I’m used to pushing it to the outer limits when recording new joints, but losing body fat to shape up isn’t an exercise in extremes; it’s a matter of balance. Do too much or too little of one thing and you may not lose body fat as quickly as you expect. To achieve the best results, practice the discipline of moderation. If you’re not seeing the results you want, consider that the reason may be one of the following, and use my personal quick fix to correct the problem in short order.

1. You’re adding muscle mass faster than you’re losing body fat. This is a best-case scenario — your program is working, but you just aren’t recognizing it. If the scales are giving you bad news, it could be because you’re increasing your muscle mass faster than you’re losing body fat. Muscle mass is heavier than body fat, and when your body starts to make this shift, it adds muscle mass more quickly than it sheds body fat. LL’s quick fix: All you need in this case is an attitude adjustment. Use your mirror, pay attention to how your clothes are fitting, and take the compliments you receive to heart. They’re all much better gauges of your success than a number on a scale. If everything seems to be pointing to success except the needle, ignore it.

2. You’re eating too much. If you’re committing this sin, you probably know it without my telling you more about it. If you’re going to lose body fat, you have to be in a calorie deficit. There’s a limit to how many calories you can burn by exercising each day, so you have to limit caloric intake to make sure you’re in a deficit. LL’s quick fix: One thing you may have noticed when you started this program is that your appetite increased. Channel that into opportunity: Emphasize healthy low-calorie foods such as vegetables and lean protein sources so that you can still consume a large volume of food without stuffing yourself full of unwanted calories. Satiety (that satisfied feeling from eating) can be achieved with fewer calories when you eat crunchy, low-calorie foods such as vegetables.

3. You’re not eating enough. “Enough” in this case may mean that you’re not eating enough calories, you’re not eating often enough, or both. If you habitually eat only a large meal or two a day, you may be undereating. Strangely, this can allow calories to be stored as body fat. When you eat a large quantity of food in a sitting and then neglect to eat for hours on end, your body tends to hoard the calories it doesn’t need from these infrequent meals as body fat. LL’s quick fix: To find success, eat fewer calories in a sitting, and eat more frequently. This may mean actually increasing the total number of calories you consume a day, but your body will be more inclined to burn them than to store them as body fat. Strive to take in up to six meals a day, distributing the number of calories you consume fairly equally from one meal to the next.

4. You’re not training enough. If you’re following the program as I’ve laid it out, you’re training enough. The only suggestion I can offer is to train with more intensity. If you’re not keeping up, but you’re doing what you can, then just keep going at your pace. Your results will come. On the other hand, if you’re skipping workouts because you’re busy or because you don’t feel like it, you’re just not going to achieve results that are as impressive as you want. LL’s quick fix: The first thing you have to realize is that you do have time to work out. Get in 15 minutes here and there each day. Make the commitment. That’s when you’ll see real results.

5. You’re training too much. This may be a shocker, but training too much, too hard, or both can undermine progress. Keep in mind that the workouts themselves tear down your body. You make progress and grow after training, during recovery. LL’s quick fix: If you are overtraining (see “Don’t [Over]Train in Vain” on page 190 for more on this), you may need to back off on your training volume or frequency. You should limit weight training to about 4 days a week, and you should include at least 1 — if not 2 — full rest days each week.

6. You’re not performing enough cardio. When you’re weight training, you’re jacking up your metabolic rate by encouraging calorie burning and adding muscle mass. Cardiovascular training (walking, jogging, running, or using any of the gym machines such as treadmills, bicycles, or stairclimbers) is also important for burning calories and ultimately for burning body fat. LL’s quick fix: Make sure that you perform as much cardio as the program prescribes.

7. You’re performing too much cardio. Many people think they can climb onto a treadmill and just keep moving until their body is perfect. That’s not the case. Performing an excess of cardio (either in intensity, frequency, or duration) can take your body over the edge into a state of overtraining, and it can burn muscle mass rather than body fat. Either way, your cardio actually can end up working against your goal of shedding body fat and adding lean muscle mass. LL’s quick fix: If you think this is the case, cut back on your cardio somewhat — either the length of sessions, the frequency, the intensity, or a combination of these variables.

8. You’re eating too many carbs. If you consume a high percentage of your calories from carbohydrates, you may be impeding your ability to shed body fat — and you may not be encouraging enough muscle growth if you’re simultaneously not eating enough protein. Carbs, especially sugary or starchy carbs, can make you feel sluggish and negatively affect your blood sugar. They can also encourage you to store body fat. LL’s quick fix: To avoid this problem, cut back on carbs in general, relying more on slow-burning sources such as oatmeal, brown rice, and yams, which have a less negative impact on your blood sugar levels. Particularly avoid consuming sugary and starchy carbs by themselves. These include sodas, pasta, white bread, and candy.

