Will you look better on your next birthday? Will you be leaner? Will you have more muscle? Will your physique be more symmetrical? Will you improve upon your weaker points? I’d love to hear your thoughts and how you see yourself improving between today and your next birthday.

The inspiration for this post came from one of my greatest role models, Tom Venuto, author of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle, The Holy Grail Body Transformation Program, and creator of the Burn The Fat Inner Circle. It was his birthday and Tom had posted a great message on the Burn The Fat Facebook Fan Page…

“What if you set a goal to hit a personal record (PR) on your birthday workout, for every b-day, for as long as you live?

None of us is likely to increase our 1 rep max PR forever (well, at least not past our 100th b-day, up to 99 or so, should be no problem), but we could always do SOME kind of PR right? more reps… more sets… new workout, or anything we haven’t done before; just some PR.

I like that idea. Hmmm, maybe this will become a tradition in the Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle world?”

This reminded me of a similar message that I first heard from Cover Model extraordinaire, Clark Bartram, a few years ago when I interviewed him. I recommend that you give this audio a listen… it’s awesome!

*** Unstoppable Fat Loss audio with Clark Bartram ***

The message of improving from birthday to birthday really resonated with me and I’ve been living up to it for the past few years. Today, as I approach 36 years of age I am in the best shape of my life. I plan on looking even better in my 40’s. I look at my wife who recently turned 38 and she is sexier, than ever with a knock out physique.

Nearly all of my role models are in their 40’s and a couple are in their 50’s. I see how they continue to improve their physiques and it inspires the heck out of me. Tom Venuto, Shawn Phillips, and Clark Bartram are just a few of the guys who I look up to…

This message ties in nicely with our philosophies of “Continuous Growth”. Life really is about growth, living to our potential, and enjoying life to the fullest. That’s what we all deserve!

Will you look better on your next birthday? I sure as heck know that I will!

To achieving your limitless potential,

Scott Tousignant

PS Who are your role models that inspire you to improve your physique with each passing birthday?

About The Authors

Scott and Angie Tousignant have been helping busy men and women, just like you, transform their body and life for over a decade. This dynamic duo prides themselves on providing a balanced and practical approach that will motivate and inspire you to become the best YOU that you can be.

Scott and Angie have dedicated themselves to sharing their exact workouts, what they eat, and how they stay motivated to continue transforming their body’s and life.

Their line up of body transforming programs includes, Metabolic Masterpiece, Sizzlin’ Circuits, Core Plus More, Girl Empowered, Fat Loss Quickie, and More Love Less Fat.

We’re excited to share in you successful body transformation!

Things always seem to happen for a reason. In the previous post about releasing your last 10-20 pounds, I mentioned that it’s my mission to help you live to your fullest potential while sculpting the body that you deserve. I also mentioned that I love the way that I currently look and feel, yet I know I am capable of even better. I am far from achieving my limitless potential. I guess, in a way, I was writing that post for myself as it planted the seed for a serious dose of inspiration that has me stepping up my fat loss game.

The first dose of inspiration came when I received an email notification from Tom Venuto, announcing the first half winners of his Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle Summer Burn Transformation Contest. The male winner, Ian, blew my mind with what he was able to achieve in just 49 days, while following the Burn The Fat nutrition plan, in addition to his training. When I saw his abs, I knew right then and there, that I had to step up my game. Here’s Ian’s pics…

The Burn The Fat Inner Circle is a community full of like-minded individuals who are focused on enjoying the journey and embracing the growth mindset, so it didn’t surprise me to see answers like, “If you think that you’ve reached your genetic potential, you haven’t!”

This sparked a great conversation about how some of us plan on continuing to improve upon our body and health in one way or another after we reach our current goals.

Along the same lines, there was a similar post on “Maintenance” and the creation of a club for people who maintain their successful body transformation for 1, 3, 5 years.

The term maintenance seemed to strike a cord with the majority of us burners. The thought of halting all progress is a bit unsettling. So we began brainstorming terminology for what we should call ourselves when the focus is on the journey and continuous growth.

These conversations really ignited the flame within me, which made it crystal clear to me that NOW is the time for me to take my physique to the next level by setting a new goal and giving myself a new deadline.

I hope that you will be happy to hear that after achieving my previous goal at the end of May, two months later I have more than maintained my results. I’ve actually gained a little bit of muscle and even burned a little fat even though my nutrition has been pretty relaxed and I’ve allowed for a lot more treats.

Here’s the pictures of me 2 months ago…

And here’s some pictures that I took this morning…

One of the reasons that I’ve been able to improve upon the results that I experienced from the Metabolic Masterpiece Body Sculpting Program, even though I have become more relaxed with my nutrition during the past 2 months, is that I had a plan in place. I knew ahead of time that I would be following the Renaissance Phase of my Metabolic Masterpiece program. I continued to push hard with my training and even improved upon my focused intensity. This is a huge reason why I’ve added some muscle recently.

I also maintained my daily walking routine, which has been great for active recovery and stress relief. Plus, our family vacations have been very active too.

As you can see in the above photo, my new goal is to “Give myself a 6-8 pack, while gaining muscle, for my 36th birthday on September 29th.”

This excites the heck out of me and ties in a great deal of positive emotions. I’m really looking forward to looking the best I’ve ever looked on my birthday.

It’s been a nice break from focusing on fat loss, but now it’s time to get back to applying the nutrition principles from Burn The Fat, in combination with the workouts from the Metabolic Masterpiece Renaissance Phase.

Because of the break, I feel totally energized and ready to tighten up my nutrition once again. Which brings up one of the beauties of this body sculpting lifestyle. There will always be hills and valleys. There are going to be times when you challenge yourself to step outside of your comfort zone in order to take things to the next level, as well as times when you relax a bit and reap the rewards of your hard work.

It’s during those valleys, that you should keep a keen eye open for moments of inspiration that will ignite your desire to step up your game.

This time, it was a simple progress picture from a body transformation winner, along with some great conversations with like-minded friends that ignited my flame. But what really made this next journey concrete, was seeing one of my friends on Facebook announce his current body transformation goal. As soon as I saw his goal, I posted a comment and shared my goal, while asking him to hold me accountable at the same time. Now both of our goals were made public. There’s no looking back now.

So now, as I’m stepping up my fat loss game and continuing my journey from average to extraordinary… I am asking you to do the same.

What’s going to be the thing that inspires you to set your goal along with a concrete deadline and go after it with everything that you’ve got?

What’s it going to take to help you realize that the journey and the process is the greatest reward… that every goal you achieve is a stepping stone to something even better.

What’s it going to take to tap into your true potential and let it shine!

It’s time to step things up. Show us what you’re made of and prove to yourself that you have what it takes to sculpt your body into a work of art.

Today I want you to search high and low for the inspiration to sculpt the body that you deserve. Search the magazine racks, the forums, the gym, and more important… search internally.

Dig deep! You can’t put this off any longer. The time to take action is NOW!

To achieving your limitless potential,

Scott Tousignant

PS What’s the first step that you will take in stepping up your fat loss game? Will you reduce your calories? Will you increase the intensity of your workouts? Will you write out a concrete and detailed plan of action? I’d love to hear the first action steps that you take.

About The Authors

Scott and Angie Tousignant have been helping busy men and women, just like you, transform their body and life for over a decade. This dynamic duo prides themselves on providing a balanced and practical approach that will motivate and inspire you to become the best YOU that you can be.

Scott and Angie have dedicated themselves to sharing their exact workouts, what they eat, and how they stay motivated to continue transforming their body’s and life.

Their line up of body transforming programs includes, Metabolic Masterpiece, Sizzlin’ Circuits, Core Plus More, Girl Empowered, Fat Loss Quickie, and More Love Less Fat.

We’re excited to share in you successful body transformation!

