1. Save up your Calories for later

Photo © Edsel LIttle

The day before:

Eat 20%-40% less than what you normally eat (depending on what you’re comfortable with_. I know this sounds hard at first, but if you eat the right things, your body will be able to handle it fine. To control hunger pangs, try eat foods high in proteins and fibrous vegetables.

The Day Of the Feast:

If you have experience practicing Intermittent Fasting (IF) it would be wise for you to skip breakfast and lunch and break your fast at dinner time. This might sound hard, but if you’ve done IF for a while, it’s a piece of cake. Contrary to popular myths, fasting for a short period (< 60 hours) of time does not destroy your metabolism, but instead increases your metabolism.

If you have never fasted, you can continue to eat like the previous day (high protein/fiber, low everything else).

2. Workout HARD 1-2 Hours before the meal

Studies show that nutrition partitioning favors muscle rebuilding (instead of fat storage) within the post workout window (1-2 hours after workout is completed). Here’s a great write-up going into the science of why this is the case.

If you are working out fasted, take 10g of BCAAs or a scoop of whey protein powder to prevent you from passing out.

So DO IT, 1-2 hours before your meal, go lift heavy things.

3. Pig Out and Don’t Stress

Photo © Allie

Scientifically, what will help you post-workout is to eat high protein, high carbs, and low fats until you hit your glycogen store limit for carbs.

But seriously, during the big meal, eat whatever the heck you want. I know this isn’t the best holiday healthy eating tip, but realize that this only happens a few times out of the year and you deserve it for watching what you eat on the other days.

If you REALLY want to prioritize what to eat for the “pig out” protocol, eat your proteins first and use fats and carbs for flavoring. Liquid calories (e.g. soda, alcohol) and desserts come last (after you ate your main meal).

Enjoy your holiday!

Tip: click on the images to be redirected to view the recipe itself.

#1 Protein Fluff

Macro nutrients: 300 Calories, 33.4g protein, 41.6g carbs, 0g fat

Note: There are many many more protein fluff recipes on the Protein Fluff site. All of which have pretty much the same macro-nutritional content (being low fat high protein and high carb).

#2 Apple & Cinnamon Protein Yogurt

Macro nutrients: 188 Calories, 31g protein, 14g carbs, 1.4g fat

#3 Almond Butter Protein Sandwich

Macro nutrients: 66 Calories, 8.8g protein, 7.6g carbs, 1g fat

#4 Paw Paw Protein Pancakes

Maco nutrients: 430 Calories, 50g protein, 49g carbs, 4.7g fat

#5 Banana Protein Ice Cream

Macro nutrients: 470 Calories, 41g protein, 58g carbs, 10.6g fat

#6 Secret Veg Chocolate Protein Cake

Macro nutrients: 552 Calories, 47g protein, 78g carbs, 9g fat

#7 Vanilla and Cinnamon Goat Whey Protein Ice Cream

Macro nutrients: 448 Calories, 57g protein, 48g carbs, 5g fat

#8 Carrot Cake Protein Pancakes

Macro nutrients: 237 Calories, 22.5g protein, 36g carbs, 1.2g fat

#9 Multidecker Vanilla Stuffed Chocolate Protein Muffins

Macro nutrients: 88 Calories, 15g protein, 6.1g carbs, 1.5g fat

#10 Crustless Blackberry Protein Mini Cheesecakes

Macro nutrients: 58.7 Calories, 6.5g protein, 4.4g carbs, 1.6g fat

#11 Super Protein Banana Bread Muffins with an Almond Butter Sidekick

Macro nutrients: 107 Calories, 14g protein, 8.4g carbs, 2.2g fat

Like the Recipes?

Giving credit where credit is due, all of these awesome recipes were made possible by Fever at Protein Fluff and Anna at PROTEIN POW(D)ER. If you like them, please visit their sites and click on as many “Like” and “+1″ buttons as you can to help encourage her to keep going!

What is Gamma Labs PTF?

Gamma Labs PTF Ingredients

Gamma Labs PTF is a pre workout supplement used to help you get more out of your workout by proving ingredients to help you lift harder and workout longer.

Notable ingredients in the pre workout mix:

• Caffeine helps increases focus, alertness, and energy.
• Acetyl L-Carnitine helps increase alertness and energy through increased mitochondrial capacity.
• Creatine Complex: creatine is the most studied and proven to helps enhance workout performance.
• Arginine Complex helps promote Nitric Oxide (NO) synthesis (for pumps).
• Citrulline Malate also helps promote NO but has better uptake than Arginine.
• Beta Alanine has been shown to improve muscle endurance by buffering lactic acid.
• Tyrosine helps promote adrenaline synthesis to increase alertness, focus, and energy.

