This information could save your life.

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This is a special congratulations to one of our clients and friends. She has been working hard for the past few months and has the results to prove it. She went from a size 12 to a size ZERO (and the photo below has not been Photoshoped either). That is no exaggeration folks. She is a mother of 3, and as one would expect has a fairly hectic schedule. She still found the time to workout and make the proper nutritional changes as well. She even inspired her husband to join us too. So from all of us at Carter Fitness, congrats on a job well done. Now keep it up because we are not finished with you

Joshua Carter
http://carterfitness.com

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Remember my balls? Well V-Diet Muffins might actually be better than my (protein) balls.

My Actual Muffins

V-Diet Muffins were first created by Daven (username on T-Nation forums). They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and I have a strong feeling that is exactly what happened here. You see, on the V-Diet you get nothing but protein Metabolic Drive protein shakes 5 times a day. Yawn.

And on the V-diet, there are 3 main foods you can consume: Metabolic Drive, ground flax seeds, and peanut butter. I’m guessing Daven thought “what the hell” lets see if the suckers bake up. Sure enough, they do.

With the help of some of my clients I tweaked the recipe a bit, and below is what I came up with. It is geared towards my V-Diet calorie level so adjust it for yours. If you are on the V-Diet, only add the peanut butter IF it is within your calorie range (they bake up fine without). You can switch flavors, and add various extracts or spices to come with your own variation. This is not just for V-Dieters, these things actually taste good, and make a great protein based snack.

UPDATE Banana Spice V-Diet Muffins
Makes 6 Muffins

3 Scoops Metabolic Drive Banana Creme
1 cup water
2 tbs ground flax 
2 tsp baking powder
pumpkin pie spice to taste
*1-2 tbs natural peanut butter (optional if you have the cals to spare)

Mix up everything in a bowl, pour into muffin baking tin spayed with Pam and bake at 325 for 15 minutes or until tops are firm.

Eat’em up.

UPDATE: This just in! This mix is better than Bisquick! Turn out you can also make pancakes too!  Just cut the water down to 3/4 cup. Yeah baby!

My Actual Pancakes

Joshua Carter
http://carterfitness.com/

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I don’t usually do book reviews, but this one really impressed me. A few weeks back I found myself watching the Today Show, which is a rarity for me. They were doing a segment on “Eat This, Not That“. And just as the name suggests, they were going over how to make better food choices at familiar restaurants.

How cool! So I hopped on to Amazon.com and within a a few days I was the proud owner of “Eat This, Not That” by David Zinczenko. It is based on the Men’s Health magazine column of the same name, but goes into much more detail. Not only is it well written it is chock full of pictures of the cuisine in question.

What’s even cooler is that they compare apples to apples (figuratively speaking). So when a normal suggestion would be eat the salad not the burger, “Eat This Not That” says eat THIS burger, not THAT burger. It tells you calories and fat in each choice, and gives you the total caloric savings. And it does this for countless restaurants and menu options. It also has a holiday eating section, for example, a good Thanksgiving dinner vs. a bad one. The list of the 20 worst foods in America is not to be missed.

Some Cool Facts:
(from MSNBC)

• BURGER KING doesn’t want you to know that a BK Big Fish Sandwich and fries have a whopping 1,000 calories—nearly half your daily caloric intake! (Fish is usually healthy, but not this kind. Find out why on page 39.)
• AT McDONALD’S, an Egg McMuffin is actually a healthy choice, with just 300 calories. (The Hotcakes pack more than double that amount!)
• AT KRISPY KREME, all you need to do is order the Very Berry Chiller instead of the Mocha Dream Chiller, and you’ll save 500 calories? (Do that once a week and you’ll drop more than 7 pounds this year—without trying!)
• Outback Steakhouse’s Aussie Cheese Fries, at 2,900 calories, is the single worst food in America. (Start your own investigation on page 6.)

This book is aces in my book for many reasons. 1) It gives practical, relatable advice. 2) It is clear and concise. 3) It has pretty pictures.

Bottom line is that it is a fun and easy read, and has information that can benefit all of mankind. Well, maybe not ALL of mankind. But certainly those of us who like to eat, sometimes too much, and sometimes the wrong things.