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is an outstanding form of exercise to improve your fitness level, conditioning, and burn the fat from your body. This isn’t breaking news for many of our valued readers and fans. But HIIT has been around for much longer than the recent craze that’s been buzzing around the fat loss air waves over the past few years. It’s actually been an effective method of training for decades. It’s been all the marketing hype that’s created the widespread movement… and the controversy to go along with it.

If you’re not totally familiar with my fitness background, I received my degree in Human Kinetics with Honors in Movement Science from the University of Windsor back in 1999. A good chunk of my focus was spent on Sport Psychology and mindset, but a huge chunk of it was spent on Biomechanics, Anatomy, and Sport Physiology.

For extra credit we had opportunities to participate (be a guinea pig), in scientific research and studies. One of those studies that took place within one of my Exercise Physiology classes was on the topic of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). The test was performed on a special stationary bike and we were instructed to go “All Out!” for the speed portion of the interval followed by slow pedaling for the rest interval. At the end of the test a blood sample was taken from us and our VO2 Max was measured as well.

During the test most of us felt nauseous and some of us either passed out, puked, or both. Sounds like fun eh At least it boosted our marks a bit All kidding aside I learned a great deal from this experience.

Since my University days, I’ve spent a fair amount of time reviewing the latest research on High Intensity Interval Training… mainly to clear up a lot of the controversy and go beyond the marketing hype and claims.

Some of the research that I’ve come across has been based on sprint/walk intervals such as a study out of Australia, which found that a 6 second sprint followed by 12 seconds of walking produced desirable fat loss results in their test subjects.

Much of the research on HIIT has been done by using some form of stationary bike. The duration of the work/rest intervals has varied, but some research has shown that the shorter intervals produce greater results, such as a study performed by Professor Steve Boutcher, the Head of the Health and Exercise Science program in the School of Medical Sciences at the University of New South Wales, Australia. (I’m not sure why the Australian’s have performed so much research on HIIT, but it’s great to see that their keeping at it.)

Professor Boutcher’s research found that performing HIIT with a work interval of 8 seconds and a rest interval of 12 seconds produced the most desirable results in their test subjects.

I’m not one to read a single research paper and base all of my philosophies on that one training protocol simply because it was shown to produce the best results. When I perform High Intensity Interval Training I mix up the length of the intervals. For example…

Work/Rest
10/20
20/30
30/30
60/60
120/120
20/10

The bottom line is that you too, should vary your protocol and see which strategies create the biggest impact on your body. With all this variety there is no reason for you to get bored with working out.

Since I brought up the word ‘boredom’, the thought of sitting on a stationary bike for 20-30 minutes may not be very appealing to you. It’s just about as appealing as running on a treadmill and staring at a wall. That’s why I love to perform a lot of my HIIT training on my outdoor mountain bike. It’s so much more invigorating for me to get outside, surround myself with nature, and feel the wind in my hair (oops… the wind over my bald head). I bring along a Gymboss timer to alert me for the interval splits. I set it to beep and vibrate just in case I don’t hear it when a car is passing by or the wind is too loud.

Unfortunately we get hit fairly hard by winter here in Canada and there are 4 months out of the year where I am forced to ride the stationary bike indoors. I don’t mind it too much. I pop in an educational audio in my mp3 player, watch part of a movie, or read a book. This makes it much easier and exciting to get on the stationary bike.

Stationary bikes are fairly inexpensive and you can program your desired intervals so it adjusts the resistance automatically. What I typically do is increase both my speed and resistance when I do the “working” interval on the stationary bike. This gives my legs a great pump.

Occasionally I perform running sprint/walk intervals, but running is very taxing on my joints and my body can usually only handle it twice per month. I do it for variety, but I truly love the bike intervals… plus, high intensity interval training on a bike has shown to be the most effective form of HIIT to burn belly fat.

In general, the HIIT methods that involve a great emphasis on the legs have produced the best results. So even walking up to the squat rack and performing High Intensity Intervals of Squatting/Light Marching can produce great results. Our Fat Loss Quickie members have performed a variation of this squat interval and they’ve had a lot of fun with it: 100 Rep Squat Cardio Challenge

A word of caution… be careful not to over perform these forms of HIIT. If you are performing your intervals on a bike or using exercises like squats and even sprints, your body will be taking a beating and you may not be giving it enough time to recover, especially if you are also performing a leg workout during the week. This is another reason for you to vary your intervals… to prevent over-training and injuries. The short sprint like intervals can be very taxing on your body and I don’t recommend performing them more than 3 times per week.

Ideally, Angie and I love to combine HIIT with long duration cardio throughout the week in addition to resistance training. As great as the claims are when it comes to HIIT, we find that some “Fitness Experts” get carried away and will prescribe that you only perform a 4 minute HIIT session following the Tabata protocol, just 3 times per week. They’ll go as far as saying that you are wasting your time if you train any more than that…

…well I don’t know about you, but speaking for myself, I need to workout a lot more than just 12 minutes per week in order to burn fat and sculpt my body.

Many of the studies that I have reviewed about High Intensity Interval Training have been performed over a 20-30 minute time period. So you’re basically looking at the same duration as you may perform a steady state long duration cardio session, but you are challenging yourself in a different way.

NOTE: Long Duration Cardio does not = Marathon

Angie and I love to perform quick 10 minute workouts, but our workouts are more frequent. We perform a 10-minute workout and a 10-minute HIIT session every weekday in addition to a few long duration cardio sessions. That’s what has produced the best results for us and it’s a small time investment.

This is what our Fat Loss Quickie program is based on… breaking your workouts into manageable 10-minute chunks. You can perform the quickie cardio and quickie workout back to back, but Angie and I, along with our members, have found that splitting up the workout and cardio session produces the most desirable results. For example, you may perform the 10-minute cardio session first thing in the morning and do the 10-minute quickie workout when you get home from work and before you refuel yourself at dinner. For optimal results you can add a few 30 minute bike rides or jogging sessions into the mix.

How Intense Is Intense?

That’s been a question that I’ve received frequently when I discus HIIT. As I mentioned above, when I participated in the research study we were instructed to go all out during the ‘work interval’. In other words, give it everything that you’ve got. The result… nausea, fainting, and puking. I don’t think that’s what you want to do after every HIIT session… correct?

For the past few years fitness professionals have been advising that you push yourself as hard as you can during the work interval, but not completely crazy all out where you are going to puke after. The harder that you push yourself, the shorter the duration that you’ll be able to last. That’s good news if you want to shorten up your workouts, but not everybody is willing to push themselves that hard.

GREAT NEWS…

New research has come about that has revealed that you don’t need to push yourself to the max during the working interval in order to produce awesome results. I must give credit to my buddy Tom Venuto for first bringing this to my attention in a well written article within his Burn The Fat Inner Circle.

Tom also published his insights to this research at on his Burn The Fat Blog, which I highly recommend you read: A Practical Model For High Intensity Interval Training

This was very welcome news for Angie and I as well as our Fat Loss Quickie members because the Fat Loss Quickie programs includes a mix of the Higher Intensity Cardio exercises such as jump squats and burpees, as well as cardio exercises that are not quite as intense, such as jumping jacks and skipping. Previously some “fat loss experts” shunned at the use of jumping jacks in a HIIT protocol because they are not intense enough. All that Angie and I knew was that it sure was working for us and our members and now there’s research to back it up.

Here’s two quickie cardio sessions that you can try out…

10-minute Shuffle Step Cardio

10-minute Outdoor Fun Cardio

So, what is the best way to perform High Intensity Interval Training?

As I have mentioned, it appears that intervals on a bike produce the best results, especially while following a shorter interval protocol, such as 8 seconds of work followed by 12 seconds of rest for a total duration of 20-30 minutes.

But, the best way to perform High Intensity Interval Training is to vary it up and include activities that you really enjoy into the mix. Doing intervals on my bike outdoors in my #1 HIIT activity, but I also enjoy doing intervals on a small hill at a local park. Some of my friends really love performing stadium stair running as their intervals, while others love doing their intervals while running around a local high school track. Rowing is another exercise that you can perform HIIT with and it’s very effective.

