Because I want to prevent other teens from going through my trials and tribulations, here are my top weight loss tips for teens!

Teen Weight Loss Tip #1: Do Not Starve!

That is correct. When you deprive your body from valuable macronutrients needed for survival, and your caloric intake is too low, this has a reverse effect on the body which makes things 10 times worse.

What happens when you begin to restrict your food intake and not consume many calories, your body’s metabolism will begin to slow down as a result in order to conserve calories. When this process takes place, your weight loss will begin to slow down immensely. In addition, your energy levels will plummet as you have deprived yourself of the macronutrients needed for survival.

Repeated attempts to try and lose weight in this unfavorable manner can cause your body’s metabolic rate not to function as it should, and thus, it will become easier for you to gain weight and harder to lose it over time.

Also, keep in mind that starvation puts the body under incredible amounts of stress and we all know what happens when that is the case; a HUGE CORTISOL INCREASE!

The solution is to have the correct diet with the appropriate macronutrient ratios.

Teen Weight Loss Tip #2: Starvation Prevents You From Getting Lean and Toned

Yes, eating less will cause your body to become catabolic. A catabolic state is a state where your body will actually store fat and eat away your lean muscle tissue. The reason for this is because your fat tissue requires fewer calories than your lean muscle tissue. As a result, when your muscle tissue is restricted from the calories needed to function properly, your body eats away muscle tissue and stores more fat.

Again, a diet with the right macronutrient ratios (carbs, proteins and fats) that feeds your body frequently is the secret to achieving a faster metabolism.

Teen Weight Loss Tip #3: Do Not Blame Yourself for Being Overweight

Realize that feeling guilty is NOT the way to approach this situation. It is important to not blame yourself, parents, friends or family for being overweight. Switching the blame to someone else or feeling guilty will only make things worse. Focus instead on the solution which is to embark on the right nutrition and exercise program.

Teen Weight Loss Tip #4: Realistic Goals Make For Successful Outcomes

It is important to realize that there is not a single diet out there that will allow you to lose 20 pounds a week. First and foremost, losing weight at such a rapid pace is unhealthy and not possible unless you are severely overweight. Furthermore, such fast weight loss is usually not a permanent one and is regained quickly.

Try to make goals such as: “I will lose 2 pounds each week until I get down to X amount of pounds.” By having short term goals like this, slowly but surely you are constantly moving forward to the final destination.

Teen Weight Loss Tip #5: Add A Little Exercise Into Your Life

For those who are looking to lose weight, exercising is key to maximizing the effects of the diet. Exercising regularly will not only help you burn off more calories but it will also give you more energy and tone up your body.

If you feel that you are too overweight to do anything else, then just go for a light walk outside. Make exercising fun by getting a friend to be your workout partner or even try walking your dog. All of these things are a great way to make exercising fun and effective.

Teen Weight Loss Tip #6: Look For Other Ways To Measure Your Success Besides Weight Loss

A common mistake I find people making is they do not reward themselves for success if they do not achieve the weight loss goals they wanted in X amount of time. If people do not lose the 2 pounds they desired in a week, they get frustrated and allow the negativity to triumph over the positive.

It is important to understand that sometimes, especially when you include weight training exercise, weight stays the same but measurements change; which means that you are losing fat weight and gaining muscle weight which will help to tone you and increase your metabolism permanently.

So if you have lost an inch on your waist and your bodyweight has remained the same, that tells me that you have lost body fat weight and gained muscle weight at the same time. This is the sort of scenario that we are looking for since muscle gives shape to your body and also, every pound of muscle added is a pound that increases your metabolic rate and makes fat loss that much easier!

Teen Weight Loss Tip #7: Focus On The Positive, NOT the Negative

Some people get really discouraged if the scale weight is not moving as fast as they’d like. Realize that as long as you are making progress and moving forward in the right direction, you are taking the necessary steps to succeed with your weight loss goals. I guarantee you that as long as you follow a proven program, like the one laid out in the Fat Extinction Program, with consistency and perseverance you will accomplish any weight loss goal regardless of how big they are!

Lee

Trainers and Athletes ask me all the time how to get an edge on training.  The majority of current clinical research is mainly geared towards recovery.  They are all are millions of ways to exercise, but fewer and fewer ways to correctly recover.  There is only so much time in a day and only so many meals to allow your body to recover from the physical stress of training.  Millions of supplements are marketed (most incorrectly) with their single directive being geared at producing a quicker recovery.  There is something that you can do that is much more productive and simple.  Learn to eat foods and are most raw and natural state.

