So, what is a ketogenic diet anyway?
The biggest drawback to the ketogenic diet is the food choices. If you’re on a Keto diet, you know how hard it is to find a high-fat, low carb and low-glycemic meals that rarely leaves you feeling hungry. With plenty of products to choose from, it can be a bit cumbersome to weed all through the products, and find the right one. (more…)
If you are dieting for a contest, or just to be in shape for the beach, then you might want to consider the ketogenic diet as your diet strategy. The keto diet has been gaining in popularity as a way to get lean and reduce levels of gastrointestinal inflammation.
What is Ketosis?
Ketosis is the name of a metabolic state where the body converts dietary fat and adipose body tissue into ketones then used as metabolic fuel. The body relies on a process of gluconeogenesis to create the ATP needed to fuel metabolic functions and process. The body converts the glucose found in carbohydrates into glycogen and then stores the excess as body fat. (more…)
So when the cravings hit you forget all about diet and fitness and start relishing whatever is on the table? Suddenly, New Year Resolution fades into oblivion and after a gourmet meal, you feel of indulging in your guilty pleasures? This is a dilemma of every person with little on the heavier side and their struggle to reach their ideal weight goes down the memory lane with every bite of glazed doughnut.
So here we bring smart hacks that will help you stick to your diet and break up with junk food at least for some time:
Ok, so you lost weight, have some extra skin, what’s the big deal, right? It is a serious issue, as reported by NBC news, faced by many bariatric surgery patients or really anyone who has lost 300+ pounds of fat. Keeping sagging skin long-term is even reported to directly affect the longevity of the weight loss.
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Incline workouts offer many benefits.
For starters, it’ll help you simulate hill running, thus burn off colossal amounts of calories without having to go outside and stomach the bad weather. In addition, incline workouts are great boredom busters, hence if you dread indoor cardio training, use the incline to your advantage and make your workout more challenging and fun.
As a result, if you’re not doing an incline workout—at least once per week—then you’re doing yourself a big disservice.
Here are a few practical tips that can help.
Yet again.
It’s 5am, and you are standing in the light of your fridge, with a ladle in the Nutella jar, greedily chomping down any hope that you were going to eat well that day.
“Maybe tomorrow will be the day I lock down my nutrition,” you tell yourself.
“There, there—of course tomorrow will be the day,” the not-so-helpful you replies, the ladle craning towards your mouth, brimming with that sweet, sweet hazelnut spread.
If this feels familiar (and lawd knows it does for me), you aren’t alone.
We all struggle mightily with our nutrition at one point. Or many points. Or all the fuckin’ time.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. And before you laugh and shuffle off to another one of the 7 tabs you have open, you should consider starting a food diary.
Maybe you’ve thought about writing your food before.
Then you were like, “Nah, I ain’t got time for that.”
Or you snickered at the idea of keeping a “food diary.”
Sounds kinda prissy, right?
But really, put aside giving a baker’s hoot what others may or may not think for a moment.
If you want to feel metric butt-ton better, have higher and more consistent energy levels over the course of the day, and you know, beast at a 20% harder rate*, then start putting pen to paper and unleash this certified and proven weapon for kicking names and taking ass—err—in the kitchen.
* Anecdotal approximation. See a doctor if it lasts longer than 4 hours.
Here’s how a food journal will help you open a can of whoop-ass in the gym and in life: (more…)
What IS beta alanine?
Beta alanine is a non-essential amino acid. This means that it’s produced by our body (in the liver) and it isn’t therefore essential to include it in our diet. However, weight lifters and body builders can, and do, benefit from taking it in supplement form to top up the levels naturally present in their bodies. It’s also naturally present in high protein foods such as meat and fish.
How does beta alanine work?
Most amino acids are the building blocks of protein, which helps give us a lean body. However, beta alanine does not help towards building protein, instead, along with histidine it is converted into carnosine which the body uses to increase stamina, improve strength and help build muscle. So, for more stamina, strength and muscle building, more beta alanine and therefore more carnosine is advantageous.