There is a group of people in my town that enjoy performing intervals in groups. This is a HIIT method that my coaches had us perform on my high school cross country team…

We would run in single file and the person at the back would sprint to the front of the pack and set the new jogging pace. Then the next person at the back would sprint to the front and set the jogging pace. This is a really fun way to perform HIIT because it’s in a group setting with social support tied into it. Other members of the group will motivate you to push yourself and sprint to the front of the pack. If the pace that you set at the front is too slow, everyone behind you will encourage you to pick up the pace. If you were running on your own, you may experience some times when you want to slow down or stop all together. In a group setting you need to keep up with the group. It’s one way to force yourself to progress and step outside of your comfort zone.

Mix this up with some fun and not quite as intense exercises, such as jumping jacks, skipping, mountain climbers, hip rotations, shuffle steps, cross country ski movement (on the spot), and other low impact exercises, and you have a recipe for success.

Of course, it doesn’t matter how great your HIIT protocol is if you have poor nutrition habits. Following a detailed and precision nutrition plan such as Tom Venuto’s Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle or his more advanced Holy Grail Body Transformation Program will ensure that you are achieving the maximum results possible with your training program and produce the sexy physique that you desire to sculpt.

What’s your favorite way to perform HIIT? Angie and I would love to hear from you. Share your thoughts on HIIT in the comment box below and let’s get a great discussion going.

To achieving your limitless potential,

Scott Tousignant

Lately Angie and I have been cooking many of the recipes that can be found in Tom Venuto’s Burn The Fat Inner Circle. Today I decided to try the Authentic Greek Salad With Chicken recipe. Angie and I love chicken salad’s and are always on the lookout for recipes to add variety and keep them exciting to eat. Here’s a video that I recorded, which shows how to prepare this totally delicious meal…

Keep an eye out for Noelle’s two thumbs up at the end of the video. She’s become a big fan of Tom’s recipes and she’s consuming much more vegetables as a result of these tasty meals.

Here are the ingredients and calorie content…

2 large chicken breasts (8 oz each)
3 medium (5oz) tomatoes
2 green bell peppers
1 medium red onion
16 pitted Kalamata black olives
4 oz low fat Greek feta cheese
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp oregano
Dash of sea salt

Calories: 428 (232 without the chicken)
Protein: 42.2g (7.6 without the chicken)
Carbs: 11.4g
Fat: 22.1 (17g without the chicken)

In our house this was 2-4 servings and is very satisfying.

These recipes have come in very handy since I’ve been following Tom’s Holy Grail Body Transformation Program for the past three weeks. It’s made it much easier to plan my meals and ensure that I’m receiving the adequate nutrition that my body deserves and requires to build muscle and burn fat at the same time.

Do Angie and I a favor and give this tasty salad a try and let us know what you think. We’d love to hear from you.

To achieving your limitless potential,

Scott Tousignant

PS Have I mentioned that Tom’s Burn The Fat Inner Circle totally ROCKS! There’s no greater resource out there… especially when combined with his Burn The Fat diet book and/or Holy Grail Body Transformation Program.

My goal during the next 14 weeks is to release 4 pounds of fat from my body and gain 6 pounds of muscle. It’s not an easy task to burn fat and build muscle at the same time and it’s actually quite a controversial subject.

As controversial as it is, it’s a topic that comes up frequently as it is truly the most coveted body transformation goal and for good reason. The last thing that you want to do when burning fat is to lose precious muscle mass and when your goal is to build muscle you want to avoid gaining much fat at all.

My buddy and fat loss expert extraordinaire Tom Venuto has put a lot of the controversy to rest with his latest book The Holy Grail Body Transformation Program and he’s backed it up with loads of solid research and in the trenches experience.

What I like about his approach is that he starts off by asking, “How do you define burning fat and building muscle at the same time?” This was a question that he answered during a recent interview that he conducted with Kyle Battis. You can download this outstanding audio by right clicking and saving “Body Transformation Secrets”

After listening to the Body Transformation Secrets audio I became inspired to follow the Holy Grail Body Transformation Program as it’s designed to produce the results that I desire to achieve, which is to burn fat and build muscle. So as of June 5th I will be following the Holy Grail program, which includes diet and exercise protocols.

Here’s what’s really cool… There’s a couple different ways to burn fat and build muscle at the same time and the Holy Grail Body Transformation Program covers all the bases.

You could either decide to focus on a primary goal of burning fat and a secondary goal of burning muscle (Meaning that you really want to burn fat and if you gain muscle that’s a great added bonus). Or you could have a primary goal of building muscle and a secondary goal of burning fat at the same time.

The Holy Grail Body Transformation Program has two different dietary guidelines for each of the above goals, which is totally awesome! So during the first 4-8 weeks while my primary goal is burning fat I’ll following those specific guidelines and then once I meet my fat burning goal I’ll shift into a primary muscle building mode and follow those specific nutrition guidelines from the Holy Grail Body Transformation Program.

If your only goal is to burn fat or build muscle there are also nutrition guidelines within the Holy Grail to meet those needs.

The Holy Grail Transformation Program is designed for people who only have moderate amounts of fat to release from their body and I fall into that category. If you have a significant amount of fat to release from your body it is advised that you focus solely on fat loss as your only goal and Tom’s Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle is the perfect nutrition program to meet those needs. For exercise I recommend the 10 minute Fat Loss Quickie home workouts as a great combination with the Burn The Fat nutrition plan.

I’ll be following the Holy Grail Body Transformation Program in conjunction with Tom’s Burn The Fat Summer 2010 Challenge as a means of skyrocketing my motivation and sharing the journey with thousands of other people within Tom’s Burn The Fat Inner Circle.

The Buzz within the Burn The Fat Inner Circle has been absolutely HUGE!!! I definitely want to feed off of all the energy, excitement, support, and inspiration from everyone within Tom’s amazing community.

I know that seeing the weekly results of everyone participating in the Burn The Fat Summer 2010 Transformation Contest will inspire me to push even harder and achieve the best results possible.

Support and sharing your fat loss journey are two of the most important components of success. I’m sure that I will be faced with obstacles along the way during the next 14 weeks and it’s great to know that I’m surrounded by like-minded people that I can really count on being there for me. It’s also great to know that I have thousands of people to share my victories with and share in their victories as well. It’s just great to know that you are not going through this body transformation journey alone.

I’ll be posting weekly updates here on my blog and taking weekly pictures to hold myself accountable. I intend to always post a weekly picture of myself to ensure that I’m always progressing. So if you don’t see an updated picture of me at least once per week, then you can probably be certain that I slacked off that week and maybe put on a small amount of weight. I never want to slip back and gain fat again and I feel that holding myself accountable to posting a weekly picture of myself is a great way to ensure that I’m always progressing.

I’m really looking forward to this 14 week journey and looking my absolute best ever at the end of the summer and looking better in September than I do now on this last day of May.

I’ve always admired Tom Venuto’s physique and his pictures have been a source of inspiration for me. So I figure that if I want to look like him I may as well follow his workout and nutrition program to help me achieve that goal

Tom’s workout program that’s included in the Holy Grail Body Transformation Program is right up my alley. I prefer split routines and love the exercise selection. His menu suggestion is very much in alignment with what I typically eat and how I typically eat so there shouldn’t be any adjustment period. That’s pretty much what I was expecting since I’ve used his Burn The Fat program a lot during the past 7 years whether it’s been for fat loss, maintenance, or muscle building.

My recent transformation has really peaked my fascination with the human body and how we can sculpt it and continue to improve upon it. I am certain that my body will experience some wonderful changes throughout this year and beyond and I have never been more excited!

To achieving your limitless potential,

Scott Tousignant

A few years ago a really nice woman brought her 18 year old daughter to my personal training studio to help her get ‘toned up’. I did the usual fitness assessments which included body fat measurements with professional grade calipers. Her body fat measured at 32%. Her mother’s mouth just about hit the floor. “There’s no way that her body fat is that high, look how skinny she is!” She asked me to do the measurement again. I agreed and and the results were exactly the same.