Taking many supplements offers an unbalanced nutrient load on your metabolic system.  In other words, many things will have too much or too little of any particular nutrient, and your body will not absorb the supplement properly.  That means that your toilet water is very expensive, simply because your body is sending a majority of it down the drain.  Eating foods in a raw state allows for balance nutrition that occurs naturally in nature.  Trace minerals exist in many of the foods that we eat and allow for improved absorption into our bodies.

Zinc is very easy to take as a supplement.  The mineral zinc plays a central role in the regulation of cellular growth and tissue repair and it is also involved with a healthy immune system.  Magnesium is specifically involved in the maintenance of the electrolytic balance and is directly involved with energy production and normal neuromuscular communication. The problem is with the balance and absorption of the nutrient, if you take in too much of one it can directly affect the other.

Many individuals eat poorly and then attempt to only make up poor eating habits with supplements.  Consider that the Olympics just held in Canada had a 31-mile cross-country ski race, the difference between first and second place was only a few hundreds of a second, and first to third place was only one second.  Top athletes learn very quickly that there is very little room for mistakes.  Optimizing training with raw food intake is absolutely essential to provide maximum recovery.

Many supplement manufacturers have recognized the benefits of the raw nutrition and specialized in production of vitamins and minerals obtained from organic and natural forms.  The regulation overseeing their production is limited by natural restrictions of the governmental agencies both within the US and abroad. Special concern should be applied when attempting to purchase any supplement and specifically with hopes that they are processed as raw food.

The body is quite specific and our genetic traits have a specific tune for all raw substances.  The more any food is processed, the harder it is for us to absorb completely.  Raw eggs are about the only exception to this rule and they must be cooked slightly to prevent a biotin deficiency.  Meats, chicken, fish, pork, are quite specific to their correct cooking temperature to prevent specific health problems.

Many raw “foodist” often feel that any food that is heated to any temperature higher than 104 F degrees isn’t raw.  Apparently, none of them live near my house in Miami, Florida, which blows the thermometer over 104 F on a weekly basis.  It is a fine line to decide the benefits of raw food versus the potential harmful effects of undercooked meat, poultry, and fish.  To avoid this conflict several individuals choose to eat diets that are free of this controversy.  Others choose to smoke meats and fish or prepare them with other options.

Various foods that are not included in the flesh/protein category are also producing concerns for producing various unhealthy conditions.  Buckwheat, alafalfa, apricots, parsinips, apple seeds, peas, yucca plants, and others are all linked to causing health related illnesses.  Raw milk is directly linked to tuberculosis and just about any bacterial infection that you can think of.  All vegetables and fruits can be directly contaminated by in improper handling.  Still with proper control and cross-contamination procedures, many of these adverse conditions can be avoided.

Several food allergies and hypersensitivities can also exist and are propagated with raw foods.  Passion tea is becoming a registered favorite with many raw food enthusiast.  The problem is the hibiscus plant is also very commonly grown in areas that have a high white fly population.  As the plant grows a white fly often secretes a mucous onto the plant which then results in large amounts of fungus and other bacterial growth.  Individuals have noted symptomatology similar to those commonly seen with encephalitis and meningitis.

So after reading the previous concerns, you might wonder why I would still suggest raw foods. The truth is many of the best trainers and coaches will often suggest that a diet free of processed foods.  Overall health and fitness is obtained and not forced by way of supplementation.  True common sense is a strong rule of thumb to have.  The benefits of a raw cuisine, is based on the natural digestive enzymes located in the raw foods.  Those enzymes are proteins and they denature too quickly with any amount of heat.  There is no doubt that overcooking food is often just as bad and can lead to its own plethora of health problems.

Again the rule of common sense goes a long way with a raw food diet.  Just maintain a healthy outlook on food and I propose that many of the options for eating raw foods still outweigh the problems associated with the other options.  Consider that unprocessed foods are widely held by the Amish.  Their diet isn’t perfect either since a study done in 2005 showed that Amish had the same frequency of type II diabetes and were just as obese as the rest of the general US population, likely due to their high grain and high fat intake.  Don’t just eat raw, eat less food!  Eat less fatty food!  This is where the specific art of supplementation is so absolutely necessary.

