Every week I answer a question or questions that are sent in to me regarding fat burning, weight loss, diet, fitness and  or the Fat X program. This week's  question was posted as a comment for Work Out 12 .  I've been working through the first half of the workouts and I decided to make sure i had all the equipment necessary for them all and watched the rest of the videos ahead of time and noticed the bag slam part of this video and its really about the only thing i don't have access to at home, is there an alternative to this or an easy way to maybe make one?    The bag/medicine ball slam is a great total body exercise. It's a fun exercise to include in any weight loss and fat burning program. You can make a slamming object by using sand and wrapping it up in trash bags. You can also use a bag of rice. Rice usually comes in thick plastic bags that work well. In any case you can secure whichever you choose with duct tape.   Before I bought an official "slam b

I went to a 24 hr Fitness to get in a work out the other day and I made some observations on how people training could easily improve their weight loss and fat burning efforts. These are the three common mistakes I noticed and easy ways to fix them. The most common mistake I saw was people training without having a water bottle handy. A small amount of dehydration can impair your ability to work out optimally. Obviously if your not working out to your full capability, you're going to miss out on calories you could have burned during the workout and post workout because of under stimulated muscles. Keep a water bottle handy and don't allow yourself to get dehydrated. Another mistake I noticed was people working out without a plan and something to keep track on. Working out is good, but working out with a plan and something to track with is even better. You can keep track of what your doing, what you've done in the past, and what you need to do to improve. These are al

A common problem that I have come across is people wanting to lose fat and do the Fat X program, but not having equipment or a gym membership. Water bottles are a great alternative to dumbbells. Especially for beginners, because as a beginner, you don't need a lot of weight or resistance to start working out and burning the fat. You can use water bottles to get started on your fat burning routine. A gallon water bottle weighs about 9 lbs. You can also fill it with sand, coins or pebbles to make them heavier. Water bottles are also really inexpensive. I picked these up for under a buck each. There is one thing you have to look for if you decide to buy water bottles to use as dumbbells. Make sure that the tops are the screw on variety and not the ones that just flip off . The screw on caps will be more secure and you will avoid spills.

I received an email this morning that made my day. I found it funny and thought it would be motivating, so I decided to post it. Here it is: I’m really mad at you. You owe me a whole new wardrobe. I tried your program and now my old clothes are way to big. I lost my gut and now I have to go buy a whole new set of jeans two sizes smaller. Who do I contact ?? LOL J/K. Thanks a bunch for putting up this program and taking the time to post all the tips. I did the first two days and then was so beat that I felt like giving up, but I took your advice, took a day off and continued. I ended up finishing the program in 20 days because I needed to take other days off also, but wow, I’m so happy with the results. The gut I was developing is gone. By the way I downloaded a couple of the workout worksheets and they’re excellent. Thanks for making them so simple to follow. My husband is also very happy and said he owes you drinks and a steak dinner. So if you’re ever in Jersey, send an

Every Thursday I answer a question or questions that are sent to me regarding fitness and weight loss. This is todays question: Besides exercise and diet, is there any other ways you can boost your metabolism, like a fat burner or something?   - Gina  The best natural fat burner or metabolism enhancer is green tea. There's actual research to support it's fat burning or metabolism enhancing properties.   The problem with green tea is that the studies done on it showed that you need at least four cups a day to get the fat burning benefits.   What I do on occasion is make green tea in bulk. I'll put 8-12 tea bags in a gallon of water and let it brew over night. I know have a whole gallon I can use in different drinks throughout the day. I get my green tea at Trader Joe's it's only a few bucks for a box with 40 tea bags.   You can also get it online or you can try green tea extract. Here are some links that might be helpful Green Tea Green Tea Caps Applied Nutr

If you're a beginner and you've started your Fat X Project, you're probably really sore. No matter how much I tell beginners to take it easy their first time, everyone wants to be a hero. It's OK, here's a way to help you recover if your feeling sore and tight. Contrast showers is a technique professionals use to help them recover. It's easy to do. Jump in the shower and turn on the hot water as hot as you can bear it. Keep it there for two minutes and then immediately switch it to cold water, as cold as you can bear it for two minutes. Repeat this at least five times, more if you have the patience for it. After you're done, your body should feel lose and relaxed. Even if you haven't worked out, give it a try so you know what it feels like.

A common request I get is to provide healthy lunch ideas or meals. So this week I decided to log everything I had for lunch beginning Monday and ending Today. Hopefully this will help you plan your lunches and help you stay on track with the Fat X program. Monday I usually try to get off to a good start on Mondays. This Monday I had white tuna and 10 whole wheat crackers with a diet coke. The tuna was prepared with a bit of low fat mayo and lemon. I used it like a dip while I ate the crackers. Tuesday I was on the road for a while and instead of waiting to get home I stopped off at Subway and got a six inch chicken sandwich, no mayo, and a diet coke. Wednesday While I was waiting on a client I decided to experiment with a salad. So I made myself a fat free ham and egg white salad. Plenty of cucumber and broccoli. I washed it down with a diet Snapple. Thursday I had a protein smoothie just like the one on my video and a handful of mixed nuts. Friday I stuck to the Fat X diet pro