After performing a few strength tests and a variety of exercises to see where her current fitness level was at, it was quite clear that she was very weak and frail.

Upon her next visit the mother scolded me and told me that her friend who is ‘fit’ said there is no way that her daughter is 32% body fat. She’s skinny and she hardly eats.

After discovering that the only credentials this person had was reading fitness magazines I explained the science behind the body fat measurements, I did a 7 site measurement instead of 5 and produced the same result of 32% body fat. “I’m a trained professional and I know what I’m doing”, I said. Then I showed her why her body fat was so high…

I had her mother feel the 18 year old legs and arms. I had her pinch the fat with her fingers. I said, “Do you see how soft and jiggly she is?” The 18 year old daughter was 5 foot 4 and weighed 115 pounds. I then proceeded to call in one of my clients who was also 5 foot 4 and 120 pounds, but was 21% body fat.

I had the mother feel my clients arms and legs which were very firm and defined. First of all, the mother couldn’t believe that this woman weighed more than her daughter as my client appeared thinner and was pretty darn defined. Then she noticed that she really couldn’t pinch much fat and that my client was very solid and had a nice sculpted body.

“But why is my daughter so skinny if she has a higher body fat percentage?” The mother asked. Basically she starved off her muscle so she is now skin, fat, and bones.

When I told the mother that although her daughter was skinny she was still at risk of many diseases that are associated with being over weight because she was over-fat. I also mentioned that she was at a higher risk of osteoporosis because of her poor eating habits.

I congratulated her on taking the step to improve her health and body by incorporating exercise into her lifestyle and mentioned that there is a much better method to burn fat the safe way and actually eat more than what she was currently eating…

…that method is the Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle Plan by Tom Venuto.

Tom recently recorded an audio discussing the right way to transform your body, which is to burn fat while preserving your valuable muscle, which gives your body that lean and sculpted appearance.

You can download this information packed audio by right clicking Body Transformation Secrets

Tom Venuto also wrote a great article on this topic that I am certain you will gain some very valuable insights from…

“Scary Skinny” – Tabloid Tell-All’s

By Tom Venuto
Author of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle
Creator of the Burn The Fat Inner Circle

I admit it. I bought the National Enquirer. I know, I know, you should never admit you bought the Enquirer, but the headline GOT me! “Hollywood’s Deadly Skin And Bones Diet: Stars Risking Their Lives To Be Thin.” Not to be outdone, IN TOUCH magazine’s cover story was remarkably similar with the headline: “SCARY SKINNY!”

Actually, I wasn’t “reading” the Enquirer at all, I was, ahem, “Doing professional research…”

And besides, you have a lot of time on your hands at the checkout line when your weekly grocery list includes:

7 grapefruits, 4 packs of blueberries, 6 apples, 12 dozen eggs (yes of course, I throw away most of the yolks, thanks for asking), 9 lbs of chicken, 2 lbs of lean top round steak, 3 packs of salmon, 4 cans of tuna fish, 2 tubs of Quaker old fashioned oats, 7 bags of broccoli, 7 bags of mixed vegetables, 4 bags of spinach, miscellaneous salad vegetables, a big giant bag of sweet potatoes, several bags of brown rice… uh.. and that’s just in the first shopping cart, LOL!

TABLOID TELL-ALLS!

Anyway, on the cover of the Enquirer there were photos of a “bony skinny” Angelina Jolie at 5’ 7” 100 lbs, Anna Kournikova at 5’ 6” and 110 pounds, and Cate Blanchett at 5’ 8” and 106 pounds, among others.

After I flipped past the picture of Sharon Stone’s butt cellulite circled and enlarged for detail (no, I’m sorry to say, I’m not joking about that!), the feature story inside discussed an issue that’s really quite serious:

Dr. Stanley Title said that “The skin and bones diet is extremely dangerous and can cause serious health implications. Literally, they are starving themselves to death.”

Dr. Title said that Hollywood celebrities know that they look 10 lbs heavier on camera so they’ve almost all at one time used extreme measures (often including diet drug abuse), to the point where even casusal observers notice the protruding bones and rail thin bodies and wonder if they’ve gone too far.

People are dying to be thin, and unfortunately, that cliche has proven to be literally true on more than one occasion in the case of severe anorexia.

SKINNY DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN HEALTHY

All too often, people forget to include “health” when they’re setting their goals. It’s just “x lbs” or “size X” or “X% body fat,” but seldom a mention of health, energy, nutrition and quality of life.

There’s a side to this “scary skin and bones diet” that’s even more alarming than what the Enquirer alluded to.

I am privy to this only because I’m a fat loss coach who has taken thousands of body composition tests over the years, which is why most people don’t know about this.

Dr. Title, in the Enquirer story, said that these diets “leave the dieters looking skeletal with bones protruding under the skin.” True. And many clearly are flirting with eating disorders.

But something else I’ve noticed from my experience is that starvation dieting can often produce the opposite of the intended result. Instead of improving your body composition…

YOUR BODY FAT TO MUSCLE RATIO CAN ACTUALLY GET WORSE AND YOU BECOME A “SKINNY FAT PERSON!”

That’s right. Not only does skinny NOT = healthy, skinny also does NOT = lean, and skinny certainly does NOT = muscle.

Starvation dieters become victims of “skinny fat syndrome” and they diet off lots of “weight”, but the weight consists of more muscle than fat, so they end up with almost no muscle left, but a lot of the fat still remains!

Too bad they’re dieting off all their muscle, because MUSCLE is the engine that drives your metabolism.

Sometimes it’s not the “skin and bones” diet at all, it’s the “Bones and Fat diet.”

I’ve measured the body composition of some women who at a casual glance looked thin or even down right skinny, and to my absolute shock and dismay, I found they were carrying body fat in “worse than average” range!

One woman I took a test on was about 5’ 7” and 121 pounds. On any height weight chart or by any other standard that would be thin.

And this shows the flaw of thinking only in terms of “skinny,” “thin” or even just “body weight”: Her body fat measured an astonishingly high 28%!

That’s 34 lbs of fat out of 121 lbs, leaving only 87 pounds of lean body mass and fat free-tissue!

Imagine for a moment an arm bone, with a one inch pad of fat surrounding it, kind of like foam insulation around a pipe. That’s what her arm was like, only the insulation was pure fat!.

When I grabbed the back of her (very thin) arm- it was just one giant fat fold! Literally no muscle – just bones and fat.

Are you now starting to see the problem we have here with the way most people are dieting and thinking?

Do you realize how slow your metabolism would be if you only had 87 pounds of lean body mass? How about how weak you would be? is that what you really want?

I used to think “fat” was bad. Then I found out about “skinny fat” – nothing worse than skinny-fat, right?

Not so fast, How about “skinny-fat, malnourished, unhealthy and weak?” NOW THAT’S BAD!

People are so fixated only on the pounds of body weight and the outward appearance of “skinny” or “thin’ they are paying NO attention to health, energy, strength, function, muscle and vitality – the things that count!

4 TIPS TO BE “FITNESS MODEL LEAN”… NOT “WAIF-MODEL SKINNY”

(1) FIRST. Above all else, do not starve yourself.

ANY very low calorie diet can work in the beginning, but that’s exactly where the danger is – there’s a false sense of success achieved with rapid weight loss.

Rapid body weight loss almost never lasts. The thing is, in this day and age, you already know that. But you so desperately WANT to BELIEVE in the promise of the quick fix, that you ignore your own logic and act on emotion.

Never starve yourself. It’s better to burn more calories with exercise and activity than it is to cut more calories.

When you’re active and burning calories, you can eat much more, providing you with more vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, fiber, essential fatty acids and essential amino acids.

Proper nutrition = optimum health.
Starve yourself = inadequate nutrition = poor health

(2) SECOND, you must make strength training a part of your lifelong exercise program.

