In this episode, Ian Carlin talks about why low carb dieting is a great place to start but it will most likely will not get you to optimal health. Also, what you need to know about switching gyms. Enjoy!
Tag Archives: Cravings
Ways to Make Your Commitment to Weight Loss Easier (Audio)
In this episode of A Mind For Fitness Podcast, Ian gives advice on how to make keeping your goals much easier. Enjoy!
The Intermittent Fasting Wars PT. 1(Written)
I recently did a podcast on different intermittent fasting protocols. In light of that, I thought I would write this blog based on that podcast. I’m doing this because I want to get the information out there and realize that not everyone listens to podcasts. That is to say that some people like to read more than they like to listen.
This will not be a word for word transcript of the podcast (that would just be too lengthy). What I wanted to do was talk about the different kinds of intermittent fasting plans available and which one is right for you. However, before I do that, I wanted to write a little on why I have taken up this topic.
Last October I had a shocking eye opener. Over the course of the summer, I had re-gained about 15 pounds. While I was no where near 300 pounds (the estimated weight I was at when I started to take my health seriously), I was still very depressed to have gained that amount of weight back.
How did I re-gain the weight. Well quite honestly it was just though neglect. One too many cheat meals, eating too often, not pushing myself as hard as I could have in the gym…the list goes on. And also, the fact that I was not near my original 300 pounds made it easy to over look the “relatively” small amount of weight I was gaining back.
At the first of the year, I once again got serious about my health. In about 5 weeks, I had lost the 15 pounds plus a few extra. I started giving it my all in the gym, making sure I was counting my carbs. I was also eating clean. But the big factor was tighting down on my intermittent fasting.
But one of the decisions I had to make was choosing an intermittent fasting (IF) protocol. This caused me to study which IF programs were available. So which ones are available, and which one did I choose to lose about 20 pounds? And which one should you choose? These questions will be addressed in our next post.
Why Traditional Diets Work For Some People
In this episode, Ean gives the straight scoop on why low calorie, Low fat diets work for some people some of the time. As well as why it does not work for others and why you should never make it your lifestyle.
Overcoming Your Plateau
In the previous two articles, we talked about why we hit plateaus in the first place. In addition we addressed what not to do when your weight loss stalls out. In this article, we will finally turn our attention to what you actually need to do in order to overcome your plateau.
Change Things Up
If you have stopped burning fat because you are simply not following your diet correctly, then needless to say, you need to follow your workout and eating program more faithfully. However, if you have followed your diet faithfully, and you have stopped losing weight, then the answer to your problem is rather simple: change things up!
Your body has adjusted to what you are doing and as a result you have stopped losing weight. In order to fix this problem, you need to stop your old program and try a different program. There are primarily two arias that you need to change. First is diet and the second is exercise.
Diet
The first thing to change is your diet. This is not difficult to do. For example, if you have been intermittent fasting, then stop. Try eating six small meals a day, or at least switch to three meals a day.
The reverse is true also, if you have been on a diet that requires you to eat all day switch to intermittent fasting for a while.
While I do not recommend a low fat diet for the long run, I do recommend trying it for a short time. Try it for about a week and go back to LCHF. See what happens.
I also feel the same way about veganism. There is no problem in giving up meat for a week. It is another way to shock your system and get you to start burning fat again.
Exercise
It is true that 70% of your weight loss comes from diet. But 30% comes from exercise. For many out there, they have stopped losing weight because they do not exercise. If you want to start losing weight again, start exercising and see what happens.
There is also a segment of the population who are always exercising. I know it is difficult to do, but you may need to give your body a rest. In other words, stop working out for a while. This may be just what you need.
Finally, you can change the kind of workouts you are doing. In other words. If you are doing a lot of cardio, start lifting weights. If you are lifting weights, start doing more cardio.
Closing Thoughts
It can be discouraging to hit a plateau. However, the suggestions listed above proven strategies to help you start losing weight again. I know because I have seen these things work in many other people, but also I know because I have seen them work in my own life. I have hit many plateaus on my weight loss journey and have overcome every one of them. You can to. Don’t give up!
Five Factors That Will Either Make or Break Your Weight Loss
Another episode of A Mind For Fitness podcast is now available. In this episode I talk about the difference between those who succeed at weight loss and those who fail. Which camp are you in? Listen and find out.
