"BIG FAT LIES" PART 6

Fat Loss Lie #6:

:: Losing fat can be accomplished without hard work ::

One of my favorite motivational speakers is Brian Tracy, who is one of the world's top experts on success psychology and personal achievement.

I recently attended a seminar Brian held here in New York City. One part of his talk really grabbed my attention, and I'd like to share it with you because it could profoundly affect whether you succeed or fail in your body transformation goals...

Brian said that there are two diseases running rampant across America and much of the industrialized world today. If you had to guess, which two do you think they are? Cancer? Diabetes? Heart Disease? Osteoporosis? Obesity?

Nope. None of the above. In fact, they're not even physical diseases - they are mental diseases.

The first mental disease, according to Tracy, is called something-for-nothing disease.

Something for nothing disease is contracted by people who believe they can take more out than what they put in. These are the people who want all the rewards without paying full price, or as Brian put it, "They want to go through the revolving door of life on someone else's push."

Quick fix disease is the second of the mental diseases. According to Brian, this disease is contracted by people who always want a quick way to reach their goals.

They search for instant cures to solve problems that may have taken months or even years to develop. They seek short cuts to acquire key skills that actually take many months and years of hard work to master.

These diseases are not to be confused with the desire to constantly get better and search for more efficient ways to reach your goals (which is a positive trait). The "diseased" people are those trying to reach their goals faster than nature intended or without any effort (which is a negative trait).

Brian's New York City seminar was mostly filled with businesspeople and sales professionals, so he gave financial examples, such as: wanting to work fewer hours while earning moremoney, investing in get-rich-quick schemes, or buying lottery tickets.

However, I believe that quick fix and something for nothing disease are more rampant and insidious among people with fitness goals than any other group.

Health and fitness seekers with something for nothing disease think they can get twice the results in half the time. They want weight loss without dieting, fitness without exercise, and perfect health while eating, drinking and smoking whatever they want.

Those with quick fix disease want to take a pill, go to sleep, and wake up skinny. They are forever on a quest to bypass hard work and find short cuts to fitness goals that that normally take months or years to attain.

People afflicted by quick fix disease are suckers for the latest "exercise in a bottle," "fat burning cream," "diet pill," or "steroid replacement" scams. They impulsively buy miracle solutions on a whim, which they haven't researched and know nothing about.

Saddest of all, they often waste YEARS of their lives on a misguided quest for the holy grail of fitness, when they could have reached their goals with a better work ethic and a little bit of persistence.

People with these diseases are violating the most basic laws of the universe: Cause and effect, sowing and reaping, action and reaction. This is just as ridiculous as attempting to violate the law of gravity. Jump off a cliff, and you're going to plummet to the Earth below - 100% of the time.

Not only will you fail and hit bottom if you catch one or both of these diseases - the very act of seeking a quick fix or wanting something for nothing makes you a weaker person.

On the other hand, the act of setting a worthy goal for something you want and reaching it through determination, discipline and hard work changes the very fiber of your being and you become a stronger person, not just physically, but also mentally and emotionally.

It's been said you don't get what you want in life, you get what you earn. If you want success and achievement... If you want to lose weight, improve your health and transform your body, then set the goals and go for it!

But whatever you do, don't catch these two diseases. Shun the quick fix, avoid the free ride, work hard at, and earn it. You can have, do or be anything you want... you can have the body you want! Just pay the price and it's yours!

Losing fat and transforming your body is simple, but it's not easy. You gotta work at it. But if you're willing to put the work in, you will take out the rewards!

burnthefat.com

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto

----------------------------------------------------------------------
BURN THE FAT READER MAIL & FEEDBACK...
----------------------------------------------------------------------

After spending hundreds of dollars on books, magazines, powders, pills, protein bars (candy), I too thought that BFFM was expensive and seemed a bit too good to be true, but I bought it anyway.

All I can say now is that I have saved ten times more than the E-book cost me just in saving money from not needing to buy all of the crap powders and pills that really did nothing for me.

After buying the book, I went from 23% body fat to 12% body fat within 12 months and now I am about to see my abs for the first time. Seriously, do yourself a favour, buy the book, and thats the LAST book you will ever need to buy on fat loss.

All you have to do is what Tom says and I guara ntee you it works. And, no Tom doesn't know me or pay me anything for saying this!

THERE ARE NO EASY WAYS OUT... just do the cardio, feed the muscle, burn the fat - read the book - IT WORKS!

