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The contestants of the LeanBody Transformation Contest, which started on Labor Day (September 6, 2010) are currently three-and-a-half weeks into the first stage!  They are doing amazingly well.  I’m hearing reports of 1.5 inches lost in the waist, clothes that are fitting more loosely, and increased feelings of health and well-being (as well as a few sore muscles, which means the workouts are effective).

On Day 29, the contestants will be starting Stage Two, which shifts the mode of eating from pure whole-foods-only to whole-foods-with-carb-cycling.  Carb cycling is just one of the several effective methods that are used to induce fat loss, and in my opinion, is one of the easiest to follow long-term.

Now, carb cycling assumes that you’re going to eat pretty healthy, sticking to vegetables, high quality meats (like fish), fruits, and whole grains.  It does not assume that you’ll be eating Doritos one day and then bacon the next.  However, it does give you some low-caloric days in combination with high-caloric days, plus it plays with macronutrients (fats, carbs, protein).  A healthy combination of a few styles tends to increase the results of most people, which increases your chances of seeing that lean, healthy body you’re striving for.

My partners at Prograde Nutrition have compiled a list of the 7 top belly fat blasters.  It’s a great list, and many of the techniques found in this list are actually being used throughout the LeanBody Transformation program.

Starting at the top, here are those 7 fat blasters:

1.  Cheat Day

Cheat days are popular with many weight loss programs for a few reasons.  Mentally it gives you a break or a reprieve from the strictness you have been following and trying to attain.  It allows you to enjoy some of the indulgences you have been avoiding.

Physically a cheat day allows your body to reset your leptin levels which is a critical hormone you want to control during weight loss.  When you diet or eat strict whether that be low calories or low in one type of nutrient your body will start to deplete your leptin levels.  When this happens your brain gets a signal that you are starving yourself so it starts manipulating other hormones to slow down the metabolism and store more calories as fat to be used later.

A cheat day for those who are following a strict diet is beneficial to regulating your hormone leptin and keep the fat burning process turned on.  A cheat day is good to incorporate once every 4- 5 days.

2.  Extreme short term dieting

This is when you significantly cut your calories for 1-2 days so that your body has to use the stored calories known as fat in your body.  It also forces your body to better utilize the blood sugars and stored glycogen in your body for energy as well.  When following something like this you may only eat 800-1200 calories in a day for 1-2 days.  Then you will go back to your normal caloric level that is right for you to lose weight.

When you are eating such low calories on these 1-2 days it is suggested that you also consume some branched chain amino acids to help your body maintain your muscle mass and provide specific amino acids that will fuel your body on these severely low calorie days.  It is suggested that you consume 4-6 grams of a BCAA supplement between meals.  So this could be mid-morning, mid-afternoon and before you go to bed.  On these days you would consume around 15 grams total of a BCAA supplement.

This can be a very effective way to lose weight quickly especially in the beginning of a program.

3.  Fasting

Fasting is pretty straightforward.  It means you don’t eat or drink calories for 24 hours.  This is done while dieting to stimulate your body and force it to use stored fat calories and stored glycogen as energy.  This is another time that you are required to consume a BCAA supplement because your body can use these amino acids as energy.  This prevents or minimizes the likelihood that your body will use the amino acids in your muscle.  This you don’t want as your body breaks down the muscle to get these amino acids.  Essentially you lose muscle mass.

This is also why you don’t fast for more than one 24 hour period.  During this fast day you will consume BCAA supplements 4-6 times a day throughout the day.  Consume 4-6 grams each time for a total of approximately 30 grams of Branched Chain Amino Acids.

Fasting is not for the weak of heart or lets say weak discipline.  It takes discipline to not eat or drink calories for one 24 hour period, but it is a great way to jump over weight loss plateaus and condition the body to burn the stored calories it already has.  Just make sure you take your BCAA supplement such as Prograde BCAAs during this fast day.

4.  Low carb

Low carb is also pretty straightforward.  You severely cut back on your carbohydrate intake or totally avoid carbs which is called no-carb dieting.  This works best for those looking to jump start a weight loss program and start losing weight quickly.  It is also good for those who are not very active during the day or with their job and may sit at a desk all day.

Why it may work so well is because it forces you to stop eating the processed high calorie foods that fill you with empty nutrients.  You do still have to watch out for higher fat intakes so stick to lean cuts of meat and lower fat proteins when following this type of fat loss method.

5.  Carb Rotation

Rotating your carbs is designed to teach your body to not be so dependent on sugars or carbohydrates.  Yes your body needs this nutrient, but not at the level that we tend to consume it.  Rotating your carbs is broken down into a normal or what I call a high carbohydrate day, a low carbohydrate day and a no-carb day.  You then repeat this cycle on the 4th day.

This is done to teach your body to burn the calories it eats differently.  This program actually incorporates  a few different methods of weight loss all into one program and each method is only one day so that your leptin levels do not get too low and trigger that starvation response.  On this type of program you are also providing your body with higher amounts of protein to increase the thermic effect burn of the food you are eating and to control your hunger so that you don’t overeat on calories.

6.  Isocaloric Dieting

An isocaloric diet is one where you eat almost an equal proportion of carbs, fat and protein.  So each nutrient class is in the 30-40% range.  This helps to slow the release of insulin after a meal and lowers your blood sugars resulting in more calories used for energy and less stored as fat.  The one thing to watch out for with this program is to not consume too many overall calories and end up gaining weight.

7.  Low fat Dieting

The idea behind this type of program is that 1 gram of fat has more calories than 1 gram of protein or carbs.   So by cutting out the extra fat you eat less calories.  The biggest problem with this type of program is that most people tend to eat carbohydrates in place of the fat and then wonder why they are not losing weight.  If you are to follow this type of program, which you can you need to make sure you replace the fat with lean protein instead of extra carbohydrates.

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This list is pretty cool, considering that it’s coming from a supplement company. How many supplement companies do you know that would give out such high quality, important information?  I have yet to find another that does it so effectively.

You can find the entire report by clicking here: Prograde’s 7 Belly Fat Blasters