Why Eating Animals Makes Everything Easier - By Mark Sisson

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/why-eating-animals-makes-everything-easier/

Last time, I broke down the faulty Carb Paradigm we live in.

In case you need one, here’s a quick refresher:

Overweight people with faulty carbohydrate metabolisms are told (by doctors, by government officials, by dietitians) to eat more carbohydrates and less fat.

They do it (carb consumption as a percentage of total caloric intake has increased in line with the obesity epidemic, moreso than either fat or protein). They eat carbs and reduce fat intake.

Because their insulin-resistant bodies can’t handle carbs well, they produce lots of insulin to get over the hump. Only problem? Those carbs aren’t sequestered into insulin-sensitive muscle glycogen stores as energy, because the muscle is insulin-resistant. Meanwhile, the excessive insulin prevents the burning of fat, and any extra fat and carbs from the meal are instead sequestered into fat cells. People get fatter.

Since the food isn’t being used and is instead being stored away for later use, the body thinks it’s starving and gets hungrier as a result. People eat more carbs.

The cycle continues uninterrupted.

But no more. It stops here. I think it’s time we shift toward a new paradigm. It’s actually a rather old, classic paradigm that’s been forgotten – but it’s still as valid as ever.

It’s time for the Fat Paradigm. It’s time to start burning fat as fuel. It’s time to move away from sugar burning.

You see, fat is the perfect fuel for us. It’s efficient. It burns clean. And it’s the type of fuel our bodies like to burn. Otherwise, why else would we store it on our bodies for lean times?

That’s what people miss about body fat. It’s not just “there” because we messed up and our body has nowhere to put it. Body fat, or adipose tissue, is stored energy. Sure, the obese have way too much body fat, but the fact is that our bodies evolved the ability to put fat into fat cells because it is effective fuel.

The problem is that many of us are broken. Sedentary living, modern food toxins, too much stress, not enough sleep, and a distinct lack of play for play’s sake (more on this later, if you’re confused about why I’d rank “play” with all the other stuff) have fundamentally changed the way we process fuel. Many of us can’t even access the stored fat, instead running on sugar (and poorly at that). All that stored energy – body fat – is going to waste.

So, if you’re overweight or obese, chances are you’re broken. And – at least for the time being until you’re healed – excess carbohydrates are making the problem worse.

But you can be fixed. You don’t need doctors or medication or expensive treatments. You just need to start accessing your body fat and burning fat for fuel.

By converting to an animal fat-based metabolism, you are returning to the ancestral human fuel source. And the best way to switch to fat burning is to start eating more animals and whatever fat comes with them.

Animal fat, especially from ruminants like beef, lamb, and bison, comes with roughly equal proportions of saturated and monounsaturated fats, with a little bit of omega-6 and omega-3 polyunsaturated fats. Interestingly, your own animal fat – the fat deposited on your body and the fat that your body is designed to burn for energy in lean times – comes with very similar ratios. It’s almost as if animal fat is good for us!

Which brings me to my main point of today’s article: eating animals simply makes everything easier.

With animals, you get healthy animal fat. You get protein, important for building muscles and keeping you full. You get all the micronutrients, vitamins, and minerals that the animal ate, in a form that your body can absorb. It’s the perfect package of nutrition for a fat burner.

Now, I don’t hate carbohydrate. They can be useful and even beneficial in certain cases. Eat carbs when you need fuel for endurance activities. Don’t eat carbs just because; eat them because you need the energy. Because you’re actually active and they won’t go to waste.

Otherwise?

Fat is your friend.

Fat will fuel your everyday activities, your walking, your shopping, your working and reading. Fat can even provide the bulk of the energy required by your brain. Your brain still needs glucose, mind you, but becoming metabolically healthy will allow you to access both glucose and fat for energy.

Bottom line: if you’re overweight, you’re not utilizing the energy stored on your body. Switching over to the Fat Paradigm and a fat-based diet will unlock that stored body fat and allow you to use what you’ve already got (plus carbohydrates, when and if you eat them). But if you remain entrenched in the Carb Paradigm, your body never gets the message to start accessing body fat for energy.