Paul Hunter Adelaide,
South Australia

"BIG FAT LIES" PART 5

Fat Loss Lie #5:

:: Thermogenics and "fat burners" (including ephedrine and caffeine) are effective for long term fat loss ::

For the past 15 years or so, "thermogenic" fat burning pills made with ephedra and other herbal stimulants were the hottest weightLoss craze in history.

Even though they have since been outlwaed and pulled off the market, new "thermogenic" products and "fat burning" pills havequickly taken their place.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on these products every year and they are pushed so hard in the magazines that it almost makes you think you have to take them to get results.

Here are just a few actual advertising claims, taken word for word,from advertisements seen in well-known magazines:

"Proven to increase fat loss 1700%."
"Burn up to 613% more fat!"
"34 times more fat lost than control group."
"5 times more fat loss than exercise anddiet alone."

Many people accept these claims at face value, but if you wereto examine them closely, you would find that "apples" are being compared to "oranges" and statistics are being taken out of context...

Did you know there's an infamous book called, "How to Lie With Statistics," written on this very topic? If you don't believe me, go to Amazon.com and see for yourself.

As Mark Twain said, "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics."

If any supplement really did burn 1700% more body fat, think aboutthe impact that would have on the obesity situation today: There wouldn't be any overweight people left, right? But with more dietsand diet supplements available than ever before in history, thereare now more overweight people than ever before in history. How do you explain this paradox?

Here is the truth behind "the diet pill lie"...

some thermogenic supplements have science behind them - theycan work to some degree... however, none of them can work miracles.

Furthermore, since the ingredients ephedrine and caffeine are strong central nervous system stimulants, they also have many potential side effects and down sides.

"Jacking yourself up" on stimulants is NOT the healthy and natural (or permanent) way to fat loss.

Use caution if you use thermogenic products at all and never use them if you're sensitive to stimulants and/or have a history of heart disease, high blood pressure, thyroid disorders or any other medical problems. If you're not sure if ephedra or stimulant based products are safe for you, check with your doctor first.

What about non-simulant fat burners and "no-ephedra" formulas?Some of this new crop of dietpills that emerged after the ephedraban claim to "burn fat" by affecting insulin, thyroid or appetite.

Sounds good in theory, but so far, there's very little evidence that any of them are effective. Lots of hype, very little science.

Taking pills to lose weight is short term thinking. If there are benefits, they are minimal and they don't last. You can't fix a problem like body fat by temporarily treating symptoms, you have to address the causes of the problem: poor nutrition and lack of exercise.

There is a better, healthier way, and my recommendations come from experience.

Years ago, as a novice bodybuilder, I used ephedrine and ephedra products and noticed a very strong stimulant effect which "boosted" my workout energy.

However, that was not real energy... it was "borrowed energy" andthere was always a crash afterwards. What's borrowed must be paid back...what goes up must come down.

I also always believed that even thermogenic supplements with scientificsupport (such as the ephedrine, caffeine combination) were overrated as fat burners and underrated as stimulants.

This is probably why so many people got hooked on the stuff, and still search high and low to find it to this day, even after it has been "outlawed."

There's an interesting and ironic end to the story: Today, I STILL reach 4% body fat every time I compete - with no thermogenic or "fat burning" supplements whatsoever - just the right nutrition and training

I hear the same thing over and over again from my clients on theBurn The Fat program. They lose more fat than ever, often eating morethan they did before, while saving hundreds of dollars a month onpills they never needed in the first place.

By the way, did you know that proper food choices and foodcombinations are a better appetite suppressant than any drugor pill - without the side effects?

For example, lean proteins are not only highly thermogenic foods,(raising metabolic rate after a meal, during digestion), studieshave also proven that they are effective at blunting appetite.

By eating a serving of lean protein such as chicken, turkey, egg whites, tuna or lean red meat with every meal, at frequent intervals throughoutthe day, you stimulate your metabolism while decreasing hunger at the same time.

That's it for today...

In the next installment, you'll learn about two diseases that youmight be affected with and not even know it... they are deadlyto your fat loss progress and you have probably never even heard of them before!

To learn even more about natural ways to increase your metabolism and get rid of fat without pills or supplements, visit the Burn The Fat website: burnthefat.com

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto
----------------------------------------------
Burn The Fat Reader Mail & Feedback
----------------------------------------------

"Tom, I have found the various articles both on the web and in print form to be mind-boggling, especially for a beginner like myself.

There is such a push on the supplements that they almost make it sound like goals and results cannot be achieved unless you indulge yourself in their products.

I just wanted to say Thank You for offering such a website. I have been searching a long time for such advice as that which you present here - advice that is DRUG-FREE. The natural way."

