You want the secret to fat loss? Okay, but you’re not going to like it.

It has nothing to do with green tea, acai berry juice, or the Master Cleanse. Instead, the secret to fat loss is a state of mind. And once you’re in that state of mind, you can’t fail.

Here it is: “When you accept how HARD it is to lose fat, it becomes easy.”

It’s like saving money. When you accept how much discipline it requires to save money, it becomes second nature to put aside a few dollars each month. You understand the difficulty, but do it automatically.

It’s the same with fat loss. When you accept the fact that you must plan, shop, and prepare your meals in advance… do three high-intensity workouts per week… keep yourself active the other four days of the week and keep your butt off the couch… develop rituals that help you avoid nighttime eating… take the time to set goals and plan solutions for every obstacle that might get in your way… fat loss becomes second nature to you. So much so that you couldn’t get fat if you tried!

Adopt this secret mindset and you will succeed. You’ll lose as much body fat as you want. Heck, you can apply this to any aspect of your life and you’ll experience success beyond your wildest dreams.

[Ed. Note: Making the right choices can help you lose weight. But it can also help you accomplish anything you set your mind to. Discover dozens of tools that can help you get everything you want out of life right here.

Get a head start on your 2009 weight-loss goals with fitness expert Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training program. Learn how you can get fit with three 45-minute workouts a week right here.]

On Sunday morning, I was reviewing my daily motivational quotes when I stumbled across this one: “Enjoy life. Treat it as an adventure. Care passionately about the outcome, but keep it in perspective. Things are seldom as bleak as they seem when they are going wrong – or as good as they seem when they are going well. Lighten up. You’ll live longer.”

I’ve translated that into a fat-loss lesson for you. Here’s what I believe…

If you hate running, don’t do it! If you hate lifting weights, find an alternative! If you’d rather be swing-dancing than tread-milling, start swing-dancing!

I find that too many people hate their workouts. They stop trying hard, see fewer results, and they quit. That’s just one of the reasons I created a fat-loss lifestyle program that requires only three short (45-minute) but intense workouts per week. And I encourage my clients to stay active with activities they enjoy the other four days of the week.

You don’t have to stress about going to the gym to do 60 minutes of cardio on a boring machine when staying at home and playing with your kids will accomplish the same thing. And you’ll remember those minutes a lot more than you will remember another hour on the dreaded cardio machine.

[Ed. Note: Enjoying what you do can not only help you lose weight, it can help you build a second income. Discover how to turn your hobbies, passions, and areas of expertise into a cash-producing business right here.

Get a head start on your 2009 weight-loss goals with fitness expert Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training program. Learn how you can get fit with three 45-minute workouts a week right here.]  

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Over the holidays, I re-learned a harsh truth about nutrition that can even bring down a fitness expert: “If it’s in your house, you’re going to eat it.”

Fortunately, this one gets me only around the holidays. The rest of the time, we keep chocolate and other “bad stuff” out of the house. But for many folks, this is a problem all year long.

For one reason (kids) or another (spouse), they have junk food in the house, tempting them every day. And, in fact, snacking on that junk food – often between the end of work and dinnertime – is what prevents many people from losing weight. It can even cause them to gain more weight.

So here is one solution: Get rid of the junk. Do you really, really need to have it there in the first place? Don’t be afraid to trash it. The trash is where junk food belongs.

If tossing the junk isn’t practical (i.e., if it isn’t yours to throw away), what else can you do? Create rituals for yourself that will help you avoid mindless snacking.

First, prepare raw, crunchy fruits and vegetables to snack on instead of junk food. You don’t have to quit cold turkey. But try to be a little bit better every day than you were the day before. Eventually, snacking on raw fruits and vegetables will become a habit. (This one tip should help you lose more than three pounds in a month.)

Second, brush your teeth. There’s nothing like freshly brushed teeth to keep you away from sugary snacks.

Third, keep the treats out of sight to keep them out of mind. Stash them at the back of the top cupboard where you can’t just grab and go.

These three suggestions will help you leave the holiday eating behind and get yourself back on track.

