Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle !!!

lmr9

Hello! I have been reading Tom Venuto's Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle, and I absolutely love it!! I cannot put it down. I'm almost finished with the book - plan to finish it tomorrow. It makes so much sense!! Finally a book on fitness and fat loss that puts all the pieces together - it is so realistic and understandable - it actually explains how the body works and why you should/shouldn't do certain things. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. I've already changed over all my MFP goals and settings, and plan to start following the program 110% on Monday.

Do any of you follow his program? I would LOVE to hear your experiences. Please share!! :flowerforyou:

Also, if you know of another thread or group of BFFM followers, please share that too. :flowerforyou:

Thanks!! I MFP!!

chrissym78

sounds like a good one, thanks!

gargoyle999

Could you expand on how you changed your settings/goals. I'm curious how it is different vs MFP numbers. Thanks!

Randee75

Also curious about how you tweaked your settings.

mndamon

I've seen this around on the web and kind of wondered about it, will be curious to see what those who have tried it think of it.

lmr9

Could you expand on how you changed your settings/goals. I'm curious how it is different vs MFP numbers. Thanks!

Sure. The number of calories per day is basically the same as MFP. I calculated it using Tom's method, and compared it to MFP - and it was really, really close. The biggest changes I made from MFP's recommended are (1) 50% carbs, 30% protein, and 20% fat and (2) 5 meals per day - eat every 3 hours - each meal appx the same size.

Tom gives other guidelines about what foods to eat when - for example every meal contains protein and carbs - but MFP doesn't give an opinion on that. But that wasn't a setting or goal I changed...just something I'll be doing on my own.

dab52776

I've seen this. I'm also curious to hear more about it!

lmr9

I've seen this around on the web and kind of wondered about it, will be curious to see what those who have tried it think of it.

Me too. It makes so much sense to me, but I would like to hear from people who have actually done it...

splashwags

bump

patssarah

I get his weekly news letters! Have not had the extra money to spend on that book yet though!
Thats the $40 e-book correct? or is there actually a book out in stores I can purchase?
I have been really interested in learning more about his methods!
I tried switching my ratios to the 50-30-20 but have a really hard time keeping my fat that low, and usually get around 50-25-25.
I really want to order that book now!

lmr9

I get his weekly news letters! Have not had the extra money to spend on that book yet though!
Thats the $40 e-book correct? or is there actually a book out in stores I can purchase?
I have been really interested in learning more about his methods!
I tried switching my ratios to the 50-30-20 but have a really hard time keeping my fat that low, and usually get around 50-25-25.
I really want to order that book now!

Yeah, it's the eBook - I think that's the only way you can get it. I feel ya on the fat - I'm concerned that it will be difficult to eat that much lean protein without going over on fat. Hopefully I won't be eating boneless skinless chicken breasts at every meal. :laugh: Must find a variety of meal plans!

art4fun69

This sounds like an interesting program. I went to his website and listened to the video. Might have to try it.

art4fun69

Did you buy the basic edition or the deluxe?

lmr9

Did you buy the basic edition or the deluxe?

Basic

art4fun69

I decided to buy the book and start reading. Dont think I am up for their challenge as I havent even read the book yet, but I am excited about reading it. Good thing I have an ereader that I can put it on!!!

Friend me if you like.

Barb

xraychick77

just one of the MANY plans out there that claim to have all the answers...

lmr9

Bump - there has to be somebody on MFP that has first hand experience with BFFM! :flowerforyou:

lmr9

I decided to buy the book and start reading. Dont think I am up for their challenge as I havent even read the book yet, but I am excited about reading it. Good thing I have an ereader that I can put it on!!!

Friend me if you like.

Barb

You'll love the book. I'll be looking forward to hearing your thoughts/experiences later! :flowerforyou:

Balanced_Life

Yay! Another BFFM fan! I read the BFFM book recently and it made a lot of sense to me, so I've recently started following the BFFM program.

