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by Jim Coughlin Hi Jim, Jacqueline JC: Thanks for your email Jacqueline. These are some great questions. Alright, let's get to it! To answer the first question...What's a good way to calculate the amount of calories a person should be taking in when they begin an exercise routine? There are a number of ways you can gauge this. Now, I'm assuming your goal is to lose weight, build muscle, lose fat, etc...(basically, look good in a bathing suit...right?) If not, just send me another email with your specific goals. Though, this answer should suffice for other fitness related goals as well. Anyway, I recommend 3 ways for figuring out the number of calories you should be taking in. The first way is to take your body weight and multiply it by 10. So if you weigh150 pounds, you should be getting about 1500 calories per day. You would then spread this amount of calories over 4-6 small meals per day. (preferably 5 or 6) So if you do the math, 4 meals per day would average to about 375 calories per meal...5 meals per day would average to 300 ...and 6 meals per day would average to 250. Again, to get the best results, I highly recommend getting 5-6 meals a day instead of 4. This will ensure you're burning fat most effectively and not overeating for a particular meal. Now, this method may not work for you...which brings me to my next two methods which involve a little more common sense. The second method is to eat meal portions the size of your fist. This doesn't necessarily tell you the specific caloric amount for each meal, but you can get a general idea by comparing your serving size of a lean protein, complex carbohydrates and good fats with your fist. The nutritional facts for each one of these foods should give you a rough idea how many calories this is combined for each meal. The third method is to simply listen to your body. No brainer...right? This means if you're hungry before 2-3 hours after one of your meals...you DIDN'T eat enough. If you're NOT hungry after 3-4 hours, well, you ate too much. Now, taking into account that you're using the 'small frequent meals' way of eating (5-6 meals per day), in my opinion, this method is by far the BEST way to calculate your calories. You can't go wrong with it. Having said that, it does NOT work if you're only eating 1-3 times a day. So you definitely wanted to be eating small, portioned meals every 2-3 hours to get the best results. It's important for you to know that everyone is different so you'll have to do some experimenting on your part, but these 3 methods should give you a great foundation for knowing what your calories per meal and day should be while exercising. Also, to get the best results, I recommend exercising 2-3 hours after you have eaten 1 of your 5-6 meals. This will avoid you from getting an upset stomach and help you burn fat most efficiently. Furthermore, this advice is only the TIP of the iceberg of what you should know about your nutrition program. I have an awesome program called "Nutrition Secrets to Success" that gives you all the information you need to be successful. You can get it free by going here - http://www.fitnessandresults.com/the_inhome_trainer.php along with some other free gifts...or if you want, you can get the program by itself by going here - http://www.fitnessandresults.com/nsts_audio_program.php Alright, the second question or two-part question... Can an individual burn fat and build muscle at the same time? If so, what is the best approach? Yes, an individual CAN burn fat and build muscle at the same. The best approach? Well, there are SOOOO many factors that involve doing this, so this question would normally require a 50-100 page answer, but I will do my best to condense the answer and tell you exactly what to do.
Alright, to build muscle you absolutely NEED to strength 2-3x a week. Anything less is going to make it next to impossible for you to see results. Strength training takes many forms. There's body-weight calisthenics training, free weight training, resistance band training and others, though, these 3 are all you really need and provide hundreds (if not thousands) of possibilities to build muscle. Now, when you perform these strength training methods 2-3x a week, they essentially create micro-tears inside your body's muscles from the resistance of the strength training you're doing. These 'micro-tears' make you feel sore 1-2 days after training and require that you rest about a day and get proper nutrition for your muscles to recover properly. So because you are training this way, it's absolutely MANDATORY that you eat properly while strength training to properly build muscle. More specifically, you must, must, MUST have a lean protein with every one of your meals. Protein is made up of amino acids and these amino acids repair and restore the 'micro tears' in your muscles that you create from the resistance of your strength training. If you do not eat protein with each meal, you'll eventually create amino acid deficiencies which can possibly lead to injury. Not good. However, when you DO consistently eat protein with every one of your meals while strength training - you will build muscle. They will consequently appear leaner and get stronger and this of course, is what you want. Now, just so you know, when you strength train, it doesn't really burn a high percentage of fat when you're actually doing it, however, it IS responsible for burning fat calories overtime when your body is at rest once you have built more muscle from your strength training. Ok, now that you understand building muscle, let's discuss burning fat. One way you burn fat is through intense and progressive cardiovascular conditioning. Progressive, because you want to change things up. So walking is fine to start, but you'll eventually want to do a jog... then jog-run...then run...then do some jump rope...then sprints...then bike-riding...then an elliptical machine...then a stair master...then an aerobics class...and so on and so on. As long as it's intense and you're changing it up, you can't go wrong. Now, you don't have to change your cardio up 20x, I just wanted to give you some examples so you get an idea. Another way you burn fat is through healthy nutrition. This goes back to the first question. The more you eat smaller frequent meals (5-6 a day) throughout the day, the more you rev up your body's metabolism because your body has to constantly burn these calories for fuel INSTEAD of storing them as fat if you're only eating 1-3 times a day. It's also very important to be drinking water throughout the day as well to help fat-burning. So to summarize, to burn fat and build muscle at the same time you MUST: - Strength train 2-3x a week. Again, like the first question, this information is only a SMALL piece of the pie. There are MANY other criteria that you need to know about building muscle and burning fat at the same time in order to be completely successful. Make no mistake about it, just ONE thing that you do wrong or you're unsure about can jeopardize ALL your efforts - guaranteed. You don't want that...right? That's why I highly recommend that you seek the guidance of fitness professional. You can get started today with one of my qualified trainers by going here - http://www.fitnessandresults.com/getting_started.php Or...if a personal trainer is out of your budget, "The In-Home Personal Trainer: Platinum/Gold edition" is BY FAR your best decision for achieving your fitness goals. This program gives you every detail imaginable about exercise and nutrition that I normally would give you if you hired me in person...but at a small fraction of the cost. It's essentially the closest thing possible to a virtual personal trainer you'll ever find - and lucky for you...that trainer is ME. Heck, I would even argue that "The In-Home Personal Trainer" - Platinum or Gold program is better than hiring a living, breathing trainer, simply because you can conveniently use it anytime you want. And in my experience of training clients, convenience is everything. You don't have to wait around for a trainer to come to your home. At the simple push of a button, you can have me training you in your home for 45 minutes to 1 hour straight...EXACTLY like I would in person! Look, if you're really serious about getting into the best shape of your life, invest in the course right NOW. I promise you, there is nothing on the market today that comes even close to it. For more information and to read what customers have to say about the program, go here - http://www.fitnessandresults.com/tihpt_platinum_gold.php All for now. Stay tuned for more Q&A in the next couple days. Yours in Total Fitness & Maximum Success,
Jim Coughlin
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