How to Win and Lose at the Same Time- Timely Tips on Weight Loss

Apparently there are a lot of people who really do want, need and value weight loss advice, at this time of the year, so here are a couple of timely tips.

First let me remind you that obesity makes you unhealthy and being lean and strong is desirable for more reasons than having a Six Pack.

A Six Pack is nice though and honestly much to my surprise the biggest “response getter and belief maker”, when I tell people how to stay young and fit (looking AND Feeling), is those washboard abs.

For better or worse, they become a focal point for men and women alike that says “You’re in Shape!”

Now the truths are of course deeper. First being lean does a lot of fancy biochemical, hormonal and metabolic foot work, that reduces your risk of all kinds of disease.

Next what really forces and I do mean forces people to look at your abs as a focal point are 3 things.

1. They really are more or less in the center of your body. At a recent gathering of people my age, the first thing I noticed was how many people my age (Plus or minus 15 years!) had bellies sticking out! Your face may be your Ambassador, but your belly is your CEO- metabolic and otherwise!
2. The golden ratio. This applies to faces, cars, boats buildings and such as well. In terms of human forms, the golden ratio is the shoulder to ab/hip (waist) ratio. Broad shoulders and narrow waists are pleasing to our reptilian brain. In short you can’t help but notice them, along with some other proportions, even when you try! If you’ve ever been “caught looking” you know what I mean!
3. Having a flat defined abdomen sets you apart especially if you are in your 40’s and beyond. The more “beyond“ you go in terms of your age the more it sets you apart.

The ketogenic diet has become very popular in recent years, particularly because the focus on weight loss is moving from low fat to healthy fat/low carb diets.

Truth is that diet is not for everyone. I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say, scream or sob, “I CAN”T LIVE without my pasta and bread!” Well if that is true (which it ain’t!) you need a different diet.

The other truth is that diet will get you a lot of the body you want, but you still need some resistance training to bring out the muscle definition. The abs are actually the exception to that rule though. You can work your abs all you want and diet alone will be the deciding factor on whether you ever see them!

Ask me how I know!

So here is my simple list of dietary “secrets”.

1. Most diets will work the best if you manage your insulin. Ok if you don’t remember, insulin is the fat storage hormone. It is released in response to all food intake, but really goes up when you eat carbs. Carbs in most cases means grain based foods (gluten or not!). That means the kinds of things we tend to eat a lot of this time of year. Sweets, baked goods, breads and pastas. The strength of  the ketogenic diet stems from its anti-cancer benefits, but it doesn’t suck that it lowers your risk of diabetes and probably heart and neurodegenerative diseases as well. Oh yeah and then there is that six pack.

Any “diet” you eat where you reduce your insulin secretion will work really well. Eat your veggies by the fist full, reduce your fruits in half and cut out the unneeded carbs and you will see your fat melt away faster than ice in the sun. And don’t forget your fish oil and a great multi vite.

My good friend has had great success by adding raw milk to his diet, as have many of his coaching clients. I have no doubt it reduces his insulin, appetite and resets the microbiome (bugs!) in the gut to the healthier side of things.

2. Volumize, especially if you get hungry at night. I gotta tell ya night time eating has long been my nemesis. If I was going to blow it, it would always be later at night, especially if I worked out that day. Now, a high fat or raw milk diet goes a long way to curbing your appetite and exposing your eating as habitual rather than due to hunger, but habit can feel like hunger sometimes! I find a 16 ounce glass of lemon water (you could use an 8 ounce glass of raw milk as well) as the evening wears on, squashes the night time eating habit.
3. Fake it till you make it- or in this case CHEAT with Ultra Strength Fat Furnace. Judging from the number of people who bought it, asked more questions about fat loss and, already have told me how happy they are to have it as a “cheat”, it merits a follow up! USFF has helped me deal with appetite, cut calories and make intelligent food choices instead of habitual ones for the past 8 years. It has also helped thousands do the same.

If you are going to cheat, make it count.

That way you win while you lose- your post holiday fat that is!

Doc