If you need to lose weight, start by cutting back on carbs and eating more animals (and their fat). That’s all it takes to enter the Fat Paradigm and start burning fat, and it’s as easy (and delicious) as it sounds.

How Agriculture Ruined Your Health (and What to Do About It) - By Mark Sisson

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-agriculture-ruined-your-health-and-what-to-do-about-it/

You are overweight. I’m sorry to be blunt, but it’s probably true: most adults living in Western countries are overweight. A large portion is obese.

Half of you are taking at least one prescription medication. Half of seniors are taking at least three. You may not be on anything, but you know someone who is.

Does that sound normal? I mean, are perpetual chronic illness and obesity the normal state of existence for us? Is our wiring so inherently faulty that we can’t keep ourselves alive without pills and doctors?

No. Absolutely not. It wasn’t always like this, you know.

The first big turn happened with the Agricultural Revolution. Right around 10,000 years ago, when former hunter-gatherers began growing grain seeds in neat, organized rows, something happened. Population exploded, because we now had a steady source of calories. Villages and cities sprang up, because we no longer had to follow our food. We could simply grow it where we lived.

Those sound like pretty good things, at first. More food and shelter sounds good, right?

Well, something else happened, too. Those early farmers were shorter than the hunter-gatherers they replaced. They didn’t live as long, and they had smaller brains. They got a lot more infectious diseases and more cavities. In short, they were not as healthy as the hunter-gatherers. Same genes, same homo sapiens, different environment, worse health.

But wait – whole grains are supposed to be healthy. Every government institution recommends making whole grains a big part of our diet. How could grain agriculture have caused all those health problems in our ancestors?

The thing about grains is that they don’t care about you. Think about it: a grain of wheat is a baby plant. A wheat egg, if you will. In order for that wheat to pass on its genes, its grain must make it into the ground, sprout, and grow up to repeat the process. Just as a hen keeps its egg warm and well-protected until it hatches, the grain needs ways to stay protected through this process and to keep other animals from eating it.

Unfortunately for the grain, it has no legs, teeth, wings, or claws. It can’t fight. It can’t run from predators. It looks downright defenseless, just sitting there on a puny stalk of wheat.

The grain is anything but defenseless, though. It has an array of chemical defenses, including various lectins, gluten, and phytic acid, that disrupt your digestion, cause inflammation, and prevent you from absorbing vital nutrients and minerals.

All grains contain some or all of these anti-nutrients, to varying degrees, so when our ancestors began making regular meals of them, their health suffered accordingly.

Okay – so we’ve got the fossil records to prove that grain agriculture brought illness and poorer health to human populations, but we don’t know if those early farmers were obese. They probably weren’t. Even if you look at photos of Americans from the 1930s through the 60s, just about everyone is thin. How’s that?

Let’s keep going.

That brings me to the second shift: the late 1970s. Up until then, the obesity rate in America had stayed fairly constant at around 12% of the adult population. Not great, but not too bad for an affluent society with easy access to food.

Starting in the early 80s, things changed. Obesity rates began a steady, constant climb until today, where almost 30% of the adult population is obese and 70% is overweight and/or obese. 1 in 3 American adults is obese. More than 2 in 3 are overweight. Does this seem right?

What the heck changed?

The low-fat diet craze kicked off. People were told that fat and cholesterol were killing them (based on terrible science, which I’ll get into in a future lesson) and making them fat.

So, to avoid all that fat, they started eating more grains, carbs, and other processed low-fat foods.

The other thing about grains (and carbs in general) is that they raise your body’s insulin levels. Insulin is required to shuttle nutrients, like carbs and protein, into various cells of the body. You eat carbs and insulin deals with them. But if you eat too many carbs – like, say, a person who was just told never to eat fat and to eat all the low-fat, high-sugar processed grain products they wanted might do – without exercising at an insane level, your body pumps too much insulin and you get insulin resistant.

