Few sayings do I despise as much as “keep it interesting”. You put someone on a diet plan designed to melt fat off and keep or increase muscle tone and what do you think happens: exactly one week later you get a “now what?”. What do you mean by “now what”? I wonder and I understand the person thinks we’re gonna “keep it interesting”. Well, surprise surprise, there is no present at the end of the week, this was number one of maybe 16 weeks til you’re walking on stage. So, voila, you keep at it of course! The magic trick in dieting successfully is being consistent. And no way over a week only. I wonder what that reasoning comes from. Did anyone promise you as a child that you’ll get something nice as a reward every time you did your homework? I for sure didn’t, doing homework and chores were mandatory, not achievements.

“Keeping it interesting” is the opposite of what true bodybuilding is all about. Bodybuilding is repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition and then push some more, then repeat, repeat, repeat. The whole concept building muscle relies on the principle of adaptation. You want more muscle? You gotta keep on pushing and repeating forever.

Diet success builds up during weeks and months. First week accomplished, great, now second. Then third. What do you think you’re supposed to get? A refeed every time you’ve done well? That might not be the case always. Some weeks you’re at a plateau and getting through that plateau will either be keep your cardio and diet as planned or refeed and hope your body will not kick you in the stomach and say “hey, we knew your were gonna give us some, so we just hung tight til you fed us gorgeous fat cells! If you had waiting a tad longer and got a bit leaner, well, then yeah we more likely would speed up your metabolism a bit instead, but hey, we got our will through so now we’re happy and can keep our wonderful fat!”

And no, you don’t need to change your food options every week. Why should you? It’s not like you’re dramatically gonna change your leanness from doing tilapia instead of cod. Or green beans instead of broccoli. You’re not “good” because you cope with eating the same same more or less all the time, that’s a given and if you cannot do it, well you’re gonna struggle. I’m not talking about eating one kind of veggies and one kind of protein source, but I am talking about needing to spice things up all the time. It’s no damn sex life we’re talking about, it’s FOOD and TRAINING.

It truly separates the pros from the amateurs: the ability to use discipline and consistency consistently. Nothing pisses me off more than impatience. People who’ve never seen their abs are impatient when they don’t get cut in a month. And they blame their diet for no results when the diet is not followed due to major slips. And yeah, major slip can be having an extra cup of something here and there if you’re going for a chiseled body.

“Oh, I really got shredded when I ate tilapia and asparagus, but I didn’t when I had chicken breast and cauliflower”. You say so? Well, I don’t believe you. I think you just for once did pay attention and followed the program 100% and of course you were rewarded results. Pretty simple in my opinion.

Keeping it interesting is really a shitty expression because it takes away from the power of commitment.

Gaining muscle is a process that takes progressive training (as in heavier work load, more reps with a given work load etc), calories and recovery. If you don’t eat enough your energy will suffer and what happens: you won’t be able to train hard to stimulate those muscles to grow. The reason why people lose muscle when trying to cut some body fat is: they stop training as hard due to lack of energy. You see, if you can keep on training as intensely as you can during your normal higher calorie diet you prevent most of the muscle loss during a leaning out phase.

It’s easy to gain muscle if you’re ok with getting a bit smoother during the process. You see, with lots of carbs in your system and plenty of rest in between sessions without energy wasting cardio sessions you will get buffer! However what to do if you want to get cut AND have muscle? It’s everyone’s desire, but listen, that process will always be a compromising project: you can burn some fat and build some muscle, but muscle gains and fat loss will take a bit longer than would you pay all attention on one or the other.

FYI I’ve never focused on one or the other. When I did all I got was a body that was smoother and less defined. And that is not what I like at all! Different body types require different approaches; one that easily muscles up usually makes you work way harder to get cut, if you have less muscle but burn fat by merely looking at broccoli and peddle a few strokes on the bike then gaining quality meat on your scrawny (or skinny fat) frame will be harder. Pros and Cons with whatever you got.

