There is something that is more important than eating clean when it comes to weight loss, fat loss and total body transformation. Yes, cleaning up your diet is important. In fact, you won’t get too far without it. But what is more important is that you understand the motivation behind your unhealthy eating habits.
Here’s the thing, guys. Anyone can get on the clean eating band wagon and stick to veggies, fats and proteins for a few weeks and probably lose weight along the way. But unless you understand what was motivating your less than stellar food choices, you’ll inevitably find yourself falling right back into them. That happened to me for years. I’d focus on following a particular diet plan to the letter but after a few weeks I was right back to where I started – fast food, ice cream and continuous munching and snacking (while thinking about how badly I needed to lose weight & how I shouldn’t be eating the crap I was actively shoveling into my mouth).
If you don’t identify the feelings and factors that trigger you to make less than stellar choices, you’ll find yourself right back in that mode as soon as your motivation wanes and those feelings or factors arise. For me, loneliness and sadness trigger overeating and overindulging. If I feel rejected by something or someone, if I feel isolated (often because I’ve isolated myself) or if I feel a sense of loss, my go-to pattern is to numb those feelings with food. You see, when I’m fist deep in a pint of ice cream, I’m only thinking about the ice cream. I’m not thinking about rejection or loneliness or sadness. I’m just thinking “ice cream” and, for the moment, it feels good. But here’s what happens – as soon as it is gone I start to regret it. “Why did I do that?! Why am I so weak?” Now the problem is compounded. The loneliness isn’t gone. The sadness is still there but now it is compounded by the fact that I punished myself with food. Ugh, such a slippery slope and dangerous cycle!!
So, now that I know what triggers my bad habits, what do I do about it? How do I overcome it? How do you break the cycle? I literally worked on it step by step. I never imagined that I could overcome it in one fell swoop and I didn’t try.
Step 1: Be mindful
It sounds kinda lame, I’ll give you that. There wasn’t any pressure at this phase. In fact, I didn’t attempt to change my behavior at all. If I got overwhelmed or sad and started to have those thoughts of “Whatever. I don’t care. I suck at this. I’m gonna go to the grocery and buy ice cream….and chips. And hell, if I’m gonna blow it, I might as well get pizza on the way home” I would allow myself to do it but not without at least acknowledging the feelings behind it. I would quite literally write in my journal “I am feeling frustrated and like I want to cry because of xyz so I feel like eating crap”. That’s all. Then I’d proceed on to the grocery store. After I did this a couple of times I kind of evolved to the next step naturally. It didn’t feel good, it didn’t make me feel better to eat those feelings. It almost always made me feel worse so acknowledging the rationale allowed me to see that I wasn’t solving my problem at all and I wasn’t even making myself feel better.
Step 2: Consider what would help
Again, this wasn’t aimed at stopping the behavior of making bad food choices or bingeing but addressing the underlying issue. So in the case of feeling the desire to overeat because I’m feeling sad, I took it a step further. I’d sit at my desk with my journal and write out why I was feeling sad and what it might take to fix the problem. Maybe it was a conversation with someone. Maybe the solution was just to give myself a little more grace and not be so hard on myself. Maybe I realized in the moment that I was actually quite overtired and whatever I was feeling sad over was pretty silly and a nap would probably help. This step, in large part, removed the desire to eat. I was not only confronting my feelings but also actively considering solutions. I was aware that food wasn’t a solution but now I was starting to see alternatives.
Step 3: Delay desire
If I went through steps 1 and 2 and still had the desire to overindulge or binge, I began to practice putting it off for 24 hours. I wasn’t saying “no” to whatever I wanted, I was just saying “lets wait it out for 24 hours”. If I still wanted it 24 hours later, I’d go for it. Nine times out of 10 this eliminates the urge. The emotion passes, the craving passes, I come to my senses a little bit.
At the end of the day it comes down to three fundamental things: awareness, honesty and practice.
Awareness
You need to become aware of the feelings behind your actions. What’s going on when you’re not making good choices. What is fueling those decisions? Are you happy with the decisions? Are there common threads that link the occasions on which you overdo it? Pay attention. Be mindful. Stop going through life in a fog without learning about yourself and the way you think. Be a student of your own behavior.
