Fat Burning for Vegetarians

Is the Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle program suitable for vegetarians?

Q: Is your program is suitable for vegetarians and can the same results you claim on your website be achieved following a meatless diet?

A: The Burn the Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM) program is fairly easy to adapt to a lacto-ovo vegetarian (who eats no meat, but does eat eggs and dairy products), and it will even work for a vegan (who eats no animal products whatsoever), although for a vegan, it is more of a challenge.

There are some adjustments that need to be made to the basic BFFM plan to suit vegetarians, however. This is due to the fact that BFFM is based on bodybuilding methods of fat loss, which call for a complete protein with every meal. In the BFFM manual, the complete proteins listed are all lean animal proteins (including lean meat), because animal proteins contain the full array of essential amino acids necessary for muscle growth.

Of course, you can combine two complementary incomplete vegetable protein sources (rice and beans for example) to create a complete protein, but the BFFM e-book does not go into detail about how to do this. Naturally, if youÆre a vegetarian, you're probably already quite familiar with this practice.

I've found that from a muscle building perspective, combining two incomplete vegetable proteins is definitely not as effective as eating animal-derived complete proteins. This is reflected in the fact that there are only a tiny handful of vegan bodybuilders, and although a few have achieved admirable development, they would probably not win any major physique contests.

Ovo-lacto vegetarians, on the other hand, can achieve superb muscular development that matches any meat eater. Multi Mr. Universe Bill Pearl is one example of a famous bodybuilder who built an awesome physique without ever eating meat. (Bill used dairy products and eggs for protein). Clearly, meat is not necessary to build muscle. Not to mention, most people don't have the desire to get "pumped up" and flex onstage like a bodybuilder - they just want optimal fitness, strength and nice, "toned" muscle development.

As for achieving low body fat, that can be achieved by anyone - vegetarian or not. That's because fat loss is mostly a matter of eating fewer calories than you burn every day. However, a strict vegetarian diet makes body fat control slightly more challenging, in my opinion, because lean proteins like chicken, egg whites and fish are highly thermic foods, therefore a higher protein diet can make it somewhat easier for those with stubborn fat to lose those last few annoying pounds. This is evident with the popularity of low carb, high protein (and meat) diets for weight loss. A moderately high protein diet is also more effective than a high carbohydrate diet at managing insulin and blood sugar - another advantage of the bodybuilding-style nutrition program.

Ultimately, fat loss is not dependent on meat or even protein per se: Fat loss is primarily dependent on calories in versus calories out, hormonal control, and metabolic efficiency. A higher protein (lean meat & eggs) diet might some hormonal and metabolic advantages in fat loss, and a decided advantage for building muscle mass, but fat loss can be accomplished strictly through exercise and calorie/portion control.

I get so many questions about whether the BFFM program will work for vegetarians, I recently put together a separate bonus report called, "Vegetarianism and the BFFM program" which I am now offering on request to anyone who wants it with the purchase of the main BFFM manual.

There's a ton of info in the BFFM manual that applies to everyone - vegetarians and non vegetarians alike - including such subjects as motivation, goal setting, self image psychology, body fat testing, How to break fat loss plateau's, body typing, calorie needs, food choices, aerobic training, weight training, and much more.

Some strict vegetarians (vegans) may find that BFFM is not suitable or appealing for them because the original BFFMe-book was not written with the vegetarian (especially vegan) in mind. However, it will work for you if you're vegetarian, you'll simply have to "tweak" the program a bit and make some adaptations as outlined in the bonus report to ensure that your protein needs are being properly met.

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Eat More, Burn More, Parrt 2

Eat More, Burn More: The G-Flux Interview...

Tom Venuto NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Burn The Fat
With Dr. John Berardi

Continued from part one

Tom Venuto: If somebody decides to just eat less and not exercise, which is the case for many popular diet programs, what is the impact on performance, metabolism and body composition short term and also long term?

John Berardi: Well, for starters, choosing not to exercise is a huge mistake for anyone, regardless of their goals. The human body was built for exercise and, over time, has developed with exercise as a survival necessity.

Yet nowadays exercise has become unnecessary for survival and, on the whole, our society has become sedentary. This has lead to huge health and body composition problems.

Plain and simple, it's a fool's choice not to exercise.

Yet let's say someone simply won't exercise. In that case, eating less (while still eating well) is certainly better than eating whatever they feel like, whenever they feel like it - which will usually lead to overfeeding and under nourishing.

