Take burning fat to a whole new level
Researched and Composed by Jacob Wilson

Introduction

Control, complete mastery over your own body. How do you achieve such a state? Do you listen to your body? Are you in tune with it? You must be if you ever hope to achieve this position of dominance. That is what this article is about. It is the first of several diets I will discuss that are based on literally manipulating your body, its functions and the rate at which it burns fat.
Insulin

This is an extremely vast subject. So vast in fact that I am going to cover it in greater detail in future issues of the magazine. I will only discuss a small portion of its properties in this paragraph.

Insulin is a hormone, produced in our pancreas, that regulates the metabolism of carbohydrates and fats in our body. You need to understand that it has a very high upside and also a very low downside!

Its upside is that it literally shuttles vital nutrients such as carbs, creatine and amino acids right smack into our muscles. The more nutrients your muscles receive, the more anabolic a response you will get from resistance training. Insulin also suppresses the hormone known as cortisol, which is responsible for muscle wasting. It literally steals protein from them! It suppresses this and in turn helps to put us back into a state of anabolism. When it comes to having muscle building properties this hormone is a Giant! In fact I would rate the anabolic effects of insulin as second only to testosterone! And there are many experts who have dubbed it number one in this catagory.

Unfortunately it has an extremely low downside! Insulin is also responsible for increased uptake of nutrients in our fat cells. This means we are highly likely to store fat when a huge burst of this hormone is released. To put it bluntly, burning fat is impossible in the presence of a huge burst of insulin.
How can we control insulin levels and benefit from them at the same time?

This is a very difficult subject because insulin is a storage hormone. In light of this most people think that since it stores nutrients, it should be completely avoided because it has the potential to store fat. My problem with this is that there is no way to avoid insulin in the blood. Whenever you eat food, insulin is released. Secondly, if you theoretically could eliminate insulin, you would cut off all of its anabolic effects and its ability to store energy in the muscles. In fact type one diabetics don't produce insulin and if this is left untreated then the person with it would die. My point is that there is no way to eliminate it. But you can manipulate it by slowing digestion and letting it lose at certain times in the day when fat storage is not likely.

Even though insulin is released with any food, the macronutrient that causes its highest release is the carbohydrate. The more complex and fibrous the carb the slower the release of insulin. This is exactly what we want for increased stored energy in muscle tissue and not in our fat tissue. The list of foods that comprise this are unprocessed ones such as oats and vegetables.

Conversely the simpler the carb the more dramatic a release we get. The more dramatic the release the higher your chances will be for fat storage. There is only one case in which a high burst will not cause us to store fat. That case is when your body is low on carb stores and is looking to replenish them. Whenever your body's goal is to replenish your muscle stores, fat storage is extremely unlikely! Therefore it would stand to reason that we will want to take advantage of this and let the anabolic properties of insulin lose! You will find yourself in this situation twice during the day.

1. Breakfast takes place after your body has fasted for up to 6-12 hours, depleted its glycogen stores and the catabolic hormone cortisol is at its highest point. Your goal is to place your body back on the right track. This is literally why people say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. For if you skip it you will waste muscle at a rate that is absolutely insane! Therefore, breakfast should be a balance of complex carbs and protein to replenish yourself. While dieting I would recommend a big serving of oatmeal and a source of protein such as whey, egg whites or cottage cheese. And you can add some low glycemic fruit because you can take advantage of the situation.

2. Your body is in a serious state of catabolism following a workout and you need to put it back into a positive state of balance! It is intent on stealing protein from your muscles and begging for a source of fast burning carbs to replenish its muscle stores. This is the only time during your diet when I would highly recommend utilizing a high and fast burst of insulin. So rather than consuming a slow burning source of carbohydrates you should opt for a fast burning one like 2 or more bananas or even better a sugary punch and whey protein.

If you want optimal results the rest of your carbs during the day should come from highly fibrous green leafy vegetables! These are the slowest burners by far and are most conducive to placing your body in an optimal fat burning state.
Metabolic rate and how to keep it elevated

Meal Frequency

We will keep your metabolic rate elevated firstly by meal frequency. I explain the importance of this in my last fat burning article. I strongly suggest that you review of it by clicking here.

Correct Way to Feed Your body

If you don't feed your body properly, " at the right times" it will rebel against you by lowering its thyroid hormone output, thereby slowing your metabolism to a crawl! Your mission in this diet will be to properly feed your body the correct amount of carbs at the times that it needs them most.

When I say It needs them most I am referring to the times in which your body will least likely store fat. As mentioned before there are two occasions in the day in which you will find yourself in this situation. Both are related to the same scenario. This is based on the time when your muscles are depleted the most and are primarily looking to replace these stores rather then store fat. During these periods you can take advantage of the anabolic effects of insulin. These two meals are of course breakfast and post workout.

