Fat Burning Furnace: Fat Loss

Showing posts with label Fat Loss. Show all posts

Get A Great Fat Burning Workout
Wherever You Are, Anytime

By Rob Poulos, Fat Loss & Fitness Expert & Creator of 'Fat Burning Furnace'

You’ve heard it a million times from people trying to burn fat, “I just don’t have time to get to the gym.” Well that really shouldn’t be a problem once you understand how you can get a proper fat burning workout done with basic or minimal equipment.

In order to get a great high intensity fat burning workout, like students of my Fat Burning Furnace system get….one that stimulates the growth of lean muscle tissue, accelerates your metabolism and fat burning, and provides cardiovascular conditioning…you need to perform a variety of exercises that work all of your major muscle groups in the same workout.

You have a few choices in what equipment to use. But I am here to tell you that you don’t need fancy equipment or a membership at the hot fitness center in your area. All that is really required for your fat burning workout is good old-fashioned barbells and/or dumbbells…or less. In fact, you can work your entire body from head to toe with a good set of adjustable dumbbells and a simple bench.

Keep this in your home and it takes very little space and is always accessible for those fat burning workouts you’d have to skip otherwise. After all, the proper workout I’m talking about averages about 15-20 minutes…but if you factor in the transit time to and from the gym, it can become more difficult to stick to your routine.

I highly recommend getting a basic setup at home for those times, or you can even use this exclusively. I personally always workout at home and it has its advantages. You don’t have to wait for the next station or machine on your routine at home. This is very important in relation to pulling the maximum cardiovascular benefits out of the same muscle building and fat burning workout…keeping your time between exercises down to 60 seconds or less.

Home workouts are also great for those that might be a bit intimidated by working out with weights in public at the gym. If you feel this way, don’t fret, you’re not alone. This is especially true for some of the ladies, as weight training is traditionally thought of as the guy’s territory in the fitness center. Nothing could be further from the truth, but if you’d rather perform you fat burning workout at home, then do it!

Another excuse for skipping workouts that I hear a lot is related to travel. For busy people, this is a reality. You go on business trips. You go on vacation. You go to visit out of town friends and family. Now, when working out properly, like I teach my Fat Burning Furnace students, you’re only exercising for 2-3 days per week, but if you’re workout day falls on a day when you’re out of town, what to do?

Yeah, you could try and find a local gym to go to, but that can be a hassle. There are actually several fat burning bodyweight exercises you can do without the use of any equipment.

Movements like the pushup, chin-ups, sit-ups, etc. can provide enough muscle stimulation to keep you conditioned until you get back home. You’re using your bodyweight as the resistance, rather than dumbbells, barbells, or machines.

So don’t let those standard excuses work their way into your vocabulary…you can get a great fat burning workout wherever you are, anytime!

Claim your free copy of Rob Poulos's "7 Secrets Of Permanent Fat Loss & Fitness" at his website: http://www.fatburningfurnace.com

Rob Poulos is a celebrated fitness author, fat loss expert, and the founder and CEO of Zero to Hero Fitness. Rob created the world's most efficient method for fast and permanent fat loss with his "Fat Burning Furnace" system to help those looking to put an end to restrictive fad diets, long boring cardio workouts, and the need for super-human willpower for good.

If you're thinking about using the Fat Burning Furnace system yourself, but still have a few questions, make sure you visit the Frequently Asked Questions page.

Also, it may help to read about the Success Stories of others like you to see how people in similar situations have changed their bodies and their lives with the techniques in FBF.

But you may become anxious to get started on your new body right now, so you can also click the button below to get started right now. Remember, you have a full 60 days to decide if it's right for you. If not, just email me and we'll issue you a full refund and I'll thank you for trying it out...it's that simple!

Push This Button To Get Started Right Now!

