Big Fat Lies Series #2

Hi Subscriber, 

This email contains part 2 of your 12 part mini-course, BIG FAT LIES.

In this lesson, you will discover the truth about "fat burner" supplements.

Most of our lessons are very short and quick reads. This is the Longest Lesson of the 12 part series but I urge you to find a quiet moment and read the entire thing...

The TRUTH about fat burner pills and the advertisements that sell them is going to shock you, to say the least.

Train smart and expect success,

Kirk Huggins Rogers
www.heroicfitness.com

Fat Loss Lie #2: You need "fat burner" supplements to get lean

EPHEDRA AND EPHEDRINE - THERMOGENIC "FAT BURNERS"

The most popular of the "fat burner" supplements ever on the market was no doubt ephedra or ephedrine-based products, which hit the shelves in 1993.

Ephedrine was immensely popular because there was actually some good scientific evidence showing that it had measurable fat burning effects.

You could also "feel" it... you got an "energy buzz."

Ephedrine is a drug derived from a Chinese herb called ephedra (also known as ma huang). It is similar in chemical structure to amphetamines and works as a "beta-adrenergic agonist" - which means, in plain English, that it's a thermogenic (metabolism-stimulating) agent that helps with the release of stored body fat.

So if it worked, why did it get banned by the FDA and taken off the market in April of 2004?

Well, there were clearly some political and financial agendas involved, but the reason given to the public was concern about adverse effects and safety.

To this day, the decision to remove ephedrine from the market is still controversial because the research was mixed on whether the risks were severe enough to warrant the ban.

PROBABLY SAFE WHEN TAKEN AS DIRECTED, BUT...

Although the FDA had 80 ephedrine related deaths and 1400 adverse effect complaints on file, including strokes, coronaries and seizures, the fact is, when compared to deaths caused by prescription drugs and other over the counter drugs like aspirin, ephedra actually appeared fairly safe when used as directed by healthy individuals and not abused.

However, one huge downside of ephedrine that was not often mentioned by the pro-ephedrine camp is that stimulant-based fat burners can be highly addictive.  Addiction leads to improper use or abuse.

In the late 1990's and early 2000’s, I used ephedra products myself because they were over the counter and allowed in the bodybuilding competitions I was in.

Research be damned, I never believed that these pills helped me all that much with fat loss.

But what I did notice was the "rocket-engine" stimulant boost – the buzz, the pounding heart rate, the increased physical energy, and the amplified mental focus and workout "intensity."

At the height of the craze, 12 to 17 million people were using ephedra and no doubt, many of them were hooked on what was essentially a mild form of legal speed.

These products were being abused en masse as "pick me ups."  Students were popping these pills to stay awake and study all night. Partiers were doing the same. So were truck drivers.  I personally used these products for marathon study sessions and party sessions while in college.  When I was competing in bodybuilding, I used them as well.

Like any addictive habit, it's difficult to stop. When you first go cold turkey, you crash emotionally and physically and your workouts suffer as your crutch has been taken away. It's a lot like trying to kick the booze or cigarette habit. You go through withdrawal.

WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN

Your body is too smart for short term quick fixes to ever work because your body will always fight back to maintain a natural balance or "homeostasis."

For every artificial peak or high you create, there will be an equal or greater valley or low point.

If you over-stimulate, your body can respond by slowing down your natural metabolic rate to compensate. As a result, when you stop using the stimulant, your metabolism is slower than ever and you gain
back any weight you lost and more. 

This often prompts you to go back on the stimulants and the vicious cycle of stimulant addiction continues. Some experts say that long term use can even lead to adrenal burnout.

Also, like any other Drug prolonged use of ephedrine results in your body building up a tolerance, which leads to higher than “proper use” dosages being consumed to achieve the same “energy buzz.

So even if there aren't any serious coronary or health risks from proper use, there is the risk of irresponsible use and the risk of addiction and dependency on "fake energy." Just remember, what goes up, must come down. If you borrow energy you will eventually have to pay it back.

