Archives for February 2009

guest post by fat loss expert Josef Brandenburg

I’m probably going to get my Blog shut down over this, but I was up doing my market research for my new book (tentatively titled “The Booty You Want”).  I’m scoping out the top selling competition on the bookshelves – what’s the hook? What did people like?  What would people change?

I ran across the 4 Day Diet by Dr. Ian K. Smith.  Then I went to his site and found a page with the results from Season 3 of the Celebrity Fit Club.

#1.  Was Young MC (remember “Bust A Move”?) he dropped 38 pounds, but his body-fat % only went down by 8%.

Don't just stand there, bust a move!

Let’s do the math on that:

He started at 278lbs, so he lost 14% of his bodyweight.

So, 43% of what he lost was actually lean body mass (LBM), NOT FAT.

That is damn near half.

He dropped OVER 16lbs of LBM.  Your metabolism is largely a function of how much LBM you have.  If his metabolism slows down that much what are the odds that Young MC is going to keep that weight off?

Hmmm…  Maybe that whole eat less and exercise more thing doesn’t really work all that well for most people?

If I get a 41 year old male client (Young MC was born in May 1967) he’s going to gain muscle while he drops body-fat.

NO, I did not cherry pick my data.  Let’s look at all of the 100-Day Results:

#2.  Bizarre: no data on body-fat % change

#3.  Kelly LeBrock:  did improve overall body composition (the ONLY one)

#4.  Chastity Bono:  77% of the weight lost was LBM!

#5.  Bruce Vilanch:  64% of the weight lost was LBM!

#6.  Tempest Bledsoe:  55% of the weight lost was LBM!

#7.  Countess Vaughn:  just got fatter

Countess’ results beg the question:  If you have someone motivated enough to embarrass themselves on National TV, and they GAIN weight on your 100 day program is what you teach of any value whatsoever?  Are you just on TV because you are camera friendly and yelling at people makes for TV drama?

ONLY ONE PERSON in SEVEN made any meaningful progress. You can’t get any more motivated than someone being on TV.  If motivation isn’t the problem, maybe your program sucks?

If you fall back on the “they didn’t follow through” excuse, then I say again:  Maybe its your program that sucks?  If people who are being embarrassed on TV can’t follow through on your program, who else will?  If a program can’t be followed, then its sucks right?

Don’t even get me started on The Biggest Loser…

Josef Brandenburg is Washington, DC’s #1 fat-loss expert for busy people.  He shows normal people with hectic lives and average genetics how to create the bodies they want in the time they actually have.  To find out more click here.

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Note from Josh –
Today's article from Josef Brandenburg was re-printed with permission.
I get a ton of people asking to submit articles for the Lose Stubborn Fat! blog, and most of them I don't use.  Josef's article I read on his blog and then I asked him if I could use it.   It has two things that most articles I read don't have: 1.) It's fun.  2.) It fits the tone of this blog.
Most of the articles I get are really good information, but aren't entertaining.  Just good info isn't enough.  This blog has got to be a little fun, a little rockstar.  Articles have gotta have personality.  

Well…  magic fat burn pills are clearly losing steam…

The market needed some new magic fat loss B.S.

And the winner is…

THE CLEANSE!

Hey, why even bother to eat right and workout, when you can just starve?

If it's works for all the Hollywood starlets, it'll work for me too!

Short Term is Not Long Term (hence the name)

Lately, lots of people have been talking about Beyoncé doing the Master Cleanse. 

Beyoncé may do a cleanse right before a video or event for an extra boost…  but it's the long term dieting and working out that really gets her that body.

Look, there are things that can work for a week, and things that will work for a lifetime. 

Don't get me wrong, I understand the game.

If I was going to walk down a red carpet with the entire world watching, and someone told me – "Hey Josh, do this thing that's really crazy and unhealthy, but you'll look 10% hotter for that one moment when everyone is looking."  I'd do it.

I've done crazier.  When I ran in the "distance medley" race at The Arcadia Night Meet, I was running on an injured ankle and I hadn't walked in four days.

Was it smart?  Hell no.  But that race was on TV – ESPN 8 "The Ocho", so I sucked it up.

But in no way did I fool myself into thinking that racing hurt was a smart long term plan.

In the same way, doing a cleanse as a long term weight loss strategy is just plain stupid.

So look, since there has been so much confusion, I'm going to break down exactly how the hollywood stars use a cleanse in an intelligent way:

How Hollywood Stars Use a Cleanse:

As you can see, they have a three step process

Steps one and two (working out and eating right) are long term (150-300 days per year).

Step three (starvation, I mean "cleanse") is short term (1-7 days before event).

Steps one and two (working out and eating right) account for 90% of how lean they are, and how hot they look.

Step three ("cleanse") accounts for 10% of how lean and hot they look, and only for one day.  Any "results" they produce from the cleanse will go right back the next day when they start eating again.

I hope I didn't get too crazy with the colors.  I just want to make sure everyone can keep track of which step is which.

Why Even Do A Real Cleanse When You Can Buy Pills?

Ok, so now the makers of several fat burning pills are now selling "cleansing pills". 

Fat burning pills at least have been shown to burn 100 calories per day for up to three weeks.  It's not even enough to actually burn one whole pound of fat, but at least it actually does something.

Cleansing pills on the other hand, are totally useless for fat loss. 

But they're selling them anyway, like they're the next big thing.

It's like a magic fat loss B.S. remix.

Hmmm…  Like somehow you could keep your food intake exactly the same, take a few pills, and everything will magically cleanse… 

I doubt it.

The only thing worse than a bad strategy, is buying something that's a fake bad strategy.

Don't Buy The Magic Beans!

Even if you did try twelve fad yo-yo diets and three magic supplements that didn't work, don't feel bad, there's still time to turn it all around.

That's why we were all told the Jack and The Beanstalk fairy tail as kids – so we wouldn't waste our time and energy on magic quick fixes.

If you eat right and you are on top of your workouts, you will lose 1-2lbs of fat every week. No matter where you are starting from.

If you're in pretty good shape already, just continue to work on your nutrition, and make sure you are intelligently changing up your workouts, and you'll continue to lose 1-2lbs of fat per week until you hit your goal.

Just focus on making progress, and every week get a little leaner than you were the week before.

Josh Hillis

P.S. If you are making progress with your diet and workouts, make a point to really celebrate that.  Do one thing this week that makes you feel good about the progress you've made. 

P.P.S. If you aren't making progress, and you need a program that produces results, get The Stubborn Seven Pounds.

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Josh News: I Put On My First Mini-Seminar!

I did a seminar on "The Five Biggest Fat Loss Mistakes" at Botha Chiropractic in Denver (Cherry Creek) last week. 

Every time I translate the information into a different format, it makes me better at teaching it, and it extends my reach so I can help more people. 

Everyone learned a lot, and I just dug doing it.  It's just a kick ass time, so I'm going to have to do more seminars in the future.

By Josh Hillis

Josh is the author of the ever-popular fat loss e-book: The Stubborn Seven Pounds

If you've already completed The Stubborn Seven Pounds, take it to the next level with one of these two programs:
Fighter Workouts for Fat Loss or
Fighter Workouts for Fat Loss for Women

"I've seen more results in 6 weeks training with Josh than I saw in the previous two years working out on my own" -Stephanie Weis

Josh has been featured in USA Today and The Denver Post.

© Joshua Hillis 2009