STAX Nutrition System – How Phase 3 Works

March 29, 2011 by Leave a Comment

In previous Posts I’ve discussed how both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the STAX Nutrition System work. Now it’s time to explain Phase 3

You should remain in Phase 2 until you stop seeing or feeling changes in your body for a period of at least two weeks. At that point it is time to transition to Phase 3. In Phase 3 you will still begin your day (meal 1) with a portion of carbohydrate and protein. After that the rest of your meals for the day will consist of a protein and a fat. Remember that vegetables are optional and highly recommended at every meal. Don’t forget that you are allowed unlimited portion sizes of veggies. This is important during Phase 3 because eating extra veggies will help you to stay full.

During Phase 3 you’ll need to scale the intensity of your workouts back a little. You are reducing your carbohydrate intake and you may notice a drop in your overall energy levels, especially during workouts.

Stay in Phase 3 for as long and you continue to lose weight. Once you plateau in Phase 3 we’ve verified that your metabolism has slowed. This is due to the low calorie levels of Phase 3. At this point it is important to transition back to Phase 1. This will help to rev up your metabolism so you can continue to lose weight.

It takes a leap of faith to return back to Phase 1 because you are increasing calories. But it is an important step on your journey of losing weight. It is a step you must take.

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The Biggest Loser 2011 Week 12

March 24, 2011 by Leave a Comment

This weeks show was really good! Here’s why.  

To start off, the very first thing that happened was the remaining 11 contestants all met Allison in the gym. This is the first time I’ve see that this season, but apparently it means that not-so-good things happen.

What happened may not be good for the contestants, but it really made the show much better.

Each person had to grab a dumbbell (which was sitting on it’s end) off of a weight rack. On the bottom of the dumbbell was a color. That color would determine which team they’d be one. There were to be four teams of 3 people. Each team would work with one of the four trainers; Jillian Michaels, Bob Harper, Brett Hoebel orCara Castronova.

What was awesome about this was that the previous two teams (red and black), had created alliances and it was pretty obvious who would be eliminated from week to week (excluding immunity winners). Plus it was also completely random. The player chose in order of total percentage of weight loss, but the dumbbells were completely random so no one would have control of where they ended up.

But there was a twist!

Since there were only 11 contestants left, one team would only have two people on it. Turns out it was the black team of Rulon Gardner and Hannah, They got to choose anyone who had previously been eliminated from the show. They had 30 minutes to make a decision. This was an interesting process, they deliberated over 3 people;  1) the person who needed to be there the most (Arthur), 2) someone who could help the team but not challenge them to win the overall title (some dude that was eliminated before I started watching this season), 3) someone who could help the team, but may challenge them to win the entire show.

Rulon quickly eliminated Arthur, he said that Arthur had “made his own bed…” So they continued to decided….

But they wouldn’t reveal their choice until the challenge.

Before the challenge the trainers did their thing and used the training sessions to get to know the contestants whom they hadn’t had a chance to train yet.

Jillian took Rulon and Hannah to her Malibu beach house (didn’t Barbie have one of those too?) to train them on the beach. Jillian used that time to learn more about Rulon. Rulon confessed that even though he had found the perfect wife and everything he wanted, that he began to eat because he didn’t feel like he was worthy of being truly loved.

I’ll admit two things. One, it was good to see that side of Jillian. She’s normally such a hard ass that you sometimes forget that she really cares. And two, I continue to learn and accept that both weight gain and weight loss is far more emotional than it is physical. It is primarily a mental challenge.

Brett took the red team on a hike to the top of a beautiful mountain in So Cal. At the top he asked them to separate and reflect upon their journey thus, far. Who they used to be, who they are now and who they want to be. Again it was another reminder of how emotionally challenging this process has been for all of the contestants. It is the change from the inside that results in physical change. And it is the source of one’s confidence and power.

Subject Change

The Challenge this week SUCKED!

Each team had to hold a rope that collectively had the total weight loss of that team hanging from the other end. It took over 45 minutes and all they did was stand there and hold a rope. Luckily TV can edit boring stuff out. What made it worse was that they were playing for the chance to video chat with their family. That seems somewhat cool except, these people aren’t in jail. I think they can stay in touch with family members during the show…

The only exciting thing about the challenge was that the black team selected Jay. This was interesting from two stand points, 1. Jay was who they thought might be able to beat everyone and become “The Biggest Loser”, so they took some risk inviting such a strong player back. And 2. Jay is Jen’s father, who is now on the red team.