What did I think about Gamma Labs PTF?

The Good

Tastes like Hawaiian Punch. I love Hawaiian Punch!

I love the clean energy. I have taken a lot of pre workout supplements out there and I am a big fan of clean energy. I once took 1.M.R. and I almost lost my mind from the psychotic rush it gave me. Psychotic energy might sound good at first, but not being able to focus when lifting heavy things can really be dangerous.

No crash. Again, I have taken many stimulants out there that gives me a crash after the stims wear off. I didn’t get any crash at all from Gamma Labs PTF.

It’s nice to feel the pump again. Usually after a few weeks of taking a pre workout supplement, I lose the pump feel. Previously, I was using Jack3d which uses Arginine-only as a Nitric Oxide promoter. I suspect that the citrulline malate had some part in helping me get the pump back.

Work capacity stayed steady when switching from Jack3d to Gamma Labs PTF. I did not get any weaker (which is my biggest fear when trying new stuff). I was able to progressively get stronger and stronger week after week during the trail period.

The Bad (no product is perfect)

The clean energy is great, but the PTF focus feeling didn’t last long enough for me. This problem is specific for people who can tolerate stimulants and workout longer than 1 hour. I found that the stimulants in 2 scoops run out after about an hour (even though I feel like the work capacity is still there since I was still able to lift heavy stuff). I ended up having to pop a caffeine pill at about the 55 minute mark.

The cost can get pricey at $1.07-$2.13 per workout.

The Bottom Line

Overall, Gamma Labs PTF is a pretty solid and clean pre workout supplement for people who are a bit new to pre workout supplements. It only contains things that have been heavily studied and proven to work and it doesn’t contain anything that lacks enough studies (e.g. 1,3-Dimethylamylamine) which can potentially be dangerous if you don’t cycle the substance.

If I can choose what to change about the pre-training formula, I’d tell the guys at Gamma Labs to throw in some choline citrate and more caffeine to help with focus and reduce the price a bit.

Unfortunately the site was a bit difficult to navigate to try to find recipes that had a specific macronutrient ratio, which sucks because I’m specifically looking for recipes that have 4:1:X PCF ratio (4 Protein to 1 Carb to whatever Fat ratio). So I literally went through what felt like the entire archives to pick out high protein low carb snacks from the site. So that my efforts did not go to waste, I’ve decided to round up some recipes that fit this criteria so that others can benefit from the time I spent traversing the archives.

Tip: click on the images to be redirected to PROTEIN POW(D)ER and view the recipe itself.

#1 – A Nothing-Added Vanilla Casein Protein Pudding

Using Optimum Nutrition Casein:

Macros: 120 Calories, 24g protein, 3g carbs (1g sugars), 0.1 fat

#2 Almond Butter Vanilla Casein Pudding

Macros: 221 Calories, 26.5g protein, 6.5g carbs (1g sugars), 9g fat (1g sat) and 0.6g fiber

#3 An Accidental Protein Pizza

Macros per base: 139.8 Calories, 3.3g carbs (1.2g sugars), 29g protein, 1.1g fat and no fiber.

#4 Protein Feta Quesadilla

Macros per 3 tortillas and 30g feta: 212 Calories, 28g protein, 7g carbs (2g sugars), 8g fat and 4.2g fiber.

#5 Spinach Protein Bread

Macros per loaf: 214 Calories, 38g protein, 10g carbs, 2.5g fat and 5.8g fiber

#6 Chocolate Orange Mini Protein Cakes with Almond butter and Vanilla

Macros per cake: 563 Calories, 67g protein, 16g carbs (6.3g sugar), 26g fat and 13g fiber

#7 Blueberry Chocolate Whey Protein Pancakes

Macros per pancake: 147.75 Calories, 24g protein, 4g carbs, 0.8g fat and 2.5g fiber

#8 Protein ‘Cookie Dough’

Macros: 460 Calories, 44.5g protein, 11.9carbs, 22.3g fat and 13.1g of fiber

#9 Protein Farófias / Oeufs à la Neige

Macros: 361 Calories, 52.8g protein, 12.9g of carbs, 9.5g of fat and 1.8g fiber

#10 Tiramisu Mousse (with Egg Protein and Whey Protein Powder)

Macros: 423 Calories, 38g protein, 5.2carbs and 24.9g fat

#11 Chocolate Mousse (with Egg Protein Powder)

Macros: 54 Calories, 11.1g protein, 0.9g carbs, and 0.7g fat

#12 Protein Carrot Cake Ice Cream

Macros: 317 Calories, 41g protein, 9.6g carbs, 13g fat and 4.3 fiber

#13 Popeye’s Chocolate Protein Muffins

Macros per muffin: 55.4 Calories, 8g protein, 2g carbs (1g sugar), 1.5g fat and 1.2g fiber

#14 Lemon & Poppy Seed Protein Muffins

Macros per muffin: 77.2 Calories, 13.6g protein, 2.4 carbs (1.4g sugar), 1.76g fat and 0.7g fiber

Like the Recipes?