EPHEDRA-FREE FAT BURNERS

When the FDA finally pulled the plug on ephedra, supplement companies scrambled like crazed maniacs to come out with "ephedra-free" formulas for their "fat burners" as they anticipated the imminent doom of their major cash cows.

The ads proclaimed,

"More powerful than ephedrine-based fat burners!"

"The next generation of thermogenic technology!"

The great irony is that most of the fat burners currently on the market today are completely worthless.  At best they provide a watered down, unproven substitute for ephedrine and a slight buzz (most are loaded with caffeine).

Or, they may provide some mild appetite suppression. But NONE of these so called "next generation fat burners" are the "miracles" that the advertisements say they are.

Bodybuilding industry columnist Will Brink put it this way,

"The explosion of ephedrine Free weight loss products was more a function of market pressure vs. being based on any science. Claims by some companies that their new ephedrine-free "fat burners" were
equivalent to or even superior to EC based products was wishful thinking and marketing-driven BS."

But it didn't matter. Consumers had been hoodwinked with the classic bait and switch. The ephedrine was gone from the formulas, but the brand names remained the same.

STAGGERING FORTUNES IN FAT BURNERS AND DIET PILLS

In the last year before ephedra was banned, sales had skyrocketed to $1.25 BILLION DOLLARS, according to the Nutrition Business Journal.

The money still continues to pour in at a staggering rate today, sans ephedrine. To say that money is the main motivation behind the push for diet pills and fat burners would be the understatement of the
century.

Most people who aggressively recommend "fat burning" pills of any kind are profiting from their sale and it's hard to get unbiased information when so much money is at stake.

THE TRUTH: A LEAN BODY DOES NOT COME IN A PILL

It's a common misconception that you can't reach your fat loss goals unless you take some kind of "fat burner" supplement. 

It's also a common misconception that you can pop a pill and get dramatic results like you see on TV and in the magazine ads.

The results you see in the ads for fat burners are persuasive, but before and after testimonials are NOT proof that diet pills were responsible for the results.

The legitimate photos are almost always "not typical" and represent the best possible case scenarios, after extremely intense training and strict nutritional regimens.

As for many other "miraculous transformations," the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and state attorney general's offices have been exposing them for what they really are... outright fakes!

In January of 2007, four diet pill companies you have definitely heard of were sued by the FTC and ordered to pay $25 million in fines.

The reason: no evidence to back up their claims.

San Diego Attorney Todd Macaluso took sworn depositions from several diet pills before and after models. According to a story in the San Diego Tribune by Penni Crabtree, Los Angeles bodybuilder Mike Piacentino swore under oath that he was paid to stop working out and to eat ice cream and donuts to fatten him up three weeks in advance of his "before" photo shoot. Then he used his bodybuilding expertise to get back in his usual top shape.

According to an ABC 20/20 expose', fitness model Marla Duncan said in advertisements that she lost 35lbs. with the help of a popular fat burner pill. However, Jay Nixon, the Missouri Attorney General, found out that Duncan had recently been pregnant. The "before" photo was taken shortly after she gave birth.  The fat burner pill company settled the case out of court for $100,000 while denying any wrongdoing.

Will you ever look at diet pill before and after photos the same again? Do you really want to keep forking over your money to these companies?

AN INTERESTING END TO THE FAT BURNER SAGA...

Diet pills and fat burners are nothing but quick fixes. Every one of them.

Even if they help in the short term, they don't help in the long term because you are only treating symptoms. Body fat is a symptom of a complex problem with multiple causes including lifestyle indiscretions, poor nutrition, lack of activity and even mental factors like subconscious self-sabotage.

The true solution to any problem, including body fat, is to find the causes and treat them.

