A new episode of A Mind For Fitness Podcast. In this episode, I talk about the difficulty of braking bad habits and creating new ones and what you can do about it. Enjoy!
Category Archives: NLP
All Or Nothing
I have seen many people fail on diets for a verity of reasons. However, recently I have noticed an attitude or belief that I have not recognized in the past. Since I have noticed this belief, I have come to see it in many. I have even come to recognize that I have fell into this trap from time to time.
So what is this belief? It is simply this: That adhering to part of a diet should give an individual part of the results of that diet. In practical terms it looks something like this. A person starts a low-carb diet. After a few weeks he notices that he is not losing anything. However, upon review, he realizes that he is really only adhering to about half or three quarters of the diet. He thinks to himself (and here is where the poor belief system comes into play), “I should be losing something. I know I’m not following the diet perfectly but I am following about 75% of it. I should be losing something–shouldn’t I?” Can you relate to this story? I know I can.
To complicate things, perhaps you have seen a friend who needs to lose a some weight and got results by cutting back just a bit on their carb intake. The question, then, needs to be asked: Why does following part of diet work for some and not others? The answer to this lies in what kind of body style one has and how much one needs to lose.
For example, someone with a bean-pole body style who has only 20 pounds to lose can see great results from only following part of a diet. But, even a bean-pole who has 50 pounds to lose is going to have to do better than 50 or even 70% of a diet.
However, for those of us who put on weight easily and have more than 25 pounds to lose, we need to be super strict on the low-carb protocol particularly at the beginning. Why is this? Simply put, doing 50% or even 75% of a diet is not enough to reset your fat burning hormones.
The truth is you need 10 days to 2 weeks in order to down regulate your fat storing hormones and up regulate your fat burning ones. So, if you are strict for three days, but on that forth day you eat a meal that spikes your insulin levels, you are not going to lose weight. If you repeat this process for a few weeks, you might get discouraged.
Fixing this is a matter of being honest with yourself. Are you the type of a person who puts on weight easily? Do you have more than 20 pounds to lose? Are you just starting out on a low-carb diet? If any or all three of these are true, then you need to be as strict as possible. The results will be worth it?
The Ethics of Ordering Vegan
Think that ordering the vegan dish is helping save the animals? Think again. You will be surprised at how many animals are killed in order to clear the land to grow all those veggies.
I do not normally share articles written by others. But, this is just too good. Enjoy!
http://theconversation.com/ordering-the-vegetarian-meal-theres-more-animal-blood-on-your-hands-4659
Reviewing Chris Powell’s Choose To Lose: The Seven Day Carb Cycle Solution (audio)
A new episode of A Mind For Fitness Podcast is now available. In this podcast I review Chris Powell’s book Choose to Lose The Seven Day Carb Cycle Solution.
Also, I talk about my experience in a one on one Yoga class!
Eating With A Mindful Stomach
Most of us do not eat with a mindful stomach. In other words, we do not listen to our stomach when we consider how much food we are going to consume. But if we do not consult our stomach then what do we consult?
Often we eat with our eyes. By that, I mean the aesthetic appeal of food can entice us to eat even when we are not truly hungry.
Emotional eating is another factor. That is we eat to change our mood. Again, this often has very little to do with whether or not you are hungry.
Finally, there is eating out of habit. One of the biggest habits revolving around food is “meal time.” We are not eating because we are hungry, we are eating because its “meal time.” And to complicate things, most of us are trained to finish everything on our plates at these “meal times.”
None of these are eating because we are truly hungry. But the good news is eating with a mindful stomach is as easy as asking yourself, “Am I really hungry right now?” Or to put it another way, really listen to the organ that tells you when you are hungry–your stomach.
If you are hungry, then this is a great time to eat. But continue to consult your stomach. A great way to cut back on the amount of food you eat is a little trick I learned from Paul McKenna in his book, I Can Make You Thin. Here is the trick: Eat very slowly and enjoy your food. After each bite, consult your stomach. If you are still hungry take another bite. If you are not stop eating. Don’t worry not finishing your food because if you are truly hungry in five or ten minutes–eat again!
