A new episode of A Mind For Fitness Podcast is now available! In this episode, Ean talks about five ways to lose weight for the new year and the new you!
Tag Archives: Cravings
Everything You Need To Know About Fat-Shaming (audio)
This is a new episode of A Mind For Fitness Podcast. Today, we are talking about fat-shaming–what it is and what it is not. Enjoy!
The Carb Cycling Wars (Podcast)
This episode explores the different protocols of carb-cycling.
Eliminating Negative Self Talk (Podcast)
Why negative self talk is so damaging to your weight loss goals and what you can do to fix it, next on A Mind For Fitness Podcast!
Secret Weight Loss Weapon (podcast)
In this episode, Ean talks about the importance of keeping a food journal and why not keeping one may be the key to losing those last 10-15 pounds.
Fit for Christmas Challenge!
So it’s 67 days until Christmas; what are your plans? For many years, what I use to do (back when I was overweight), is say something like this, “It’s the holidays! We have Oct. 31, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Years Eve, and New Years Day. There is no point in getting in shape now, I’ll just weight for the new year.”
But guess what? Year after year new year would come and I would make some progress, but eventually I fall back into old habits. The next holiday season would come around once again and I was just as fat and miserable as I was before. In some cases I was more unhappy.
Does this sound familiar? If it does, then the Fit For Christmas Challenge is for you! This challenge starts now! It is designed to break old habits and old programs you’ve been running in your head your whole life. How are we doing this? Step one is by starting at the beginning of the holiday season rather than the end. You’ve seen what happens when you wait. Don’t repeat the same process–try something new!
The Plan
This plan is based on two basic concepts that everyone knows–Diet and Exercise.
Diet
Here is the plan. First you must limit your carb intake to between 25 and 35 a day. It is not important right now where those carbs come form, just as long as you do not exceed 35 a day. This starts now!
Oct. 31 will be your first cheat day. You will not start this cheat day until after 1:00 PM, and it can last until you go to sleep.
The first week of November you will need to back to limiting your carbs to 25-35 a day. However, after the fist week, you can bump your carbs to 50. But you must never go beyond 50!
Your next cheat day will be Thanksgiving! And if you have been good, go a head and take that Friday as well.
After Thanksgiving, go back to 25-35 carbs a day for one one week. After that week, you can have up to 50 grams once more.
Your final cheat will be Christmas Eve and Christmas. Start on Christmas Eve as late as you possibly can, then cheat for 24 hours.
After Christmas, you will have to re-evaluate and see what’s next and what is right for you.
BTW, you do not have to count any carbs that come from green vegetables.
Exercise Plan
This is where there is some flexibility. In other words, it is up to you to choose a plan. However, you must choose a plan not make one up from day to day. For example, I’ve just started Insanity.
Other plans may include P90X, or most anything from Beach Body is good.
If however, you cannot afford these or you don’t have them and need to start now, you can go down to wal-mart, target…. and pick up something like this:
I cannot remember how much it was, but It was under $30.
Whatever you choose, you must workout 6 days a week.
A Few Things To Keep In Mind
First is that on your cheat days it is important to work out the day of and the day after. No exceptions!
It’s fine if you choose to work out twice a day to get better results; however, you do not need to do this.
And if you decide to go to the gym, create a plan and go at least 6 days a week.
Finally, monitor your body. If you are working out too much and need some extra carbs that’s OK. However, get them from fruit and vegetables. And make sure this is a need and not a craving.
Finally
I would love to hear about the workout plan you chose. Also, make sure to take some before pictures so you can monitor your progress. Best wishes and stay strong!
One Mental Attitude Necessary For Losing Wight (audio)
A new episode of A Mind For Fitness Podcast is now available. In this episode, I discuss going gluten free and one key aspect that is absolutely necessary in order to lose weight.
Why You Shouldn’t Always Watch The Scale
Consulting the scale is an easy way to monitor your weight loss progress. You step on it and if you weigh less than the last time you stepped on the scale, then you have lost weight–right?
The truth is that this way of tracking your weight loss is great when you are first starting to get serious about your health. However, when you are working on the last few pounds of fat, the scale is not the ultimate indicator in how much fat you are losing. In fact, it can be deceptive.
So what are some reasons the scale can be deceptive? There are two main reasons that I will address in this blog. One is water weight and the other is muscle.
First off there is water retention. Simply put, this is when you store exes amounts of water in your cells. This can happen for a verity of reasons I will not go into here. While every body is different, the average amount of weight you can gain though water is about five pounds in a day. This means that you can gain or lose five pounds in one day as a result of retaining or releasing water.
Muscle is another major factor in why the scale can be deceptive. The reason for this is due to the fact that muscle weighs more than fat. One leader of fat weighs about 2 pounds while one leader of muscle weighs about 2 1/2 pounds. If you are lifting as a primary form of exercise the rise in weight on the scale is probably due to muscle gain.
It can be frustrating when you are faithful to your diet, and working out, but the scale moves up. Remember it is not weight that you are ultimately trying to lose but fat. Instead of relying on the scale take measurements. Another great way of tracking your progress is by clothing. Get some clothes that are tight and see if they loosen up.
So if you are sticking to your diet and working out, then don’t sweat it if the scale moves up a few pounds. It could very well be water weight or muscle gain.
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!
You Had Me At, “Carb Cycle.”
As many of you know, either though knowing me personally, reading my blog, or listening to my podcast, I have struggled to lose this last 4-10 pounds for a while. In an endeavor to trick my body to losing weight again, I have picked up Chris Powell’s book: Choose to Lose, The 7 Day Carb Cycle Solution. I just finished the book yesterday and plan to take the next 2 weeks to try his method.
Also, in the near future I plan on writing a book review and let everyone know my results and what I think about this weight loss plan.
Keep checking in for updates.
Advanced Weight Loss Resources 