Review: “Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle” A book written by Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT

This is a terrific book if you have been struggling to lose those last few stubborn pounds of fat or if you have reached a plateau with your weight loss efforts and can’t seem to shed another pound no matter what! In fact, I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to lose weight without losing lean body mass (muscle, bone, organ tissue, and water instead of fat). After all, who wants to lose weight only to be flabbier than before?

Tom Venuto’s nutrition advice is solid, his strategies have been well tested and proven, and most importantly he provides the specifics to create a fat loss plan tailored precisely for you! He is a natural body builder, personal trainer, nutritionist, and success coach and he has written what I have found to be the “bible” on fat loss.

Nutritionists and Dieticians are well qualified to teach weight loss and healthy eating. Certified Personal Trainers can teach you how to get strong and physically fit. Tom’s knowledge and experience have enabled him to blend both perspectives and write a book that will give you a way to achieve it all—a healthy, well-toned, and physically fit body. Although he wrote the book for male and female body builders it is equally valuable for so many others!

Rest assured, you don’t need to be a body builder to benefit from Tom’s advice so don’t be put off by the title of the book, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. (Tom will teach you how to become lean and fit without needing to be muscle-bound. I happen to like some softness to my curves.) And you will not need to spend every minute for the rest of your life exercising. Will it require work on your part? Yes! But then just about anything worth having does. I hope you will be pleasantly surprised as I was to learn how relatively little time it takes to stay fit.

This 341 page tome covers motivation, the shortcomings of most diets, how to accurately determine your body fat, how to identify and work with your body type for fat loss, why calories do count and wise nutrition choices matter, and the importance of combining healthy eating with BOTH cardio and weight training for fat loss.

You will learn what you need to know to get your metabolism revved up and working great! What I especially liked, and you won’t find elsewhere, is the information on how to track your progress so you stay on course and the specifics of meal frequency, timing, and macronutrient (protein, fat, carbohydrates) ratios for faster success.

What you will not find in this book is coverage of some of the complicated issues that some mid-life women may face with hormone balance and its affect on weight (For that concern, I highly recommend that you read “Women, Weight, and Hormones” by Dr. Elizabeth Vliet.)

“Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle” is packed with quality information. And maybe that is a shortcoming for some. You will have a LOT of reading to do to get the most out of this book. It is also not for you if you like having a step-by-step, here is exactly-what-you-need-to-do-next approach. Tom gives you the knowledge to design your own fat loss system based on your body type, activity level, preferences, and other factors.

Fortunately Tom is a firm believer in the importance of a healthy diet. And that is one of the reasons he goes into so much detail. With the exception of suggesting protein powder for occasional convenience, Tom does not recommend the use of diet supplements or drugs. For that reason, and most importantly, the accuracy and depth of information he provides, I give his book a very high recommendation. I regret that I did not buy it and follow some of his suggestions a long time ago!

So if you would like to learn how to lose flab (fat!) without losing muscle and other lean body mass and you would like to achieve the best looking body you could possibly have for your age, get Tom’s book! I have yet to find another fat loss book that comes even close to this one in quality.

Don’t be like me and put it off. If you struggle with losing stubborn fat or getting past a diet plateau, this book is for you now! Or if you are beginning a weight loss program and you want the time, energy, and effort you invest to result in predominately fat loss rather than lean body mass this book is for you as well. Invest in yourself. You matter!

Review by Lori Pirog, M.S.