Giving credit where credit is due, all of these awesome recipes were made possible by Anna at PROTEIN POW(D)ER. If you like them, please visit Anna’s site and click on as many “Like” and “+1″ buttons as you can to help encourage her to keep going!

One disclaimer:

A lot of these supplements contain the same main ingredients (stimulants, nitric oxide promoting agents, creatine, amino acids) though in different quantity. Different people react differently to these ingredients, so if you’ve found a pre workout supplement that works for you with little/no side effects then stick to it. This post is based on my personal experience using some of these, my knowledge of ingredients on the nutrition labels, and the experience of others (through bodybuilding.com ratings).

Without further ado, let’s get to the roundup!

Top 10 Pre Workout Supplements

#1 USPLABS JACK3D

Bodybuilding.com Rating: 8.8/10

Notable Ingredients:

Arginine, Creatine Monohydrate, Beta Alanine, Caffeine, 1,3-Dimethylamylamine

Notes about ingredients:

• Arginine is often used to increase the blood vessel circumference by promoting Nitric Oxide (NO) synthesis (gets you pumped – helping with muscle growth).
• Creatine monohydrate is the most effective and most proven performance enhancing supplement legally available.
• Beta Alanine help enhance muscular endurance by buffering lactic acid.
• Caffeine helps increase focus, alertness, and energy.
• 1,3-Dimethylamylamine (DMAA) is a highly stimulatory neurological stimulant that helps give a quick spike of energy like caffeine. Note that DMAA is a relatively new supplement that hasn’t been as extensively studied and though it is tolerated pretty well in pre workout supplement form, it has been linked to cerebral hemorrhage in the party pill form.

Have I taken this?

Yes. I have been taking this regularly for 4 months now. This is my top rated pre workout supplement in this list because it gives me clean energy (not an insane psychotic rush energy) and I can noticeably lift a lot more than when I try to swap in any other supplements. Also, each workout costs $0.62-$1.86 ($0.62 per scoop). After a week, I built up tolerance and I had to use two scoops (never had to go up to the recommended 3 scoops per workout). I recommend cycling this and any other pre workout supplement 4 weeks on and 4 weeks off to lower the risk of any side effects that come with any supplements (especially highly stimulatory supplements).

#2 MusclePharm Assault

Bodybuilding.com Rating: 9/10

Notable Ingredients:

BCAA (3:1:2), Creatine Monohydrate, Beta Alanine, Citrulline, Tyrosine, Choline Caffeine

Notes about ingredients:

• BCAA (3:1:2) are branched chained amino acids at 3/1/2 ratio of Leucine/Valine/Isoleucine respectively. Most cell benefits come from Leucine so the 3:1:2 ratio seems quite promising. Having BCAAs in your system is like having fuel ready for your muscles to use while you’re lifting.
• Citrulline is better at promoting Nitric Oxide (NO) synthesis than arginine as it has better intestinal uptake.
• Tyrosine helps increase adrenaline levels.

• Choline helps increase focus/clarify and has been linked to improved endurance performance.

Have I taken this?

Yes. What makes me interested is that in addition to 5g of creatine and 4g of beta-alanine, it also contains 6g of BCAAs per serving. I usually add 10-15g of BCAA to my pre workout shake to allow myself to lift more. It’s nice to see that Assault already includes some BCAA. Also I would choose to cycle between Assault and Jack3d because the main active ingredients that helps you get the “RUSH” are different (Tyrosine/Choline vs 1,3-Dimethylamylamine). I also prefer the Citrulline over Arginine for Nitric Oxide synthesis.

#3 BSN N.O.-Xplode 2.0

Bodybuilding.com Rating: 8.1

Notable Ingredients:

Arginine, Citrulline, Creatine blend, Beta Alanine, Caffeine, Tyrosine

Have I taken this?

Yes. I have tried N.O.-Xplode a few times and loved it for its clean energy feel also. The only issue I have with it is that I feel pumped up but still wasn’t able to lift as much as when I take Jack3d.