- Dave Goodrich

"Tom, Thanks for this info - it is very realistic without a lot of "hype? like, 'use my supplements they're the best'or 'use XYZ fat burner and get abs in 28 days! You're giving people a lot of information that I believe to be true and result producing."

- Larry Chmiel

"Tom, Thank you for creating an informational web site that is not trying to sell me a supplement"

-Aaron Van

The Fat Burning Food Group That Increases Your Metabolism And Decreases Your Appetite

There have been countless studies performed on the role of protein in the muscle growth process to try and determine exactly how much protein you should consume to build muscle mass. Recently, several studies have looked at the role that dietary protein plays in helping you lose fat, and more importantly, helping you keep it off!

One thing scientists have discovered is that eating lean protein foods is important for regulating body composition because it decreases your appetite.

In a 2003 study reported in the journal, Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition And Metabolic Care (2003; 6(6): 635-638), protein was shown to be more satiating (made you feel fuller) than both carbohydrate and fat both in the short term and the long term.

Eating more lean protein foods has also been proven as an effective strategy to help you burn fat and keep it off because of something called, “dietary thermogenesis” (also known as the thermic effect of food).

In a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition in 2005 (93(2): 281-289), researchers followed a group of 113 overweight subjects after 4 weeks of a very low calorie diet, through a 6 month period of weight maintenance. The subjects were divided into a protein group or a control group. The protein group was simply given an extra 30 grams of protein per day on top of their usual diet.

The researchers found that during weight maintenance, the group with the higher protein intake was less likely to regain the lost weight, and any weight gain in the protein group was lean tissue and not fat. The results were attributed to higher thermic effect and a decrease in appetite.

Although calories will always be the bottom line when it comes to fat loss, studies such as these are confirming what bodybuilders have known for a long time: That calories are not the only factor that can influence your body composition. Your protein intake and your ratios of protein relative to carbohydrate and fat can clearly play a key role in helping you lose fat and keep the fat off.

None of this is news to bodybuilders or to anyone who is already familiar with bodybuilding-style nutrition programs such as Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle. But it’s interesting that such positive results were achieved in studies where protein was increased so conservatively - as little as 30 additional grams of protein per day or a 20% increase above traditional protein recommendations.

Many bodybuilding-style diets (such as Burn The Fat and Body For Life) call for as much as 30%-40% of the total daily calories from protein and some competitive bodybuilders crank up the protein (temporarily) to as much as 50% before competitions.

I’m curious to see if any research is ever conducted with these more aggressive protein intakes. If so, my guess is that we will find once again, that the bodybuilders are ahead of the science when it comes to the manipulation of diet for improving body composition.

The take home lesson is simple: If you remove some carbs and put in some protein - nothing too radical; even as little as trading 30 grams per day of carbs for 30 grams of lean protein - this small change in your diet may decrease your appetite, decrease your body fat and help you keep the fat off after you lose it.

For more information about the BURN THE FAT program, visit the home page here: burnthefat.com

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto

Fat Burning Foods & Foods That Burn Fat

Q: What are the best thermogenic fat burning foods for burning body fat?

A: That depends on your definition of a "fat burning food." When you say "thermogenic," many people instantly think of supplements or exotic herbs, hot spices or foods like cayenne, chili pepper, mustard, cider vinegar, guarana, green tea, etc., which "magically" ramp up your metabolism and burn off body fat.

There might be some science behind some of those things, but focusing on tiny details (especially before you’ve mastered the nutrition fundamentals) is putting your attention in the wrong place. It’s like getting excited by the (misguided) idea that drinking enough ice cold water is "thermogenic" and is going to get you ripped because the body has to "warm it up" and that expends energy... when meanwhile, you're skipping meals, drinking beer every weekend and working out sporadically or not at all. That makes no sense.

I agree that details are important and that little things matter, but when you give too much attention to small stuff (and "weird stuff"), before you know it, you’ve fallen for the latest cabbage or grapefruit diet. Focus on the big stuff first - the fat burning fundamentals - only then begin to "nit-pick" and take advantage of those "little things" that might help an extra percentage here and a percentage there.

Actually ALL foods are "thermogenic" because the body must use energy to digest them. This is known as the "thermic effect of food" (TEF) or "specific dynamic action of food." When you say "thermogenic food" to me, I think of REAL, WHOLE FOODS, and the most thermogenic fat burning food (my "favorite") is lean protein from solid foods, especially chicken breast, turkey breast, game meats, very lean red meat (grass fed beef is especially nutritious), various types of fish, seafood and also egg whites (limit the yolks).

