that will help them lose weight.  We don't recommend any certain meal plans, mostly because what we like, may not be what you like.  Plus, if you're a vegetarian or vegan, our advice on what to eat would do you no good.  What we do have is our recommendations of what foods, in general, that you should eat. Barb wrote in about the sizing decisions of the Chico chain of stores.  Instead of putting the true size of the clothing on their garments, they use an equivalency chart and lower the size.  For example, if you are a woman that wears a 16 normally, at Chico's you'll wear a size 3.  You read that right.  Not a typo. Our last email for this week comes in from listener Amanda.  She's following our advice and eating more calories...during the week.  On the weekend she is eating a few more calories while participating in family activities with her children.  Oh, and you'll pry her weekend beer from her cold, dead hand.  She's concerned that the extra calories on the weekend will put her over for the week.  She's right to be worried, but we have a solution. On The Web Report, Jeff runs down the list of ingredients on an A&W Root Beer Milkshake.  It's a behemoth that pack a whopping 1720 calories.  All these calories and very few actual ingredients that you or I would consider real food.  Russ examines the new MyPlate put out by the USDA and Michelle Obama.  While the thing was expensive, it will probably help a large number of people.  Listen to find out why. Links Mentioned in the Show: Chico's has weird sizes Food Ladder My Plate replaces My Pyramid Anatomy of a milkshake Find your perfect weight for optimal health Fat 2 Fit Facebook page Recipe of the Week: Chicken Schwarma Motivational Quotes: "RESPONSIBILITY: If you define a problem as out of your control you put yourself in a position of being powerless to solve it." - Gerald Musante "You must have long term goals to keep you from being frustrated by short term failures." - Charles C. Noble

The Holy Grail of transforming your body from fat to fit is shedding your excess fat and gaining some lean muscle. It was thought that one couldn't do it.  One requires a caloric surplus (gaining muscle) and one requires a caloric deficit (fat loss). Well a study on the Web Report says differently. Jeff reports on a study done that showed elite athletes, when eating at a moderate caloric deficit could gain lean muscle AND lose fat at the same time. While you're probably not an elite athlete, there is some good news in here for you as well. As well, Russ reports on a study about children of 2011 being far weaker than their counterparts 10 years ago. These children are more susceptible to becoming overweight and obese because of this lack of muscle. Jeff also shares a video link to some inspirational before and after pics. Russ as well shares a second link to some neat calculators on bodybuilding.com. They will pump you up! As far as emails go, we've got a couple good ones.  Ellie wrote in because she was concerned that her weight is going back up.  She lost a good amount of weight quickly and is now putting it back on.   Jeff goes over the common problems associated with quick weight loss and what you can do to fix it.  The second email is from Roddrick.  He just started his plan and wants to know about doing double cardio sessions.  Whoa there cowboy!  Time to start at the beginning.  It's not a race.  Apparently he listened to our episode on advanced weight loss techniques and decided that was the way to go from the word GO!  He is also apparently planning to have a weight loss plateau.  If you take one thing away from this episode, let it be this one thing.  You DO NOT have to plateau in your weight loss.  Sure, it might happen, but assuming it will happen is saying you're going to do this weight loss thing the wrong way and then fix it.  Start right, end right. Links Mentioned in the Show: Children weaker than a decade ago Body Building calculators Gain muscle & lose fat simultaneously Motivational video Recipe of the Week: Mockafoni & Cheese (It's for the low-carb people out there.) Motivational Quote: "If you are bored with life, if you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things-you don't have enough goals." - Lou Holtz (Courtesy of Betsey)

