Johnny5 Fitness

Intermittent fasting is a style of eating that makes aimed at making calorie restriction easy and is quickly gaining popularity simply because it works so well for many people. It involves refraining (fasting) from food from short periods lasting 16-24 hours.

Because of the simplicity behind Intermittent Fasting, it is promoted as an anti-calorie counting diet.

Intermittent fasting is not concerned with nutrient partitioning like Zone style diets, low fat foods, or low carb like Atkins.

Can you say Zoolander? Maybe a tad off-topic, but intermittent fasting is much better than the "Model Diet" of binging and purging...

There are a few popular different fasting designs. Fasts lasting from 16-24 hours are very common. Some fasting methods are more flexible in their approach by calling for only 1 or 2 days a week, and some methods involve fasting every other day (EOD), also called alternate day fasting (adf).

Ordinary fasting protocols, sometimes called cleanses, involve longer periods of fasting ranging from 3-10 days.

With intermittent fasting, you will never go a day without food. What changes is the “window” in which you eat your food.

In Brad Pilon’s ESE intermittent fasting program, you would go 24 hours without food. His program is flexible in how you apply that program by going from breakfast(7am?) to breakfast(7am) or by going from  dinner(6pm?) to dinner(6pm?).

There are other methods that have smaller fasting periods like 16 hours as perpetuated by Mark over at the website Leangains. Other fasting methods include the Warrior Diet and Fast 5.

The attraction to intermittent fasting is the flexibility in food choices. It is not a restrictive diet by any means. It is hailed as a program that allows you eat many of the foods you like such as pizza, chicken wings, or [insert favorite dish here].

Even with eating your favorite junk foods, following an intermittent fasting lifestyle still lets you lose weight by helping you to decrease your calorie load by as much as 30 percent or more easier than any other dietary method.

There are also many science backed benefits. In his book Eat Stop Eat, Brad Pilon, with holds an Honors degree in Nutrition, shows relevant human studies with reports of

[+]weight loss
[+]muscle gain
[+]improved insulin sensitivity
[+]anti-aging
[+]reduced bodyfat
[+]increases in growth hormone
[+]increased alertness
[+]reduced circulating insulin
[+]reduced blood sugar
[+]reduced inflammation
[+]reduced triglycerides

All of these benefits are very important to anyone wanting lose bodyfat and greatly improve their overall health.

With popular diet programs like the ‘Zone,’ the main objective is to control insulin levels. This is accomplished through special protein, carb, and fat ratios and smaller portion meals. Many dietary methods are based on the same principle, with varying shifting of macro-nutrient balances.

The reason that most dieters aim at controlling insulin levels is important is because when there is raised insulin levels in your body, the body can’t burn bodyfat. Insulin is acts like a supermagnet to bodyfat and keeps it glued to your gut.

Most people stay too long in an insulin state, never giving their bodies a chance to subside and balance it out with growth hormone, which could be loosely translated as insulin’s counter hormone.

Insulin and Growth Hormone. Yin and Yang.

Also… losing weight on a diet really isn’t the best goal of any dieter…

Losing bodyfat should be your objective, unless you like loose skin or a “soft” look.

By utilizing intermittent fasting, you are also flipping a few metabolic switches in your body important to any dieter for real fat loss, and good muscle tone.

One of them is that fasting helps to sensitize your body to growth hormone’s fat burning abilities.

…fasting has been shown not to just release growth hormone, but also makes your body respond better to it.

See… growth hormone by itself is one thing, but your body must also respond to the signals that it gives. A fasted state helps your body hear and respond to what growth hormone has to say.

A fasted state also raises other hormones in the body that also play a key role in fat loss.

I personally had a hard time accepting the idea of doing fasting for weight loss. I instantly took it as another fad… or the “next big thing.”

If you look at all the popular diet programs in the past that quickly rose to fame, they got popular by being controversial and outrageous. I initially felt the same about intermittent fasting and didn’t even bother to give it the time of day.

I was from the school of thought that you “need” to graze all day long with a meal frequency of 5-6 meals a day to burn fat. Now… I stayed in shape with grazing, and got really lean when I weighed all my food on a scale and counted every calorie.

Many bodybuilders still get great results with grazing, it just didn’t work with my lifestyle. However, I also found eating 5-6 times a day to be extremely inconvenient.

As the idea gained more popularity, and I saw other people I trusted getting results with it, so then it was time for some investigation. I know that I have to have a solid belief in the objective science, and the people promoting the science… behind any new idea in order for me to truly get the real motivation to commit to it.

I read many blogs and personal experiences, but they did not give me the solid foundation I need to try something new and ‘exotic.’ Although the authors were certainly knowledgeable and honest, they lacked the credentials I like to see when making up my mind on health based issues.

The best non-technical, science-based, and easy to read source for intermittent fasting is Eat Stop Eat by Brad Pilon. He has the credentials, and the ability to objectively dissect scientific studies to find their true value- in any.

After reading it, I was knowledgeable, confident, and most importantly very excited to start my intermittent fasting lifestyle.

Another popular pioneer on the subject is Martin Berkhan who runs the website Leangains. His style of fasting involves 16 hour fasts, and an 8 hour eating window.

You also have the ‘Warrior Diet’ and ‘Fast 5.’

I’m sure there is more, but those are the most popular right now.

I chose Brad’s method because after I became more knowledge on the subject, I felt that a 24 hour fast was in reality… really short for a fast once I became familiar with the benefits of fasting beginning to emerge around the 18 hour mark, and continuing all the way up until the 36 hour mark.

The 24 hour mark made sense to me when considering the benefits of fasting, and a my lifestyle.

Disadvantages to intermittent fasting?

I will start by saying that short term fasting does not lower your blood sugar to dangerous levels, according to ESE. Maybe long term fasting will, but there isn’t any credible evidence of dangerously low blood sugar involved in intermittent fasting by healthy people.