#4 Cellucor C4 Extreme

Bodybuilding.com Rating: 8.8/10

Notable Ingredients:

Beta Alanine, Creatine Nitrate, Arginine, Tyrosine, Caffeine, 1,3-Dimethylamlymine

Have I taken this?

No. This one also seems promising. They tout the benefits of Creatine Nitrate but again it could just be marketing.

#5 Optimum Essential AmiN.O. Energy

Bodybuilding.com Rating: 8.7

Notable Ingredients:

Arginine, Leucine, Beta Alanine, Citrulline, Tyrosine, Caffeine, Green Tea Extract

Have I taken this?

Yes. This supplement gave me a lot of energy rush. So much that it sometimes made me feel queasy. AmiN.O. Energy also doesn’t contain creatine, so it didn’t help me lift as heavy. I’d say if you are doing some sort of circuit training style weight training and you don’t want the bulk you get from creatine, then this would be the right pre workout supplement for you.

#6 BPI Sports 1.M.R.

Bodybuilding.com Rating: 8.1/10

Notable Ingredients:

Arginine, Beta Alanine, Creatine Monohydrate, Tyrosine, Caffeine, 1,3-Dimethylamylamine

Have I taken this?

Yes. The supplement gave me an insane psycho energy rush. I really felt like I was a crazy. All I wanted to do was bang out reps so I wasn’t able to focus enough to lift extremely heavy. The rush lasted way beyond my workout so if you are into that kind of energy rush then this is the pre workout supplement for you.

#7 MuscleTech NeuroCore

Bodybuilding.com Rating: 8.6/10

Notable Ingredients:

Beta Alanine, Citrulline, Creatine HCL, Geranium Robertianium, Caffeine, DMAE

Notes about ingredients:

• Geranium Robertianium is naturally sourced 1,3-Dimethylamylamine.
• DMAE is a cholinergic that promotes the synthesis of choline (for focus and clarify).

Have I taken this?

No. This supplement also sounds promising since they claim that they use better ingredients than their competitors and their ingredients are fully disclosed. I’d like to see how this compares to Jack3d.

#8 Gaspari Nutrition SuperPump

Bodybuilding.com Rating: 8.2/10

Notable Ingredients:

Citrulline, BCAA (2:1:1), Creatine Monohydrate, L-Tyrosine, Caffeine

Have I taken this?

No. it seems like a good pre workout supplement, but at $1-$3 per workout, it’s definitely not worth it in my book especially when there are other ones out there with a better blend IMHO.

#9 Nutrex HEMO-RAGE Black Ultra Concentrate

Bodybuilding.com Rating: 8.8/10

Notable Ingredients:

Creatine monohydrate, Arginine, Beta Alanine, Caffeine, 1,3-Dimethylamylamine

Have I taken this?

No. But at $0.31-$0.93 per workout, it’s worth trying! I also like that it contains the good stuff: creatine monohydrate, 1,3-Dimethylamylamine at such a cheap price (basically a cheaper Jack3d clone)!

#10 Infinite Labs Juggernaut

Bodybuilding.com Rating: 9.2/10

Notable Ingredients:

Whey protein blend, Arginine blend, Citrulline blend, Beta Alanine, Creatine blend, caffeine

Have I taken this?

No. This pre workout supplement has a lot of stuff in it and also has some interesting uses. Because of the whey in it, you can use this pre workout to train on an empty stomach (first thing in the morning) and you will still have enough energy to train. It also claims to help prevent dehydration (unlike other pre workout supplements). Keep in mind that I haven’t tried this, so the dehydration benefit could just be marketing.

Some things you should know about pre workout supplements

• Consult your doctor before taking these supplements or any other supplements out there.
• Some of these supplements contain 1,3-Dimethylamylamine/DMAA/Geranamine (e.g. Jack3d, 1MR, Cellucor C4 Extreme, Hemo Rage, Neurocore) and are banned by World Anti-Doping Agency since these ingredients show up as amphetamines in their tests. Be sure to read the labels if you are going to need to be drug-tested for anything (e.g. competitive sports).
• These supplements are used to help you workout longer and lift harder so that you can get more out of your workouts.
• These supplements are highly stimulatory so do not take the full dosage if you are sensitive to stimulants.
• Because of its stimulatory nature, do not take these in conjunction with fat burners or any other stimulatory supplements.
• Like any other stimulants, try cycling (3 weeks on, 1 week off) to not build up tolerance and reduce any risk of major side effects.
• Some of these pre workout supplements have creatine in them, so it can add bulk whether you like it or not.
• Make sure to pay attention to your body’s hydration level while under the effects of these pre workout supplements. For example, I wouldn’t take any of these top rated pre workout supplements and go out for a 10 mile run without access to plenty of water.
• Do not treat these supplements as fat burners. If you want to burn fat, go take some fat burners instead.