Here are five tips on how to gain muscle while minimizing fat gain:

1. Eat starches, grains and fruit ONLY when you need them: breakfast after a night’s fast, before your workouts and in the hour after your workout. At other times eat veggies as your source of carbs.

2. Make sure you train hard and keep a workout diary. That way you know if you are just going to the gym doing the same old or you are actually pushing harder each time. Your goal shall be to outperform yourself every time even if it’s not possible. The AIM shall be it no matter what.

3. Stay consistent. Don’t try to find a perfect diet that you start out on after another binge of junk. When you over eat crap you get fat, simply put. It also wreaks havoc on your blood sugar which is NOT good for your muscle growth.

4. Eat REAL food and compliment with protein powder. Protein bars are not good snacks. They have energy but not many real nutrients. It’s actually better IMO to eat a hamburger than a protein bar. In case of the hamburger it’s real food. Something that can be on the shelves for years cannot be good for you, exception POWDERS (protein powder).

5. Eat moderate amounts of nuts and oils. Yes they are “healthy” but they don’t really fuel your workouts. They are good for hormonal health, joints etc, but don’t eat a fat and protein diet and believe it’s gonna make you train like an animal.

6. Think about your digestive system. you need alkaline foods like veggies daily in order to keep your body healthy. When you build muscle you need a lot of protein, but protein makes your body acidic. You can fix that bad state by eating tons of greens.

7. consistency. Stop being impatient. Impatient people don’t get results. Why? they won’t last long enough to reap results.

There is confusion about needing something and purely wanting something. Your body doesn’t tell you what it needs in your clear language. It doesn’t say “Dude! I seriously need some sugar right now cause I’m depleted!”.  No, your brain tells the news more like “PANIC!!! eat something!!! you are starving!! Cannot you tell??? Hello!!!! Go grab the biggest candy bar you can!!! yeah, yeah, we’ll work it off tomorrow, trust me hun!”. So, you, you naive poor little thing think yes you ARE really eating too few calories, and yes you WILL burn more fat if you eat more fat… Right? Uhm no, not really. Don’t you get it? Your body does not want the same YOU want. Needing and really needing are two different things.

Your body doesn’t think you need to have a six pack. It doesn’t think you need to lose the last pounds. And no way does your body think it’s smart to exercise to get shredded!  And you being able to control your appetite? ooooh, scary news for your body!

You must learn to decipher who’s in charge. You cannot eat cause your mind tells you to. It’s not always accurate information you are given what you need. You need to remember that YOUR fitness goals are not your body’s goals. It’s like you needing a special car or a special pair of jeans or a certain pair of shoes. Do you really? I’m sure it has more to do with your preferences. It’s more fun with a Range Rover than a KIA. It’s more fun with diesel than with jeans from old navy. Or gucci shades more fun than a pair from CVS for 13.95.

If you eat according to your emotions or what you claim your body is telling you you will most likely never get shredded. Why? Cause in that case your body is really not good at telling you at all what you need: more calories to fatten up!

I’m pretty fed up with the “oh, but it’s healthy food I must eat it and I know I will lose fat cause it’s from wholefood or a granola chocolate bar from the health food store, not from 7-eleven. Hey, a chocolate bar is a chocolate bar do you buy it at an organic shop or at the movies.

And the protein bars: not healthy. Not at all. I know you love them cause they make you eat candy and processed bad source of protein and empty calories and have you justify it with being a protein bar. God, get over it! There are no healthy bars with protein! The energy bars with nuts and fats? Calorie dense! And not good for teeth either.

Stop being kids. It’s one thing being a kid at heart, another to be childish. What I’ve covered here is childish reasoning. buh-bye!

I see myself as a strong, confident woman. I’m meticulous with my diet, my training and I have extreme body image requirements and expectations. I do not want to be semi-fit, off season smooth or “buffly curvy”. I like my body to have feminine curves as in round glutes, shapely, strong defined legs, ripped midsection, a chiseled back with lots of interesting details and striated shoulders. Does it take some “3 times a week cardio and sound balanced diet with soy, yoghurt, some fruit and granola? Heck, no! It takes serious commitment, some craziness and stubborn personality til the cows come home. What I strive for is something the body perceives as extreme and body does not like any extremes at all. How you do it then? Well, you dance tango with it, you take the lead, let the body feel comfortable. It’s like seducing that lover, you gotta go a few extra miles, be gentle, be charmy, be understanding and sooner or later (mostly later) you’ll win the game.