You must do resistance training. This is the stimulus and signal to your body to keep the lean muscle when you are on a moderately reduced calorie fat loss program.

Weight training is NOT just for bodybuilders. There is simply no substitute for strength training in keeping your muscle, stoking your metabolism, getting you lean, making you biologically young and keeping you healthy.

Yes – do your cardio too. But don’t do just cardio and think that’s enough. It’s NOT. Cardio + weight training are the TWO exercise elements that when done in combination will produce the fastest healthy fat loss results you can get, while maintaining all your muscle.

—————————-DON’T DO THIS—————————————-

Almost all “skinny fat” people do two things:

1. Starve themselves on very, very low calorie diets
2. Refuse to lift weights

——————————————————————————————

(3) THIRD, you have to change your language.

Words are so powerful aren’t they? Just a change in vocabulary can instantly change a feeling and begin to change your behaviors.

If we stopped trying to be “skinny” and stopped “dying to be thin” (what a terrible metaphor), and instead we focused on “being healthy” “being lean” what a difference it would make.

What if you focused on “improving your nutrition” instead of “going on a diet?” what kind of difference do you think that would make? Just the sound of that – “nutrition” – how does it make you feel compared to “diet?” I’m SERIOUS, THINK about that. What associations come along with each word?

What if you added to your goal list a desire to look and be “athletic.” How would that change your perspective? Is the rail-thin, protruding bones waif-model look “athletic???”

—————————————DO THIS!——————————————————-

* Always include “being healthy” in your goals, not just reaching a certain weight or dress size.
* Always include “being LEAN” in your goals, never just losing body weight.
* Always focus on “improving nutrition” not “dieting.”

———————————————————————————————————

(4) FOURTH, measure your body composition.

You must become aware of the difference between body fat and body weight and you must understand body fat percentage and body fat testing.

That doesn’t mean don’t use your scale and ignore what the mirror shows you and how your clothes fit, it means doing all of the above.

Always measure your body composition (skinfold caliper or other method), and understand what you’re losing – is it weight or fat? Is it just water weight? Could it be lean muscle you’re losing?

A single measurement will tell you.

Burn The Fat, KEEP The Muscle

Everything I’ve described here about what you should do and what you should not do is the same approach that *natural* bodybuilders and fitness competitors have always used.

These athletes CANNOT afford to lose an ounce of muscle, so they train hard and eat sometimes as many as 6 clean-natural-food meals a day to stoke the metabolism and feed the muscle.

It’s the approach I use to reach the type of physical condition you see in the picture on my website, and its’ the approach I have been teaching to others for years in my Burn The Fat program.

I hope that more people who were focused only on being skinny will begin to focus on the right thing:

It’s not about being “skinny.” It’s about being “lean” and being “healthy.”

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models.

I hope that you enjoyed this post, my insights and experiences, as well as the great article by Tom Venuto. It’s important to understand exactly what you are aiming for when you set out on a journey to lose weight. Are you really aiming for a certain number on the scale? Or are you aiming for a leaner more sculpted look along with improved health and vitality?

Transforming your body is more about improving your body composition than improving your weight. Yes the weight will go down, but you want that weight loss to come from fat being released from your body, not water and muscle.

I encourage you to listen to this information packed audio with Tom Venuto and listen all the way to the end. You do not want to miss any of his priceless advice.

You can download this information packed audio by right clicking Body Transformation Secrets

To achieving your limitless potential,

Scott Tousignant

The greatest shortcut to fat loss success is to learn from people who have already achieved their fat loss goals. Simply model their example by applying their successful strategies and avoiding the mistakes that they may have made along the way. Following this strategy will enable you to achieve your fat loss results faster because you’ll be armed with the information to avoid the mistakes made and overcome obstacles and challenges much quicker.

There is no greater place to find amazing success stories than Tom Venuto’s Burn The Fat Inner Circle. My mp3 player is loaded with dozens of these inspiring success stories from his Inner Circle.

I’ve always been amazed with the 50 pound, 60 pound, 70 pound, and 80 pound fat loss success stories that Tom’s Burn The Fat program has produced during the past 8 years, but what has really opened my mind to what’s possible are the dozens of 100 plus pound fat loss success stories that the Burn The Fat program has produced.

I have learned a great deal from each of these individual success stories, but I wanted to get to get to the bottom of the secrets of these countless success stories to see if there is something special about this group of amazing people that helped them overcome their fear of past failures, blast through the obstacles and challenges along the way, and never give up until they reached their ultimate goal.

So I called up Tom Venuto and asked him if he had discovered any common trends among these success stories in order to provide you with a shortcut for fat loss success.

Tom’s responses were absolutely amazing! When you apply these fat loss success strategies, I guarantee that you will take weeks, months, and maybe even years off of your fat loss journey depending on where you are starting. More important is that you will actually complete the journey and become a fat loss success story yourself.

You can download this motivational audio by right clicking and saving Burn The Fat Success Story Secrets!

You can also download the transcripts and read along as you listen to the audio Burn The Fat Success Story Secrets Report

First, I really wanted to get into the mindset of these amazing fat loss success stories…

What made this time different?

Why were they finally able to stick to a diet plan?

What were some of the turning points that motivated them to take purposeful and inspired action?

What were the common motivational strategies that they applied to keep them focused on their goal and tie in a lot of emotion to achieving their goal?

How did they handle setbacks, obstacles, and challenges?

These questions led to a great discussion about counting calories and how these amazing success stories were able to follow the detailed and precise Burn The Fat program without having to count calories.

Frankly, the moment that Tom shared this one strategy I felt an instant relief come over me. It’s as if fat loss became totally simplified in a single moment. This was a huge aha moment for me even though I had followed it in the past. It was the way that Tom put it that really made it sink in.

Our discussion then turned to the power of social support and how these amazing success stories were able to maximize the benefits of social support to propel them rapidly toward their goals and in a manner that was incredibly fun and rewarding.

It was great to discus how the mindset of these success stories have changed from how they once feared challenges and setbacks to actually embracing challenges and seeking them, because they know that it’s these challenges that help them become the best that they can be.

One thing has really stood out from listening to all of the Burn The Fat Success Stories and that is, “If they can do it, so can YOU!” I’ve heard each of them say it and Tom reaffirmed it near the end of our call.

You CAN and WILL achieve an incredible body transformation. It’s totally within your grasp. I am more confident than ever that this is finally your time! You WILL do this!

As Tom and I wrapped up our call we touched on the power of transformation contests and how they are an incredible motivator for fat loss success.

Many people achieved outstanding fat loss success during Tom’s Burn The Fat Holiday Transformation Contest and we’re really looking forward to seeing the phenomenal success stories that come from his Burn The Fat 2010 Summer Burn Transformation Contest.

With a trip to Maui Hawaii for you and a guest as one of the grand prizes along with the support and motivation from the Burn The Fat Inner Circle and the greatest fat loss nutrition advice in the Burn The Fat program, you have no choice but to succeed and come out of this summer in better shape than when it began.

How cool is that???

OK, it’s time to listen to this information packed audio and apply the amazing fat loss success strategies that come from dozens of people who have released over 100 pounds of fat and thousands of people who have released less than that, but nonetheless achieved incredible body transformations!

When you apply these fat loss success strategies you will become a success magnet. You will effortlessly attract the tools that you need to achieve the body that you deserve. You will attract the people and information that will take your fat loss success to an entirely new level.

This is your time to shine. Everything that you need is within your grasp. The power to achieve greatness is within you and it’s time to unleash it!

Experience incredible self confidence. Experience the joy of achieving your goal. Experience the freedom and opportunity that your new healthy and vibrant physique will create for you.

You deserve this! It’s waiting for you… go out and get it!

To achieving your limitless potential,

Scott Tousignant

PS If you haven’t watched my video that includes over 20 of the amazing success stories from Tom’s Burn The Fat Inner Circle you’ll definitely want to hit play on this video…

PPS You now have a shortcut to fat loss success by applying the priceless strategies in the Burn The Fat Inner Circle. Take full advantage of it and please share your success with others so they too can experience faster fat loss results!