Brad clearly covers the objective science of what really happens to your blood sugar when you do a short term fast, and it’s beneficial.

Major religions follow commonly known customs and timely rituals of fasting without reported incident by millions of followers.

From what I gathered, the biggest disadvantage to intermittent fasting is the initial fear of hunger, even delusions of starvation for some people.

When I tell people what I do, they cringe at the fear of hunger. Their fear is even palpable.

It’s too bad that they stop before they start.

The truth is that fasting actually helps you to control and conquer your hunger. I never would have figured that out, if I never did it.

In my first few times of short term fasting, I did get hungry approximately at the 18 hour mark. However, I stuck with it and an interesting thing happened around the 20 mark…

My hunger simply vanished… other intermittent fasters’ report the same thing. My guess is that is has to do with epinephrine and norepinephrine, which help to turn off hunger.

When my 24 hours were up and it was time to eat, I had zero desire to ‘pig out.’ My meal, when I did eat, was almost too filling. I also had a general sense of well being.

I did two fasts a week, and the same scenario happened each time I fasted with the exception that my ‘hunger window’ got shorter each time. I still get the hunger window, but it is periodic these days.

Intermittent fasting isn’t something you halfheartedly ‘try.’ You need to convince yourself first that it is beneficial for you… like the single digit bodyfat levels it helps you achieve… the fact that it just might make you a ‘retired dieter’… or the numerous anti aging benefits that you would normally have to pay boatloads of money on vitamins, hormones, drugs to get the same effects of a simple dietary change can give you.

Whatever your attraction to short term fasting, I strongly suggest you become knowledgeable on the real effects by reading some of the books mentioned in this article. When you know ‘why’ you are doing something, and have a reasonable ‘how’ to do it, it helps you get over any ‘speedbumps,’ and allows it to simply become a habit in your life.

Summary:  Learn what the the essentials when looking for a diet program to follow for men.

The best fat loss diet for men is a diet plan that is easy to learn, and easy to follow.

There is no point in following any diet if you can stick to it.  The problem with many of the restrictive diets that are popular is that they can leave many guys feeling deprived just enough that they end up “cheating” on them.  It’s hard to follow a diet plan if you subconsciously have an underlying urge to eat for nutrition or calories that you might be missing.  Some diets are also too difficult to follow, because the rules of following them are not practical when taking into account most people’s lifestyles.

The best fat loss diet for men must allow for gradual and permanent weight loss.

Crash diets don’t really work because they deprive you so deeply, that you end up binging on food and gain all of the weight back that you have just lost, and then some.  It’s important that your diet plan is gradual and consistent.  Losing at a rate of 1 to 2 pounds per week is very safe and can be attained over the long term.  Also, at a rate of 1 to 2 pounds per week, along with a good exercise program, all of your weight loss must come from fat.

This diet should also target bodyfat reserves.

By following a slow and gradual weight loss program of 1 to 2 pounds per week, and sticking with a solid exercise program, the weight that you’re losing should come from fat, instead of muscle.  If you really want your six-pack beach body to shine through, it is important to hold on to your muscle while your body loses fat. If your diet is too extreme, you body will end up using it’s own muscle mass for fuel… very bad!

This diet plan must also stimulate growth hormone.

Growth hormone is very misunderstood by the scientific community.  This is because we’re all still learning about it.  The one thing that we do know about growth hormone is that plays a very important role in the fat burning process.  Although it may not be as anabolic (promoting muscle growth) as previously thought, it does play a key were role in removing stores and unwanted body fat when your energy balance is just right.

The best fat loss diet for men targets the stubborn midsection.

OK, I admit that you really can’t spot reduce without surgery.  Unfortunately, because of the hormone testosterone, men are most likely to store fat in their midsection first, and it is also the last place to leave the body when dieting.  This is commonly referred to as a problem area.  However, if you’re following a diet that meets all the criteria outlined in this article, it will seem as though your midsection is being targeted because of your progress, and those nice six-pack abs will come through.

There really is no such thing as a “one size fits all” diet. Perhaps you have tried macro-nutrient partitioning  style diets in the past, similar to the Zone, with no luck, yet you know someone who really rocked it and got great results. The same may be true for low carb like Atkins, high carb, low fat… and so on.

Any diet that works does one thing…. and that is creates a caloric deficit. Ten years ago, I would have swore up and down that fat loss had to do with insulin control, voodoo metabolic tricks, and although that to play a part… for other reasons… too much food, of any kind… and you get fat.

Also, any diet that you follow really *ideally* shouldn’t feel like you are on a diet in the first place. If you are constantly thinking about food and are truly hungry, you should reconsider the diet you are following. Most likely, it is too restrictive.

The only “diet” I am really excited about these days really isn’t a diet, but rather a lifestyle or method of eating, as opposed to what you actually eat. There are numerous peer-viewed papers on it, including many anti aging benefits that rival that of caloric restriction taken to the extreme for lifespan extension.

Click here to see my review.

Article Summary: Ready, Fire, Aim… and keep adjusting your aim.

Don’t let perfection stop you before you start when creating a realistic automatic fat burning plan.

Is it just me, or does it always seem like there is some new diet, or a twist on an old diet, that is endorsed by doctors, scientists, and a whole bunch of other people that is contrary to what you are doing that make you second guess yourself?

There are diets on completely opposite ends of the scale like high fat vs. low fat, too carb or not too carb, etc…

It gets nice and confusing, especially when you are looking for the “perfect” diet…

At some point you have to just get moving. Being "perfect" will make you want to hang yourself.

Complete with a miracle menu of fat burning foods… that switches on their fat burning dna.

Then, of course, there is the ideologies of why you should eat organic and avoid hormone injected products like the Ebola virus… or maybe you’re scared to use the microwave because eating microwaved food makes your hair fall out and rots your toenails beyond recognition.

