I am talking about water, plain old naturally occurring water. The very substance that 75% of the planet is made up of, as well as 75% of our bodies. Hmm, is there a correlation here? We cannot live more than a day or two without water (yes, there have been a few exceptions of survival in the wild, but they are really very few, and we know nothing of these people’s medical condition after their rescue). Food, yes, we can do without significant amounts of food over a longer period of time. As an example, I could mention the survivors of the WWII prison camps or simply the “models” and “stars” on magazine covers. Skin remains, bones remain, fat actually remains whereas muscle tissue dwindles.

But there was the case of water. Seriously, have you ever seen a coffee-spring when you were out hiking or camping? Or a coke-spring? No? OK, what about an orange-juice spring then? Yes, I’m being silly, but it’s on purpose. None of the above are of any use to you if you want to keep hydrated. Not one! One cup of coffee leaves so much acidity in your body, you need an extra glass of water to neutralize it. A glass of coke, if my memory serves me right, requires all of 43 glasses of water to be neutralized, then you still have to drink 8 glasses to hydrate your body.

Drinking water increases your stamina for cardio. Water is a natural energy enhancer. You will find that it also boosts your strength when lifting weights. If anyone asks if you are “on” something, you can say yes, H2O !

And third, water helps burn bodyfat. By drinking colder water (not ice water, as it’s too much of a shock to the body) you also boost your body’s ability to burn bodyfat. Interesting, no?

Water retention will not occur if you keep hydrated, only if you are dehydrated. The body will hold on to what little water you give it, stocking it as bloated-looking tissue. By drinking enough, you keep flushing your kidneys of toxins and help your body stay lean.

Sarah, CPT
www.trainwithsarah.com

Since that is something I know you are interested in I wanted to be sure to send this to you asap —

http://tinyurl.com/5jnum8 <<<< Click-here!

In this F.ree report Jon explains in great detail all of the following  ….

• Secret Number 1 To Burn Fat Forever:
  Think Like A Thin Person! read more ….
• Secret Number 2 To Burn Fat Forever:
  Don’t Treat Your Body Like A Machine!  read more ….
• Secret Number 3 To Burn Fat Forever:
  The Magic Of "2 and 20"  read more ….

  Enjoy this complimentary report. These tips will come in handy with the holidays just around the corner!

He then listened to his readers and clients and changed it to EODD 2.0 SNAPP! which is a … well, it’s a snap!  Take a look here at http://www.myeveryotherdaydiet.com

However, no plan is perfect; no one plan is going to be the plan for everyone. Jon therefore told the readers of EODD 2.0 to feel free to adapt the plan to suit them, but more importantly, to submit the information of what they changed to him, telling him not only what they did, but why and also how it worked for them in terms of fat burning and muscle building. He launched a Challenge where part of the "work" to do was to report back on the feasibility of the SNAPP! progam, what people changed, and how this worked for them.

Let me start by saying that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the Plans in the http://www.myeveryotherdaydiet.com  e-book. Jon provides 4 separate nutrition plans, and most people will have enough choices just with those. What made me change a few things, was the seasonal temperatures first of all.

Living in Canada, and starting SNAPP at the beginning of the cold season (temperature wise, not illness), I quickly found that the cold shake first thing in the morning wasn’t going to cut it for me. After a week, I started craving something warm, anything! I did want to stick to the SNAPP! plan and sequence of meals, so I therefore devised a plan for a warm shake …

I’ve never seen any recipe for warm shakes anywhere, so I had to figure that one out on my own. Protein powder put into something warm will clump and curdle, not very appetising to say the least. But there was a way around it:

1.     1.   I warm up 250 ml of rice milk (or skim milk)

2.     2. In the blender, I put 2 Tbsp blueberries, 1 tsp psyllium husk, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 Tbsp Salba seeds, 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder and 1 scoop protein powder (23 gr protein) with a little warm water (because the berries are frozen).

3.     3. Blend up the ingredients in point 2, then add the warmed milk in churning blender

This works great because the warm liquid is best for the psyllium husk to swell and do its’ fiber-work, and in addition I get the hot chocolate taste and a warm start to a cold day, without the protein curdling as the warm liquid is added slowly while the blender turns.

I do my weight training at 9 am,  and the results I want at the moment is simply maintaining muscle mass rather than adding any more until I’ve reduced the bodyfat as far as I want to and can see where I could need more muscle definition.