Honesty
Sometimes it kinda sucks but you’ve got to get honest about your feelings. If you boil over because someone cuts you off in traffic and as soon as you get home, in your heightened state, you’re digging through the pantry for something with chocolate, you’ve got to ask what’s really going on there. Why are you upset? Why are you sad? Why are you overweight? Why do you continue to make bad choices when you genuinely want a better life? Stop saying its because its “hard”. Get honest. WHY is it hard? The actual act of buying healthy food and preparing it is not hard so where does this emotional part come from? Get real. Get honest. Do it now because you won’t be successful if you aren’t honest with yourself.
Practice
You aren’t going to get it right your first time out of the gate. The journey to your healthiest self is a long one and it won’t be perfect. You’re going to make mistakes. You’ll have bad days and bad weeks. That doesn’t mean you suck. It doesn’t mean you’re a failure or that you can’t do it. It just means that you need more practice. Living a healthy life is a DAILY practice. When we practice regularly, we improve. See challenging situations and circumstances as a great forum for practice. Don’t quit. Keep trying. Show up and practice every single day.
Sure – I want us all to make better food choices. But better food choices is more about YOU and the way you think and less about the food. I can’t emphasize enough just how important it is to become a student of yourself and your motivations. Spend the time. It’s worth it. It is the only way you can truly change.
Do you feel like you need help with this? It’s HARD stuff! Sometimes your head is in the game and you’re willing to do the work and other times its just annoying and you don’t feel like it. That’s why I find value in having a coach. I have had a coach in one form or another for most of my weight loss journey. When my motivation started to slip, they’d see it and help reel me back in. I really think that was a huge part of what made THIS journey successful when all my past attempts had not been. But here’s the thing – those coaches were only involved my story for an hour a week. Our time together was SUPER limited and when I was about to binge, of course they weren’t around. I have put together a totally different coaching program. One that is based on working one-on-one with a VERY small group of women. I won’t put them on a diet. I won’t write them meal plans. I will work incredibly closely with them for a full year to help them identify their own unique fat loss formula. I’ll help them find and practice strategies that work for THEM. We will talk every week. We will email or message as much as they need. They will have unlimited email access to me. I will coach them. I’ll help carry them through the tough times. We’ll troubleshoot together. We’ll celebrate together. I’ll share a TON of critical information related to mindset, motivation, nutrition, hormones, health and fitness. I want to create radical transformations both physically and mentally. And I want to be a huge part of the process. That’s why I won’t work with more than 15 people. In fact, I’m going to insist that folks who are interested complete a short application so I can assess their readiness to change and ensure that I’m working with people who are ready for this journey. I can’t even tell you how freaking excited I am!! If you are ready to make a transformation and create your own success story, I encourage you to read more about the program before you decide to apply. You can find all the info and the application by clicking here. I’m only accepting applications through December 10th and I’ll select up to 15 people and notify them by December 15th. If you’ve got questions, feel free to respond to this email!! I am SOOOO ready to help some of you guys take it to the next level and make 2015 the most amazing year of your life!!
Have you ever heard of the Pareto Principle? Maybe you’ve heard it called the 80/20 rule. I heard about it years ago but it wasn’t until I applied it to my weight loss journey that it really transformed my life. I’m not kidding. This one principle has changed the way I look at just about EVERYTHING! This simple truth allows you to DO LESS yet YIELD MORE.
So this guy named Vilfredo Pareto once observed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by only 20% of the people. It was quickly realized that most things in life roughly mimic this ratio:
20% of the people generate 80% of the wealth
20% of the plants in a garden produce 80% of the bounty
20% of employees are responsible for 80% of the workload
Essentially, it boils down to this: 80% of your results come from only 20% of your actions. A powerful 20% of your inputs will generate 80% of your outputs. Read: We are wasting much of our time doing frivolous crap that doesn’t produce the results we’re after!!!
Think about the 80/20 rule in your own life:
20% of your household chores make 80% of the difference. Vacuuming the floors + cleaning the bathrooms + wiping down the kitchen counters = 80% clean. Sure, you can spend your time doing the other 80% of stuff but you won’t feel like it is clean unless you’ve tackled that omnipotent 20%.
20% of your problems account for 80% of your stress. Its the big rocks that keep us stressed out, right? Job, money, etc. Yes, there are lots of little stressors but its those couple biggies that cause the problems.
20% of your projects take up 80% of your time. At home or at work, there are most often a few key things that seem to take up the majority of our day.absolute
Here’s where the powerful part comes in. When you identify, in any area of your life, which activities fall into that 20%, you can focus on those things, de-emphasize the time you’re spending dealing with the rest of the stuff, and see DRAMATIC improvements.
