Tag Archives: psychological

The Intermittent Fasting Wars Pt. 2 (Written)

March 17, 2016Exercise, Fitness, Health, Ketogenic Diet, Low Carb Meals, Motivation, NLP, Paleo, weight lossBio Hack, Building, diet, Fitness, Intermittent Fasting, lose weight, Low Carb, Mental Strength, Motivation, Muscle, NLP for weight loss, paleo, Plateau, Pounds, psychological, success, take action, Weight Loss, workoutadvancedweightlossresources

If you really want to lose weight, you need to eat 6 small meals a day. And you never want to skip breakfast! Right? Well, that is what I was told my whole life. In fact, fairly recently I did a review (audio) on Chris Powell’s book, Choose to Lose: The Seven Day Carb Cycle Solution. In that book, he advocates six small meals a day. I followed it for a while and I lost weight!

Well the truth is I lost a little weight. And the reason I lost it was not because the diet was so great. Rather it was due to the fact that I was on a plateau and it changed things up enough to get my metabolism working again.

The six meal a day plan can work for some of the people some of the time. For example, if you take someone who is eating a bowl of granola in the morning and/ or a bagel, and switch them to 4 egg whites and half a banana, you will see results. Out of the two, the former is way worse for your blood sugar. So the six meal a day diet can work, but it does not work nearly as well as intermittent fasting (IF).

Why IF Works

There is lots of science regarding IF. I do not have the time to go into all of it here. However, I will quickly mention that the reason it works is that it allows your body to tap into your fat reserves. Your body only runs on two types of fuel–sugar and fat. When you eat 3 or 6 times a day you are fueling your body with sugar and training your body to prefer to run on sugar.

However, when you go without food for a significant period of time, you use up all your sugar. The only fuel left for your body to run on is fat. And in fact, your body runs better on fat than sugar. And the more often you run on fat, the more your body wants to run on fat preferentially.

There are lots of big words I could have used to explain the above paragraphs, but it really is that simple. If you do not have sugar in your body, you will run on fat.

Starvation Mode

But what about starvation mode? If you have been led to believe that 3-6 meals is the way to go, and that you should never skip breakfast, you may have also heard of the dreaded “starvation mode.” This is the belief that if you do not keep feeding your body every 2 hours or so you will store fat instead of burn it. Why? Because (they say) your body thinks it is going though a famine and will want to hang onto fat.

The fact of the matter is that this is simply not true. In order for your body to go into “starvation mode,” you have to go without food for a few days. But even then, you will eventually start losing weight. So do not fear. Going without breakfast, or even going without food for a day, will not not make you gain weight!

IF Programs

There are many IF programs to choose from. In the next article, I will list them and let you know which protocol I chose to lose nearly 20 pounds in about a month!

True Confessions: How I Gained Weight Again (And How I lost It Audio)

February 29, 2016Exercise, Fitness, Health, Ketogenic Diet, Low Carb Meals, Motivation, NLP, Paleo, weight lossBio Hack, diet, dieting, exercise, Fitness, food, health, healthy eating, Inches, inspiration, Keto, Ketogenic, N. L. P., NLP, NLP for weight loss, paleo, Plateau, Pounds, psychological, success, take action, Weight Loss, workoutadvancedweightlossresources

A new A Mind For Fitness Podcast is now available. This is a good one. I come clean and talk about how I gained weight again but also how I lost it and am now more fit than ever. Enjoy!

Five Factors That Will Either Make or Break Your Weight Loss

February 1, 2016Exercise, Fitness, Health, Ketogenic Diet, Low Carb Meals, Motivation, NLP, Paleo, weight lossBio Hack, Cravings, diet, dieting, exercise, Fitness, food, Food Addiction, health, healthy eating, inspiration, Keto, Ketogenic, lose weight, Low Carb, Mental Strength, Motivation, NLP for weight loss, paleo, psychological, shred, take action, Weight Loss, workoutadvancedweightlossresources

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)

January 25, 2016Exercise, Fitness, Health, Ketogenic Diet, Low Carb Meals, Motivation, NLP, Paleo, weight lossBio Hack, Building, Cravings, diet, dieting, exercise, Fitness, health, healthy eating, inspiration, Keto, Ketogenic, Low Carb, Motivation, NLP for weight loss, paleo, psychological, success, take action, Weight Loss, workoutadvancedweightlossresources

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!

Why We Hit Plateaus In Weight Loss

January 24, 2016Exercise, Fitness, Health, Ketogenic Diet, Low Carb Meals, Motivation, NLP, Paleo, weight lossBio Hack, Building, coach, coaching, Cravings, diet, dieting, exercise, Fitness, food, Food Addiction, health, Inches, inspiration, Keto, Ketogenic, Mental Strength, Motivation, NLP for weight loss, paleo, Plateau, Pounds, psychological, shred, success, Supplement, take action, Weight Loss, workoutadvancedweightlossresources

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.

