Lean-Body Fitness Secrets Ezine - Do You Have a Beer Belly?

In today's issue of Lean-Body Fitness Secrets Ezine, 
Do you have a Beer Belly?
I'm going to answer a question I get quite often. Many people find that they can stick to a reasonably healthy diet during the week, but think that they're totally blowing everything on the weekends.
Below is a question I just received recently from a customer and some ideas I came up with for him. I think you'll get some good ideas from this on how to deal with the issue of not letting the weekend wreck your whole program.
Q: "Hi Mike, I haven't emailed in a while, so I wanted to update you. I haven't missed a workout yet and I just finished the third week on your program. I am feeling pretty good, and can already see a bit of a difference in the mirror. I'm still far from a 6 pack, but I'm making progress and I'll definitely get there.
I would give myself a grade of B-, because during the week I do very well with my routine and diet, but on the weekends I drink too much beer (empty calories) and my diet suffers a bit with eating out and weekend activities. But all in all it is going well, and I think I'll be a great success story for your testimonials. If you have any nuggets of wisdom or just any suggestions on how to deal with the weekends, I'm all ears."
-Brandon, Saint Louis, MO
A: Good to hear from you Brandon, and it sounds like you're on your way. I can fully relate to your issue of doing well on the weekdays and then drinking a lot of beer and eating late night junk on the weekends. Here's what I've done over the years that helps to keep the lbs off while still enjoying the weekend social scene that involves alcohol and eating out.
If you're gonna drink, try and keep it to light beers or hard alcohol mixed with something non-caloric like club soda. *By the way, tonic water is NOT calorie-free like club soda... it actually has just as much sugar as regular soda.
Anyway, those are the options that would do the least caloric damage, but realize that you're going to take in a TON of extra empty calories any time you drink more than a couple alcoholic drinks.
Also, you're probably going to end up at restaurants and bar situations where everyone is getting deep fried bar food. In this case, whatever you can do, ALWAYS avoid anything deep fried. My best option is I get a burger or grilled chicken sandwich and replace the fries (I call them devil sticks) or potato chips (which are also deep fried) with some sort of steamed veggies or a side salad. That way you eliminate the most evil portion of the meal (the fries) but you still enjoy your burger (which isn't really all that bad) or your chicken sandwich.
Also, if you're doing things right 5-6 days/week, don't stress too much over a bad day or two on the weekends, as long as you keep your calories reasonable and always avoid anything deep fried and any sodas as well. As I've said before, anything loaded with trans fats (like deep fried food) or high fructose corn syrup (in sodas) are the absolute worst things you can put in your body.
If you're serious about your body and health, these should never be consumed, not even occasionally. Trans fats and HFCS are the only two items that I'm a stickler on personally. I'll eat as much of anything and everything else, at least occasionally, like pizza, burgers, ice cream...you name it! But I'll never even touch a HFCS-laden soda or something deep fried in trans fats. They are pure poison in my mind.
As for working out, just follow the general guidelines in my book and the routine I set up for you, and make changes as described in the book when you start to plateau. Also, enjoy the good weather and get outside a couple times a week to do wind sprints. This is one of the easiest ways to get rid of the fat. It doesn't matter if you can't handle all out sprints just yet, but just run as hard and as fast as you can for 50-100 yard dashes, rest 1-2 minutes, and repeat 5-10 times. It's one of the best workouts you can get in only about 10-20 minutes total. Mix those a couple days/week with your normal strength training routines on other days and you'll be kicking a** in no time flat!
Alright, that's all for today. Brandon (from above) is just one of my great customers who is now motivated like crazy after reading through my Truth about Six Pack Abs Program. Because of the fact that he's armed himself with the knowledge and motivation to do it, he's well on his way to enjoying a lean, rock hard body for life!
Check out what some other customers from around the world are saying about this Program - Truth About Abs Testimonials

I'll be back in touch soon with more body-changing tips and strategies.
Stay Lean,

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
Founder - TruthAboutAbs.com

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Lean-Body Fitness Secrets Ezine - Fat Loss Success & Failure Habits

Is This You At The Beach!
Or are you just a little overweight, want to get in shape, want to be proud when you remove your clothes on holiday! Then read on........

I just returned Sunday night from a very relaxing vacation in warm sunny Jamaica, and I'm not happy about being back in snowy, cold New Jersey...but I guess I'll deal with it.
Yes, I'll admit that even a fitness freak like me ate until I was stuffed everyday, and drank more rum than I can remember, packing on a few pounds while I was there. But now it's back to my normal lifestyle and the extra fat gained last week will be gone by the end of this week...I guarantee it! No excuses!
Anyway, I wanted to share something with you all that I noticed while I was in Jamaica on the beaches and in the pools.
One of the things that I do on a regular basis to help me continually learn about fitness success and failure is observing people's habits and actions. I feel that these observations are equally as important as reading books, journals, articles, etc. for improving my knowledge of what works and what doesn't in fitness.
Something that happens to me on a regular basis when I meet people is that once they find out that I'm a fitness professional, they start asking me questions about the things that they eat or how they exercise, and what my opinion is on it. I don't mind this, because it gives me some insight on exactly what people do, what they believe, and how things have worked for them.
I will qualify that I only give my advice if it is asked for. I never preach about fitness to someone who didn't ask for my advice. After all, I know I don't want people preaching to me about their expertise if I didn't ask for the advice.
So, one thing I noticed while on vacation last week was that out of hundreds and hundreds of people from all different countries that were walking around the sunny resorts in bathing suits, I only saw a grand total of about 4 people that had anything resembling six-pack abs. That's only 4 people out of probably close to 1000 that I saw throughout the 7 days!
This observation has nothing to do with their actions on vacation, just about their current state of fitness. Now obviously most people, including myself, are not following their normal actions and behaviors on vacation that they would in normal life. That's not the point.
I make observations about the habits and actions of both the fit people and the fat people on a daily basis to help determine successful vs. unsuccessful actions regarding weight management and general fitness. It could be at grocery stores, at the gym, at restaurants, at the office, at someone's house...all are potential spots to learn why people are either fit or fat.
Start paying attention to the actions of the people around you on a daily basis, and their corresponding body shape, and you'll learn a lot. Here are some examples of things you may notice...
You might notice that the overweight woman at the office who claims she can never lose any weight is actually the first one in the kitchen whenever someone brings in free donuts or cookies.
You might also notice that the guy with the beer gut, who says it's impossible for him to get rid of the gut, is skipping breakfast on a regular basis (a killer for your metabolism), and drinking 2 or 3 sodas a day without even realizing it. No wonder he's got a beer gut!
On the other hand, you might also notice that the girl with the slim figure, who seemingly eats all kinds of junk food (and everyone gripes that she should be fat with all of that crap she eats), never actually finishes more than half of what she's eating. When you take a closer look, she's actually not eating that many calories day in and day out, and that's why she's lean. It's not always as it appears on the surface.
The point is that there's always an underlying reason why someone is either fat or fit, and it revolves around their lifestyle, their actions, their habits. Look a little deeper and you'll learn a lot about what people do successfully and where they fail in their quest for a lean body.

If you want to be included among the fitness elite, those 4 out of 1000 people that have six-pack abs, your fully comprehensive guide, revealing all of the secrets of the super-fit class is found in my Truth about Six Pack Abs program. Action mean results!

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