Not for Weight Loss

The single reason why meal replacement shakes suck at helping you with weight loss:

• Liquid based calories does not improve satiety, suppress hunger/appetite as well as solid calories of equal energy content. [1]

Some of these shakes may also include appetite suppressing ingredients such as hoodia gordonii, green tea extract, cocoa, but you can only fool your digestive system for so long until your ghrelin (hunger hormone) levels start to increase again.

I don’t know about you, but feeling hungry leads to a lot of dietary problems for me.

Don’t believe me? Check out the Rothacker & Watemberg study on solid vs. liquid calories claiming:

• “In conclusion, although the meal replacement diet bars contained only 30 additional calories than liquids, they provided an additional 2 h of hunger suppression from baseline that may have an impact on overall weightloss success. These results support superior short-term hunger control with solid meal replacements.” [2]

So how can all these companies claim that their shake can help you lose weight?

A lot of companies out there cite their own independent study which requires that participants eat well-balanced diets, and regular exercise in addition to taking meal replacement shakes.

I highly suspect that most people who follow the same regimen intaking the same number of calories, doing the same amount of exercise, without taking meal replacement shakes can achieve similar results.

What to Use Meal Replacement Shakes For?

Post-workout recovery

If you take a look at the Shakeology nutrition label, a popular premium meal replacement shake out now, you’ll notice that their  will notice that the the protein / carbs / fat ratio is about 1:1:0 In addition, Shakeology contains some vitamins and a bunch of fruit powder, probiotic, and enzyme blends. It macronutrient composition seems like a great candidate to replenish your glycogen store after an intense workout.

Personally, I’d throw in a scoop of whey protein per scoop of Shakeology only contains 17g of protein. YMMV depending on how much you weight and how intense your workout was.

Weight gain

I’ve chatted with a lot of skinny people who are trying to bulk up but can’t. The number one reason why they said gaining weight is hard is because they hate eating. They feel like eating is such a chore/hassle (I’m sorry but I can’t relate to this).

Since meal replacement shakes doesn’t help suppress hunger, they are ideal for people who want to gain weight and hate to eat. If you want to gain weight, try supplementing these shakes in between your meals, eat normally, and lift heavy @$$ weights and you’ll bulk up in no time.

References

1. Tieken SM, et all. Effects of Solid versus Liquid Meal-replacement Products of Similar Energy Content on Hunger, Satiety, and Appetite-regulating Hormones in Older Adults. Horm Metab Res. 2007;39(5):389–94. [PubMed]
2. Rothacker DQ, Watemberg S. Short-term hunger intensity changes following ingestion of a meal replacement bar for weight control. Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2004 May;55(3):223-6. [PubMed]

Great news! P90X2 is now available for pre-order for $119.98 (DVD) as of September 1, 2011! If you have never heard of P90X2, here’s a quick over view of what it is:

P90X2 is the sequel to Beachbody’s best-selling workout program, P90X. With P90X2 workout, P90X grads can get even stronger, more flexible, and more ripped. This program is designed for maximum intensity and efficiency. In fact, this completely new 90-day program features cutting-edge workouts so intense, we only let you do them 5 days a week.

The P90X2 program is made up of three phases, each focusing on a different aspect of your fitness: Foundation, Strength, and Performance, that will help your body evolve in ways you never imagined. You’ll begin by improving your foundation, where instability plays a large role. Then you’ll build strength and, finally, power, which all translates to improved performance.
Expanding on the original program, P90X2 workout embraces the latest research in applied science to keep your muscles “confused” even longer. The end result is a program that everyone from 5K aspirants to professional athletes can benefit from.

For more information on what I think about P90X2, check out my previous post previewing P90X2. (Hint: it will be awesome and I can’t wait to get my grubby hands on it!). You can pre-order P90X2 through a beach body coach (like me!) and be one of the first to gain a fitness edge over anybody else out there.

Through a lot more reading, research, and a bunch of trial and error, I ended up learning about and debunking a bunch of fitness myths, so I thought that I’d compile some big ones in this post.

Myth 1: Alcohol makes you fat

Photo © im.no.hero

This one is the most convenient myth that has been busted (at least for me), so I want to spend a little more time explaining this one.

On a regular basis, your body uses carbs in your blood stream for energy. Once you run out, your body will start oxidizing the fat cells for energy (ketogenic process – good!). At which point, if you were to consume carbs or protein, you will pause fat cells oxidization. The carbs you consume will go towards a glycogen store and once that store is full, any extra carbs will be turned into fat.

