Tom Venuto

Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle: Transform Your Body Forever Using the Secrets of the Leanest People in the World is the condensed bible of fitness. Concise information on nutrition, muscle formation, a mental motivation chapter, and a weight-lifting program anyone can start. In short, this is the only book you really need if you want to get in shape.

Venuto is a world champion bodybuilder. He has learned from the best by their experiences and earned a degree in exercise science. While he calls show more it a "plan," it's really not, it's information. The advanced chapters at the end discuss plateaus, bodybuilders' manipulation of carbs to lose the last few fat pounds and look really lean, along with the caveats of very-low-carb diets.

Note that the emphasis is on losing fat, not weight. My observation over the last year is that what many people forget, or may not know, is that just losing weight doesn't make you healthier-- you might be losing muscle. Who is healthier, all else equal, a 175 lb man with 10% body fat, or a 140 pound man with 20% body fat? Venuto explains how to build your lean muscle mass and shred your fat.

The only way to insure that you will lose weight is to consumer fewer calories than your body burns. There are plenty of accepted equations (available online) to figure out what that ballpark is for you. You want your calorie deficit to be in the right amount, and your macronutrient (protein, carbs, fat) to be in the right quantities such that your body is not breaking down your muscle, it's burning your fat.

So, you need to add in a fitness regime that incorporates weight training, both to boost your metabolism but also to counteract the natural process of sarcopenia. Venuto breaks down the importance of these activities as well as explaining nutrition science-- what carbs, proteins, and fat do for your body. He gives you some ratios that he finds work for his own body, and the only way to figure that out for you is to experiment. Measure everything, with apps and free resources online this is easier than ever.

I find that most people just don't want to measure. Despite the ease of this today, they don't want to keep track of what they're eating, lifting, burning. As I say in a similar post, this is the same as why so many families have financial problems-- discipline in measurement is required.The most successful people I know, people who post selfies of their six-pack abs and a list of the Cross-Fit workout they did today, do what Venuto does. They measure relentlessly and do real weight training.

I learned a few details from this book that have helped me in the last week. I am already measuring everything, every calorie in and every calorie out through exercise. I had lost quite a bit of weight, was at an all-time low. I found I was consuming too few calories, however, to build muscle mass so I upped my calories and my weights and put on a few pounds of muscle while maintaining my body fat percentage this week. I also learned the ins and outs of carb cycling, which I think I'll try soon. (Briefly: You cycle through 3 days of low-carb and calorie deficits followed by a day of "re-feeding" with carbs at maintenance level, body builders find this helps them burn the last little bit of fat while maintaining muscle).

Venuto puts his weight routine on his website with pictures. I went out to YouTube and found video demonstrations and am now working them into my daily exercise routine along with P90X3's Mass circuit. I like it, but need to keep making time for cardio.

I enjoyed this book, highly recommend it no matter what your fitness level. 4.5 stars out of 5. show less

This book was written in 2003 and surely was a light in the darkness at that time. Never eat fat with sugar, eat real whole unprocessed foods, his six food groups is very good, etc... Now however, it's less strong. There are both small errors and a risk of misreading when he generalises for the universal case, which he later clarifies might not apply for all cases.

He:
- is pro flaxseed oil
- is anti saturated fats
- supports a low fat diet
- is anti fructose, but for the wrong reason.
- pushes show more grazing and frequent eating too strongly, which won't do for most people
- overemphasises calories and calorie-deficits and moderate aerobic exercise to burn fat
- is practically against HIIT
- doesn't emphasise compound movements when weight training

Having said those things, he does make clarifications of the important "errors," so if you are doing a close reading of the text, it's all mostly in there, with the exception of contemporary updates in knowledge. There is nothing on fasting, for example, and his exploration of ketosis could be refreshed. His dated version of carb cycling is within-week, whereas nowadays we might advise going through two or three keto/ slow carb alternations within each year.

In addition to being out of date, the text goes on overly long and the detail can be overwhelming, making it harder to get a sense of the whole picture perspective. There are better, more easily digestible overviews and places to start available on the market now. show less

I checked this out from the public library a few times and I loved it so much that I just bought a copy of it. I love the section about analyzing your results. He tells you exactly what it means if you're losing muscle and fat and all sorts of variations. There's no guessing game.

by Kelly Jad'on

Book Review: The Body Fat Solution: 5 Principles for Burning Fat, Building Lean Muscle, Ending Emotional Eating, and Maintaining Your Perfect Weight (Avery/Penguin, 2009) by Tom Venuto

A FirstLook Feature

Tom Venuto has a fearless reputation as a man who is a fat loss expert and a natural, steroid-free bodybuilder. Since 1990, he has trained hundreds of individuals, and graduated 600 plus people from his nationally known 12-week coaching program, which was the base for his show more highly successful ebook Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle.

The Body Fat Solution provides solutions for regular people who live with stress, a shortage of time, emotional eating habits, and who lack motivation. Venuto presents a simple five-part formula which works for millions of people and encompasses a total-life approach addressing physical, mental, emotional, and social weight loss needs. The book aims to help the reader find and address the cause of his or her obesity, then eliminate it.

Venuto offers explanations for why we believe weight loss and body fat myths:

* You can eat as much as you want and still lose weight.
* Overweight people have a slower metabolism than thin people.
* Some people are diet-resistant and can't lose weight.
* Your genetics are why you are overweight.
* Dietary fat makes you gain body fat.
* Carbs make you fat.
* Dietary changes for health and weight loss are one and the same.
* Insulin resistance causes obesity.

Venuto makes an extraordinary statement, "The real secret of success is to understand and intentionally use the power of your unconscious mind. It's the key to the body of your dreams and everything else you want in life." He backs this truth up with current research into the unconscious mind and shows the reader how to overcome negative mindsets which have prevented weight loss. As a reviewer, I believe that this is key. The best weight loss books now show the importance of the mind in relation to physical well being.

Venuto also covers nutrition, calories, the metabolic rate, various forms of exercise including the importance of weight training. Several pages of photos demonstrate proper form for exercises. An interesting chapter validates the necessity of having a positive social network of support. In "Keeping Score and Staying on Track," Venuto provides means for tracking fat loss and charting progress.

Near the end of weight loss, fat burners sometimes plateau and weight loss stops. Venuto knows the answers to these problems and lets the reader know how to kick-start it again.

The Body Fat Solution also contains an appendix of recommended foods (many) which gives the calorie count, protein, carb, fat, and fiber break down per serving. Most of these foods are natural--recipes not included--but can be located on the author's website.

Through reading and implementing The Body Fat Solution, the reader will be able to:

* Promote successful thinking
* Stop any bingeing and self-sabotaging behavior
* Lose Fat
* Increase Muscle
* Eat delicious foods
* Become motivated
* Quit dieting
* Increase metabolism
* Break the fat loss plateau and lose those last few pounds
* Develop a positive social network

The Body Fat Solution is a book written by a man who has the body to prove it. He's put his life into the writing of this book--noting important tips from the gym which do make a difference between those who lose and those who don't. Venuto is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and a Certified Personal Trainer (NSCA); he has also won several titles as a natural bodybuilder, including: Natural Mid Atlantic States and the NPC Natural Eastern Classic. Venuto has also placed as runner-up at the Mr. Natural USA and The Natural North American championships.

Unlock the power of your mind to help you lose the weight. The Body Fat Solution

5 Stars show less