I stick to the meal and ingredient order of the SNAPP! program during the morning, mid-day and afternoon with very little adjustment made to the original program. Supper is easy as well … lean protein, veggies and/or salad, spices, herbs … no problem with this at all, nothing I’ve felt the need to adjust here either.  There are simple calculations in the e-book as to how many nuts, how much protein you should have per day according to your weight, and once you know that there is really nothing to it at all. A real snap! http://www.myeveryotherdaydiet.com

Since bed-time is about 2½ hours later, I rarely have anything after supper. If I do, it’s either a few baby carrots with a little ranch dressing, or I take a shake-sickle if I feel like something sweet (1/8 of a protein shake).

A tip on ranch dressing. I haven’t found a light version, so I either mix it 50-50 with 0% fat yoghurt,  or 75-25 with skim milk/ rice milk. I usually do this to all creamy dressing incidentally.

~*~

A couple of weeks into the new SNAPP! Challenge, I found that  I had to change the pace a little because I actually gained weight keeping the extreme SNAPP! plan.  Not because of too much food, more likely because of too few calories!

I therefore switched to three days Extreme SNAPP Plan pure, and three days with a little more food; alternating these plans every other day.  Sundays usually follow a pattern of a slightly more “traditional” breakfast as I make either waffles/pancakes (with protein) or lean bacon/sausages - never both - and the rest of the day is usually following the SNAPP plan.   http://www.myeveryotherdaydiet.com

When we do go out, it’s mostly Friday night - either family meal which is “healthy” with vegetables, except when they decide to cook with honey and brown sugar, even the veggies and salad dressings, so we limit our portions to a polite minimum. Otherwise we sometimes go to a local restaurant and have just the salad, no rice or potatoes, and bring half the serving of protein home in a doggie-bag because restaurant portions are just too big on this side of the Atlantic! This one weekly "uncontrolled" meal invariably sends our weight up by 1 to 3 pounds (retained water), which luckily come back off within the next 3-5 days.

Having made these minor switches in the EODD 2.0 SNAPP! http://www.myeveryotherdaydiet.com program, I have dropped to the lowest weight I’ve seen on the scales in over 15 years - and for information: all the dropped weight has come from excess bodyfat.

Ladies, if you are like me, you may have trouble zipping up knee-high winter boots … I’ve been condemned to wearing ankle boots that fit on the foot, or straight-calf knee-highs that were too large in the foot because of my calves. Well, this winter I’m zipping ‘em up again and loving it!

You may have heard an interview Jon and I did some weeks ago, where I said I’d dropped a shoe size. I know Jon laughed when I said that, but it’s not a joke, and I wish I’d  taken a photo of my feet not fitting into my old size 38 shoes some months ago, yet fitting perfectly today. Some due to fat accumulated on the feet, some due to water retention around the ankle and foot; either way, it’s all gone.

Looking and feeling elegant and/or sexy isn’t just about that “pooch”, it’s also about double chins, swollen feet and legs, ham-sized upper arms; and I had them all! The sleeves of my blouses are no longer tight, I can wear turtle neck tops without looking like I have no neck, and like I said, the shoes are back on my (almost) dainty feet. As a bonus, that “pooch” is all but history, and it will be by the end of the SNAPP! Challenge http://www.myeveryotherdaydiet.com at the end of January 2009, in time for my birthday a week later!

~*~

Frankly, you owe it to yourself to check out the EODD 2.0 SNAPP! e-book, right here: http://www.myeveryotherdaydiet.com . It can be used as is, or you can adapt it to suit your lifestyle and aspirations.

How many plans are there where the author tells you to make changes and let him know so he can implement those in the next edition of his book?

This, I believe, is the only one; and to top it off, the author has himself been overweight and is still watching his nutrition like a hawk. He was where you are, he is where you’re going - he is where you are if you’re already lean, and knows how hard it is to stay there … a real-life person with the same issues and joys we all face.  And one of a handful of people I trust with my fat-elimination!

Sarah, CPT

www.trainwithsarah.com

www.atozfitness.com

Would you like to see exactly what I eat to stay lean and fit? … how about a sneak peak at my workout routine?

We just set up a "profile" page where you can take a look at exactly what Chad and I do for exercise and nutrition, as well as what all 9 of our Fast Track success stories did to lose all that fat so darn fast (and keep it off)!

Go to https://globalfit.infusionsoft.com/go/ftfl-ntwrk/atozfit

and check out each profile.

This is just a temporary site we created to hold you over until the big January 1st launch of the program, and I think you’ll find it both helpful and entertaining.

Be sure to check out the brief video Randy put together on how he lost 32 pounds of fat, even while on vacation!

Pam shows exactly how she lost 7% bodyfat (and a total of 17 inches!) and is now super lean, fit, and firm - even as a busy mom of three with frequent pizza parties and soccer practices.