I’m super excited to share this incredible interview with you today about how a busy mom of three young kids was able to transform her body in just 7 short weeks and get her pre-baby body back.

This is one of my favorite interviews from Tom Venuto’s Burn The Fat Inner Circle. Hannah’s insights into her body transformation are absolutely awesome and I’m sure will provide you with great inspiration and priceless motivational strategies.

Enjoy the interview and realize that if she can achieve great success, so can you!

Winning Body Transformation Secrets

One of the best ways to succeed is to model successful people. Instead of trying to re-invent the wheel, you copy a winning formula that already exists. This can short-cut your trial and error learning curve by months or even years. The problem is, where do you find a role model? Who do you trust? Whose advice do you listen to? If the success you want is a better body, then who better than a body transformation contest winner? (like the amazing champion you’re about to meet…)

On May 24th, we are opening registration for our Burn The Fat 2010 Summer Body transformation challenge. “Contest central” will be located at the Burn The Fat Inner Circle.

With this new challenge coming up, I figured it would be a perfect time to call upon our last year’s champions to pick their brains and find out how they achieved body transformations so amazing that it won them the title of Overall Burn The Fat Champion.

Today I’d like you to meet Hannah Mauck, 2009 Burn the Fat Holiday (winter) Challenge women’s champion. Hannah slashed 12 pounds, and burned off 6% body fat in just 7 weeks.

You can’t help but be amazed at the results you see in her before and after photos. But what the pictures don’t say is that Hannah is also a mom of three, ages 5, 3 and 1. She made her contest winning transformation even while taking care of her children, over the busiest time of the year, with the most temptations (the winter challenge ran from Thanksgiving through New Year’s!)

That really puts her achievement into a whole different perspective, not to mention it kills any excuses you might have about family obligations getting in the way.

We interviewed Hannah after her win and pulled out her top body transformation tips. Whether you’re planning to enter our upcoming summer Burn the Fat Challenge or you just want some body transforming tips for your own personal use, this advice is pure gold!

HANNAH: Thinking I didn’t have time was exactly the reason I was in the predicament I was in, health and body-wise, in the first place. But when I found your Burn the Fat book and I read through, it really clicked with me. I knew that I could do it in a manageable amount of time.

All your techniques – the tracking, the accountability methods and the planning of the meals and workouts actually led me to having a lot more time, because I was more organized and I wasn’t trying to put something together at the last minute. I knew exactly what I would be doing and when I would be doing it.

Also, losing weight and spending the time working out has given me so much more energy and brain clarity, that actually, I have more free time. I’ve been able to get more done by investing time in working out. Not having time is not an issue once you actually focus on your goals. As far as getting my pre-baby body back, my body is better than before I had babies. So that’s not an excuse either.

TOM: It seems like you were pretty meticulous about what you were eating. How closely did you track your calories or your macronutrients, the grams of the protein, carbs and fat? If I read your journal right, you used some kind of electronic device to track everything. How did that work for you?

HANNAH: I did track pretty closely. I didn’t even know what a macronutrient was, by your definition, until a couple weeks into your program. Then I realized that was important. I started putting that data in and that really helped me to see where my downfalls were. It leads to a lot of accountability when you have to enter food.

Using the iPod for tracking was really great. I got that idea off the Burn the Fat Inner Circle forums, where somebody else was using a program on their iPod. It’s really convenient, because you can have it with you all the time and you can enter your data right away and you can actually make adjustments throughout your day by what you’ve eaten or haven’t eaten. That was really helpful for me.

TOM: Obviously, you got a lot leaner, so that revealed the muscles that might have been there already, but you definitely showed more muscularity in your after picture. This is where you can really help us out. You can help the “greater cause” for us: that is, convincing women to lift weights, when they think they’re either going to get bulky or unfeminine. What do you have to say about that now?

HANNAH: It’s not an easy task for women to put on muscle and you don’t look bulky even after you do. But I would also add that we all have different body types. Some of us are going to work out and we’re going to stay looking tall and lean and slender. Others are going to work out and we’re going to be a little bit more muscular naturally.

I think everyone should just embrace their fittest body and learn to be comfortable with their body type, whether you’re a little bit more muscular, or you’re more of the ectomorph or leaner type. I think my body type is a little more mesomorph – It’s a little easier for me to gain muscle, but that in no way added any bulk. We just become a little more defined.

The muscle showed once I lost the fat. But none of my measurements were bigger than before I started the challenge. So it did not, definitely did not add any bulk.

TOM: Some people get overwhelmed with the amount of information in the Burn The Fat book, let alone the huge archives we have at the Burn the Fat Inner Circle. Even though you were a relative newcomer to our community, you went right to work and picked it up so fast. What’s your secret? How did you learn all this so quickly and put all the information into practice so fast?

HANNAH: I think the key for me was timing. I stumbled onto an ad of yours on the internet for Burn the Fat, then very shortly after that, you announced the Burn the Fat Challenge over the 2009-2010 holidays. I felt like my babies were old enough and I just needed to get busy, so I was mentally very ready for a change at that point. So I do think you have to be ready to change. .

Then, enrolling, and being involved in that challenge was really the key for the implementation. The holiday challenge was 7 weeks so I didn’t have time to just say, “Oh, I’m going to read that later” or “I’m going to do that later.” I had a goal and a deadline and a challenge so I had to focus and read it and do it now. I think it was really the challenge that helped me to implement everything so fast.

TOM: You said that you had days with low energy and days you felt really hungry. That’s going to happen to just about everybody who has their calories reduced for fat loss. So what did you do, either physically or mentally, to stay on your eating plan even when you were hungry, and stay on your training plan even when you were tired?

HANNAH: One thing is I would tell myself that I’m in charge of myself, so I can have anything I want, as long as I wait 30 minutes. A lot of times, just delaying that instant urge to put something in my mouth would be enough to either make it to the next meal or realize I didn’t want it. Another thing was that being around kids and food all day long, I had to tell myself I wasn’t the garbage disposal. That may sound funny, but when you’re picking up food all day long, it’s easy to finish off the kids’ portions of this or that. So I put a halt to that and it really helped me. Drinking a lot of hot tea was another way that satisfied both my sweet tooth and cravings for other things.

As far as being tired, sometimes it was just mental and I pushed through it. I really saw a reward and felt more energy from just getting up and doing the workout. Other times, especially as a mom, I think you have to listen to your body and sometimes you need sleep. There were nights where I was up all night with a sick kid. The next day, I just allowed myself to sleep, or have a nap. That really helped with being able to recover and stay on track, because if I got overly tired, I was not able to make good judgment decisions, as far as what I was eating. Sometimes you just need to sleep.

TOM: In one of your very first challenge journal posts, you wrote, “Blechhh. I can’t believe I posted those pictures.” I know that posting before pictures takes a lot of courage. A lot of other women – and guys – in the challenge felt the same way, because I heard it from so many of them. People asked me, “Do we really have to post pictures to be in this contest?” So I’m curious: Looking back, how do you feel about having posted your before picture, when you can now put it next to your after picture?

HANNAH: At the time, I definitely thought I was insane. That’s not the type of thing I would have ever done or considered doing at that point. The pictures were almost what made me not do the challenge. But now, I feel like that was invaluable and I totally understand that requirement today. Measurements and numbers are great, but they’re hard to believe in your head. Being able to actually see the change in your body in a picture – that’s totally invaluable. I wouldn’t be able to believe the numbers without seeing the picture. The picture also really kept my feet to the fire. There was no way to hide what you really looked like with the pictures right there.
And the difference between pictures and the mirror??? HUGE. I can’t really even explain that. Something happens when you look in the mirror that does not happen when you look at a photograph. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know how our brains fool us that way. But I could look in the mirror all day long and not see what I can see from a photograph.