Once you consume alcohol (ethanol), it will get immediate priority over all other substrates. This means that all fat, carb, and protein oxidation will stop. You body will work to try to oxidize the alcohol first for energy. At this state, any dietary fats that get consumed will easily get converted to fat cells and any carbs you consume over your glycogen store will get converted to fat. What this also means is that if your macronutrient for your drinking day is almost purely protein and you keep pounding shots of tequila (not chugging beer or cocktails), then you will not gain that much fat at all.

Note: Beer has lots of carbs in addition to alcohol, but shots have almost zero carbs (0.5g-1g of carbs per shot).

Myth 2: Drinking water will help you lose weight.

Although replacing sugary beverages with water is a smart thing and will help with reducing your caloric intake, recent studies are starting to show that drinking water actually does not help you burn calories or suppress your appetite.

Myth 3: Eat smaller meals to keep your metabolism up

Photo © ulterior epicure

I used to eat small meals throughout the day. The only thing that ever helped me with was to learn how to portion control. I didn’t lose any extra weight by splitting up my 3 big meals into 6 small ones throughout the day.

“More importantly, studies using whole-body calorimetry and doubly-labelled water to assess total 24h energy expenditure find no difference between nibbling and gorging.”

source: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=879792

Myth 4: Eat more meals to keep you full all the time

More like, this will make me starve all the time. I’ve learned that a good amount of protein & fat keeps me full and satiated longer than back when I used to eat 6 small meals per day.

“Collectively, these data suggest that higher protein intake promotes satiety and challenge the concept that increasing the number of eating occasions enhances satiety in overweight and obese men.”

source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20339363

Myth 5: If you don’t eat constantly, your blood sugar level will drop causing you to not be able to think straight.

Photo ©: Joseph Stevenson

Personally I skip breakfast everyday and I am a full time software engineer. I notice no mental drawbacks in the morning.

“Cognitive performance, activity, sleep, and mood are not adversely affected in healthy humans by 2 d of calorie-deprivation when the subjects and investigators are unaware of the calorie content of the treatments.”

source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18779282

Myth 6: Eating right before you sleep will make you fat.

“It was really interesting to see that the monkeys who ate most of their food at night were no more likely to gain weight than monkeys who rarely ate at night…”

“This suggests that calories cause weight gain no matter when you eat them.”

source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/02/060202080832.htm

Myth 7: Skipping breakfast will plummet your metabolism and make you fat.

Photo © trawets1

I’m not saying that eating breakfast is bad for you. I’m just saying that it won’t help you lose weight. I skip breakfast everyday intentionally since it has helped me get lean. Here’s a study that shows that short-term fasting doesn’t lower your metabolism, but instead increases it.

Myth 8: Fasting will destroy your metabolism and make you lose muscle.

For long term fasting, this is true. But there has been no reliable study to prove this for short term fasting (i.e. 12-24 hours). Not to say that 24 hours is the cut-off time. This study found that the negative effects of fasting starts kicking in at about 60 hours (so you got plenty of buffer room).

Myth 9: After your workout, you have only one hour to replenish your body with fast nutrients.

This is a popular myth that needs to be debunked. According to this study by Tipton and colleagues, our body still responds to good nutrition even at 24 hours after your workout. Eat enough protein throughout the day.

Myth 10: Your body can only process 30g of protein per meal.

“Based on the available evidence, it’s false to assume that the body can only use a certain amount of protein per meal. Studies examining short-term effects have provided hints towards what might be an optimal protein dose for maximizing anabolism, but trials drawn out over longer periods haven’t supported this idea.”

source: http://www.wannabebig.com/diet-and-nutrition/is-there-a-limit-to-how-much-protein-the-body-can-use-in-a-single-meal/

Myth 11: Eating saturated fat will destroy your health and increase your risks of cardiovascular disease

“A meta-analysis of prospective epidemiologic studies showed that there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD or CVD.”

source: http://www.ajcn.org/content/early/2010/01/13/ajcn.2009.27725.abstract

Myth 12: Fructose is much worst than sucrose (sugar)

Photo © Uwe Hermann

I talked about this before in an earlier post: Sugar (Sucrose) Is More Similar to High Fructose Corn Syrup Than You Think

Myth 13: Cholesterol == BAD

“Our findings do not support the hypothesis that hypercholesterolemia or low HDL-C are important risk factors for all-cause mortality, coronary heart disease mortality, or hospitalization for myocardial infarction or unstable angina in this cohort of persons older than 70 years.”

source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7772105

Myth 14: High protein intake can harm your kidneys.