When you’re insulin resistant, any amount of carbohydrate will not be tolerated. It will turn to body fat, and the more body fat you have, the more insulin resistant you get. The more insulin resistant you are, the less nutrients are being shuttled into your cells, meaning you stay hungry even though you’re eating, so you eat even more carbs that you can’t tolerate. It’s a vicious cycle, you see, and it’s led to the mess we’re in.

To make things even worse, many of the carbs we’re now eating come in the form of sugar, or its cheaper, more widespread alternative, high-fructose corn syrup. Both forms of sugar are high in fructose, which the liver turns into liverglycogen, a type of carb-based energy, until its glycogen stores are full. Those glycogen stores fill up fast, and since most people aren’t using any glycogen (kinda hard to do that when you have to work an office job and sit in traffic all day), that fructose turns to liver fat.

Together, a diet high in sugar and refined grains, and low in fat, has begotten the obese, diseased populace we see today. That’s the bad news. The good news is that solving the problem – at least on an individual level – is easy.

All you have to do is follow Primal Blueprint Law #9: “Avoid poisonous things.” Those food toxins that grains use to defend themselves? Those are poisonous things that you should stop eating.

So ditch the grains. Here’s how. Give up the bread. Reduce your overall carb intake. (See the Primal Blueprint Carbohydrate Curve.) Even if you aren’t overweight, I guarantee you’ll feel better without that poison in your life.

CrossFit Fundamental Movements DVD

Taking my first of four fundamentals class tonight. Review coming later!

Lifelong Health Starts Here - From Mark's Daily Apple

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/lifelong-health-starts-here/

I’m going to ask a question, and I want your gut response. Answer fast.

What do you feed a lion?

Meat.

Meat is the obviously correct answer. You would feed the lion raw meat. I think even the most ardent vegan would admit that lions are supposed to eat meat.

But why are they “supposed” to eat meat? How do we determine what a living thing is supposed to eat?
Obviously, lions are predators. They hunt and eat prey animals in the wild. But that’s not the whole story.

Lions hunt and eat animals, and they and their feline ancestors have been doing so for hundreds of thousands of years. Millions, even. That’s the key.

The hunting, killing, and raw meat-eating informed the evolution of the lion over many millions of years. The lion’s genetic makeup was shaped by meat-eating. Its teeth and claws are made for killing, its digestive tract is meant to process protein and fat. You might even say the lion’s genes expect the ancestral lion diet of raw meat and function best on such a diet. Conversely, a diet that diverges dramatically from the ancestral lion diet will probably be harmful, with the harm incurred proportional to the degree of divergence. A vegetarian diet will make your lion sick, weak, and probably overweight; a vegan diet will probably kill your lion.

No one would argue against feeding lions raw meat, and anyone who understands natural selection (and as a subscriber to this newsletter I’m sure you do) would agree that lions function best on a raw meat diet because they evolved on one.

This works with other animals, too. Cows eat grass, not meat. Cats, those little house lions, eat meat, not grain and vegetable.

And humans? Humans eat chicken nuggets, soda, and white bread. Wait. (Record scratch.) That’s not right.

Humans are animals, too. We may be relative newcomers to this planet, but we’ve been around for a good 200,000 years, and our ancestors have been around for millions of years. And for a good 190,000 years of that, we were hunter-gatherers, living off the land, big game hunters who feasted on plant and animal alike.
Then we developed agriculture, and for the next 9,900 years, grains ruled the human diet.

100 years ago, food production industrialized, giving us vegetable oil, manmade trans fats, cheap white flour, and inexpensive refined sugar.

Now, we may not know exactly what our Paleolithic ancestors ate, day in and day out. We don’t have menus or food logs. But we do know what they did not eat.

Our ancestors did not eat grains, legumes, refined sugar, or processed vegetable oils.

The thing about people is that we are smart enough to exploit everything offered by the natural world. We don’t just stick to one source of food, like lions and their meat or cows and their grass. We branch out. We pick edible vegetation, we hunt large and small animals, we fish, we dig up edible roots, and we pluck berries from bushes. The wide variety available makes it difficult to pin down the specific evolutionary diet for humans… but that doesn’t prevent us from knowing what wasn’t available.

