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Posts Tagged ‘Fat Loss’

I’m going to warn you right off the bat, whatever you’ve read already online regarding Oprah’s Acai weight loss diet is probably not true, at least not entirely. You see there are claims currently that this superfood is able to burn fat. The truth is however that this claim is exponentially exaggerated. Acai Berries however are still great and healthy for you. Since I’ve spoiled the surprise somewhat I’ll let you know that I’ll provide the best way to lose weight permanently, and this isn’t a fad. First however lets look at what Acai berries are truly good for.

So Oprah’s Acai Weight Loss Diet is fake?

I’m sorry to say its true, but essentially this cleanse that was promoted on the show was relying heavily, and when I say heavily I mean 90%+ on a fiber shake that you had to drink as well. The fiber essentially provided a colon cleanse and at the same time it balances blood sugar and some forms actually act as starch neutralizers (ie. PGX). So by sending mixed signals and claiming that Acai was burning fat, they mislead more than a few people it would seem.

Acai berry juice can however provide anti-aging benefits, many anti-oxidants so it helps prevent diseases such as cancer and anti-inflammatory compounds so some people experience benefits in terms of allergies and chronic pain. However weight loss in terms of burning fat it does not. Oh and its about $3 per day to get adequate benefits from it also, so it isn’t cheap.

Is There Anything for Real that Can Help Me Lose Weight?

There are many things, however the one that stands out from the rest was ranked the #1 diet of 2008. It is known as the calorie shifting diet. To summarize it briefly, it effectively does the following:

1. Lets you eat almost anything you want and without starving yourself. 2. Significantly increases your metabolism naturally. 3. Keeps results coming even after you go off of the diet. You keep off the weight and keep burning even more.

If you’re serious about losing weight this is easily the best thing you could ever try, anyone who follows it loses weight, its as simple as that.

Lose 15 Pounds in Two Weeks by EATING MORE! Using THIS Secret Technique! Click http://www.fatloss4idiotsdietplan.com to find out how to do it! ======================================================Note: You may wish to publish this article for your website, blog, etc. As long as the article remains in its full entirety; including the links and the about the author resource box.

There are many ways to lose weight out there. Some of them include exercises, pills, supplements, diets and outright starvation. While not all methods we use to lose weight work fast, there are some diets that are not as harsh and actually work if the program is followed well. You will need to know how to get a good weight loss diet program that works and this is not usually an easy task. There are several reviews online that will help you identify just which diet regime will deliver results and which wont. Why Low Fat Grams In Food Won’t Help you Lose Weight A good weight loss diet program should explain why sticking to only some low fat food doesn’t actually work and why being overly conscious of the fat grams in food wont help much either. There are actually some food fats that are useful in increasing metabolism and burning that extra fat. You may wonder why more and more people are getting fat and obese even as they turn to low fat lifestyles. Why Low Carb Weight Loss Diets Don’t Work Either The most successful diet programs will also explain to you why most low carb foods affect your moods. The fact is low carbohydrate foods deprive your body of necessary energy and leave you miserable and weak. Some of the low carb diets are so strict that they do not allow you to even eat a whole fruit in the first week or ever order a full meal in a restaurant. This will usually leave you miserable and down eventually you loose the will and the determination required to stick to whatever diet plan you are on. Your mind has such a strong unconscious influence on you that it eventually shuns you from keeping to the program and you eventually drop it without the desired results. It’s not your fault, but the extremely harsh diets’, that you soon become a dieting junkie. And Neither Will Eating Low Calorie Foods Qualities of an effective diet program include its ability to explain why even some low calorie diets, which so many people are fond of, don’t work either. The reason why even low calorie diets usually fail is because of a process called metabolism rate. This is the rate and process of burning calories in your food into energy. Look at it like a mechanism that breaks down the food into energy (calories) for your body. When your body detects a sharp decrease in carbohydrates intake, it is designed to adjust the amount it breaks down per day to compensate for the lost amount of daily calories. This simply means the net effect of your efforts to reduce on carbs is nil. You still end up converting an equal amount of calories and hence fat even with your strict non-carb diet. This is a body system that has evolved over millions of years and there is simply no easy way to deceive it, you need to work with it. This is the number one reason why you have failed in your past dieting programs and without a full understanding of how to harness the power of your metabolism rate, you failure is still guaranteed. Why You Need To Eat More Than Three Meals A Day To Lose Weight, WHAT!! A good diet program should therefore guide you, with full details on your metabolism rate and explain to you why you need to eat more than three times a day in order to loose weight. Yes, you heard that right. More than three meals a day.

