Intermittent Fasting

There are so many diets out on the market these days. With the vast majority of the population overweight, it is easily marketable to pitch just about any diet idea, throw in some diet pills, advertise some crazy spinning chair gimick that will zap your fat as you sit at your chair. Well, they are all setups for FAILURE!!!

The biggest culprit of the rising obesity problem in America is FOOD! That's right, too much food. The portion sizes are out of control! Do you really believe that a person needs 2-5 rolls with butter BEFORE dinner. Not to mention the MOUNDS of food on the plate you get for your entre. Oh, and let's not forget a dinner salad along with it loaded with cheese and all the creamy dressing you add to it. By the way, most people also either have some sort of sugary drink or alcolholic beverage to go along with their meals. That in itself is at least 150 calories. Most of the time more. Don't even get me started on a dessert after all 1500 calories you've consumed of creamy, cheesy, greasy, starchy food and drinks. But people...THIS IS A TYPICAL DINNER for people on a regular basis.

Well, there is a solution for those who don't want to give up these popular meals. And for those who simply don't believe in any of those crazy pitches that everyone and their dogs have. And that is simply having 1-2 24hr periods during the week that you don't eat. Just imagine, you've eaten more than what you should for your caloric maintenance one day. And then the next few days you stay pretty close in range. Then you go from dinner to dinner or breakfast to breakfast without eating anything. That is 24 hours that you don't take in any calories, yet your body still burns its normal basal metabolic rate throughout the day. Not to mention the calories you burn on top of that just by doing daily activity. So, in reality, that one day without eating not only saves you from going over your caloric needs, but it most likely will keep you under. And we all know that calories are just energy. So less energy in and more energy out gives us the caloric deficit needed for that long wanted fat loss.

So, if you're tired of trying to stick to some crazy diet that is going to lead to failure in the end anyway, try a 24 hour fast once a week. And for the rest of the time you can eat healthy whole foods without ever having to think about overeating. And if you occasionally have those obscene amounts of food, it will be ok.

By the way, intermittent fasting does not slow metabolism down either. Don't get freaked out! 'Starvation mode' DOES occur. But it only happens after the PROLONGED
absence of food. At this point essentially you've used up your body fat stores and have no choice but to start consuming essential structures like your internal organs to just to stay alive.

Think Concentration camp, war torn countries or large scale
famines. NOT being stuck in a 4 hour business meeting where they
forgot to serve lunch.

Not to mention the focus you have when you don't have to think about eating for a whole day. You know how much time we put into that? A lot!

So essentially the message is Eat Less and Move More!

Brad Pilon has a book called Eat Stop Eat that explains the intermittent fasting with tons of scientific backing if you want to check it out at www.EatStopEat.com. But, it's pretty simple. Just pick a time and stick with it. It's easiest for me from about Sunday afternoon after lunch to Monday lunch.

I finished a 24 hr fast this morning. Had a breakfast yesterday at about 9 with 2 eggs and lots of sauted veggies in coconut oil with a slice of avocado. Then just had water the rest of the day, and even did a hill sprint workout! Felt great. Then woke up this morning and traded. Before I knew it, it was time to eat breakfast! Had 1 egg with veggies and some quinoa. So, it's not impossible. Try it out.

Workout today was a lactic acid workout: 3 circuits of this: alternating elevated pushups; tempo 3 sec up 1 sec down, stationary lunge; 3 up 1 dwn, DB squats; 3 up 1 down, alternating DB front raises; 3 up 1 down. The tempo is a change from the normal up fast down slow, that really builds up the lactic acid and gets your fat rolling off! Then a dynamic interrupt of mountain climbers and expoding pushups. 2 circuits of this: Single arm DB row; 3 sec up 1 sec down, Dips on chair; 4 up 1 down, bentover flys; 3 up 1 down, DB curls; 4 sec up 1 down. Then ended with 100 fast jump ropes. Good workout! Really BURNED! Was supposed to have a third circuit of ball crunches and bulgarian split squats, but ran out of time. So I may finish tonight.

Made something really cool today for lunch. I mixed some melted coconut oil, 3 eggs, and a bunch of nuts and seeds together in the blender. Then I chopped up an apple, pear, sweet potatoe and added it to the mix. Then for some greens I threw in some broccoli, kale, and spinach. Splashed in some cinnamon and salt and poured it all into a baking pan and baked it at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes. Pretty yummy! And very filling! I ate way more than I should have. It probably made about 6-8 servings, and I probably had about 4! WOOPS. Then I had a shake with banana, blueberries, and strawberries with some rice protein after my workout.

Let me know what you think and please feel free to ask any questions you may have about any of the workouts or nutrition.

I'm here to help!