Here’s what we know:
Grains, beans, and legumes were not readily available until we developed agriculture roughly 10,000 years ago. Fossil records suggest that human health took a hit with the advent of agriculture, as much as you can tell from bones. Agriculturalists were shorter than and had more cavities, smaller brains, and weaker bones than hunter-gatherers. Life expectancy also dropped.

High-fructose corn syrup and vegetable oils were only made available in the last 100 years, with HFCS coming just 30 odd years ago. Today, people are fatter, more diabetic, and get more cancer and heart disease than people living 100 years ago, even if you account for differences in lifespan. Most, if not all of those illnesses are directly attributed to our poor modern lifestyles and diets.

If you accept that the biology of animals, like lions, functions best on ancestral, evolutionary diets, wouldn’t the same likely be true for humans?

That maybe we should take a closer, slightly skeptical look at the foods that have only been available to humans for the last 10,000, 1,000, and 100 years? That maybe the meat, fish, fowl, nuts, seeds,  fruits, roots and tubers that were available to hunter-gatherers for millions of years are actually good for us?
That’s what I call “Grok logic“. Grok, my fun name for the archetypal hunter-gatherer ancestor, is us.
We are Grok. Well, our bodies want to be, anyway. Our genes certainly think we’re still hunting and gathering because they’ve hardly changed in the last 10,000 years. Our genes expect certain things, certain foods, activity levels, and amounts of sleep. They function best when exposed to the same or similar conditions as under which they evolved.

And here’s the thing about genes. Genes can be turned on and off. They can be expressed. Just because you “have” a gene for, say, breast cancer or type 2 diabetes, it doesn’t mean you are destined to get breast cancer or type 2 diabetes. It simply means that if triggered by something in your environment, that gene will switch on (or off) and you will have a higher (or lower) chance of getting the disease.
This is called gene expression.

The things we eat, the amount of sleep we get, our stress levels, how we exercise, whether or not we get sunlight exposure – all of these environmental factors can trigger gene expression – for good or bad. And while just about everything we do can trigger gene expression, the list of things we really need to pay attention is quite short. In fact, it can be summarized in 10 simple laws. (Read more about the 10 Primal Blueprint Laws here.)

This is why I like Grok logic as a starting point when thinking about human health. It comes down to a pretty simple observation. When humans began diverting from their ancestral hunter-gatherer lifestyle, health suffered. When industrially processed food began crowding out natural, whole food, health suffered even more.

Today, people obtain most of their calories from refined grains, sugar, and vegetable oils. They endure chronic stress, lead sedentary lives, work jobs they hate, and live indoors. Today, people have more diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and obesity than ever before.

Correlation? Certainly.

Coincidence? I doubt it.

Causation? I think it’s worth investigating.

In future lessons, we’re going to do that investigating. We’re going to look at many of the ways in which our modern lifestyles divert from our evolutionary past and how our health suffers for it. Everything from the food we eat, the shoes we wear, the sunscreen we slather, the chairs we sit in, and the exercise we do (or don’t do) is fair game.

I think you’re going to learn a lot about how to recapture the health of you and yours by following your Primal Blueprint and nurturing positive gene expression, and I think you’re going to love what you learn.

"My Gym is Different"

Crossfit. My next adventure. First class is Dec 3. Can't WAIT!!!

ChaLEAN Extreme - Days 3 and 4

Burn Circuit 2 with my SelectTechs. These heavy weights are kicking my a$$.
Sumo squat w/bicep curls - 15 lb
Lunge w/one-arm tricep extension - 10 lb
Dead lift row - 22.5 lb
Sumo squat w/overhead tricep extension - 22.5 lb
Dead lift w/double row - 22.5 lb
Bowler's lunge w/single arm row - 20 lb
Bicep curls w/abductor balance - 12.5 lb
Forward lean lunge w/double row - 20 lb
Triple threat push-ups - 15 reps


Burn Circuit 3.
Sumo squat w/overhead press - 15 lb
Lunge w/calf raise - 25 lb
Squat w/lateral raise - 7.5 lb
Lunge w/frontal press - 12.5 lb
Squat w/calf raise - 22.5 lb
Sumo squat w/delt raise - 7.5 lb
Squat w/overhead press - 15 lb
Lunge w/lateral raise - 7.5 lb
Sumo squat w/calf raise - 22.5 lb
I could have gone heavier on some of these. I made a note to up my weight next week.

