Yes, I know it’s the most clichéd end of the year post… “Stuff I learned in the past year.”  But actually, I like this topic. I think it’s valuable to take time for reflection and recapitulation. I enjoy “lessons learned” posts from other people as well when they’re written by experts I respect.  I always pick up some insights that benefit me when I read them.  I haven’t written a post like this in a long time, so I suppose I could say this is stuff I’ve learned in the last 5 years, but it all came to mind now in December of 2011 in this one big brain dump. Hope you find it helpful – and in parts, entertaining…

Time to Join the Holiday Challenge. Guest Blog By Audrey Aickwort. 2011 Burn the Fat Summer Challenge overall champion. Tis the season when young and old are full of good cheer and anticipating the biggest events of the year. Naturally, I’m talking about the 7-week Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle Holiday Challenge. Sure, it’s reasonable to wonder whether another holiday commitment is really your cup of egg nog. But we can see it as a burden or as an amazing opportunity.

What’s the secret to rapid body transformation? I have my own ideas, especially after watching thousands of people TRANSFORM in our Burn the Fat Challenge fitness contests, and seeing nearly 10 years of Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle success stories. But today I’m not going to TELL YOU how to transform your body fast, I’m going to ASK YOU. Here’s why: Every year, During our Burn the Fat Challenge kickoff promotion, I do a huge giveaway / sweepstakes where a handful of lucky winners win free memberships to my Burn the Fat Inner Circle – the Internet’s premier fat loss support and motivation community (thousands of members in 152 countries strong!). Why do I give away so much free stuff and why am I this year, giving away more free stuff than ever? …

Every year I read articles about how to avoid holiday weight gain. Some of them are written on mainstream news or gossip websites and they’re usually rather trite. Let’s see, they include gems like these: Skip the party snacks, never go to a party hungry,  mind your portions and don’t just decorate your tree, decorate your plate (with colorful veggies). Maybe useful, but not so Earth shattering. Then you have the more sophisticated blogs and websites that try to put a scientific spin on it all. Usually they mention proper timing of refeeds, as well as post-exercise nutrient timing tactics, workout timing, planning that big cheat meal just right, fasting before or after and the retroactive damage control strategies after you’ve already made a glutton out of yourself. Better than the aforementioned 3rd grade tabloid stuff, but even the science sites are missing something… something much more human…

The 52-year old guy in the e-mail exclaimed: “SHOW ME SOMEONE MY AGE!” All I was trying to do was motivate and inspire my readers by showing them some before and after success stories. But it was almost like this guy was mad at me because the examples I displayed were age 20-something to 30-something. Afterward, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I was trying to figure out whether he had some deep-rooted self-limiting belief that it’s impossible to get in shape after a certain age, or whether he was positive and open-minded and simply looking for tips for older men to burn fat.   I figured maybe a little of both, and I thought I’d post my response on the blog because I think I can help and I’m sure there are lots of other men who would like to know this too…

Bread haters are just HANGRY… That’s right, they’re mad at the world because yummy bread and yummy pasta are forbidden to them, while we in the bodybuilding nutrition field know how to use carbs intelligently rather than demonize them completely…

I’m going to do my duty today to help you avoid the candy dish and other Halloween temptations by giving you 3 delicious healthy alternatives, suitable for the season. Best part: they’re all high in protein too, so they fit perfectly into the Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle lifestyle! Which one will you try first: the pumpkin pancakes (pumpcakes), pumpkin protein smoothie, or the pumpkin spice oatmeal? 

Could you develop a more visually stunning body with decades-old classic physique training than any “shiny new” workout you’ve been pitched online or on TV today in 2011? Since the internet boom around Y2K, you’ve probably gotten  hundreds of emails trying to convince you that a “new breakthrough” in training has “revolutionized” body transformation. BULL PUCKY!

Thousands of people have entered our Burn the Fat Challenge body transformation contests and over the summer of 2011 more than two hundred followers of Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (aka “BFFMers” or “Burners”) finished the 98-day fitness competition with stunning results.  I’ll be sharing some of their incredible stories with you here on the Burn the Fat Blog this week. But every year we run this contest, a smaller group of finishers stand out as deserving of extra-special rewards and recognition. Our panel of body transformation judges has just chosen the first of those special awards: The Most Inspirational Body Transformation Of The Year:

They say “success leaves clues.” I’ve always liked that quote, which I first heard from Anthony Robbins, and which I’ve heard re-quoted by many others over the years.  Unfortunately, most people don’t follow the advice contained in those three words. They keep pursuing the lean, “hot body” the hard way; trying to figure it out on their own, starting from scratch without a mentor or guide, following the masses, buying into gimmicks and making the same mistakes over and over again.  There is a much easier way.