As we exercise, lactic acid builds up in our muscles, causing the pH to lower, in turn causing fatigue and the eventual end of our workout. Carnosine helps eliminate lactic acid and other by-products of intense physical exercise, and regulates the pH of the muscles allowing us to work out for longer. It also helps reduce post exercise recovery time, allowing for more rewarding workouts in quicker succession. (more…)
When bulking, the idea is to build up a calorie surplus so that you basically consume more calories than you’re able to burn off.
This is primarily how muscle mass is grown. Whilst bulking however, it is important bodybuilders still keep an eye on their daily macros because if they consume too many calories, not only will they build muscle, they’ll also find themselves gaining a fair amount of fat in the process, and that is not ideal.
The second phase, they find themselves in, is one which is enjoyable, yet difficult and stressful at the same time – cutting, or fitness cutting as it is sometimes referred to as. At Project Swole we like to refer to this cutting phrase as a shred, as in Project Shred.
The idea behind fitness cutting is that they attempt to lose as much fat as possible, whilst maintaining or building as much lean muscle mass as possible. When fitness cutting, a bodybuilder’s primary goal is to become as lean, defined, vascular, and shredded as possible. If these sound like your goals, take a look at our handy fitness cutting guide outlining everything you need to know. (more…)
How to Burn Fat Quickly and Efficiently
Burning fat can be tough, there’s so many things you have to keep track of if you want to do it effectively. There’s calories to count, workouts to perform and even macronutrients to balance.
But there are ways to make things easier. Simple additions you can incorporate into your lifestyle to start seeing faster results.
1. Drinking Green Tea
When cutting fat, people think a lot more about what they eat, rather than what they drink – and that’s a big problem. Sodas, beer, and even fruit tea can contain huge amounts of calories, and can easily go against all that hard word you’ve been putting into your diet.
So what’s the solution? Green Tea. One of the better beverages for fat loss, Green tea is full of antioxidants, contains next to no calories, and it accelerates fat loss.
We know that obesity is dangerous. We know that it is a huge health risk. Yet we still don’t seem to truly understand what it all means.
When Does Obesity Happen?
Obesity can happen at any point during your life. It can, sometimes, escalate very quickly, and take on truly dramatic proportions. This is known as ‘malignant obesity’. Malignant obesity usually occurs after the early 20’s when we have stopped growing up, get too ‘busy’ to exercise, and when we still aren’t paying attention to what we’re putting in our bodies.
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If you’ve never kept a blog before, the idea of documenting your fitness progress online could seem a little daunting. In fact, to some, blogging itself may seem somewhat intimidating or confusing. But, blogging is actually quite easy – especially with the help of user-friendly blogging platforms such as WordPress. 
More and more people are realizing the benefits of documenting their weight loss progress on public platforms such as social media or blogs. Learning how to start a lifestyle blog is a great choice, as it gives you complete freedom to write stories and include information about how you’re feeling, which recipes you’ve tried, new workouts that you’ve had a go at in the gym or even display before and after pictures and progress pictures of yourself fitting into clothing two sizes smaller.
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I read a blog post about how Tori Spelling recently lost weight simply by eating a balanced diet. This kind of ticked me off. Not because she is successful using this method, but because a common sense approach like this is news.
I have written about the “evil” diets before, you know the ones that tell you to eat no carbs, or no fat, or all protein and fat… or better yet, only eat this food that we happen to sell. I am not a fan of these, largely because as soon as they are over, the weight comes back on.
The best approach to diet and exercise is the simple one. I love the K.I.S.S. theory of Keep It Super Simple. The bottom line is to always maintain balance. The very second that we lose our balance, we go crashing face first to the floor.
Gynecomastia—or male breasts—is a very common affliction that affects men all over the world. Though not life threatening—or even dangerous—male breasts can have a psychological effect that many would rather not experience, a fact made even worse by how difficult they can be to get rid of.