ChaLEAN Extreme - Day 1

Having just graduated Asylum, which is ALOT of cardio, I feel the need for more weights in my life. I have already done a full round of ChaLEAN in the past, but did not have my awesome SelectTech weights at the time. So, I'm going to do a modified schedule (4 weeks each of Burn, Push and Lean phase) but instead of doing her cardio, I'm going to either run or do TurboFire on cardio days. 

Today was day 1 - Burn Circuit 1. I forgot how challenging this less than 40 minute workout was. I am ALREADY feeling it in my shoulders and abs. Added in Ab Burner, which is her only 9 minute ab routine, but it's a killer. She uses weights for added resistance and works ALL parts of your core. 

Here's what the Burn routine looked like and what weights I used. All exercises were 12 reps, SLOW and CONTROLLED. No swinging your weights around!

Sumo Squat w/Hip Lift - 17.5 lb

Lunge w/Posterior Fly - 10 lb

Push-up w/Leg Lift - 12 reps

Dead Lift w/Posterior Fly - 7.5 lb

Lunge w/Core Rotation - 22.5 lb

Bench Press and Leg Lower - 17.5 lb

Squat w/Side Bend - 22.5 lb

Forward Lean Lunge w/Dbl Arm Post Fly - 10 lb

Chest Fly w/Hip Lift - 15 lb

Want more info? This is a GREAT program - 90 days long - and works for beginners and advanced equally well! ChaLEAN Extreme Store

Take the Beachbody Challenge!

I'm hosting a special fitness challenge for a SMALL group who want support and accountability for SERIOUS results. It's a 30-90 day challenge using Shakeology daily and following a Beachbody home workout program.

• Go to this link: Beachbody Challenge
• Scroll down and click "Take the Challenge"
• Fill out the information and Commit to Get Fit 
• Then, choose your challenge pack - which includes a MONTH's supply of Shakeology, a workout program AND free coaching!
• Message me when you're done so I can check your order. 

I have a PRIVATE Facebook group and will keep you accountable and motivated on a DAILY basis. So if you aren't FULLY committed, don't sign up. I will also be giving you my cell phone number for anytime support and you better BELIEVE I will be calling you if I don't hear from you on the board.

CONTACT ME ASAP if you have any questions.

Email Me: elainekatko@gmail.com or on Facebook: elainekatko@facebook.com

Starting P90X?

Take the Fit Test: P90X Fit Test

Print the worksheets so you can track your progress: P90X Worksheets

Are you going to do Classic, Doubles or Lean? 

P90X Printable Schedule: Classic, Doubles, Lean

I usually recommend Lean for women or for those who need to start out a little less intense. 

Need a coach?

If you don’t have a coach yet, just click on this link! FREE COACHING
You will be asked to fill out a short form. Once you do, I will immediately become your coach! As your coach, I will be here to help motivate and support you through your own fitness journey! I have been working out for many, many years and have done almost all the Beachbdody workout programs and can help you get started. I also have alot of experience with transitioning to a healthy nutrition plan and can help you with that as well.

If you already have a coach, but would like to be coached by me, you can switch.
You simply have to send a one line email to customerservice@teambeachbody.com telling them that you want ELAINE KATKO (Coach ID 41492) to be your coach. Make sure to include your FULL NAME and email address on the email.

Don't say "I Can't". Say "I presently struggle with..."

This is Tony Horton from the interview in the new Chest, Back and Balls - P90X One on One. I thought it was great so I had to re-post it!