Do this and see how much you have been eating because of other reasons rather than hunger. And then watch the scale for the results!
Home Gym VS. Traditional Gym (podcast)
In this episode of A Mind For Fitness Podcast, I take on the issue of which is better, the home gym or a traditional gym. Also, when is it right to snack and more.
Interview With a Client Who Got Results (podcast)!
In this episode, Ean interviews a client who has lost and maintained weight loss for a year!
Sometimes it’s OK to Not Work Out
I recently injured my back. While I am not sure of the extent of the damage, it has caused me to ease up on my workouts. In fact, when I first injured it, I had to take five days off altogether. This really upset me. I am at this point quite a gym rat. I enjoy my time there and was unhappy that I had to give it up for a while.
My recent time off from the gym cased me to think about times when it is OK, and actually beneficial to stop working out. Here are three:
When You Are Injured
I was disappointed when I could not go to the gym. However, it is better to deal with a litter disappointment. Why? Because it actually gave me the time to recover.
The other option that I had( and have seen many people take) is to push through the pain and workout anyway. However, to do that is to risk serious injury. Because I stopped working out as soon as I hurt myself, I was able to limit my vacation to five days. Many who try to push though the pain hurt themselves severely and have to spend weeks, even months, and sometimes years away from the gym.
When You Cannot Recover
Getting injured is not the only time you need to recover. In fact, you need to recover from every workout. Why? Because every workout is doing damage to your body. In fact, the workout it self does not help you get fit. You get fit by recovering from your workout. The best way to recover from a workout is to rest. And the best rest is sleep.
So here is the situation. If you cannot get an adequate amount of sleep, you are better off to skip your workout.
When It Stops Working
Finally, there are times when you simply stop getting results from your workout. You can change thing up a bit. For example, If you do cardio two days a week and weights tree days a week, switch. However, even this stops working after a while.
This is due to the fact that our bodies get use to the same workouts or the same types of workouts. Eventually, you just stop seeing results. The best thing to do in order to get out of this slump is take a week off. Then, when you go back to the gym, you body handles it like a new activity.
Closing Remarks
Like I said. I hate missing my gym time. However, I love getting and staying fit. The reality is in order to stay fit, sometimes you have to miss a workout out or a weeks worth of workouts. Don’t be hard on yourself. In the end, you will be in better shape because you did not workout.
A Weight Loss System That Works (Podcast)
A new episode of A Mind For Fitness Podcast is now available. In this episode Ean talks about the uniqueness of Advanced Weight Loss Resources, why it works and why it can work for you.
One Habit That Might Be Keeping You Overweight
About six moths ago, I was walking from my office to the front room. On my way, I passed though our kitchen. While in the kitchen, I grabbed a small handful of almonds. I began eating them when it suddenly hit me. I’m not hungry right now; so why am I eating? Upon further reflection I realized that I eat a lot when I’m not hungry. I may chose low-carb, healthy items, but eating when I’m not hungry is just a bad habit.
For many people eating when they are not hungry may be the cause of plateauing. While weight loss is not simply a matter of calories in and calories out, overeating can stall ones progress. This is true even if a person is eating all the right food.
When one is first starting on a low-carb diet, he/she may be able to get away with some overeating. However, after the body has adapted to a low-carbohydrate diet, the extra nutrients from overeating can and often does store in the fat cells.
Often, people do not realize that they are overeating because they do not feel stuffed. I know this was true in my case. I did not feel stuffed by eating low-carb snacks between meals. But the truth is that eating when you are not hungry is a form of over eating.
The remedy for this is to simply give up eating when you are not hungry. No one has to eat out of habit or boredom. In fact eating when you are not hungry may be the one habit keeping you overweight.
Advanced Weight Loss Resources 