According to this study, you can intake up to 1.27g of protein per pound of body weight per day without any adverse effect on renel functions. Most athletes on a high protein diet usually consume about 1g of protein per pound of their body weight each day. Take that hippies.

Myth 15: Red meat causes cancer.

Photo © shaynabright

This myth started back in 1986 when a Japanese researcher discovered that feeding rats “heterocyclic amines” (the burnt part of overcooked meat) causes cancer growth in rats. Since then there has been many studies (like this one) trying to correlate red meat with cancer and failed to do so. There is even a study unlinking the consumption of a usual amount of heterocyclic amines with cancer. Don’t stop grilling and eat your meat people. It’s good for you.

Myth 16: Low/no carb diets are unhealthy.

“Even short-term consumption of a paleolithic type diet improves BP and glucose tolerance, decreases insulin secretion, increases insulin sensitivity and improves lipid profiles without weight loss in healthy sedentary humans.”

source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19209185

Myth 17: Carbs are bad for you.

Carbs have been getting a bad rap lately, but carbs do have a place in helping you get in shape. Your body needs carbs for fast energy. Try lifting heavy weights or competing in any sports without eating carbs on that day. You will get destroyed. There is no way you can perform intense workouts without eating your carbs.

If your goal is to cut fat, you should be eating as much carbs as you can while not gaining fat.

Personally, I have a hard time cutting fat (my metabolism sucks), so I cut out the carbs completely during my non-workout days. Everybody is different though so experiment, monitor your carbs, and find what works for you.

Myth 18: Take Fish oil supplements to lose fat.

Photo © Ron Doke

Fish oil has many wonderful benefits, but it only marginally helps with fat loss.

“In the most recent fish oil + exercise study to date, Hill’s team examined the effect of fish oil supplementation … less than a pound more weight loss in the fish oil group in 12 weeks.”

source: http://alanaragon.com/fish-oil.html

Myth 19: Ephedrine is the most dangerous supplement. That’s why it was banned in the US.

Ephedrine stacked with caffeine is no more dangerous than any other fat burning supplement when used as directed. That said, if you are not reasonably healthy, you shouldn’t be taking any fat burners anyway since they can seriously harm you even at recommended dosages.

“In total, these suggest that herbal ephedra/caffeine herbal supplements, when used as directed by healthy overweight men and women in combination with healthy diet and exercise habits, may be beneficial for weight reduction without significantly increased risk of adverse events.”

source: http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v26/n5/full/0802023a.html

Myth 20: Creatine is bad for you and can permanently harm you.

“Creatine is a naturally occurring compound, made up of three amino acids called Glycine, Methionine, and Arginine. It exists in meat (roughly 5g per kg of meat) and animal products as well. Supplementation with creatine (in the form of monohydrate) has not been shown to infer any harm to any healthy population.

Despite popular broscience, creatine will not (under healthy conditions) harm kidneys, the liver, the heart, the brain, and will not induce any significant hormonal changes that manifest themselves as behavior changes.”

source: http://examine.com/supplements/Creatine/

That’s it so far!

Giving credit where credit is due: I learned a lot of this stuff from leangains.com, alanaragon.com and lurking around on r/Fitness over the years (great resources to follow if you want to get in the best shape of your life). Please feel free to share in the comments section if you know of any other nutrition myths that you used to believe were true.

Here are some reasons why I love about FitRabbit and why I think you should download the app now:

• I believe that making small incremental lifestyle changes is the best way to gain better health in the long run and FitRabbit tries to help you do that.
• Studies have shown that people have a higher chance to succeed in their diet and workout regimen if they track their progress. FitRabbit makes it super easy (and accurate) to log your caloric intake and log your workouts. Not only is it easy to log your caloric intake, FitRabbit also has the food snapshot feature which will help you remember what you ate in case you don’t have time to log something before you eat.
• The app gives you awards for doing things that are good for your body! For example, consistently eating fruits and vegetables give you awards. Turning personal fitness into a game that you want to win is a WIN/WIN.
• The iPhone app is FREE and you can compete with other friends who uses FitRabbit.

Kudos to Amber Dixon for creating such a wonderful app!

Screenshots

Healthy actions give you FitRabbit awards

Log your meals and get exact calorie count through FitRabbit

Take a picture of your food for later logging so you will not forget

Measure your heart rate

Heart rate graph

Compete with friends

Official description of FitRabbit:

The secrets to a healthy lifestyle are simple: exercising, eating high quality foods, limiting caloric intake, and avoiding all that sugary junk! And it doesn’t hurt to have a little help from your friends to keep you motivated!