9. You’re not eating enough carbs (before and after you work out). Nutrition is complex and specific to each individual. You need to cut back on sugary carbs in general, but you want to include them before and after your workouts, when they will help drive nutrients into your cells. Pre- and post-workout, they deliver nutrients to your muscles, stimulated by your workouts, rather than to your body-fat stores. LL’s quick fix: Consume as many as 50 grams of simple carbs in the half hour both before and after you work out. (Check labels to see how large of a portion this equates to.)

Reprinted from: LL Cool J’s Platinum Workout by LL Cool J and Dave Honig with Jeff O’Connell.

The quest to develop a stunningly fit, lean and attractive body is a long, slow journey. It’s not something you achieve overnight by popping a few pills or strapping an electric gizmo to your belly.

Which reminds me, did you know that by the time the FTC finally blew the whistle on the electronic ab belt scam, the makers of those “ab zappers” had swindled over $100 million dollars from unsuspecting consumers? Fortunately, some of those companies had to pay it back, and then some! The FTC charged three companies – Fast Abs, Ab Tronic and Ab Energizer – with false advertising and deceptive warranty practices for these “ABSurd” gimmcks.

But I digress. back to what I was saying about the journey to a better body…

Last week I looked out my window, and where there was once nothing but a dirt-filled empty lot, there stood a sprawling six story brick condo complex. If someone looked at this massive completed structure for the first time, they might not be impressed. However, since I observed the entire construction process unfold from my living room window, I was impressed – amazed even – at what goes into erecting this kind of structure.

I remember watching the crew humming around diligently every day like busy bees, laying one brick after another. From one day to the next, it didn’t seem like much changed. But slowly, over a period of a year and a half, I watched the building gradually morph into the finished product.

When you look at someone with an incredible body as a finished product, you often tend to dismiss the long, arduous journey and hard work it took to build that body. Unless you were side by side with that person in the gym (and in the kitchen), observing the work involved, it’s easy to attribute such a chiseled physique to genetics or give credit to a supplement (they just took product XYZ and voila – overnight abs). What you don’t see or appreciate are all the months and years of sweat and hard work.

Getting in shape is a lot like a construction project. First, there must be a picture in the mind. Then the vision goes onto paper as a blueprint. It takes months just to lay the foundation. More months of work will follow. On a daily basis, it doesn’t seem like much is happening. You look in the mirror and appear, for the most part, the same as you did yesterday. But sure enough, the small improvements are slowly accumulating like compounding interest in the bank. One day, you look in the mirror and “suddenly,” your blueprint has become reality.

The body of a fitness model, figure competitor or bodybuilder is no more likely to be built overnight than a high rise is to be built overnight. It’s not physically possible. Accepting the idea that any type of pill, powder, drug, supplement or machine of any kind will make it happen sooner than nature intended (without negative consqeuences or side effects) is pure folly. You can’t force it.

Growth and development of any kind always requires a gestation period. For a baby, it’s nine months. For corn, I believe it’s about three months. If you were an expectant mother, would you want to hurry the process? Could any new development in nutrition or medical science speed up this wonderful miracle even one iota? If you were a farmer, would you try to harvest your crop before it was ripe? Would you dig up your seeds to see if anything was growing down there?

The answers are obvious. If only we would adopt the same patient, nurturing “mother’s” or “farmer’s mindset” towards getting in shape, then no one would waste their money on “fast abs” or “exercise in a bottle” or any such silliness ever again. We would understand that one must sow first, then reap the harvest, but that you can’t sow and reap in the same season.

If you ever get frustrated with the rate of progress in your fitness or weight loss program (and who doesn’t), just remember; success is always guaranteed to the persistent. Nothing in the world can stop someone who knows what they want and is willing to continue paying the price until they get it. It just takes time.

Become the architect and builder of your own dream body. You WILL build the body you want eventually if you’re patient enough and you refuse to quit. And set your goals HIGH! Create a fantastic blueprint. Michelangelo said, “the greatest danger is not that we set our goals too high and miss them, the greatest danger is that we set our goals too low and we reach them.” Envision a castle – a veritable Taj Mahal of a body! There’s nothing wrong with building castles in the sky, as long as you patiently work at putting the foundations underneath them. There are very few unrealistic goals; only goals with unrealistic deadlines.

So keep laying those “bricks” – every day – one at a time – and sure enough, eventually, you’ll build yourself a palace.

Author Bio
Tom Venuto is a certified personal trainer, natural bodybuilder and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle. You can get info on Tom’s e-book at www.burnthefat.com. To get Tom’s free monthly e-zine, visit www.fitren.com.