Weight Loss Is Not Punishment… but it ain’t a walk in the park either.

When the weather warms our motivation, focus, and IMPATIENCE to lean out increases dramatically.

It’s that anxiety that oftentimes causes us to go on extreme, restrictive, low calorie diets where we depend on will power after every meal and cheats are seen as a lack of discipline.

However, I coach, promote, and do things differently when I’m trying to shred down a bit.  I’m actually a huge fan of small, daily cheats in order to reduce food anxiety, reduce food cravings, and manipulate hunger.   In other words getting off plan is literally part of the plan.

Let’s go ahead and call a spade a spade… CALORIC DEFICITS ARE NOT SUPER FUN.

There is some level of work and sacrifice that is expected.

For example, for those brand new to learning about their calories and macros it can feel like they’ve been thinking about food all day!

Where’s my protein?  

Do I have a wholesome carb?  

Did I buy enough veggies?  

How much fat is in this sandwich?  

Does this salad dressing have sugar in it?  

How much oil should I cook my chicken breast in?  

Will my kids like this recipe?  

How much is this a serving of rice?  

Do I measure this food cooked or raw?  

It can be a pretty mentally exhausting first two weeks.

Or for example, for those accustomed to having several glasses of wine before bed.  The evening can feel slow, boring, and unsatisfying.  There are evenings, at first, where you’re just searching frantically for a new way to unwind.  What in the world could REPLACE your good old evening relaxing red wine buddy?

I don’t apologize for those discomforts and I do believe they are an important part of understanding food and breaking habits, however, it is wise to understand that you can manipulate your “perfect” plan so that you are not constantly depriving and restricting but are still able to get great results.

4 huge mindset shifts that make fat loss do-able …

  1.  WEIGHT LOSS IS NOT PUNISHMENT – Your caloric deficit cannot be so great that you are THINKING about food almost immediately after eating.  Most often it’s impatience, NOT YOUR WILL POWER, as the culprit of those evening binges.  Use that magazine meal plan if you must but ADD one or two “forbidden” foods each day.  Promise that “one step back” is actually one giant leap in the right direction!  Your consistency will sky rocket!
  2.  CHEATING IS JUST A SEXY WORD FOR COMPROMISE- you’ve got let that perfection shit go.  It’s literally what’s holding you back from getting to where you want to be.  Those raw, unsalted almonds for a snack don’t satisfy always… and in my book hardly ever!!  Sometimes you honestly would be better off eating a peanut butter cup!
  3. GET YOUR GOAL STRAIGHT – Unless you are training to be on stage, don’t diet like a bodybuilder trying to get on stage.  Most of the techniques you see on your social look amazing because they get people “stage ready.” However, what you oftentimes don’t see or hear about is the metabolic damage that happens afterwards.  Many bodybuilders REVERSE DIET after their competitions in order to heal their metabolism from the dramatic techniques used to shred.
  4.  CHEATS TRICK YOUR SYSTEM AND ALLOW YOU TO BE AT A DEFICIT LONGER!!!   Finally, on a physiological level, we know that caloric deficits cannot be sustained without repercussions for long periods of time.  There are biological, survival mechanisms that kick in and make losing weight, just plain hard and unpleasant.

Ghrelin and leptin are two hunger hormones that deserve your respect and attention.

Ghrelin is released in the stomach and I want you think of it as your meal to meal or hour to hour hunger hormone.  Keep this bad boy happy.  Feed it lots of protein and feed it lots of veggies.  You will get a SMALLER DOSE of ghrelin this way.

Leptin is a hormone that is very in tuned with your body’s fat storage.  Start to lose fat and leptin becomes elevated and your cravings begin to rise.

This is why super low calorie diets never work long term!  You’ve got to insert CHEATS to “confuse” and “manipulate” those survival mechanisms.
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So this week, I’m going to be sending a “Cheating Cheat Sheet” to my newsletter- you can join here:

I’m going to give 5 very specific cheating strategies that I see work extremely well for those shredding down.  Yes… BETTER THAN BEING PERFECTLY ON PLAN.  The goal is to give you ACTIONABLE things to use for:

  1.  That nighttime wine craving
  2.  That 3pm hanger
  3.  That “need something sweet” after lunch/dinner
  4.  That chocolate boogie monster craving
  5.  That salty, crunchy snack compulsion that won’t go away

 

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