Protein powders are great for convenience and some - like whey - even have functional properties (as antioxidants and immune boosters), but powders aren't as thermogenic as real food. This is one of the secrets in my Burn The Fat program - Focusing on highly thermogenic WHOLE foods (and not a lot of shakes or powdered drink mixes) can really crank up yourmetabolism due to the thermic effect of whole food.

It’s commonly known that of all the macronutrients (protein, carbs and fat), lean protein has the highest thermic effect. Personally, I believe the thermic effect of protein is even higher than most people realize. This is one of the reasons that bodybuilders eat a diet high in lean protein and they are the leanest muscular athletes on earth. My entire fat loss program is based on these "bodybuilding diet" secrets (although the diet is not just for bodybuilders).

When you combine thermogenic lean protein foods with the right amounts and types of essential fats, add in plenty of green vegetables and just the right amount of natural starchy carbs and whole grains (at the right times), your body will literally turn into a turb-charged fat burning machine - without drugs, supplements or weird diet gimmicks.

A simple way to put together a highly thermogenic fat burning meal is to select a green vegetable or fibrous vegetable such as asparagus, green beans, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, salad vegetables, etc., and combine that with one of the lean proteins I previously mentioned. That is the foundation of your fat burning meal. From there you add in some fruit and also starchy carbs (natural only) like brown rice, oats, or sweet potatoes to the degree your body can tolerate starches.

You can learn a lot more about this entire process of natural thermogenesis using real food (not pills or powders) in my Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle e-book. You'll also learn all the fat loss fundamentals, which are responsible for 80-90% of your results. Also, for a limited time, you can get two three free reports about fat burning foods when you order the Burn The Fat, Feed the Muscle e-book:

(1) Foods That Burn Fat
(2) Foods That Turn to Fat
(3) The A Food B Food Lecture: How To get Good Grades on Your Food Choices.

Visit the home page by clicking here for more details: BurnTheFat.com

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto

"BIG FAT LIES" PART 4

Fat Loss Lie #4:

:: Meal replacement products, powders, drinks and shakes help you to "burn" fat ::

You're probably familiar with the old die-ting concept of;

"Drink a shake for breakfast, drink a shake for lunch andthen eat a sensible dinner."

This may be one of the worst things you could ever do to your body and your metabolism.

Here's why:

First of all, such a regimen will probably leave you severelydeficient in calories, which will send your metabolism spiraling downward towards the starvation mode (not to mention that liquid protein diets can be dangerous).

Second, many of these products are poorly formulated and loadedwith junk such as refined sugar or corn syrup - which is the exact opposite of what you should eat on a fat loss program.

You would be shocked (even disgusted) if you looked at the "ingredientslist" of some of these drinks and shakes that are actually being passed off as fat loss or health food.

Third, even if your calorie intake is set at the correct level toburn fat without metabolic slowdown, it's important to realize that even well formulated drinks, shakes or meal replacement products do NOT contain any fat-burning or muscle-building properties that you cannot obtain from regular food.

In fact, real food is far superior than any powder, drink or meal replacement product because of the nutrients and fiber they contain and because of whole food's effect on metabolism.

The truth is that meal replacements are nothing more than "powdered food"(or "liquid food') and their primary benefit is simply convenience:

It's a challenge to eat frequently and to get enough high quality protein from whole foods, so quality protein powders or MRP’s are useful when you're in a hurry and you don't have time to eat whole food, but they're not better than food.

With the one possible exception of post-workout nutrition during muscle-building programs, eating real food is better than drinking shakes because the human gastrointestinal system has evolved to expect and efficiently digest whole food, not powders or pills.

In fact, the process of digesting solid food every three hours actually increases your metabolic rate.

This scientifically-proven process is known as the "thermic effect of food" or "dietary thermogenesis" and you can find referencesto this phenomenon in any good nutrition textbook.

According to the text, "Sports And Exercise Nutrition" By Katch, Katch & McArdle, the thermic effect of food can be responsiblefor as much as 10% of your total daily energy expenditure.

Furthermore, they reveal that there are two components ofthe thermic effect - one is obligatory thermogenesis, which results from the energy required to digest absorb and assimilatefood nutrients.

The second is facultative thermogeneis, which results fromsympathetic nervous system activation from food ingestion andits stimulating effect on metabolism.

What this means is that powders and liquids fail to fully take advantage of the metabolic boost that comes from real food.

It may sound counter-intuitive, but you could say that you can "burn fat with food."

Imagine eating (the right kinds of food) is like stoking a furnaceto keep your house warm. If you don't keep throwing slow-burningfuel into your stove - at frequent intervals - the fire dwindles,the temperature drops and you freeze your butt off.

That's how your metabolism works.