However, assuming the no exercise, low calorie scenario, problems can still develop. For starters, muscle and bone mass will likely be lost. This means long-term problems like osteoporosis and sarcopenia. In other words, get ready for the nursing home.

Also, metabolic power diminishes. Eating less while not exercising is like rapidly downshifting the metabolism. And this means that when the "diet” ends, it's quite easy to gain fat.

In the end, the body finds it very hard to balance energy intake and output when sedentary. So even if you try to undereat your energy expenditure, if you're not exercising, you're likely losing muscle and losing metabolism throughout your diet. So you'd have to continually drop calories in a never-ending downward spiral of muscle loss, metabolic loss, and calorie deprivation. This is a battle most can't win!

The beauty of high levels of G-Flux is that when the body is very physically active, it tends to find new energy balance points without rigorously counting calories, etc. Therefore it's easier to be in great shape when G-Flux is high. In my seminars I devote an entire section to this idea – improving body composition without counting calories.

Tom Venuto: If you're eating more and training more, obviously this allows you a higher intake of amino acids, essential fatty acids, fiber, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. Is this an important benefit of the higher G-flux approach or can nutritional supplements make up for lower intakes of these nutrients at low energy intakes? And on the flip side, if you're taking in copious amounts and a wide variety of whole foods, which high energy intake allows you to do, are many supplements really necessary?

John Berardi: You got it, Tom. I believe that the high intake of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, fiber, etc. is one of the greatest and most overlooked advantages of the G-Flux approach. Higher intakes of these nutrients (when accompanied by a high G-Flux) can lead to better health, better nutrient partitioning, lower disease risk and more. So you end up with more exercise (which leads to a better health profile and less body fat) and more high quality nutrition (which also leads to a better health profile and better body composition). You can't go wrong there.

Specific to your question, assuming one decides to follow a low-flux lifestyle; nutritional supplements do become very important. Low exercise volume means less food eaten (assuming you want to stay lean and healthy). And less food eaten means fewer nutrients. With the vitamin and mineral contents of our fruits and veggies somewhat lower than they have been in the past, each serving of fruit and veggie contains less of the important, health-promoting nutrients.

Therefore we either have to eat more of them or we have to supplement with multi-vitamin/multi-mineral formulas and greens food products (for our phytochemicals). In fact, both the Journal of the American Medical Association and the British Medical Journal have recommended daily multi-vitamin supplements for this reason.

Often times, competitive bodybuilders have to move toward a lower flux lifestyle in an attempt to get very lean for the competitive stage. While their exercise volume remains quite high, their calorie intake can go quite low. This is because they need to achieve extreme levels of muscularity and low body fat. As a result, in each of these athletes I'm very conscious of supplementing with a multi-vitamin and mineral as well as a green food product. I'm also sure to recommend fish oil supplements. This helps these athletes get their essential nutrients while keeping their calories very low for short periods of time.

However, on the flip side, if an athlete of mine is exercising with fairly high volumes and eating their recommended 10-15 servings of fruits and veggies each day, their need for multi-vitamin/multimineral supplements is reduced. In fact, a number of my more disciplined Olympic and Pro athletes take no additional vitamins/minerals beyond what they get in their whole foods. And I prefer it this way as the vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients present in whole foods are often better than commercially available supplements.

Tom Venuto: So if we're going to increase energy flux that means more training, but what about overtraining? Is overtraining as much of a problem as the fitness and bodybuilding media make it out to be? Someone once said that there is no such thing as overtraining, only under nutrition. Is there any truth there or is that statement going too far?

John Berardi: Overtraining is a very real phenomenon although I guarantee that most people reading this have never been over trained. Heck, I bet they've never even met someone who's been legitimately over trained. The only athletes I've ever seen over trained have been high level Olympians who train in excess of 20 hours per week for years at a time.

You see, overtraining is a real syndrome characterized by a host of psychological and physiological symptoms. And this syndrome is one that takes months of high volume training to develop. Further, once legitimately over trained, it can take 8-12 months to recover from.

Now that this is cleared up, we can discuss what most people think of as over training – central nervous system fatigue. CNS fatigue manifests in some of the same ways as over training although it can be developed over a much shorter period of time and is fairly easy to recover from with a planned break.

To this end, CNS fatigue can very well become an issue with high levels of G-Flux if someone isn't careful to diversify their exercise profile. Trying to accomplish a high level of G-Flux with all high-intensity exercise is a recipe for CNS fatigue.