This is one of weight loss guide that I found highly recommended by most online critics: Everloss

Being a personal trainer in Singapore, I know that supplements are something that almost everybody takes some of. However, it can be hard to differentiate the good ones from the money wasters. This article explains the top 5 supplements that will work and that will improve your health and well being immediately.
Supplement #1: Digestive Aids
Nothing works till you fix your digestion. You can take the best organic, nutritious food and the most healthy supplements. But without a healthy digestive system, you are not able to absorb the nutrients found in these great foods. That would waste your precious money and time.Some telltale signs that your digestion is not doing well are brittle fingernails with lots of vertical ridges, smelly farts, bloatedness after eating food and a distaste for meat. Other possible symptoms are acne, very smelly stool (poop), and farting soon after meals.
Because of the bad smells that come out of your body when your digestion is not in good shape, I always joke that a good digestive aid improves your marriage and interpersonal relationships!
The cause of this problem is low stomach acid. And the reason we usually have low stomach acid which usually due to high stress!
You see, our body is designed to handle high stress for short periods. For e.g. a tiger chasing you. Your body goes into fight and flight mode and “unimportant” tasks like digestion shut down so you have more energy and blood flow to your muscles to fight the tiger or to run away!
But nowadays, in our busy and stressful city lives, we have less deadly stresses like project deadlines, exams and nagging bosses! The body responds the same way, by shutting down digestion.
That means less stomach acid is produced and thus the above problems that come with it.
In fact this low stomach acid problem is so common that of all the 123 people I tested this year, only 1 person had normal levels. The rest would all do better with supplementation.
Oh yeah, good levels of stomach acid also kill bacteria and other bad stuff in your digestive track, yet another bonus!:)
When choosing a supplement for digestion, make sure that it should contain Betaine HCl (stomach acid) as well as digestive enzymes like Protease, Amylase, Lipase, Pepsin and Bile Extract.
Supplement #2: Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Did you know that cavemen ate large amounts of animal brains, seafood and organic meats such
that they ate an average of 300-400g of omega-3 fatty acids per week?
In the diet of a person in a developed country, this might be as low as 3g per week.
Here is the problem? you need omega-3 fatty acids to be healthy. Listed here are some of the things it does!
* Helps you burn fat by turning on fat burning enzymes and turning off fat storage ones
* Help you to “prefer” to use fat as fuel for energy
* Improves mood, concentration and brain function
* Helps reduce pimples and improve skin quality
* Reduce blood pressure
* Reduce stress
* Reduce sugar absorption/fat storage
I can’t keep on going because the list would be too long? In fact if you go to online medical research sites like www.pubmed.com (its a collection of medical research) and you search for “fish oil” or “omega 3″ AND “human” so you don’t get animal studies? AND “XYZ” where XYZ is ANY DISEASE YOU CAN THINK OF? fish oil/omega 3s help prevent, cure or reduce the symptoms of it!
It’s hard to believe but I really mean any disease. Obesity, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, acne, arthritis and the list goes on and on.
NOTE: For Pregnant women, it’s even more important because you deplete your omega-3 stores when you form a baby inside you. Supplement heavily with omega-3s before, during and after childbirth to have a smoother pregnancy and a healthier baby!
When looking for omega-3 supplements, try to take those that come from smaller fish such as sardines and anchovies. Smaller fish are lower in the food chain so they don’t have as much toxins in them as large fish.