It is a simple fact that over cooking, over processing, over doing anything is not going to allow us to best obtain our fastest recovery.  Sleep and nutrition are the primary key factors in recovery and we all need to optimize both of them.  “You don’t grow, in the gym” is a common saying among bodybuilders and other athletes.  You improve by optimizing growth from good sleep and quality nutrition.  Take the test and for thirty days, try eating more raw foods, and see if your sleep is better, your mood, your color, your athletic ability.  It all adds up and if you are an athlete, this might just be that edge that gives you the 1.1000th of a second or that one extra point you need to win.

Dr. David Ryan

Many Talk But Who Walks?

He is at the 30, 20, 10, touchdown Appalachian State!  The mountaineers have done the impossible and have defeated the #5 team in college football.  These were the words and thoughts of many on September 1, 2007 as they witnessed what was and still is considered to be the biggest upset in the history of college football.

Anybody who is an advocate of sports or has the slightest bit of common sense would have never predicted that a division 2A school would have been able to pull this unprecedented victory off EXCEPT for the team and coaching staff of Appalachian State.

So how does this relate to fitness and achieving your results?  The fact is that if you were to go up to any player or coach on Appalachian State before the game, they would have told you with total confidence they would win the game.   Even the bookies in Las Vegas and sports betting fans did not give them a chance but they proved it to the world by not only talking the talk, but walking the walk!  
                      
Likewise, there are many people who will doubt your abilities to achieve any of your goals such as losing x amount of pounds or building x pounds of lean muscle.  But when you realize that you can control your own destiny by following a few basic principles, you are destined to do what many consider to be the impossible and get the results you desire.

The problem many people have is they talk a mean game but at the end of the day, they really do not believe that it is possible or doubt themselves which leads to their destruction.  The best way to avoid this is to change a few things.

With that being said, here are 5 things you can do to walk the walk!

2. Immerse Yourself in the Culture

Simply surround yourself around things that will get you closer to your goal such as reading a new fitness or weight loss article.  Even go as far as hanging posters on your wall of the model body you want.  Whether it is a strong muscular physique or a toned beach body, make sure to do this important step.

What you are doing with this is immersing yourself around the culture of your end goal.  It will serve as a constant reminder of what it is that you are trying to do and eliminate any thoughts that may sway you into thinking it is not possible.

3. Forget About Failures of The Past

Regardless of how you may currently feel, think of today as a new beginning.  Forget about your past failures and realize that they can serve as a lesson for achieving your end goal.  These lessons can be looked at as things NOT to do when you travel along your new path of success.

Going back to holding on to that thought of what you want, thinking positive goes hand in hand with this as the energy you feel within you will release a sense of self-empowerment.  And anyone who has achieved their set goals knows that feeling like you are in power of the outcome is important!

4. Energy + Motions = Emotions

Always remember that your emotions play a key role in determining whether or not you will achieve your set goals.  When you allow your energy to move in the wrong direction or allow the thoughts and actions of others to determine your very own thoughts, it is then that you self-destruct and become your own worst enemy.

With positive thinking and surrounding yourself around the right people, you will allow your energy to move in the right direction and you will be one step closer to your end goal.

What I like to do when I feel that I am not in power or control of my very own emotions is to think of a simple analogy.  That analogy is that you can take a room filled with complete darkness and with the strike of a match, the room is instantly filled with light, truth and wisdom.  But you cannot do the opposite!  You cannot take a room full of light, truth and wisdom and make it pitch black.

5. Write Down The Things That Make You Happy

To help prevent negative thoughts from entering in your mind, it is a great idea to write down the things that bring joy and happiness to your life.  For instance, for some it may be writing about your pet dog which may bring happiness to your life.  For others it may be a son, daughter, boyfriend, girlfriend, occupation or the fact that you lost 3 pounds.

Regardless of what the things that bring happiness to your life may be, write them all down on a daily basis if needed until you have mastered your emotions.

Yours In Health,

Anthony Alayon

Perhaps the reason for not reaching your bodybuilding goals was unrealistic expectations.  Expecting to gain 30 lbs of solid muscle in 30 days is unrealistic, especially for those of us who are well past our teenage years.  Expecting to go from 17 inch arms to 18 inch arms of solid muscle in 2 weeks, is also unrealistic since a 17 inch arm is already pretty developed, and thus, taking it to the next level will take longer.  So when you set bodybuilding goals make sure that your goals are realistic as otherwise you are setting yourself up for failure.