…yes, I am exaggerating here

…but the point I want to drive home is that if you are not living the healthy fitness lifestyle you want to, stop trying to be perfect by eating organic foods, fearing microwaves, and other the fear-propagated malarky (my term for information overload) out there.

Stop following a radical or overly restrictive diet plan that may be “perfect,” that is really more  punishing rather than practical for *you* and efficient. You’ll loose that war, and there easier ways to create a lifestyle that results in automatic weight loss.

I’m not saying that the research behind some of the claims or diets have merit. I just don’t think any diet should take over your life.

Don’t stress over whether or not food is organic, microwaved, high fat, low fat, or zero carb, because I watch calories and nutrient ratios when I pack my cooler. *Aim* for those food choices, but don’t stress over it.

Maybe there are other ways (some maybe more effective) to keep your body fat low and achieve and sustain that Hollywood style athletic figure like any of the guys in the movie “300.”  But…

Wanna know what happens when you spend too much time trying to get things “right?”

Nothing.

Here are some health tips for creating an automatic fat burning plan.

• Energy Balance is only “hard” if you depending on your method of doing it.  Without some form of energy balance- you will never get a six pack… ever. Every diet uses their on score card to gauge energy balance- more on this in another article.
• Work out first thing in the morning. You have done something good for yourself and it sets a real nice feeling of accomplishment the rest of the day.
• Find a role model. I highly suggest someone who is honest, forthright, integral (maintains the body you want), and great at teaching. Most importantly, somebody that has a similar and realistic body style close to your own.
• Act as if. Many of your top notch successful individuals like Brain Tracy, Marshall Sylver, and Zig Ziglar to name a few attribute much of their success to this very technique. To “Act as if” you simply step into the role(this is where your role model comes in) of a healthy and lean person. This is a very powerful exercise and you should read up more on it.
• Expect to feel a little awkward (maybe described as “fake”) when trying to make any changes in your life. If you have been doing something “wrong” in the past, once you start to do it “right,” your new “right” will feel very wrong to you.
• Keep at it. It takes 21 days to form a habit.
• Seriously consider intermittent fasting as an easy way to manage your food intake, and a scientifically-backed method of dropping bodyfat.
• Once you are safely on the path of being healthy and lean, then you can adjust how you want to “safely” cook/prepare your foods, buy organic if you afford too, or whatever. These is simply slight adjustments after the harder part of forming a new healthy habit… an automatic fat burning plan in this case… is done.

Perfection can make people can stop before they start, so don’t let it do that to you. Simply accept the fact if what you are doing right now isn’t smooth for you…  there *is* a better way to do it…

Summary: You have decided you want  to lose 5 extra pounds because that will bring your abs out, or you you really blew it during the holidays and you need to get back on track. This is how you do it.

How to obtain any goal…

1. Pick a goal
2. Find out the price
3. Pay the Price

Set your sight on the target. Really aim and put the crosshairs on your target and BURN that image in your brain.

Let’s say your target is to lose 5 extra pounds. Alrighty then…  it looks like this…

Goal: 5 pounds.

Price to Lose 5 pounds: Change some habits, do some exercise, and eat right.

Now, let’s pay the price…

We are going to give ourselves 5 weeks to do this. This is very conservative and very doable.

You are a man, 5’10. You determine your weekly caloric load to be 12,000 calories (counting your calories weekly makes it easy to stay on track and harder to screw up).

You have had a change at work and you need to work overtime the next 4 weeks.  This is already a wrench in your system as you were excited to eat some iron every night after work. Now you are too pooped to do so. You want to keep a nice athletic look when you lose weight, so you determine that you need to somehow find a way to workout.

Early to Bed, Early to Rise…

God how you hate to get up early! You hit snooze 3 times as it is now. This is going to suck… however, something changes in you this time as you look at your target, and look at your price. You know it has to be done, so you decide to put the alarm on the other side of the room, so you have to wake up and physically walk across the room to turn it off, with a picture of a what you want to look like you printed of the internet or magazine taped above the alarm so when you are forced to turn it off, you remember why you set yourself up (for success by creating time) this way.

OK… so now you begin your home workout routine, since you do not have time to go to the gym before work. You have your trusty little stop watch and have programmed in your mind that every time you hear it go off, you begin your next set. This keeps you from daydreaming and being unproductive.

You finish your workout, grab your cooler of deliciously prepared foods, so that at least you enjoy what you eat and aren’t forced to the employee vending machine because that used to be your only option, and head off to work.

Way to Go! Not only have you put yourself in an awesome frame of mind by getting up early and accomplishing a life goal of yours (staying healthy), you are in such a good mood because of it that you are much more productive at your day job. This is a high you can live on!

During your break after the third week, you realize you will hit your goal in about 5 days, instead of two weeks. You know this because it only takes you a second to weigh yourself in the morning and a 10-15 minutes to prepare your foods the night before, so you don’t have to count calories (because counting calories sucks). Mission accomplished.

OK, I know that was short and fluffy, but it does illustrate good points.

1. Figure out your goal. Easy… at least most of the time. I often ask what people want, and sometimes get a nice little hesitation.

2. Finding out the price. ’nuff said.

3. Pay the Price. This is the hard part for all of us for so many reasons. A big part of that is that your goal is a moving target and you need to adjust. In fitness, we all know about calories in/calories out, setting realistic goals, and all the textbook advice that goes along with it. If we could only follow it, America would not be the fattest nation.

This is why you need to learn to be more flexible in our approach. A GREAT question for any start is…

“What’s stopping me?”

…in the example above it was two things; a hectic work schedule; and a tendency to eat whatever is available because of that schedule thereby not knowing how much you’re eating.

However, do you see how our guy adjusted? It was quite beautiful actually. In was a nice example of everyday zen where our guy worked with what he had instead of fighting it. Why do you think jiu-jitsu is such and effective martial art? The same reason.

When you reach the point that you are truly ready for change, nothing will stop you when you learn to work with your life rather than fight it.

… Go Johnny go! Johnny be good!