[Ed. Note: If you have a hard time reaching the goals you set for yourself, you're not alone. But ETR is here to help. Success mentor Bob Cox can help you make your dreams come true in 2009 and beyond. He'll give you weekly motivation, easy-to-follow success strategies, and - if you need it - a kick in the pants. Learn the details here.

Get a head start on your 2009 weight-loss goals with fitness expert Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training program. Learn how you can get fit with three 45-minute workouts a week right here.]

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If you want to lose fat and build muscle, you need to plan ahead. I’m not talking about packing your lunches the night before, but planning out the next 12 weeks, meal by meal, grocery trip by grocery trip, workout by workout.

That level of planning leads to exceptional results. And it helps you avoid setbacks caused by making poor last-minute decisions that conflict with your fitness goals.

So take a few hours, right now, to put together your complete diet and exercise plan for the next three months. You might find this incredibly hard, or perhaps incredibly liberating – but each time you do it, you will get better at it.

Do the hard work in your head and the physical fat loss will be easy!

[Ed. Note: If you have a hard time reaching the goals you set for yourself, you're not alone. But ETR is here to help. Success mentor Bob Cox can help you make your dreams come true in 2009 and beyond. He'll give you weekly motivation, easy-to-follow success strategies, and - if you need it - a kick in the pants. Learn the details here.

Get a head start on your 2009 weight-loss goals with fitness expert Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training program. Learn how you can get fit in three 45-minute workouts a week right here.]

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So you just started – or restarted – an exercise program, and your muscles are stiff and sore. While there’s not much you can do about that now, you can prevent it from happening in the future.

Here’s the plan you should follow.

The next time you do a workout, do only one set per exercise (rather than the three sets most workouts call for) – and don’t worry, you’ll still get most of the fat-burning, muscle-building, strength-boosting benefits of a regular full workout. The week after that, add another set and do two sets per exercise. Finally, in the third week, you’ll be ready to do a full three sets of each exercise.

I also recommend increasing your vitamin C intake to 2-3 grams per day. Research shows that vitamin C reduces exercise-induced muscle damage. I personally have been experiencing less soreness after my workouts since supplementing with vitamin C (which I started doing to avoid colds).

And if you are really hurting right now? One of the best things you can do is simply keep moving and do some low-intensity exercise. Research suggests that light exercise can contribute to enhanced healing … and might even reduce your soreness.

[Ed. Note: Building muscle and burning fat doesn't have to take hours of work. Fitness expert Craig Ballantyne has put together a Turbulence Training program that can help you get fit with three 45-minute workouts a week.

For simple ideas that can help you find more energy, better health, less pain, and a dramatic boost in overall vitality, sign up for ETR's free natural health newsletter.]

Every day, sneaky saboteurs are trying to defeat you in the fat-loss war. Everyone – from family to friends to co-workers to restaurant owners to TV advertisers – is conspiring against you to make you eat more and exercise less.

They might not be doing it on purpose or with bad intentions, but they are happier when you are fed, full, and flat out on the couch.

So you must always know your options.

You must have Plans A, B, C, D, and E. You must be prepared to counterattack. When they say “pizza,” you say “sushi.” When they say “take-out,” you say, “I’ve already prepared my lunch.” When they say “happy hour,” you say “workout first.”

And you must surround yourself with people who are fitter and healthier than you. The power of social support and POSITIVE peer pressure will help you take your health and fitness to the next level.

[Ed. Note: Finding health-conscious people with whom you can share your weight-loss struggles, diet and exercise techniques, and encouragement can help you lose weight. For a free source of support and a community of like-minded men and women, click here.

And for a topnotch fitness program that can help you burn fat and build muscle, check out Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training program right here.]

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The #1 way to stick to your diet is going to sound strange, but trust me on this one.

There’s a popular new “social networking” website: Twitter.com. At first glance, it looks as dumb as it sounds. But after spending some time on it, I realized it could help my clients stay accountable to others – and that’s key when it comes to sticking to a diet. Because if you promise others that you are going to lose weight, and you promise to report the contents of every meal, you’ll think twice about cheating on your diet.

I use Twitter to post all of my meals, snacks, and nutrition tips over the course of the day, and I encourage my clients to do the same. No one likes to disappoint other people or look bad in their eyes. So when we say we’re going to stick to a diet, AND we’re going to post every meal we eat on the Internet, it motivates us to keep working toward that goal.

