We’ve all seen the celebrities with their perfect bodies strutting around on the beach with their six pack abs.

So how do they get such perfect bodies?

First it’s time for a little myth busting.

Myth #1: Celebrities have better genes

It’s that time of year again when we start making our New Year’s resolutions. Now is the time to start planning on how you are going to get that body in shape by summer.

Here are some simple tips to make sure that you don’t fall off the wagon starting in ’09:

BMR – Basal Metabolic Rate

In order to determine how many calories to cut from your diet you first need to know what your baseline calorie burning rate is. This is where your BMR comes in. The BMR calculator will calculate how many calories you typically burn in a day based on your height, weight, and activity levels. To find out your BMR enter in your information below in the calculator.

Once you have calculated your BMR you can use this number as your baseline and reduce your calorie intake accordingly.

Part 3: The Sugar Busters Diet

The Sugar Busters Diet book was written by three medical doctors and went on to sell over 100,000 copies by word of mouth alone. The diet essentially is a take off of several other low carb diets that came before it.

To understand more about the Glycemic Index read my article Insulin: The Fat Hormone.

A breakdown of some common foods and their Glycemic Index (GI) categories:

Insulin is a very important hormone found in the body that deals with the uptake of sugar in the blood. For those of you who don’t understand the concept of insulin and how it relates to low carb diets

Part 2: The South Beach Diet

The South Beach Diet was created by Dr. Arthur Agatston, director of the Mount Sinai Cardiac Prevention Center in Miami Beach, Fla. Unless you have been living on a deserted island most of you are familiar with this best selling book. At first glance there are a lot of similarities between the Atkins diet and the South Beach Diet.

Part 1: The Atkins Diet

The Atkins diet is based around the idea of low carbohydrate consumption with higher fat and protein consumption. The theory behind it is that with a lack of carbohydrates for fuel the body will be forced to break down fats in the body as a source of fuel.

Is the Atkins diet legitimate?