Eating fat-burning foods in small, frequent meals is like throwing logs on a fire which turns up your metabolic "burn rate" and creates more "metabolic heat."

The fat burning solution is to use real, whole food as much aspossible, to eat small frequent meals throughout the day, and use the meal replacements and protein powders only for convenience.

Combine these these food strategies with exercise, and you will turnyour metabolism into a food incinerating, fat burning furnace!

You'll learn more about thermogenesis in the next installmentof BIG FAT LIES, including the dark side of using "thermogenic"pills to elevate your metabolism artificially and unnaturally. Stay tuned for part 5...

Click HERE for more information on Burn The Fat

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto

------------------------------------------------------------------
BURN THE FAT READER MAIL & FEEDBACK...
------------------------------------------------------------------

"Dear Tom: I was just about to do a search on the internet to find out the newest pill, powder or whatever to use to get into shape. That's when I stumbled on your website.

I ordered your e-book and have since read it. I can't Begin to tell you what a pleasure it has been to read. POWERFUL INFORMATION!

You've reached me on another level though besides fitness. Your research goes above and beyond just working out or the right kinds of food to eat. You try to get into people's heads.

When I read your book, I really felt connected for the first time. I have begun to study and set goals. I have my goal card filled out. I even printed out your last Newsletter on the "Excuse Buster." It was excellent. It really drives me.

I can appreciate your sense of integrity. I really hope that you can do something to reach the tens of millions of people that need you."

Ken Bateman

"BIG FAT LIES" PART 3

Fat Loss Lie #3:

::: You can believe everything you read in the magazines :::

In general, you tend to trust what you see printed in the magazines,just as you tend to trust the information you hear on the evening news and read in the daily newspapers.

Why? Because the news media and most magazines have mega-credibility.Most people automatically assume - consciously and unconsciously - that if it's in print or on the news, then it must be true.

However, the fitness and bodybuilding publishing industry havesome dirty little secrets...

Just as much of the news we hear is "planted," much of the fitnessand nutrition information we read in our favorite magazines is alsoplanted and heavily biased.

Publishers realize that the vast majority of readers will believe almost anything if it's printed in a nationally-circulated magazine. As a result they created...

"The magazine / supplement company business model."

Today, most fitness magazine publishers not only depend on supplement company advertising revenue to stay in business, they actually OWN the supplement companies and use their magazines as the primary channel for promoting their products.

It didn't take long before the entire bodybuilding and fitness magazineindustry realized that more moolah could be made selling supplements than selling advertising or subscriptions.

Here's another dirty little Secret they don't want you to know about:

Most people cannot sort out where the editorial ends and the advertising begins.... and that is by design.

Editorials are more believable than advertising (that's why they try to make supplement ads look so much like articles these days).

Did you ever notice how many magazine articles are about the latest, greatest "breakthroughs" in supplements? These "articles" aren't really articles at all; they're nothing more than advertisements in disguise... with an 800 number for easy ordering at the end... (how convenient.)

Even if a magazine doesn't have a vested interest in a supplement line, you still can't count on them to reveal the whole truth to you. A full page ad in a high circulation national fitness magazinecan cost tens of thousands of dollars, so the publishers don't wantto write editorials that will upset, offend or contradict the advertisers

It's clearly in the magazine's best interest to promote supplements like crazy, and stay in bed with the supplement companies, regardless of whether the products work or not, because the more supplements that are sold, the more the supplement companies will advertise. The more they advertise, the more the supplements sell, and on and on the cycle goes.

It may seem blatantly obvious to you that magazines are "pushing" supplements, or you may have simply suspected it.

However, you would be stunned at how many people - especially beginners - believe every word they read in the "muscle mags" and buy hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of useless "muscle-building" or "fat burning" pills, powders and drinksas a result.

Many people ask me why I became an online publisher rather thanstarting my own printed magazine.

By publishing websites, newsletters and e-books online, I am not handcuffed by the censorship and hidden agendas of the fitness magazine industry.

I do not sell supplements and I do not accept moneyto endorse them, so I'm not at the mercy of the "magazine / supplement company"business model and I can call it like I see it and tell you the way it really is.

In the next installment of BIG FAT LIES you'll learn more aboutthis subject when I reveal the truth about protein shakes, powders, dietDrinks, and meal replacement products (MRP's)... Do they really help you burn fat?

Click HERE for more detail on Burn The Fat

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS

-----------------------------------------
Burn The Fat Reader Mail & Feedback...
-----------------------------------------

"I always had this wish when I looked thru Flex and Muscle &Fitness magazine that one of the real experts would put it all out there, lay it on the line, share with us "wannabe's" the complete process it takes to get from bulky to ripped.