However, when some low intensity work is thrown into the mix, CNS recovery is much improved. This is because high intensity work stimulates the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) while low intensity work stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest). The balance between these two types of exercise is important, as originally proposed by Hans Selye in the 50s. It's sort of a yin and yang thing.

So, although overtraining isn't likely for the recreationally active, CNS fatigue can manifest if a proper balance of high and low intensity exercise isn't achieved.

This interview will conclude in part 3…. coming soon…

To read the entire unedited G-Flux Interview, visit Burn The Fat (members only)

For more information on Dr. John Berardi's nutrition methods, visit Precision Nutrition

For more information on Tom Venuto's Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle method of fat loss visit: Burn The Fat

Dr. Berardi has two upcoming G-Flux seminars, one in Boston on May 5th and 6th (with Eric cressey) and one in Denver on May 19th & 20th. For more information visit: John Berardi's Web site

Fat Burning Secrets Revealed

The Interview Featuring Chris Mohr, PhD, R.D. (Meal Plans 101) with Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT (Burn The Fat)

Chris Mohr: You've competed 28 times in bodybuilding, but a lot of our readers have more simple goals -- lose 10 lbs, shape up for a wedding, high school reunion, etc. How do your fat loss recommendations change from body building to more general "weight loss" (or do they?)

Tom Venuto: In general, bodybuilders have to train harder, they have to put more time in, and they have to be more disciplined. Competing in bodybuilding is a big goal and big goals require a big effort.

But aside from the level of work and discipline that goes into it, the main difference between bodybuilders and non bodybuilders with general fitness and weight loss goals would probably be in the training more so than the nutrition. Good nutrition is just good nutrition. Competition bodybuilding diet may require a stricter approach, maybe fewer carbs, more protein, and more time dieting to reach a lower body fat percentage, but the basic principles are the same:

That includes:

• a calorie deficit
• small frequent meals
• a lean protein with every meal
• a balance between lean protein and natural carbs
• plenty of fiber
• a low fat, but not non-fat diet
• fats that include plenty of EFA's
• a proper ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 fats
• drinking plenty of water
• adequate post workout nutrition

None of this really changes that much from bodybuilder to recreational exerciser, although bodybuilders may be able to utilize more protein, especially when dieting. But it's the training that would be the most different.

Bodybuilders will almost always do their weight training on a split routine with body part groupings. This is true even on pre-contest fat loss programs. The bodybuilder depends on nutrition and cardio to take off the fat and doesn't use the weights as a direct means to burn fat – the weights are used as a bodybuilding tool.

For the non bodybuilder, like the person getting ready for a wedding or reunion, it might be more time efficient and practical to use a full body routine. If they go with a split routine, it might be a two day split with half the exercises one day and the other half the next, rather than a traditional body builder split that hits each muscle once a week. 3 weight training sessions a week will do the trick for most people. Bodybuilders on the other hand, might do 4 or even 5 sessions a week.

The workouts then would be set up almost entirely with compound exercises, focusing on squats, lunges, step ups, cleans, deadlifts, rows, pull ups, shoulder presses, chest presses and abdominal/core exercises. The exercises would be done in superset pairs, tri-sets or circuits, so the weight training may lose some of the body-building effect, but it gains a greater fat burning effect and a strong stimulus to the metabolic rate.

People with these types of goals might even use body weight exercises like push ups or callisthenic type exercises like burpees, jumping jacks and so on, mixed in with resistance training. The goal here is literally using weight training for fat loss as opposed to weight training for bodybuilding – there is a distinct difference in training style.

Chris Mohr: When someone is trying to lose fat, what are the 5 most important components of successful fat loss?

Tom Venuto: First is the caloric deficit because this factor trumps all the other factors. You have to burn more calories than you consume to lose body fat. You can kick, scream, and protest all you want but you cannot get around the energy balance equation.

Second is weight training. I guess I take the importance of weight training so for granted that I almost automatically assume everyone is already doing it. But I'm always surprised to hear how few people, especially women, are doing any weight training when their goal is fat loss. I have often said that increasing cardio is the key to fat loss, but I've said that with the assumption that the weight training was already in place, not that cardio is adequate without weight training. If anything, I'd say get the weight training in place first, then add the cardio, and increase cardio as results dictate.

