Susan,

The entire philosophy of my program is summed up in the title of the book, 'BURN THE FAT, FEED THE MUSCLE', which implies that it is better to burn fat with exercise than "starve" fat with diet.

There is no question you can lose weight and fat with diet alone and no exercise, but the diet-only approach is frought with pitfalls, and the longer you use a diet only approach, the more likely you are to fall into the pit of diet failure and frustration.

Slashing your calories will make you lose weight, but you can't expect it to be 100% fat.

to the contrary, most low calorie diets cause you to lose a lot of water weight, muscle and other lean tissue, which makes it harder to lose fat in the future

Less muscle = slower metabolism because MUSCLE is the engine that drives your metabolism.

You also can't expect the initial weight loss you enjoy from very low calorie diets to last long; The odds are 20 to 1 against you of keeping the weight off long term using the diet-only approach.

There is a better way - and that way is Burn The Fat (exercise), and Feed The Muscle (eat the right foods in the right combinations and the right amounts... DONT STARVE YOURSELF!)

Diets don't work. Nutrition + exercise is the answer.

Having said this, I realize that some people can not and do not want to spend hours in the gym.

In our society today, more than ever before in history, people say that time is their most scarce commodity. And truly, time is precious. Time IS life itself, and you must place high value on your time and what you do with it. Squander time and your life slips right through your fingers like a handful of sand.

However, for those people who say they don't have ANY time to exercise, they are lying to themselves and they do not deserve a better body and better health. You don't always get what you want in life, but you do always get what you earn. cause and effect. You have to make a deposit today if you want to make a withdrawal tomorrow.

You have all the time in the world. You have all the time there is. We all have the same amount of time - 24 hours a day, 168 hours a week, 8736 hours a year. NO ONE has any more time than anyone else.

So how is it that some people lead full lives with rewarding careers, enriching relationships, enjoyable recreation time with great achievement, productivity and success... All while staying lean, fit and healthy, while others "never have the time?"

The answer is: Some people simply STOP in the midst of their busyness for a moment to THINK and WRITE DOWN what they value and what is truly important in their lives, and then they begin to act in accordance to their highest priorities and values.

You must make exercise a priority in your life.

You MUST!

If you choose not to (and it is a choice), then you will be forced to make time for sickness later in life and you will not be able to enjoy any of the things in life that most people say they were pushing aside exercise for in the place: family, travel, nature, sports, recreation, money, material things, success or anything else for that matter, even your spiritual life, because it's been said that "your body is the temple that houses your soul."

Without a healthy body, what good are ANY of these things? Are you treating your body like a temple?

So the question really is, not IF you're going to exercise, but HOW do you create the time to fit it into your life as a top priority and HOW do you maximize the results of your workouts in the least amount of time?

Ask HOW

These are GOOD questions, and there are answers.

You don't have to live in the gym every day, if you think in terms of *time efficiency* when you work out.

For example, one method I mention in my book for increasing time efficiency is to do high intensity interval training cardio instead of slow long distance cardio. Both can work but the former is more time efficient.

Another method you can use to increase time efficiency of your weight training workouts is to use supersets - two exercises in a row without resting, or circuits - three or more exercises in a row without resting.

Remember that fitness is not an "all or none" endeavor. So many people think that if they can't work out for hours every day, or follow a diet 100%, its not worth doing at all. This is faulty thinking.

Do what you can when you can, where you can, with what you have, RIGHT NOW!

If that means 15 minutes a day of cardio and a few sets of bodyweight lunges, push ups and ab crunches, in your own bedroom, then fine! That's not only better than nothing, its a great start to a new habit. Start where you can and build up as you go.

Once you start enjoying the benefits of this simple discipline, mark my words, you will WANT to keep doing it, or even do more.

last but not least, remember that if you are limited in time to exercise, then the nutrition piece of the fat loss puzzle is all the more important!

Think about it - regardless of how much or how little you are exercising, you have to eat anyway don't you? Doesnt it make sense to make the most of what youre already doing? Doesn't it makes sense to educate yourself on the subject of nutrition and begin to make better food choices?

Food is energy. Food is fuel. food is the very construction material for every cell in your body and you are what you eat - quite literally.

Even if, and especially if, you feel you are limited in the amount or type of exercise you can do, for whatever reason that may be, then it is all the more important to get your nutritional house in order - and fast.

My burn the fat program includes a cardio and a weight training program, but the primary emphasis in the ebook is nutrition. Some people have said BURN THE FAT is the most comprehensive and detailed book on eating for fat loss ever written. Others call it a "fat loss bible."

if you are interested in learning how to eat and what to eat in order to lose fat and increase muscle, then you will benefit greatly from this program, even if your exercise is minimal.

But the bottom line is, you will ALWAYS get the best results by combining nutrition and exercise together; ideally a program that includes two types of exercise: resistance training and cardiovascular training.

Train hard, eat right, and expect success all-ways,

Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer, certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book in Internet history, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle. Tom has written hundreds of articles and been featured in IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise for Men and Mens Exercise. To get Tom's e-book, visit Tom by clicking here!.