In the example above our guy had a short term goal and enough self discipline to make it happen. He was excited enough at the start and was still able to follow through.

… but what if you need to lose 20 pounds or have trouble staying on track because your mind is worried about bills, family, or whatever?  If you don’t hold yourself accountable… who will?

People will speed and break all kinds of traffic laws to get to work on time in fear of being fired. People will also *instantly* stop breaking traffic laws and act like they are driving Mrs. Daisy the moment they see a cop. People will also pay their taxes by April 15th in fear that the long arm of the IRS will hunt them down and break their kneecaps!

Partially, we are talking about people who need help with discipline. This is not bad at all or embarrassing, this is part of the price you have to pay, learning and accepting your motivational values and then finding a way to make them work for you.

So if people conform to outside standards to just get through life, why don’t they set up their life the same way?

Why can’t you find a way to hold yourself accountable to your goals? You can. You just need to ask how you can do it.

If you find yourself in the latter category, and need help with life, not just another exercise program, then accept it and get help. No shame in that. I always ask for help from as many people as I can.

If your having trouble with that question let me help you.

Do you like how you look in the mirror?

Answer: No

Have tried numerous times before to change it?

Answer: Yes

… you need help with your lifestyle… not diet …not exercise… but your life.

If this is the case, I very highly recommend David’s advanced Boot Camp program. Before I even started this site, I was recommending David’s products and programs to my friends and family, so I can in very good faith recommend to my readers as well.

David is a not just a personal trainer, but a lifestyle coach. Is he good? Well, do you think a 91% success rate is good? All other popular diet programs and diet centers success rate is about half that.

No offense to David, but he isn’t the best salesperson. He focuses his time and energy on his products instead making a half-ass product and trying to sell it to you with a ton of sales emails everyday. He is not going to spam you or twist your arm to join… in fact, you are going to have to prove to him that you are ready if you want to join his boot camp.

I *cannot* stress enough that this is a lifestyle program, not another twist on calorie counting or exercise. You will get a  much deeper understanding of yourself and really learn what it takes to accomplish anything- specifically tailored on you and your and life. You will also make very good friends for life as going through such an experience with others  in the same boat as yourself forms bonds and friendships that last a lifetime… a nice side benefit.

You will understand… on an *emotional* level, how to make change happen in all areas of your life and wonder why the heck you were limiting yourself all these years.

So if your ready for the next level and want to be part of something more, give David a shout by clicking here and tell ‘em Chad sent ya.

Later.

Summary: Cutting calories is the only scientifically-verified method of losing fat in the long term and keeping it off. It might not be sexy or as glamorous as the current diet fad, but it works- every time. Learn how to determine how much you can eat to hit your goals and how much to maintain them.

In fact it is often portrayed as downright ugly and difficult to do. Keeping your calories in check is much easier than the most people or [insert popular diet that is “simple” here] think, but that is another article.

You can call it low-carb, low-fat, the Zone, Vegetarian, or whatever you want to…. but the only reason any “diet” can and does work in the long term is because it restricts calories in *some* way…

… how else would a college professor lose 27 lbs in ten weeks on a diet on Twinkies and Ho-ho’s if carbs were the true enemy?

…because it is excess calories that are the true enemy.[1]

I am not saying that things like insulin control and response should be overlooked, I am simply stating that calorie control is the first thing in order of priorities, that needs to be looked at when wanting to burn fat.

If you eat less calories than you burn, you will lose weight. (You just need to find a way to do that easily- another article)

If you exercise, you will retain your muscle mass while you burn fat.

I am able to eat *almost* anything I want… just not everything I want… very simply because I have found a way to easily control my intake.

So if you also want to eat a variety of foods like pizza, ice cream, fruit, meats, poultry, and wine… and not eat flavored cardboard, you will have to first determine how much you can eat.

You do this by counting calories (surprise!).

So anyways, how many calories should you eat?

Here is how to determine that…

Well, there are some scientific formulas out there that give you the best *educated guess* on how many calories your body burns in one day, and provide a really good starting point.

If you know your bodyfat percentage, you can used the Katch-McCardle formula. Here it is for both guys and girls…

Daily Caloric Maintenance or BMR= 370 + (21.6 x Lean Body Mass or LBM in KG)

So for a female who is 134 and 20% bodyfat, here it is…

134 X .2 = 26.8 lbs of fat, rounded to 29

134 – 29 = 105 lbs of LBM

105lbs = 47.63 kg

370 + (21.6 x 47.63)

370 + 1029 =

1399 maintenance calories a day.

For a 180 male with 12% bodyfat…

180 x .12 = 21.6 lbs of fat, rounded to 22

180 – 22 = 158 LBM

158lbs = 71.67 KG

370 + (21.6 x 71.67)

370 + 1548 =

1918 maintenance calories a day.

Next…

If you don’t know your bodyfat, you can use the Harris-Benedict Formula. Here it is…

Men: BMR = 66 + (6.23 X weight in pounds) + (12.7 X height in inches) – (6.8 X age)

Women: BMR = 655 + (4.35 X weight in pounds) + (4.7 X height in inches) – (4.7 X age)

Once that number is determined from the above formula, you use the activity multiplier…

*Sedentary (little exercise, office job) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2

*Lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375

*Moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55

*Super active (intensive exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725

*Over active (very intensive exercise/sports & physical training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

Using the example above of the 180 lb guy with 12% bodyfat, here are some more details; 5’10 tall, 35 year old, 180 lb, male office worker who works very little… the equation will look like this…

66 + (6.23 x 180) + (12.7 x 70) – (6.8 x 35)

66 + 1121 + 889 – 238 =

1838 maintenance calories a day x 1.2 activity multiplier

2205 maintenance calories a day to MAINTAIN current weight

So… 1838 vs. 2205…

Confusing, eh?