Why You Should “Just Say No”
To Diets To Burn Fat (Part 1)

By Rob Poulos, Fat Loss & Fitness Expert & Creator of 'Fat Burning Furnace'

Fad diets, they all have one thing in common. They’re diets. They are like a pair of bell bottom pants. They are in for a couple of years and they’re gone. Then they find they’re way back just when the fitness professionals know we are ready to eat 'em up again…no pun intended.

When you're trying to burn fat, you really should avoid these things like the plague.

Now, realistically many of these diets will provide some initial fat loss for many people. So you get some weight loss initially, but you could also lose some muscle on these programs too, and you know that losing muscle can spell disaster to your fat burning efforts. But the bigger problem with these diets is that most who follow outlandish diets gain back the fat they lost, and then some!

On top of that, they often recommend focusing too much on one type of food, which can lead to unhealthy eating habits. I’ve found they are too strict to be realistically followed, especially for a long period of time, and they’re no fun. And anything you can't follow as a lifestyle will not burn fat in the long run.

You see, the very concept of a diet is doomed to fail. Why? Diets are based in a temporary mindset. The fact that someone goes on a diet means they will have to come off of the diet.

This is temporary…why force yourself to lose 10 pounds when you’re just going to gain it back and then some when you go off of the diet? That may sound simple, but most people just don’t get it…they look to diets as the answer to their weight and health problems. But they’re not the answer, and they actually create more problems for you. People who are regular dieters don't burn fat over the long haul.

If you seek life long fat burning, health and fitness in a lean body, you should take some advice from my mom, and probably your mom too. When I think about it, probably the best base of nutritional knowledge I received was from my mom. For the most part, my mom was right. She didn't know anything about fat burning, but she made sure I got nutritious foods growing up.

She especially made a point to make sure I ate my vegetables, especially the green ones. She limited sugary stuff and other junk, but didn’t totally eliminate it, making it a special treat for me on occasion. She tried to provide a balanced offering of the different food groups throughout the day.

Thanks, Mom! Mom’s diet was actually quite sound, and I’ve found that heeding some of this advice in the pursuit of maximum fat burning and a lean healthy body for the rest of your life is a smart way to go.

You see, your body naturally craves foods rich in nutrients (antioxidants, phyto nutrients, fiber, vitamins, minerals, etc.) When you eat most of your meals from foods rich in important nutrients, your body will body will be satisfied and overeating won’t be much of a problem.You then begin to burn fat as a natural result of giving your body what it thrives on. On top of that, you’re lowering your risk for disease by promoting a natural alkaline environment in your body with these types of foods.

If you do the opposite and eat most of your meals from foods lacking in nutrients, you’ll keep eating and eating and eating to satisfy your nutrient needs. This leads to too many calories and a person who will just keep getting fatter and more prone to develop increased risk for disease with an acidic environment in the body. When this happens, you can just kiss fat burning goodbye.

So nutrition for fat loss, fitness, and health really all do go hand in hand. My Fat Burning Furnace students have changed their lives permanently, by simply altering what they put in their bodies…and you can do it to.

Focus on foods rich in nutrients. In part two of this article, I’ll get more specific in helping you make the transition from your current lifestyle to the one you desire. One where your body seemingly burns fat 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with little effort.

If you're thinking about using the Fat Burning Furnace system yourself, but still have a few questions, make sure you visit the Frequently Asked Questions page.

Also, it may help to read about the Success Stories of others like you to see how people in similar situations have changed their bodies and their lives with the techniques in FBF.

But you may become anxious to get started on your new body right now, so you can also click the 'Download Now' button below to claim your copy instantly. Remember, you have a full 60 days to decide if it's right for you. If not, just email me and we'll issue you a full refund and I'll thank you for trying it out...it's that simple!

CLICK HERE To Download 'Fat Burning Furnace'...

Why You Should “Just Say No”
To Diets To Burn Fat (Part 2)

By Rob Poulos, Fat Loss & Fitness Expert & Creator of 'Fat Burning Furnace'

In part one of this article, I talked about how avoiding diets is one of the best things you can do for your long term health and fitness success, especially if you want to burn fat. In this second part, I’ll show you how you can start to transition from your current lifestyle to one that creates a lean, strong body and lasting health.