I come from a past of eating disorders as a young teen. I thought eating nothing and doing 500 situps a day would make me thin and “all muscle”. I did get a six pack from it, but no way did I achieve a tight, muscular, lean, petite physique that way. Oh no, quite the opposite. All Igot was skinny fat. I was thin, but thighs were “vibrating” when I walked, arms didn’t have definition and my butt was flat.

Ladies, you who are battling the mental war with fake friend anorexia and then in some lucky way find the gym and turn it into an oasis: don’t turn it into a prison! You are not in control cause you can see all your ribs sticking out. You don’t look strong by having 5 inches between your thighs! You cannot cardio yourself to a firm body. You will never look like a fitness model by being scared of eating.

When you don’t eat yes you get skinny. But you’re losing mostly muscle. You burn down the house and lower your metabolism. Your thyroid sgets signals from your brain to inhibit burning calories. All your cells get blocked from the metabolism-increasing thyroid hormones. Your cortisol hormones break down more and more muscle to save yourself and to reduce your calorie expenditure. I know you think a super low heart rate and blood pressure are signs of fitness, but it’s not: it’s a sign your body’s fighting against your burning too many calories. Your liver will start loading in fats so you end up with fatty infiltration in your liver. It’s a typical starvation mechanism. Your hormones will drop down to super low levels which is actually an aging symptom.

You can directly see a difference between an anorexic person and someone who is just training hard to be shredded. The two looks are very different. And, someone who is into looking fit and athletic will never sacrifice muscle by not eating and doing excessive cardio training.

If you are scared of letting “fake friend Anorexia” go and start over, and I know there is a kind of feeling like you are in power when you have your demon on your side, think about it: do you want to be a fragile woman? Do you want to be a slave under your own belief you shall be less than 90 lbs? Do you feel it makes you powerful? Does it make you feel great? It’s not a trophy to be the skinniest in the gym. It’s not a trophy to be scared of food. It’s not a merit to be able to not eat.

To be able to control your feelings, to control your diet so it nourishes you and enables you to be healthy and look the way you want is powerful. I don’t think you want to look like a skeleton deep down, do you? I meet many women who think they should starve to look like me for instance when it’s the last thing I do! I did not come to where I am now by not eating! The key is not being able to say no to all food. The key is to know what you need to do and do what’s good for you.

When I look at all celebs who are obviously starving themselves I wonder what makes them choose that body ideal. There is no gain for that at all. It’s more unhealthy than being chubby, it’s less attractive than being a full figure. All it signals is “poor soul”. Do you want others to feel that way about you? feeling pity when they see you? In my opinion that would be embarrassing. I don’t want people to look at me and think “oh, my, she must be so unhappy!”. That’s failure!

Be strong, be brave, be powerful, be real women! Say bye bye to Anorexia and say hello to the gym and right nutrition!

© 2011 FighterDiet.Com. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction without permission prohibited.

I don’t NEED tons of cardio to keep a healthy weight. I don’t need to eat pounds of veggies daily to be healthy either. I don’t need to go to the gym six days a week to be fit. Don’t need 10 sets of squats to keep legs strong. I don’t need to take all vitamin supplements to stay vibrant. I don’t need 10 different cardio machines to train my cardio system. I don’t need a size 0 in jeans to be beautiful. I don’t need to say no to chocolate now and then to keep my waistline in check. I don’t need to do double cardio sessions to fit into my clothing. I don’t need to be super strict on my diet to be normal healthy. Single digit fats won’t make me fertile. Hard training per se is not gonna make me healthy.

Eat everything in moderation, exercise in moderation and you will be healthy and normally fit. BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT I WANT.