I was going to start a thread to see if anyone else on MFP was on the BFFM program, and then I found your thread. I'm really glad to find another MFP'er who's also on the program! It'll be fun to discuss stuff and support each other as we're going through it. I'll send you a friend request.

I'm still phasing into following the program completely. For the past few weeks I'm been following the nutrition part of it (eating 5 meals a day, eating the recommended foods at each meal, etc.), and I could feel the difference immediately! I had a lot more energy and felt a lot better physically. Eating more protein definitely made a big difference (my protein is ~29% now). I've been doing 1+ hr of cardio daily for the past couple of years already (I work out on the Stairmaster), so I didn't have to change anything there. But I haven't done weight training for >20 years so I'm going to start doing that in ~1 week. I just ordered a bunch of weight training equipment so that I can add the weight training to my exercise routine -- hopefully all of the stuff should be here by the end of this week and I can get started this coming weekend.

So what have you been doing on the program so far?

lmr9

Hello Balanced Life. :flowerforyou:

Happy to find another BFFM'er! I'm relatively new to it too, but like you, once I read the book it made so much sense I had to try it. I've only been doing it for about 6 weeks now, and have lost 4 pounds in that time. That may not sound like a lot to you, so don't be discouraged. I'm currently at my lowest weight ever in my adult life - actually I'm less than I weighed in junior high, and can't remember what I weighed before that. I have 8 pounds to lose until I'm at my goal weight! So point being, I know my last 8 will be the hardest and probably slowest to lose.

I've been doing a Boot Camp class at my gym 5 days per week since the beginning of the year. It's an hour per day - every weekday. We do a mix of high intensity cardio and strength training - free weights, lunges, squats, spin, elliptical, treadmill, abs, jump rope, boxing - a lot of different stuff. In that time (since Jan 1, 2011), I've lost 27 pounds and many inches - and increased by strength a lot. On top of that, I generally run 4-5 miles every Saturday morning, then take Sundays off.

I really like BFFM's food plan I eat 5 times per day - at 7a, 11a, 1p, 4p, and 7p - or as close thereto as possible. At first I found it hard to incorporate lean protein in every meal, but I've found that using a protein powder helps - but I really try to limit it as much as possible, only because I would rather get my protein from natural foods than a powder, if I can. BUT, that being said, I'll use protein powder if it is my only option rather than skipping the protein altogether. It's good mixed with oatmeal, or just mixed in water or milk.

This is a typical food day for me:
7am: (largest meal of the day) banana, whole wheat and flax waffle, and an egg white omlet with pico de gallo and chunk chicken breast
11am: oatmeal with protein powder and fruit -OR- whole wheat english muffin with almond butter and plain fat free greek yogurt
1pm: salad with tuna or turkey breast
4pm: (this one is always the hardest for me because I work 8-5, so it feels weird eating a meal an hour before I leave) protein shake, baked yam, fruit, sometimes a Luna bar, or the same things I have listed above for 11am meals
7pm: (smallest meal of the day) chicken breast, turkey breast, fish, or shrimp paired with veggies

I try to do the carb tapering thing, but don't do it every day. Mainly just try not to have any starchy carbs at dinner.

Water, water, water. I drink 96 ounces per day minimum - really try to drink a gallon per day.

Ok, have I rambled on enough for ya! :laugh: Interested in keeping in touch to see how it goes for you. And would love to hear meal ideas.

SallyCC

I got the book out of the library and I am just getting into it. Glad to see others are talking about it here.

PurpleCoookie

I'm about half-way in the book and it really madesa lot of sense to me too. My plan is to eat 5 meals a day and exercise 4-5 times a week based off my type. I'm trying really hard to be a early riser but its hard!!!

Balanced_Life

Hi Imr9 - I'm sorry that I wasn't able to reply for so long. After I PM'd you Mon. of last week, work got really hectic and stayed that way till now (I ended up having to work all day last Sat. as well). The rest of last weekend turned out to be really busy too (more on that below).