If you liked this, please share this post on your favorite social media.

Getting Past Your Plateau (Podcast)

January 18, 2016UncategorizedBio Hack, Building, coach, coaching, Cravings, diet, dieting, exercise, Fitness, food, Food Addiction, health, healthy eating, Inches, inspiration, Keto, lose weight, Low Carb, Mental Strength, Motivation, Muscle, NLP, NLP for weight loss, paleo, Plateau, Pounds, psychological, shred, success, take action, Weight, Weight Loss, workoutadvancedweightlossresources

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!

5 Easy Ways to Lose Weight For the New Year (Audio)

January 4, 2016Ketogenic Diet, Low Carb Meals, NLP, weight lossBio Hack, Building, Bulletproof Coffee, coach, coaching, Cravings, diet, Fitness, Keto, Ketogenic, lose weight, Low Carb, Mental Strength, paleo, Plateau, Pounds, psychological, success, take action, Weight Loss, workoutadvancedweightlossresources

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!

5 Easy Ways to Lose Weight For the New Year

January 4, 2016Ketogenic Diet, Low Carb Meals, NLP, weight lossBio Hack, Building, coach, coaching, diet, Fitness, health, healthy eating, Keto, Ketogenic, Motivation, paleo, Plateau, psychological, shred, Supplement, take action, Weight, Weight Loss, workoutadvancedweightlossresources

Did you resolve to lose weight for the new year? Great! Here are five easy ways to lose weight for the new year and the new you!

Eat Clean

One of the reason people are overweight has to do with how much toxins are in our food. Part of the body’s natural protection is to store those unwanted toxins in our fat cells, particularly in our belly fat. Switching to organic food (and any food without toxins) will shut down the need for the body to hold onto extra fat. As a result, excess weight will come off.

Save Your Carbs For Dinner

Your body is naturally more insulin sensitive in the evening. This means that it takes less of the hormone insulin to get the excess sugar out of your blood. Less insulin means less fat storage.

Now this is not an excuse to eat all the carbs you want as long as it is night. Ideally it is best to keep your carb count to 25 grams at the low end and 50 at the high end. And it is best to spread them out over two meals. However, the majority of those carbs should come at night. Controlling how much carbs you eat is a great way to lose weight. But controlling when you eat those carbs also matters a great deal!

Skip Breakfast

I know that we have all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day; however, this is simply not true. While I do not have the time here to go into all the benefits of intermittent fasting, let me say that it has done wonders for weight loss. In short, your body has gone through all its blood sugar while you sleep and you start burning fat for fuel the first half of the day.

All you have to do to make this work is finish eating dinner by seven or eight the night before. Then skip breakfast. After that, eat lunch around 12:30 or 1:00. It’s really that easy!

Walk After Meals

Now you may not be able to walk after lunch because, lets face it, most of us have to get back to work. However, walking after dinner should not be a problem for most. Walking after meals lowers your blood sugar without a large amount of unnecessary insulin. In other words, it is a natural way to help you become more insulin sensitive.

Eat Slowly

Weight management is not simply a matter of calories in and calories out. In fact, it is more important to track your carb intake and your chemical intake than it is to track your overall calorie intake.

That said, it is still not good to overeat. It’s not good hormonally and it is not good for digestion–two key factors in weight management. In addition, if you eat less and you are eating the right types of food you will see weight loss.

So how do you eat less food without feeling like you are hungry? The answer is to eat slowly. This is a technique that I have used often and it works great.

Often we overeat because we eat too fast. The food is already in our stomach and we are back for seconds before the brain can tell us that we have had enough. By the time the satiety signal hits us, we have overeaten.

By eating slowly you allow your brain to tell your body that you are full before you overeat. You can still eat until you are full. You do not have to be hungry. It is just that you feel full on much less.

Closing Thoughts

Any one of the above suggestions will most likely help in losing weight. However, if you are serious about dropping those unwanted pounds, then do all of these together and you will get the best results. Best wishes for you in this new year!

And please don’t forget to like, comment, and share.

Everything You Need To Know About Fat-Shaming (audio)

December 17, 2015Ketogenic Diet, Low Carb Meals, NLP, weight lossBio Hack, Building, coach, coaching, Cravings, dieting, exercise, Fitness, food, Food Addiction, health, healthy eating, inspiration, Keto, Ketogenic, paleo, psychological, success, take action, Weight Loss, workoutadvancedweightlossresources

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

December 3, 2015Ketogenic Diet, Low Carb Meals, NLP, weight lossAlt Shift, Bio Hack, Body IO, Building, Bulletproof Diet, Chris Powell, coach, coaching, Dave Aspery, diet, dieting, exercise, Fitness, food, health, healthy eating, inspiration, Keto, Ketogenic, Kiefer, lose weight, Low Carb, Mental Strength, Motivation, paleo, Pounds, psychological, success, take action, Weight, Weight Loss, workoutadvancedweightlossresources

Not that long ago in our own galaxy, in fact, on our own planet, there was an obesity epidemic. In response to this epidemic, an evil empire of dietitions arose and ceased power. This evil empire insisted that a low-fat, calorie restrictive diet was the answer to this problem. However, they were wrong.