One other side note before the weigh in, Kaylee, from the green team decided that her journey was complete. She was close to her goal weight and had found her confidence and was ready to get back to “real life”

The weigh in was also very good!

The team that had the lowest percentage of total weight loss would lose a player. But the player on the losing team that lost the most weight would win immunity from elimination. After the black, blue and red team weighed in, the red team was in last place (they had lost 9lbs). As long as the green team lost 10 or more pounds, someone from the red team would be going home.

But remember Kaylee was ready to go. And she meant it, because she lost zero pounds. After Austin weighed in for the green team with 3 pounds, it seemed certain that Kaylee would be going home. But Ken shocked everyone and lost 7 pounds, to make the red team the losers.

And the nine people from the other 3 teams would be voting to eliminate someone!

Then is got a little crazy.

Kaylee immediately realized that she would be staying. Ken felt horrible for two reasons, he wanted to grant Kaylee’s request to go home, and two of the more popular contestants were on the losing red team.

Allison kind of got pissed and told Kaylee that this show wasn’t a prison and everyone was free to leave whenever they wanted. Then Moses, Kaylee’s father, from the blue team spoke up and requested that he talk to his daughter.

See how fun the team shake up thing is?

Moses talked Kaylee into staying, so it’ll be interesting to how she does next week.

Turns out Jen had lost the most weight on the red team so she was immune from elimination. so it was between Justin and Courtney, two of the most popular people on the show.

Justin told everyone that Courtney needed to be on the show more than he did (which is true), and to vote for him.

So there was really no drama over the vote and who would be eliminated, Justin was gone. But everyone on the show cried anyway!!!

Now for the quotes from the show

“You’ve got to find a way to feel worthy”

“Today is the beginning of the rest of your life and today is the day your making the changes to change the rest of your life”

“Nothing is impossible, you just have to reach for it”

“I’m becoming who I want to be”

“I was looking to find myself, to find confidence, I found that”

“Get off the couch, look in the mirror. It’s time for you to be honest about who your are. Have the courage to stand up and do it. It’s the best thing that could happen to you”

OK , this post was a little long, like I said it was a good episode!

See you next week…

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STAX Nutrition System – How Phase 2 works

March 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The STAX Nutrition System is the best carb cycling program that there is!

Here is how Phase 2 of the Carb Cycling Program works.

Everyone should remain in Phase 1 of the STAX Nutrition System weight loss program for as long as long as they continue to see changes in their body. After two weeks without changes, switch to Phase 2. The first three meals of each day are the same in Phase 2 as they are in Phase 1; a protein serving, a carbohydrate serving and as always unlimited vegetables are recommended at every meal.

For meals four, five, and beyond (some people eat an optional sixth meal if they eat every 2.5 hours instead of every 3 hours, or have very long days), remove carbohydrates from the meal and add a serving of fat. So meals four and five should consist of a protein, a fat, and unlimited vegetables.

When you “Cross Over” mid-day to eating fats and eliminating carbohydrates, you will also cross over and use fat as energy during the second half of the day. This means you can expect to lose more fat during Phase 2. But here is the important part. You won’t lose the maximum amount of fat possible during Phase 2 if you don’t do and adhere to Phase 1 properly. Therefore be patient, trust the program, and stay in Phase 1 until you plateau. This means  that you stop losing weight or seeing changes in your body during Phase 1. Then you can move on to Phase 2.

Enjoy all the weight loss you are about to experience during Phase 2. And remember to stay in Phase 2 until you experience a two week plateau.

Learn More Here

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Biggest Loser Week 11

March 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment

This week’s show was very interesting.

To start things off the black and red teams were merged into one team. The blue team. The blue team had a common goal, lose more total weight than the previous week. The twelve remaining contestants lost 64 pounds the week before. If the blue team worked together to lose 65 or more pounds, then no one would be eliminated from the show.

My first thought was that this would be next to impossible. Last week the red team followed a miserable weigh in (during the two weeks spent at home), with incredible results. The thing about weight loss is that is often comes in stages. If you have a great week it’s not uncommon to not quite lose as much the next week.

The cool thing about this episode was to see how quickly the blue team accepted their common goal. The red and black teams had spent the last 5-6 weeks really battling each other. I thought there might be some tension, but there wasn’t. They got right to work!