It’s really simple. You just sign up for an account, and then you can post whatever you want (limited to 140 characters per post). Some folks call this micro-blogging, and most folks use Twitter for business networking – but we’re going to use it for social support.

To get started, go to Twitter.com and sign up for your free account. Then you can search for people to “follow” – to see their updates. And other people can “follow” you to see your updates.

Of course, you don’t need Twitter to be accountable for sticking to your fat-loss plan. You can keep a daily food journal for your trainer, post your meals on a weight-loss message board, or simply buddy up with a friend and check in every day. But Twitter is a quick way to do it online.

[Ed. Note: Online support can be very helpful when it comes to reaching your weight-loss goals. Share your weight-loss struggles, diet and exercise techniques, and encouragement for free right here.

And for a topnotch fitness program that can help you burn fat and build muscle, check out Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training program right here.] 

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I like being right. And one of the recommendations I give over and over and over again that keeps on getting reinforced by research is the need to have social support when you’re trying to lose weight.

And today, I have a study that proves social support is even MORE powerful than I previously thought.

Researchers from Connecticut, Rhode Island, Ohio, Arkansas, and Pennsylvania teamed up to see if a weight-loss program delivered to one spouse could be “taken home” and have beneficial effects for the untreated spouse as well.

Three hundred and fifty-seven diabetic participants were treated for one year. The subjects were divided into two groups. One group received standard diabetes care, while the other group received intensive lifestyle intervention (ILI) help.

The spouses of the ILI group lost 4.9 pounds over the course of the study, even though they had no contact with the researchers. The spouses of participants receiving standard care lost only 0.51 pounds. In addition, more ILI spouses than standard-care spouses lost 5 percent of their bodyweight (26 percent vs. 9 percent, P<0.001).

One of the big reasons for the weight loss in the ILI spouses was that they ate significantly less fat than the standard-care spouses. And, not surprisingly, spouse weight loss was associated with participant weight loss. That means if your wife was in the study and she lost weight, you had a greater chance of losing weight as well.

[Ed. Note: Online support can be very helpful when it comes to reaching your weight-loss goals. Share your weight-loss struggles, diet and exercise techniques, and encouragement for free right here.

And if you want a topnotch fitness program that can help you burn fat and build muscle, check out Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training program right here.] 

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Elliptical machines are often the only option for people with bad knees. But if your knees are healthy, think twice before using them – for two reasons.

Reason #1. Men’s Health magazine warns, “Never trust elliptical machines.” And they quote a study which found that elliptical machines overestimated the number of calories burned in a workout by 31 percent.

Ouch.

So if your “elliptical cardio workout” burned 400 calories, the truth is you really burned closer to 300.

Reason #2. Men’s Health magazine interviewed “Biggest Loser” contestant Ed Brantley, who lost 73 pounds while on the show. Ed had this to say: “I hated the elliptical. It was too easy. I didn’t feel like I was doing anything.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself. But that’s EXACTLY why elliptical machines are so popular. They are inferior for fat loss because they fail my “human nature” test.

Put it this way…

Take 100 people and put them in a gym with 100 treadmills and 100 elliptical machines. Tell them they have to exercise for 30 minutes at a hard pace, and they can use either the treadmill or the elliptical. Guess where 90 percent of those folks will be headed?

To the elliptical!

Why? Because it is human nature to take the easy way out. That is why elliptical machines are so busy at the gym. You rarely see anyone doing intervals on a treadmill or bodyweight circuits in the corner.

So if you are stuck at a fat-loss plateau and you’ve been counting on the elliptical machine to help you, forget it. You can’t say you “worked out” if you don’t get any real work done. Stick to the bike, the treadmill, or bodyweight exercises.

[Ed. Note: If you think long, slow cardio - on an elliptical machine, no less! - is the best way to get fit, you've fallen victim to one of the most common myths around. Discover 5 more myths about exercise - and how to combat them - right here.

For simple ideas that can help you find more energy, better health, less pain, and a dramatic boost in overall vitality, sign up for ETR's free natural health newsletter.]