That’s because these could be described as a somewhat scientific educated guess. It’s not going to be exact, but it will give you a great starting point, especially if you average the two formulas together, and this case it is 2022, which is the caloric load I go for when I am looking to drop fat, and I also throw in two intermittent fasts a week.[2]

Once you determine your maintenance, you need to create a 20-30% caloric deficit in order to lose fat, so for that male office worker it would be 1838 x.20, or 367. 1838- 367= 1471 daily calories to lose fat.

But if you are still unsure, and want a more accurate measure of how much calories you should eat to burn fat and build muscle, you might want to check out the Bodygem.

The Bodygem can be thought of as a real life calorie calculator. You simply breathe into the Bodygem and it will measure the gases you are breathing out to more accurately determine your true daily calorie expenditure.

The devices definitely aren’t cheap, so you may want to contact the manufacturer and see if they can hook you up with a local personal trainer or health club that has one[3].

I want to end this article with what I call the quick method for fat loss. Because when combined with a regular exercise program, you will lose fat amazingly fast, at around 2-3 pounds of blubber a week.

If you are average build, just multiply you weight by 11 (10 for women). Combine that figure with an Eat Stop Eat Program[3], and say hello to your new beach body.

[1] College professor loses 27 on a diet of Twinkies

[2] Eat Stop Eat(simple method to control calorie intake)

[3] Bodygem calorie calculator locator

Summary: After a more disciplined dieting approach for something like a photo-shoot, a summertime beach body, or a fitness contest, take a much needed “Diet break” that will replenish your sanity without destroying your waistline. You will also discover why being to “perfect” in any diet is a one way ticket to binge town.

Being flexible in your dieting allows you to live life and makes it much easier to eat goods foods most of the time.

I am at the perfect point right now to write this article because I am on a “diet” break. All that means… technically… is that I started consuming “maintenance” calories. Where I averaged about 1700-1800 calories a day, including my two weekly intermittent while I was preparing for the Met-Rx contest, I now consume 2500-3000.

If you’re old school, Dan Duchaine talks about this as flexible dieting. Lyle McDonald also details it in his books. Most of my readers I doubt will know who those guys are… just know they are some of the “go-to” guys (Dan is no longer with us) when even the professionals have questions.

I have only regained about 4 pounds since my contest video. Not bad. Many people go hog wild as a reward to themselves (it’s a subconscious thing) after they have achieved a certain level of leanness. It’s like they are at a buffet and noone is watching… because we all know that if noone is watching… what you eat doesn’t count, right?

Keith Kline, Lee Labrada’s nutritionist, summed up most people thinking by saying that people approach their diet the same along the lines of learning they have a flat tire and thinking “Oh well, since I got a flat tire, I might as well stick a knife in the other three.” So as soon as you realize you are off-track…immediate get right back on. This includes if you have food in your mouth, that shouldn’t be. Spit in in a napkin and toss it.

Excess food does one of two things…

1. It gets ‘waisted’ on your waist

or

2. It gets wasted in the trash

You choose.

Of course, you don’t have to be as cautious when you loosen up and take a diet brake… but at the same time you can completely ruin your progress if you have a “binge-reward” mentality.

So how can you retain self control?

A few things.

1. Never truly deprived yourself in the first place. Set measurable and realistic fat loss goals to begin with. Stay away from a diet of cardboard and water, and eat real food, as well as a supplemental protein shake here and there. So when start “diet break,”  simply eat more… but it is still measured. This means nutrient dense foods (ideally) or about 500-1000 calories more depending on your previous calorie load while cutting down, metabolism and activity.

Live a little, just stay far away from “trigger foods.” These are the foods that one bite will send you into a frenzy like a cocaine addict. Maybe not right away, sometimes even 1-3 days later.[1]

2. Have a list of recipes that are easy to make, and where the calories are already counted for you. This is KEY. I often eat the same recipes, let’s say about 6-7 for about a weeks worth or until I get bored. Then I simply switch the recipes out.  I save money by not eating out, and I do not have to count calories as it has already been done for me. This assures me that I will not overeat!

Now… my recipes are damn good and fast to make. Pizza, tacos, ice cream, sandwiches, protein shakes(my own special brew), quesadillas, and more. In fact I plan on putting out  a free recipe book that details how I do so you can do the same, so check back in about a month.

3. Still practice control. Is goal is so stay lean? Maybe not ultra-lean year round, but at least around 10%. So by slightly upping your calories to maintenance levels[2] as well as eating nutrient-dense… not calorie-dense foods, when necessary to curb my hunger, I am able to maintain my muscle and keep my fat/weight gain to near zero. Your goals may be a bit different,

I’m sure you know of at least someone, most likely a few people, who has that “now I can do what I want because the scale said I hit my goal weight!” -Mentality- …Don’t subscribe to it. You will sabotage all your progress.

I don’t know about you, but I find it very important to live life, and let diet and exercise enhance it. I don’t like to feel like I am always watching what I have to eat, especially if I am on real vacation. I wanna be able to have a beer, margarita, or whatever, and I bet your feel close to the same.  By learning to calorie count through keeping a food journal or coming up with pre-counted recipes before-hand, you will develop an internal calorie detector. After time, you can look at foods and guess pretty darn close to what the calorie count is, and you can lighten up on your food journal entries, especially if you follow intermittent fasting.

1. Here is a good book on Food Triggers and why you have to avoid  them- forever. Be sure to read the reviews. See it here.

2. Lyle does a good job of explaining an easy ay to determine your maintenance (not fat loss, as that would be lower) calories here.

Energy balance is one step above calorie counting because it also takes into account the amount of calories you are burning during exercise and other activity. Coming up with the right balance of calories and energy expenditure will always result it weight loss- guaranteed.

Come up with recipes that are pre-counted, and your calories will automatically be counted for you.

Does not matter if you follow a no-carb, high-carb, vegetarian, the Zone, Mediterranean, or last but far from least the South Beach plan. The argument I see with many of these diets is that by following a regimented lifestyle of which foods to eat and to avoid, the energy balance seems to magically work itself out and fall into place. That does not happen and you eat more than you burn, you will gain weight- Period.

