Body Recomposition: Transforming From Fat to Muscle
by Tom Venuto of www.burnthefat.com

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!

How Gaining LEAN Muscle While Losing Fat Helps Women Get Fit, Sexy and Bikini-Ready…

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…

Take note especially of the muscle Sarah added to her shoulders and arms (did you know that adding muscle to the side of the deltoids/shoulders creates an “optical illusion” of a smaller waist? It’s one of the tricks of figure girls, fitness models and bodybuilders).

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.

For full contest details, including information about the grand prize trip to MAUI, check out this page of the burnthefat.com website:

http://addingmusclemass.com/SummerBodyTransformationContest

The contest entry deadline is May 30th – mark your calendars now!

Tom Venuto
Author, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle

http://addingmusclemass.com/SummerBodyTransformationContest

P.S. Register before Sunday, May 30 to get in the best shape of your life and a for a chance to win a trip for two to Maui, Hawaii:

http://addingmusclemass.com/SummerBodyTransformationContest

If you are looking for something completely different to try this new year to increase your fitness levels, then you may be interested in this brand new just released paperback book I was sent just before Christmas by the publishers.

The book is called "Hardcore Circuit Training for Men" and was officially released in book stores this week. I've now read the book and I found some of the routines in there excellent, but also very intense.

If you are looking to break a plateau in your training and gain some serious levels of fitness then this book may be exactly what you are looking for.

You can read my full review in the review section here: Hardcore Circuit Training for Men Review

You can also save 32% on this book and get it for only $12.21 by clicking here.

I've just published a new review of the excellent Muscle Gaining Secrets by Jason Ferruggia.

This is a muscle building program that is used by a lot of professional athletes and comes highly recommend for hard-gainers and those wanting to gain lots of muscle mass.

You get 7 bonus products with Muscle Gaining Secrets, including an exercise database and MP3 audios.

To sum up Muscle Gaining Secrets in 1 paragraph…

Muscle Gaining Secrets provides the road map to success which can instantly be applied by anyone. The main ebook is a very high quality and educational read about muscle building from a guy who has helped more than 700 athletes gain muscle fast.

Click here to read the full Muscle Gaining Secrets eBook review

Click here to visit the Muscle Gaining Secrets website

This is the first in a whole series of short videos I’m producing that show you inside the various muscle building programs that are available on-line. I’ll also be covering fat burning and six-pack abs programs soon as well.

I hope you find these videos much more interesting than your standard blog post or review!

Here it is:

Click here to get further information about this complete muscle building program

Today I stumbled across a great article that I thought you would find interesting. It’s by Tom Venuto the author of Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle.

The article lists the top 10 foods that Tom who as a natural bodybuilder eats to maintain single digit body fat.

The list is broken down into starchy carbs and whole grains, vegetables, and lean proteins, plus healthy fats.

This is not a sales page, it doesn’t try to sell you anything…it’s just a great article if you are looking for ideas for your healthy grocery shopping list.

Cheers,

Mark 

I’m pleased to announce that the site will be going through some major updates over the next 2-3 days. Unfortunately, this may mean that www.AddingMuscleMass.com may not be available for certain periods, or may just be unstable.

The site has grown considerably since its launch in the middle of last year, especially with the amount of articles and reviews we’ve published. The result is that site became “cluttered” and finding the content became more and more difficult. Read the rest of this entry

A celebrity personal trainer friend of mine, Jim O’Connor, just contacted me from Beverly Hills, California to fill me in on his new fat burning cutting edge fitness program breakthrough.

He is announcing the details to the world on Tuesday, March 17th at 12:00 pm pst.

I twisted his arm to convince him to allow me to share some secret information with you regarding what he is really up to. Read the rest of this entry

I’ve just published a completely updated No-Nonsense Muscle Building Review, which is a complete muscle building system produced by Vince DelMonte.

Click Here to read the full No-Nonsense Muscle Building Review

I reviewed this system about 8 month’s ago, but the old review no longer does the system justice. Read the rest of this entry

I have just created a new “Muscle Program” directory page where you can find a list of several of the top muscle building and fitness programs available on the Internet.

I’ve add a diverse range of links, so depending on your fitness and muscle building goals, there should be a program to suit most people.

For example, if you are 40+ and want to get into shape, or if you a skinny teenager who wants to add lean muscle mass, then there is a muscle program to suit your needs.

If anyone who reads this blog would like to suggest a website or product for review, then please use the contact form on the website to let me know.

Click here to go straight to the Muscle Program directory.

This is just a short post to let you know about my new Squidoo Lens for Adding Muscle Mass.

You can view the Squidoo Lens by Clicking Here.

If you don’t know what Squidoo is (or a Squidoo Lens)  then it’s worth checking it out. Squidoo is a website designed to make it easy for anyone, for free, to set up a single page (lens) on a topic he or she knows or cares a lot about. Advertising revenue is shared with these content creators, and some of it is given to charity.

So if you care about a particular topic you can create a Squidoo Lens about it and let all your friends and family know. It’s much easier that setting up a website and can even make you a few pennies!