I have applied this to my fat loss journey and I’ll tell you, it has been transformative. You can read fat loss tips all damn day long. Everyone has an opinion and you can create a huge list of all the things that will help you burn fat:
Eat more vegetables
Eat less sugar
Focus on protein
Watch your fat intake
Avoid gluten
Count calories
Measure portions
Don’t eat out
Prepare your food ahead of time
Do lots of cardio
Lift weights
Get enough sleep
Limit your stress levels
Avoid chemicals
Take leisure walks
Balance your hormones
Take specific supplements
Drink protein shakes
Blah blah blah
It can quickly become overwhelming. It can make you feel like its completely impossible to keep all those balls in the air. Oftentimes, the 100% view can keep us from acting AT ALL because it seems so impossible. But there is good news!! 80% of your results will come from only 20% of your activities! You can pick the most impactful 20% and those big rocks will generate the majority of the success you are after!!!
Now, keep in mind that those 20% activities won’t be the same for everyone! You need to figure this out for yourself. Don’t waste your time and energy watching what other people eat, how often they exercise, what type of exercise they do, what supplements they take, etc etc. Invest your time and energy monitoring what works for YOU and then focus on those activities. Identify which activities have the most pay off for YOUR body.
Though I don’t want you to assume that they are YOUR 20% activities, I’ll tell you what I’ve found mine to be. These are the big rocks I focus on. Sure, I might throw in other stuff from time to time, but I know that my results are going to come from these things, so they become my non-negotiables. Anything else is gravy.
Documentation. I write down my goals and I write down everything I eat. If it goes in my mouth, I write it down. This not only helps keep me accountable, but it allows me to go back and troubleshoot. Keeping my goals in front of me helps me stay focused and motivated.
Lifting heavy weights. Sure, I do cardio. But I know that my results come much more from challenging my body and the hormonal response generated when I lift heavy weights. I lift a minimum of three times each week. Sometimes 4.
Emphasizing non-starchy vegetables, healthy fats and protein at every meal and limiting my carbohydrates to my evening meal. Its not complicated. I don’t count calories. I don’t measure portions. I don’t have a strict eating pattern. I eat when I’m hungry. I eat foods I love. Before dinner I enjoy non-starchy veggies, fats and proteins. At dinner, I do the same, but I’ll often include a clean carbohydrate like sweet potato or apple.
I could generate a long list of other things that support my fat loss like sleep, walking, interval training and a million other things. Sure, they’re great. But they also take time and effort. If they happen, awesome. That’s fantastic. But I invest my energy into my 20% because I know that’s where my results come from.
Your 20% will probably be different from mine! Do you know that you’re much more likely to stay on track when you plan out a weekly menu? Maybe that’s one of your big rocks! Are you someone who really notices a MAJOR difference when you prep your food a few times a week? Make that one of you 20% items. Maybe you know your success relies heavily on getting enough sleep. That should be on your list. At the end of the day it comes down to this: become a student of your own behavior and motivations. There is more learning that can come from knowing yourself than from any blog or expert out there.
What’s your 20%? Find it. Focus on it. That’s where your energy should be spent.
What if I gave you the following assignment: you are to sit by this old-school wood stove and keep the fire roaring for 24 hours non stop. The only materials you can use to fuel the fire are gasoline, newspaper and tiny twigs.
You’d better have a BOATLOAD of gas, newspaper and twigs and don’t count on being able to get anything else done! You’ll be right by that wood stove allllll day long, constantly fueling it. Sure, the fire will burn hot but as soon as you stop adding fuel, it won’t last long, right? A ridiculously time-intensive and inefficient task, no?
That’s pretty much the equivalent of how we’re fueling our bodies when we eat diets rich in processed foods, wheat, grains and other garbage carbohydrates. There’s no question that carbohydrates provide fuel for our bodies. It’s true. They can increase our energy quickly just like gasoline, newspaper and twigs can provide quick, powerful fuel for a fire. However, as quickly as they provide fuel and energy, it’s gone. It burns hot and fast. Just like the fire burns out when that quick-burning fuel isn’t replenished, we start to burn out shortly after consuming these junk carbs and processed foods.
What does that feel like? Low energy. Hunger. Cravings, especially for carbohydrates. Mood swings. Irritability. Lack of focus. Sound familiar? So what do we do? We eat more junk carbs!! We feel that energy surge again and are momentarily satisfied until it fades and we’re back to feeling like trash.