Anyway, it was very interesting to hear about everything that you've been doing and I had really wanted to reply as soon as I saw your post! I had a lot that I wanted to comment on and a lot that I wanted to tell you, and I thought my reply would be kind of disjointed if I replied in pieces, so during the past ~1.5 weeks I decided to just add stuff to my reply whenever I had some free time. I finally finished today!

I wrote my comments below.

Happy to find another BFFM'er! I'm relatively new to it too, but like you, once I read the book it made so much sense I had to try it. I've only been doing it for about 6 weeks now, and have lost 4 pounds in that time. That may not sound like a lot to you, so don't be discouraged. I'm currently at my lowest weight ever in my adult life - actually I'm less than I weighed in junior high, and can't remember what I weighed before that. I have 8 pounds to lose until I'm at my goal weight! So point being, I know my last 8 will be the hardest and probably slowest to lose.

First of all, congrats on getting down to your current weight! That's fantastic! Losing 4 lbs in 6 weeks is great progress, considering that you're so close to your goal weight. What % body fat will you be when you're at your goal weight? I'm aiming to be at 13-14% body fat when reach my goal weight.

Sad to say, I've been doing really badly on the weight loss since last Sept. I'd started my weight loss program on 1/5/10 and made steady progress until Sept. (I'd lost 24 lbs at that point), then work got really stressful and I started regaining weight because of stress related binge eating. This year has been even more stressful and I had even worse problems with the stress related binge eating. So right now I've regained ~17 lbs of the 24 lbs that I had lost. The only good thing is that I did keep up with exercising almost every day. Anyway, things have finally calmed down now, and I've been trying to get my weight loss program restarted again.

I've been doing a Boot Camp class at my gym 5 days per week since the beginning of the year. It's an hour per day - every weekday. We do a mix of high intensity cardio and strength training - free weights, lunges, squats, spin, elliptical, treadmill, abs, jump rope, boxing - a lot of different stuff. In that time (since Jan 1, 2011), I've lost 27 pounds and many inches - and increased by strength a lot. On top of that, I generally run 4-5 miles every Saturday morning, then take Sundays off.

Losing 27 lbs in 6 months is terrific! It sounds like your Boot Camp class gives you a great workout. What portion of the hour is spent on weight training stuff? And is your calorie deficit completely from your exercise?

I do an hour (~8.5 mi) on the Stairmaster first thing every day, unless work is too busy and I don't have time. So for the past ~1.5 years I've averaged working out ~7 days out of 8. However, I've been wanting to add weight training to my exercise routine for some time. I finally ordered some weight training equipment and it arrived last Friday. So after I finished the work stuff on Saturday, I spent all of the time in between various weekend activities on unpacking and setting up the weight training equipment. It took a long time because there were 21 boxes and ~800 lbs of equipment! This week has been so busy that I still haven't had a chance to try out the equipment yet. Hopefully I can try it out tomorrow night, and do my first workout this weekend. I'm looking forward to getting started!

I really like BFFM's food plan I eat 5 times per day - at 7a, 11a, 1p, 4p, and 7p - or as close thereto as possible. At first I found it hard to incorporate lean protein in every meal, but I've found that using a protein powder helps - but I really try to limit it as much as possible, only because I would rather get my protein from natural foods than a powder, if I can. BUT, that being said, I'll use protein powder if it is my only option rather than skipping the protein altogether. It's good mixed with oatmeal, or just mixed in water or milk.

I like the BFFM food plan too! Eating 5 times a day has made me feel better physically than I've ever felt before. I usually get up between 4 - 4:30AM and eat at 5AM / 8 - 8:30AM / 12PM / 3:30PM / 7PM. I usually check some work emails while I'm digesting the 5AM meal, start working out ~6:15 - 6:45AM, and eat the next meal right after I finish showering.