Then by accident, I found your Burn the fat book - and my wish had come true!Never before have I ever read anything that comes close to the Burn The Fat manual. Ifeel that I finally have the tools and the knowledge that I need to become my personal best.

This book is by far the bestInvestment I've made, it beats all the others hands down. I'm looking forward to reaching goal after goal after goal. Thank you again and again."

- Denise Boyce

"Tom, I just wanted to thank you for putting out such well-informed advice. I am a Licensed Certified Nutritionist and have been involved for some time in the bodybuilding and sports nutrition industry.

I have just finished reading through your website and I can't tell you how refreshing it is to see someone who actually knows what they are talking about giving good solid information.

So many people believe the advertisement-based articles as the end-all-be-all of information or the reckless half-informed advice givers as "the authorities" that it makes it difficult to educate people and to create a healthy way of living.

I am glad that you are able to reach so many people through your newsletters and your Burn The Fat ebook. Thank you again."

-Jill Dollaske, CN

"BIG FAT LIES" PART 2

Fat Loss Lie #2: You need supplements to lose fat.

It's a common misconception that you can't reach your fat loss goals unless you take some kind of "fat burning" supplement.

It's also a common misconception that you can simply pop a pill and get dramatic fat loss results like you see on TV and in the magazine advertisements.

Neither is true. There is NO legal, natural, over-the-counter "fat burning" pill, drink or powder that has ever been proven to burn off body fat and keep it off over the long term.

Any transformation you may have seen in before and after photos in a diet pill advertisement was more than likely achieved from hard training and proper diet, not from any pill. (not to mention the results you see in the ads are almost always "not typical")

Any pill which might have some type of benefit (such as suppressing your appetite), is only a quick fix at best because it is only treating symptoms.

Body fat is a symptom of poor lifestyle choices, poor nutrition and not burning enough calories. Any approach to fat loss that only treats a symptom and does not address all these causes, cannot work in the long run and you will be wasting your time and money.

The good news is, you do not need pills or supplements when you know exactly what foods to eat to burn fat and how to exercise properly.

Nutrition, cardio, weight training and the right approach to motivation (so you can stick with the program), are the only things you need to get rid of fat forever.

I call these the "BIG FOUR," and teaching people to focus on these four fundamentals and to avoid quick fixes has been my life's work. I've helped tens of thousands of men and women get to get rid of fat forever, while saving them as much as $300-$400 a month on pills they never needed in the first place.

I have never taken steroids and I use no "fat burning" pills whatsoever. I do it naturally with proper nutrition and training, and you can too.

This isn't just talk. As a natural bodybuilder, I routinely reach 4% body fat for competitions and maintain my body fat at around 9% all year using my own techniques.

You may have no desire to be a bodybuilder or to reach low single digit body fat, (although if you want to get "ripped" to the point of having "six pack abs", you can). Regardless of your goals, the same four fundamentals always apply to everyone.

I'd like you to consider a basic principle that could revolutionize the way you look at this whole fat loss thing (and you could also apply it to other areas of your life).

The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80-20 rule, says that the majority of your results will come from 20% of your actions. Stated differently, you have to focus on the vital few (the 20%)and not worry so much about the trivial many (the 80%).

It's been my observation and conclusion, based on more than 17 years of experience as a professional trainer, fat loss coach and natural bodybuilder, that when it comes to body transformation goals, the 80-20 rule is more like the 97-3 rule.

Virtually all your results will come from the vital few:

* Good training (cardio and weights)
* Good nutrition (from whole, natural foods), and
* Good mental attitude

Ironically, virtually everyone trying to loseweight is focusing on the many trivial things that don't matter, while avoiding the hard work and discipline it really takes to get a great body.

The effects of supplements are trivial at best and cannot ever give you anything more than a small "slight edge" in results or performance - even if they are scientifically supported (and most are not!)

If your're a beginner and your nutrition and training are not already in place, then you should not even be considering fat loss supplements.

It may seem counter-intuitive to you, but advanced trainees and athletes will benefit more from going after that last few percent extra edge than beginners, because they are already eating right, training hard and have tremendous discipline and motivation.

The better the shape you're in and the closer you get to your genetic potential for leanness, muscularity and performance, the more the little things like supplements might make a difference.

Now contrast that with the average beginner or intermediate (and think about whether this applies to you):

They're still eating junk food often or skipping meals. They're not working out at all or only inconsistently. And the very first thing they do when they go on a fat loss program is to run out searching for a "shortcut" in the form of a pill or powder.