You can pick up your own copy by clicking HERE

Joshua Carter
http://carterfitness.com/

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In late December of 2007 I was approached by a few clients who were interested in trying a new nutrition plan they had read about called the “Velocity Diet“, or “V-Diet“. This is a short term, low calorie, low carb, high protein diet. Sounds scary right? It is, but as it turns out so are the results. Can you get 6 pack abs in 28 days? We’ll see…

I wonder how many shakes a day these guys drank

Needless to say I was intrigued. I had actually read about the diet before on T-Nation (one of my favorite sites), but was really too chicken to try it out. But since a handful of clients were going to try it, I thought what the hell. I also recruited a few more clients that I would work with one-on-one so I could have a bigger test group. First, let me tell you what the V-Diet is.

The V-Diet is the brain child of Chris Shugart. He essentially took an old concept (a low calorie diet), improved it and made it unique. He built upon a previous diet called the “Fat Fast” by Brock Strasser penned several years earlier. It was also a low calorie, low carb diet - but it had some flaws. Chris tweaked away (and continues to tweak) and the V-Diet was born.

Basically you calculate your maintenance calorie level, and then take 50-60% of that and stay within that caloric range for 28 days. All of the calories come from 5 protein shakes made from Metabolic Drive (a top-notch protein powder) along with fish-oil and ground flax seeds, spread throughout the day. That’s it, nothing else. Yummy. You must also weight train 3 x week, and do some form of NEPA (Non-Exercise Physical Activity) work everyday. You do get one solid food meal per week. You are also allowed some peanut butter at night (there is a reason too), but you still must stay within your designated calorie range. There are a few other guidelines, but that’s it in a nutshell.

Banana Creme - YUMMY

What is comes down to is you are consuming half of what you would normally. With calories cut that drastically one would normally see massive losses in lean tissue. This would also correspond to an equally massive drop in metabolism. This is combated by the fact you will be consuming 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight (minimum) and performing a training protocol designed to increase lean mass, drop fat and elevate metabolism.

I normally would not go for this quick fix type of thing, but the more I looked into it the more interesting the diet became. It is about more than just dropping fat: It is about re-shaping behaviors. I cannot tell it like Chris would, but during the 28 days you actually are training yourself to think of food differently. And that is the tip of the iceberg. That is what had me sold. I don’t really have that many bad behaviors (nutritionally anyway) to start with, but like a good general I would not ask my clients to try anything I would not try myself. And so it began…

Peanut butter IS on the menu

On January 13th I started the V-Diet. This was actually a week later than I had planned, but a bout with the flu side-lined me for about a week. The first week was not fun. I was hungry all damn day, almost every day. I thought that was weird considering I love Metabolic Drive, and use it every day anyway. For me maintenance calories was just over 4000, so on this diet I was getting around 2000. Thus, I was hungry.

As hard as week 1 was, week 2 was a breeze. I had become accustomed to the eating schedule and levels, had created a routine, and all was well with the world. I found V-Diet Muffins to be a life saver (see below for the recipe). I also began to drink copious amounts of tea. A mix of Green Tea and Good Earth tea is my current favorite.

On T-Nation there is a very detailed log of a guy who is following this plan. In 28 days he lost 21.5 lbs, and dropped 5.5 inches from his waist. His results were amazing, but as I understand it not at all atypical.

There is a pre-planned transition phase, to ease you back into “normal” or should I say improved eating patterns. There are also “lite” versions of this plan that involve eating one solid meal per day, that have also yielded tremendous results. I know Chris Shugart has a full book in the works that should detail every aspect of the V-Diet, and I am anxiously awaiting its arrival.

Is this diet for everyone? Hell no. It requires complete dedication and total commitment. A half assed effort will yield half assed results. You can consider it 28 days of intensive nutritional rehab, and when you get to the other side you are not only leaner, but re-educated and fired up. If you are interested check out the links in this article, or contact me and I will set you on your way.

And as I write this I am just over half way to day 28. And my results?
Stay tuned….

Joshua Carter
http://carterfitness.com/

PS: Anyone interested trying a modified version of the V-Diet please contact me. I am currently accepting 6 online clients.

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A few days ago it was time for my morning workout. I was tired, it was cold out and I was seriously considering blowing it off. I was looking for anything to do to avoid starting. So I checked my email and a friend had forwarded me this:

I had a great workout.

Joshua Carter
http://carterfitness.com/

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