Simple is Better.
Why do you feel like you have to torture yourself with hard to follow diets to lose weight?
Why is losing weight based on depriving yourself of the pleasures of life?
I get it. Gaining weight is fun and losing weight is hard. Part of that is because you can gain weight a lot faster than you can take it off. Blame evolution for that. Your body stores fat as energy and that is a great thing if you live in times of scarcity. I am guessing you are living in a place where food is everywhere and all the bad stuff tastes a lot better than the good stuff.
So let me help you with this. Would it be okay if I outline a plan that works and:
- You only have to make slight changes to your eating.
- It is flexible.
- You don’t starve yourself.
- You will gain a ton of energy.
- You will feel great.
If you are okay with that, you are going to love this.
Warning: Don’t play lawyer ball with me. (Lawyer ball is a term I use when clients would rather spend time arguing and finding loopholes in the system instead of actually trying it).
Don’t look for shortcuts and don’t try and modify this. Follow what I say and start getting results. There are people in this world always looking for a loophole. They have to do it their way even though their way has never worked.
Just know that I want you to win at this game and you will win by following directions and using your attention to listen to me, not find ways to get around the system. Getting around the system means you will get crappy results.
Calories in and Calories out.
This is the classic formula and has never been disproven.
- If you are overweight, you have taken in more calories than you have burned. These excess calories have turned into fat.
- If you have trouble building muscle or maintaining lean muscle, you are not taking in enough calories to give the body energy to rebuild.
There are other smaller factors that we can get into later but this is the core principle of all nutrition core principles. This statement holds true for 95% of the population, so you should be comfortable buying into this.
What about Keto and Vegan diets?
That is an interesting question. If you read any of the fitness magazines or blogs, you would think the whole world has chosen one or the other. The fact is that the vast majority of athletes, fitness professionals and generally healthy people eat meat, carbs and fat.
By that I mean:
- 45% to 60% Carbs
- 20% to 35% Protein
- 20% to 35% Fats
If you can't stay on it long-term, why do it?
I have had people tell me they are going on a restrictive diet because they need to lose weight fast. Once they lose the weight, they will go back to a more sensible way of eating. Does that make any sense? If you said yes, take another guess. Restrictive diets will help you lose fat (and muscle) in the short-term but they also slow your metabolism down so when you get off the diet and begin eating normally, the weight comes back with a vengeance. Restrictive diets will ruin your metabolism, wreck your health and make you crabby. The good thing is you don’t have to starve yourself to lose weight.
Why all diets work.
Think about the vast majority of diets and eating programs you have looked into.
What is the common denominator?
I can think of Five Major ones.
- Eat clean.
- Stay away from junk food.
- Control how much food you put in your mouth each day.
- Exercise.
- Get enough rest.
The M Factor Eating System
Step 1: Find Your Hunger Point
Getting hungry these days is a lot harder than it sounds. Twenty years ago your stomach would send a message to your brain that you need to eat and that was that. Pretty simple ( I made sound a little easier than it is but you get the picture). Today we ingest a large number of chemicals that actually produce false signals of hunger. Diet sodas are famous for making you hungry. There are a number of chemicals that will make you think you are hungry when you aren’t. In addition, foods high in sugar spike insulin that leads to energy highs and energy crashes. If you are like everyone else and eat out a couple times a week and microwave food, your sense of hunger is all screwed up. Step one is to reset your hunger thermostat to it’s natural setting.
To do this I need you to eat very clean for a couple of days. Don’t think detox. Detoxing is a myth and is unnecessary.
- No eating out.
- No sodas, energy drinks or other high sugar drinks. Water, coffee, juices and teas are fine.
- No bread products.
- No over processed foods. How do you know it is over-processed? If you can’t recognize or pronounce half the ingredients, it is over-processed.
- No alcohol, no desserts.
- No fried foods.
Relax, this is just temporary to get you started. After a few days, you will begin to feel different. The times you get hungry will change and the way you feel hungry will change. This is good.
Step 2: Eat when Hungry
This sounds easy but is the trickiest part of the system. I will get more questions about this than anything else.
Here is your scale of hunger. Take a second and think about the last time you were at each point.
Avoid these two states.
- Famished. Blood sugar has dropped, you feel like crap and all you can think about is eating.
- Stuffed. You ate fast and you ate too much. You feel lethargic and slow.
When you start getting hungry, wait a while. At least for me, I get a hunger pang and it goes away. A little while later I get a stronger one. When that feeling of hunger starts getting stronger (and you still feel good), THEN YOU SHOULD EAT.
Step 3: Eat Slow and stop before you are full.
People don’t realize this but there is a time delay between the time you are full and the time the brain gets the message to stop eating. again, modern food has chemicals that will overide this message but since you are eating cleaner than before, this shouldn’t be an issue. Right?
How do you know you ate enough? You should feel good, have energy be ready to go on with your day. You may even feel slightly hungry. If this goes away, you are fine. if it persists, have a little snack.
Note: I never want you over-full or starving. I also don’t want you hungry all day. There is a line between slightly hungry and satiated that I want you to get to know. It is very hard to describe because you are neither full nor hungry. This is when you will effortlessly lose weight consistently.
Step 4: Get Results, then start adding in other foods
I bet you didn’t expect to hear that! remember, what you do today, you will be able to measure a couple of days from now. Please give this time. Start seeing results so you know this system of eating works. Once you are on track to lose weight each week, feel free to eat some of your foods you had to cut out.
Listen, you are an adult and I am going to treat you like one. Remember when I said “Don’t play lawyer-ball with me?” This is the point a client will think they can go back to their old habits.
No. You cannot go back to you old habits and expect success.
The main bulk of your food and beverages will and should always be clean sources. All I am saying is that every once in a while, treat yourself. The scale will not lie and the way your clothes fit will not lie.
Questions?
I know a lot of people want to have explicit directions written down. They want to be told what to do. That is just not my style. You are an adult. Take this seriously, learn how to listen to your body and develop the knowledge to do this for the long term.
You deserve to get results.
You deserve to eat normal food and enjoy life.
Questions?
Please post them on my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/mfactorfitness/ or on the member group page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/MFactormembers/
Are you Buying into This?
I have a sneaky suspicion that a number of youaren’t buying into this. It is too vague or too easy. Do you want something more mechanical to follow?
Not a problem, click here and check out the Precision Nutrition Eating System. I have been a Precision Nutrition coach for years and I know that this system also works. See which one fits with your personality.