An Extreme Fitness Diet for Those Wanting to Burn Fat

Many people wonder about extreme fitness diets. "I took up extreme fitness as a method to get in shape and lose fat, but what exactly is the diet I should be on?"

If you have taken on a proper extreme fitness regimine, chances are that you are burning A LOT of calories. This is great if you are trying to burn fat and build muscle, but if you are also restricting your calorie intake you have to find a balance.

Despite everyone seeing TV programs where people lose 10 lbs in a week, most of it is water weight, and that kind of weight loss is not healthy in the long run. The best way to take off weight is to lose 1-2lbs a week. So you should modify your diet and exercise to allow for this type of weight loss.

What Should My Extreme Fitness Diet Be?

That depends on you, your activity level, and how many calories your body requires to get through the day. What I am going to propose to you is a diet you can be on whether you decide to run, weight lift, do yoga, whatever. This diet will help you burn fat without losing the muscle you desire to keep.

How to Burn Fat with my Extreme Fitness Diet

I am not going to propose anything new to you that modern science and research have not shown already. This is a common sense approach that works for me. It will work for you if you have the desire and the DISCIPLINE.

The most important word in that sentence for your extreme fitness diet is discipline. Without it, there is no reason to be on a diet at all. Most diets fail, not because the diet does not work, but rather that the user does not work the diet.

The first thing we must learn on this diet is perspective. Many people fail diets because they feel they are depriving themselves of something. Get deprivation out of your mind and discover perspective.

Do not think you are depriving yourself of a slice of cake, but rather that you are building the foundations of a new lifestyle that will keep you trim and fit for the rest of your life. Besides, you will be able to indulge in some cake every once in a while on my diet plan. We wil talk about Cheat Days or Cheat Meals later.

What to Eat on my Extreme Fitness Diet

My diet centers around something called the glycemic index. Some of you may have heard of this from the South Beach Diet, or perhaps you are a diabetic.

What is the Glycemic Index?

The glycemic index (GI) is a ranking of carbohydrates on a scale from 0 to 100 according to the extent to which they raise blood sugar levels after eating. The higher the number, the higher they raise your blood sugar levels. Foods above 70 are considerred high, those 60-70 are considerred medium, while those below 60 are considerred low.

Why is the Glycemic Index Important?

Blood sugar levels are linked to our daily cravings. By balancing our blood sugar levels throughout the day, we can reduce cravings for foods such as cake or any other food loaded with sugar.

This takes some effort on your part to learn which foods are low or high on the GI, but a little research will go a long way.

I will suggest a few things you can do to help balance your blood sugar levels throughout the day. Do not feel compelled to incorporate these methods all at once. Rather incorporate them one at a time to give your body time to adjust.

First, try to reserve carb consumption to the first three quarters of your day. Restrict yourself from eating carbohydrates 4-5 hours before you go to bed. This will help keep blood sugar levels low as you sleep. It also allows for the release of Human Growth Hormone (HGH), a fat burning, repair promoting hormone. Believe it or not, 50% of your daily dose is released when you sleep.

HGH works best under low blood sugar levels. By only having protein and fat, or nothing at all in our stomachs when we go to bed, we capitalize on its production.

Second, try to consume 20-30 grams of protein before you eat your carbohydrates, or at least at the same time. Why is that? When protein lines your stomach, carbohydrates are absorbed more slowly into your blood stream. This keeps your blood sugar levels low. It actually fills you up faster too.

If you eat carbohydrates first, your blood sugar will spike and then crash soon after you eat. This causes you to have cravings or feel hungry, which never goes well with trying to lose body fat.

Third, try to eat smaller meals throughout the day. Having 5-6 smaller meals a day is much better than eating three large meals a day. Your body benefits from the smaller meals by having to heat them up every time you eat. It allows for better use of your calories and keeps insulin levels balanced. If insulin levels are balanced, you are less likely to store body fat.

Last, but not least on our extreme fitness diet, try to reduce High Glycemic Index foods to no more than 5% of your dietary intake. Learn to look for added sugar or high fructose corn syrup in products. You would be surprised where sugar shows up. Some canned vegetables even have sugar added to them!.

Be aware of what you are putting in your mouth.

I Heard There's a Cheat Day on this Extreme Fitness Diet?

I know, everyone wants to know about the cheat day. That's fine, because you will not stick to a diet if you cannot eat the foods you love.

Cheating with a diet has to be restricted to one cheat meal a week, or one cheat day every two weeks. Any more than that will cause you to regress back to old habits.

You are trying to create a new lifestyle, and you have to have the discipline to do it. But do not worry. You may find that once you have adjusted to your new lifestyle, you no longer desire some of the foods you once loved.

I mean how do you really feel after putting down a cheeseburger and some french fries. It feels great at first, but I always find myself feeling sluggish afterwards and not really that happy for having eaten them.

Well that is it for my extreme fitness diet. Keep calories and exercises to a level that allows you to lose 1-2 lbs a week. There is no magic ratio. I tend to follow a diet consisting of 20-30% fat, 30-40% protein, 40-50% carbs.