After using them for a few years in the late 1990's- early 2000’s, and after a lot of research, self-experimentation and personal reflection, I made the decision to dump "fat burning" and "pre workout stimulant" pills down the toilet forever.  I then decided that I would no longer recommend most of these products to my readers and clients.

Since then, I've continued my training with no fat burners whatsoever.  Occasionally, I’ll drink an energy drink during the day if I’m extremely tired, but as a rule no fat burner supplements. There has been NO difference in my results and I've gone on to maintain a lean and fit physique year round.

I find the obsession so many people have with taking a pill to lose Weight both fascinating and troubling at the same time, especially when you consider that fat loss can be achieved naturally, so simply and predictably with nutrition and exercise methods such as what I teach in my Burn the Fat, Fat Furnace
program.

Spending big money, sometimes $40 to $50 a bottle or more on pills is even more baffling when you consider that even any small fat burning effect you might obtain from an expensive pill is nothing you couldn't get from another week or two of dieting and exercising.

Think about it.

I recommend you take a pass on "fat burner" pills and supplements and learn how to burn fat the way Mother Nature intended - through proper nutrition, by building more muscle, and by increasing your activity level to burn more calories.

In the next lesson, we uncover the dirty little secret of the fitness and bodybuilding publishing industry...

Until then...

Train smart and expect success,
Kirk Huggins Rogers,
www.heroicfitness.com

PS.  For more information on our guaranteed result producing programs and to find out how to burn fat without pills, email me for a complimentary consultation at:

heroicbod1@heroicfitness.com

If YOU Can't YOU Must

The word “can’t” has become a one-step-solution many people use to put their nagging inner-thoughts to rest. After all, once we declare that something cannot be done, there is no need to think about it or worry about it, right? We can justify our abdication and retreat with logic: “It’s out of my control.” “It’s simply not possible.”

But “can’t” presupposes that we don’t have the ability or the resources to get the result, which in most cases, is not true at all. Since can’t is such a convenient ruse to lessen feelings of guilt and help us avoid confronting discomfort and sacrifice, we simply opt for this path of least resistance.

If we were completely honest with ourselves, however, a more fitting description would begin with “I won’t.” “I won’t start an exercise program because I’m too afraid of failing.”  “I won’t ask her on a date because I’m not willing to experience possible rejection.”

We choose to use the word “can’t” when the process involves fear, inconvenience, or sacrifices that we are unwilling to endure. Rarely is it used to indicate true impossibility – it’s usually just a crutch used to suppress the real reasons we choose not to take further action.

It’s often the very things we delay that will take us closer to where we most want to be. This becomes increasingly important as we learn that we will not pursue things that we believe cannot be done. But…

Make something a “must” and it not only becomes a priority, it becomes possible.

Next time you catch yourself using this c-word, try exchanging it with “won’t.”  You may find that the only thing holding you back is a false assumption.

Committed to your health and fitness success,

Kirk Huggins Rogers

PS - Watch This Motivational Video  <=========

Big Fat Lies Series #1

Hi Subscriber, 

BURN THE FAT, FAT FURNACE
"Big Fat Lies" mini course

Brought to you by Kirk Huggins Rogers
and www.heroicfitness.com

This post contains the first part of your
12-part mini-course, BIG FAT LIES.

Please note: This mini course is sent automatically
to you by email every other day, if you go to my website and subscribe to my newsletter.

In this lesson, you will learn the physiological
truth about why very low calorie diets cannot work
long term and why they are only quick fixes
that lead to eventual weight re-gain...

Train smart and expect success,

Kirk Huggins Rogers
Physique Transformation Specialist

Certified Fit to Fight Instructor

Fat Loss Coach

www.heroicfitness.com

Fat Loss Lie #1:

::: "You have to starve yourself to get a lean body" :::

What if I told you that very low calorie diets will actually
make you fatter in the long term, and that there's an almost
embarrassingly simple way that you can eat more and still burn
more fat?