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When I was in college, I remember going to a party at the home of four girls. While standing around in the kitchen, I realized they had almost as much cereal as the local convenience store. When I asked them about it, they said they often ate cereal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, because they thought a high-carbohydrate diet would help them lose weight.

That notion was popular back in the 1990s, and, unfortunately, they had bought into it. However, every year more and more research (not to mention experience) shows it to be untrue.

In the latest study, from the journal Nutrition and Metabolism, 50 overweight adults were put into one of two groups. One group was given a moderate-carbohydrate, moderate-protein diet, and the other group was given a high-carbohydrate diet. Both groups ate 500 calories less than they needed to maintain their weight.

The moderate-carbohydrate, moderate-protein group ate 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight (approximately 112 grams of protein for a 154-pound person) and less than 170 grams of carbohydrate per day. The high-carbohydrate group ate only 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight (56 grams of protein for a 154-pound person) and less than 220 grams of carbohydrate per day.

At the end of four months, the higher-protein diet group had lost more body fat (an average of 8.7 percent) than the high-carbohydrate group (an average of 5.7 percent). The higher-protein group also had greater reductions in triglycerides (an average of 34 percent as compared to 14 percent) and greater improvements in the good HDL cholesterol (an average of 5 percent as compared to 3 percent).

This study shows that you don’t need to make radical changes in your protein intake to get more fat loss and better blood lipid levels. Simply cut two slices of bread from your diet each day and substitute two 20-gram protein shakes.

[Ed. Note: Extending your life and living out your years in tip-top health is really a matter of making simple lifestyle choices - like cutting carbs and adding protein to your diet. For more easy-to-implement ideas about how to live longer and feel better, click here.

In addition to getting more protein, you can burn fat by following Craig's Turbulence Training exercise program.]

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 Nothing happens fast enough these days. Lights stay red too long. Pizza takes too long to get delivered. And television commercial breaks are getting longer and longer. So when researchers discovered that 10 minutes of walking done three times per day could improve your health, it’s not surprising that people demanded results in even less time.

Well, now researchers from the UK have found that shorter bouts of brisk walking reduce postprandial plasma triacylglycerol (the level of fat in your blood after you eat) and resting blood pressure in healthy young men. And this will probably work even better for out of shape folks who have a few extra years – and inches – under their belts.

The subjects did 10 3-minute bouts of fast walking in one session and one 30-minute bout of fast walking in another session, both after eating a high-fat meal. And the results were the same. The 10 short walks and the one long walk reduced post-meal triacylglerol levels by 16 percent compared to the control session (where they did no exercise after the meal). Both forms of exercise also reduced systolic blood pressure by 6-7 percent compared to the control.

So get your butt off the couch as much as possible and move it. Even short little speed-walks, when they add up, can help your heart.

[Ed. Note: Keeping yourself healthy doesn't have to be difficult or even time-consuming. Simply making healthier lifestyle choices - like taking a brisk walk after your high-protein, low-carb meal - can help you stay fit and lean. For more easy-to-implement ideas about how to live longer and feel better, click here.

Looking for exercise that is enjoyable and can help you lose weight? Try fitness expert Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training exercise program.]

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Believe it or not, one of my favorite ab exercises uses one of those cheap infomercial gadgets, the “Ab Wheel.”

You can pick one up at Amazon.com or Wal-Mart for under 20 bucks, and it works your abs hard without having to do crunches.

But what about the other ab gadgets you see advertised on TV?

Researchers (from the Mayo Clinic, of all places) tested the “Ab-Slide”

(a contraption that’s similar to the Ab Wheel), and compared using it to doing ab crunches, supine double-leg thrusts (seated knee tuck-ins), and side planks.

Ten young men and 12 young women did all the exercises. And the researchers found that the Ab-Slide worked the abs the hardest. On the other hand, the seated knee tuck-ins required a lot of hip flexion, and they believed it could cause problems in people prone to low-back injury.

Personally, I’m going to stick with the Ab Wheel. As always, I’m going to keep crunches out of my program… and now I’m going to add the seated knee tuck-in to my list of ab exercises to avoid.

[Ed. Note: If you think sit-ups and crunches are the best way to get a flat stomach, you've fallen victim to one of the most common fitness myths around. Discover 5 more myths about exercise - and how to combat them - right here.