From a nutritional standpoint, you need a healthy balance of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats in your diet to keep your metabolism firing on all cylinders, constantly burning fat. Fad diets have a coolness factor to them that sometimes makes them irresistible at first. But in the long run I’ve found it best to go back to the basics of what your body craves. Let’s talk about that…

Complex Carbs (whole grains, breads, cereals, etc.) are vital to maintaining your energy throughout the day and do a host of other things within your body including keeping you feeling full. I’ll also lump fruits in with complex carbs, because of their high fiber content and slow absorption into the blood stream, keeping our insulin level in check, which is important for less fat storage and a higher chance of burning stored fat.

Simple Carbs, or sugars (candy, soda pop, white processed baked goods, etc) are to be avoided and kept to a minimum for the most part. They provide little nutritional value to you and are what I often refer to as empty calories. They just add calories to your body with little or no nutritional value that are going to end up in your fat stores if you’re not careful with how much you ingest.

Forget about maximum fat burning here. Of course, many people are aware of the blood sugar and insulin connection with eating too many simple carbs. Our insulin regulates are blood sugar level and takes any excess sugars and stores them as fat. We then are stuck getting tired and hungry, making repeating this cycle far too easy. The best way to avoid this, I’ve found, is eating a sensible amounts of complex carbohydrates instead.

Proteins (lean meats, fish, poultry, soy, beans and legumes, etc.) are important to maintain the cellular structures in your body and provide the building blocks for the lean muscle you’re after, which is vital if you want to burn fat fast. But with anything else, don’t go overboard with protein. Some fitness experts claim that you’ll need a minimum 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight each day.

There is no real proof that this is the case, and ingesting more protein than your body needs ends up going to your fat stores…plus it doesn’t do your kidneys or liver any good either. I’ve found that keeping protein to around 0.5 grams per pound of bodyweight each day more than sufficient in feeding the lean muscle growth that my Fat Burning Furnace students stimulate with their properly performed resistance exercise.

Another important aspect of protein involves whether or not you’re getting your protein from animal or plant based sources. While the traditional American diet recommends most animal based proteins, recent data suggests that too heavy a reliance on animal proteins increases risks for disease.

On top of that, animal proteins contain almost no fiber, which doesn’t go very far in keeping you feeling full, and negatively effects your ability to burn fat. When choosing your protein sources, make sure you eat a good portion of your protein from plant sources (soy, beans, legumes, etc.). You don’t have to be a vegetarian, but I recommend keeping your animal proteins on the low side.

Fats (found in many proteins, nuts, oils, etc.) are essential to maintain certain bodily processes like hair, nail, and skin regeneration. There is a lot of confusion with fats out there, some recommending extremely low fat diets and others even recommending a very high fat diet. If you are focusing on lean protein choices in your meals, and including small amounts of healthy oils, nuts, and seeds in your diet, your fat intake will be in order.

So how much of each of these macro nutrients should you be eating to maximize fat burning and get that lean fit body you’re after? It’s easy to get caught up in the percentages and counting calories, but the easiest way I’ve found is to count portions instead of calories.

An easy way to ensure that this happens is to make sure you eat both a portion or two of complex carbs and a portion of protein at each meal. Add as many green veggies as you can eat, as they’re super low in calories and provide more fiber, enzymes that aid in digestion, and vitamins and minerals that will be more than adequate for most people. Remember, focus on nutrient rich foods and you’ll find that burning fat and getting healthy will seem like a natural.

How many times per day should we be eating to burn the most fat? I can tell you that three meals a day is not going to cut it when trying to burn fat fast and get lean, at least not in my experience. In fact, if you wanted to get as fat as possible, you should eat all of your daily calories in one meal.