The four trainers; Jillian Michaels, Bob Harper, Brett Hoebel and Cara Castronova all seem quite shocked by the merger of the two teams. I don’t know if they really keep the trainers in the dark about the challenges and twists or not, but if they don’t the trainers are also excellent actors. Bob and Jillian took the men and Cara and Brett took the women. In essence the trainers took the team members that they hadn’t had a chance to train yet.

Soon after the teams merged each person met again with Dr H. (Dr. Huizenga), for their mid-point check up. He reassessed them and showed their improvements by using The Biggest Loser “real age” program. This was yet another cross promotion. But it was really awesome to see how much each person really improved their health in just 10 week.

This show puts so much emphasis on weight loss that it’s easy to lose sight of the true benefits 0f exercise and proper nutrition; Good Health, Decreased Risk of Chronic Diseases, Improved Quality of Life and an Extended Life Expectancy!!!!

In the middle of the show they brought in Curtis Stone and Lorana Garcia. I think they are from the new show America’s Next Great Restaurant. This was obviously a chance for NBC to cross promote the show. Anyway the blue team was divided up into 6 teams of 2 (one person each from the former red and black teams).

Each team had 30 minutes to create a dish. The two guest chefs would vote on the best one based on calories, taste, and presentation. The winning team would win The Biggest Loser meal plan from the time they were eliminated from the show until the finale. This was yet another cross promotion. But the food they made looked great, and was healthy and nutritious. So it was cool to watch.

Olivia and Moses Won!

Before the weigh in there was one team challenge. The entire team had to pull a rope (think of the type of rope that is used to tie ships to the docks), out of the dirt. At the end of the rope were questions that they had to answer. If they got it correct they’d continue in one direction (presumably the shorter route), and if they got it wrong they’d go in another direction. Each time the got the correct answer two more teammates would help pulling the rope.

They had 90 minutes to complete the challenge. If they finished in time then the team would get a 5 pound advantage at the weigh in. They were very motivated to win this challenge.

Now this sounds really easy, but they buried the rope really deep in the dirt. They had to dig and pull. Even Rulon Gardner (who won a gold medal at wrestling and has been training hard for the last 10 weeks), could hardly pull the rope out of the dirt.  Long story short, they completed the challenge with only 15 seconds to spare and won the 5 pound advantage.

At the weigh in it seemed like they edited the order that each person wieghed in, to create the most drama. It is TV after all. Each person needed to lose an average of 5 pounds to prevent anyone from being eliminated.

After the first four people they were 3 pounds behind the pace.

After the next three people they were 4 pounds ahead of the pace.

Three people after that they were only up 1 pound with two people to go. They could do it!!!

But Marci didn’t lose any weight and Kaylee actually gained 2 pounds, So someone would be eliminated.

They had to vote for one of the bottom two; Marci or Kaylee.

Marci who had lobbied to be voted off the last two weeks, asked everyone to vote her off. There are two reasons she seemed like the best person to eliminate. She now weighs 162 pounds, and is at her goal weight. She is the mother of another contestant, Courtney, who still needs to lose more weight. Plus Marci has become a mother figure to a lot of the younger people on the show.

Everyone except one person honored Marci’s request (not including Moses, who wouldn’t vote off his own daughter, Kaylee). So Marci is gone!!!

Now for the quotes of the week:

“Nothing is more important than you”

“One step, one day, one choice at a time, and you will get there”

“I’m fully happy and fully confident and I’m proud of myself”

“The most important thing you can take care of is you”

“These small victories are everything to me”

“Parents set an example for their children”

“I just want my life back so bad”

See you next week!!!

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STAX Nutrition System – How Phase 1 Works

March 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The STAX Nutrition System is the best carb cycling program that there is!

Here is how Phase one of the 3 Phase carbs cycling system works.

Phase 1 is designed to reset and boost your metabolism to its full potential for weight loss. Maximizing your metabolic potential (the calories you expend during a day) is vital to weight loss. If you have excess weight that you are interested in losing then your metabolism is most certainly not functioning optimally. The reason for this is that you have gone through extended periods of time not eating enough.

Most people who are over-weight have gone on and off of diets (Yo-Yo dieting). What happens when you do that is your metabolism slows down while you are dieting. Then you either reach your goal or decide that the diet isn’t working for you and you go back to eating the way you used to. The problem with that is your metabolism is now slower than when you started the diet. The end result is you will gain back the weight you lost even faster than you lost it.