I have learned not to try and convince people otherwise from any sort of diet that they have been sold on/believe in/subscribe to. I have learned that time itself is a much better teacher than I ever could be. Personally, I like to keep a moderate balance of calories from carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. I know that I want to live a little and enjoy a good wine, chocolate, or filet mignon. I found that moderation fits my lifestyle well, and learning to manipulate that moderation has kept me lean and healthy.

Don’t sweat over whether or not foods are organic or hormone free. Aim for it, as it only makes sense to eat healthy and pesticide free foods. Just don’t get too anal about it…about trying to be “perfect.” Supplements are a great way to get vitamins, minerals, herbs, and greens that lacks in today’s food supply… just be cautious of supplements that are meant for the sole purpose of weight loss… your better off throwing your money on some lottery tickets.

So, regardless of the diet you follow, and I have seen people to who a healthy lifestyle do much better than perpetual dieters, but still… if you are still not seeing results or would just like to simplify your life, here are some additional things that could really keep you energy balance- balanced.

• Keep a diet journal
• Use honest weights and measures
• Aim for nutrient-dense, nature made foods…preferably organic

Keep an exercise and diet journal. I can’t remember where I read it, but I was reading a study about how people who kept a weight loss/food journal lost an average of 80% more weight and kept it off over the control group. I often question friends or acquaintances who claim to be dieting about how any calories are *really* on their plate…they always under-estimate by about 50%. I can say that because I often weigh my foods on a food scale to the ounce… have been since I was 17. It is just a habit I have, takes me no time at all… like breathing.

You can also develop a bunch of recipes where you already know the calorie counts and just pick from that group. It’s easy to do and I have some great, easy to make, precounted recipes for pizza, ice cream, and tacos. You simply make the foods for the next day the night before, and you have effectively counted your calories, without keeping a food journal. Much easier in my opinion.

So by keeping an honest log of how much you really eat, regardless of what you eat, you will have a clear indicator of your why you are progressing, or not progressing.

I will say that I do go through periods… winters usually, where I loosen up on weighing out my foods to the ounce. Notice I did not say…”let go completely,” I do not see food as a reward as many people do- a BIG mistake. See, you will still retain some of your internal measurement skills from your food journal. There are plenty of free online food journals.

Sticking as close to nature as possible also helps balance out your energy balance mainly because nutrient-rich, nature’s own delicious foods like fruits, veges, and quality lean meats are very filling, and not calorie suicide like many man-made, processed foods can be.

One “diet” that is very popular is the “Caveman/Paleo Diet.” Basically, anything you can pick above the ground or hunt would qualify. Apples, chicken, strawberries, nuts, beef (I have an acquired taste for lean meats). This, too me, is more of a lifestyle plan, because I think it is the easiest “diet” to follow, especially when you forget your diet journal. But…again, caveman did not have the opportunity to go to the grocery store at will. So you can still over-eat, which is why keeping a very strict diet journal will open your eyes.[1]

By keeping an ultra–strict diet journal, at least for just twelve-weeks… just twelve weeks out of the whole year, will help give you a realistic visual of why or why not your weight (fat) loss is working. Then, after being good for awhile, I have found that you can trust you internal measurement clock-or at least I can.

However, just as you take your car in for a tune up, you must also tune up your internal measuring clock. The first simple sign that you are screwing up your energy balance is when the scale disagrees with you. If you have a true, consistent way of measuring your weight every day…of which nude in the morning after you use the bathroom… then you can see if you need to exercise more, or eat less, or both. Perhaps you need some form of accountability at this point if you really think you have been following true calorie counts (you haven’t).[2]

…A quick note about weighing yourself first thing in the morning… you will hear me talk about true, apples-to-apples comparisons throughout this site. In relation to measuring yourself by using the scale, if you weigh yourself daily, but at different times, it makes a huge difference in results. You could have eaten sodium, causing water retention… causing weight gain along with all the meals you had throughout the day. I personally have fluctuated as much as 7 pounds in a day’s time… This would be known as apples-to-oranges comparisons…which is a psychological game of smoke and mirrors with yourself…Conclusion: by weighing yourself at the same time everyday, preferably nude in the a.m… before breakfast… after you pee… gives you more truthful results…

Also, by keeping a diet journal you can see the complete mistake I have seen in two popular diets, possibly more…where they say you can have a cheat day once a week, and get away with it… yeah, not gonna happen. Maybe if you are really overweight, it will work for a time, but you will plateau- guaranteed. I don’t know about you, but I can cheat pretty darn good! I can really put away some calories via Dr. Haagen Dazs, Professor High Fat Pizza, and Mrs. Sweet Hershey’s Kiss. If you go hog wild on these…which some people say you can if you been good for the first 6 days, you can easily ruin an entire weeks worth of progress, and even gain weight. There is not a diet supplement on the planet that is going to help you at that point. If you actually counted the calories that go through your mouth on that cheat day, you’d clearly see why.

So…

• Energy Balance is key to staying lean- regardless of what “diet” you follow
• Keeping a diet journal greatly improves your success -or- preparing your meals the night before
• Keeping a diet journal develops an internal calorie measuring clock

To wrap up, I just want to say that all people that I know who are lean and fit, have *some* way of measuring calories. Yes, some do it automatically, but the rest of us are just going to have to use our brains and a wee bit of discipline. I have tried many diet plans… mainly trying to find simplicity… and have came to terms with moderation of carbs (about 30-50%), proteins(about 30-50%), and fats(about 15-25%). It keeps me fairly full, my blood sugar stable, and I can still live a little and have pizza, wine, or chocolate once, sometimes twice, a week.