I know it sounds too good to be true, but you're about to see the
science behind it, and I've got the real-world results to prove
it, so read on.

To get rid of fat, the laws of energy balance and thermodynamics
declare that you have to consume fewer calories than you burn.

Sorry, there’s no way around it. There's no such thing as
"calories don't count." Run for cover the next time you hear
that claim because it's absolutely false and any scientist
will tell you that.

Calories DO count. You must have a "calorie deficit" to
burn fat off your body.

However, the fatal flaw in most popular diet programs is that
the calorie deficit is too aggressive or too extreme.

Have you ever been told that to get a lean body you had to eat
1200 calories a day or 1000 calories a day or even less? Did you
ever just get FED UP with no results and tell yourself, "That's it,
I'm just hardly going to eat anything," because you were desperate
to get the pounds off as fast as possible?

Yeah, sure, it works in the beginning, because there's a HUGE
calorie deficit at first, but there’s also a HUGE irony:

When you cut your calories too far, eventually YOUR BODY ADAPTS.

If you're a Star Trek fan, it's kind of like the BORG, where a
phaser weapon works against the alien BORG creatures once, but then
they adapt, and soon the same phaser blast no longer does anything.

Well, diets are kind of like that, aren't they? It's because
YOUR body adapts too.

You "fire" a low calorie diet at your body and it zaps off some
weight in the beginning. But then your body figures out what's going
on. Your body doesn't care that you want to look good in a swimsuit;
your body thinks you're under attack! Your body thinks you're about
to starve to death!

When you fire something extreme at your body (like hardly eating),
your metabolic rate slows down in order to protect you.

This "defense mechanism" is often called, "the starvation response."

When you go into starvation mode, here are some of the consequences:

1. Your body releases fewer fat-releasing and fat-burning enzymes
such as hormone sensitive lipase and lipoprotein lipase.

2. Your fat cells release less of the hormone leptin, which is
the signal that tells your brain you are well fed and not
starving (it's the "anti-starvation" hormone)

3. Fat burning hormones crash, including your levels of T3 (no, not
the latest Arnold terminator movie, T3 is the active form of thyroid
hormone, the important "metabolism-regulating hormone" that you've
probably heard about before).

4. You lose muscle. Muscle is metabolically-active tissue, which
means it takes a lot of energy just to keep it. When you're "starving,"
 you're in an "energy crisis", so excess muscle is the LAST thing
you need. Muscle becomes expendable, and your body cannibalizes
your own lean tissue.

5. Appetite hormones go ballistic. When you're starving, a part of
your brain called the hypothalamus switches into high gear and flips
the appetite switch, sometimes to the point where you become ravenous
and cannot fight these physiological cravings with willpower.

Bottom line:  It's hormonally, metabolically and physiologically
impossible to achieve permanent fat loss by starving yourself.

And that's the first BIG LIE:

Any program that's extremely low in calories may work in the short
term,
but the "honeymoon" never lasts for long.

In the long run, very low calorie diets can actually make you fatter.
Eventually, they lead to binge eating and weight re-gain and you end
up with less muscle and a slower metabolism than when you started. 

The good news is, you don't have to starve yourself to get
a lean body. In fact, you can eat more and burn more fat.

Here's how:

"BURN THE FAT, FAT FURNACE" ACTION STEPS:

1. Avoid very low calorie diets.

Before going on any diet, look at the recommended calories.
You'll probably discover that in most cases, you are required
to slash your calories to "starvation" levels (1200 or less
for women, 1800 or less for men, and active people need even more
Avoid the temptation of the quick fix.

2. Make sure your calories are customized.

Depending on your activity level, age and gender, your calorie
needs may be much higher or much lower than the average person.
If a diet program recommends the same amount of calories for
everyone, that should be a red flag to stay away. It could be
perfect for someone else, but starvation level for you.

3. Decrease calories just a little below maintenance.

Decrease your calories conservatively - only about 20% below your
daily maintenance level. A mild calorie cut doesn't trigger the
starvation response as much.

