What should your body fat percentage be?

Body fat percentage is talked about a lot in the fitness industry these days.  Here is my way, and the best way to find a body fat percentage you will be happy with!

This is one of the most common questions, I get asked. What should my body fat percentage be?  Does this question concern you?  Do you think you should be at 10%, maybe 12% or even lower than, say 7%.

A lot of people ask me this question. They also ask me what my body fat was when I did my first show on the picture below. Do you know what my body fat is in this picture? No?  Me either! Do you know why? When I was training for my first show (the Natural Caribbean Grand Prix) in the Cayman Islands and before I become a personal trainer, I met the president of the Natural Bodybuilding Federation of the Cayman Islands.  I asked what my body fat should be for the show.  I knew at that time that I asked the right guy because the year before he had won the Natural Federation Mr. Universe competition.

His answer to my question was a big “I don’t know”! I was shocked.  How come he doesn’t know? He is Mr. Universe! My second question was, “What was your body fat when you won Mr. Universe?” His answer: “I don’t know.” Wow, I almost fainted!  He simply told me, “This is all ‘BS’. Do you know how to check if your body fat is right for you? It’s when you look in the mirror and you are happy with what you see.”

Wow, that is simple! I have a member at the gym ask me almost every 2 weeks if his six pack is good enough. He lifts his t-shirt every time and asks me, “So what do you think? Do you think it is good enough?” I told him what I learned in Cayman and asked him if he was happy with what he saw? If yes, just maintain it, if no keep working on it.

For all of you who are trying to reach a number for your body fat, forget it and look in the mirror. See how you look. Some people look great at 15%, others don’t.  You don’t need fancy equipment. Look in the mirror and keep track of your measurements on a regular basis (every 4 to 6 weeks). This is the best way to look good and be happy with what you see.

But remember, you need the 4 wheels of the Express Fat Loss Program to be able to reduce your body fat and to keep the weight off for good. If you miss one wheel, you may lose your chance to ever be happy with what you see.

To read more on the express fat loss program visit: www.expressfatloss.com

What is your best tool for Weight Loss?

What is the best tool you can get to help you with your weight loss program?  Is it your cardio session? Or what about the strength training?

It’s probably not the strength training, right?  The cardio machines are always full at every gym, and you see so many people on the step master or elliptical machine, sweating like crazy for an hour or more. So you probably imagine they know what they doing, if they always doing it all the time. It must be working, right? So you copy what they’re doing and jump on the cardio machines to burn some calories and reach your dream body.

You are wrong. Strength Training is more effective than cardio when it comes to weight loss! But how can that be?

Let me explain…

Don’t get upset over all that time on the cardio machines, but I’m telling you the whole truth and nothing but the truth. When you did your cardio session, what happened?  You burned some calories and that was great. What is not so great is when you step back from the cardio machine, then what happened? Nothing That’s right.  Nothing happened and you didn’t burn any more calories.

I want to tell you something about cardio.  I do some cardio as well, but only after my strength training, and I do interval training for my cardio routine. I don’t just slog away at a cardio machine for hours.

Now when you use some weight training, weight lifting, strength training or pumping some iron, call it what you will – it’s all the same, you burn calories during your workout.  Trust me, if you move fast between sets and you push yourself you will feel your heart working too. You train anaerobically – without oxygen, so you’re really burning calories here too.

The beauty of the strength training is you will be able to increase your muscle mass. What happens when you muscle mass increases? Yeah you are right, you speed up your metabolism. And when your metabolism runs higher, you burn more calories during the day, at night and even when you sleep. Now you start to figure it out!

This is good for men and women. especially for you ladies, don’t be afraid that you’ll wake up one morning looking like Arnold when he is competing for Mr. Olympia. It will not happen. Why?

For 2 GOOD reasons

Reason #1- You don’t have enough of the hormone Testosterone in your body. Testosterone is the hormone that helps you to build muscles.

Reason  #2- It will not happen….Period!