"P90X is a skill based program. There are supposed to be alot of exercises you can't do the first time, the second time, the third time, the forth time, the fifth time. But maybe by the 6th, 7th, or 8th time you can do one or two of them. For alot of people that can be very frustrating, and is the reason that no one has done a program like P90X before, because people who make fitness programs are afraid to deliver something that people can't do pretty well right away. That's why the plateau effect is the case for so many other programs. For P90X it's a completely different thing. There are people who start P90X and they can't do half or 3/4 of it but they GOT THE CONCEPT that IT'S a JOURNEY, it's a struggle, and over the course of time, that's how you improve. You get BETTER at your pull-ups, you get BETTER at your push-ups, your range of motion increases, and your flexibility increases."

At what point in P90x should results really start to kick in? - By Steve Edwards
There is a structure that is designed for you to see the greatest results in the latter part of the program. Essentially, each block is designed to have an adaptation phase, followed by a growth (or mastery) phase. In between we have recovery (that are more like transition phases). Because even the transition phases are hard, you body is in a constant state of adaptation throughout the beginning of the program (varies with indivudual but this is the general plan), that is designed for you to peak late in the program.

In any program you plan for a peak. X is designed to peak late. Once you've adapted to a set routine you have a short peak period where fitness gains happen very rapidly. In a perfect world, we've set this up to happen in block three. And this is where most people make the greatest improvements.

How I Follow the P90X Portion Approach Meal Plan

I keep a cheat sheet with me on my phone and just mark off each portion as I eat it throughout the day. As long as you have a food scale and measuring cups, it's SO easy and you don't really have to "count calories" - also I find it easier to count grams of protein and carbs instead of servings. Once you know your portion size and how many of each you get per day, it's so easy!

Daily log for Fat Shredder
Protein (5-125g) -
Dairy (2) -
Veggie (2) -
Fruit (1)-
Fat (1-13g) -
Carb (1-50g) -
Snack (1) -
Protein Bar (1) -
Recovery Drink (1)-

Then when you move up from "fat shredder" to "energy booster" you just decrease proteins to 4 and up carbs to 2 servings.

For example - today I have had: Recovery drink - 1 serving. Almond milk 8oz (1 dairy) and Shakeology (1 snack). 6 egg whites (1 protein),1 Apple (1 fruit), 6 oz chicken (2 proteins). Fresh spinach (1 veggie), Olive oil (1 fat) SO, I still need to eat:2 more protein servings, 1 more dairy, 1 more veggie, 1 carb, 1 protein bar.

I will have my protein bar as a snack.Then I will have dinner: 6 oz fish and some brocolli and 1/2 cup rice.I still need one more protein and a dairy so I may have a scoop of protein powder in 8oz almond milk to get that last protein and dairy.

Make sense?

Proteins - 5 servings - 100 cal each for a total of 125 grams
1oz chic/turk=8g
1oz fish=7g
1 serving = 3 oz chicken, fish, pork, beef, tuna or 6 egg whites

Dairy - 2 servings - 120 cal each
1 cup cottage cheese
8 oz milk
8 oz yogurt
1.5 oz mozz
1 oz parm
1 oz lowfat cheese

Fruit - 1 serving - 100 cal each
Apple, banana, melon, 6 oz juice, 1 cup grapes, 2 cups strawberries

Veggies - 2 servings - 50 cal each
1 cup cooked or 2 cups greens

Fat - 1 serving - 120 cal
1 tbsp oil

Carb - 1 serving - 200 cal -50g
2 slices bread, 1 cup cereal, 1 potato, 1 cup rice

Snack - 1 serving - 100 cal

Protein bar - 1 serving - P90X bar or Clif Builders
260 cal, 29 g carbs, 20 g protein

Recovery Drink - 1 serving - Results and Recovery drink or chocolate milk
220 cal, 2 g fat, 39 g carbs, 10 g protein

Why do you sometimes gain weight when starting a new exercise program? - By Chalene Johnson

Probably the most common question I get when I release a new exercise program is, "Help! I'm gaining weight! Am I doing something wrong?" This is a common phenomenon with any new exercise program, Turbo Kick, Turbo Jam, Hip Hop Hustle, you name it! It's especially common (and temporary) with intense strength training programs like ChaLEAN Extreme or Tony Horton's P90X.