And for a free source of fitness ideas, nutrition tips, and motivation, sign up for ETR's natural health newsletter.]

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Oprah recently featured some former contestants from “The Biggest Loser.” Unfortunately, some of them had regained up to 100 pounds since they left the show.

While losing weight is hard, not enough attention is given to the equally difficult process of maintaining weight loss. And what most people don’t realize is that the method you use to lose weight helps determine how difficult weight maintenance will be.

Researchers from the City University of New York studied folks who were successful at losing at least 10 percent of their bodyweight in the past year. They were separated into three groups. Group one had lost the weight with a very-low calorie diet (VLCD). Group two had lost the weight with a commercial weight-loss program. And the third group had lost the weight using a self-directed approach.

Initially, the VLCD group had a greater average weight loss (24 percent of bodyweight) compared to the two other groups (17 percent). But the researchers found that they quickly regained the most weight. On the other hand, the folks who had lost the weight on their own – as a result of making lifestyle changes – were able to maintain their weight loss.

What can you learn here? Well, it’s like many weight-loss experts keep saying: You must make simple, easy-to-stick-to lifestyle changes if you want to lose weight and keep it off. Crash diets and excessive exercise programs might work for a while, but they won’t help you in the long run.

Start your long-term weight-loss program today by finding a form of exercise you enjoy and a diet that suits your personality, and by surrounding yourself with social support – people who are genuinely interested in seeing you succeed.

[Ed. Note: Extending your life and living out your years in tip-top health is really a matter of making simple lifestyle choices. For more easy-to-implement ideas about how to live longer and feel better, click here.

Looking for exercise that is enjoyable and can help you lose weight? Try fitness expert Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training exercise program.]

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Once in a while, a study comes along that surprises me. For instance, I recently found one showing that cardio works for fat loss – as long as it is high-intensity cardio.

Researchers at the University of Virginia assigned 27 obese women (average age 51) to one of three groups…

1. The control group did no exercise training.

2. The second group did five days per week of low-intensity exercise (LIE). (Gotta love that acronym… truly represents the “slow cardio lie.”)

3. The third group did three days per week of high-intensity cardio exercise (HIC) plus two days per week of LIE.

Instead of exercising for a specific length of time in every session – LIE or HIC – the subjects exercised long enough to burn 400 calories. So no group burned more calories than the others, though the third group burned the 400 calories faster in their three HIC workouts each week.

And HIC kicked LIE’s butt! The study found that the subjects in the low-intensity exercise group did not lose fat. On the other hand, the subjects in the high-intensity cardio group lost a significant amount of abdominal fat.

So, once again, research has shown that…

• Exercising harder results in more fat loss in less time.
• Only hard exercise burns belly fat.
• Low-intensity cardio won’t help you lose fat.

I prefer interval training to cardio for my clients who are on a fat-loss program. But the results of this study have influenced me to make a slight change in my recommendations.

I now occasionally throw in some high-intensity cardio for my clients, usually as a 20- or 30-minute session done at a pace they can barely maintain for that length of time. They don’t like it, but it works. (Most of them prefer the interval training.)

If you are interested in trying this, you can add HIC to your program up to three times per week. Just remember to self-monitor your body for any symptoms of overuse injuries – and, as always, TRAIN SAFE.

I’ll give the last word to the University of Virginia researchers who stated, “The present data indicate that body composition changes are affected by the intensity of exercise training with HIC more effectively for reducing total abdominal fat and subcutaneous abdominal fat in obese women.”

[Ed. Note: If you think long, slow cardio is the best way to lose weight, you've fallen victim to one of the most common fitness myths around. Discover 5 more myths about exercise - and how to combat them - right here.

For simple ideas that can help you find more energy, better health, less pain, and a dramatic boost in overall vitality, sign up for ETR's free natural health newsletter.]

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Going to the gym is intimidating enough. But not knowing how much weight to use for an exercise can make you feel even more uncomfortable. If you grab a weight that’s too light, you’ll waste your time. If you grab a weight that’s too heavy, you risk injury.