I need TONS of cardio to stay shredded. I eat pounds of veggies cause it makes me feel full and happy. I go train six days a week cause it makes my muscles developed and my metabolism high. I NEED 10 sets of squats to keep my glutes strong and muscular. I need all the vitamins I can to reduce free radicals caused by my intense elite training. I need all exercise equipment I can to reduce wear and tear from doing a lot of working out. My body looks the most muscular when I’m ripped to the bone and I am at size 0, that’s where I feel fabulous. A little chocolate here and there will definately keep me from staying shredded so I don’t eat it. I need double cardio to keep my skin paper thin. Single digit body fat is required to be shredded. Hard training makes ME feel alive and living my life to the fullest.

THAT’s WHAT I WANT.

Don’t tell me I shall not be so hard on myself. Don’t tell me I don’t need to do this or that. Don’t claim you think I am overdoing it. Don’t mind my business in general! I want this. I need this. I feel like a superwoman. If you got a problem with it, it’s YOUR problem not mine.

If YOU want to feel moderate, normally boring, normally out of shape, normally uncontrolled waist line and be pissed and bitter about it cause you don’t have the drive, focus and determination to do what you wish you had the power to do, well, get a life, get over it. get another hobby.

© 2011 FighterDiet.Com. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction without permission prohibited.

You wish you had the motivation, the drive to go work out more than once every blue moon. You cannot stop dreaming of having that perfect body but oh, well, “some are just gifted”. You know what to eat but yet you cannot stop stuffing your little mouth with cookies. You don’t have enough time for cardio but you do have time to watch your favorite tv show every day, huh. You think all photos of ripped physiques are photo shopped cause “nobody can look like that”. And if someone gets better results than you, well, has to be drugs, hasn’t it!

You want muscle but it’s a pain in the butt to lift like you mean it. You want shapely legs and know the way to get it is by camping in the power rack area, yet where are you always located: on the butt blaster or smith machine! You know you burn more fat from standing up instead of sitting on your ass, but how come you choose the recumbent bike AND you bring your favorite romantic book to make time go by faster… You like to be lean and know you must control your appetite but when you stuff yourself with food that helps you achieve your goals you start to complain about the “bloat”. Where the heck are the veggies gonna go if not to your belly and create a little momentary bulge?

You know you got to lift heavy to build muscle, but for some reason you are so scared to turn into a hulk you rather pick light dumbbells. Why? cause it’s easier of course! And you compare yourself to those who maintain their bodies and not to those who train to grow muscle!

You’re so scared of getting “manly” you refuse to pick up some real hardcore weight training, and in some weird way you think that’s “toning” and will bring you a sleek body. Never will you accept that a sleek, lean look comes from HARD training.

When it’s raining outside you rather stay on your couch. And when you get the cravings for sweets you pity yourself with “oh well, I’ve deserved this cause I’ve trained so well”. No you don’t, if you still have fat to lose, you don’t “deserve” the junk or treats! You’re so inconsistent it’s embarrassing! You look for gurus and saviors in the fitness world like they’re gonna give you some magic insight all the sudden and you will be blessed and get ripped like in a snap of the fingers.

You read up on everything about nutrition and cardio and training, yet, what are you eating WHILE reading up on all this? Most likely a candy bar! Cause you’re gonna start TOMORROW aren’t you. Yup, tomorrow you will be super motivated! And that will last you a day or two until you see it’s not moving forward as fast as you like.

And people who do get results they just got it for free, didn’t they. Or had the right genetics. And while pointing that out, what are YOU doing, well, you are leisurely walking on a flat treadmill. And if you get out of breathe you either think it’s bad cause you want to burn fat and that’s done at lower intensity…. Yeah, right, lower intensity my ass. When did you EVER get results from half-hearted work may I ask?

You also cannot stop looking for a perfect protein powder that miraculously will transform your body. Oh, and you love to treat yourself to protein bars cause protein cannot be stored as fat they say. Uhm, NOT true.