Eating smaller more frequent meals throughout the day is the fastest way to fat loss. It fires up your metabolism, as every time you eat something, the metabolism kicks it up a notch. Try and eat 5-6 smaller meals per day, spaced about 3 hours apart.

Now, I know many people don’t want to be taken out of their breakfast, lunch, and dinner routine…so you can still eat at those traditional meal times, but try cutting back a bit on how much food you eat at those meals and add those calories into 2 or 3 snack meals in between. A snack meal could be a protein/energy bar or maybe even a piece of fruit and a slice of whole grain bread.

So you see, eating for a lean, strong, and healthy body isn’t so difficult…and it doesn’t require you to eliminate essential foods like complex carbohydrates from your diet. In fact, doing so will put you into the cycle of confusion of fad diets that is all too prevalent in fitness today.

And that’s a cycle that’s tough to break out of. Focus on foods your body craves naturally instead, and the rest of the details will be easy to implement into your lifestyle. Before long you'll start to burn fat faster than you might have thought possible.

Two Magical Substances That Allow You To
Burn Fat Faster & Create Lasting Health

By Rob Poulos, Fat Loss & Fitness Expert & Creator of 'Fat Burning Furnace'

In all of my experimentation and research on the subject of nutrition for fast fat burning, health and fitness over the last 10+ years, I’ve discovered 2 magical substances that can have a dramatic effect on whether or not you burn body fat and keep it off, or hang on to it like a security blanket.

These substances, in fact, have been around since the beginning of time and I’m surprised more people don’t value their importance like they should. What are these magical agents of fat burning wizardry? Water and Fiber. Let me explain why…

Everyone has heard that water is important for health, but even still, most people don’t drink enough water. Water is also vital to your fat burning efforts and maintaining a lean body. After all, our bodies are about 65-70% water. Water also keeps you from snacking on unhealthy sugary foods and sugar laden soft drinks, as many times when we feel we are hungry, we are actually just dehydrated.

We need water in our bodies more than we need food. The body can survive for much longer without food that without water. Water is like the oil in the engines of our cars. It is involved in almost every process the body goes through, from digestion to nutrient absorption. It also keeps your energy level up as it prevents dehydration.

Now, this is very important…dehydration will totally kill your chances of burning fat, because the body interprets this as a state of shock. It shifts its focus on getting water and stops doing other things, like burning body fat for energy. And here’s even more helpful info about the power of water. Try this little trick to burn even more calories…try and drink most if not all of your water in ice cold form.

First of all, it typically tastes better ice cold, and every time you drink an ounce of ice cold water, your body must burn about a calorie in the process of warming the water to your current body temperature. Now, you can use this to your advantage to burn even more calories each day. Keep your water intake to 100 ounces per day, and you’ll burn an extra 100 calories and burn more fat! How cool is that!

Also, add some lemon to your water…this will have positive effects in helping cleanse your liver. And this brings up another key to fat loss…the body needs to be working efficiently if you want to burn fat fast…if your organs, especially the kidneys and liver, are working together in high efficiency, you will find it easier to burn fat!

So keeping yourself hydrated will keep your kidneys operating at a good clip, and your liver will be allowed to do its job of metabolizing stored fat for energy.

The other magical substance is Fiber. Fiber slows digestion and makes you feel fuller. This is so important in burning fat and reducing cravings, especially for foods loaded with sugar, and how many calories you end up eating throughout the day, which leads to fat loss.

Great sources of fiber include various whole grain products, fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, and beans. These, by the way, are foods that are also rich in other nutrients your body craves naturally…surprise surprise! Processed foods, however, are poor sources of fiber. White flour products including regular pasta is in this category. Also, watch out for high fiber cereals as many of these are also high in sugar.

On top of the fat burning benefits, fiber has been linked to the prevention of various conditions including heart disease, diabetes and cancer. That's a one-two health punch to be reckoned with!