To avoid this, we need to focus on fueling our body intelligently. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being hungry and I certainly don’t like feeling overwhelmed by cravings. I purposefully choose foods that will satisfy my hunger, keep me satiated for hours and reduce the likelihood that I’ll experience cravings later. For me, that means emphasizing healthy fats, non-starchy vegetables and animal proteins. Fat is an incredibly energy-dense fuel, which means it’s going to curb my hunger and keep it at bay for a long time while maintaining my energy levels. Non-starchy vegetables are the “volume” component of my meals. I’ll often eat 3-4 cups of veggies like Brussels sprouts, greens, broccoli or cauliflower with a meal. I never walk away from the table feeling hungry!! Like fat, protein is a slow-burning fuel source so it’s going to fill me up and maintain my energy level for hours while also reducing the chances that I’ll experience cravings later.
If you want to burn fat and not be miserable (hungry, tired, cranky) while you do it, you’ve got to focus on fueling your body intelligently. That will look different for all of us, but some of the principles will be the same – especially as it relates to avoiding garbage carbohydrates from things like processed foods and grains. The other intricacies you’ll have to play around with. I limit my carbohydrates to either post workout or my evening meal. My breakfast meal is primarily fat. I get the majority of my protein at lunch and dinner.
Find what works for you. Pay attention to your hunger. What types of foods satisfy it? Pay attention to your cravings. When are you most likely to experience them? Can you reduce them with specific changes to your diet or exercise? Where is your perfect balance of sanity, satisfaction and success? Find that sweet spot and then tweak as you go.
I want to help you break out of this crazy carbohydrate cycle. I want to help you break your carb addiction. I want to help you overcome cravings and constant hunger. I want to help you beat the bloat that chronic carbs can cause and start to learn all the skills you’ll need to lose fat and KEEP IT OFF. And you know what? I don’t want to wait until the New Year. I want to start now. For free. I want to help you identify smart carbohydrate strategies and navigate the holidays without weight gain (and maybe even some fat loss!!).
Beans are a confusing subject. Lots of people assume they’re a super food but its time we really ask: Are beans healthy? They’ve been touted as this nutrient-dense, protein-packed power food yet Paleo and Primal advocates say they are off limits. What’s the scoop? I can honestly say that beans and legumes are one of those foods that just won’t fit into the “sometimes” category for me. They are a “rarely” food. Yes, I love peanut butter as much as the next person but I’ve found I can easily satisfy that craving with sunflower butter (its amazing!) or cashew better.
Beans, peanuts and soybeans fall into a category called legumes. From the 10,000 foot view they look like they’re packed full of nutrients, but when you dig a little deeper, you’ll find that’s not really an accurate depiction. Here are some of the reasons you might want to re-think beans.
Phytic Acid/Phytates
The phytic acid in legumes binds to critical nutrients such as iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium and copper and prevents them from being absorbed. So the stellar nutrient deck you’re looking at when you pick up a can of beans? It’s misleading. They phytates will keep much of that from ever being absorbed.
Protease Inhibitors
Proteases are the enzymes required to break down protein into it’s building blocks, amino acids, so they can be absorbed and utilized by the body. Legumes contain protease inhibitors, meaning they impair the breakdown of protein. Once again, the protein you think you’re getting based on the nutrition facts is misleading. These protease inhibitors keep much of that protein from being broken down for use by the body.
Saponins
Saponins freak me out. No lie. These anti-nutrients actually have the ability to poke holes in the outer membrane of your red blood cells leading to inflammation and, in sensitive individuals or after repeated exposure, can actually cause your red blood cells to rupture.
Lectins
Lectins are proteins within legumes that actually evolved as toxins to protect the legume from predators. Unfortunately, because lectins are capable of crossing the protective barrier within your digestive tract, these toxins have been associated with tremendous inflammation and autoimmune disease.
You have to check out thisamazing articlefrom The Paleo Diet that points out that based on this collection of anti-nutrients, legumes actually deliver 66% less protein than chicken or turkey and 61% less than beef, pork or seafood.
It is important to note that nuts also contain a few of these anti-nutrients, such as phytic acid. However, they do contain slightly fewer than legumes but more importantly, we don’t rely on nuts as a primary source of calories and nutrients the way many people do beans. We also tend to eat nuts in smaller portions. There’s no question that you should take care with nuts and not consider them a dominant source of nutrients or protein but legumes are definitely a bigger offender!