Change your mind about your weight loss program approach and start to lift some weights. It will help you to look thinner and more toned and you will look really GOOD.

If you are not confident using free weights or the machines at first, ask at the staff members at your gym to show you few basic exercises to help you started with your strength training. If you want, you can always purchase my E-book the Ultimate Guide to Express Fat Loss with a full program for your weight training with pictures and descriptions or each exercise.

In my Express Fat Loss you will also discover all the different aspects of weight loss – Nutrition, Strength Training, Cardio and Flexibility- everything you need is in this e-book. And did I tell you about the 60 day guarantee? If you are not satisfied with my product you have 60 days to ask for your money back, no questions asked!.

To buy the Ultimate Guide to Express Fat Loss: Click Here

Change Your Program to Get the Best Results

Why you need to change your workout program for Express Fat Loss and building muscles?

Do you know the best way to avoid plateaus and get the best results – Express Fat Loss – from your workout program, is to change your program regularly. When I say regularly, I mean change your workout program at least every 6 weeks.  Why do you need to change so often? It’s simple – your body will adjust to your workout program, work more efficiently, and you will not be challenging your muscles
any more.  You reach a plateau and start to ask the question: ‘why am I not getting results anymore with my workout program?’

This is why for my own program or for my clients, I never keep the same workout program  longer than 4 to 6 weeks. This way I keep the muscles working at their maximum potential and keep the gains. Your body composition will continue to change. You will gain more muscle and reduce your body fat – Express Fat Loss. This is the way to do it. Keep challenging your muscles! The last thing you want is to let your muscles get on cruise control.
This wastes your time, and I’m sure your time is precious.

To get the maximum from your Express Fat Loss program, change your routine every 4 to 6 weeks.

To get the secret on how to break plateau, read this article : Changing Your Workout Program

Your Fitness Routine should continue after 12 weeks

Where are you with your program to get back into shape? When you decided to get back into shape, that was probably when you requested your F.ree E-Book or when you purchased the Express Fat Loss program.

A lot of people decide they want to make a body transformation for a special event like a New Year’s resolution, a wedding, a trip to the beach, a family reunion etc. But what happens after this is over?  Are you going to give up everything you achieved? Give up all your good work and go back to your old habits, feeling sluggish with no energy, increasing your body fat and then starting the same pattern over again for another event in a few months or next year?

Are you like that?  Can you recognize your behavior in that scenario?

Now that you have been in your routine for a few months, the trick is to keep going. So many people work hard to pass the 12 week point and after that, if something happens, they cancel their exercise time at the gym.  They think it’s probably not a big issue.  It’s only one time, but next week the same situation will come up again, and again the following week, and they end up missing more workouts.  I’m sorry to tell you that this usually signals the beginning of the end.

I have been in this business for so long that I know that at some point you will probably feel bored with your exercise program.  Maybe you will reach a plateau, and you may not see any obvious improvement in weight loss or muscle gain. You might start to lose your focus.

The other day, I read something by Mark Joyner. Mark Joyner is a 4 times best-selling author, and this phrase made a lot of sense to me. Make sure you apply this to your goals: he said, “Hit it until you hit it”. Whatever your goals are, apply this to your focus and you will ‘Hit It’ for sure.

If you have lost focus lately with your fat loss program, make sure you are still doing what you need to do to be successful. Here’s a few ways to get back on track:

Ÿ  Establish a routine – Make exercise part of your daily lifestyle. Exercise should come naturally like eating, sleeping or brushing your teeth.

Ÿ  Schedule – Make sure you set up some time in your agenda for time at the gym. Choose the best time for you and KEEP IT! This time slot is yours. It’s your time to think about your health.

Ÿ  Pay attention to your nutrition – Without monitoring your nutrition closely, it will be very difficult to achieve what you want. It’s a package deal: you need all of ‘wheels’ (Nutrition, Strength Training, Cardio/Flexibility and Rest)

Ÿ  Goals- Look back to the goal setting you did a few months ago and see if your goals were realistic.

