A lot of people have questions about the "cheat" day. Lets say it is your friend's birthday one night, and you take her out. You naturally split a dessert after dinner because it is her birthday. However, you have to admit that you felt compelled to have cake with her because it was her birthday even though you didn't really want it. How do you handle the social pressure of not eating like every one else does when you are out and about?
The Answer: You are the captain of your own ship. You should never do anything that is not inline with your beliefs or goals. It does not matter what other people do, but that you do what you need to in order to be your best.
It doesn't stop there though! Because you hadn't scheduled out this dessert as part of your cheat day before you had the cake, you feel guilty about eating it after you ate it and decided to make the harmless dessert into a cheat all out binge night. Why not your figure, you already messed up the eating plan?
The Answer: Don't allow one hit of a fight to knock you out. When you see you have taken a wrong turn, get back on the right path. Going further down the wrong path will not get you to your destination any faster. Stop the downward spiral before the momentum builds too high.
In phase three of the guilt and pleasure mix, the plot thickens. Now you feel like you've just blown your entire week and will have to spend the next week training like a madman just to burn off all of the fat you stored on this one night. This feeling makes you want go for hours without eating just so you can burn off the fat faster (which is how you have dealt with binge/cheat nights in the past). Your weight goes down quickly when you do this but you know that this doesn't work for long-term progress and is counterproductive. There is always a rebound in weight that puts you at a higher number on the scale then when you first started. The real question for you is how do you make a "cheat" day into a day that doesn't take you off track or impede progress: a day where you don't feel guilt and have no reason to feel guilt?
The Answer: You have educated yourself and know that everyone needs a cheat day for sanity and to enjoy the finer things life has to offer. A benefit of this is a zig-zag pattern in your caloric intake that keeps your metabolism from stagnating. Trust yourself and your knowledge?trust me and my expertise and simply get used to doing the right thing.
Lastly, how do you stay patient once you are doing things correctly if you are only losing 2 pounds per week? In order to lose 2 pounds of fat, you feel you need to be so meticulous about your diet and workout very hard the entire week. You almost feel deprived because you are so disciplined. You only see a 2 pound weight loss per week and feel that this is such a bummer after all of that hard work and detailed planning.
The Answer: Two pounds a week is awesome weight loss by anyone's standards. This is a healthy and sustainable weight loss that will stay off for life and keep you feeling great. You have to follow the steps that need to be taken in order to acquire anything of great value. Things that last, take time, effort and planning to establish.
Everything that has a great payoff requires some sacrifice and your workouts and diet are the price you pay to succeed at creating a fabulous body. There are many people out there that are willing to sell you a quick fix, but quick fixes do not work. Quick fixes are the cash cows that companies use to prey on those that are in a hurry to get something for nothing. Hard work and planning are the keys to success when it comes to physical change. Once you reach your goals, maintaining them is easy?that's the light at the end of the tunnel.
The day starts out the night before. You have gotten a good sleep. You have not eaten an evening meal or snacked. More on these later.
You get up early. Where I live in Hawaii average folks get up around 5:30 to 6:00 a.m. I get up between 4 and 4:30, because I want nothing to do with average. I wake up feeling ferociously fantastic. For that I credit my plant-based diet of whole, fresh, natural foods and my exercise program.
You drink some water upon arising. Hot, warm or room temperature. There was a time when I could not drink water in the morning for all the money in the world, so I know this can be a challenge. I was able to change and so can you if you need to.
I like to exercise on an empty stomach, so I start my day with exercise. Whether you like to eat before or after exercising is up to you, but whichever you choose, it is important for fat loss to get exercise in the morning. Exercising in the morning charges up our metabolism from the start of the day. This keeps it elevated throughout the day, so we are burning calories even when we are not exercising. If we wait until the afternoon or later to exercise, our metabolism tapers off sooner and we lose the benefit of burning extra calories.
So you start your day hungry, ready for a substantial, nutritious breakfast, ideally your main meal of the day. A whole grain, multi-grain cereal, hot or cold, with fresh fruit and almond, rice or soymilk is a good choice. My favorite is old-fashioned oats, to which I add chopped dates, almonds, walnuts, raisins, chopped apple. It cooks up quickly. I sometimes add a banana smoothie mixture in place of milk. I never get tired of this dish. It is made up of entirely whole foods; it is nutrient dense, with plenty of protein, fat and carbohydrates, plus fiber. It really sticks to the ribs.
If you say you not have time for such a meal or such a set up, then consider getting up a half hour earlier and making time for it. Or use a crock-pot to cook your healthy cereal overnight. It is ready to eat when you are. Making breakfast the main meal of the day is that important.
You do not snack between meals. You let a minimum of four hours pass before eating after breakfast, and five is better. If you have eaten the kind of breakfast I advise, you will not get hungry for at least four or five hours.
If, during your transition period of incorporating this into your normal routine, you get hungry between meals, drink water. If water will not do and you really need something to eat between meals, make it fresh fruit, a banana, apple slices, an orange, etc. In any event, pure, filtered water is now your main beverage.
Relieve stress and tension throughout the day, do not let these build up to boiling points. Do deep breathing, stretching, take mini breaks. Shake your body up. A short walk can do wonders. Stress is a major cause of overweight; so do not discount blowing off steam as an important part of your day.
Lunch or your afternoon meal should be another substantial meal, emphasizing foods as grown: fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans, legumes, complex carbohydrates. Real food not refined junk. Make lunch a real meal, not a rushed, hectic, on-the-move gut bomb.
Here is the biggie: until you lose all the fat you want to lose, eliminate the evening meal. You can do this easily. And nighttime snacks. You can and will get used to these habits, and you will really watch the pounds come off when you do. The health benefits of fasting during the evening hours are irrefutable. They include enhanced production of melatonin, which helps regulate the sleep cycle.
To bed: you get just enough sleep, but not too much. For most people, the ideal is between 6 and 9 hours. Getting the right amount of sleep is important for fat loss. You wake up rested, feeling ferociously fantastic, hungry for a nutritious breakfast, before or after exercise, and ready for another great day.
Both Raymond Burton & Jerome Kellner are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Raymond Burton has sinced written about articles on various topics from Multi Level Marketing, Home Management and Lose Weight. Ray Burton is a motivational speaker, an ISSA-certified personal trainer and author of the best selling weight loss book, Fat To Fit - The Journey. Ray has written hundreds of articles and been featured in Rising Women,The Calgary Sun and. Raymond Burton's top article generates over 823000 views. Bookmark Raymond Burton to your Favourites.
Jerome Kellner has sinced written about articles on various topics from Nutrition, Health and Fat Loss. Jerome Kellner is a fat loss and fitness professional and author of The Maui Diet. Find out more about fat loss the easy, healthy way, by eating a plant-based diet of who. Jerome Kellner's top article generates over 12100 views. Bookmark Jerome Kellner to your Favourites.