For beginners, the first and second year you can gain a good 15-20 pounds a year.  Teenagers a bit more perhaps and all of this depends on the genetics of the bodybuilder.  For more advanced athletes, 1/2 lb to 1 lb of muscle a month is a good gain (6-12 lbs/year). However for really advanced natural bodybuilders, 2-3 lbs per year is a good goal.

With that said, another important thing to realize is how you deal with failure. There were many times during my bodybuilding journey in which I did not achieve the goals I wanted.  Regardless of the reasons (and 8 times out of 10 the issue was unrealistic goals), when I failed, I would simply assess the reasons why and just keep moving forward.  The way I saw it, I had just lost a battle but not the war.  And of course, my philosophy of war is: “No retreat, no surrender!”  You need to approach your bodybuilding endeavors with this sort of success mindset.

In closing, if you haven’t achieved the bodybuilding goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year, do not get frustrated! Instead, analyze your bodybuilding training and diet plan.  Also, make sure that you are getting enough rest because recovery is as important as training and nutrition (hint: it is during rest that you grow).  Make sure that you are following everything in your bodybuilding program to the letter.  If you are and things are not working, then change your training routine.  More than likely, your body has gotten used to your current one.

If you are looking to gain muscle weight, make sure that you are taking in enough nutrients in the form of good carbs, proteins and good fats.  If you are looking to lose fat, then make sure that you are creating a slight caloric deficit without starving yourself in order to keep the muscle as you lose the fat.  Furthermore, make sure that you are using some way of tracking your progress.  Good ways are a combination of methods, like the scale, the skinfold calipers, and the tape measure.  Digital pictures are also valuable (and a great motivation tool as well) to help you see your progress over weeks.

Below are some good resources that will help you to achieve your bodybuilding goals:

Failing to Achieve Your Bodybuilding Goals? - Lee Labrada discusses why failure is a process and how it can be used to move forward.  He also discusses several reasons for failing to achieve your goals.

Bodybuilding Guide - A comprehensive guide that will set you straight if you need any sort of bodybuilding guidance.  Everything is covered: from goal setting, to choosing your training routine, to knowing what diet and supplements program to follow, how much rest you need, and more.

Here are excerpts from an interesting article I found today on fried foods…

From French fries to ice cream, there’s no denying our love affair with fried foods – in spite of the fact that we know they’re bad for us. But in addition to contributing to heart disease and cholesterol problems, does eating fried food also cause cancer?

In 2002, a study from the Swedish National Food Administration and Stockholm University found trace levels of the chemical acrylamide in some baked and fried foods. Acrylamide, a well-known industrial chemical with several commercial uses, has been found to cause cancer in animals when exposed to the chemical at very high doses.

Unlike melamine, another industrial chemical, acrylamide is not added to food. However, it has probably been present in foods as long as we have been cooking them. When starchy foods are baked or fried at high temperatures, acrylamide develops from a combination of sugars and an amino acid that are naturally present in the food.

Today, advances in technology enable scientists to test for very low levels of the compound in food. Foods made from plants, like potato products, are more likely to contain acrylamide. The FDA estimates average daily exposure to acrylamide at about .4 micrograms per kilogram of bodyweight. Thirty-eight to 40% of the calories we consume daily likely come from foods containing acrylamide.

Although acrylamide is listed as a probable human carcinogen, studies have not shown an increased risk for most cancers. There currently is insufficient scientific evidence concerning whether acrylamide represents a potential health problem at the amounts commonly consumed, and more studies are underway to determine acrylamide’s potential risk. The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) will conduct the second risk assessment of acrylamide this month, and the results may enable safe levels to be calculated – if it turns out there is a health problem which necessitates calculation of safe levels of intake.

In the meantime, the FDA recommends that consumers concentrate on meeting the dietary guidelines and choosing a caloric level that fits their needs. Other major countries in the world continue to make similar recommendations based on the normal dietary recommendations of their official agencies. Consumers do not have to stop eating fried foods either.

Lee’s note: I disagree! From acrylamide to trans fats, fried foods are a terrible idea!

