Has Tom Venuto lost it? He’s talking about “effortless” fat loss now? Isn’t Tom Venuto the bodybuilder who has preached for years about hard work, persistence and self-discipline while speaking out against gimmicks, fads and “quick and easy” fixes? What’s going on? Has Venuto crossed over to the dark side? No, don’t worry, I haven’t started making claims that I can melt fat off you with no work. However, I do have two free tips for you today and I swear it’s true that it will make your fat loss seem more effortless. It may be only effortless on a psychological level, but hey, isn’t that the whole idea?1. MAKE TRAINING FUN
At the age of 42, my friend John Bartlett transformed himself from what he described as a “240 pound physical mess” with 41% body fat, into a 175 pound bodybuilder with mounds of muscle and six pack abs (ShreddedMuscle.com).
The most surprising part is, he never did “cardio” in a gym. John lives in the red, rocky hills of Arizona. In addition to his weight lifting, John mountain biked, sometimes for an hour or two a day. Was he burning a lot of calories? You bet. Was he “working hard?” I suppose that depends on your definition of “work.”
Sometimes recreation and “fun hobbies” can become your biggest calorie burners. If you believe fat loss can only occur by doing a certain mode or type of exercise, such as cardio machines in a gym, (even if you hate it), then you haven’t grasped the importance of the energy balance equation yet and you’e limiting your choices, which can easily lead to boredom and dropout. Your body doesn’t care HOW you burn the calories, you just have to burn them.
A program can be highly effective and efficient, but if it doesn’t suit your disposition or if it’s too extreme (or boring) to adopt as part of your lifestyle, then it will fail you in the end. Hard work is always necessary for success, but for some people, the line between work and play has been blurred because they enjoy their training so much. In some cases, the enjoyment even turns into passion.
Here’s a good question: What could you do to burn a lot of calories and have fun in the process? Your choices are virtually unlimited. martial arts, ballroom dancing, team sports, hiking, beach volleyball? There is no magic fat burning workout, so stop looking for “the one.” If it burns a lot of calories, it will help you get leaner. Start thinking out of the box.
2. MAKE LOW CALORIE, HEALTHY FOOD TASTE GOOD
If you think that fat loss requires a diet consisting of bland rabbit food that tastes like sawdust, you couldn’t be more mistaken. Fat burning food can taste absolutely delicious! I should know better than anyone because for years, not only did I believe you had to eat 100% “clean” to get lean, I also believed that you had to eat plain, bland food to the point of self-sacrifice and self-punishment. (I was wrong.)
Truth be told, I do actually prefer a fairly plain and very simple meal plan, at least compared to most people’s standards. As a bodybuilder, it’s just the way I’ve gotten accustomed to eating. But contrary to rumors which say I’m some kind of cyborg and not a regular dude from jersey, (I’m a regular dude, I swear!), I do like tasty food and I enjoy a good meal as much as anyone.
What’s more, I recognize that most people demand tasty food and nutritional variety more than I do and that any diet that requires foods tasting like dirt is not going to last. Well listen, if a self-professed kitchen dummy like me can learn how to cook mouth-watering, delicious low-calorie healthy foods, then ANYBODY can do it! For most of my adult life, I kept telling myself that I couldn’t cook to save my life, and I wasn’t inclined to learn. The turning point for me was when I surveyed my customers and inner circle members, and they all demanded tasty recipes. They forced me to learn how to cook! Guess what? IT WAS EASY! It doesn’t matter if you eat low carb, high carb or anywhere in between, you can create delicious meals every single day, even if you’ve never cooked a meal in your entire life. This not only makes it seem like your diet is effortless, your nutrition program becomes enjoyable and you look forward to your low calorie meals!
I’ll be posting more tips on healthy and delicious cooking in upcoming newsletters. For now, I simply wanted to make a point to open your mind and start you thinking differently about food:
If you choose a diet that offers no variety or forces you to eat food that tastes like sawdust, it doesn’t matter how effective that diet is for burning fat in the short term, it won’t be very conducive for helping you to stick with your program over the long haul.
Make your training fun and make your food taste good – you’ll be amazed at the difference it makes!
IF you’d like to learn how to burn fat naturally – without drugs or fat burner pills – visit the Burn The Fat website.
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Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, personal trainer, gym owner, freelance writer and author ofBurn the Fat, Feed The Muscle(BFFM): Fat Burning Secrets of the World’s Best Bodybuilders and Fitness Models. Tom has writtenover 140 articles and has been featured in IRONMAN magazine, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development,Muscle-Zine, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise. Tom is the Fat Loss Expert for Global-Fitness.com and the nutrition editor for Femalemuscle.com and his articles are featured regularly on literally dozens of other websites.
