• Business and Finance
• Family
• Computers and Internet
• Auto and Trucks
• Education
• Health
• Hobbies
• Home Improvement
• Legal
• Marketing

• Home
• Arthur's Articles Home
• Browse Categories
• Browse Authors
• Submit an Article
• Search for Articles

Home » Health Articles » Tweaking Your Fat Loss Diet

Tweaking Your Fat Loss Diet

Hey Ray, I keep forgetting to book an appointment to sit down to try and lose more fat off my tire, so I'll try and type out my diet thoughts here. It's going to get long winded but here it goes. I'm sitting at 195lbs down from 242lbs after reading your book, and of course it's not good enough for me. I have been eating the same portions and food since day 1 when I set up the meal plans for 226lbs. Here's my game plan, let me know of it makes sense or not please.

- Doing the wild rose cleanse this week starting Thursday.

- At this point changing portions to adjust to 195lb BBE calculations but up the protein from .8/lb to 1g/lb. Not a lot of change for my diet actually for the cleanse except for fish instead of poultry, plan to keep protein levels high just using fish (likely lots of salmon), everything else is a match, or close to it anyway.

- When I am done the cleanse and go back to poultry, cottage cheese etc, I am looking at a few changes. The carbohydratess are a no brainer, just cut back a bit. For proteins I eat a pretty standard set of foods: Meal 1 - cottage cheese 2- chicken / turkey 3- chicken or salmon 4-chicken / turkey 5 & 6- burgers or pork chops, just something other than chicken or turkey. My thoughts are to keep the daily proteins the same except maybe more emphasis on turkey, but change the night meals to white fish or some type - crab, cod, halibut, stuff like that with very low fat contents, or should I be switching everything to white fish to try and cut fat from the diet?

- Still have a protein shake at 10 am and eat ice cream at night (usually an ice cream bar) Ice cream is because I found myself getting dizzy a lot and realized it was lack of sugar, have felt a lot better since starting this. Anything I can do different as I realize its not the best thing for attaining a 6 pack!

Work outs: Going to start running 3 miles, 2 or 3 days a week before work (this assumes I can drag my butt out of bed) to see if I can get things moving some more, otherwise I am fairly active in the evenings, more so when my shoulder smartens up. Thoughts?

Thanks again, Mack

From Ray:

First I think you should start looking at body fat percentages now instead of the scale. I saw you the other night and you are getting really lean. I don't know if you have a certain number you want to see on the scale, but if not, I would be more concerned with body composition than getting that scale to go down any more. After all, do you want to fight at 160 lbs and 10% body fat or 190 lbs and 10% body fat? Just a choice so let me know.

Now on to the diet. The cleanse is going to make you feel awesome after and I think you will see great benefits from it. So that is a go. As for the BEE calculations, I wouldn't drop as low as 195. I would only go for a 210 for now. Big changes usually cause the body to freak out and rebel. You don't want that, you have to just tease it a little and not totally tick it off.

With your activity level, I would not decrease the carbohydrates for the increase in protein. This is my opinion but I feel that if the carbohydrates are not available then your body is going to go after the protein next since it is not the macronutrient that is needed for survival, fat is. So it is extra muscle you are after, then add the protein on top but don't decrease your carbohydrates right now. Not for an athlete.

As for fat, you do not want to cut it out totally. Fat should be at least 15% of your calories. You need this for hormone production buddy. I like the way you cycle your protein sources, keep that up and I would actually go for more fatty meats at night along with fibrous carbohydrates if fat storage is a concern. If that makes no sense to you then we can talk about the science on that later.

As for the ice cream at night, this is weird. You are considering cutting back on carbs for the sake of increased protein but then eating ice cream at night for the sugar you need. See what is happening there? This is another good reason why you need to keep your carb intake at the present levels or even bump them up just a bit. You only need to add a few grams of complex carbs here and there and the light-headedness will go away. Try some oatmeal with a banana any time you need a sugar/carb fix. It will break down fast at the start and slow burn on the end from the banana and oatmeal combo.

Now for the extra activity. I know you know the math of fat loss. 3500 calories per pound of fat is the magic number. Now how many calories are you in deficit when you calculate your classes, gym sessions and good eating. If you are in deficit then the extra running should only be because you like it or need to improve your performance in running. Doing excess work to burn calories can throw you into overtraining really fast. Watch yourself. I think you are doing enough activity already with the MMA, my class and the gym. If anything I would go with sprints in the morning if you must go for a run. 10 sprints for 100 yards with 30 seconds rest in between.