In response to the evil empire, there was a rag-tag group of rebels who fought against the dogma of the day. These people insisted that the answer to obesity were low-carb, ketogenic, and Paleo diets.

Those who followed these diets had great success. But often they did not meet their ultimate weight-loss goals. The Rebels came to realize that cycling carbs was one of the solutions to this problem. What follows is a small portion of their story:

All Kidding Aside

All kidding aside, the truth is there are health benefits for cycling carbs. That is to say it is beneficial at times to have more carbs. In fact, if you have hit a plateau in your weight-loss, this is a great way to re-ignite your fat burning hormones.

The fact of the matter is that there are a number of carb-cycling plans to choose from. These plans differ on the amount of days you should carb-cycle, as well as what kinds of carbs you should have.

What follows is a list of some of the major proponents of carb-cycling and the way the do it. However, this is not an exhaustive list. This is just a list that I am acquainted with.

Ethical Disclaimer

I cannot share every detail of the methods listed below due to ethical reasons. The authors I have researched draw their income from the books they sell. Therefore, I have tried my best to offer a fair evaluation of their method while not revealing everything they recommend. In other words, what is listed below is just an outline. To get a fuller understanding, you need to buy the books.

That said, some of these authors have publicly shared much more about their diets than others. For those who have shared more openly, I have revealed more about their protocols.

Kiefer

Kiefer is the author of Carb Nite Solution and Carb Back-Loading. Both are carb-cycling diets. Here is what you need to know

Carb Nite Solution Essentials

This is an ultra low-carb diet for 6 days of the week. One day of the week, or more appropriately, one night of the week you can have as many carbs as you want. In fact you can have as many carbs as you want from any source that you want. This is to say that Kiefer allows for “dirty” carbs. You are not just carb-loading with sweet-potatoes and fruit, you can have cake and ice cream as well. No food is off limits.

However, it is important to note that you don’t have to have dirty carbs. You can do this protocol with clean carbs as well. He just does not restrict to clean carbs only.

Carb Back-Loading Essentials

This diet is very similar to Carb Nite. But it differs in that there is more than just one night a week you carb-load. On this diet, you can carb-load, in the evening or after noon, but only after an extremely heavy workout. You can also have dirty carbs on this diet too.

One important difference between these diets is the intention. Carb Nite is inteded for weight-loss, while Carb Back-Loading is intended for bulking.

Dave Asprey

Dave Asprey is the creator of the Bulletproof Diet. He also runs a company and has a podcast of the same name.

Bulletproof Carb-Cycling Essentials

This is basically a low-carb diet, but not an ultra low-carb diet. This diet focuses more on the quality of food you eat. It allows for some clean carbs at night in order to help sleep and other functions.

On this diet, Dave recommends that one day a week you carb-load. Also, on the day you carb-load, you are suppose to protean fast. Meaning you have very, very little protean. Dave very highly recommends carb-loading with only clean carbs. That is lots of white rice, certain fruits, and other clean sources of carbohydrates. That said, he does allow for the occasional (very occasional) dirty carbs. But it should not be the main source of your carb-loading and you need to be prepared to accept the consequences.

Chris Powell

Chris Powell is most famous for tuning fat people into fit people on his television show, Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition. He has written a couple of books but I am only going to deal with one of them here, Choose To Loose: The 7 Day Carb Cycling Solution.

7 Day Carb Cyceling Solution Essentials

This method is the most liberal when it comes to carbs. Basically the diet is one day of high carbs and one day of low carbs. Sounds easy but things do get complicated. Even on the low-carb days, he recommends that you eat a carb portion at breakfast. Your meals are also split into five small meals throughout the day. All carbs during this cycle are clean.

However, one day a week, you can have anything you want. This includes dirty cabs. So it is high-carb, low-carb (except for breakfast)….. until Sunday. On Sunday, no food is off limits.

Jason Seab

Our final player is Jason Seab, aself proclaimed Paleo proponent. He is the newest contributor on the list with his book Alt Shift.

Alt Shift Essentials

The Alt Shift protocol recommends a few days on an extremely low-carb diet, followed by a few days on a high carb-diet. There are no dirty carbs on this diet.

Conclusion

Which carb-cycling is right for you. The truth is, if you are already fat-adapted, and you have stalled out on your weight-loss, just about any one of these diets will help. But self experimentation is always the best way to find out. So give each of them a fair shot and see what works.

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