With all that said, I’m not condemning beans and legumes, I’m just sharing why I choose to avoid them. There are certainly FAR more significant dietary threats like processed foods and artificial ingredients. However, there are also healthier choices than beans and legumes and there’s a reason beans and legumes don’t fit into the paleo and primal schema. For fat loss and optimal health, I choose to avoid them and I wanted you to know why.
I get emails and private Facebook messages every single day with people asking the same type of question: “Is fruit OK to eat for fat loss?”, “How many calories should I be eating?”, “How many times each week should I workout?”, “Can I eat peanut butter and still lose weight?”
I do not have the answers to any of those questions.No one can answer those questions except YOU. There are lots of people in the diet and fitness industry who will take your money and tell you exactly what to eat, when to exercise and how. They’ll tell you what’s off limits, what’s fair play and answer the above types of questions all day long.I have an issue with that.
Have you ever used a GPS system to get some place? You diligently follow the prompts – the automated voice directing your every turn. Get off course? No problem. You keep going down the wrong road until you’re rescued by “recalculating!” and then you obediently turn and merge only as you’re told. You arrive at your destination and have little idea how you got there or how to get back. You hardly noticed the scenery or the road conditions; you were too busy focused on the careful turn-by-turn directions. You certainly couldn’t get back without similar assistance.
Following someone else’s food and nutrition rules is a lot like that – you put your head down and follow someone else’s rules. Unfortunately, you don’t have the benefit of “recalculating!” to save you if you get off course. Sure, there’s benefit to basic guidelines for fat loss nutrition. But they are only a benefit if you realize they are just that – guidelines. They only “hard and fast” fat loss rules are the ones you create as you learn your body and how you respond to different types of food. Following someone else’s prescription can backfire – it can prevent you from developing the awareness of your body, your hormones and your needs that is ESSENTIAL if you want long-term success.
Our bodies are different. What works for me might not work for you. You might tolerate certain foods that I can’t. You might be able to enjoy fruit and peanut butter every day and lose fat while I can’t. If you have these types of questions let me answer you this way: I can act as your compass but not as your map. I can point you in the right direction based on my personal experience, education, and research but I cannot draw you a turn-by-turn map for your fat loss journey. That’s YOUR job. When you understand the general direction in which you need to go for both health and fat loss, you’re the one who has to see how the smaller details work, or don’t work, for you. You’re the one who has to pay attention to how foods, lifestyle factors and workouts impact your results, your hormone balance, your energy, mood, hunger and cravings. That’s your job.
To be successful in achieving fat loss that you effortlessly maintain for life, you need to pay attention. YOU need to chart the course. As you get further and further into your journey, it needs to become increasingly customized to what works for you. You want to follow a course by compass, not by map. Set out to find your own answers to questions like:
What foods satisfy my cravings?
What foods send me into a downward binging spiral?
What foods keep me fullest, longest?
What foods give me the most energy?
What foods do I look forward to eating?
What are the most manageable foods to prepare?
What are the most convenient and satisfying snacks?
If we polled 100 people who have lost 50 lbs or more, I bet they’d all have different answers to those questions and guess what – none of them are wrong!
Here are a few things I learned about my own food preferences and unique fat loss factors that I really could NOT have learned if I had been following someone else’s plan.
I am very sensitive to carbohydrates. Not only do they NOT give me energy, they do not fill me up and they make me retain a significant amount of water. I can eat carbohydrates, but my fat loss results are best when I only include them in my last meal of the day.
Dietary fat increases my energy and keeps me full. Starting my day with fat (usually in the form of MCT oil in my coffee) satisfies my hunger, keeps me full for hours, gives me energy for my workout and improves my ability to focus.
Volume is my friend. I eat a lot of green, fibrous veggies like brussel sprouts and cabbage. Its not uncommon for me to have as much as 2-3 cups at each meal. It takes me longer to get through my meal and fills me up.
I need to limit my protein intake. Yup, I said it. For months I was overeating protein. Any food, in excess, will prevent fat loss. I was overdoing it with the protein. I have to be careful of this one.
Bars are a major trigger for me. It’s hard to have just one. I’m better off avoiding protein bars completely and if I do have one I won’t buy a box, I’ll just buy one.
If I were to try to map out your entire fat loss formula, I’d be doing you a major disservice in the long term. The better you know your body and your individual response to food, stress and exercise, the more effective you will be at achieving your fat loss goals and maintaining them for life. Dig in, do the work, pay attention to your body and find those answers for yourself.
