Here's a photo of my hernia scar

I’ve lived with it, and have managed to continue to exercise all these years without problem (in fact, I believe exercise has helped me by strengthening my lower back muscles).

However, I now have a new found appreciation for those that suffer from lower back pain as this has basically immobilized me like nothing else has in my entire life. At this moment I can barely roll out of bed without excruciating pain.

HOWEVER, I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THIS PAIN and will document for those of you that also suffer what I did to alleviate it (notice I didn’t say “if” I alleviate the pain…). I have already set in place a powerful “strategy” to get rid of my back pain and start exercising again.

Which leads me to what I want to talk to you about today. Please read this quote from Brian Tracy first (famous self-help guru):

“The strangest secret of success is you become what you think about – most of the time. Successful people think and plan better than unsuccessful people. That’s all.” – Brian Tracy

As the title of this post imples, “POWERFUL FAT LOSS” is what this blog post is all about…

HOWEVER… you won’t find a single “tactic” here to help you achieve powerful fat loss results…

Instead, you’ll find key “strategies” that will make powerful fat loss happen for you NOT JUST for the next 4 weeks, or the next 12… Instead, these strategies will help you permanently achieve powerful fat loss results (and actually, anything else you desire to accomplish on this earth).

There is a HUGE difference between “tactics” and “strategies”… with strategy being defined by Wikipedia as: “A strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal.” A tactic is defined as : “The science that deals with securing objectives set by strategy.”

Notice that “strategy” comes first, then tactics. Without a proper strategy in place, the tactics will be meaningless.

By the way, a tactic, in terms of our powerful fat loss subject today, is something like, “do 3 sets of 5 exercises in the bench press.”

As you can see, if your overall strategy is to lose 25 pounds by Feb 28, 2010, then simply just performing “tactics” will not get you there. There has to be an overall strategy combined with sub-strategies, a “plan”, that you will follow in order to achieve your particular goal.

Strategy is the “big picture” goal of what you want to accomplish, and tactics are the things you’re going to do to reach that goal.

What most people do is they just start performing “tactics” or “tips” without a general overall sense of direction or milestones their strategy would have mapped out for them (if they had one).

This is like getting in the car without planning how you’re going to go the, say, 1,000 mile trip you’ve planned. You just start driving. Your tactics are known (put the car in drive, push down on the accelerator, start steering…). Yet there is no direction for how to get you where you want to go… no “strategy”.

Most people know it’s ludicrous to plan a trip this way, because there really isn’t a plan in place. In fact, most people are meticulously detailed whenever they plan this kind of trip. Mapping out routes, figuring out the shortest and easiest way to get to their destination, and then following this plan until they reach their goal… no matter the obstacles in the way (unexpected car troubles, bathroom breaks, pulled over by police, etc.).

If you haven’t noticed, the kind of planning you did above for a road trip can be used for achieving ANY kind of goal (read the last sentence above to see what I mean).

Yet when people go on this “trip” of trying to lose fat, they just “push down on the accelerator and start driving”. No wonder most people meander off course and never reach their powerful fat loss goal (heck, they didn’t even have one in the first place).

So how and what do you do to set a powerful fat loss strategy? Check out my P.S. below for a way to jump start your 2010 with a powerful fat loss strategy that should permanently give you powerful fat loss results. It’s free, and it’s my gift to you.

My next blog post will talk about the biggest problem that even the best laid strategies can’t tackle, unless you do something about it first. It is THE #1 thing you must get solved before you even begin to start thinking about putting any kind of powerful fat loss strategy into place. Look for this post in the next couple of days.

Even the best strategy will be meaningless unless you have this problem solved. So go to my P.S. below, download my “BLUEPRINTS TO POWERFUL FAT LOSS” report now (it’s free), and start reading and planning. The final piece to the powerful fat loss puzzle will come in a few days.

Have a Happy and Safe New Year!

Harry Johnson Jr.

P.S. Want a powerful strategy to start the new year right to powerful fat loss success? Download my “Blueprints” FREE HERE.

Let me give you an example. Let’s say there are two, 200-pound men. The first one is a “gym rat” of sorts and is very conscious about his

You can experience powerful fat loss by increasing lean muscle through strength training.

health. He eats well, exercises everyday and has 6% body fat. Now the second man is somewhat sedentary, and has a bit of a beer belly. He gets maybe one or two days of exercise in during the week, if that. He has 25% body fat. Now both men weigh exactly the same, but look very different. The more fit man burns nearly 3-fold as many calories in his sleep as does the sedentary man. Why, you ask? Because he has more lean muscle, and muscle burns fat.

You see “weight” or “mass” doesn’t determine how “fit” you are. Rather you need to look at the big picture-body composition. Where does the body weight come from? Is it fat, water, blood, muscles, tissue, bone? All these things make us who we are. Now the goal is to have a healthy balance of each of these to reach fitness excellence.

Hopefully this example gives a little but of insight into how the fitness thing works. Weight loss in itself is not difficult to understand. If you burn more calories than you consume, you lose weight. If you increase your lean muscle mass, you will automatically burn more calories than before and this will in turn (with a good diet) help “tip the scale” in your favor.

So the next question is, how to increase muscle mass, right? Well, along with a nutritious diet and good cardio regimen, strength training is part of the backbone of any powerful fat loss diet. Strength training increases muscle mass, strength, and even makes your bones stronger. What’s not to love? Now the difference between being in great shape and out of shape sometimes boils down more to motivation and perseverance than anything else. Make a conscious decision to change. Tell yourself you want to be fit, and stop making excuses. It’s your health, your body, your choice. We are all busy, but when it comes down to our health, we need to find time care for our bodies so that we can improve in all other areas of life.