If you feed yourself the proper amount of carbs at these times you will notice that your metabolic rate maintains itself for a much longer time throughout the duration of your diet.

Your sole purpose for the rest of the day will be to control your insulin levels by placing them in a state that is conducive to burning fat. You will again do this by only eating leafy green, fibrous vegetables and proteins. This way you get the best of both worlds. Increased recovery and optimal fat burning.

Maintaining Muscle Mass

The largest problem with mainstream starvation diets is that they burn an equally high amount of muscle as they do fat. The goal when dieting is to burn fat and maintain as much muscle as possible. As you may know the more muscle you have the higher your metabolic rate will be. And conversely the more muscle you lose the slower your metabolic rate will become. ( To further read about the importance of maintaining muscle click here )This is accomplished by

A. maintaining a proper saturation of amino acids in your body. I.E. six protein rich meals a day.

and

B. Promoting optimal recovery under an adverse situation. I mention the word adverse because when you are dieting you are low on macronutrients ( food ) so recovery is made difficult and cortisol levels ( muscle wasting hormone ) are allot higher then when maintaining or bulking. This is why I tout insulin control as a priority of this diet. I encourage you to use it when fat storage is unlikely and cortisol is at its highest and I discourage you from using it the rest of the day. Thereby you get the best of both worlds. Increased recovery and increased fat burning. And therefore maintain muscle at a much higher rate.
Caloric Deficit Very Important!

You need to understand that the only way to lose fat is to burn more calories in a day then you consume! If you do not then you cannot reach your goal. Therefore you must lower your calories or up your workload in order to tap into your fat stores. However you do not want to lower your calories too low too quickly! If you do, you will undoubtedly trigger your bodies alarm systems and your metabolism will immediately suffer. To avoid this travesty, start by slowly lowering them by 500 and when you hit a plateau lower them slightly again. Perhaps only by 200 to get your fat burning going again. ( or you could calorie cycle, see below )

My point is that I do not advice dropping your calories by 1500 in one day! You need to slowly lower them! For example, say someone was bulking up with 4,000 calories a day. They would start their cut by lowering them to 3,500. They burn fat for a while with this and then hit a plateau. The problem may only be that they need to change their workout up. But if that doesn't work then they should lower their calories down to 3,000 to give their fat burning another kick start. By the end of their cut they may be all the way down to 2, 500 calories a day. But they did not get their over night! Doing so would cause their body's to go into shock and slow their metabolic rate to a crawl! I urge you to take this into consideration when you come up with your caloric intake. Starvation is never an option! If you do starve yourself then you have defeated the purpose of this article which is to control your body. Not for your body to control you!

Calorie Cycling ( This is a more in depth method of raising and lowering your calories )

Since the goal is to keep your metabolic rate revved you may also incorporate calorie cycling. The concept is simple. Say my goal is to create a deficit of 500 calories a day for a week. If I maintain at 4,000 a day then I would then need to lower my calories to 3, 500 to accomplish this. Or the average of 3, 500 over a week. This is where cycling comes in. By changing the amount of calories I eat each day I will end up tricking my body into believing that it is not dieting and in turn it will keep its metabolic rate revved longer. An example of this would be:

Monday: 3, 700 calories
Tuesday: 3, 300 calories
Wednesday: 3, 600 calories
Thursday: 3, 400 calories
Friday: 3, 800 calories
Saturday: 3, 200 calories
Sunday: 3, 500 calories

On Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday you will have raised the calories in your diet rather then lowered them. By doing this you will trick your body into believing it is just fine and it will reward you by more readily releasing its fat stores. In edition you still created the same deficit that you would have if you simply had gone 3, 500 the entire week. I know several bodybuilders and clients that I have trained that literally never hit a plateau because they cycled their calories so well. And as a mental bonus it helps to be able to feed yourself
extra calories on certain days. This can do wonders for the dieters state of mind.

Another way to calorie cycle would be to average 3,500 for 3-5 weeks and then for 5 days re-up your calories to 4,000 to re-set your metabolism. There are many many different ways to cycle calories. Just as you keep your body on the edge with your workout you should do so with your diet. You can cycle up to re-set your calories or cycle down to re-create a deficit. The key is to keep your body on its toes throughout your diet.
Sample Diet Diagnosed

I will now explain my thinking behind each meal. The following diet is a sample 2, 400 calorie regimen. You will follow the same pattern. The difference will of course be your daily intake of calories. You may need a little more than 2, 400 but that is beside the point. What I want to do here is to breakdown the pattern for you.

Meal One:

As stated earlier in the article, breakfast is a key meal in your day! You need to replace your glycogen stores so that you promote recovery and keep your bodies metabolic rate high.

I would recommend 300 calories of oatmeal and 200 calories of protein. This is an excellent way to get your day started and will accomplish exactly what you set out to do. Giving you well over 50 grams of protein and several complex carbs to promote recovery.