The best part, you too will soon have a profile like this on the Fast Track website, so we can review what you’re doing and eating each day to offer feedback for improvement, keep you motivated, and hold you accountable.

Not only that, we’ll reward you with points for each action you take and all the progress you make. These points will be redeemed for f’ree products shipped right to your door!

You absolutely will not fail on this program and we cannot wait to help you become our next greatest success story!

…until then (January 1st, to be exact), check out this temporary website so you can review each of our videos, tips, photos from our recent trip to Mexico, typical workouts and meals, etc. Here it is again …

https://globalfit.infusionsoft.com/go/ftfl-ntwrk/atozfit

Your fat loss coach,

Kim Lyons, BS, CPT

And no, that’s not a typo. It’s literally a snap to follow, and spelled with two P’s for a reason.

I’ve told you about Jon Benson’s Every Other Day Diet (EODD) before, and both Lewis and I have been using the easy-to-follow principles for months now. What is it, half a year or more? Now, Jon Benson didn’t just sit back and relax, happy to have shared his EODD with everyone. No, he sat down and worked some more.

The result is the new, revised EODD 2.0 which is so radically different from the original version that we’re almost talking about two different books and plans altogether. In this version, you even find out what Jon himself eats in a day; and when you see a picture of this lean and muscular former fatty (his words), you just know that it’s within reach for everyone to get to the degree of leanness we want.

Of course, everyone will not want that much muscle, nor to be that lean; we all have different ideals, different ideas of what we want to look like, different motivations. However, using the EODD 2.0 SNAPP principles, absolutely anyone can get to their personal ideal.

EODD 1 had 3 nutrition plans. EODD 2.0 has 5 (or is it 6?) plans. There is obviously one that will fit you and your lifestyle perfectly.  I will be opting for the Lifestyle Plan 2 or the Ultimate Plan for my “off” season, and the Extreme Plan for when I want to get to the leanest I’d like to be.  But that’s me, and I’ve already been on the original Extreme Plan, as well as followed other body-building nutrition plans before that. For someone starting out, or not having as lean motivations, the Primer Plan and Lifestyle Plan 1 are a great place to start and get to.

There are many new twists to the EODD 2.0, surprises, “is he serious?”-moments, but ultimately it all makes sense and will help you achieve your goals

This version also has a recipe section.  Of course, I haven’t had a chance to try any of them yet, having just received the book a few days ago, but there are several I’ll certainly be making in the next few weeks.

Using the EODD 2.0 in connection with Jon’s 7 Minute Muscle (7MM) will give me the most “bang for my bucks” both at the supermarket and the gym.  They were designed to work in tandem, but you can just as easily use one or the other independently.

Incidentally, EODD in its original version is no longer available, there is no point looking for it … but I highly recommend the EODD 2.0 as a worthy replacement! You don’t have your copy yet? What are you waiting for? Go to www.myeveryotherdaydiet.com and get one! 

Sarah

It seems there are so many overweight, fat and frankly obese people around, that a healthy individual is regarded as skinny, gaunt-looking, tired, with comments like “You look tired” or “Oh my God, your bones are sticking out!” and “You don’t eat enough”.

What’s so silly, is that a woman with 20-22% bodyfat does not have her bones sticking out, there is no way.  Even at 17% the ribs are barely discernable and only if she lifts her arms over her head to really stretch the skin and remaining fat.

Silly also, the comment that we don’t eat enough, some even pronounce the words “eating disorder” as in anorexia and bulimia … they obviously have no idea. In order to get to the healthy, lower levels of bodyfat, we probably eat more food than they do, except they don’t see that. They see us maybe for one meal, that one meal being a normal size portion and not the over-sized ones that have become the norm, they believe this is all we eat. So many people now will have just one, maybe two actual meals a day and cannot fathom that we have 5 meals a day!

As for looking tired … frankly I find the pudgy, overweight faces look more tired than a thinner, healthy weight level face does. And maybe we just didn’t get quite enough sleep last night? Or worked really hard yesterday? Everyone can have a bad day in that respect, regardless of bodyfat levels.

I also have problems with those – overweight – who think it’s fine for them to comment on our physique as if it were something negative to strive for health. Who in their right mind would burst out after a 2-week summer vacation with a “Oh, did you add another chin this summer?” or going on the beach after a long winter saying “My God! You look like the Michelin guy, only bigger!” Of course, no one would. It would be rude, right?

So why is it fine for these triple-chinned Michelin-guy look-alikes to say that “our bones are sticking out”? One of my clients even had colleagues all but demand they let them weigh her so they could make sure she hadn’t lost more next time they checked! Would anyone do the opposite?

