For last week's Fat Burning, Weight loss, Fitness and Diet Question of the Week, I answered a question regarding dinner.  I also promised that I would post the dinners I had this week. So here they are, beginning Tuesday and ending with last night. Tuesday my dinner was pre workout so I had this an hour or so before I worked out.   a chicken salad with half a whole grain bagel.  I included the half bagel because it was a pre-workout meal and I felt It would help fuel my workout. Wednesday I was in a hurry and I had some left over chicken breasts that were already made so I chopped one up and made chicken breast tacos. To add volume and nutrition to the meal I also added some cucumber slices. Thursday I really didn't feel like making anything for dinner so I went to a nearby Mexican restaurant and had a shrimp cocktail/shrimp soup.  Shrimp has a lot of  protein without a lot of calories.  As you can see in the picture, the cocktail/soup was stacked with chopped u

I get at least one e-mail each day from a company selling an acai berry product. These ads claim amazing weight loss and also usually claim that celebrities endorse their product. Two celebrities that are often used in these acai berry weight loss ads are Oprah Winfrey and Rachael Ray. The truth is that the acai berry was briefly featured on their T.V shows and marketer took that and ran with it. The interesting thing is that they were featured on their shows to talk about the anti-oxidant effect of acai berry and not it's direct impact on weight loss. Here's a video from the Better Business Bureau regarding acai berry and certain companies marketing practices.

Snacking is one of the topics that comes up a lot in weight loss, fat burning and diet discussions. I for one am a big time snacker.  I've posted some of my favorites in the past, and here's another one that you might like to try.  It's high in protein and low in calories, so it's perfect for a diet.  It's even better for night time snacking and I'll briefly explain why. The snack I'm talking about is non-fat or low-fat cottage cheese with a spoonful of peanut butter (preferably natural peanut butter).  Usually I'll have about half a cup to a cup of cottage cheese and I'll mix in the peanut butter. It's a great night time snack because it's low in carbs, yet high in protein and it also has good fat in it.  This good fat is important towards the evening because it helps your body shift form choosing carbs for energy to choosing to burn fat for energy.  This is a good idea if you want to burn fat over night. Try adding this snack to your diet

I would like to take some time to thank spark people from sparkpeople.com for their support and e-mails.  One of the reasons I enjoy being a Fitness Coach is because I truly enjoy helping people reach their fat loss, weight loss and fitness goals.  As a coach, there's nothing better than seeing, hearing, and or reading about success their program has helped achieve.  I've had several people come over from sparkpeople.com, try the Fat X program and e-mail me their success stories.  I love reading them, and they motivate me to continue posting fat burning, weight loss and fitness tips, tricks and advice on this blog.  Thanks again spark people and everyone else that has e-mailed.  Keep up the good work!

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. Today's question was in regards to dinner ideas and was sent to me through facebook. Hey, I have been looking throughout your website and I see you have provided ideal ideas for breakfast and lunch.... do u possibly have other lists for breakfast and lunch and another different list for dinner? Thanks,  Dimitri  As I read your e-mail I realized that I do have several meal ideas and examples on the site, but I have not as yet done something specifically for dinner diet ideas.  I will actually use your question as a suggestion and next week I will log in my dinners and hopefully post the list on Friday. My dinner is usually the easiest to stick to the Fat X diet guidelines. I usually start with a base of vegetables.  Usually mixed vegetables, steamed, boiled or a stir fry with Pam cooking spray.  Next I choose a protein source.  Usually

In part 1 of Cardio Can Hurt Fat Burning and Weight Loss , I discussed  the misunderstanding of "cardio" and what it actually is and the  benefits of cardiovascular exercise. Now I'll go into the negative effects of too much cardio on your long term fat burning and weight loss goals and how you can fix it.  First of all let me go back to what most people consider "cardio" exercise.  Most people consider cardio as running, stair stepping, spending time on an elliptical and or similar machines.  This is usually done at a low intensity (with respect to one rep max) for an extended period of time.   This does a great job of burning calories, but unfortunately not from a specific source.  Meaning that too much cardio can actually break down muscle tissue.  Breaking down muscle tissue will have the effect of lowering your metabolism.  Not a good thing if you are trying to burn fat, go for the toned look, or keep your weight down long term. So what's the fix?  Part

One of the major problems when trying to lose weight/ lose fat is night time snacking . I hate going to bed myself without something in my stomach. Obviously the key is to be able to get something in that's going to help your weight loss/ fat loss efforts and not hinder them. In this case the best snacks or best things to snack on while trying to reduce weight through fat loss are negative calorie foods . One of my favorite things to snack on that is considered a negative calorie food, and that would be perfect if you are a night time snacker, is cucumber. I usually slice a cucumber up, squeeze some lemon or lime over it and season it to taste. Try adding this to your diet and I'm sure it will help your weight loss/ fat loss efforts.