The next time you see an ad for a "fat burner" or if someone tries to convince you that "fat burning" supplements are essential and that you can't lose fat without them, ask yourself whether you are focusing your energy on the important, result-producing "vital few" or wasting your time and money on the "trivial many."

Click HERE to learn more about Burn The Fat.

Best Regards,

Tom Venuto

------------------------------------------------------------------
BURN THE FAT READER MAIL & FEEDBACK...
------------------------------------------------------------------

"Tom, thank you for telling the truth about cardio, bodybuilding and nutrition. Knowing that you aren't pushing the latest, greatest lose-weight-fast-for-only-$30.00-a-bottle scam, does wonders for your credibility, which I believe is already very high!"

- Melanie Haight

"Thank you so much for your honest, no bull fitness information. I really feel I can trust you."

- Linda Nash

"I just read your last article and I agree very much with you on this - fat loss does not come from a bottle. It's nice to know that there are a few scrupulous people still around. (I hear Dr. Phil even has his own line of "diet bars") lol! Keep up the good work, Tom."

- Janeen L.

"BIG FAT LIES" PART 1

Fat Loss Lie #1:

:: The only way to get really lean is to "starve" yourself::

There's no way around the fact that you must reduce calories in order to burn fat. Energy balance and thermodynamics dictate that you have to burn more than you take in for fat loss to occur.

However, most popular diet programs are too low in calories. Many border on starvation: 1200 calories, 1000 calories, even 800 calories or less.

Ironically, if you cut your calories too low, your metabolism slows down to protect you from starving.

Your fat cells begin to release less of the hormone leptin, which is the signal that tells your brain you are well fed and not starving.

This in turn triggers a cascade of other hormonal, enzymatic and metabolic events including a decrease in thyroid output (the "metabolism-regulating hormone") and a dramatic increase in appetite.

It's hormonally, metabolically and physiologically impossible to achieve permanent fat loss by starving yourself. In fact, very low calorie diets can actually make you fatter in the long run.

Very low calorie diets not only slow your metabolism so you burn fewer calories, they are also much more likely to cause muscle loss.

If you lose muscle tissue, your weight loss will become even harder and any increase in calories that follows will cause immediate fat gain.

This "rebound effect" is almost inevitable because no one can stay on low calories (with a raging appetite and irresistble cravings) forever.

Carefully look at the calorie recommendations of any diet program before you start it. You'll probably discover that in most cases, you are required to slash your calories to "starvation" levels (1200 or less for women, 1800 or less for men)

Any program that's extremely low in calories will work in the beginning - but it will never work for long.

You see, the human body is very "smart" - it always strives to maintain a perfect state of equilibrium:

Metabolism, body temperature, blood sugar, hormone levels, acid-alkaline balance and every other system in the body, are all regulated within a narrow range that your body finds safe and comfortable and body fat is no different.

When you put yourself through drastic measures attempting to achieve rapid weightloss, your metabolism cybernetically adjusts itself to maintain equilibrium in energy balance and body fat balance, much the same way as a thermostat maintains the temperature of your home within a desirable range.

As soon as you're in danger of starving, your body will quickly turn your metabolic "fat thermostat" down, so you burn fewer calories and turn your "appetite thermostat up" so you eat more calories!

This fail safe mechanism is often referred to as "the starvation response."

The only way to get rid of fat and keep it off permanenly is to avoid the starvation mode with physiologically and hormonally correct nutrition and training.

I recommend that you decrease your calories very conservatively -only about 20% below your daily calorie maintenance level - then increase your exercise level aggressively to burn more calories.

Example: If you maintain your weight on 2150 calories per day a 20% deficit is 1720 calories per day and you can increase that defict as needed by increasing activity (correct)

Conventional diets might have you cut to 1000 or 1200 calories per day without the emphasis on activity (incorrect)

There are some exercise physiologists today who are starting to call this concept "energy flux." That's a fancy way of saying, "eat more, burn more" and that's what my Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle philosophy is based upon.

Bottom line: it's always better to burn the fat than to starve the fat...

So get moving... when you exercise, including both resistance training and cardio training, you can actually eat more food while still keeping a small calorie deficit. You will burn fat, retain your lean body mass and your metabolism will thank you!

There are 11 more great lessons on the way, so stay tuned. You can learn even more about your body's "starvation mode" and how to avoid triggering it in chapter 2 of the Burn The Fat Ebook.