Meal Two:

Our goal here is just to maintain a steady flow of amino acids in your body. In this meal I recommend a spoonful of flax or Safflower oil and 200 calories worth of protein. This is approximately 300 calories and roughly 40-50 grams of protein. The main reason I include fat is because if you only consumed protein then your body would not have a source of energy. It would then have to convert the protein you consumed to glucose. In turn you would still end out releasing more insulin then you intended to and not create a sound environment for fat loss. Let me also add that flax seed and safflower oil have several essential fatty acids which will aid you in your goal of maintaining muscle mass and improving insulin sensitivity.

Meal Three:

You will again need a source of carbs in this meal. I would suggest a tossed salad. It should consist of lettuce, broiled chicken cut up in small pieces and a spoonful of safflower oil and vinegar. The ratios would be about 150 calories worth of chicken, 100 worth of safflower oil and 150 worth of lettuce or other greens. Which is actually allot of greens because they will go a long way. This will give you a slow burning source of carbohydrates that release a low and steady stream of insulin, rather than a quick burst which is completely counter productive to your fat burning goals.

workout: This is filled in by whatever your workout is

Meal 4 " post workout meal " :

Again, this is one of the few times in which your body will not store fat in the presence of a large burst of insulin. Rather its full concentration will be to store the carbs you eat as muscle energy reserves. In edition by feeding your body properly during this window you will not set off any alarms that would cause it to slow its metabolic rate.

I recommend 300 calories of a quick burning carb source such as cool aid or a sugary sports drink. Mix this with 40 grams of whey protein for a total of 500 calories.

Meal 5 Dinner

This will be your last carbohydrate meal. I suggest 200 calories worth of greens and 200 worth of protein. A vegtable and meat stir fry would be an ideal dinner. Again, I choose greens because it is extremely slow burning and very conducive to burning fat!

Last Meal

One of the biggest myths taught to our society is telling people to stop eating at a certain time of the day. That is complete and utter nonsense! Think about it. After you go to sleep you will force your body to fast for the next 6-12 hours! To force it to go without food for any longer than that would be pure insanity! So right before you go to bed I want you to have another protein shake with a spoonful of flax or safflower oil for a total of 300 calories. This will actually increase your metabolism while you sleep!
Supplementation

For optimal muscle retention I recommend:

1. 10-15 grams a day of glutamine

2. Chromium: if you are deficient in this your fat burning goals may be sabotaged!

3. Multivitamin: If you are not taking one of these, then you need to be. There is no way that you can get enough vitamins from your diet alone, no matter what anyone says! Popping one or two multivitamins a day takes the guess work out of it!

4. Vitamin C: This is my all time favorite supplement. Its cheap and it is the ultimate antioxidant. You see, when we have calorie deficiencies our bodies will become susceptible to colds. Vitamin C will boost your immune system tremendously! Take at least 3 grams a day of this vitamin and more if you are feeling run down. You can read more about it by clicking here

5. Creatine is an excellent supplement and can assist you in maintaining muscle mass

6. Flax Seed Oil and Safflower Oil: These are an excellent source of essential fatty acids and will assist you in maintaining proper blood sugar levels while your carbs are lower.

Working Out:

As for working out you can always follow 12 weeks to burning fat the workout. If you do you need to read the following articles:

12 Weeks to Burning Fat " The Workout "

Questions and Answers with Jacob Wilson " New "

However if you decide to create your own fat burning routine you may as well get it critiqued in our forums.
Conclusion & Overview

Imagine your metabolism is protected by an intricate alarm system. This system is made up of several triggers that cause the alarm to sound. Once sounded the penalty paid is a slowed metabolism and with it your efforts to burn fat. My goal in this article was to point out to you how to bob, weave and avoid each of these triggers so that you quietly melt the fat off with the ease of a top notch pro. Here is an overview of what I covered.

1. Do not neglect breakfast and your post workout meals. These are obvious triggers that you do not want to set off.

2. Do not skip meals! Meal frequency is vital. 5-6 everyday

3. Stick with vegetables for every meal with the exception of the two in rule number one. Insulin control is a huge key to dieting.

4. Confuse your body by cycling your calories.

5. Do not lower your calories too quickly! This is a recipe for disaster!

6. Frequently Change your workouts

You can use this diet straight out or you can combine some of its properties with my 12 week diet which has worked successfully for several people. In fact if you haven't, review that diet first because it discusses the core basics of burning fat. It may be exactly what you are looking for. However, if you have a harder time burning fat then you need to take your regimen to " the next Level! " And this article is just what you need to go there!

I have tremendously enjoyed your emails discussing your success with my 12 week plan and look forward to hearing about new success stories.

Good luck and enjoy your gains!

Sincerely

Jacob Wilson Trainer@abcbodybuilding.com