Ÿ  Start keeping your nutrition and exercise journal again – Make sure you stay on track with both.

Ÿ  Push yourself little bit more at each workout session, perform maybe one extra rep or increase the weight of your lift.

Ÿ  Change your routine every 4 to 6 weeks to keep you interested and your muscles learning and getting fit.

Your fitness program should go beyond the first 12 weeks. First make a commitment for the first 12 weeks and then re-assess and make another commitment for another 3 months. Use a small time frame (12 weeks at a time) and aim to get fitter and stronger every time you set up fresh 12 weeks goals.  Remember what you learned about goal setting – keep it realistic, and measure your progress regularly to stay motivated!

15 Reasons to try the Express Fat Loss Program

Are you still debating if you should invest the equivalent of the price of a few coffees to be in best shape of your life? Well, if it were me, the answer would be simple.  I do everything I can to stay in good shape. Even when I was diagnosed with throat cancer, and during my chemotherapy and radiation treatment, I would still take a walk every day.  At that time it was the only thing I could do, but I still did it.

What about you?

I’ll give you 15 good reasons to adopt the Express Fat Loss Program. I’m sure after you see what my program can offer you, it will be an easy choice and you will be closer to achieving the new YOU!

15 great reasons to get your jump start with the Express Fat Loss Program

1.    Speed up your metabolism: you will burn more calories and maintain a better lean mass/body fat ratio.

2.    Improve self image and your self esteem.

3.    Increase the good cholesterol (HDL) in your blood. HDL helps to protect you against the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

4.    Increase your aerobic capacity.

5.    Develop more muscle mass. With more muscle, you will burn more calories.

6.    Decrease and control your blood pressure, reducing your risk of cardiovascular disease.

7.    Help to control your blood sugar and your insulin level. This will reduce your risk of diabetes.

8.    Improve the blood flow in your body, helping your skin to look healthier.

9.    Increase your bone density, helping to prevent osteoporosis.

10.    Improve the quality of sleep.

11.    Make your heart fitter.  Don’t forget your heart is a muscle: you need to train the most important muscle in your body! Your heart will be more efficient, increasing the volume of blood flow.

12.    Increase energy

13.    Improve your posture with a stronger core.

14.    Strengthen your immune system, helping you to fight illness and disease.

15.    You will get a real program with all the information you need.  Experience shows that the Express Fat Loss Program works.

And here’s one more reason: I will personally guarantee that this book will change your life. Accept my 60 Day Satisfaction Guarantee and get your money back if you are not completely satisfied!!!

To Start Your Program Today visit: www.ExpressFatLoss.com

Staying Fit with Numbers

Many times it happen that we spend so much time practicing  a weight loss program but cannot get significant results. This is mainly because we stick to our weight loss program during gym hours but somehow forget to follow them during hours outside gym.
Keep in mind that the nutrition & lifestyle we follow outside the gym environment greatly impacts the results of our weight loss program. Target setting is a very important factor and in order to achieve effective weight loss, we need to set some targets and stick to them during gym hours as well as outside gym hours.

The Number Game:

In order to stay fit with numbers, we need to understand the number game.

• Total hours per week = 7 days x 24 hours each = 168 hours/week

• Wake up hours per week = 168 total – (8hours per day X 7 days) = 112 hours Awake in General

• Gym Hours per week = 5 hours/week at the gym (if you train 5 days a week for 60 minutes)

• Outside Gym Hours = 112 hours awake  – 5 hours at the  gym = 107  hours left outside the gym.

The nutrition you take and the lifestyle you follow during these 107 outside gym hours are the deciding factor for your weight loss goals.

Nutrition

The nutrition you take outside gym hours is very much important for achieving quick weight loss. Experts suggest taking meals at regular intervals – after every 2 1/2 to 3  hours including three routine meals of the day. This helps in weight loss by keeping metabolism active and energy level high – keep your blood sugar more stable. Similarly if you eat balanced nutrition after workouts then it will help your body recover by making up the glycogen level lost during extensive workout sessions.