I've been eating meat at every meal -- chicken breast or salmon usually, lean beef very occasionally -- and that was a big change for me because I used to only eat meat at lunch and dinner. Right now I'm eating more than twice as much meat daily as I used to! I found that the extra protein makes me feel less hungry in between meals. I also eat a fibrous veggie at every meal. Before BFFM, I had never vegetables at breakfast in my life! But I was really surprised that it made me feel better physically and also made me less hungry. Right now I'm eating ~3x as much veggies daily than I used to!

So far I haven't had to use protein powder, but I as thinking that it might be good to keep some on hand just in case. What kind of protein powder did you get, and why did you choose that particular kind?

This is a typical food day for me:
7am: (largest meal of the day) banana, whole wheat and flax waffle, and an egg white omlet with pico de gallo and chunk chicken breast
11am: oatmeal with protein powder and fruit -OR- whole wheat english muffin with almond butter and plain fat free greek yogurt
1pm: salad with tuna or turkey breast
4pm: (this one is always the hardest for me because I work 8-5, so it feels weird eating a meal an hour before I leave) protein shake, baked yam, fruit, sometimes a Luna bar, or the same things I have listed above for 11am meals
7pm: (smallest meal of the day) chicken breast, turkey breast, fish, or shrimp paired with veggies

Do you eat your largest meat at 7AM because that's right after your workout? Approximately how many calories do you eat for each meal?

I usually eat every ~3.5 hrs. On most days I drink some flavored tea w/liquid stevia ~2.5 hrs after each meal as a "snack" because I start feeling a little hungry then. The hot tea really helps to suppress the hunger pangs! I also found that I feel much more satisfied and full if I drink 1-2 cups of hot, sweet liquid at the end of each meal, so I always drink either a café au lait or dessert teas w/liquid stevia as a "dessert" at the end of each meal. The café au lait also helps me to get more protein! And I tend to chew gum continuously in between meals...it seems to help lessen any urges to eat.

In every meal I include meat, fibrous veggie, starchy complex carbohydrate, and EFAs (Udo's Oil Blend and/or mixed nuts). In my pre and post workout meals I include simple carbohydrates (milk and fruit). I also include milk in one other meal so that I can get 3 servings of milk a day (to make sure that I get enough calcium). I try to eat unrefined starchy complex carbohydrates as much as possible, but occasionally I'll substitute some more refined stuff like Kashi peanut butter granola bars, Kashi GoLean original cereal, Pop Chips, etc. I really like the Kashi cereal and granola bars, so I've been using those as a "dessert" item than also functions as part of my starchy complex carbohydrate for the meal.

Here's a typical daily meal plan for me:

Meal 1: 5AM (~400 cal, pre-workout)
salmon (50 cal)
broccoli (50 cal)
Wasa crispbread w/almond butter & jam (75 cal)
banana (75 cal)
nonfat milk w/instant coffee & chocolate stevia (80 cal)
Udo's Oil Blend (60 cal; I mix .75 tsp in the milk and .75 tsp in the broccoli)


Meal 2: 8 - 8:30AM (~450 cal, post-workout)
chicken (50 cal)
brown rice (50 cal)
Wasa crispbread w/hummus (55 cal)
mixed nuts (50 cal)
baby carrots (50 cal)
cantaloupe (50 cal)
nonfat milk w/instant coffee & chocolate stevia (80 cal)
Udo's Oil Blend (60 cal; I mix 1.5 tsp in the milk)
Trident Layers sugar free gum

Snack: ~10:30 - 11AM
red tea (0 cal; Celestial Seasonings "African Orange Mango" tea w/plain stevia)


Meal 3: 12PM (~300 cal)
salmon (75 cal)
whole wheat pasta w/pesto sauce (100 cal)
mixed nuts (50 cal)
collard greens (50 cal)
Udo's Oil Blend (30 cal; I mix .75 tsp in the collard greens)
herbal tea (0 cal; Celestial Seasonings "Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride" tea w/English toffee stevia)
black tea, decaf (0 cal; Stash "Vanilla Nut Creme" tea w/English toffee stevia)
Trident Layers sugar free gum