For example: If you're female and you maintain your weight on
2150 calories per day, a 20% deficit is 1720 calories per day
(correct). Conventional diets might have you slash to 1000 or 1200
calories per day or less without emphasis on exercise (incorrect)

4. Increase your calorie deficit more by increasing activity

If you only cut calories slightly below maintenance, then
how do you reduce body fat without the process taking forever?
Simple, you BURN more calories and increase your deficit by
increasing your activity. No brainer simple.

First, if you're not doing so already, you should aim for three
days per week of strength training with weights.

Second, you should do at least three days per week of moderate
to vigorous cardiovascular exercise.

Third, if you wish to accelerate fat loss more, or if you need to
break a progress plateau, you bump up your activity even further
by adding additional cardio sessions or increasing the intensity
or duration of your current workouts.

It also helps to get more physical activity in general, or
participate in sports or recreational activities that you enjoy.

Bottom line:

The first secret to permanent fat loss is to BURN THE FAT,
don't STARVE THE FAT

Some exercise physiologists today, such as Dr. John Berardi, refer
to this concept as "energy flux." That's a fancy way of saying,
"Eat more, burn more," and that's what the Burn The Fat, Fat Furnace philosophy
is all about. 

To learn more about the Burn The Fat, Fat Furnace philosophy stay tuned for the next installment
of BIG FAT LIES; there are 11 more on the way!

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Heroic Fitness Success Stories 
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I had tried every thing to lose weight. I worked out all the time, drank lots of water, ate healthy, and took diet pills but i never saw results. Then I started working out with Kirk, and the weight fell off. It was fun and it wasn't hard. Kirk made it really easy to lose the weight. I started at a size 12 and now I am a size 4. I am so happy happy with my weight loss, it really has changed my life. I recomend Kirk to every one I know. He is truely a genius and really great person. I told him that he should be training celebrities because he is that good at what he does.

--Sarah Frye

I am Britnie Turner, your Miss North Carolina United States 2009 and 2010.   Also, I was a top 5 finalist in the Miss United States 2010 Pageant.  I will be competing in other state and national pageants this year, and I am looking to improve my chances by getting the best bod possible!

I have researched trainers over the past 2 years but have never been able to find one who:

1.) Genuinely cares

2.) Really motivates me to do and be my best

3.) Isn't a creep

4.) Is REAALLY worth the money

When I finally found Kirk Huggins Rogers of Heroic Fitness it was through at least 6 direct testimonies from his clients who have achieved amazing results and couldn't stop praising his work! I had to meet this guy, just to see if what everyone was saying could possibly be true.

Well, I tested him out and long story short he is everything you need to get the results you want! I am looking forward to a great year not only preparing for the competition but continuing my new life where my mind and body are disciplined and healthy. I am very blessed to have found someone that can help me and push me to finally achieve my goals. Thank you Kirk!

--Britnie

I have been working out avidly since my high school years. I had competed in amateur bodybuilding competitions during my teenage years and had always made physical fitness a priority. Unfortunately life had thrown me a curveball which prevented me from continuing with my passion until 2 years ago when I met Kirk Huggins Rogers of Heroic Fitness.

I had been fighting a losing weight loss battle and hit a plateau with my workout routines. As any athlete knows it is always best to have someone review a program and to have them make adjustments to allow the body to continue making progress. It was Kirk Huggins Rogers’ knowledge and expertise on the subject that made it possible for me to loose more than 38lbs taking me from 235lbs to 197lbs and to shed more that 20% body fat from 32% to 11% over the course of a year!!!! Kirk implemented a custom made meal plan program along with a unique workout regime that he revised as I achieved milestones on my fitness pathway.

I attribute my results to Kirk from Heroic Fitness and his power to inspire and motivate which allowed me to make physical fitness apart of my lifestyle!!!!

--Nate