Lifestyle

Your weight loss results are really dependent on your lifestyle outside the  gym. Muscle development mainly takes place during rest so you should give your body enough rest time. Keeping a check on your lifestyle and monitoring it accordingly will help you achieve fat loss goal by changing the routine as per outcome.

To reach your goals faster with your weight loss program, visit www.ExpressFatLoss.com and start your weight loss program today.

Diet don’t work!

A few days ago I started working with a new client. She wants to lose weight. After a brief chat with her, she told me she’s tried almost every popular diet. She found with all those diets, the only results she’d get is a slower metabolism and all the weight back, even with some extra pounds!

I’m going to tell you once again, just in case you’ve missed it in my blog when I talked about diets…

Diets DON’ T  work. Period!

Get it?

Don’t try to diet to lose weight. Chances are, you will gain all your weight back – and probably more – after your diet.

So what is the solution? It’s simple. Change your lifestyle. Notice I didn’t say change your diet. I said lifestyle. What do I mean by lifestyle? Changing your habits and your behaviors. This is the only way to lose weight and keep it off for a lifetime.

Start with a few simple tips:

- Eat breakfast every day – Your most important meal of the day!

- Eat every 3 hours – Keep your blood sugar more stable.

- Eat small portions – Eat more often but small portion

- Establish a good balance between carbohydrates, protein and fat. (40%-40%-20%)

- Consume healthy fats from good sources – Extra Virgin Coconut  or Olive oil, Flax seed oil, Avocado, Salmon

- Set aside a time for your favorite meal or snack

To get a complete guide for your weight loss and building lean muscle, I highly recommended the Ultimate Guide to Express Fat Loss. In there, you’ll find all the information you need for successful weight loss. Including 18 different meal plan with grocery list to give you all what you need to be another success story on weight loss.

Once you discover how to  change your lifestyle, you’ll see it’s easy to keep the weight off. Stop the yo-yo dieting. It’s not working. When you know what to do, you will see it’s much easier to lose weight and keep it off.

Keep Moving, Stay Fit!

Be careful with protein bars!

Since you’ve started to read my tips, you know the importance of eating 5 or 6 meals a day to maintain a healthy weight and keep your energy
levels high. This is very important if you work out on a regular basis. It can be hard to cook all these meals every day, and this is why I like
protein bars. Protein bars can be a great snack, but they can destroy your good intentions too!

The other day, I visited my friend at his supplement store. I started to look at all the bars you can buy. Now you have the choice from
meal replacement or diet bars, protein bars, and energy bars. For someone who had no idea what to buy, this could be very confusing.

Each bar contains different levels of protein, carbohydrates, fat and sugar. Picking the right one depends on your goal. Let me explain little
bit more:

If we look first at the energy bars, the name says it all. The purpose of the energy bar is to give you a boost of energy.  This is great
for endurance athletes like cyclists or marathoners. I’m sure you figured out that the main ingredient is carbohydrates to give
you the energy you need to keep you going during the event.

Meal replacements bars are mostly “diet” bars. This type of bar contains the least amount of calories and more carbohydrates than protein.
Again, the name tells you what it is for – a meal or snack replacement. In the mean time it’s a good choice for a pre or post-workout snack.

The last one is the protein bar. The protein bar is designed for people who are training and trying to lose weight. This type of bar
had a high level of protein to help you build muscles, and burn fat.

Nutrition bars can be a good and healthy choice once in a while, but it’s important to read the labels carefully. Many bars are
full of sugar, which can make them just as bad as a regular chocolate bar. Make sure to always choose one that contains
little refined sugar and – and this isvery important – is low in saturated fats.

My 2 best choices are from Isagenix- Isalean for meal replacement and  Labrada Nutrition – Lean cookie Bar - for Post workout snack.

