Tag Archives: diet

Why Didn’t I Start Sooner

I ran across an old picture of myself. In the picture, I was 26 years old. Today I am 41. That gives you an idea of how many years ago this was. But when I saw the picture, I thought to myself, why did I not start losing weight sooner? I came up with a few answers.

The first was I was severely self deceived and a bit delusional. What I mean by that is I really did not think I was I fat as I actually was. In my mind, wile I was not completely happy with the way I looked, I still did not think I looked that bad. After all there were people much fatter than I.

In conjunction with my delusion, I also made excuses. While I  hated looking at pictures of myself, I would think, well the camera adds 10 pounds. I know I was making excuses and delusional because I do not mind looking at pictures of myself now. In fact, I’m a little vain about it.

Another reason, and probably the biggest reason is that I did not really want to lose the weight. Or to put it another way, I did not want to give up those things that were making me fat. Of course, if someone was able to wave a magic wand over me and make me thin, I would not object. But I did not want to give up all that high-carb food!

These issues were not unique to me. They are common to all sorts of people who need to lose weight, and I hear them quite often. I run into people all the time who say things like, “I only have a few pounds to lose,” when they actually have 50 to 100. Self deception and excuse making at work.

I hear people all the time say things like, “I only eat bread at lunch.” This is an indication that they really do not want to give up those things that are keeping them fat.

In order for people to lose weight, they must give up the delusions, stop making excuse, and love being healthy more than they love bad food. I know that it can be difficult because I did it. I only wish I would have done it sooner!

Another shirt I would wear at age 26.
A shirt I would wear at age 26.
A Shirt I use to wear at age 26
A Shirt I use to wear at age 26

 

Low Carb Goodness!

Low carb eating in our house is often exciting and fun! This was a dish my wife and step daughter made. It is a cheese burger with a low-carb bun and a side of cauliflower salad.

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The actual burger has been cut in the center to make room for an egg.

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The bun was  made from a mixture of eggs, almond flour, and flax-seed flour.

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The cauliflower salad was a heated dish which included cheese and bacon! Two favorites in my house. In my opinion, this tastes way better than any potato salad.

This was truly an amazing meal and ever so satisfying. So my question for the readers is: What is your favorite low-carb meal? Please share in the comments below.

Bio-hack Past Your Plateau (Start Losing Weight Again)!

Calories don’t matter. Right? One of the reasons I failed at dieting so many times in the past was due to the fact that I went on calorie restrictive diets. I was hungry most of the time and the only options to fill my stomach was bland and tasteless food.

To compound the problem further, the food I was allowed to eat to fill my stomach was very unsatisfying. Most of the time, I’d be hungry again in less than an hour.

And those were not the only problems! Also, the food I was allowed to eat was making me fat! One diet recommended that I eat a potato whenever I feel hungry. A coach I had once told me to only eat noodles after 8:00 PM. No wonder these diets failed me.

A Better Way

That is why I was so impressed with the low-carb diet. I could eat great food and eat a lot of it! I was not counting calories, but eating until I was full. And I’ll be honest, there were times when I stuffed myself. But that did not seem to matter–until I stopped losing weight.

Hitting Plateaus 

In my weight-loss journey, I have hit my share of plateaus. I would stop losing weight and have to figure out a way to get my metabolic engine fired up again. On one occasion, I increased my exercise. Then I hit another plateau. Next, I gave up diet soda. Then, I hit another one. Every time I hit one, I would try to find a way to bio-hack past it. What I’m going to share with you is one awesome bio-hack that allowed me to push past another wall!

One Great Way To Lose Weight

Calories don’t count? Well, if you are gorging yourself at every meal, they can start to add up and interfere with your weight-loss goals. And cutting back on your food intake can be a great way to lose a few pounds.

But you don’t want to be hungry and miserable. That only leads to feeling deprived and over eating. Often that feeling can also lead you to eat the wrong kinds of food. So how can you eat less, still eat all the right food that you love and not be hungry?

Here is the secret. Eat slow. Yes, it’s that simple. Eat slow! In fact, I don’t like to think of it as eating slow but enjoying my food. I savor every mouthful, chewing my food about 20 times before swallowing. Also, putting down my fork between bites helps too.

This hack allows your satiety signal to set in with less food. Because you are eating slower, you feel just as satisfied without eating as much as you usually would.

I have found the results of this to be amazing. I am eating less, and as a result I have lost four more pounds and now am only 2 pounds away from my goal weight. I’m still full after every feeding, and I don’t feel deprived in the slightest.

Let me know how it works for you. And if you are feeling good about what we are doing here, then you can help by sharing this article on your social media. And you are always welcome to buy my book for only $1 by following the link below.

Between You and Your Weight Loss Goals

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Standing between you and your weight loss goals is one thing–the story you tell yourself about why you cannot reach them. If you change the story, you change your out come.

The Stores We Tell Ourselves 

Back when I was struggling with my weight, I would tell myself things like, “You are never going to make it. You have tried so many times before and failed.” And, “I simply have a weakness for bad food. I cannot help myself.”

I have heard the same story from others along with things  such as, “I’m genetically deposed to be fat.” And, “I have a slow metabolism.”

As long as people have these kinds stories running though their minds, they will never lose weight.

Write a New Story

Overcoming the stories we tell ourselves is not difficult. In fact, it is as simple as writing a new story.

One of new stories that I tell myself is, “The past does not equal the future.” This helped me tremendously. I had failed to lose wight over and over again in my life. Two years ago, when I had finally had enough, when I finally decided to get rid of my excess fat, the nagging voice in my head was saying, “This is just going to be another failure. After all, you have always failed before.”

