Hello everyone. Today’s guest post comes from Johnny Palmer from How To Lose Body Fat Fast.
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Carbs, protein, fats, vitamins, minerals… All of these are essential in the right amounts to a good, healthy diet – but what is the most important for fat loss?
That is like asking what is more important to a human – the skin, the brain, the lungs, the blood…
They are all equally important to fat loss, because if your body is not in perfect harmony, then it is not in a state to lose body fat – in fact it will cling to fat the less nourished you are.
This is brutally (and sadly) obvious when you see photos of starving children on television – they often look like they have a fat belly.
Using carbohydrates to lose body fat is a secret trick that bodybuilders have used for years to drop their body fat down to absurdly low levels, think 3% body fat on a male and under 10% on a female….
But they still have all of their muscle mass.
How do they do it?
Here’s how.
There are 3 main groups of carbs – there are simple carbs, these are mostly fruits, then there are two groups of complex carbs – fibrous and starchy.
Starchy carbohydrates are ones such as potatoes, pasta, oatmeal and breads,
Fibrous carbs are ones like lettuce, carrots, corn, spinach, onions etc.
Starch filled carbohydrates are far more calorie dense, that is to say, they contain far more calories per serving than fibrous ones.
For example, one cup of cooked brown rice (a starchy carb) is about 150 calories.
A plate full of the following fibrous carbs is also equal to 150 calories:
1 cup of cucumber (18 calories), 1 cup green pepper (25 calories), 2 cups of lettuce (20 calories), 1 cup of cooked mushrooms (45 calories), 1 cup cooked spinnach (41 calories) and 1 medium sized tomato (20 calories).
Would you rather eat one cup of rice or a massive plate full of vegetables if you were hungry?
Now – here is where it packs a 1-2-3 knockout combo…
The cup of rice will be burnt off when you do exercise, but almost the ENTIRE plate of vegetables are what are called negative calorie foods.
That is, these foods are so much percentage water, that your body has to do very little work digesting them, and as a result, your body burns up more calories digesting the food than the total amount of calories the foods themselves contain!
So, let me recap, you could have 1 cup of rice and then have to do exercise to burn that amount of calories off, OR, you can eat a plate FULL of these types of vegetables, and then your body burns more calories than you just ate to digest them!
Because, at the end of the day, losing body fat is about calories in versus calories out.
If your body burns 2000 calories per day, then suddenly you only take in 1500 per day, PLUS do exercise 3 times a week that burns up 750 calories at a time, every week your body is negative over 5000 calories, and a pound of fat is only made up of 3500 calories, so you will have lost about 1.5 lbs of fat all going to plan.
This is how the big guns do it, and how they get so shredded up at contests, they use fibrous carbs to feel full, but these carbs are so easily burnt up by the body that they don’t have to do a heap of exercise, like you see some guys having to do.
This is where the saying “Abs are made in the kitchen” comes from.
About the Author:
Johnny is not your typical fat loss guru. He is about as transparent as glass, being honest and saying he used to smoke, drink, party like an animal and be a bit flabby round the edges. He is not one of these guys who was leader of the track team or football captain, Mr fitness, goody two shoes.
Johnny has fought his way through the trenches of buying junk products, gizmos and gadgets to try and get in shape, and after years of testing and experimenting, thousands of wasted (invested) dollars, he now has the results.
At absrightnow.com Johnny has a simple, honest site with free information giving step by step advice toward achieving fat loss, muscle gains, how to get six pack abs, motivation & success and has a free course to get you started. He offers 1-1 fat loss coaching, free consultations and loves to talk (a bit too much sometimes).