Losing Fat and Losing Weight Are Accomplished Most Simply By...

As a personal trainer, I encounter many people who feel lost and defeated when it comes to fat loss and weight loss. They have tried everything! They work so hard but see very little return on their time and energy investment. Two ideas later they are new clients, excited about working out and getting their foods right, and on-board with a guy who has shown much of Minneapolis, MN how to burn fat.

NOTE: If you want to spend less time trying to figure out how to fix your body and have me work with you directly, please contact me through my website, www.keepyourbetterhalf.com.

The Fat Loss Principle Few Consider: Triggering Survival Mechanism to Burn Fat

Consider this: your body is constantly burning calories, but what kind? It has three options: calories you just consumed (the meal you ate 30 minutes ago) or the two forms of stored energy (muscle and fat). The calorie source your body will burn depends on what your body determines you need to burn. Most of the time our bodies burn muscle...this is a survial mechanism. Our body doesn't know when the next meal is coming, so it saves the best energy stores (fat) and pulls energy from the least effecicent source: muscle.

If you want to burn fat, it is critical to trigger the fat-burning mechanisms in your body. When exercising, this means creating a workout that demands the best energy source (fat) to be used. Heavy exertion (lifting weights, sprinting/interval training) forces the body to burn fat most effectively.

The Weight Loss Principle Few Consider: Consuming Calories That Trigger Fat-Burning

What happens a person consumes carbs? The body uses the energy from the carbs that it can use right away and stores the rest as fat. What happens when a person consumes protein? The body uses the protein to repair muscle tissue, and forces the body to use fat for energy while the protein is repairing muscle tissue. Therefore, the more protein we consume, the more our muscles are repaired (and therefore can't be used for energy), the more fat we burn. How beautiful is that?

Consuming protein throughout the day helps us to burn more fat. Brilliant! We still need carbs and protein throughout the day, but having a protein focus will help us to burn more fat and prevent us from burning muscle.

The Most Damaging Weight Loss Principle: Weight Loss at Any Cost

I cannot count the number of people I have worked that have said, "I just want to lose 15 pounds, I don't care how it happens." This is a dangerous way to think about weight loss!

When weight loss is the only goal, with no care of what type of weight is being lost, muscle is almost always the type of pounds lost. When we lose muscle, our ability to burn calories is decreased. If we can't burn as many calories (muscle cells burn 70% more calories than fat cells), weight gain is right around the corner!

This is why most people lose weight and then gain it back...they lose weight any way they can, lose muscle in the process, and then can't burn as many calories. For healthy and long-lasting weight loss and fat loss, be sure to steer clear of this type of thinking.

AdamErwin is a personal trainer who travels the world working with people who want to experience fat loss and weight loss in record-time. He currently resides in Minneapolis, MN and loves to train the great folks in the Lake Minnetonka area. Visit www.keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more about his work.

Successful Weight Loss in 30 Days: Turning the Tide on Being Overweight, Diabetic, and on the Brink of Major Health Problems

Is your life upside down? If your energy is down and your cholesterol is up, if your new diagnosis of type II diabetes is supposed to be the tip of your pending medical iceburg, and if your waistline is growing faster than your company's bottom line...it's time for the 30-day weight loss program. What is the successful 30-day weight-loss program?

A Day in the Life of Successful Weight Loss in 30 Day

Day 11: Imagine you awoke at 6am to the sound of your favorite song. You roll out of bed, feeling pretty good. After all, you just lost 12 lbs in seven days, have enjoyed peaceful sleep, and notice that you are ready to get out of bed when you hear your daily anthem. Your new personal trainer was right, that cleanse last week was just what your body needed...and thank God he did it with you!

Morning Cardio with the Successful 30-Day Exerciser

You put on your workout clothes, head to the fridge and commence downing 12 ounces of water, the perfect first step for your day. You eat the perfect pre-cardio bite, which guarantees that you will burn fat for the next two hours.

You step outside and start your morning cardio. Your personal trainer (the one who set up your music, your water, your pre-workout nibble, and the current cardio session that is different from yesterday...and good thing because that one kicked your butt!) guides you through a quick warm up, a satisfying series of stretches, and then a fun little course he has set up on the beach of Lake Minnetonka.

After your cardio session, you return home and check email while your trainer makes you the perfect post-workout shake (a complete blend of the types of proteins your body needs at the moment). You sip it down and head off to shower.

Upon getting dressed and heading down to grab breakfast (a savory 300-calorie dish you had once last week and couldn't wait to eat again), you head to the office with your water in hand, mid-morning snack already in the car, and confident you have already conquered more of the world in your first two hours than anyone else will accomplish all day.

At the Office with the Successful 30-Day Dieter

Before you know it noon arrives. The mid-morning almond and fruit mix went down two hours ago and it's time to refuel. You walk out of your downtown Minneapolis office and find your hot lunch already in the lunch room, waiting for you. Your personal trainer IS GOOD! Another right-sized dish, a tender piece of tilapia, grilled to perfection with some basmati rice and a fresh salad. Accompanying your lunch is your afternoon nutrition: a protein shake, which awaits you in the breakroom refrigerator....compliments of your trainer.

The Workout Routine of Successful 30-Day Weight Loss

The workday breezes by and you head home, change clothes, eat a pre-workout bar (which must have been stolen from the Thin Mint cookie formula the Girl Scouts use), and begin your evening exercises with your personal trainer. Sweating, challenged, and invigorated, you churn through the workout, stretch, and relax as your trainer prepares your post-workout protein shake. You down the shake, shower, and prepare for dinner out on the town.

The Restaurant Experience of a Successful 30-Day Dieter

Before you leave for the restaurant for your business meeting, you get a note from your trainer with the perfect order at the restaurant tonight...he's already analyzed the menu and picked out the meal that will provide the best nutrients (considering the carbs, protein, fat, cholesterol, and calories he's already logged for you today from your meals, snacks and shakes) during this evening hour.

Dinner is flawless. You feel satisfied but know you haven't overeaten. You return home to find a note from your personal trainer, tomorrow's agenda, and a delicous and healthy midnight snack...should you have a late-hour need.

Wrapping Up the Day of the Successful 30-Day Program

As you retire to your bedroom, you think about what your day used to look like: waking up groggy and fighting with the snooze button, skipping breakfast, eating treats or vending machine junk until lunch, a gotta-grab-something-quick-because-I'm-too-busy-to-eat-right lunch, four diet sodas, an embarassingly huge dinner, and the guilty feeling of driving by the gym on the way home...knowing you have yet to visit there this month.

You contrast THAT day with the life you lead now: up early and feeling great, swift cardio, breakfast while overlooking Lake Minnetonka, a power day at the office, meals that are thought about for you so you don't have to think about them, the right snack at the right time, an invigorating late afternoon workout, a dinner out that actually serves your body, and the satisfaction of a well-executed day.

As you drift off to sleep, you think about your 19 remaining days of having your very own in-home personal trainer (and his comprehensive 30-day plan to teach you how to eat right without thinking about it, get more from your exercise in less time, and build a day of successful health and fitness habits), how he has helped turn around your life, and how your doctor, co-workers, family, and friends will not believe how much progress you have made in 30 days. Oh wait, you think, I forgot to take some of my diabetes medication today...and I still felt great. Hmmmm.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Adam Erwin is an in-home personal trainer who travels the world helping people turn around their health in 30 days or less. Follow his work at www.keepyourbetterhalf.com. If you believe you are a candidate for his comprehensive body-change boot camp, email him at adam@keepyourbetterhalf.com to learn more.