Supplement #3: A Good Set Of Multivitamins
A good selection of vitamins from a high quality multivitamin helps the body detox, and boosts your immune system function and overall health. However there is such a wide variety of multivitamin supplements out there, and they vary wildly with prices and of course with quality.
The is especially true in Multi-vitamin forumlations.
It is possible to make a multi-vitamin appear very complete (look good on the label) yet very cheap – and of course POOR QUALITY.
Here is how:
* Choose less absorbable ingredients (that look the same on the label?) for example, a quality ingredient like Magnesium Aspartate has a high absorbability of 58%, but a low quality one like Magnesium Oxide ? 5%! more than 11x less? but hey? most consumers can’t tell the difference!
BTW a good multi vitamin blend does not cost 11x more than a lousy one, so its certainly a good idea to go with the best ones!
* Make low quality tablets/capsules by packing them with filler and compressing them so that they have low density of nutrients (yet you can sell huge capsule numbers on the bottle front “640 capsules” and so on!). This has the added advantage that your capsules will never break apart giving an even higher appearance of quality!
* Use Synthetic additives. Natural beta carotene or vitamin E is not the same as synthetic ones because the natural one will be complete in all its forms. The way vitamins are intended to be. The multiple forms help you absorb the vitamin. The synthetic ones only look good on the labels but do nothing for your health.
There we have it, 3 ways to make a lousy multivitamin supplement. So if you see these telltale signs, stay away!
NOTE: Men should choose the Copper and Iron Free versions of any Multi vitamin because excess of those nutrients are not good for men.
Supplement #4: Zinc
Take the following quiz…
* Do you fall sick often (weak immune system)
* Do you have lower than normal testosterone (check your tricep skin fold with a body fat
measuring caliper, it should be 5mm or lower for men)
* Do you have a low sperm count?
* Do you have trouble gaining muscle or recovering from training?
* Do you have low appetite?
* Do you have a “fatty chest” if you are a guy? I.e. Man boobs?
If you have some of these difficulties, chances are you are deficient in zinc. Zinc helps you absorb just about every nutrient and is involved in more than 300 (known) enzyme and hormone functions!
You can use a zinc test solution of zinc sulfate to find out your zinc levels (take 1/8th a cup of zinc sulfate and put it in your mouth for 3-5 seconds) If you can swallow it after that as if it’s water, you have low zinc, if it tastes like metal and you spit it out immediately, you have good zinc levels. Don’t worry this is a totally safe test, it’s just some zinc ions dissolved in water?
Supplement with a good zinc supplement that uses Zinc Orotate and Zinc Aspartate as its ingredients instead of lower quality stuff like zinc oxide.
Supplement #5: Magnesium Take the following quiz…
* Do you have trouble falling asleep?
*Do you have poor sleep quality and feel un-rested when you wake up?
* Do you have high stress or consume large amounts of carbohydrates (these lower magnesium
levels)
* Do you do alot of exercise?
* Do you store fat easily when you eat starchy foods (insulin resistance)?
* Do you have muscle cramps often?
These are signs of magnesium deficiency, it’s very common so don’t feel bad! It’s not your fault. Low stomach acid, high stress and heavy exercise can all contribute to this situation.
When you have good magnesium levels, the main benefit is great sleep quality. This is the first thing I look at and suggest when a client complains of poor sleep quality. Supplement with magnesium aspartate or magnesium citrate for best results.
There we have it, 5 top supplements that are basic yet necessary. Get these in order and watch your health and performance sky rocket!