As an example, during our initial test group there was nearly a mutiny due to lack of gains. This was because our small group (4 people) was in breakdown through the first two stages and weren't seeing great results. The all wanted us (me and Tony) to alter the schedule of the program. I drew a chart on a blackboard, showing them what was supposed to happen. Tony backed me up and the program stayed as designed. All of those people's results went nuts during block three and they stopped complaining.

The motivation to start a new exercise program is almost always to lose weight loss. However, what most personal trainers know and most at-home exercisers do not, is that a new exercise program often can cause an immediate (and temporary) increase on the scale. (Notice I didn't say weight gain! I'll explain.) This common increase in the scale is also the reason why perhaps millions of people start and then quickly quit their resolution to get fit.

The temporary weight gain explained:
When someone starts a new exercise program, they often experience muscle soreness. The more intense and "unfamiliar" the program, the more intense the muscle soreness. This soreness is most prevalent 24 to 48 hours after each workout. In the first few weeks of a new program, soreness is the body trying to "protect and defend" the effected or targeted tissue. Exercise physiologists refer to this as delayed-onset muscle soreness, or DOMS.

This type of soreness is thought to be caused by tissue breakdown or microscopic tears in muscle tissue. When this happens the body protects the tissue. The muscle becomes inflamed and slightly swollen with fluid retention. This temporary retention of fluid can result in a 3- to 4-pound weight gain within a few weeks of a new program. Keep in mind that muscle soreness is not necessarily a reflection of how hard you worked. In fact, some people feel no signs of muscle soreness, yet will experience the muscle protection mechanisms of water retention and slight swelling.

Most people are motivated enough to put up with this temporary muscle soreness. Yet, many, especially those who really need immediate weight loss to keep them motivated in those first couple of weeks become discouraged and quit!

When I worked with a group of 70 test participants during the development stages of ChaLEAN Extreme, this happened. Who was the most upset and discouraged? You guessed it... the women! I'm happy to report with absolutely every single woman (and man) in our group, the weight increase was temporary and never lasted more than 2 weeks before they started to see a major drop in the scale. However, these people had the advantage of working with someone who was able to explain to them why this was happening and assure them the weight would come off if they stuck to the nutrition plan and stayed true to the program.

For those of you who are following the ChaLEAN Extreme phase plan, keep in mind that when you start each phase, your body will be "in shock" again. Don't be surprised or discouraged if you experience a temporary gain on the scale the first week of each phase.

My own personal example of this is running 10K's. I don't do it very often, maybe 1 or 2x a year. Even though I run on a regular basis, when you run a race you push much harder. It's natural for me to be "insanely" sore the next day. Its also very common for me to see the scale jump 4 pounds the next day from forcing fluids post race and the resulting DOMS. Even though I know the cause of it, it's still a bummer. We're all human and hard work should mean "results". Hard work equals results, but our bodies are amazing machines and they know how to protect us from hurting our selves. Soreness forces you to give those muscles a break :) Ultimately you will lose the weight and you will change your metabolism in the process.

The key is understanding that this is a normal and temporary and stick with the program!!

When to be concerned:
If you experience a significant weight gain (exceeding 5 pounds) which does not begin to decrease rapidly after the second week, guess what it is??? I'll give you one hint... you put it in your mouth and chew it. You know it! You're food (or calorie laden beverages). Newsflash friends.. exercise doesn't make you gain weight. Consuming more food than you burn makes you gain weight!

So if after two weeks you are not losing weight, have gained weight that's not coming off, it's time to take a close and honest look at your food intake. It's time to find out what you're burning in calories each day. Have your RMR or BMR tested. This can be done for less than $50 and the information is invaluable. It takes out the guess work. Google "hydrostatic body fat testing _______ " and insert the name of the big city you're closest too. Companies that do HBFT also do BMR testing. Knowledge is king.