Tom Venuto

--------------------------------------------------------
BURN THE FAT READER FEEDBACK
--------------------------------------------------------

"I am 28 years old and in the past few years I've been trying to get myself back to the lean 150-155 pound physique I had before college. I allowed my weight to blow up to 195 and found myself stuck at that weight even though I was working out regularly. I started Burn The Fat in early October and the results were immediate. My energy level was higher from the first day on, and by increasing my cardio and maintaining my weight training according to your recommendations, the fat loss was immediate as well.

Before I knew it I was back under 160 lbs, so I knew something was going on. I figure that at my height, my ideal weight is around 150 and I'am surprised that I am almost there so soon.I have recommended Burn The Fat to a number of people, mostly because they notice the results, or they notice that I'm eating all the time at work and they ask me about it. It's only from reading your book that I realized I was actually starving myself before. Who would have thought you could actually eat more and still lose fat?"

-martin

Introduction to "BIG FAT LIES"

If you've ever walked into a health food store and asked for information about supplements...

If you've ever read any one of the many popular bodybuilding or fitness magazines...

If you've ever bought the latest best-selling diet book...

If you've ever watched late night TV and listened to a diet or fitness guru preach about an amazing new diet, exercise machine or supplement...

If you've ever surfed the web for information about diet, nutrition or training...

If you've ever done ANY of these things, then the odds are good that you've probably been lied to!

Are you shocked? Surprised? Outraged? If so, then join the club - you're not alone.

Honest information about nutrition and fat loss is harder to come by than ever before, and nearly everyone has been misled at one time or another. I know I have.

I wasted literally thousands of dollars on workout programs that didn't "work out" and "fat-burning" supplements that didn't burn anything but a hole in my wallet.

To successfully navigate through today's jungle of misleading and conflicting information, you have to become a very shrewd and discriminating consumer.

There are three reasons why it's so hard to find truthful information today:

1) Big Business

Weightloss is a 50 billion-dollar a year industry. With so much at stake, unscrupulous marketers will tell you just about anything - even outright LIES - to get you to buy their products and to further their financial interests.

2) Information overload

Since the electronic age has arrived, lack of information is not a problem anymore. The problem these days is too much information.

Fitness and diet "guru's" preach about their "latest breakthroughs" on TV infomercials 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Hundreds, even thousands of diet and exercise books fill bookstore shelves. Dozens of magazines clutter the newsstands every month.

To top it all off, the explosion of the Internet is adding to this "info-quagmire" at an exponential rate.

There are 270,000,000 web pages indexed on Google under "fitness" and 87,400,000 under "weight loss." Where do you even begin?

3) Conflicting advice.

Even industry professionals such as registered dieticians, research scientists, MD's, PhD's, and certified trainers give a tremendous amount of contradictory advice.

There are a lot of opinions out there and everyone seems to tell us something different.

This has left a lot of people frustrated, disillusioned, and thoroughly confused. It's hard to know whom or what to believe anymore.

This is the reason why I wrote this 12-part mini course...To expose the cover ups, dispel the myths, uncover the scams and reveal the truth in a marketplace full of lies.

In a mini-course such as this, I could have easily dived right into the how-to and mechanics of eating and training for fat loss (many of my weekly newsletters do just that).

However, because of the amount of misinformation in the health and fitness industry today, my job as a fitnes educator has become extremely difficult... sometimes it seems like digging a trench in the sand with a sewing needle!

Before I can effectively begin to teach you the truth about getting leaner and more muscular, I first have to UN-TEACH all the rumors, myths and lies...

Without this foundation, the information overload and bombardment of claims would simply continue to confuse and perplex you.

Once you've been through this 12 part mini course, you'll be among the savviest and most educated consumers on the planet.

You will instantly know how to spot a scam and you'll know without hesitation if a product or program has the potential to work or not.

Best of all, since all the "junk information" will finally be OUT of your head, that puts you in the perfect position to absorb and apply good fat loss information when you receive it, and you'll be on your way to the best body of your life!

This is not just a clever play on words, it's a physiological truth and I based my entire trademarked BURN THE FAT system on this premise.

BURN THE FAT

Tom Venuto

--------------------------------------------------------
BURN THE FAT READER FEEDBACK
--------------------------------------------------------

"Big Fat Lies is great!!! Tom Venuto is a consumer advocate for what is happening in the fitness industry... Tom is like the Ralph Nader of consumer rights when it comes to the truth in fitness"

- Glenn Greer, Coral Gables Fitness

"Keep it up, Tom. You're like one voice of truth speaking in a crowd that's screaming B.S. ... It's helpful to us rookies that are just looking for some honest advice on getting into shape."

- Kent Forrest

"Tom, Your candid advice is very refreshing in this day and age when people are passing off promotions as advice."

- Robert McCarson