Women love to diet. At any give time, one of three women are on a diet. Yet more women are overweight than ever and a disturbing new study shows that binge eating is the most widespread eating disorder in the United States, surpassing bulimia and anorexia. Surely, there has to be a connection between food deprivation diets and the rate of increase in binge eating.
I can definitely speak for myself. I first began binge eating after following a fad diet that controlled what food groups I could consume. During the two months that I was on the diet, I dreamed about all the foods I could not eat. These “forbidden foods” became an obsession. Needless to say when I went off the diet, I started over-indulging in all the foods I was deprived of during the diet. I told myself that I needed a reward for losing all the weight. In a few short months, the pounds I lost came back and I was stuck with an unhealthy new eating habit to boot.
Maybe there is something wrong in the way we are trying to lose weight? Since most eating disorders affect far more women than men, there is really a cause for concern. Women need to re-examine the way they attempt to lose weight and the ultimate cost on their health and bodies.
Although it sounds unfashionable compared to the latest fad diets out there, the best weight loss diet for women that ensures permanent results is one on which healthy portions from various food groups is allowed. A plan like this will ensure healthy weight loss without causing undue stress on the body. Women also need to keep in mind that fad diets are ageing. This is because fad diets put your body under stress and also deprive you of nutrients you need to keep your skin, nails and hair healthy.
By following a healthy eating plan, you will not only gain an enviable figure, but will also look younger, have less wrinkles, strong nails and healthy hair. Along with healthy eating habits, the right exercise program for women will allow you will feel more relaxed and more confident in yourself. You will also sleep better allowing your body to repair and restore your body and skin. It is not called beauty sleep for nothing.
The next time you come across a new weight loss diet that promises 10 lbs in 10 days ask yourself if it is worth risking your health and complexion to try something that sounds unhealthy anyway. You did not gain all your weight in a week. Why would you expect to lose it all in a week? Also remember that going on a fad diet could cause you to learn unhealthy eating habits and leave you feeling stressed and obsessed.
Stop obsessing over weight loss. Learn about healthy eating and start living better today. Weight loss will happen automatically along with the side effects of better self esteem, peace of mind and healthy skin, hair and nails.

A few months ago Dr.Oz who is a regular guest on the Oprah Winfrey show came on discussing the benefits of the super food known as acai berries. In the mix of his discussion weight loss benefits were brought up. This essentially was the beginning of the acai berry weight loss diet on Oprah that got everyone excited for months to come. In this article I’ll reveal to you to you whether the acai weight loss diet is a hoax and a myth or if it really does in fact work.

Tell me more about acai berries

Essentially what is so great about acai berries is the fact that they are very high in essential nutrients such as Omega 3 & 6 and more importantly anti-oxidants which help your body to fend off against disease such as cancer and also provide anti-aging benefits. I would say by far the anti-oxidant contribution of acai berries is far and wide the greatest thing about them.

So does the acai diet on Oprah actually work?

To be blunt, acai does not burn fat in any way in which its being promoted. It may have some mild benefits to metabolism, but are you going to wake up in 2 weeks after taking it and see any noticeable difference, nope. In fact the show mislead people in that what really eliminated the excess weight were the fiber shakes that were meant to be taken along side the acai juice.

So what can help me lose weight?

Have you heard of calorie shifting? It was the #1 diet of 2008 for a reason and it looks to only gain in popularity. It effectively is the ultimate and possibly best diet to ever be developed. What it does is push your metabolism up to its maximum potential at all times. On top of this it has you eat foods based on when your body is most likely to burn them off as fuel, so for example during a certain part of the day you might be better off having a snack higher in fat, and later on a high protein one. Much of this is also to confuse your metabolism so it can never find a comfort zone and is forced to stay running at its maximum ability.

Lose 15 Pounds in Two Weeks by EATING MORE! Using THIS Secret Technique! Click http://www.fatloss4idiotsdietplan.com to find out how to do it! ======================================================Note: You may wish to publish this article for your website, blog, etc. As long as the article remains in its full entirety; including the links and the about the author resource box.