Snack: ~2:30PM
green tea, decaf (Celestial Seasonings "Candy Cane Lane" tea w/plain stevia)


Meal 4: 3:30PM (~300 cal)
chicken (50 cal)
yams (50 cal)
cauliflower (50 cal)
nonfat milk w/instant coffee & chocolate stevia (80 cal)
Udo's Oil Blend (60 cal; I mix .75 tsp in the milk and .75 tsp in the cauliflower)
Trident Layers sugar free gum

Snack: ~6PM
herbal tea, decaf (0 cal; Celestial Seasonings "Apple Cinnamon Spice" tea w/plain stevia)


Meal 5: 7PM (~350 cal)
chicken (75 cal)
potatoes (50 cal)
Wasa crispbread w/hummus (55 cal)
mixed nuts (50 cal)
asparagus/brussel sprouts/red bell pepper stir fry (50 cal)
cantaloupe (50 cal)
Kashi GoLean Original cereal (50 cal; good source of soy protein - has 13 gm per 140 cal serving)
Udo's Oil Blend (30 cal; I mix .75 tsp in the asparagus/brussel sprouts/red bell pepper stir fry)
herbal tea, decaf (0 cal; Celestial Seasonings "Honey Vanilla Chamomile" tea w/plain stevia)
Trident Layers sugar free gum



The teas that I listed above are just my favorites. I'm a big tea fan and my cupboards are filled with many different flavors of tea (they're all from Celestial Seasonings or Stash) -- if you want any tea suggestions, let me know! The liquid stevia that I use is made by Sweetleaf, and that instant coffee is Mt. Hagen Organic Instant coffee.

I usually prepare all of my meat and veggies on the weekend, since I don't have any time for cooking on the weekdays. Each weekend I'll typically stir fry ~4 lbs of chicken breast, bake ~2.5 lbs of salmon fillets, stir fry ~5 lbs of broccoli, stir fry ~3 lbs of cauliflower, stir fry ~4.5 lbs of asparagus/brussel sprouts/red bell peppers, make 2 lbs of collard greens w/stir fried onions, bake ~2.5lbs of yams, and bake ~3.5 lbs of potatoes. I use very little canola oil for stir frying, since I like to get my EFA's mostly from Udo's Oil blend (yes, I followed Tom Venuto's recommendation!) and from nuts. I flavor the chicken, salmon, and veggies with various low cal sauces and seasonings. I wrap the meat into separate packets and freeze whatever won't be eaten during the next couple of days. The veggies seem to keep OK in the fridge for the whole week. Every few months I'll make up a big batch of mixed nuts (~6 lbs) and freeze them in airtight jars with rubber gaskets.

By the way, I eat most of the stuff I make each week. My boyfriend usually only eats ~3 dinners at home on the weekdays eats out for his other lunches/dinners, and on the weekends he likes to also eat other less healthy foods that I usually stay away from nowadays.

I try to do the carb tapering thing, but don't do it every day. Mainly just try not to have any starchy carbs at dinner.

I tried doing that initially, but I didn't feel satisfied if I don't have some starchy carbs at dinner, and I also found that I sleep better if I eat more at meal 5. So after a few weeks I adjusted my meal 5 to what I wrote above, and that seems to work really well for me.

Water, water, water. I drink 96 ounces per day minimum - really try to drink a gallon per day.

Wow, do you manage to drink 96 oz (12 cups) of pure water?

I get ~13-15 cups of fluid per day, but its a mixture of water and other drinks (water: 6 cups; nonfat milk: 3 cups; tea: 4-6 cups)

Ok, have I rambled on enough for ya! :laugh: Interested in keeping in touch to see how it goes for you. And would love to hear meal ideas.

I've rambled on quite a bit too! :laugh: If you have more meal ideas, I'd love to hear them! And I'm always interested healthy "dessert" type items (like the Kashi granola bars)!