“They may want to reduce their consumption of fried goods, if it is high. This already is part of most dietary recommendations because of the fat/salt content of many fried foods,” says Dave Lineback, PhD, Former Director, Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, University of Maryland at College Park. “But there is no scientific evidence currently available that warrants a change in an individual’s diet.”

Lineback says that it will not be possible to eliminate acrylamide from all foods or even to greatly reduce them in some foods. In other foods, it will be feasible to reduce the acrylamide content. This is already being done by the food industry where it is possible and involves both a combination of ingredient changes and processing changes. There is no one approach that works for all foods.

“Mitigation will proceed by studying each class of food – or each food – individually to determine if reduction in its acrylamide content is possible without changing the safety or acceptability of the food product,” says Lineback.

Lee’s note: What to do? You can reduce your exposure to acrylamide by lightly toasting food and to avoid overbrowning/overcooking food and using extremely high temperatures. When grilling, food should be turned frequently to minimize charring. If charring occurs, those portions should be cut away.

Lee

1. Choose A Cardiovascular Activity That You Like

While this may seem rather obvious, many people completely miss the boat on this one. Choosing an activity that you like will ensure that you keep doing it long term. There are many choices to pick from such as walking on the pavement, treadmill, an elliptical machine, stair stepper, recumbent bike, aerobics video, etc. Just choose your weapon of choice and go for it!

2. Choose Some Good Music Or A Good Workout Partner

I always notice that when I choose some good music (I like techno myself) I not only burn more calories during the activity than if I didn’t but also the time flies faster. I also seem to have a larger pain tolerance as my mind is concentrated on the music and not on what the body is feeling. The only time when I use no music is if I have a good workout partner with who I am competing against seeing who covers a larger distance during the allotted time.

3. Perform Cardio On An Empty Stomach or Right After The Workout

Glycogen levels (stored carbohydrates) are lower at these times, and thus, it is easier for the body to access fat stores. If not possible, then perform the activity 2-1/2 hours after a meal so that your blood glucose levels are not so high that all you burn during the activity is carbs. Note: even if carbs is all you burned, those are calories that would not have been burned otherwise so you are still benefiting.

4. Perform Cardio For A Minimum Of 20 Minutes And A Maxiumum Of 45 Minutes.

More is not better when it comes to cardio. Most of you will benefit from 3 sessions of 20-30 minutes. Never go above 45 minutes at a time when doing cardio as after 45 minutes the catabolic hormone cortisol will increase and you will risk losing muscle tissue and protecting fat! Only competitive bodybuilders may find themselves doing as much as 45 minutes twice a day before a show but that amount is kept for very short periods of time.

5. Perform The Cardiovascular Activity At A Comfortable But Challenging Pace

As beginners, you may want to perform the activity at a pace that allows your body to comfortably continue for the amount of time required (20-45 minutes). Once your body adjusts to that, you can start to move quicker and look for a more challenging pace. Eventually you will be able to achieve a heart rate that falls around what is called the fat burning rate, which is approximately: 220 - (Your Age) x (.75).

6. If Using Any Fat Burning Supplements With Caffeine, Take Them 30 Minutes Prior

If you take any fat burning supplements with caffeine, take them 30 minutes prior to your cardiovascular exercise as they may increase your work capacity, possibly your rate of fat burning, and your pain tolerance. Caffeine has been shown to improve all these items in several studies. In my own self-experimentation, I find that I do perform better and with less pain when I save my caffeine for before my cardiovascular workout.

7. Don’t Stick To The Same Exercise Or The Same Amount Of Time

Your body thrives on change. Do the same thing all the time and not only you get bored but also your body stops responding as it adapts! Once you are more advanced, make sure that you have 3 cardiovascular activities that you like so that you cycle them on almost a daily basis. In addition, feel free to do some days of 20 minutes at a very challenging pace and other days of 45 minutes at a more moderate level. Variety is the spice of life!

Challenge 1- I was at work one evening and my foot began to feel funny. I thought that the tongue of my shoe had slipped down the side. I removed my shoe and rubbed my foot. No problem, so I placed my shoe back on my foot and started to walk around. As I did this, my foot began to throb. It became extremely difficult to put any weight on it at all. My first thought was that I broke it, but when I removed my shoe, and took my weight off of it, there was no pain, no swelling, nothing. In fact when I got off the foot for a few seconds the foot was fine for several minutes. I began to believe that I had strained a small muscle in my foot and it needed rest.