Every week I answer a question or questions that are sent in to me regarding fat burning, weight loss, diet, fitness and  or the Fat X program.  This week's question was a response on youtube to the "How to Make a Protein Smoothie".   Is protein for women also? Does it make you gain weight? Protein is one of the three macro nutrients (protein, carbohydrates, fat) that the human body uses. Protein is primarily responsible for maintaining and building muscle. Women need protein as much as men do. Any macro nutrient in excess will make you gain weight. The nice thing about protein is that it is the least likely of the macro nutrients to be stored as fat. Protein can actually help you lose weight because it takes your body more energy to break it down and use it. Protein can also help you lose weight because it feeds your muscle, and you have to remember that muscle will speed up your metabolism. Your metabolism burns calories all day, so the faster it is, the more ca

Eggs are one of the best protein sources you can use. The body breaks the protein found in eggs down easily and is able to use it effectively. Remember, protein is the building block of muscle, and muscle will speed up your metabolism.  Eggs are also extremely versatile when it comes down to finding a way to put them in your diet. There's plenty of recipes and different ways to prepare eggs. Unfortunately, eggs have a downside.   They are extremely high in fat. An average egg has about 7 grams of protein, but also has 7 grams of fat. That means that just to have a decent amount of scrambled eggs would mean that the fat content for that meal would be well over 20 grams.   Not good if you're trying to lose fat weight. The good news is that the fat is found in the yolk, so you can take the yolk out and the fat is gone.   The problem is it also takes some of the protein along with it. One of the things that I've done in the past is use mostly egg whites and mix in a who

One of the things I rarely included in my diet was fish. I really didn't know how to cook it or prepare it so I just avoided it and used other sources for protein.   After reading up on the benefits of fish oil I started to include it here and there. I started noticing that the weeks I ate more fish I looked leaner while not making any major adjustments in my diet.   I started to think that there was something to this fish oil after all. Anyway, give it a try. Include it in your diet twice a week and you will probably notice a difference just like I did. Benefits of Fish/Fish Oil Fish is high in protein. Protein is the building block of muscle. Muscle speeds up the metabolism. Fish oil has anti inflammatory properties. This can reduce minor aches and pains, allowing you to workout better and therefore burn more calories each workout. Fish oil has been reported to balance out your bad fats. There's a theory that fish oil, or good fats in general are better utilized by

Sometimes it's difficult as a fitness coach to get people motivated. I've had clients that whine and complain, they don't want to sweat, they don't want to lift heavy, this that and the other. Sometimes though, I get someone that is so motivated to get fit, and get healthy that it's inspirational and a fitness coach's dream. Yesterday I received a message through myspace. I was going to put it in my Thurdsay Fitness and Weight Loss Q& A, but I thought it was deserving of it's own post because of it's inspiritional nature. Here's the message I was sent (he was OK with me posting it) and my response to it. Wow, your tips really are great. See, the thing is I don't have the use of my lower body. I can't walk or anything like that . I need a routine that works upper body exclusively, but that will still improve my strength at a good pace without hurting me in the long run. If you could help develop a routine for me, I'd really appr

Every week I answer a question or questions that are sent in to me regarding fat burning, weight loss, diet, fitness and  or the Fat X program.  This week's question is regarding the Fat X diet. Hello, I have a quick question. On the diet I see that 5% is fruit and 5% what you want. For the 12 days, how many pieces or servings of fruit would be 5 percent? Can you tell me the same with the cheatings. Thanks The 5% is a guide line and approximation relative to the total volume of food consumed. When I did the original Fat X Project, I ate an orange, apple or banana in the morning and then another piece of fruit before the tougher workouts. My 5% cheating or splurge was a piece of dark chocolate. After you complete the project, you can adjust to fit your needs.

Last night I had a few beers, a cheesburger and fries as my diet break.  This is what I've eaten today to make up for last night and hopefully get back on track. In the morning I had a gatorade and mixed in some protein powder. I felt I needed to hydrate after last night. For lunch I had steak strips and beans. My next meal after that was an egg white salad. I'll be finishing off the day with celery and peanut butter. I'll be posting some update pictures later this week to force me to stay on track with my diet and exercise program.

The Flat Belly Diet has been talked about a lot recently, so I decided to take a look into it and give you my opinion. The Flat Belly Diet was developed based on research done in Spain. The developers though, seemed to have taken some of the research and twisted it into another diet gimmick. The researchers clearly state that weight and body fat percentage were unchanged as a result of all three diet interventions used in the study. Apparently this didn't keep the developers of the Flat Belly Diet to run with their assertion that certain food combinations would help flatten the belly. If you look into it, it seems that the diet is really just another way of limiting your caloric intake. This is nothing new. So before going out and spending money on this diet. Try the Fat X diet , it's free and healthy.

I'll be heading out to the Dodger game later on today and so I'm planning out my meals and diet now. This way I can just relax at the game, have a beer and a hot dog (dodger dog) later without worrying about dieting. So here's the plan. I've already had meal 1. Meal 1: 5 egg whites, 2 whole egg 1 piece of Toast 4 cherry tomatoes Coffee Meal 2: Protein smoothie: Whey protein powder Frozen Strawberries lemon crystal light Meal 3: Chicken breast Salad After the third meal It will be time to leave for the game. Sticking to this diet plan for today will let me relax at the game and actually enjoy my food. If you have a weekend event planned you can do something similar so that you won't harm your weight loss goals too bad and so that sticking to a diet doesn't seem so difficult. Planning these diet breaks will help you succeed in your weight loss and fitness journe