TOM VENUTO: For anyone who’s thinking about entering the next challenge and they’re terrified to take their picture and post it in the website, what would be your advice to them – coming from someone who felt the same way, but did it anyways?

HANNAH: I completely sympathize and I understand how hard it is. But it really is invaluable and it’s the best way to really admit where you’re currently at and to see the milestones you pass and be able to see the changes in your body. It’s definitely invaluable.

TOM: Our summer transformation contest is the big one – 98 days across the entire summer, but our winter contest only ran from Thanksgiving to the first week of January. You came down 6% body fat in those 7 weeks. To put that into perspective, for most people, it would take 12 weeks to drop 6% body fat. About a half a percent a week is typical fat loss. How did you get results that were so far above average and what is your advice for other people who want to make a “results not typical” transformation?

HANNAH: The first thing would be the goal setting techniques from your book. The goal card really helped me – just having that written down goal, instead of some vague idea that I needed to improve, kept me totally focused. Second was using feedback from measurements and actually tracking my progress numbers and being accountable to others on the forum. Third was the pre-planning of when exactly I would work out and what I would do, and menus that I would follow.

TOM : Do you think this whole Burn the Fat challenge changed your perception on how much you can transform your body in a short period of time, as in our 7 week challenge?

HANNAH: Absolutely. I had no idea it was possible. I’ve always looked at those ads, showing pictures of people changing and I thought like that was just a huge fake. I thought it really wasn’t possible and that it would take at least a year to see visible changes of long, hard, hard work, and that has always been a deterrent for me. So knowing that I can put in a concentrated effort for a certain amount of time and actually see visible results is really encouraging to me.

I feel like you could probably advertise the next challenge by saying that if you just finish the challenge and stick to your goals, you will achieve the untypical results, the above average results. Because so many of the finishers did, just by having the accountability of a challenge like this that you don’t have doing it alone. So many of them worked so hard and lost so much weight or changed their body composition so much. It was just amazing to see.

10 DAYS TO THE 2010 SUMMER BURN THE FAT BODY TRANSFORMATION CHALLENGE: CONTEST REGISTRATION KICKS OFF ON MONDAY MAY 24th!

Over the next two weeks, I will be posting all the contest details, how to enter, what are the rules and regulations, plus more interviews with our past champions and finalists and tips on how to make your best transformation.

Eligibility for the 2010 summer body transformation challenge is the same as for our last (holidays 2009) contest:

1. If you own the Burn the Fat ebook, you are already eligible to enter.

2. If you are a burn the fat inner circle member, you are already eligible to enter.

3. If you’re not a burn the fat member and you don’t have the burn the fat ebook, you will be automatically eligible to register for the contest when you purchase the burn the fat program. (some restricions may apply. Contest is void where prohibited by law).

Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM) is the official guidebook of the Burn the Fat challenge. You can get information about the BFFM program at:

=====> Burn The Fat

“Contest Central” for the Burn the Fat transformation challenge will once again be hosted at the Burn The Fat Inner Circle:

It is not mandatory to be a Burn the Fat Inner Circle member to participate in the upcoming contest, but we invite you to learn more about our burn the fat support community here:

======> Burn The Fat Inner Circle

The contest will run across the entire summer. It will be a life-changing 98 days.

Some country and U.S. state restrictions may apply. Contest void where prohibited by law. Complete rules and regulations will be posted on the registration page at the official contest site when registration begins on May 24th: Burn The Fat Inner Circle

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models.

There is no short supply of transformation contests on the Internet today and there’s some very amazing prizes attached to these contests. This can make for great incentive to finally make a lifestyle change and release your unwanted belly fat.

But not all transformation contests are the same. If the focus is solely on weight loss and you go to extreme measures that end up costing you precious muscle mass along with water weight… you’ll end up as a “Skinny Fat Person“. Meaning, that your body fat percentage will still be high, but you will be ‘thinner’ because you lost weight.

If you truly want to transform your body, then do just that! Sculpt it! Burn the fat! Add a bit of sexy body shaping muscle!

…don’t just become a smaller version of your current overweight self.

Here’s a great guest post by fat loss expert Tom Venuto that really illustrates the point…

Body Recomposition: Transforming From Fat To Muscle

By Tom Venuto author of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle
Creator of the Burn The Fat Inner Circle

Weight loss contests, especially the Biggest Loser, where obese people drop insane amounts of body weight – like 10, 15 or even 20 lbs in a week – have become extremely popular. Many people say they get incredibly inspired and motivated watching these huge weight losses take place right before their eyes. I agree that fitness contests are a powerful motivational catalyst. But I also believe that there are some fatal flaws in contests that encourage rapid “weight loss.” That’s why I finally decided to host my own body transformation contest – the “Burn The Fat Challenge”…

But Our Contest Was NOTHING Like The Biggest Loser…

Our fitness contest is different because it’s a body composition transformation contest – not just a “weight loss” contest.

If you’re not hip to what “body composition” means, then the results of our first contest (2009) are going to blow your mind: Josh Ketter, the men’s champ, and Ryan Cochrane, one of the top finalists, only lost one pound.

You might be thinking, “what kind of weird body transformation contest were you running where the winner and the finalists only drop a pound?”

Well, it might seem weird if you thought success at body transformation ONLY meant dropping large amounts of weight on the scale, but…

What About The Difference Between Fat Loss and Weight Loss?

What if you gain muscle while losing weight? Think about this – if you gain muscle in a weight loss contest, you get penalized, right? But shouldn’t you be REWARDED for gaining muscle as well as burning fat? Wouldn’t that be the ultimate prize?

That’s the fatal flaw of “weight loss” contests: Most people are obsessed with scale weight but don’t pay any attention to their body composition – the all-important fat-to-muscle ratio.

Of course, some of the contestants in our last Burn The Fat Challenge contest DID drop a lot of weight – 14, 19, even 26 lbs in only 7 weeks.In our upcoming 98 day challenge those amounts could be double that. But the person who drops the most pounds is not necessarily voted the winner in the Burn The Fat Challenge.

Some contestants became winners because they made astonishing improvements in their muscle to fat ratio, even though they didn’t lose much weight.

For example, Josh lost LESS than a pound because the solid new muscle weight replaced the fat weight. As you can see from his photos, he looks leaner AND more muscular, but the scale hardly changed at all!

The Burn the Fat System works for women too, and replacing fat with muscle is EXACTLY what most women need, but aren’t getting, because most women are worried about getting “bulky.”

Women who don’t train for more muscle are making a BIG mistake! What most women don’t realize is that if you strip off fat AT THE SAME TIME as you put on lean muscle, you don’t get bulky – you get strong and sexy!

The idea that women who gain muscle will look bulky or masculine is completely false (except for women who take anabolic steroid drugs, and I would NEVER recommend that!)

Take a look at Sarah’s before and after photos below. She gained an astonishing 7 pounds of muscle during the last Burn the Fat challenge contest. Her body transformation pics put to rest the idea that women get bulky from gaining muscle. They also reveal why the scale can play tricks on you…

Look at at the numbers too: She actually GAINED a pound of bodyweight according to the scale, increasing from 119 to 120 pounds, BUT her body fat decreased from 19% to a ripped 12.6%.

That’s a 7.9 pound GAIN in lean body mass and a 7 pound loss of body fat!

Bulky? Manly? I don’t think so!

This is what burning the fat and feeding the muscle can do for the female figure!

These results are definitely not typical. Most people don’t lose 7 pounds of fat weight and replace it with 7 pounds of muscle weight in 7 weeks. More typical results might be 1-2 pounds per week of fat lost (7-14 pounds in 7 weeks) and, if you do everything right, 2 or 3 pounds of muscle gained at the same time.

However, these body composition transformations do show what is possible with hard work, a goal, support and accountability.