Overcoming Challenge 1- Well, I was almost certain the foot wasn’t broken and just needed some rest, BUT I knew that since I have to perform cardio in order to help burn bodyfat, I switched my cardio to the stationary bike. This movement didn’t hurt my foot and within a week, my foot was back to normal.

Advice- Analyze and adapt. Quitting wasn’t an option and neither was skipping cardio, I figured out a way to get my cardio done that didn’t bother my sore foot. (Also, please use common sense, if there is significant discomfort, pain, etc. see a doctor, don’t damage something because some blogger kept going through the pain.)

Challenge 2- Sickness. My wife and I started this Challenge on Dec 28th. I wanted an early start and that is the day we selected (for several reasons). The week before Christmas we started planning out meals and workouts. We were ready and excited!

On Christmas morning, three days before the start of our challenge, both my wife and I were felled by a terrible stomach flu. Let me tell you, I hate the stomach flu, (not that there are people who like it) for whatever reason this illness kicks me out for several days. The next morning, my wife was feeling a bit better; but me? I was still uh, let’s say not keeping anything down. After sleeping the day away it soon was Dec 27th, picture day being one day away on the 28th. I was supposed to be getting ready for the start of the challenge by preparing meals for the week and here I was thrilled to be eating a half piece of white bread!

When I went to bed that night, I made up my mind that when I woke up I would be feeling at 100% I needed to get going and since I had made a promise to myself and my wife, our challenge was starting on the 28th. NO MATTER WHAT. When I woke up, I felt fine and our challenge began.

Overcoming Challenge 2- I had made up my mind weeks earlier that our challenge was starting on December 28th. There was nothing that was going to deter me/us from starting on that day. Not even the two scariest words, stomach flu.

Advice- Make a decision and hold firm to it!

Of course there have been some daily challenges, some food temptations, long meetings, the twelve month old, etc. I felt that those two could be of some benefit to some of you who are competing in this challenge. Everyone has challenges, it is how you deal with them and overcome them that will lead to
success.

Have you ever stopped and listened to the sound of your heart during a workout? After a set of squats or leg presses, sometimes you can feel the beat in your eardrums. It’s an exercise in self-awareness to follow its beat as you lay the weights down and it begins to slow back to its normal rhythm. Your heart is an amazing piece of biological artwork, continuously pumping life-giving blood to all of the cells of your body. That’s 1900 gallons per day to be exact, or 700,000 gallons per year.

Your heart is tireless, and it’s always working for you. I laid in bed last night thinking about the fact that during my night’s slumber, all of my muscles would be relaxed, and recovering. All of the muscles except my heart. Pretend for a moment that you ARE your heart. Can you imagine not getting a rest… EVER, until the day that you die?!?

It also made me want to take care of my heart, more than ever. Most people go through life without ever thinking about the stress that they put on their hearts, or for that matter, how dependant they are on their heart for their life.

Many people also go through life without engaging their “other heart.” The heart I am referring to is the human spirit. These people just give up on themselves, failing to reach their maximum potential as human beings created in the image of their Maker. How sad. I believe that every human being is born with all of the intrinsic net worth they will ever need. Some, like wise men, develop a sense and appreciation of that treasure that they truly are. Others, like fools, never realize that they have all of that treasure right underneath their noses.

Our sense of worth is inextricably linked to our perception of self; in other words, our self image. And our self image often dictates how we treat ourselves. Do we care about ourselves or don’t we? Are we worth taking care of? Do we like ourselves? Of course, the answer is “yes.” But perception is reality, and if you don’t think your worth taking care of, you won’t.

Like your physical heart, your other heart, or your spirit, is always there. It’s part of you and it’s always ready to take care of you. You just need to nurture it with positive thoughts and feelings. It’s human to beat yourself up when you make a mistake or fall short of a goal. But it’s important that you don’t dwell on mistakes. We all mess up sometime. It’s how you deal with it afterwards that determines whether a failure becomes permanent.

Next time that you mess up, forgive yourself. Tell yourself that, “OK, I made a mistake, but now I am going to move on and I am going to do better next time.” Then visualize what you will do different next time to get a desired result, and forget about it. Don’t beat yourself up any more.

Feed your spirit positive messages. Whenever you hear a negative thought cross your mind, replace it with a good one. At first, it will seem difficult, and you may be working at correcting those negative thoughts all the time. That’s OK. Rome wasn’t built in a day. What you will find however, is that over time, if you stick with this method of replacing negative with positive, you will have less and less negative thoughts.