Take Charge!

P.S. Want to: Learn the “Easy” way to get and stay in shape? Discover the secret to quick fat loss? How to exercise less and get better results? Discover the secret to ripped abs without doing endless crunches? Then be sure to get my “Amazing Fat Burning Formula” HERE.

P.P.S. If you like this post, and think it will help others, please help me help others by clicking on one of these “Share and Enjoy” links below.

Powerful Fat Loss: BCAA's

Remember, your goal is always to minimize loss and even try to increase the amount of muscle tissue you have on your body while dieting. The reason is the amount of muscle you have is directly proportional to your metabolic rate — It determines your ultimate ‘calorie-burn’. More muscle equals more calories burned, all else being equal.

Here’s the interesting thing about BCAA’s. They are your body’s preferred “protein” fuel source. This is an important point to remember (I’ll tell you why in a moment). Understand this doesn’t mean your body prefers to use it over carbohydrates (glycogen), its just when it does use protein as fuel it uses BCAA’s.

You recall your body uses three types of fuel: fat, carbohydrates (glycogen), and protein (BCAA’s). Your current state of nutrition (calorie surplus or deficit), bodyfat level, and the amounts of glycogen you have stored in your muscles and liver will typically determine which one your body uses over the other.

Your goal, of course, is to always try and get your body to use fat over the other 2 fuels it has available to use. Just ‘wishing’ it to happen however, will not work. You must let science proven by real-world results guide you to the most effective way in doing this.

When dieting, the amount of fuel used as BCAA’s increases dramatically. If not supplied in your diet your body will “grab” it from wherever it can. Since you have a small, continuously circulating pool of amino acids in your bloodstream your body can use it from there.

However, where BCAA’s are supplied to that pool is an important point. If you don’t take enough in through your diet your body will actually tear down muscle tissue from other areas of your body in order to supply it. And that’s the last thing you want to do. Who wants to work real hard at increasing muscle tissue only to have your body tear it down to supply another area — just because you didn’t supply enough of it in your diet. Trust me, this is the last thing you want. It’s like taking 1 step forward and 1 step backward. The net gain is zero and in extreme cases can even be negative.

Now that I’ve convinced you it’s important to supplement with BCAA’s while dieting let me tell you why it’s really important to do so — Increased fat loss in stubborn areas by 34.4%!

Powerful Fat Loss: Lose inches with BCAA's

A study was performed in 1997 on elite wrestlers.

In this study, researchers had subjects consume one of four different diets for 19 days. The diets consumed included:

• a low calorie diet
• a low calorie high-protein diet
• a low calorie low-protein diet
• a low calorie high-protein diet combined with BCAA’s

Subjects recorded their meals in a journal each day. The subjects consuming the branched-chain amino acid enhanced diet received their daily intake of BCAA’s by ingesting supplemental branched-chain amino acids equal to .25 g/kg of bodyweight per day. Prior to and after the study, each subject performed a variety of tests including measurements of aerobic and muscular fitness, percent bodyfat, and blood hormone measurements.

Results from the study showed the subjects consuming the high protein diet including branch chain amino acid supplements lost the greatest amount of weight and bodyfat.

The total average weight loss after 19 days was 8.8 lbs and the decrease in bodyfat percentage was 17.3%. Even more compelling is this group lost the greatest amount of fat from the abdominal and thigh regions, two areas of concern for many men and women with regard to these “stubborn” fat loss areas. Average loss in these areas was an astounding 34.4%!

What’s exciting about this study is the fat lost was exactly in the areas most of us have the most concern, the hips, thighs, and abs.

Even more thrilling was these subjects were already elite athletes, which told you a little of their prior conditioning. They undoubtedly were already in great shape. To get such a change in highly trained athletes is indeed significant and you should sit up and take notice of this. Also interesting to note was these subjects consumed a diet that was less than maintenance.

This is a very important point to take notice of as other studies have shown BCAA supplementation was less effective when the diet provided more calories than needed to maintain bodyweight. When you take in less calories than you need is when the demand for BCAA’s by your body increases significantly. This is the time you need to make sure you adequately supply it with BCAA’s. The take home message here is to maximize their effectiveness and your money spent and only take BCAA’s when you are dieting.

Also, in order to get BCAA’s benefits an effective dose must be taken. This study, as well as most others as well, show that you need to take in 0.25 – 0.32 grams of BCAA’s per kilogram of bodyweight for it to be effective. To convert your bodyweight to kilograms divide your weight by 2.2. For example: a 220 lb man is equal to 100 kilograms (220 divided by 2.2 = 100). Then multiply this result by 0.25 – 0.32. In this case a 25-32 gram dose of BCAA’s will be needed in order to produce the fat loss/muscle sparing effect for this 200 lb man.

Bottom Line:

BCAA supplementation can give you 34.4% more stubborn fat loss while dieting. This is highly effective supplementation everyone. There aren’t many supplements that have this many studies behind them verifiying this kind of positive result.

Take Charge!

P.S. Want to: Learn the “Easy” way to get and stay in shape? Discover the secret to quick fat loss? How to exercise less and get better results? Discover the secret to ripped abs without doing endless crunches? Then be sure to get my “Amazing Fat Burning Formula” HERE.