We flipped the show on it's head this week. Instead of a bunch of emails, we instead focused on some interesting news stories. We've got five of them for you, but we do have one email to share, and it's a great one from Rhonda. Rhonda's mother and sister are all over her to try this new weight loss shake called Visalus. They think that she should be losing weight faster and this shake is going to do the trick. Oh, and they get a kick back for everyone that she buys. And if she gets someone to buy Visalus, she will earn some cash as well. You guessed it, it's a weight loss shake pyramid scheme. It turns out Rhonda knows what to do to lose her excess weight the safe and correct way, but the pressure is mounting. On this souped up Web Report, we have some great articles: Jeff talks about the iPhone app, Meal Snap and it's made by the folks at DailyBurn.  You take a picture of your food and the calories for that meal appear on your phone in a couple minutes.  It work by magic.  Honest! Russ shares an article about a new virus that can cause you to lose weight!  That's right.  It's been tested on rats. Oh, not humans?  Well, it's interesting to hear where the research is going anyway. For Jeff's second article, he vividly explains to us, this infographic, about the dangers of sitting for long periods of time.  You know, like we all do every day.  It has some sobering statistics. Get the Work Rave application and GET UP! Consumer Reports reports on the most effective weight loss program and Russ shares it in his second story.  They lay out all the programs and determine that Jenny Craig is the best program.  BOO!  While one could do worse than Consumer Reports when doing research for a new barbeque or television, their analysis leaves a little to be desired when it comes to weight loss programs. Jeff ends this section of the show with an article from CNN about why there's no magic pill for weight loss. Recipe of the Week: Chocolate Blueberry Smoothie - New! Strawberry Banana Smoothie - Recap Motivational Quote: “It is better to take many small steps in the right direction than to make a great leap forward only to stumble backward.” - Old Chinese proverb

First and foremost on today's show, we introduce you to a new Fat 2 Fit podcast.  It's called Fat 2 Fit Power Tips.  We've taken what used to be the old homework section of the show, included some new advice from a friend who owns a Melbourne liposuction clinic and have created a new, hyper focused show just around that concept.  We offer up one tip a week that you can incorporate in your life.  Sometimes it will work for you, other times it may not.  But, if you follow the Power Tip each week, you will get slimmer and sexier.  Check out the show and subscribe on iTunes today. Meanwhile, back on this show, we had some great emails and comments. Warren commented on the first episode of Power Tips. At first it looked he was running circles around Russ in weight loss, then all was revealed. He lost 180 lbs. in one year, but you'll have to listen to find out how. Melody wrote in to ask a question about eating more to lose weight. It's one of the biggest questions that listeners send in. "How will I lose weight if I eat more than 1200 calories?" or "Won't I gain weight if I eat that much?" and questions like them are asked on our Facebook page and sent in via email every day. Melody was brave enough to heed our advice and write back with what happened when she ate more. It's kind of a case study in following the Fat 2 Fit Philosophy. Did she gain weight? Did she lose more weight? You'll have to listen. Kimberly, a former registered dietician, wrote in about how she was undermined by doctors and nurses of all types when she tried to help clients lose weight. She was so disheartened by it that she let here registration go! Guess what? She was giving out the same advice that we do. On the Web Report, Jeff talks about a gym in France that allows it's patrons to workout in the buff, nude, naked, nekkid, sans clothing, etc. Russ read and responds to an article about liposuction. Apparently if you were looking to sculpt that last little bit of fat on your hips or belly, you better think again. Unless of course you'd like fat ears. Jeff has a second article to share about dietary supplements. While they can enhance your health, they aren't tickets to food freedom. Links Mentioned in the Show: Fat 2 Fit Power Tips (Website) Fat 2 Fit Power Tips (iTunes) BMR Calculator Body Fat Scale Nude gym Liposuction fat returns Dietary supplements: Bad? Nutrition course - Update Recipe of the Week: Turkey Chili - Sent in by listener Brent Motivational Quote: "We have to go for what we think we're fully capable of, not limit ourselves by what we've been in the past." - Vivek Paul

Cheat days. Many diet plans tell you to take a day off a week and eat anything you want. The idea is that you minimize your calories during the week to an unhealthy level and with one day of binge eating you make up the difference, but not completely. By the end of the week you had a deficit of calories and you lost weight, hopefully. Well, what happens when you start eating the correct number of calories for to reach your goal weight, as we suggest to everyone, and you don't stop the cheat day? Charles wrote in with just such a situation. He called them "unscheduled refeeds", but they ended up just being binges. Christy wrote in asking about the Fat 2 Fit iPhone app. Well, such a thing doesn't exist yet, but we do have a web application that anyone can use on their smartphone, regardless of brand or operating system. Just visit http://m.fat2fitradio.com on your phone to check it out. Friend of the show, Dr. Rick, sent us a link to a newsletter for physicians about what the long term benefit of popular diets.  Jeff talks about the conclusions of the piece. On the Web Report, Jeff shares an article from About.com that claims to have the "Secret Weapons for Weight Loss".  It's a good article and Jeff gives us the highlights.  What is the single best exercise that you should do for overall fitness?  Is it the butterfly stroke?  The burpee?  The squat?  None of them? A journalist at the New York Times had the same question.  She asked multiple professors of kinesiology, the guys that might know, and came up with a reasonable answer. Links Mentioned in the Show: BMR Calculator Mobile Fat 2 Fit Radio site Secret Weapons of Weight Loss The Single Best Exercise Recipe of the Week: Homemade Chocolate Protein Bars Motivational Quote: "It's not where you are today that counts. It's where you are headed." - Arthur F. Lenehan