Thoughts beget actions. Thoughts are the wellsprings of actions, and anything that you think about enough eventually starts manifesting itself in your daily life. Don’t take my word for it, try it.

By the way, I am the proud father of three young boys. Every single morning, before they go to school, I tell each of them, “Be a champion.” Ask my boys what a champion is, and they will tell you, “it’s somebody who tries their best at everything they do.”

I never met a champion that became a champion any other way. Champions aren’t always those who cross the finish line first. Champions aren’t always those who get the gold medal. Champions are those who try their best at everything they do. They are those blessed individuals who live up to their full potential by giving it all they’ve got.

It’s not hard to be a champion. You just have to tap your other heart. Support it, feed it. And try your best.

Your Lean Body Coach,

Lee Labrada

If you have read any of my articles, you will see how I place such a big emphasis on the 3 macronutrients as they are the backbone to achieving your weight loss or fitness goals! With that being said, I will give you a brief description of the 6 classes of nutrients and explain why they are essential to live a healthy lifestyle.

1. Protein
2. Carbohydrates
3. Fats
4. Vitamins
5. Minerals
6. Water

Good Nutrition Provides The Building Blocks of Muscle

When you eat foods that contain protein, they are broken down in the body as amino acids. These amino acids are then used to build and repair any muscle tissue. This is great for those who are physically active or exercise regularly. This means you will be able to recover at a faster rate than if you were not to consume protein. Every tissue in your body is made up of protein and it is important to consume enough through your diet to replenish it. Protein is also needed to help your immune and nervous system.

Good Nutrition Provides Energy

The analogy I think of when discussing nutrition and our bodies is that of a race car. You need to put fuel in it every so often, change the oil and get new tires in order to maintain optimal performance. If you fail to do these things, eventually your body will break down and be worthless. However, if the right steps are taken, you will be well on your way to living a healthy lifestyle and reaping the benefits that come with this.

Foods such as carbohydrates give you energy to function properly throughout your day. In fact, muscle glycogen is an important element to helping you maintain your energy levels throughout your day. When carbs are ingested your pancreas releases a hormone called insulin. Insulin helps the carbs to be stored in the muscles or as fat. Stored carbs in the body are also known as glycogen. Glycogen (stored carbohydrates) is important to have in your body before working out. They will be an energy supply and not only enable you to achieve better fat loss results, but also help your overall physique.

Good Nutrition and Fats?

One of the most common dieting myths is that fats will make you fat. First and Foremost, without fats you will not be able to survive. They are one of the three macronutrients. Stored fats are our main source of energy.

Fats yield 9 calories per gram. They also help to keep our body warm during cold weather. Fats lubricate joints which in terms, keeps your muscles loose and mobile for better workouts. Fats are also a dwelling spot for fat-soluble vitamins such as A, D, E, and K. These vitamins are stored in our body’s fat and can become toxic if too much is taken.

The common misconception I see is that most people do not know the difference between saturated fats, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. For more information, check out my Truth About Fats Article.

Vitamins and Minerals

Vitamins and minerals are important nutrients our bodies need in order to not only function properly but also allow chemical reactions to occur at a faster rate. They are needed just like the 3 macronutrients, however only in small amounts. B-complex vitamins provide a great health benefit as they help to further break down carbohydrates which in terms will give you energy. While you do obtain vitamins and minerals from certain foods you eat, they usually are not enough to maintain a healthy lifestyle and weight loss goals!

Don’t Forget Your Water

One of the main problems I see with people who are unhealthy or overweight is that they do not drink enough water on a daily basis. Instead, they substitute it for sodas and other drinks that are high in sugar. Water composes about 65% of the human body. It is needed in order for our bodies to survive. Water is just as important as eating a healthy diet. It can also act as a detox and cleanse your body.

While exercising, water acts as a cooling agent and helps prevent any overheating. I suggest drinking your body weight x .66 to get the amount of ounces to drink on a daily basis. For example, if you weight 200 lbs., you would want to drink (200 x .66) = 132 ounces of water.

For more information on why nutrition is important and advice on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle, check out my Fat Extinction Program. I give invaluable information and share some of my secrets that have taken me years to discover. I also give a list of over 50 foods that you can choose from to make up a nutritious diet.