So I urge you to put water and fiber at the top of your list of things to put in your body. If you combine that focus with a diet of nutrient rich foods and a properly conducted resistance exercise program, you’ll be on your way to burning more fat faster, and maximizing your genetic potential for a lean, strong, and healthy body.

My Fat Burning Furnace students are already doing this, and are enjoying all the rewards this lifestyle brings. Now, it’s your turn to get the most you can out of life and burn fat faster than you might have thought possible.

If you're thinking about using the Fat Burning Furnace system yourself, but still have a few questions, make sure you visit the Frequently Asked Questions page.

Also, it may help to read about the Success Stories of others like you to see how people in similar situations have changed their bodies and their lives with the techniques in FBF.

But you may become anxious to get started on your new body right now, so you can also click the button below to get started right away. Remember, you have a full 60 days to decide if it's right for you. If not, just email me and we'll issue you a full refund and I'll thank you for trying it out...it's that simple!

Are You Destined For 8 Years Of Poor Health & Misery?
The Answer Might Surprise (And Scare) You...

By Rob Poulos, Fat Loss & Fitness Expert & Creator of 'Fat Burning Furnace'

I was puttering around on the internet this morning and I saw something that really caught my eye. It was the latest data regarding our current life expectancy as humans from the World Health Organization, along with a history of how that's changed over the years.

This info went all the way back to the Neanderthal period (the guys from the Geico Insurance TV commercials) up to present day humans.

Those poor Geico guys only lived to be 20 years old on average, while today's humans can expect about 75 years of life.

2,900 Or More Days Of Misery In Your Future?!

But did you know that today's people have an average healthy life expectancy of just 67 years? In other words, this is saying that you can expect 8 years of your life in poor health. 8 years! That's 2,900+ days of poor health. I don't know about you, but that's not something I'm looking forward to. I sure think we can do better than 67 years of good health on this planet. And you know what? We can.

This number is an average. Like anything else, you don't have to be average if you don't want to be. The average person doesn't exercise properly, if at all. The average person doesn't know how to make the right foods selections and maintain a healthy diet. The average person doesn't apply themselves mentally and emotionally to maintain relatively stress free living.

If this sounds a little bit too much like you, the good news is you don't have to be this person any longer. While it is a shame that today's health, fitness, and diet industry is simply confusing more people than it's helping, there are a few people and organizations out there that can provide a realistic, effective and efficient approach to breaking past the average healthy life span and living those years full of energy, strength, and vitality.

I get questions from my Fat Burning Furnace newsletter and system readers all the time, after going through the FBF materials, about how they can't believe how little exercise is involved. And even though I've told them up front that they can let go of the aerobics or traditional cardio because of how powerful the FBF exercise really is, many still have trouble doing that.

And what I tell them is directly related to the subject of life expectancy and just how much time we really have in our lives. I tell them that having a lean, strong, and healthy body is great. It's one of the most important things we can attain. Period. But, how much time is it worth to you? That's the question I asked myself over and over when seeking out my own methods and developing the FBF methods.

Most people, after years and years of trial and error, come to realize that spending several days and hours a week working out is just not worth the trouble. And carefully measuring your food, counting calories, and depriving yourself of nutrient rich foods like whole grain carbohydrates is also something that shouldn't be necessary to enjoy a healthy and energy filled life. And it isn't.

How Much Time & Effort Is Minimally Required?
What we really should be focusing on is how much time and effort is minimally required to get the results we're looking for. Think about that. Not how much, but how much is minimally required. Remember, we've got just 67 healthy years as a starting point...If I valued my time on this planet, this is what I would be searching for.

If it really took hours and hours a week and all of that crazy nutrition manipulation to burn fat, build muscle, strength, and cardiovascular health, I'm not sure I'd do it. Not for very long anyway. I've tried that approach, for years, and if you have you know it's no fun. And it's just not realistic given the demands our lives place on us in today's world.

But as I've mentioned before, you don't have to worry about that kind of stuff anymore. The principles in my FBF system allow you to approach your genetic potential for a lean, strong, and healthy body in just minutes each week and with very simple lifestyle changes.