1. The ESE program is a closer match to Paleo style eating. Remember, cavemen could not go to the store at will, and ate sporadically, which included fasting. If you want a true Paleo style program, not only do you need to eat the foods that caveman ate, you eat to eat them in the same manner. The ESE program is the best program to explain how it works, why it works so well, and how you can incorporate non Paleo foods if you choose.

2. If you have struggled with fat loss your entire life and are truly out of options, it’s time to call reinforcements. For many people, calories in/ calories out can become a mindless mantra that no longer means anything. They become willing to believe anything that any late night infomercial will tell them and try the next big thing… and still never get anywhere. What they really need to do is learn how really lose the weight in-between the ears first. You need a plan, and you need accountability to stay on that plan. That’s where the Leanness Lifestyle Boot Camp comes in. It has a 91% success rate because of lifestyle modifications and design, not supplements or wishful thinking.

Summary: Getting fit can instantly change your outlook, character, and make you an *instant* success. Learn how picking, committing, and pursuing a worthy goal can put give you the body you want, allow you to keep the body you want, and maybe even put more money in your pockets.

Pick a direction and enjoy the journey.

At the beginning on 2011, I decided to pursue a new goal. More importantly, I decided to commit to it. I read about Met-Rx’s  Warrior Workout video contest for a chance for a walk on role to the Stars network series “Spartacus.”

Awesome. I’m in.

I took a current assessment of my health… bodyfat, workout plan, diet… and set a new course for getting lean for the video. I thought this also fit in perfectly with my “diet” that I decided to experiment with. I new that I would be up against guys that were in much better shape and probably had better video making skills than I had since I have never used a video camera before. I didn’t care. I wasn’t on board to place first, I was in it to enjoy the ride.

I clearly wrote out my goals:

*Follow a diet plan that was easy to follow, and easy to stick to.

*Workout 3-4 times a week and no more than 45 each time.

*Learn to make and edit videos

I was able to easily hit my mark, and I learned very important things from each of my three objectives. Even after I made the video, I did not rebound like I would have in the past due to starvation and deprivation diets. I further solidified my belief in life being a journey, and not a race.

Achievement is success? Since when?

Just because I made the video, for a total of 60 seconds, does not mean I “succeeded.” The daily actions I took to get there is what made me successful. When you decide on any type of goal, it is important that you can do your daily actions consistently on hit your mark.

The reason is simple…  if you choose a goal that requires you to do things on a daily basis that make you suffer and beg for the day you hit your mark… just so you can go back to the way you were… then what is the point? Sure… you may hit you goal, but it’s short lived since you can’t stay the course.

For example, let’s say your goal is get lean. Great- Definitely a worthy goal.

Let’s define lean…

You are a female and you want to get to 9%. You know that being female, that your abs are going to start to show at around 12%, since females have a tendency to store their fat reserves in their legs and hips. So lucky you… you do not have to get as lean as men do to show your abs since men normally store their fat in the belly.

So… 9% it is, and you make it a point that once you have achieved it, you will not let yourself go above 12%.

You weigh yourself at 130 and you find your bodyfat is 15%… not to bad. This means that to get to 9%, you need to lose about 8-9 pounds of fat.

At this point you need to decide what to eat, how much to eat, and be able to stick to it without losing your sanity. You will also need a decent workout program to go with it You will learn about foods you like, foods you can make easily, foods that fill you up, and when you can realistically eat these foods based on your schedule…

As you can see, it is a learning experience, mostly about yourself, and you must learn and grow to achieve your goal.

Who do you become when you pursue worthy endeavors?

This is going to be different for everybody, but this usually includes a list of virtues. For me, I would mostly  say patience and discipline. Now, although reading this you may think you know what I am talking about…”patience and discipline”… but you wont really know unless you follow a similar path.

How long can it last?

As long as you pursue something worthwhile. Nothing else needs to be said here.

Do you really need a”burning desire?”

No. It doesn’t hurt, but the fallacy that you need a “burning desire” is sold by self help authors and the Hollywood big screen because it sells well. What you really need is a desire, about a 5-7 on a scale of 1-10, and an action plan. Your pursuit need not consume your life… it must enhance it.

Worthy fitness goals…

Fat loss= 1-2 a week scale-weight loss.

Strength gain= depends on how long you have been training, but figure 1-4% a month naturally.

Getting a six-pack- Men 10% and under, Women 12% and under

For a further reading on pursuing worthy goals, check out this article.

OK, here’s that video I made for Met-Rx. All you haters go easy on me in the comments as it is my first.

This Squirrel is banking off this trend!

Is it just me, or do other people also have friends who like to pull one over on them for their own amusement?

Although… I do the same. Always love sending my friends kids on a good Snipe hunt- the very same hunt that I was introduced to some few years back.

So… I’m over at some friends house, helping with some electrical projects after they moved in. I’m up on the ladder and my friends takes notice of the odor of my stevia-sweetened coffee, originating from my customized Burning Man cup (another time, another story). The next comment out of her mouth sorta blind-sided me.

“Have you tried the new squirrel poop coffee?”

“Have I tried what?” -I was pretty sure I heard her correctly but her facial expression did not indicate any foul play at this point.

“Yeah- squirrel poop. They feed the coffee beans to the Squirrel and after he poops it out, they use it for coffee. He acts like natures own espresso machine.”

“Are you sh*$&n’ me?”(no pun was intended at the time)…at this time I cannot help but think out the good ole’ Cheech and Chong skit where the dog eats their stash, forcing Chong to follow the dog around for three days before he gets it back…you mean we’re smokin’ dogsh**?!

Her boyfriend chimes in at this time and they both elaborate on how much of a premium it is, fetching around $30-$50 *per cup* of coffee. I am not too concerned at this point as I know my good buddy Mr. Google will give me lowdown.

So ya’ damn well the first thing I did when I got home was Google it. Hell- I even Yahooed it too, to see what they had to say. Sure enough- seems it true. People pay big bucks for natures own espresso machine.

So why the craze and who was the first person to say- ” Hey, ya know what we could do with this?”