A lot of people nowadays are looking for ways to lose weight. Reasons for losing weight vary – some people simply want to become healthier, some people want to look good, and some people need to do it to reduce risks of other health issues. There are a lot of ways available for weight loss, advertisements for weight loss products have become abundant, so with ads for weight loss exercise programs and routines. Another popular way to lose weight is to participate change one’s ordinary diet to a weight loss diet.
There are numerous weight loss diet plans available – and you can choose a plan to suit your specific nutritional needs. Before choosing one of the available weight loss diet plans, you may want to consult your physician and gather as much information as you can to make an informed decision.
Some of the more common and popular weight loss diet programs are those that involve cleansing and calorie reduction. Another popular weight loss diet plan involves the so called five factor diet.
Cleansing diets are essentially detoxification techniques. This diet involves eating combinations of fresh fruits and vegetables and drinking plenty of liquids. Some advantages to this diet are: it provides you with a fresher feeling and increases your energy; it also helps to increase metabolism as a cleaner liver metabolizes food better; and it is an inexpensive diet. The disadvantages of this diet are that it can be a little hard to adhere to and it may leave you feeling hungry.
The Five Factor diet involves eating five meals in a single day, doing exercises of five days a week (exercises have five phases that are five minutes in length), and includes the following in every meal: lean protein, low GI carbs, adequate fiber, good fats, and sugar free beverages.
Calorie Restriction diets are about as simple as any weight loss diet can get. This diet is based on reducing your daily caloric intake and helps in reducing stress on the immune and digestive systems. Going on this type of diet entails counting the calories you take in and eating less of everything. This diet generally includes the consumption of fruits, vegetables, and low calorie proteins. There are no restrictions on the type of food you can eat as long as you pay attention to the amount of calories.
Prior to starting on your diet, you may want to ask yourself a few questions to determine if the diet can also address your lifestyle needs. Here are a few guideline questions you can use:
- What are your eating habits? Do you eat while on the go or do you eat at home? What do you eat most of the time? Will the new foods in your weight loss diet plan be suitable for this kind of environment?
- Will you be able to eat a different type of food from majority of those present at social gatherings? When eating in groups, how do your companions eat? Do they typically eat food that may not be compatible with your new diet plan?
- Will your current home environment work with your new diet plan? If it does not, are you prepared to change it?
- Do your current leisure activities fit into your weight loss diet plan? Do you consume a lot of junk food in your spare time? If your new diet plan does not allow for the consumption of junk foods, will you be able to give up junk foods altogether?
- Do you eat out a lot? If you do, do the restaurants you go to serve food that fits into your new diet plan?
- Is your kitchen set up properly to handle the type of food preparation required in your new diet plan? Do you have freezer space? Do you have enough time to prepare your food?

If you are trying to lose weight, you are probably asking yourself, “What is the best weight loss diet for me?”. Well that really depends upon you. What are your weight loss goals? What type of a diet do you think would be good for you? What does your doctor recommend for you as an acceptable weight loss goal? These are some of the questions that you will need to answer. Depending upon your answers to these questions, you can be assured that there is a weight loss diet for you out there. Depending upon your general health, there are many different ways to go.
This will also depend upon the type of diet that is best for you. That diet will all depend upon certain factors such as health and your weight loss goals. There are many different weight loss diet and diet combinations out there to choose from. When looking for a weight loss diet, there are several things that you need to look for in a diet like this. Is it balanced? Is it more of a crash diet? What kinds of foods can I eat or do I have to order the foods from the diet company? Does this diet entail medication as well as food and exercise? Are there special drinks that I need to have along with the diet?
There are many different types of weight loss diets such as the more well known and advertised diet programs that you see both on TV and online. There are others that are not as well known, but are just as effective as those more popular weight loss diets. When looking for a diet for weight loss, the first thing that you need to consider is if it is right for you and what you want to accomplish. The very first thing that you need to do is to consult with a doctor before hand, so that he or she can guide you through a diet that is fit for you and you alone.
Most, if not all diets will tell you to consult a doctor before beginning a weight loss diet, as there may be other health concerns that need to be addressed as well as the weight issue. The best weight loss diet for you will be one in which you can lose the weight safely. This diet will also be nutritionally balanced and will include some form of exercise. Beware those that claim that you can lose an enourmous amount of weight in a short time. Some of these diets have been proven to be deadly or causing serious harm to the dieter by combining unproven herbal or chemical remedies that their body cannot stand.
This, in a nutshell is what to look for in a weight loss diet that is both safe, effective and good for your body. Each diet will be different for each individual as no two individuals are alike, nor should they be. The cookie cutter weight loss diets will not work for everyone.