When asked one Monday morning “how much do you weigh now!?” with a look close to one of horror, she was quick and strong enough to reply “and what about you, how much do you weigh?” Of course, the overweight colleague shut up and walked away. I suppose it was "too rude" to ask that of her since she was overweight?

I know this is an issue for many. We struggle, work hard, change our lifestyle, get healthy, get lean(er) and rather than encouragements from family and friends, we get hounded! They may not mean it to sound like hounding, but it is. Those who consider themselves too polite to criticize are no better in that they don’t give any compliments or encouragements.

The question is, why do they act like this? Why are they being so rude? Do they even realise how rude they are? I fear not.

The reasons I think are multiple. Some are really concerned because they see us getting “skinny” after having been overweight or obese for years. They are so used to seeing us this way that any change looks weird to them. Also, since we are actively working on obliterating that excess fat, it’s going off fairly fast. Fast enough to be noticeable even if we feel it’s slow going at times.

Others are confused. We used to look like them, like 40-60% of people you meet everywhere (depending on where you live). All of a sudden we change and shed half our size, at least that for some, more for others. Some of the hurtful comments may (a big may here) be clumsy compliments.

Then you have those who are simply jealous. They believe they have “tried every diet” and everything possible to “lose weight” yet “nothing works for them” so it must be a fat gene or something. Well actually, there is a gene that does contribute to your packing on more fat than others, but it won’t kick in unless you let it! And you can turn it off again by switching to a healthy lifestyle. So the “fat gene” excuse … doesn’t hold people.

Either way, we who have chosen to discard excess bodyfat, burn it off, obliterate it, vaporise it to oblivion … anything but lose it because something you lose will invariably be found again and we don’t want to find this stuff ever again! … we have to steel ourselves against these attacks. We simply cannot, must not, allow these Dream Stealers to stop us in our tracks and pull us back to their fat world.

I’ve devised a little trick that I find works and actually makes me laugh rather than get mad at these ignorant fools: I imagine their faces with a green, transparent hue, a mean and stupid sneer, and bright red horns sticking out of their heads. The green face of jealousy, the horns of the devil in them that wants to corrupt us. Knowing that this is the main reason for most of these comments, seeing this face puts those comments in perspective and right where they belong: in the garbage along with the junk and processed foods that make these people fat.

The result of ignoring the hurtful and rude comments is gratifying. I have two concrete examples for you today.

The first from Saturday when I made a health-run to the supermarket for some fresh vegetables to cook a soup, frozen blueberries and rice milk for my shakes, and one bottle of red wine since it was the weekend. Up one isle, I cross the path of a guy who looked at me with the same appreciative glance I gave him. Both were dressed in tight fitting jeans and black T-shirts, and both were visibly working out and shopping healthy! We didn’t exchange words, the looks said it all. In fact, it was the best compliment any stranger had given me in a long time.

The second example is from Sunday (yesterday). I’ve always had problems fitting into the clothes in one particular store. They do size small to start with, and their largest available size-number is barely more than an L even if they pretend it’s an XXL. Their pants and jeans sizes are along the same lines.  Anyway, yesterday I went to get some jeans since every last pair I have is baggy! Size … 28, and they are not too tight! I could have taken a 27, but they would have looked like I tried to squeeze into half a size too small before I was thin enough. I only got 2 pair of jeans, because I will get into those 27s, heck, I’m going for 26 IF they remember to have the thighs stay large enough even if the waist goes down. Thighs have muscle, waists have little muscle and not really bulging ones either!

Since we were there, I also bought a sweater (size M, at that store!? That’s close to a normal store S or even XS) and a “fur“-lined hoodie – had to go with the L there, biceps and triceps and fur just made it too tight on the sleeves otherwise.  Oh, and a pair of earring, just for the heck of it!

So ladies – and gents too – don’t let nay-sayers, negative, Dream-Killing individuals stop your quest for a healthy and lean body that you can move, dress and enjoy as you should be able to, the way nature meant for you to.

I got to this point simply by using 7 Minute Muscle (7MM ) for the workouts and Every Other Day Diet for my nutrition plan. Both are dead easy to use and give super results. And we have an active social life too, no trouble at all!

Granted, I say easy to use … this is true for the Every Other Day Diet, 100% however for the 7MM  it does demand that you fully understand the concept, fully engage and focus, and follow every aspect to the T. But hey, for 7 minutes a day … big deal right?

The big deal, is the end result on your body! Lean, healthy, and the envy of all (even if they won’t admit it).

No, not on training, are you nuts?! But I do give up on an actual weight-based goal. Seriously, if I stick to that "133.4 lbs" idea, I’ll get so frustrated and discouraged that I probably will quit training, which is purely idiotic!