Just 45 Minutes A Week...While Eating Delicious Foods?
My wife Kalen and I have been using the FBF principles for a few years now. We work out twice each week. We even take a week off entirely every few weeks or so. We don't count calories. We don't deprive ourselves of the foods we love. If it's our daughter's birthday, we enjoy some cake and ice cream . We just work the FBF principles and continue to stay in great shape day after day, week after week, year after year.

We work out so little because of the way the workouts are performed and created, and we eat with such flexibility because we stick with the FBF lifestyle, which gives you the power of flexibility and variation that is lacking in most programs.

What I'm saying is that I've discovered what is minimally required to give me the health and body that I wanted. And thousands of my FBF students are doing it as well. Sure I could add another day a week to my workouts, but at this point it would actually be detrimental to my results. I could also start messing with my diet in all sorts of crazy ways, but that would just make my body angry and cause me unneeded stress.

So, I ask you, are you trying to find what's minimally required to get you the results you want? If you truly value your time and the other worthy pursuits in your life, I'm suggesting that this is exactly what you should be doing. If you don't, you may just end up being an average 67 year old with 8 years of poor health to look forward to.

By the way, if you haven't read my Fat Burning Furnace blueprint yet, you really want to go and do that right now. It took me years to learn all of the techniques and secrets my wife and I used to drop over 100 pounds of fat (see our pictures after you click the button below), totally reshape our bodies, boost our energy, and develop lasting health...but you can copy my plan just a few minutes from now with my Fat Burning Furnace system.

Discover How To Lose 42 Pounds & 10 Inches Off Your Waist In Just 45 Minutes A WEEK...
Or Learn How To Drop 59 Pounds & 8 Dress Sizes While Enjoying Yummy Foods All Day...

You're Going To Be Blown Away When You Learn The Real Reason You're Still Fat...

How To Triple Your Fat Burning Workout Results

By Rob Poulos, Fat Loss & Fitness Expert & Creator of 'Fat Burning Furnace'

Do you want to know how to triple your results from your resistance training? Why
wouldn't you?

Properly conducted resistance training can give you startling fat loss results, along with muscle and strength gains. On top of that, when using the techniques I describe in the Fat Burning Furnace eBook, you'll also receive "top drawer" cardiovascular health benefits. And all from 2-3 workouts each week lasting just 15-20 minutes on average.

But, you've got to do them right, not like the average resistance trainer is taught these days. Walk into any fitness center or gym and you'll see at least half if not more of the exercisers performing their workouts in a less than optimal way...and that's being kind.

So let's get right to one of the ways you can triple your resistance training results immediately. It has to do with how you specifically perform the repetitions. To better understand this, let's examine our 3 different strength levels in any resistance exercise.

Take the dumbbell curl exercise for the biceps for example. In this movement, you begin with the weight down at your sides. You proceed to smoothly and slowly curl the dumbbells up to your shoulders. This movement trains your positive strength level. You should then pause briefly and contract your biceps at the top of the movement. This trains your static strength level.

Finally, you would want to lower the dumbbells slowly back to the starting position. This trains your negative strength level.

Now the problem is that most people don't even bother with the static or negative strength levels. They put all of the focus on the "lifting" or positive portion of the movement, while not pausing or contracting sufficiently at the top, and not taking nearly enough time on the negative portion.

In effect they are getting only one third of the benefits that this exercise can give them. Actually, it's less than that because the static and negative portions can actually create deeper inroads into your existing strength levels. This is something you want, as it will lead to greater progress faster assuming you give your body appropriate time to recover.

Why do we care so much about strength? Outside of the obvious reasons, strength leads to muscle growth, which leads to a faster resting metabolism, which leads to faster fat loss and various other improved health factors that could take up another couple of pages at least ;-).

In the Fat Burning Furnace eBook & Deluxe Program, I take these concepts to the next level.