Joell's old basketball coach used to say, "The biggest room in a person's house is the room for improvement" and that was the case for Joell.  She was not losing weight despite training and completing a half marathon.  Three months ago she started listening to the podcast and decided to take some of our advice.  She's a vegetarian but wasn't eating the best quality foods.  She changed that.  She also wasn't lifting weights, which she changed also.  We share some tips for eating a healthier diet. Jane wrote in about her past experience with losing weight.  It went way back to when she was a kid watching her mother try Weight Watchers and every other diet under the sun.  It got Jeff and Russ thinking about all the things that they grew up with and how those things might have kick started their weight problems.  Make no mistake, you're responsible for your body, but there may have been some contributing factors to your weight gain that you were not in control of while growing up. Jeff also has a response from multiple listeners that commented on the Sensa story from last show.  He has some tips for avoiding the words "I told you so." On the Web Report, Russ watched the documentary Dead Fat and gives a report on what he thought.  The video is linked to below and is definitely worth an hour of your time.  Russ shares some of the statistics from the movie and the unfortunate message that he got from it.  Jeff found an article, with video, about a doctor in Long Beach that will sew a patch on your tongue that makes it difficult to eat.  His thesis:  it will make you lose weight.  Our interpretation: it creates a negative association with eating. Links Mentioned in the Show: Food Ladder Tongue patch to lose weight Dead Fat from Facebook Fat 2 Fit page Omrom Body Fat Scale Recipe of the Week: Healthier Eggs Benedict Motivational Quotes: "Try not to do too many things at once. Know what you want, the number one thing today and tomorrow. Persevere and get it done." - George Allen "Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs." - Henry Ford.

On the Web Report, we discuss a recent Dr. Oz show that has Russ convinced the good doctor has "jumped the shark". This term, of course, refers to the moment on the popular TV show Happy Days. Fonzie actually jumps a shark on water skis and marked the down turn of that show. The episode of the Dr. Oz show now contains such a moment. On a recent show about the HcG diet, the doctor/host did not challenge the utter BS that proponents of this diet were spewing. He actually says on the show, about the HcG diet, “this is something I'm excited about”.  *Jaw hits floor*  Listen in for more on the story. Also, Jeff shares an article from Reader's Digest containing 50 habits of naturally slim people. Jeff clues us in on five of them. See if you are living the life of a slim person. Natalie writes in that she's been losing weight a little too fast so he upped her calories to slow it down. She's doesn't want to eat as many calories as we recommend. Jeff has some great advice for her about avoiding starvation mode, restarting your metabolism. He also has some NEW tips for remembering if you need to eat more. Alex wrote in, as well as many others, to have us check their calories. We created the BMR calculator so you could actually see what our advice would be. Alex doesn't believe it and meanwhile he's eating the same number of calories that Jeff eats, while being almost 200 pounds more. Finally, Jeff tackles a PS from Tyler. He asked Jeff to "science out" on the popular weight loss product Sensa. It's a good one. Links Mentioned in the Show: Body Fat Scale BMR Calculator 50 Weight Loss Secrets HcG Diet Fact Vs. Fiction Recipe of the Week: Nachos Lightened Up - From listener Kristi Motivational Quote: "He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else." - Benjamin Franklin