Why I’m saying that? Because this whole week my weight has progressively crept upwards. No TOM, no wrong foods or too little/much foods, no less cardio or weight training; everything is working perfectly, like a well-oiled machine.

My bodyfat is just as steadily on a downward crawl as the scales are crawling upwards, so that’s not the issue either.

Guess what: 7MM works!! Yup, I’m adding lean mass "like crazy" which is making the overall weight go up although the bodyfat % and my size are both going down.

And I’m not one of those male testo-bombs either, just a "little old lady" nearing 50. Did I hear someone saying "I’m too old to change my body"? My answer is simple "Get outta here!" lol. Not literally! Stay, please. Stay in the gym, stay with EODD and 7MM, because I’m living proof this works like nuts!

I was toying with the idea yesterday, of lowering the weights on the exercises, to stop stimulating those muscles to grow more, thereby getting the scales to show lower numbers again. Know what? I’d get bored! And frankly, I couldn’t do it I enjoy beating my total reps and weight loads too much to start walking backwards.

Arms today, as a result of not backing down, was
Bicep curl.s, same 20# Dbs, 3 more reps (total 41)
Tricep rope pressdown, same 30#, 5 more reps (total 29)

And I know I can get more reps in before I change the weight, curls will be a "problem" as I’ll have to jump straight to 25# (or try cable curls which I’ve never liked), the pressdown is fine as I can add 2.5# easily all the way. But more reps first, even if I have to cut the rest periods to 5 seconds (and write the total in bulk once I take 10 second breaks, because I can’t write fast)enough to do it in 5 seconds)!

With all this going on in my head, how do I set a goal when I don’t want to think about total weight anymore? BFP. BodyFatPercentage. I remember reading someone I know saying he’d never known a woman who couldn’t get to 14% … I refuse to be the first one he knows who can’t! In other words:

Goal = 14% BF by mid-December.

So there

~*~

OK, how many of you are scratching your heads wondering what in tarnation I’m talking about? 7MM, EODD, what?? Let me explain:

EODD first, Every Other Day Diet. The easiest nutrition plan ever devised, and I’m not kidding! I’ve read a few diet books and "diet" books, and this one takes the gold medal for simplicity and results all rolled up in the simplest-to-use plan I’ve ever seen. Heck, you even get graphics of your hands to litteraly see … ok, I’m not giving it away, but frankly, it’s the best I’ve seen.

7MM now, 7 Minute Muscle. You go to the gym, set up your station, train your weights for 7 minutes, jump on a cardio machine for 9 minutes just to burn off the released fat that’s circulating in your body after the weight training, and you’re out of there. Total time, with the set-up, max 20 minutes. Now, tell me frankly that you cannot find 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week to train! It’s even faster than a sit-com without the commercial breaks!

And as you’ve just seen at the beginning of the post: this combination works "du tonnerre" as the French would say, although what thunder has to do with anything … Fat goes away, muscle comes on, inches melt off, muscle definition is evident, clothes fall off, if I have to buy any smaller sizes now I’ll either have to go to the kids department, or to some of the stores where I know their clothes are sized small - the ones I coould only go window-shopping at before.

Go get your copies, right now! Read EODD, print the weekly meal plan for the program you choose (there are three) and stick it on your fridge with a magnet or four. Read 7MM and print the workout sheets (you’ll really need those), stick them in a binder, and head for the gym. Just imagine the looks on the faces of the trainers and other members as you whip in and out in under 20 minutes every day! They’ll snicker, shake their heads, call you an idiot andd ignorant fool. In a month they’ll still be shaking their heads, but I guarantee no one is snickering or calling you a fool! They’ll want to know what you’re doing, because the difference is already very visible!

Lewis and I are both using Jon Benson’s 7MM in combination with Every Other Day Diet and we are both seeing great results both on the fat loss front and the muscle building one. Yes, we are waging war on two fronts simultaneously, and it is working.

I’m following the Extreme Plan for EODD, but I started with the Lifestyle Plan first. For someone who’s just starting on a new fitness lifestyle, I suggest the Primer Plan, just to get used to better nutritional habits.

For 7MM, it’s just grasping the entire concept, knowing you have to concentrate for 7 minutes and not talk to anyone, let anyone distract you, just totally go for it; and dive in. You have to be willing to go for progression with every single workout, to feel the good pain of sore muscles and their protest as you ask them for more the following week. If you think you can just get by with a light weight and glance around at the other gym members … don’t even buy this. It’s short, but intense; and it really, really does work!

~*~

Have a great weekend!