“Squirrel” is not the North American rodent that most of you are probably thinking about. In fact, I think my friends had it wrong, because my investigation turned up that the closest counterpart over here is the weasel. The animal directly responsible for the phenomenon is the Luwak… Paradoxus hermaphroditus. It’s not even in the rodent family. Looks more like a cousin of the raccoon if you ask me.

I’m not sure of the validity of the sources, but apparently the coffee goes through chemical changes in the digestive tract that take out the chemicals responsible for the bitter taste in coffee.

I know this may be a bit off-topic, but I thought it would make for a good read, and I had to share it!

…and here I thought Starbucks had crappy coffee.

It’s nice to take faith in the basics again. I used to worry about cutting carbs, taking magic pills that would magically help me build muscle and lose fat at the same time, or finding that ‘one diet’ that would keep my hunger satisfied while giving me boundless energy and bringing out my abs.

Leanness Lifestyle

I was never highly overweight or overfat by any means, averaging about 11-14% range. What I wanted was that extra edge to get me to to the single digits… and more importantly, *keep* me there.

Also, I was at a horrible plateau following many years of high-intensity Yates/Mentzer style training. The program worked great for awhile, but it eventually rans it course, as most programs do. The problem was I was so convinced that I all needed to do was put in more intensity as proponents of the program suggested, and that would fix things.

Not so lucky.

I needed help.

I stumbled upon an online fat-loss program that had a 91% percent success rate of the people involved in the “boot camp” program.. That is *very* impressive. That figure is also very comforting to anyone who has failed to lose fat and and *keep* it off in the past.

That felt encouraging since I wanted to get by bodyfat into the single digits.

The creator also challenges the idea of needing to get to fat to put on muscle mass. He maintains a year-round bodyfat of not more than of 10%, and still boasts quite an impressive muscular physique.

Leanness Lifestyle

Anyhoo… that took care of my bodyfat concerns, now I just needed to increase my strength and mass a little bit with anything that would work.

The creator of the program turned out to be a natural bodybuilder, so I knew he could help… and he did.

With the author’s knowledge, David Greenwalt, I was able to break past some very limiting plateaus.

Turns out this program was much more comprehensive than I realized. It came with 477 information-packed pages. Zero fluff anywhere in his book… the pages are thick with real-world, valuable, useable, information.

Leanness Lifestyle

I admit, 477 may be a bit overwhelming for a lot of people. However, the key is to get involved with David’s online success system as soon as possible so you can make that 477 pages of information become knowledge.

This book covers everything. Things from supplements, accountability, motivation, to setting up your goals so you have a high chance of achieving them.

Yep… this book is *real* good.

It really covered topics like psychology very well, and applied the topic to real world people.

I read books by Anthony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, Robert Ringer, and other people who are good at making things happen for themselves and other people, and this book took the things that worked and applied them towards creating a permanent lifestyle of leanness and health.

After reading this book, you will come away with this with some solid extra IQ points and…

* Finally know which supplements work for fat loss and which ones don’t. This alone is worth the cost of the book.

* The truth about calories, low carb diets, and other ‘fad’ diets by someone who creates permanent and lasting change in the waistlines and lives of everyday people.

* The psychology behind lasting change. Once you know this, and embody this technique by doing it, you will also be able apply to other areas of your life such as finances and life goals. This alone is also worth the price of the book.

* Which foods are like nuclear bombs that will instantly halt your weight loss, and immediately put you on a fast track to looking like Santa Claus almost overnight. This book covers what these foods are how and why you need to steer clear.

Leanness Lifestyle

I realize the above may sound like I am writing a sales copy for the book, but I assure you that I really believe in the book, and his boot camp program, because I have done them. I also feel that David has done an amazing job of putting it all together.

One of my favorite parts about this book is the part on resistance (weight) training design. I often refer back to it anytime I am designing a new program. It contains principles and truisms that will never grow old and never die.

Once you get good at program design, you can design some really *fun* and challenging workouts.

Because David is not just another personal trainer or strength coach, but a wellness/lifestyle coach, he has thoroughly addressed the most common booby-traps and pitfalls that average people face when breaking in a new lifestyle.

… and ya know what else is really awesome about learning those pitfalls?

The fact that it can also be applied to other areas of your life like financial success or -anything- you want to change about yourself for good. Family, money, self-confidence, to name a few.

I don’t know about you, but I have noticed that when chaos in my life seems overwhelming, if I focus on on area and improve it, all other areas take a turn for the better as well. Learning how to make this happen will help anyone who wants to lose fat and keep it off.

David goes into detail, and devotes an entire chapter about contest preparation and taking photos. What this means is learning how to look like the models, celebrities, and other physically fit people you see on TV and in magazines. If you want the details on how to take those types of pictures, this chapter covers it.

Also, David is going to say a few(not many, I promise) things in his book that will most likely offend some people. Good. You need to be offended. He is not very good at sugar-coating stuff just “sizzle” up his book like many authors do so they can “sell the sizzle.”

Offending you for the sake of offending are not David’s intentions, I promise.

He *has* to cover things that some people may find uneasy just for the fact that in order to reach true transformation, and be permanently lean the rest of your life, you have to be honest with yourself about a few things.

I have recommended his book to friends and family well before I did the online write-up you are reading right now.

Seriously, if you really want a vast knowledge of staying lean year round, supplementation, diet, contest preparation, and want to know what it really takes… mentally… to lose the fat once and for all, start with his book.

After that, you can move onto his more intensive programs, and prove to yourself you can do it, and keep at it.

-Chad

Leanness Lifestyle

PS

Also, one thing I forgot to mention is that this program is not “Hollywood Program.” You will not get sugar coated program where you will be crying your eyeballs out about how fat you are and how bad you need this program. You wont be stuck on treadmills going far over your physical limitations which can be very dangerous. Instead, you will work well within your physical range, eat sensibly, and sign up for a lifetime of health.