But I decided not to listen to that story and instead tell myself, “The past does not equal the future.” It did not matter how many times I had failed in the past, I did not have to fail in the future. Now that I have re-written my story, my future looks brighter than ever.

Another story I use to tell myself is,”I am too weak to say no to bad food.” For example, I would start a diet and in just a few days a friend would call me and want to take me to lunch. This would lead to failure as I would often chose to indulge in a high-carbohydrate item. Of course afterwards I would feel guilty and say to myself, “I am too weak to say no to bad food.”

Now I tell myself, “I am in charge of what I put in my mouth.” When I go out with friends these days, I always chose the low-carb option unless I have special plans.

 

Of course there are many other negative stories that I use to tell myself that have now been replaced with positive ones. But what about you? What negative stories are you telling yourself now? And what stories will you have to tell yourself to make a positive change? Let us know in the comment section.

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My new book(let)!

Hey, the cover design for my new booklet is done and I’m so excited about it that I wanted to share it with you.

Advanced Weightloss 6-week Diet Booklet

I am only a few paragraphs away from finishing it. Then it will go though some editing and then to publishing. It will be available on Kindle for a very low cost.

Old Ideas

It’s interesting how many old ideas about losing weight and working out are still floating around. Of course I’m not here to talk about every one of them. That task could fill book after book. However, I did hear one recently that I thought I would address here.

I had an unexpected cheat meal. It happens and I could have avoided it, but it was with a friend and I did not want to miss this particular get together, and I also wanted to eat the food that was being served.

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The good news is I knew about the meal a few hours a head of time. So what did I do? I worked out like crazy! I seriously punished myself before I went to eat. As a result, I felt good about the meal and it did not affect my weight at all.

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A few days later I was addressing another group of friends and telling them the story I just told you. One of my friends tuned and said to me, “You should have worked out after so you could burn off the meal.”

“Working off” a meal is just a bad way to look at it. It’s outdated. It is one of those things that sound logical but does not stand up under the latest in scientific scrutiny.

When you work out before a bad meal (particularly resistance training), your muscles need glucose to repair themselves. This means when you eat a high-carb meal, your muscle cells are competing with your fat cells for the sugar in your blood. If you work your muscles hard enough, they will win the contest. This is why you want to work out before you have a cheat meal.

That said, working out after a bad meal is not going to hurt anything and it is better than not working out at all. However, working out after is an attempt to correct damage that has already happened. You are trying to mobilize fat storage which is much more difficult than preventing the problem. Preventing the problem is what happens when you work out before a bad meal. Your muscles soaks up the glucose before your fat cells can take them.

There are many other old and bad ideas that people still believe. Let’s here some that you have heard in the comment section.

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Update

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Hey everyone. I just wanted to let you know what has been going on lately. Here is the scoop. As many of you can tell, we have updated the site. We upgraded this sight from a free blog to an actual web sight. My hope is that this will bring more of a professional look to this new business.

Also, I (Ean) am working on a small booklet which will cover the first six weeks of the diet/lifestyle we promote here at Advanced Weight Loss. This will be a digital download that will be available for a very low price.

In addition, I will be starting a pod-cast shortly called: A Mind For Fitness. My hope is that the pod-cast will be up and running within the month.

Finally, I want to thank everyone for following this blog. It really means a lot to us here.

Are You Really Ready to Change (Why Your Diet is Failing)?

How do you know if you are really ready to change? The answer is quite simple. It is when you have reached what motivators call threshold. Threshold is when you can say these three things consistently:

1. My weight has got to change.

2. I have to be the one to change it.

3. It has to be now.

If you cannot say the above phrases with confidence, you are not ready to change.

Of course if you ask people, most often they will say they want to change their weight. This is true to a point. They do want to change. They do not like being fat and they want the perceived pleasure of being in shape. But wanting these things is not enough. And we know it is not enough because many people want these things and still do not make long-term progress toward being fit.

So What is Going Wrong? 

The problem is people want more than the pleasure of being in shape. They also want the pleasure of eating the foods that will make them fat. They also want to avoid the pain of working out. There are, in fact, many pleasurable things related to being overweight. Likewise, there are many painful aspects of doing what it takes to be in shape.

It is these two pain and pleasure realities tied to dieting and exercise that are competing for your behavior. There is pleasure in exercise and as a results of exercise and there is pain in exercise. There is pleasure in dieting and the results of dieting and there is pain in dieting. There is pain in being overweight and there is pleasure also. Again, these two conflicting principles are driving your behavior. This is the real reason people go on and off diets.

The real change is going to come when the pain of being overweight is greater than the pleasure of being overweight. And/or the pleasure of being fit is greater than the pain of doing what it takes to be fit. It will not happen a moment sooner. But when it does happen you will have hit threshold.

In a book I am writing, I will take you though a process that will help you to get to threshold. In it I offer a mental exercise that has helped many people reach the point where they can say:

1. I need to change my weight.

2. I have to be the one to do it.

3. It has to be now.

If you just cannot weight for the book, I am always available for sessions though Skype. Just fill out the contact for. I hope to be seeing you soon. 

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It is glorious cheat day!

Hey all. Just a quick word to let you know that it is my cheat day and remind you of the importance of such a day. Remember, having regularly scheduled cheat days re-sparks your fat burning hormones. They also make your health program psychologically more manageable. To learn more about these two benefits, read my previous articles on cheat day.

That said, I must admit that I really do like my cheat days. We had a pot-luck supper at our Church. I indulged myself in all kinds of sweets as well as a whole lot of Mexican food!

So how do you like to cheat? Let everyone know in the comment section.

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