The biggest mistake that people make when going on a weight loss program is that they focus on weight loss.  They focus on weight loss without regard to their health and or fitness level. Well, I know it sounds contradictory, but if you really want to lose weight and keep it off, don't focus on weight. There are two predominant reasons why the Fat X program has been so successful.  One, it focuses on getting healthy food and  nutrition in your diet and not so much on calorie counting. Two, it focuses on improving your fitness level efficiently  through a time tested, organized and scientifically proven method.  Focusing on these two things causes loss of excessive weight through the best mechanism available. A healthy more fit YOU! So forget about weight loss and focus on eating better and healthier.  Add properly designed workouts to the mix and weight loss, or even better, fat loss, will be inevitable.  If you haven't already done so,  read up on the Fat X diet , download

Every once in a while I post my diet for the day so as to help those that are having trouble planning their diet and meal plans.  Here is what I've eaten so far and also what I plan to eat the rest of the day.  Hope this helps in planning out your diet. Meal 1:   Breakfast tacos.  I made them using  4 egg whites, 2 whole eggs and a 3 corn tortillas.  I had a cup of coffee and half a banana while I was making the tacos. Meal 2:   Chicken breast sandwich.  I broiled a chicken breast, sliced it up and used 2 slices of whole wheat bread.  I added a bit of tomato and some avocado. Meal 3 :  Mixed nuts.  I just had about a handful of mixed nuts.  Walnuts, almonds and peanuts. Meal 4:  Protein Smoothie.  This was post workout and consisted of protein powder, frozen strawberries and some gatorade. Meal 5:   Chicken, some steak and mixed vegetables.  As of writing this I have not had this meal yet but the plan is broil another chicken breast, some steak, chop it all up and mix it in with a

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. Today's question was in regards to Fat Burning Workout 10 or day 10 of the Fat X program. First of all I want to thank you for making these videos available for free.  I've gone through the first 9 days and I was amazed when I stepped on the scale and weighed myself today.  I have already lost 6 lbs and per your advise I also took measurements and I'm down about one inch around my belly area.  My question is about workout video 10.  I use a set of dumbbells that are adjustable and I was wondering if there was another way I could do this workout since I only have the one set and would have to change the weight each time. Thanks, Jamie I have a dumbbell set available to me so that's what I use in my workouts and it's what I used to demonstrate the workout in the video, but remember that weight is weight, you don't necessar

I'm a big fan of green tea, not only for it's metabolism boosting effects and as an aide in weight loss/ fat loss, but for it's overall health properties.   The problem I have with green tea is the taste.  I'm not exactly the biggest fan of the taste, so I usually have to either supplement with green tea extract or mix in other things in the tea to make it taste better. I've recently come across a bottled iced tea that tastes pretty damn good.  It's the Diet Lipton Green Tea with Citrus.  If you want to get in some green tea either to help boost you metabolism and help your fat loss efforts or just want to get it in for it's anti oxidant properties I highly recommend trying it.   You should be able to find it at your local grocery store for about a buck and change.  Make sure that you get the diet version though.  They have  bottle that looks similar but has added sugar.

When you download the 12 Day  Fat X Program  you get the Workout Manual/Guide and the complete set of videos that make up the specialized fat burning plan.  The sequence of exercises and rep range is vital for the fat burning 12 Day Fat X  Program (FX 12) to work optimally and the guide has been proven to be a vital resource.   The Fat X Program Workout Guide/Manual will help you follow the proper exercise order, the most beneficial rep range and the rest periods properly so that you get the most out of every workout.  You can also log in your stats and results in the Fat X Program Workout Guide/Manual as you go through the fat burning workouts.   Doing so will be important for long term fitness, fat burning and weight loss (fat loss) success. The FX Workout Guide/Manual is like having a personal trainer/fitness coach right there with you while you exercise.   After watching the videos, the Workout Guide/Manual will make the Fat X Program (FX 12) easy to

What is weight loss success?   Before starting a weight loss program, this question should be clearly understood to avoid disappointment.  I've been on several weight loss forums of late, and there seems to be a lot of negativity and disappointment from people who have started a weight loss program and then believe they are failing.   I believe part of the reason the perception of failure sets in is that weight loss success is not clearly understood. Most people judge their weight loss success by stepping on a scale and letting the numbers that come up on that scale be the judge of their success.  In actuality, weight loss success is not just losing weight, but losing fat weight.  Losing fat is what's important.  Unfortunately, you can't step on a regular scale and find out how much body fat you're losing.   If you want to lose weight, or actually fat weight efficiently, resistance training is of the utmost importance.  Now if you are only weighing yourself to ju

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. Today's question was in regards to weight loss. My New Years resolution was to lose weight.  My goal was to lose 30 lbs in 2009.  The first three weeks were great.  I spent about 45 minutes on the elliptical at the gym 3 -4 times a week and I lost about 7 lbs.  Recently though my weight loss has stagnated.  I'm working just as hard and eating less.  What do you think the problem could be? There's a few things that could be going on.  First, eating less doesn't mean you're eating better or healthier.  Remember that quality of calories is more important than quantity. Eating too little can also slow down your metabolism. Secondly, your body has probably adapted to the elliptical machine and has become more efficient at doing it, meaning you're burning less calories while on it.  Remember that traditional "cardio&quo

There's nothing worse than beginning to get results on a fitness and or weight loss/ fat loss program and then having it derailed with a flu or a cold.  This Saturday, during a training session I had someone inadvertently cough in my face.  I know weird, but it happened.   Anyway, I didn't think much of it until hours after the workout when I started coughing.  Usually when I feel a flu or cold coming on, I really step up my nutrition and try to get in extra vitamins and minerals. Unfortunately I was already set on getting together at my brothers house, watching the UFC and having a diet break.  I don't think the bacon wrapped hot dogs did much for helping me fight off the infection. To make it worse, I got together with some friends yesterday to catch the Super Bowl.  Let's just say the diet for the day wasn't anywhere close to nutritious.   Unfortunately I'm paying for it today.  The cough got worse and a fever kicked in.  Earlier this morning I wasn't