Must read posts to help you excel in 2014

Even though new year resolutions have a terrible record in terms of success, there is still something about the new year's time that fills us up with optimism and makes us feel that "this time" all will go as per plan! And why not, a fresh start is one of the best things that can happen when the current situation is not going the way you want it to go. Sure, nothing in reality actually changes with the new year, and it is ultimately a matter of one's mental perception, however most great changes begin with the change in one's thought process. So do not be embarrassed or ashamed if you have not been able to keep your new year's resolution in the last 10 years. Atleast you are still trying to make something happen each time, when many others have given up hope.

6 meals vs 3 meals a day (part 2)

In part one of this series I had talked about the benefits and limitations of eating 6 meals a day, and who is it best suited for. So if your goals require that you eat multiple times a day, then do it, but as I mentioned, be sure that you have the lifestyle and dedication to be able to do so. In this post I will talk about what can be considered an almost opposite way of eating, that is eating 3 meals a day, since unlike the 6 meals a day, the 3 meals a day plan will have you go much longer without eating a meal. Although not as extreme as eating one meal a day, you will still generally have about 6-7 hours between meals, which is a long time for many people who are used to eating every 2-3 hours.

As you will know that the 3 meals a day plan is often referred to as eating breakfast, lunch and dinner, and for most of us as children, this is how we were taught to eat. According to this plan you will start your day with a meal sometime after waking up, then during the daytime you eat your lunch, and after sunset and before bedtime have your dinner. Its a very simple eating plan, and compared to eating 6 meals a day is far more convenient.

6 meals vs 3 meals a day (part 1)

As a teenager, I was used to going without food for many hours, and would eat only after 3.30 in the afternoon, which meant that I ate after 17 hours since my last meal, which was dinner the night before at around 10. And thereafter I would eat another 1-2 meals, which meant that I got a total of 2-3 meals a day. So you can say that I was unknowingly doing the so called intermittent fasting thing years before it became popular thanks to the internet. And I ate that way for about 10 years of my life, so I can say that I have a fair amount of experience of doing so. Of course in my case it was not meant to be done for any dieting or such purposes, its just that I was not really interested in the usual breakfast at that age, and would rather wait to have lunch and dinner.

This type of eating continued for me till I passed out of school, which is when I became a keen reader of bodybuilding and fitness magazines. Now if you have read even a single fitness magazine from the 90's then you would be well aware of the theory of why 6 meals a day is the best way to eat for muscle building/fat loss and overall health benefits. The health magazines in those days, and even today are always telling you to eat multiple small meals a day, if you want to be in great shape. As per their logic, if you go more than 2-3 hours without food, then you will start losing muscle mass, have very low levels of energy, store bodyfat easily, etc. In short, eating small meals frequently keeps your metabolism working in top gear, and will make you a lean and mean muscle machine!

30 best muscle building foods

To have extra large muscles you need extra large nutrition. Make no mistake about it, eating 2 mini meals a day will not equal to big muscles. As the saying goes, to add bodyweight add food to your plate, and weight on the bar. That is probably as simple as it can get. You also need to follow a balanced eating approach. Eating high amounts of protein while neglecting healthy carbs, and fat is not the way to go. So here is a list of 30 foods that should be part of your diet if you are interested in seeing bigger muscles

Does coffee help to lose weight

Aah! Nothing like a good cup of warm coffee on a sleepy morning when you are struggling to keep your eyes open.  For many that first cup of coffee will signal their brain that the day has begun, and there is no more time to sleep. That first cup will be followed by many more cups during the day, as staying alert and staying awake starts to become a great battle. So for many of us coffee is like a drug that helps to keep us alert, awake and get work done in a day. Besides this does that cup of coffee offer any other benefit? According to some it does, it is said that coffee can actually help you to lose weight and get slimmer. So is it really true or just a myth?

Do negative calorie foods work

We all know by now that a proper diet is a major factor in losing body fat. This means that most of us are always looking for the perfect diet that will help us lose weight, get fit, and look great. As you may know that there are different types of diets that are popular due to the results that they have to offer. The key however in any good diet program is the actual food that you eat. After all a diet is nothing but the food that we eat habitually. In general most good diets emphasize a variety of foods in various proportions. Some call for higher proteins, some call for higher fats, while some call for higher carbs.

To a dieter the term "calorie" is not new. He is taught to keep a check on the amount of calories that he eats. Thus the dieter often seems to be in search of the perfect low cal food, to keep his weight down. But what about negative calorie foods? A particular type of eating concept requires you to focus on eating what is allegedly referred to as "negative calorie" food. Those who advocate these type of foods claim that certain foods burn more calories that what they contain. So if the particular food contains 100 calories, it might end up burning 110 calories in your body after digestion in complete. And as you may have guessed it, it should also help you to lose fat. So what would happen if you ate only negative calorie food, and nothing else? Theoretically you will end up losing all the excess weight very soon, and have no chance of regaining it, unless you change what you eat, right? While in theory it does sound good to be true, lets try to understand this concept a bit better. 

How to lose weight without counting calories

Does this look like too much calculation?

Let's be honest, unless you are an accountant, mathematician, or someone who loves numbers, counting calories for every single meal, every single day does not always feel great. Infact for most people out there counting calories is something that they hate and would really be happy if they could just stop spending time and energy behind counting calories and eat without too many, if at all any calculations. After all when you eat, you would ideally like to eat without too much thoughts and enjoy the food, right?

The 6 basics of a good nutrition plan

Whether you are trying to put on weight or reduce fat, let me inform you that 60-70% of your success will depend on your diet. If you train hard on a bad diet, you should not expect to be very successful. After all our bodies are built and maintained by the nutrition that we provide it with. Thus if you wish to be in the peak condition that you can be then you must take your nutritional plan seriously. 


One major problem when formulating a diet is the vastly conflicting information that is out there. I mean somewhere you will read that carbs are bad, and in other places you will hear that they are good. Someone will tell you that saturated fat is evil, whereas someone else will tell you that you can have more than 50% of your calories from saturated fats, etc. In short there is enough conflicting information out there to drive you M-A-D.