fat loss tip 6

3 Bodybuilding Food Lists  ( What Lean And Muscular People Eat )

By Tom Venuto
Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle

In the last Fat burning tips article / newsletter, I shared the 1-2-3 E-Z meal creation formula. This is the same formula that has been helping bodybuilders and physique athletes gain muscle and lose fat for decades.

Today I want to answer some of those questions I received about the Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM) meal template - lean protein + starchy carb + fibrous carb, and specifically, what to eat.
All over the internet you see lists of the "BEST" foods to eat and of course the "WORST" foods to eat. These are helpful sometimes except for a few big problems:

One, you might not like those "best" foods. Two, you might not be able to eat those foods (allergy / intolerance). Three, the foods may be part of someone else's ideology ... which may not suit your personality any more than it suits your body type.
There is a danger in following someone else's food list (even an expert/guru) unless you understand the context in which those recommendations are given and you customize the list for your own needs.
On the other hand, if you know about the 3 classic bodybuilding nutrition food lists - lean proteins, starchy carbs and fibrous carbs - and you understand the distinctions between those types of carbs, then putting together meals and entire daily meal plans is a snap.

These food lists are NOT a personal prescription for you - they are simply what I have observed as the most popular foods eatin by bodybuilders and other physique athletes - the leanest and most muscular people in the world.

We'll Start With Protein:

Lean Protein:

1.    Egg Whites	2.    Eggs Whole	3.    Liquid Egg Whites (carton)	4.    Chicken Breast
5.    Turkey Breast	6.    Top Round Steak (very lean red meat)	7.    Leanest Cuts of Bison/Buffalo	8.    Lean Game Meat (elk, venison, etc)
9.    Salmon (fish with high omega-3 fat content)	10.  Tilapia and Other White Fish (lean fish)	11.  Shellfish	12.  Lowfat Cottage Cheese or High Protein Dairy Products
13.  Protein Powders /Protein Shakes (whey, casein, or mixes)

Obviously vegetarians have to use high protein plant sources, but the principle and objective is the same for everyone: Have a lean protein source with every meal.

Simple. Part 1 of the 3-part meal DONE!
Next is the fibrous carbs. These include vegetables which are usually high in fiber and always low in caloric density. Think greens and think non starchy veggies.
Fibrous Carbs:

1.    Broccoli	2.    Asparagus	3.    Green Beans	4.    Onions
5.    Bell Peppers (green or red)	6.    Tomatoes (yes, i know, technically it's a fruit)	7.    Cauliflower	8.    Spinach
9.    Lettuce / Leafy Salad Greens	10.  Cucumbers	11.  Celery	12.  Squash
13.  Carrots (technically starchy but low cal)	14.  Mushrooms	15.  Brussels Sprouts

This of course, is only a partial list, but these are the fibrous carbs that I see appear on fat burning meal plans of "the lean people" more often than any others.

Put a lean protein and a fibrous carb together and 1 + 2 = BANG!

There you have a maximum fat burning meal (meaning, its high protein content is thermogenic and the meal is hard to overeat due to the low calorie density and the food form). This could actually create automatic fat loss.

Last but not least: poor, misunderstood starchy carbs.
Yes, you'll eat more lean protein and more fibrous carbs for maximum fat loss, but if you want to gain muscle or provide fuel to an athletic lifestyle, its very misguided to demonize and or exclude all the starchy carbs.
These carbs make up an important part of the year-round diet of the leanest most muscular physique athletes. The key is to pick the right ones, and then manipulate the starchy carbs based on goals and body type.

That's why I call starchy carbs the X factor. X is a variable. Lean protein and fibrous carbs are a constant. The amount of X (starchy carbs) can vary a LOT from person to person.
Eat more of them for muscle gain and fueling endurance work, and yes even eat them for fat loss, but less of them and use nutrient timing (load them after your workouts - before and after if you've got calories to spare).
Starchy Carbs:

1.    Old Fashioned Rolled or Steel Cut Oatmeal (unsweetened)	2.    Yams or Sweet Potatoes	3.    White Baked Potatoes
4.    Brown Rice	5.    Beans, Peas and Legumes	6.    Quinoa (and other less common grains - spelt, amaranth, etc)
7.    100% Whole Grains and Whole Grain Products (pastas, breads, tortillas, etc)

By far the first four - oats, yams, potatoes and rice are the most popular starchy carbs in the physique world - staples.

These are the natural starches. Beans and legumes are also popular and grains like quinoa are rising in popularity (can be served like rice or as a morning porridge).

Grains have really been beaten up lately (diet scapegoat of the year), even the whole grains, but for people without problems with wheat or gluten, whole grain pasta and whole grain breads do show up on physique athlete meal plans, and we see lean and muscular athletes eating them all the time - mostly however, in the muscle building phase and or at post-workout meals.

Now, putting it all together you can see that a traditional muscle building meal is 1 + 2 + 3: (lean + starchy + fibrous)

1.    eggs + oatmeal + omelet veggies

2.    tilapia + rice + broccoli

3.    chicken breast + sweet potato + asparagus

What about fruit?

That's a separate topic, but yes, plug your favorite fruit into any meal instead of some of the starchy and fibrous carb calories - example:

1.    eggs + smaller portion of oats + mixed fruit cup

There is a little number crunching to hit your calorie and macro goals, but this is not difficult or complicated.

The "TRICKY" part is the manipulation of that starchy carb intake - that X factor - and that takes some knowledge of how your body type responds to concentrated carbs.

The people who follow My Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM) Program know how to do this because I devoted entire chapters to knowing your body type (chapter 5) and to manipulating carb intake for maximum fat loss (chapter 12).