So I saw in the newsfeed that you hit a rough patch with the eating last weekend. Are you back on track now? How's the new session of the boot camp going?

lmr9

Hi Balanced Life - good to hear from you! :flowerforyou:

I'm not sure what my body fat % will be at my goal weight. The only way I've measured by body fat is by the scale at my gym, and I'm not sure how accurate it is. According to it, I'm currently at 34% body fat, which seems really high to me - I would like to be at 25%.

Boot Camp is roughly half strength training and half cardio. Lately we've been doing about 20 minutes of spin, and then the rest weights.

I use the MFP built in calorie deficit to lose 1 pound per week, then I also eat some of my exercise calories. MFP's suggested for 1 pound/week loss is about 1,520. When I calculated it from BFFM, it was about 1,700ish. So I'm somewhere close to both suggestions.

Good for you for eating meat at every meal - I haven't managed to get there yet. I use Jay Robb's Whey Protein Powder. My trainer suggested whey protein, and I just chose Jay Robb - no particular reason why.

I'm eating roughly 300 calories per meal. This is what I shoot for
7am: 375
10am: 300
1pm: 300
4pm: 300
7pm: 225

I have some 32 ounce water bottles - so I just keep it with me all day long - and down 3 or 4 of them per day. I usually finish one before I leave for work in the morning - during workout and breakfast. Then I sip on it for the rest of the day.

Keep up the good work!

Balanced_Life

Hi Lmr9 -- 34% sounds way too high! Especially since you're so close to your goal weight. From what I've seen, the body fat scales can be pretty inaccurate. I have a Tanita scale that measures body fat, and the readings does show the body fat trend over time pretty well, but the body fat readings can vary a lot from day to day even though I always weigh myself first thing in the morning so that my hydration level should be pretty similar each time. After I reach my goal weight, I was thinking of getting a DXA scan ( http://www.bodycompositioncenter.com/why.html ) done so that I could get an accurate body fat measurement, just for informational purposes. Are you planning to get an accurate body fat measurement when you reach your goal weight?

Boot Camp sounds like a really good mix of exercises! I've only done one practice weight training workout so far, and I'm still in the process of figuring how long to spend on each workout.

I'm also trying to lose 1 pound per week, so I eat ~1750 cal/day (that's my maintenance level without exercise), and the calorie deficit is from the ~500 cal that I burn off during my Stairmaster workout each day.

Thanks, I'll keep in mind that protein powder if I decide to get some.

Good job on drinking so much water! I keep a mug of water on my desk all day, but I need to remember to drink from it more often.

dawnemjh

bump!!

curious about this as well...

ARe you guys finding this a successful way of losing weight??

lmr9

I really like it. My weight loss has slowed, but I'm really close to my goal weight, so I would expect that anyway.

Balanced_Life

I think the BFFM program is great! Not only am I losing fat and without losing lean muscle mass, eating nutrient dense food 5 times a day minimizes the hunger pangs and gives me more energy than I've ever had before. After going on the BFFM program ~3 months ago, I feel better physically than I've ever felt in my life. I'm also eating healthier than I've ever eaten in my life.

IsMollyReallyHungry

bump

lmr9

Hi Lmr9 -- 34% sounds way too high! Especially since you're so close to your goal weight. From what I've seen, the body fat scales can be pretty inaccurate. I have a Tanita scale that measures body fat, and the readings does show the body fat trend over time pretty well, but the body fat readings can vary a lot from day to day even though I always weigh myself first thing in the morning so that my hydration level should be pretty similar each time. After I reach my goal weight, I was thinking of getting a DXA scan ( http://www.bodycompositioncenter.com/why.html ) done so that I could get an accurate body fat measurement, just for informational purposes. Are you planning to get an accurate body fat measurement when you reach your goal weight?

Hey - just wanted to let you know that I went and got a DEXA Body Composition scan 2 weeks ago, and my body fat was 27%! Which puts me in the "Fit" category - they rank on a scale of Very Lean, Fit, Overweight, and High - and I'm Fit! :bigsmile: :bigsmile:

liezelcha

Bump