How Much Do Calories Actually Matter? (audio)
There is a new episode of A Mind For Fitness Podcast. In this episode, Ean Talks about why it is more important to count carbs rather than calories. Also, what is a calorie and how you can avoid overeating. Enjoy!
What Not To Do About Your Weight-Loss Plateau
In the previous blog post I talked about why we hit plateaus in our weight loss. In that blog, I talked about the two main causes. The first was not appropriately sticking to your diet. And the second reason simply has to do with the fact that our body likes to adjust to what we are doing. In this post, I want to address what not to do when you stop losing weight.
Two Big Don’ts
In my experience, I see two major mistakes people make when they hit their plateau. The first is psychological, namely discouragement. The second mistake is attempting is to be supper strict with your diet or workout plan.
Discouragement
It is easy to get discouraged when you hit a plateau. Particularly when you are doing everything right. But the truth is stalling out in your weight-loss is, as far as I can tell, universal. It does not matter how good the diet is, or how strictly you are following it, at some point it will stop working. And by stop working, I mean that your weight-loss will either slow down or stop altogether. I do not mean that your plan will stop being healthy, rather what I mean is that your body will adjust and you will stop losing weight.
In light of this, there is no reason to get discouraged. Like I mentioned above, stalling out is universal. We all go though it.
Also, discouragement does not help. In fact, It leads to self destructive behavior. Those who stay discouraged for too long eventually fall back into old habits and gain back all the weight that they have lost. This is a story I have seen and heard too many times to recount. Don’t get discouraged. There are things you can do to get off of your plateau.
Super Strict
If the cause of your plateau is that you have not been following the diet correctly, then being more strict is the answer. However, like I wrote in the last post, even those who do a low-carb, paleo, ketogenic diet correctly, will still stall out. It’s easy to think that you just have not done the diet correctly enough. It’s easy to think that all you need to do is dial it down more on how many carbs you eat. As a result of this kind of thinking I see many people eating nearly no carbs at all. This is a big mistake.
Going supper strict is not the answer to your problems. In fact, you are just setting yourself up to prolong your plateau and more discouragement.
So now we know what not to do. This leads us then to ask: What can I do to re-start my fat-burning hormones? This will be the subject of our next blog.
Why We Hit Plateaus In Weight Loss
I recently did a podcast where I addressed the issue of hitting plateaus in weight loss. I talked about why we hit them and what we can do to get past them. This blog post will address the first half of the issue. Namely, why we hit them. In the next post, I will talk about what not to do and why. After that, I will talk about the active things you can do to get past them and get back on the road to burning fat.
Two Main Causes
The truth is there is only two reasons why your weight loss progress stops. The first is you are just not sticking to your diet correctly. The second is your body has simply adjusted to your dietary and/or workout regiment.
Not Sticking To Your Diet
Sometimes your not sticking to your diet simply because you are cheating too often. If this is the case, the truth is you need to do the diet correctly.
However, there are times when you really think you are sticking to your diet, but in reality you are unknowingly are consuming too many carbs and too many processed foods. For example that salad you had for lunch may have had many more carbs than you thought.
On one occasion I was happily eating a salad when I noticed that it was slightly sweeter than I thought it should be. The reason for this is that there were craisins in the salad. When I finally looked up the carb count in craisins, I realized that my salad contained my daily allotment of carbs. I was shocked.
If this kind of thing happens too often, you will certainly stop losing weight.
Body Adjustment
However, for many, you are sticking to your diet and you have still hit a plateau. The reason for this is that your body has adjusted to your diet and/or workout plan. One thing to keep in mind is that your body is always looking to establish an equal balance within itself. Losing wight is an imbalance within the body. And an imbalance is a shock and perceived as a treat to survival. Even though there are great benefits to losing excess fat, your body is still seeking to establish equilibrium as a survival tool.
Next Post
So there are your two reasons why you will stop losing weight. The next post will deal with what not to do about it.
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Getting Past Your Plateau (Podcast)
A new episode of A Mind For Fitness Podcast is now available. In this episode, Ean talks about why we hit plateaus. And what we should and should not do about it. Enjoy!
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