Hope that helps buddy! Keep going, your looking great!

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

Can Small PR Firms Deliver Huge Results?

Please feel free to publish this article and resource box in your ezine, newsletter, offline publication or website. A copy would be appreciated at bobkelly@TNI.net. Word count is 1040 including guidelines and resource box. Robert A. Kelly © 2003.

Can Small PR Firms Deliver Huge Results?

They can when they invest in the basics. The best of them obviously rely on some form of public relations fundamental premise to produce winners across business environments from rockets and orange juice to product recalls and indicted CEOs.

But, chances are the top producers among small PR firms have built their businesses on a premise like this one:

People act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action those people whose behaviors affect the organization, the public relations mission is accomplished.

Public relations firms who do not base their work on a premise like this one are well-advised to consider doing so.

The reason? Their clients are subject to the same realities as the rest of us, realities that never change. People usually behave based on their perception of the facts. And clients usually demand certain behaviors from those "publics" whose behaviors have the most impact on their businesses.

Even more to the point, when client managers start looking for a return on their public relations investment, they want to see the kind of key stakeholder behavior change that leads directly to achieving their objectives.

Which is why, especially for the small PR firm anxious to meet client needs, there is no better performance measure at which to aim.

However, for those small PR firms not yet guided by any kind of public relations fundamental premise, here is a suggestion.

Consider the premise outlined above, then take a shot at convin- cing a new or current client to let you produce a broader, more productive public relations effort for his or her company. And remember, the fundamental premise of public relations outlined above is a great equalizer placing all public relations firms on a level playing field when it comes to the effectiveness of the process. It especially targets those firms with a client who expects the best value from PR dollars spent, not simply a limited and mechanical publicity placement effort.

In other words, consider using the premise as a means for going after higher quality new business, or upgrading an account and broadening the work performed for a savvy client who wishes to squeeze every benefit out of the money they spend on public relations.

Start by listing a client's most important outside audiences in priority order – audiences whose behaviors directly and visibly affect client success or failure. At the top of such a list are usually prospects and customers. But it could well include community residents, business and political leaders, suppliers, minorities, fraternal groups, nearby military personnel and union leaders. The target list might even include "clients of your client" where such activity is a high priority for that client.

The test for listing an audience is this: does its behaviors affect my client's business in any way? If they do, they belong on the list.

Obviously, you must now determine what members of that key external public think about your client and his or her business, in order to build and implement a successful public relations effort. And that means interacting with members of that audience and asking a lot of questions. What do they think about your client company and its products and services? Are there signs of negativity? Misconceptions? Inaccuracies? Rumors?

The answers to these questions allow you to establish the corrective public relations goal, i.e., a specific perception and, thus, behavior change. For example, clear up that misconception, correct that inaccuracy, or knock down that rumor as soon as possible.

How do you achieve that goal? Right! You select a strategy that will get you from here to there. And there are just three strategies to deal with a perception challenge: create perception (opinion) where there may be none, change existing perception, or reinforce it. Your choice will be dictated by your new public relations goal.

Clearly the most challenging step in this sequence is preparing the right message for delivery to the target audience. It must make a compelling case, so think about it carefully. It must state clearly that the offending misconception, inaccuracy or rumor is not the truth. Instead, layout that truth in a credible manner. The hallmarks of such a message are clarity, persuasiveness, credibility, believability and a compelling presentation.

Now it's time for the "beasts of burden," the communications tactics which will carry your carefully-scripted message to the eyes and ears of that target audience. Happily, there are a ton of such tactics at your disposal. Of course, you will want to double check the ability of each to zero in on your specific audience. As most PR firms are aware, they range from news- letters, press releases and radio and newspaper interviews to newsworthy surveys, sports sponsorships, op-eds and many, many more.

In short order, clients will be interested in evidence that the public relations effort is achieving results. The best way to demonstrate progress is by reporting on the results of a new round of perception monitoring among members of that target audience. You're looking for signs that their percep- tions now reflect the corrective elements of your message

Your clients are subject to the same realities as the rest of us, realities that never change. As noted, people usually behave based on their perception of the facts. And clients usually demand certain behaviors from those "publics" whose behaviors have the most impact on their businesses.

Small (and large) PR firms have little choice but to go after those perceptions with a vengeance.

That is how that small PR firm can deliver huge results.

end