What if you're around junk food all day long at the office? That's the problem Cookie is having. He works at a baseball stadium and the lure of hot dogs, peanuts, chips and the like, are on his mind. How does he keep them away from his lips? We share our tips for overcoming temptations while at the office, wherever it may be. Tyler has drank the Fat 2 Fit kool-aid and is having success living like the thin healthy person he wants to become. His wife, however, is not on board. She wants to lower her calories and try to starve the fat off even though she's done that before and the weight came back. Jeff has some great advice for them both AND be sure to checkout the front page of Fat2fitradio.com for the audio clips that Jeff mentions in the show. Should someone maintaining their weight feel hunger on a regular basis? That's what the "expert" at CNN recommends. Jeff shares this article on the Web Report and he's aghast at the advice and so he puts the advice through the "little Johnny" lithmus test. It fails. Russ is going to get back into running and so he's purchased some Vibram Five Fingers to get him back into the game. He shares a link to the Barefoot Running University that is part of his research into the subject. In a shocker, Jeff shares a second article that says the lapband procedure, when studied over the long term, is not the answer for the morbidly obese. Sure, they lose weight, but wait until you hear what other illnesses they are still getting. Links Mentioned in the Show: Stop Being Hungry Lapband not as effective as thought Barefoot Running University Bodyfat Scale (Update) Recipe of the Week: Quinoa Black Bean Stew Motivational Quote: "No road is too long for him who advances slowly and does not hurry, and no attainment is beyond his reach who equips himself with patience to achieve it." - Jean de La Bruyere

This week we had a bunch of running questions and running advice sent in.  Erin wrote in to tell her story.  She hit a weight loss plateau while running and went to see a nutritionist to find out why.  Ended up, surprise surprise, that she was under eating.  She shares some great advice about calories to consume when running. We also got a great email from listener Pat.  Pat was running, going to spin class, swimming and weight training but still managed to GAIN 25 pounds.  Why?  She was eating too few calories.  She changed her ways and now eats more and works out less and has lost weight.  Find out what she did. Since losing some weight Rob is cold all of the time and his weight loss has stopped.  Jeff has a couple suggestions for him.  And finally, Dina had the most horrible, excruciatingly bad advice from a person at a Weight Watchers meeting.  That person told her that for every 2 pounds of fat that she loses that it's common to lose 1 pound of muscle!  Uh uh! In our Web Report, Jeff shares the news that many listeners probably heard about already.  The spokesman for the Heart Attack Grill died.  Russ shares the new winner in the most obese state in the union and it's not his! Be sure to listen for the culmination of 3.5 years of Russ' weigh ins. Links Mentioned in the Show: Heart Attack Grill spokesman, dead Most Obese States Recipe of the Week: Crockpot Chicken Tacos Motivational Quote: “If you train hard, you'll not only be hard, you'll be hard to beat.” - Herschel Walker Listen here, or subscribe for FREE to automatically receive future shows.

Today on the show we do the rare Fat 2 Fit interview. This time it's with an individual, Jonathan Karpetz, that lost an immense amount of weight. Unfortunately for Jonathan, his skin did not bounce back. A few years ago, he went on a crash diet and lost weight fast and that may have had an impact on his skin returning to it's proper place. He's mended his ways and now lives the lifestyle of a thin healthy person and recently had surgery to remove the excess skin that then sagged on his body. It's a must listen. Our email this week comes from listener Dina. She's giving up the scale. She says that she's realized that in the long term, it doesn't matter what she weights and is instead focusing on living the healthy lifestyle she deserves. We put this question to all the listeners on Facebook and got some great responses. Could you give up weighing yourself and instead only consider body fat percentage? Links Mentioned in the Show: Homemade Is Best Recipe of the Week: Healthy Louisiana Gumbo Motivational Quote: "The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible." - Arthur C. Clarke Listen here, or subscribe for FREE to automatically receive future shows.

Every now and then, when the backlog of questions from listeners gets too large, we do an all question and answer show.  This is that show.  We answer 10 questions from 10 listeners.  Some you'll know the answer to, awesome, and others are unique. Here's the rundown of question topics and asker: Activity levels - Natasha Eating at night - Jeremy Active job and lifting weights - Kathryn Other podcasts - Marcin Eating your workout calories - Sue Precise calorie counting - Shawn Losing muscle vs. losing fat - Jennifer Keto diet - Tammy Calorie counter book - Another Jennifer Pre & post workout shake - Nicole In addition to the extensive Q & A, we find some time to talk about the news on the Web Report.  Jeff reports on a Scientific American article about obesity in America and what got us into the unhealthy predicament we find ourselves in.  Jeff also talks about "sciency" words.  Russ has a review of the Fit Bit.  It's a device that tells you your activity level and calculates how many calories you've burned. Links Mentioned in the Show: Fit Bit Scientific American fixes the obesity crisis AIM on low carb diets Recipe of the Week: Healthy Homemade Potato Chips Motivational Quote: "People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily." - Zig Ziglar