We'll be discussing those topics more in future newsletters, and if you don't have the BFFM e-book yet, be sure to grab a copy here:  Get Burn the Fat,Feed the Muscle (BFFM)

Train Hard And Expect Success,
Your Friend And Coach, TOM VENUTO

Founder & CEO of
Burn The Fat Inner Circle

PS. In the upcoming newsletters, we are going to discuss the carb intolerant body type and (starchy) carb manipulation for maximum fat loss ("normal" fat loss or even getting ripped for competition) ... also, we'll cover how to make recipes out of this simple meal template so that instead of thinking you have to eat plain chicken plain potato and plain veggies, you can make your food taste zesty and delicious.

	MEN CLICK HERE to discover how to burn belly fat and transform your body from fat to muscle in 49 days or less!
	WOMEN CLICK HERE to learn the simple tricks to shedding fat from your most stubborn areas - in 49 days - without ever going hungry.

°Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle Is Available For Mobile Devices.

fat loss tip 5

What is the Ideal Body Fat to See Your Abs?

By Tom Venuto
Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle

-Measuring your body fat percentage is a valuable tool to chart your progress on your quest to get six pack abs. Hopefully most people realize by now that abdominal exercises don’t burn fat off your stomach.

 

Abs are made in the kitchen, not just in the gym. No matter how much you work out, if you don’t eat right and achieve a calorie deficit, your abs will remain covered in a layer of adipose.

 

-When the realization hits you that you must reduce your body fat percentage to see your abs, one of the biggest questions that pops into your mind is, “how low do I have to get my body fat percentage to see my abs?” It’s a tough question and the answer may be different for men than women.

 

-Here's what I'd recommend:

-First, get familiar with some benchmarks for body fat levels.

 

-My Burn The Fat System has a body fat rating scale, which includes averages and my suggested optimal body fat percentages. This is my own chart, which I created with a combination of research literature and my own personal experience.

 

Burn The Fat Body fat rating scale:

WOMEN: Competition Shape ("ripped"): 8-12% Very Lean (excellent): < 15% Lean (good): 16-20% Satisfactory (fair): 21-25% Improvement needed (poor): 26-30% Major improvement needed (Very poor): 31-40%+

MEN: Competition Shape ("ripped"): 3-6% Very Lean (excellent): < 9% Lean (good): 10-14% Satisfactory (fair): 15-19% Improvement needed (poor): 20-25% Major improvement needed (Very poor): 26-30%+

 

-Just a quick note: You're not destined to get fatter as you get older, but in the general population (not fitness and bodybuilding folks), the average older person has more body fat.

-What I did to accommodate this was to include a body fat range instead of one number, so younger people can use the low end of the range and older people can use the higher number.

 

-Also, just so the average reader can keep things in perspective, single digit body fat for women and low single digits for men is far beyond lean - it's RIPPED - and that's usually solely the domain of competitive physique athletes.

 

-Competition body fat levels were not meant to be maintained all year round. It's not realistic and it may not be healthy, particularly for women.

-For most women, 12% body fat or thereabouts is ripped, and for many, that's contest ready (figure or fitness competition).

 

-Just for comparison, I've done over 7,000 body fat tests during my career, and the lowest I have ever measured on a female was 8.9% (4-site skinfold method). She was a national-level figure competitor and she was shredded - full six pack of abs... "onion skin!"

 

-However, I do know some women who get down to 11-13% body fat - by all standards extremely lean, complete with six pack abs - but oddly, they still had a few stubborn fat spots - usually the hips and lower body.

 

-What about guys? Well, I know a guy who looks absolutely chiseled in his abs at 11% body fat, but other guys don't look really cut in the abs until they get down to 6-8% body fat. Bodybuilders usually aren’t ready for competition until they get below 6%.

 

-That's the trouble with trying to pin down one specific body fat number as THE body fat level for seeing 6-pack abs (or being ripped and contest-ready): Everyone distributes their body fat differently and two people may look different at the same percentage.

 

-The average guy or gal should probably aim for the "lean" category as a realistic year round goal, or if you're really ambitious and dedicated, the "very lean category."

 

-You'll probably have to hit the "very lean" category for six pack abs. However, the bottom line is that there's no "perfect" body fat percentage where you're assured of seeing your abs.

 

-Besides, body fat is one of those numbers that gets fudged and exaggerated all the time. I hear reports of women with body fat between 4% and 8% and I usually dismiss it as error in measurement (or there's some "assistance" involved).

 

-Body fat testing, especially with skinfolds, is not an exact science. All body fat tests are estimations and there is always room for human error.

 

-The low numbers are nice for bragging rights, but the judges don't measure your body fat on stage. What counts is how you look and whether you're happy with that (or whether the judges are happy with it, if you're competing).

 

-You can use my chart to help you set some initial goals, but for the most part, I recommend using body fat testing as a way of charting your progress over time to see if you're improving rather than pursuing some holy grail number.

 

-In my BurnThe fat, Feed The Muscle program, you can learn more about how to measure your body fat - professionally or even by yourself in the privacy of your own home.

 

-Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle explains why body mass index and height and weight charts are virtually worthless, and shows you how to track your body composition over time and "tweak" your nutrition and training according to your weekly results.

 

Tom Venuto, Author of
Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle

Founder & CEO of
Burn The Fat Inner Circle

	MEN CLICK HERE to discover how to burn belly fat and transform your body from fat to muscle in 49 days or less!
	WOMEN CLICK HERE to learn the simple tricks to shedding fat from your most stubborn areas - in 49 days - without ever going hungry.

°Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle is available for mobile devices.