You’ve probably heard a lot of hype surrounding the acai berry weight loss diet that was on Oprah a few months back. Well if you’re still curious regarding its effectiveness, I’m going to provide you with all the details you need to know in order to make an informed decision regarding whether its worth using for weight loss.

Can the Acai berry diet cleanse help you lose weight?

Before I answer this question, let me ask you something. Have you ever heard about mangosteen, noni or goji berries? These were all previous superfoods that had their 15 minutes of fame for various reasons. What it comes down to is that they’re all excellent ways to help boost your overall health because of their content of anti-oxidants which assists in anti-aging and preventing diseases such as cancer from developing. So the big question is however, can it help me lose weight? Yes it can, so can walking, eating fresh fruit and vegetables and many other things. Is it special though? No, its simply a very healthy berry that has been exploited for something its not particularly good for. Anti-aging and disease prevention? Sure. Weight loss? No way.

So what is the most effective weight loss tool?

A calorie shifting program. It isn’t a diet so much as a system for how to eat through the day that allows your body to burn calories more effectively. All at the same time boosting your metabolism up to a level where it is capable of keeping off the pounds for good.

Discover why calorie shifting gets better results than any diet around. This diet is so simple to follow, it doesn’t require counting calories, carbs or fat. Even with a lack of motivation this weight loss method is guaranteed to help you lose more than 10 pounds in under 2 weeks and doesn’t require any exercise. Click http://www.fatloss4idiotsdietplan.com and receive a special offer for 50% right now!

Note: You may wish to publish this article for your website, blog, etc. As long as the article remains in its full entirety; including the links and the about the author resource box.

How many times have you tried to lose weight? How many times have you been successful? Losing weight is no easy task. In fact, it may be harder than quitting smoking. Many people cannot lose weight and keep it off because they make a serious mistake from the beginning. This mistake is to follow a weight loss diet. That’s right, if you want to lose weight and keep it off, you should not follow a weight loss diet. Keep reading to uncover the reasons why a weight loss diet will set you up for failure.

Losing weight is really not that hard once you learn to change your thinking about food. Over the years, you have learned to connect food with just about every event in your life. You celebrate holidays with food. When someone dies, the first thing that happens is the neighbors start showing up at your door with food. A wedding is celebrated with a huge wedding cake and plenty of food. The list goes on and on.

You have probably learned to turn to food for comfort. In times of stress or sadness, you may have learned that certain comfort foods will make you feel better. The result is a lot of extra pounds that keep adding up year after year and are now very difficult to take off.

So now that you are desperate to lose weight you will try every new weight loss diet that comes down the pike. This is where you are making your mistake. A weight loss diet may reduce your calories, have you eating all proteins or have you counting every calorie that goes in your mouth. Yes, you may lose weight, but now what? Do you know how to keep the weight off? Following a weight loss diet will get you nowhere. Changing your eating habits will get you everywhere.

The only way to lose weight and keep it off is to look at food in a whole new way. Start looking at food as a fuel source for your body. Don’t look at it as comfort, hormone replacement therapy, or a filler for the void that is missing in your life. Food is only meant to fuel our bodies and to keep us healthy.

Once you start to change your thinking about food, losing weight will become easier. Now make it a habit to eat six, small, healthy meals a day. The more often you give your body a little fuel, the faster it will burn the calories. Ramp up the calorie burning by switching to diet soft drinks and be sure to get in six to eight glasses of water daily.

So there you have it. Your best chance for losing weight and keeping it off. Stop following a weight loss diet and start making healthy food choices. It really is simple.