You want to look so good, yet you want to do so little. Or you think it’s unfair that people who choose their career to be something fitness wise have more time on their hands than people who have full time jobs in other fields. Well, guess what, I too want to be a great lawyer and I expect to be one from getting an online lawyer certificate done in two weeks and then be the best at the LAW. Sounds right and common sense?

And you think that getting shredded should be a relatively doable thing to do since it’s out there to grab for everyone. If it takes extreme amounts of dedication, well, then you believe it’s outrageous. No it’s not, what is outrageous is YOU thinking it will be so easy to achieve what you want to achieve!

You don’t GET a great physique, you WORK for it. Day in and day out. Why so few succeed? laziness. And reasoning it should be easily obtained which means you won’t put in the work needed for it.

You read that 20 minutes of intense cardio three times a week is what it’s required to get fit. yes, true, but FIT doesn’t mean UBER fit or SHREDDED. Get it, your perfect solution works in theory but not in practice all the time! You don’t kill muscle by doing cardio. You don’t vuild muscle from purely lifting a little dumbbell! You don’t get lean by eating pretty strict. You don’t get that “perfect” body from treating the challenge like a part-time hobby! It’s either You WANT it, accept what needs to be done or STOP trying. Really! Stop nagging, stop complaining and start DOING. If you cannot get yourself to do that don’t sit around waiting for your Angel who will come down and rescue you to come to fitness heaven. There is no such place. There is just hard work. Discipline. Dedication. And ubermensch patience.

I’m a thinker and a doer. What I set up for myself I finish. I have dreams and I have goals and most of the time I am conscious and aware of what is the dream and what’s the goal. Face my fears and eyes on the price, go for it and no regrets. But if it was that easy…

Dreams are not the same as goals because dreams don’t have deadlines and they don’t ask anything of you. I’ve been taught to decipher dreams from goals, but it’s still a battle at times. Suddenly when doors open that lead to my goals I start to question it, how much I truly wanted it in the first place. It’s a defense mechanism. It’s either I am lazy and the goal was just a dream or I’m scared of failing at the big task. I remind myself about the old saying “be careful what you wish for” and also talk loud to myself that if I don’t take the chance, the odds are more likely I won’t take the next one either. And that scares me a lot! I’m scared of being convenient, I’m scared of finding myself interpreting my goals for dreams so it’s suddenly ok to me to walk away.

One thing that keeps me being a doer and not a dreamer is: I see myself being happy having the accomplishment done and over with. I clearly see it in my mind how happy I will be, how it leads to other greater opportunities, how I will find the whole anxiety process to be a piece of cake when it’s all over and done. I know it. I see it. I want to believe it. And yes I do believe it, but still, I’m stuck at the “I don’t want to, I hate this, why did I have to get this chance, I hate myself for working so hard for it and then get it too!!!”.

Things come to those who work for it. So of course it’s not a coincidence I “get things” coming my way. I approach more than I am being approached. I’m the hunter, not the prey.

Nothing I’ve done I value the most has been easy. Everything I had to “poop out til the intestines fell out” lol… And when I listen to other people’s dreams I can tell pretty easily if it’s gonna happen for them or not. Cause it’s a mental state, this achieving goals.

Goals are scary, cause they usually start like dreams and turn into goals. Some times the goals are not what you wanted them to be and that’s when you move on, knowing you tried and you didn’t want to keep doing. One of my biggest fears is not trying, being lazy, always saying no and say “next time”. There might never be “next times”, especially the higher you climb on the “exclusive jobs/positions” you are looking for.

I lie awake many nights out of panic because my brain sometimes tries to rescue me from achieving what I want to achieve. It’s major performance anxiety. I just deal with it day after day cause I WANT it. I want it. My stupid reptile brain says flight, flight, but it’s not what I am wanting to do. But, since I do want that accomplishment, I just have to walk the walk and deliver. Scary shit, but if I don’t I could as well settle for being the cashier at the corner 7 eleven store.