Fortunately, however, if you suffer from male Gynecomastia, there is a light at the end of the tunnel!
Though difficult to get rid of, Gynecomastia is not something you have to worry about for life. Man boobs are easier to get rid of if they are made primary of fat. If you got gyno by using or abusing steroids, diet and exercise will probably not be able to remove them completely.
Without further ado, here are the best ways to get rid of those male breasts.
Anyone who goes to the gym knows the work that needs to be put into sculpting a fit body. Building muscle and cutting fat are the main goals of working out for many people, and one may be more difficult than the other. Gaining muscle mass is easy for some people, but often, there is a layer of fat obscuring the muscle that is much harder to lose than the muscle was to gain. Weight loss is a complex process, but there are many options available.
What are my options to lose fat?
It can be frustrating to lose fat. Cardio training, dieting, and other lifestyle changes are difficult to stick to, and can be slow to take hold. When exercising, it is ideal to maintain an optimal heart rate for 20 minutes to an hour at a time, and it may be impossible to see fat loss for weeks or months after beginning a solid exercise routine. In addition, eating with a mind to burning fat can be complicated and time consuming; maintaining good eating habits is difficult, especially with temptation at restaurants and parties.
For those who get awesome results from Intermittent Fasting, don’t bother reading the following article. This is for people, for whom fasting either doesn’t work, or doesn’t agree with their schedule. However, if you follow a regular 3-5 meals a day diet, pay attention to the following piece.
New research is being done that indicates that there is more to healthy eating than many originally thought: not only does what you eat play a role in overall health, but when you eat may play a significant role as well. Researchers working at Brigham and Women’s Hospital collaborated with Tufts University and the University of Murcia have released results of a study that has shown that when you eat throughout the day might have an impact on weight loss.
If you’re like many people in the world today, you’ve had a hard time trying to lose your excess weight. Some people try everything under the sun in an effort to shed pounds, yet they still find themselves unable to achieve their weight loss goals. Surgical procedures like gastric bypass and gastric banding offer guaranteed results. Liposuction can get rid of excess fat instantly. Those who seek a guaranteed solution to their weight loss problems can find that solution with weight loss surgery.
Restrictive or specific diets can leave you feeling unsatisfied or craving your favorite foods, and if you’re not smart about how you get your daily caloric intake you can find your tummy grumbling before you go to bed, or even waking you up in the middle of the night, just begging for a midnight snack that is definitely not diet-approved.
However, there are plenty of ways that you can keep yourself satisfied and full on nearly any diet plan so that you can stave off cravings for midnight munchies.
Here are just a few tactics you may want to try.
To be pure muscle and no fat you have to find creative ways to exercise, but you also have to eat the right food. In order to sculpt your muscles, you need food with enough protein to keep you energized, but also food that helps burn fat – you also want to suppress those unwanted cravings.
Oatmeal is the secret weapon for a lot of body builders that want to sculpt the perfect body. Eating oatmeal 1 to 2 hours before an exercise or weight lifting session will give you an adequate amount of sustained energy, which will allow you to work out longer. Oatmeal is also great at regulating your blood sugar levels, which can stave off cravings. It is also a great source of fiber, which can prevent your body from storing excess fat.
You might think that you’re doing everything right when it comes to your diet and exercise regimen, and yet, for some reason you just can seem to shed the unsightly padding around your abdominals.
If this is the case, you could find that doing everything right is actually all wrong. Your lifestyle might be sabotaging everything.
Here are just a few tips and tricks that could help you to finally melt away the belly fat that’s been plaguing you for years. Sure, they say diet is responsible for 75% of your progress, but if you are doing everything else wrong, your lifestyle could derail 90% of your progress.
To optimize fat loss rather than weight loss, use the Project Shred diet plan for only 3 weeks, then scale back to a less restrictive meal plan. Be sure to use a workout routine like Fat Loss for Men or Fat Loss for Women, in order to maintain muscle mass during your weight loss phase.