Third is cardio training. I've seen just about every kind of cardio produce results, from walking to high intensity interval training, so all exercise is good exercise as far as I'm concerned, but if you want maximum efficiency, at least some of your cardio should be high or at least moderate in intensity if you are already fit and free of orthopedic or cardiovascular problems that would contraindicate higher intensity work. I also believe in cardio progression, where cardio is increased in intensity, duration or frequency, or changed to more challenging types of cardio, if a plateau needs to be broken.

Fourth is cycling the calories, meaning a zig zag or reefed approach instead of staying on low calories and or low carbs all the time. Also periodic breaks in the deficit by going up to maintenance levels when there is a long term weight loss goal that requires more than 12-16 weeks to achieve. This has been a secret diet weapon of bodybuilders for as long as I can remember, so I'm actually surprised this method hasn't caught on more in the mainstream. If you look at the research on Leptin, you can see there is a scientific basis for carb cycling, and there's a practical basis too as it improves compliance since the dieter gets to eat more with a periodic clean food re-feed, in addition to allowed free meals.

Fifth is get your carb level right for your body type and activity level and don't be afraid to experiment with a moderate reduction in carbs, if necessary, to improve fat loss, but at the same time remember that #1 is calories, and avoid "carbo phobia.” I've found that a moderate decrease in carbs can help with fat loss while maintaining energy, mental focus and lean body mass. For example, .8 to 1.0 grams of carbs per lb of bodyweight is a reduced carb diet similar to what I use before competitions, and I find it quite effective. Extreme low carb diets are not necessary.

Chris Mohr: Tom, you created Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle, which is the #1 fat loss e-book on the Internet. Can you briefly summarize this program for our readers?

Tom Venuto: Burn The Fat, could be described as "the bodybuilding style” of training and nutrition because it's based on how bodybuilders and figure competitors eat and work out to get so lean, but BFFM is NOT just for bodybuilders. Anyone can use these methods whether the goal is losing 100 lbs, losing 10 pounds or hitting the competition stage.

My overall premise is that it's better to exercise more and eat more than it is to eat less (diet) and exercise less. Either way you could have a calorie deficit and lose fat, but the difference is, with the BFFM approach, you get all the benefits of exercise that you don't get when you're sedentary and just cutting calories. You also get to eat more, which is a lot more fun, not to mention it allows you to take in more vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, essential fatty acids and essential amino acids. You could lose fat with any calorie deficit, but very low calories and low activity is not the best way to do it, unless you want to end up a "skinny fat person.”

BFFM is a combination of nutrition with exercise and the exercise portion of BFFM has to include a resistance training element and a cardio training element. If someone isn't lifting weights or doing some kind of resistance training, they're not doing BFFM. The cardio element of the BFFM training isn't prescribed in a specific, rigid amount like many other programs, the amount of cardio is adjusted in "real-time” according to your results.

You simply have to get yourself into a feedback loop where you measure your results every week and then adjust the intensity, frequency or duration based on those results. If you get the results you want, you don't change a thing. If you don't get the results you want, you change your training (increase cardio) or nutrition (decrease calories) and then repeat the process for another week. I teach a simple, but very precise system to all my clients for using this feedback loop method. You never have to guess about anything if you just understand this concept.

For more information about Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle (BFFM), visit: Burn The Fat

Coming next week in part 2: Why low carb diets may work better than conventional high carb, low fat diets and why its NOT for the reason most people think (this revelation turns the whole low carb "metabolic advantage” theory upside down)… The top 5 most important training secrets for fat loss, including how to use HDT training to burn more fat and build more muscle in less time, how much protein you really need and how to calculate optimal amounts quickly and easily, and much more…

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About Dr. Chris Mohr:

Dr. Chris Mohr RD, PhD is a nutrition consultant to a number of media outlets and corporations including Discovery Health Channel, Clif Bar, Waterfront Media, and Fit Fuel. He has authored and co-authored several textbooks and textbook chapters, including consulting with LL Cool J on "LL Cool J's Platinum Workout” (Rodale). He is also co-creator of Meal Plans 101 nutrition software. For more information on how Chris can help you create menus and meal plans with the click of a mouse, visit: www.meal-plans-101.com

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Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer, certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle. Tom teaches you how to lose fat without drugs or supplements using the little-known secrets of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and turbo-charge your metabolism by visiting Burn The Fat home of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle and Burn The Fat, the Internet's premiere members-only fat loss support community.