Here we are using techniques to maximize your static and negative strength levels in order to push the limits of your lean and healthy genetic potential to the max. That's when the real fun begins.

So make sure not to neglect the static and negative strength levels when performing your next resistance training workout. Don't waste the opportunity to triple your results!

If you're thinking about using the Fat Burning Furnace system yourself, but still have a few questions, make sure you visit the Frequently Asked Questions page.

Also, it may help to read about the Success Stories of others like you to see how people in similar situations have changed their bodies and their lives with the techniques in FBF.

But you may become anxious to get started on your new body right now, so you can also click the button below to get started right away. Remember, you have a full 60 days to decide if it's right for you. If not, just email me and we'll issue you a full refund and I'll thank you for trying it out...it's that simple!

A Simple Change In Mindset Will Burn More Fat Fast

By Rob Poulos, Fat Loss & Fitness Expert & Creator of 'Fat Burning Furnace'

Most people that I talk to about health and fitness talk about “getting in shape” But I don’t think they realize that their words are actually counterproductive to their aspirations of burning fat.

You hear a lot of people lamenting about being out of shape and saying, “I need to get in shape and burn fat” or, “I want to get in shape and burn fat.” What you don’t hear them saying is, “I want to get in shape, burn fat, and stay that way.”

They may want to stay in shape, but their mindset is focused on getting in shape. This makes you more susceptible to the fad diets and latest exercise gimmick on the market. You’re so focused on getting in shape that you’ll try almost anything regardless of how silly or difficult to follow it might seem, because you’re entirely focused on the short term goal.

A simple change in the “quick fix” mindset to one of long term success will steer you down the correct path. You’ll be less enticed by the late night TV hype, and more focused on doing the right things most of the time. Wouldn’t you agree that life long health and fitness is what’s most important?

Of course creating an environment in your body that allows you to burn fat fast is essential to this goal. A person who is in shape in their 50s and 60s is a lot more impressive to me than someone who is lean and fit in their 20s and 30s. That’s because the dedication to maintaining the proper exercise plan and a sensible nutrition strategy for the rest of your life is rare to find. It’s a rare mindset.

If you really want to transform your physique and your health for good, you must make it a lifestyle, a habit. And that starts in your mind. That’s what the people who are lean for life do. In fact, if I think about all of the people I personally know that are in great shape and have been for a while, I start to understand that they have their minds on staying in shape.

They think about it day and night, not obsessively, but with each thing they do…they subconsciously think, “Is this going to positively or negatively impact my long term health and fitness?”. "Am I doing everything I reasonable can to burn fat and live a healthy lifestyle?".

The good news is that research shows you can develop simple habits like those involved in eating and exercising properly in under a month…sometimes even sooner. And with the type of exercise and diet tips I recommend to my Fat Burning Furnace students, you don’t need o give up your life’s pursuits so that you are working out every day, nor do you need to follow a wacky diet you can’t reasonably make a lifestyle out of.

And after a few months of practicing these methods, I’ve found that your body will start telling you it wants to keep exercising and eating right…you just won’t feel right with out it. Why? Because your body naturally wants to be healthy and lean.

So I urge you to forgo the “get in shape” mindset, and instead embrace the idea of staying in shape and creating that fat burning furnace that is so essential to life long health and fitness.

Imagine yourself in the body of your dreams, today, tomorrow, and 5, 10, 20 or more years from now. What will you be doing then, in your lean, strong, and healthy body? Chances are, you won’t be trying to “get in shape”. Instead, you'll be burning fat 24/7, and enjoying life as you should...full of vitality and passion.

How To Properly Judge Your Fat Loss Progress

By Rob Poulos, Fat Loss & Fitness Expert & Creator of 'Fat Burning Furnace'

If you don’t know how to properly judge your fat loss or fat burning progress from a particular exercise or nutrition regimen, you’re probably not going to be very successful. It’s just like in sports…you have to know the score if you want to know who wins the game. So in our fat loss and fitness efforts, we have to know our body’s score if we want to know if we’re winning, or in this case, losing.