I'm gaining weight, but I'm sure it's muscle:
Possibly, but if you're following ChaLEAN Extreme correctly, you should be losing fat and gaining muscle and the fat loss should be much more substantial than the rate at which you can physically put on muscle. This is even true for they guys. Of the 70 plus people in my test group, every single one of them lost body fat and gained muscle and not one of them gained weight. I believe the average weight loss after 4 months was 28 pounds with many people losing 40 plus pounds. Even the men, who as you can see put on a lot of muscle, were seeing huge drops in the scale. We tested their muscle composition at the beginning and at the end and 100% of the participants maintained or gained muscle while achieving substantial weight loss. That's the key to keeping weight off long term, i.e. muscle. Muscle burns fat. But you've heard me say that before.

Moral of the story:
Be patient young grass hopper. You'll be lean and mean in no time!

A Girl's Guide to P90X by Whitney Provost
Everyone was talking the day after the Grammy® Awards about Pink's gravity-defying performance of "Glitter In the Air." She talked with Oprah Winfrey later that week about how she got into the tremendous shape that turned her into the "human sprinkler," and the secret was P90X. Kudos to Pink (and to Dreya Weber, the P90X star whom the eagle-eyed may have spotted as one of the gold-painted aerialists). Muscles are a girl's best friend. Not only do they raise your metabolism and help you burn more calories, they also keep you living strong. And they look beautiful. Well-sculpted shoulders and lean, tight legs carry clothes better and allow you to power through everyday activities with strength and stamina. How do you get a body like that? A program like P90X will do the trick.

I know this because I'm a P90X graduate. I can vouch for its muscle-sculpting, fat-blasting, and body-shrinking powers. Before I ever started working for Beachbody®, I finished two rounds of P90X and incorporated P90X Plus into my fitness routine. I still do P90X regularly, and Plyometrics is consistently in my cardio rotations.

I'm not a world-class athlete. I'm just a regular at-home fitness junkie. P90X has been helping me get the body I want—lean, tight, and strong but not bulky—and it makes me feel good.

Not sure if you're ready to tackle the X? Here are a few things to keep in mind.

1. Do your best and forget the rest. You'll hear Tony say this a lot throughout P90X, and it's important advice. All you have to do is lift as much weight as you can, and that's it. You're not in competition with anyone else. Don't worry if you can only lift 5 pounds while the women in the workouts are hoisting 15. Every time you Push Play, you'll get stronger, and before you know it, you'll be able to lift heavier than you ever have before. And don't be surprised if you find that you can do a few pull-ups at the end of 90 days.

2. Eat enough. A common mistake many active women make is undereating. With a program as intense as P90X, it's important to fill your body with enough healthy fuel to power through your workouts and help your muscles recover afterward. If you don't eat enough, your metabolism will slow down and your body will burn muscle for energy. Follow the P90X nutrition plan and take your supplements. They're designed to help you get the best results.

3. Don't be a slave to the scale. During a program like P90X, your body will go through a lot of metabolic changes. At first, your muscles may retain water as they react to the shock of the workouts and the recovery afterward. You may notice your weight going up for a short time before your muscles shed the excess water. As you continue with the program, you'll be building muscle and shedding fat, but the scale might not move downward as much as you want it to. Don't let that deter you. A pound of muscle is denser than a pound of fat, so your body may shrink even if your weight doesn't change that much. Keep in mind that muscle is a metabolism booster, so the more you have the more calories and fat you'll burn all day long.

4. You're not going to get bulky. Look at the women in the P90X workouts. They're all lean, strong, and feminine. Because women don't have enough testosterone to build massive amounts of muscle, it's nearly impossible for them to bulk up by lifting heavy weights. When women complain about feeling bulky, it's usually because they're new to a fitness program and their muscles are retaining water. If this happens to you, don't give up. Stick with your meal plan and workouts, and soon the extra bulk will go away.

5. You're going to love the way you feel. OK, maybe not when you're sore from working out, but as you get stronger and leaner, you're going to love how easy everyday tasks become, like lifting heavy objects, walking up and down stairs, or picking up children. And I can pretty much guarantee that you'll find yourself admiring your shoulders in the mirror or poking yourself in the belly to feel your tight abs. I do it all the time.

My Before and Afters - so YES, it works!