I’ll start with the bottom line: you don’t NEED supplements to burn fat or build muscle. The human body can function and make excellent athletic progress on nothing but quality food and proper training.
But you CAN use supplements to help the process along faster. The real key is knowing what works, what is garbage, and when an advertiser is simply trying to take your money.
Let me put it this way…in a recent muscle magazine, I counted 120 pages of full-page (in some cases 3 to 6 page), high-powered supplement ads. If you were to buy all these products, you’d be laughing all the way to the bank…laughing maniacally, because you’d have to rob it in order to pay for all those supplements!
There ARE good supplement manufacturers who make good products…they put in what they say they’re putting in and don’t try to fool you with advertising. But this article is about the BAD ones and it’s more fun to talk about them…
So what sneaky tricks do advertisers use to separate you from your money?
1. Unprovable Testimonials
How many times have you seen testimonials like “I lost 10 pounds in a week” or “I gained 20 pounds of muscle in a month.” These testimonials prey upon the desire in all of us for fast and easy results. Who wouldn’t want results this quickly? After all, if this person did it, I should get those same results too, right?
To me, this is like a car commercial that uses special effects to catch your attention then has an official disclaimer like “car should not be driven underwater” or “does not imply resistance to meteor strikes.” It looks and sounds cool but you know it’s just not real – you want to believe but…
And believe me, I would LOVE to think that results like this are possible with just a supplement. But how do you prove that those results even happened? You can’t. How do you prove it was due to that supplement? You can’t. How do you know the person wasn’t “on” something? You can’t. And how do you get your money back when it doesn’t work? You can’t.
About 10 years ago, I did an experiment on myself to see just how much weight I could gain in a week (keep in mind, I was just aiming for total bodyweight, which includes muscle, water and fat). By going on a very strict diet and training program for 2 weeks then completely reversing everything and loading up, I was able to gain 25 pounds of bodyweight in 7 days. And I owed it all to the incredible new supplement I was taking called Hydrogen Dioxide (a.k.a. H2O).
2. Before and After Photos
Before and after photos can be very inspiring and offer proof that a product works. Or they can fool you like the time Homer Simpson opened a can of beer that had just been in a paint shaking machine.
Here’s a before and after picture technique you can try at home:
Your Before Picture:
- slouch as much as you can
- let your gut hang out and down, push it out if you can
- bow your shoulders in, hunch your back over, and bow your knees in
- stand directly square to the camera so you look as wide as possible
- frown or look miserable
- have a messy, unflattering hairdo
- wear the most unflattering clothing you can find – make sure the clothes highlight every bulge
- don’t flex or tighten up anything – make yourself feel as flabby as possible
Your After Picture:
- stand up straight and tall
- suck in your gut and flex your abdominals
- keep your shoulders back
- look happy and wear a big smile
- stand slightly sideways (tilting your body at angle makes it look thinner)
- wear flattering clothing and have your hair neat
- flex all your muscles and keep everything tight
You can make quite a change in yourself pretty quickly!
3. Pay An Athlete To Get Fat Then Pay Them To Get Back In Shape
It is a little-known fact that some supplement companies have been known to actually pay well-trained athletes to stop training and get fat. Why? To get a really awful-looking “before” picture.
Then, when the athlete starts training hard again, eating right and, of course, taking their magic supplement, they get into great shape very quickly. The goal is to convince you that it was the supplement that was the key to the transformation, not the fact that it was a well-trained athlete in the first place. But an average person is NOT going to be able to make a transformation like this, no matter how good the supplement is.
When you’re already a well-trained athlete, you can make dramatic changes to your body extremely quickly (as evidenced by my own 25 pounds in a week weight gain I talked about above). To me, it’s like telling a professional boxer that he can only punch with his face for a few rounds. When he starts up with the fists again, he’s going to make a pretty rapid improvement!
4. 6 Page Special Ad Reports
Have you ever started reading an article in a magazine only to realize partway through that you’re being sold a supplement? These styles of ads are VERY common – informative enough to make you believe it’s the magazine itself writing the article but, lo and behold, the best solution to the topic in the “special report” is the supplement they’re trying to get you to buy.