Another way to slow down your metabolism is to be a chronic under eater. A chronic under eater is someone who is always avoiding eating and can’t understand why they continue to gain weight. Here how that works. To avoid gaining weight you either skip meals or eat extremely small portions to avoid weight gain. This will guarantee that you’ll have the slowest metabolism possible.

But how do you gain weight? Once or twice a week you attend a social event and eat normal portions. You figure you’ve been good all week, what can one meal hurt? Since you’ve been eating so little during the week, your body is in starvation mode. In an effort to prevent starvation your body stores all the extra calories you consume during that meal as fat.

 There are two important steps that will help you to reach your full metabolic potential.

1. Eating proper portions
2. Eating frequently throughout the day (5-6 meals)

By eating proper portions you will guarantee that you won’t gain weight. If your portions are too large you will certainly gain weight. If they are too small your will begin to slow your metabolism and eventually you’ll experience weight gain. Eating frequently throughout the day will help regulate your blood sugar, insulin and the stress hormone cortisol. 

Regulating your blood sugar and insulin will help fend off hunger and reduce the likelihood that you make bad food choices. When your cortisol levels are high your body stores much more of the food you eat as fat. You want to avoid that at all cost.

 The purpose of Phase 1 is to maximize the weight you will lose during Phases 2 and 3. But here is the good news. You will still lose weight on phase 1. So it’s a win-win scenario for you!

 Learn More Here

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Prize Payout For The Big Event Happening This May

February 22, 2011 by Leave a Comment

 

Big Event Coming This May!

OK, I’ve hinted at this a couple times, there is a huge event happening this May. And I want you to be part of it. I really do want to tell you all the details today. But unfortunately I can’t. I would get in all sorts of legal trouble if I talk about it now. But I can tell you this.

It’s going to be a ton of fun. It’s going to be interactive. It’s going to be emotional and inspiring. It will be national in scale (so everyone in the country, possibly in other countries as well, can participate). It wiil involve fitness, nutrition and weight loss.

There are only a couple things that you’ll need to do to be part of it. Again I can’t tell you what all of them are quite yet. But one of them is you have to “like” Fitness Know How Headquarter’s Facebook fan page. Only people who “like” the page will be eligible to win CASH!

OH YEAH there will also be CASH prizes (actually Visa Gift Cards)

Here is the payout schedule. Please NOTE, that there are no limits. An unlimited number of people can participate and the prizes will continue to grow and become more awesome as more people get involved. So please help me spread the word and share this with people who you think might like fun, interactive, emotional, inspiring, events involving fitness, nutrition, weight loss and best of all CASH!

Again here is the payout schedulre for the prizes.

Participants

First Place

Second Place

Third Place

Fourth Place

20-199

$100

      

200-299

$150

$50

    

300-399

$150

$100

$50

  

400-499

$200

$150

$100

  

500-599

$300

$200

$100

  

600-699

$350

$200

$100

  

700-799

$400

$200

$100

  

800-899

$450

$200

$100

$50

900-999

$500

$250

$150

$100

1000

$500

$300

$200

$150

1000+

Keeps

Going

Up

 

 

P.S. This is real so after you “like” Fitness Know How Headquarter’s page please suggest it to your friends.

I’m really Amped about this event!

Thanks.

In Good Health,

John Preston 

Filed Under: Announcements, Blog Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

What I Eat

February 15, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I had a very brief, yet interesting conversation yesterday with a lady who used to be in my boot camp.

I walked in the gym and she asked me “John, do you ever eat at home?” At first I thought that she was referring to the fact that I bring my own food with me everyday. But I quickly realized that she thinks that I eat every meal at restaurants. She came to this conclusion because I’ve adopted a new habit of posting my “check ins” on facebook.

Here is my concern. This lady knows me very well. She’s been in my boot camp program. She’s come to my nutrition seminars. She even followed the nutrition principles that I recommend during an 8-week weight loss contest. Facebook is very powerful. Here’s why…

The truth is that I eat at restaurants 2-3 times each week. The rest of the time I buy, prepare and eat my own food. I eat 6-7 meals a day.  That means that I eat 4-7% of my meals at restaurants each week. But because I post what restaurants I like, the perceived reality is that I eat all of my meals out. If I did I’d be fat. But I am not fat because  93-96% of the time I eat whole, natural, self-prepared (often organic) food. 

If you don’t want to be fat, you should do the same.