With FitRabbit, these goals are easier to achieve than ever! Get in shape by turning your fitness goals into an exciting and competitive social game!

FitRabbit makes it possible to easily record every single meal and workout by allowing you to take photos of everything you eat, rather than having to type the name of the meal into your phone at the dinner table. You don’t have to lose your table manners, in order to get in shape! Tracking meals is an essential strategy to limiting caloric intake, because it forces you to think twice about what you’re eating and be more disciplined. It prevents grazing, excessive snacking, oversized meals and so on. Type in the names of the meals at your convenience. FitRabbit will pull the calorie content from the USDA!

Using FitRabbit’s built-in heartrate monitor, track your heartrate as you are working out to make sure you’re getting the workout intensity you need. As you’re chugging along on the elliptical, share a graph of your heartrate with your buddies. Maybe they’ll join you at the gym!

Share your progress with your friends. Seeing your friends’ healthy meals and workouts in real time will inspire you to stay fit too!

Win prizes for eating high quality food and living a happy, healthy lifestyle! The Garden and Moo Prizes will give you the extra motivation you need to eat your veggies and get enough calcium in your diet. Get in that last workout you needed towards the end of the week, in order to win the Body Builder Prize. And limit your sugar intake, by avoiding those morning donuts! Do all the above and the FitRabbit Prize will be yours for the taking!

Getting in shape doesn’t have to be a drag. Have fun with it!

Download

You can download FitRabbit through the Apple App Store for FREE! Go get it now and start making lifestyle changes today!

Ways to Support FitRabbit

• Follow FitRabbit on Twitter.
• Like FitRabbit on Facebook!

I’ve been checking out a bunch of P90X One on One Volume 3 videos (the making of P90X2) to see what type of workouts will possibly end up in the final P90X2 program so I’ll go over some of the things that you should be expecting to see when the new home workout DVD set hits retail stores.

Who is P90X2 For?

P90X2 is going to be a complete 12 DVD workout program for P90X graduates. If you haven’t done P90X yet, now is a good time to start, so that by the time you finish the 90 day program, P90X2 will most likely be available on the market and you can continue your P90X fitness journey.

Similar, Yet Different

Tony is still as charismatic as he can be. A lot of the exercises that could show up in P90X2 will be similar to exercises found in the original P90X workouts but they each will have a bit of a twist to them.

Same Idea, New Methodology, New Emphasis

P90X2 still uses the same idea of muscle confusion to leverage muscle growth and deliver results quickly, but it does so in a whole new way. A lot of the new workouts will emphasize on training your core and balance by incorporating stability balls and medecine balls into the workouts.

One reason why I stopped doing P90X was because a lot of the moves they did were too old school. I’m glad that they took people’s feedback and went back to enhance the program to incorporate new effective techniques.

Minimum Equipments

Like the original P90X, the minimum equipment requirement is some resistance bands.

New School Equipments

In addition to optional equipments you’ve used in the original P90X (e.g. dumbbells, pull up bars, heart rate monitors), here are some new equipments that will help you get the most out of P90X2:

• Stability Ball: Again I’m quite excited to see this thrown into the mix. I’ve always had great results incorporating the stability ball into my own personal workout routines.
• Medicine Ball: I don’t do too much medicine ball work, but whenever I do, they work me pretty hard. The trick with medicine ball is, it is round, heavy and hard to grip. Because of its form factor, it’ll help open up a variety of workouts that will work some muscles that you never knew existed in your body.
• Foam Roller: If you follow this blog and my methodology, you’ll know that I think highly of the foam roller. To me, the foam roller is probably one of the most valuable thing to have in your home gym. I use it mainly for warming up my muscles and breaking down scar tissue for recovery. I’m glad that this will be used in P90X2 since I think static stretching before working out is pretty bad for you.
• Plyo Boxes: Another simple tool for working on plyo. It seems like the plyo boxes are used only for stepping on and off of them so a simple sturdy chair in most homes should suffice.
• Pullup Assist: Again this is not necessary (you can just grab a chair to assist yourself with pull-ups like you did in the original P90X), but

When Will P90X2 Be Available?

As of September 1st, 2011, you can pre-order P90X2 through a beach body coach (like me!). Get it now!

Sneak Peek Videos

P90X One on One: Chest, Back & Balls (skip to about 0:58)

P90X One on One: ARX2

P90X One on One: Yoga:MC2

P90X One on One: Plyocide

P90X One on One: Core Synergistics:MC2

P90X One on One: Upper Body X