Note to supplement companies: even a good product can be wrecked with too much slick advertising.
5. Misrepresenting Legitimate Scientific Studies
Here’s the set-up: take an ingredient that showed some positive results in an isolated scientific study that has nothing to do with actual weight training, e.g. malnourished toddlers in Lithuania showed an increase in lean tissue when given nutrient “X”.
Now assume that the same results will also happen in a 200 lb healthy male athlete. Tell people that nutrient “X” is backed by scientific studies. They know that you’re not going to actually READ those studies!
Here’s the kicker… now include 10 mg of it in your product when the effective dose in the toddlers was actually 1000 mg!
And here’s a fun way to kill an afternoon: call up these companies and ask them to send you copies of the studies they’ve used to prove their supplements are effective. I’ve done that…they don’t stay on the line very long. Oh, they’ve sent me “studies,” but where I went to school, legitimate scientific studies don’t generally include price lists.
6. Name Your Product Similar to a Drug and Claim It’s “Almost Illegal”
Luckily for them, it’s not illegal to be useless. If the only thing a product has going for it is a mashed-up name similar to a drug, pack up your underwater car and go driving through a meteor shower. It’s going to be a long day.
7. Proprietary Formulas
I have no problem with people keeping the lid on the specifics of an effective formula to keep others from copying it. But when that is used an excuse to include next to nothing of the active ingredients that actually do anything…
You see, I don’t want to pay for a pill that is 95% methylbullcrapsomethingorother and 5% active ingredient. When the phrase “proprietary formula” is used, the manufacturer doesn’t legally have to say exactly how much of each of the ingredients is in the formula.
The best part is when the scientific study they used to prove their product works shows a dose of 5 grams is needed to be effective and their serving size/pill size is only 1 gram…AND they have 10 other ingredients listed as being in the pill.
8. Professional Bodybuilder Testimonials
Because I’m quite sure that a pro bodybuilder weighing 280lb at 4% bodyfat really gained all that muscle from a couple of scoops of some fruity powder that is supposed to give you a better pump.
9. The “Latest” Supplement
There was a time when the AMC Pacer and the Gremlin were the “latest” cars to come off the assembly line. Just because something is the “latest” doesn’t mean that it actually works.
The current craze: Nitric Oxide (a product that is supposed to increase circulation to muscles, resulting in a greater “pump”/blood flow to the muscles for increasing muscle growth). Let me put it this way…I’ve tried it, I’ve researched it and don’t waste your money on it.
The only way it’ll work is if you mix it with something else that DOES work (like creatine, for instance). Then you’re just paying extra for the privelege of combining the two supplements.
You want a better pump? Drink more water – that’s what blood primarily is. The better hydrated you are, the greater your blood volume will be. Need proof? One of the primary dangers of diuretic use for reducing water levels to show muscles better is thickening of the blood, which basically is reduced blood volume. The more water you have in your body, the greater your blood volume will be and the stronger your pumps will be.
Heck, if you REALLY want to build muscle, half your day should be spent sloshing around because you’ve drank so much water!
10. “Eat What You Want And Still Lose Weight”
Chances are, a product like this contains something to speed up your metabolism (most likely a herbal stimulant) and/or something to block the absorption of fat or carbs. You will probably lose weight but you may be a nervous insomniac with debilitating cramps and greasy diarrhea. What a great way to promote good health!
Conclusion:
Bottom line, I have no problem with supplements or supplement ads that are legitimate. What I do have a problem with (and you probably gathered this from the article) is the way people are manipulated through clever advertising into spending their hard-earned money on useless products. It gives weight training a bad name makes even good products look suspicious.
You see, a supplement can only do so much – it can only SUPPORT what you’re doing with your weight training and nutrition. If your training program or nutrition don’t work without supplementation, no supplement is going to fix that.
I use supplements every single day. They can help tremendously in your training, especially when you use supplements that are effective and have proven to be so! There are plenty of good supplements and good manufacturers out there (more on that below)!