In a 12-week study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, researchers found that subjects gained the most strength when using a weight that corresponded to 70 percent of their 1-repetition maximum – meaning 70 percent of the heaviest weight they could lift in the exercise.

Here’s how to figure out what that ideal weight should be…

In most cases, if you’re lifting 70 percent of the heaviest weight you could lift, you can do about 10 to 12 repetitions. So you want to use a weight that allows you to do no fewer than 10 reps and no more than 12 reps per set. For example, if you can do seated rows with 50 pounds for 20 reps, you should try using 70 pounds for 10 reps instead.

Unfortunately, the only way to identify an ideal weight is by trial and error. Start conservatively with an easy weight. Do six repetitions. If that feels too easy, increase the weight by 10 percent and try again. Do this until you find a weight that is a challenge for 10-12 reps. It should take you about three minutes to find the right weight for each exercise in your program.

[Ed. Note: Building muscle and burning fat doesn't have to take hours of work. Fitness expert Craig Ballantyne has put together a Turbulence Training program that can help you get fit in three 45-minute workouts a week.

For simple ideas that can help you find more energy, better health, less pain, and a dramatic boost in overall vitality, sign up for ETR's free natural health newsletter.]

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To get six-pack abs, most people think they’ll have to do hundreds of crunches. But crunches involve spinal flexion (rounding forward), and research shows that spinal flexion can lead to herniated discs. Knowing this has sent me on a long and exhaustive search for safe and effective ab training.

Last week, I stumbled onto a new study supporting my “ab crunch ban” and my preference for exercises such as the “side plank.” In this study, researchers examined six common ab exercises performed by 120 subjects to see how hard the muscles were working.

When compared to other common ab exercises, the side plank and the classic abdominal crunch both resulted in the greatest change in muscle thickness for the transverse abdominis and internal oblique muscles (meaning they were contracting the muscles more than the other exercises). However, because the side plank does not involve spinal flexion, and because it builds abdominal endurance (previously found to be associated with less low-back pain), the side plank wins this exercise battle hands down.

If you are looking for a new move to add to your total-body fat-burning workout, the side plank is the way to go. To do it, lie on your right side. Bend your right arm at the elbow and stack your left foot on top of your right foot. Supporting your bodyweight on your right forearm and your right foot, raise your body in a straight line. Your butt and thighs should hover a few inches above your mat. Keep your back straight and your hips up. Hold your abs tight, but breathe normally. Beginners should hold this position for 15 seconds on each side. Try to hold it a little longer with each workout. For advanced core strength, hold for 45 seconds per side.

[Ed. Note: If you think sit-ups and crunches are the best way to get a flat stomach, you've fallen victim to one of the most common fitness myths around. Discover 5 more myths about exercise - and how to combat them - right here.

And for a free source of fitness ideas, nutrition tips, and motivation, sign up for ETR's natural health newsletter.]

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File this one under “hard to believe.” Still, researchers from California believe they have found a simple – free – way to lose weight.

The researchers looked at 173 overweight women (aged 25-50) who reported drinking less than one liter of water per day. These women were then instructed to increase their water consumption, and were studied for a year.

Remarkably, the researchers found that the increased water intake was associated with a significant increase in both weight loss and fat loss. The results suggest that if an overweight woman drinks less than one liter of water per day, the simple act of drinking more water may be beneficial.

The researchers think that drinking the water may promote weight loss by lowering total energy intake and/or altering metabolism. So while it is hard to believe that weight loss could be that simple, the results of this study support the many personal trainers and nutritionists who insist that their weight-loss clients immediately begin drinking more water.

If you drink next to no water, add three cups of water per day to what you’re already drinking this way: Drink one cup immediately upon waking, another cup as soon as you get to work, and a third cup in the afternoon, just before you leave work. That’s easy, isn’t it? And it might just give your fat loss a boost.

[Ed. Note: Adding water to your diet may help you drop a few pounds. But you should be eating right and exercising to get the best results. For ideas about which foods you should be eating and which foods to avoid - and recipes for delicious, healthy meals - sign up for ETR's natural health newsletter.

And for the secrets of a short workout you can do to build muscle and burn fat at the same time, all while getting in and out of the gym in under three hours a week, check out fitness expert Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training program.]

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