I’ve found that a big mistake a lot of people make in judging their fat loss progress in the pursuit of a fit body is to be a slave to the scale. The scale is a useful tool, no doubt, but I’ve seen far too many people stop doing the right things (like proper weight training) just because they gained a pound on the scale.

But you can’t blame yourself if you’ve been in this mode before…for years most of us were taught to watch the scale carefully when measuring if we did or did not burn fat. But your body can fluctuate a few pounds up or down at different times of the day, every day. This doesn’t mean you’ve burned or gained fat, so following the scale can play games with your mind.

Another big problem with using the scale as your sole judge of progress has become clear with many people adding lean muscle to their bodies recently.

Muscle weighs more than fat, so let’s say you been following a properly conducted resistance training routine for the past few months. You’ve gotten stronger and you’ve also added muscle to your body. If you’re adding pounds of lean muscle to your body, you might see an up-tick in what the scale says. But assuming you’re not gaining fat weight, it’s a good thing. It’s not about weight loss, it’s about fat loss.

More muscle means more calories devoted to building that muscle and keeping it alive. It also means your metabolism will get faster and become more efficient at burning fat. You’ll see that number on the scale drop soon enough, as the new muscle has created a calorie deficit in your daily food intake.

What we really should be looking at here is body fat percentage, or how much your total weight is made up of body fat. Most men will be more than happy with their bodies when they get into the 12-15% range, and most women will be satisfied with a fat percentage of around 16-20.

So go out and get a skin caliper, which is fairly inexpensive, or another measurement device so you can keep track of your relative body fat percentage. If it’s going down, keep doing what you’re doing, and don’t even look at that scale!

Another tool I recommend using when judging your fat loss progress is the tried and true mirror in your bathroom. Now, this may sound simple, but use the mirror to judge your fat loss and muscle gain.

Combined with liberal use of your scale and keeping tabs on your body fat percentage, your mirror will provide all you’ll need to judge your progress. The great thing about the mirror is that you’ll get great motivation from seeing your body change right before your eyes, and it will spur you on to even further progress!

The other important aspect of judging your fat loss progress is creating realistic expectations of your new body. As I teach my Fat Burning Furnace students, our friends in the fitness industry often use the genetically superior to advertise their products and programs, and this can easily deceive you subconsciously into thinking all you have to do is follow their advice to look like the cover boy or girl.

Well, I’m here to tell you that even if you have the most efficient plan or program, you still may never look like your favorite physique superstar or model.

Research tells us that we are a product of our genetic inheritance. We all have our own inherited physical characteristics. For instance, some of us carry more fat in our bellies than others. Some of us have more muscle fibers in our legs and arms. Some of us carry more fat cells in our hips and thighs. Some of us are short, some are tall, some have dark hair, some have blue eyes, etc.

Some of us lose fat and gain muscle easily, some don’t. While this may come as no surprise, it is important to remember so we don’t sabotage our efforts in the gym or at the dinner table trying to burn fat. What I mean by that is, just because you don’t lose fat in your belly at the same rate as your best friend doesn’t mean you’re doing the wrong things to lose it.

You can only compare yourself to you. Lying in you right now is your very own best body - your own strong, lean, and healthy physique. Everyone’s is different. Yours might be highlighted by broad shoulders and powerful arms. Or maybe it’s your slender and muscular waist that frames your body.

So don’t feel chained by your genetic makeup, feel liberated, knowing that you have the power to reshape and transform what you were given.

With the combination of the right knowledge and developed habits, you can burn fat fast and make such improvements in your body that you’ll impress almost everyone you know. I’ve seen it happen with my friends, family, and students…I’m talking about people seeing them and saying wow!

And more importantly, you’ll feel great knowing you’ve done all you can to live the rest of your life with the body you’re truly capable of...and that is just an awesome and empowering feeling.