3 Things You Must Know To Make Body Transformations Like These

My fat burning programs have helped dozens of men and women lose over 100 pounds, and up to as much as 256 pounds. I’ve published their success stories on the Burn The Fat Website, in the burn the fat newsletter and in our famous success story interviews at the Burn The Fat Inner Circle

Why then, did I show you the success stories above, where there was virtually no “weight loss”, instead of 100+ pound massive weight loss stories – the kind so popular on TV shows today?

There are 3 major reasons:
1. I wanted you to see real-world proof that it IS possible to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time…
2. I wanted you to realize the difference between weight loss and fat loss…
3. I wanted you to finally give up the notion that weight loss is the only goal that matters

You may have a lot of weight to lose (body fat), but weight loss is not all there is to a body transformation.

Some people are not seriously overweight, but they are seriously unhappy with their bodies.

Whichever is your situation – you want to drop 40, 70 or even 100+ Pounds, or if you don’t need to lose a lot of weight but you want to firm-up, lean-out and re-shape how your body looks, here is the perfect chance for you to do it.

We hold two Burn the Fat Body transformation contests per year. Our winter contest (the holiday challenge is only 7 weeks (49 days) long and takes place over the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New year’s Holidays.

We are running another transformation contest over the summer of 2010.

It’s NOT a weight loss contest – it’s a “BODY COMPOSITION TRANSFORMATION CONTEST.”

If you choose to enter and accept this challenge, you will take a “before” photograph of yourself between May 24th and May 30th.

You will also record your body weight AND your ULTRA-IMPORTANT body fat percentage. The body fat test will then tell you how much of your weight is fat and how much is muscle.

You may lose a lot of weight, or you may lose only a little. However, the winners of the Burn the Fat challenge will be chosen based on the following:

1. The improvement in your body as seen in your before photo compared to your after photo.
2. The improvement in your body composition (the fat-to-muscle ratio)
3. The essay you will write about your experience at the end of the 98 day contest.

I’ll be back tomorrow with details on the contest prizes, including the GRAND PRIZE TRIP TO MAUI! Full contest details will be posted before Monday, May 24th when the contest opens. The contest entry deadline is May 30th – mark your calendars now!

4 DAYS TO THE 2010 SUMMER BURN THE FAT CHALLENGE: CONTEST REGISTRATION KICKS OFF ON MONDAY MAY 24th!

Eligibility for the 2010 summer Burn The Fat challenge is the same as for our last (holidays 2009) contest:

1. If you own the Burn the Fat ebook, you are already eligible to enter.

2. If you are a burn the fat inner circle member, you are already eligible to enter.

3. If you’re not a burn the fat member and you don’t have the burn the fat ebook, you will be automatically eligible to register for the contest when you purchase the burn the fat program. (some restricions may apply. Contest is void where prohibited by law).

Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM) is the official guidebook of the Burn the Fat challenge. You can get information about the BFFM program at:

=====> Burn The Fat

“Contest Central” for the Burn the Fat transformation challenge will once again be hosted at the Burn The Fat Inner Circle:

It is not mandatory to be a Burn the Fat Inner Circle member to participate in the upcoming contest, but we invite you to learn more about our burn the fat support community here:

======> Burn The Fat Inner Circle

The contest will run across the entire summer. It will be a life-changing 98 days.

Some country and U.S. state restrictions may apply. Contest void where prohibited by law. Complete rules and regulations will be posted on the registration page at the official contest site when registration begins on May 24th: Burn The Fat Inner Circle.

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models.

When you read about a fat loss success story in a magazine or on a blog does it provide you with a boost of motivation to take inspired action toward achieving your own personal fat loss goals?

When you see a fat loss success story on a television talk show or reality tv show and you hear all the emotion and feelings of what it’s been like to finally achieve the body that they deserve, does it cause you to leap out of your chair and get yourself one step closer to experiencing your own personal body transformation?

Success stories can have a very positive impact on our personal motivation on many different levels. In many cases it’s the thought that, “If they can do it why can’t I?” That’s one of the most important questions that you should ask yourself when you hear a success story.

What’s special about the person who achieved such great fat loss success? I’ll tell you one thing… it usually doesn’t have anything to do with luck or great genetics.

What makes them special is their dedication, determination, perseverance, willingness to do what it takes to overcome any challenge or obstacle that presents itself, a very specific target that they are aiming for, strong reasons why they MUST reach their target, and the good sense of judgment to modify their plan if the desired results are not taking place.

My motivation thrives when I listen to success stories on a weekly basis. It reassures me that great results require great effort and an Unstoppable Mindset! I love to hear how these amazing people were able to overcome the obstacles that got in their way and how they were able to deal with setbacks and continue to push forward despite their challenges.

Even more important, I love to hear how their fat loss success has had such a tremendous impact on all areas of their life. I am inspired by moms who experience new found energy to play with their kids. I’m inspired by seniors who are now able to enjoy a great quality of life, living it to the fullest. I’m totally inspired by individuals who felt as though they had “Tried everything” and were worried that they would always be a yo-yo dieter and would always be a ‘fat person’… yet they were able to dig deep and discover that passionate desire within them to become the best version of themselves possible… and go on to release over 100 pounds of unwanted body fat!

There is no better place to find amazing fat loss success stories, than Tom Venuto’s Burn The Fat Inner Circle. Take a moment to become inspired by these amazing fat loss successes…

Burn The Fat Success Stories

I have yet to come across another fat loss program that has produced as many 100 + pound fat loss success stories as Tom Venuto’s Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle book and his Burn The Fat Inner Circle.

I’m sure that a lot of it has to do with Tom’s honest, No B.S. approach. Tom not only tells it like it is, but he backs it up with solid research and time tested and proven strategies.

Tom always takes it several steps further than most fat loss experts when it comes to fat loss research. He doesn’t just throw a study out there to impress you and back up his claim. He cross examines the study and cross examines many other studies to ensure that the conclusions are valid. And he lets you know about the issues that come up with the studies and why they may or may not be valid.

As you can see in the video above, Tom’s Burn The Fat Inner Circle is full of the latest most up to date fat loss research and articles to assist you in your fat loss journey and promote life long health fitness success.

Tom offers the whole package… Nutrition Advice, Fitness Tips, Motivation Strategies, Social Support, and so much more!

What makes his Burn The Fat Inner Circle even better is the amazing people that he attracts to it. The members of the Burn The Fat Inner Circle contribute incredible value by lending support, encouragement, and of course the motivation from their own personal successes, which you know by now inspires the heck out of me.

It’s been a great honour for me being selected as a contributor to Tom Venuto’s Burn The Fat Inner Circle since it’s debut back in the summer of 2006. It’s amazing how time fly’s. Much of my contribution has come in the form of unique motivation articles including topics of spousal support and overcoming limiting beliefs. I have learned a great deal from the other contributing experts and Tom’s articles always produce a positive result in sculpting my body.

One tip from one of Tom’s workout articles was responsible for setting my thighs on fire and adding an inch to each thigh and half an inch to my calves last month.

I could go on and on about how great Tom Venuto is and why I believe you should become an avid student of his, but I already covered that in a previous post about “Why Everyone Should Follow Fat Loss Expert Tom Venuto“.

Right now, I’d rather you check out Tom Venuto’s Burn The Fat Inner Circle for yourself and see what makes the Internet’s Premier Fat Loss Support Community so special.

I bet that you can even find enough loose change between the cushions of your couch or under the driver seat of your car to cover the small monthly investment that has the power to completely transform your body and life.

Come join us in the journey of sculpting the best version of ourselves possible. Let your success story inspire thousands of others to become the best that they can be.

I look forward to listening to your success story interview while I do my cardio and become inspired by your body transformation!

To achieving your limitless potential,

Scott Tousignant

PS Chances are pretty darn good that you already own a copy of Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle or are a Burn The Fat Inner Circle Member. If that’s the case than you must have heard about Tom’s newest Transformation Contest with prize packages that include a trip to Maui Hawaii!!!

Burn The Fat Summer Challenge 2010

I love Tom’s transformation contests! They are always scheduled around the best time of year when we would typically give into temptations and let ourselves go.