Moderation. Not something I practice when it comes to my physique, but with all other things in life, yes, moderation is and will always be the right path. It’s key to function, it’s key to thrive, necessary to feel and live life to the fullest.

I was having a discussion about caffeine, stimulants in general and my general view on the matter. I’m pretty straight forward regarding this: Use it, don’t abuse it. If use leads to abuse, eliminate. If you don’t feel the need for it, don’t use it. Same thing goes for how much cardio to do and why: do what you need to accomplish your goals, don’t do more or less cause someone tells you you should or shouldn’t.

The food you pick to nourish your body is a personal preference as well. I thrive on vegetables and lean proteins, I don’t feel deprived from sweets and convenience food. If I did, how happy would I be? In no way would I value a lean physique over the actual feeling content and happy! Now, I’ve never been a picky eater, I’m really happy for having food on my plate and I also love vegetables. But would I recommend anyone to follow the same path if they truly felt horrible and miserable? No way!

Training and keeping a diet that lead to a chiseled body requires a certain lifestyle. If you want the body, well, you will need to evaluate how much you are willing to commit. If you don’t have it in you, it is either not a top priority for you or you need to realize the price tag looks a bit different than you had hoped for.

Training and dieting is a stress on the body. I believe the best way to keep your body happy is nourishing it nutritious food. Athletic bodies and non-athletic bodies respond to stress differently. And think about it, even positive stress they say can fatigue your body… which is why I am hesitant about the whole adrenal fatigue theory. I believe that those who don’t take care of themselves, are out of shape, eat poorly AND HAVE UNDERLYING health issues risk getting fatigued for the long haul, but I don’t think it’s gonna hit YOU who use moderation in general.

If you are exhausted you will rest. If you are hungry you will eat. The trick is knowing when to do it and when not to.

I understand why people drink and smoke pot. It’s de-stressing for the mind. Do I do it? No, I don’t use alcohol or marjuana, but I understand the reasons for doing it. If done in moderation again, why say no if it makes you happy or bring joy to your life?

Life is a grey zone, it’s a balance between living in the moment and taking care of yourself for the future. You cannot do neither fully, but partly must be the way to do it.

There are means to goals and higher purposes that require specific measures. If you know what you want and you are aware of the potential consequences, I am sure most people are relatively smart and go with the flow. If not, maybe time to try it out.

To walk through life without a passion for something, for someone, for a cause, for a cure, for a reason, must be the worst feeling to end up with when that life is completed,ready to pass on dissolve and reenter a new chapter. What was my life worth if I didn’t fight for something, didn’t believe in something, didn’t work for something. What would it all be for if I didn’t wonder about my purpose and searched for that purpose unless the purpose found me first?

It’s not important to be right, it’s important to believe. It’s important to have the guts to go for your dreams, it’s of no importance will you fail. You have one life to live to the fullest. You have no second chance. There is just one long race and it’s now. Imagine you looking back on your life, wondering what stopped you from trying, what held you back. Think about how it would feel if the only reason you found was “you were too scared to fail”.

Sometimes I get scared that I won’t “have it in me”. That I might not be strong enough to pursue what I want. But then, I know, I KNOW that if I am not strong enough it’s cause I don’t truly desire it. In that case it’s all a liking the idea more than liking the reality of it.

Some days I get frightened cause I cannot foresee the future, but have I ever wanted that? No. There was no need, I had it planned, and it more or less turned out the way I wanted. I prefer to keep the pattern of planning leads happening and I know there is no need to welcome setbacks cause you know they always find you anyway so I’ve chosen to embrace them knowing they are here not to hurt me but to toughen me up. And yes I have toughened up throughout the years. It’s called growing up. As long as I am tough, but not hardened, I am alright.

The balance to be careful and to be caring, balance between suspicion and embracing, to stay open and with wide open arms is a skill to master, cause it builds upon you forgetting the past, forgiving the past and only see one dimension from here on.

I love living. I am so grateful I am living. If I walk out of this world knowing and feeling I had a passion, I was passionate about what I am and what I do, then, I have done what I set up for myself