Here is exactly what I had to eat yesterday

Meal 1

  • Oatmeal (plain)
  • Homemade chicken breast breakfast sausage

Meal 2

  • Ground Turkey (onion, red pepper, spinach, cumin, chili and chipotle powder)
  • Brown Rice
  • Asparagus

Meal 3

  • Red Snapper
  • Brown Rice/Curry Lentils
  • Squash

Meal 4 (Snack)

  • Orange
  • Raspberries

Meal 5

  • Grilled Chicken
  • Yams
  • Broccoli

Meal 6

  • Salad with Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar
  • Spinach
  • Mushrooms
  • Mixed Greens
  • Olives
  • Avocado
  • Kidney & Garbanzo Beans
  • Grilled Chicken

Now I could annoy the crap out of you and post everything I eat as I eat it on Facebook. But this isn’t about me.  I’m here to help you with your exercise and nutrition program, and what works for me may not be the best plan for you.

To learn more about the nutrition program that I recommend (because it is flexible, adaptable and is in line with my philosophy), click this link.

P.S. You are allowed cheat days on this plan, so you can go to any restaurant to like and eat your favorite food!

P.S.S And it Fricken Works!!!!!

Here’s the link again

Filed Under: Blog, Nutrition, WTF (Miscellaneous) Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Fitness Tip #14 of #31 Set Goals For Beyond The 31 Days

October 14, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Ok We’re nearing the half way mark of “31 Days to a Much Improved You”. If you remember on day one I asked you to list some individual goals for the month. How are you doing with your goals? Are you stuggling? Have you given up? Are you on track? Or are you somewhere in between?

Today I’d like for you to revisit those goals and assess how you’re doing. Based on your assessment do you just need to keep rocking it this month? Do you need to change or modify your initial intentions? Or do you need to do a little soul searching and start all over?

Whatever the case is sit down and take some time to evaluate how you’ve been doing and what you still want to accomplish in the next two weeks. Something that may help you over the next two weeks is to define some goals for yourself after this month.

Now that we’re nearing the half way point it’s time to begin preparing for long term success. So take some time today and figure out what your long term health, fitness and/or weight loss goals are. Sky’s the limit here so have fun. But remember if the goal is going to take some time to accomplish also set some short term attainable goals that will act assteps to your ultimate goals.

Here’s a reminder on good goal setting strategies;

Use the follow list to help you with your Goal Setting:

1. Decide what you want to accomplish
2. Set goals that are short, attainable and measureable
3. Create a deadline to accomplish your goal(s)
4. Develop and action plan for success
5. Visualize accomplishing your goals
6. Write your goals down
7. Review your goals daily
8. Take daily action toward your goals

Have fun, enjoy and I’ll be back tomorrow with your next Health and Fitness Tip!

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Fitness Tip #1 of #31 Set Your Goals and Intentions For The Next 31 Days

October 1, 2010 by Leave a Comment

What do you want? To succeed at anything you must first be able to define what it is that you want to accomplish.

I’ll be providing you with tons of useful Health and Fitness information over the course of the next month. My hope is that you’ll simply change one habit each day for the next 31 days. If you do that I’m certain that you’ll be living a much healthier life one month from today. I don’t see day 31 as the end of “31 Days To A Much Improved You” as much as I view day 32 as the beginning of your journey to accomplishing all of the things that you want. It’s up to you to decide that now is the right time for you to start making those changes. And it’s up to you to decide what it is you want during these next 31 days. Only you can decide! Be specific.

The first rule to good goal setting is that they should be attainable. Avoid setting yourself up for failure by setting lofty goals. Your lofty goals will be met by setting smaller, more manageable and attainable goals along the way. Remember the goals you’re setting today are goals just for the next 31 days. This isn’t the time to start thinking about losing 70lbs. or swimming the English Channel.

Write down 2 to 15 things that you want to accomplish. Post them on your refrigerator at home or on your computer monitor at work or any other visible place. Put them in your wallet so every time you open it you remind yourself why your doing this and how you’ll succeed. Just make sure to put your goals somewhere you will see them often, as in manytimes each day.

Use the follow list to help you with your Goal Setting:
1. Decide what you want to accomplish
2. Set goals that are short, attainable and measureable
3. Create a deadline to accomplish your goal(s)
4. Develop and action plan for success
5. Visualize accomplishing your goals
6. Write your goals down
7. Review your goals daily
8. Take daily action toward your goals

Have fun, enjoy and I’ll be back tomorrow with your next Health and Fitness Tip!

Filed Under: Blog, WTF (Miscellaneous) Tagged With: , , , ,
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