Make sure you don’t abuse the nutrition bars. They can result in an increase in your body fat if you eat too much of these bars, especially if
you are a person who is not too active and trying to lose weight.

If you want to make sure you receive all tips in your email box you need to sign up at www.ExpressFatLoss.com

Healthy Snack Options for Rapid Fat Loss

As a fitness expert people always ask me, “What snacks can I eat that will help me lose ‘this’?” When they say “this” they are pointing to some part of their body that has a bit too much fat for their liking.
Now I think some people are waiting for me to say, “Oh, don’t worry, you can eat cookies, chips and candy all you want. Everyone has been lying to you. They actually make you thinner!”
Seriously, people really do want me to tell them what they WANT to hear.
But, fortunately, some people are serious when they ask that question. They really do want to know some healthy snack options for rapid fat loss.
So here’s what I tell them:

• Raw almonds, walnuts or pecans (Not the roasted variety. And don’t even think about the ones with sugar sprinkled on them!)
• Fruit or veggies cut up into sticks (Stay away from dipping them into things you know you shouldn’t)
• Hard boiled eggs
• Low-fat cottage cheese
• Hummus

Those are all great options. But if you really want to treat yourself you’ve gotta check out Prograde Cravers. You can find them here http://express.getprograde.com/cravers
They’re made with 100% organic dark chocolate. Plus, they’re only 180 calories and they’re out-of-this-world delicious.
Seriously, this isn’t your ordinary “tastes like chemicals or cardboard’ nutritional bar.
Definitely check them out.

PS – It’s best if you choose a variety of foods from the above list. But please realize, you CANNOT find Prograde Cravers in stores anywhere. They’re only available through fitness pros such as myself. http://express.getprograde.com/cravers
PPS – I am a Prograde Nutrition partner

By ExpressFatLoss.com

Win the Battle Against Fat Cells

As a fitness expert, you know I’ll never promise you a pill is going to be the answer to that “jiggle in your wiggle.” If you want six pack abs you’re going to have to work for them.

BUT…

There is some very promising research out there in regards to a dietary supplement you’ve probably been hearing a lot about.

Yes, I’m talking about Essential Fatty Acids. You probably have heard them called something like Fish Oil pills.

How’s this for good news?!

*University of Georgia researchers have found something pretty amazing about  Essential Fatty Acid supplements containing DHA. Get this: The actually help STOP the conversion of pre-fat cells into fat cells by causing them to die out before they can mature.

Once a pre-fat cell becomes a fat cell, well, there’s no turning back. You’ve got that fat cell for life. Imagine, actually decreasing the accumulation of fat by taking an Essential Fatty Acid supplement containing DHA!

Now let me do my best infomercial voice for you…

But wait, there’s more!

Seriously, that’s not the only benefit of Essential Fatty Acid supplements containing DHA.

According to studies** done at the University of South Australia people that combined exercise with Essential Fatty Acid supplements containing DHA saw greater fat loss than the test group that only exercised and did not take the supplement.

How can you not be excited by these research studies??

Now, personally, I don’t like Fish Oil pills because they cause you to burp like crazy. If you’ve ever taken them you know exactly what I mean. And they aren’t always the highest quality.

I prefer EFA Icon from Prograde Nutrition because they use Krill Oil. It’s been found to be a superior source of Essential Fatty Acids containing DHA. Plus, with EFA Icon there are NO fish burps. And I haven’t even mentioned all the amazing health benefits from this dietary supplement.

If you’re looking to accelerate your fat loss results than I really recommend you go with Prograde Nutrition’s EFA Icon. You can get it here: Prograde Nutrition

PS – Remember, EFA Icon is NOT a miracle solution. You will need sound nutrition and exercise. BUT the research is there. It’s definitely a supplement with powerful fat loss properties.  Prograde Nutrition

* Journal of Nutrition, Vol. 136:2965-2969

** American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 85:1267-1274