Curb the Crave

I’m back, recovered from the FLU with home remedies, but that’s a different story.  As for now, we’ll look into why you couldn’t say NO to that cupcake… especially after the first six.  Remember, my belief is that your body does communicate with you and that you must be open to that.  We don't consciously make ourselves breathe or voluntarily tell white blood cells to attack intruders in your bloodstream.  These processes occur outside of our consent and each piece communicates with the other to keep order within the body.  One physician told me illnesses like cancers are breaks in that very communication, causing cell overgrowth or bodily defenses attacking one self.   

In short, much of weight-loss happens by “listening” to your body.  The problem is we often silence those messages, ignoring when the body says “that’s enough scoops or that’s enough slices or that’s enough drinks.” If we work at listening, we can avoid overeating and the cravings that lead to it.

We all have cravings; some more intense than others, but for many these cravings become a main-stay in our diet and commandeer our appetite.  We carry on as if we are not in control but studies show that these cravings are very specific and are actually predictable.  When you pick up on my fitness plan, there will be a time of transition where your response to cravings may decide whether you continue my program or not.   

This is the point where you actively switch for fresher food and more water; the same point where your body will begin to figure out what’s best for it on it’s own.  But, just in case things turn out a little different for you than it was for me, here are SIX ways you can curb your cravings, no matter the sorry-ass excuse…

1. Be Gone!            -  Eliminate the usual snack pile and keep loose change out of your pocket.  Try to limit chances of acting on these cravings and trips to the vending machine.
2. Go Nuts!              -  Peanuts, cashews, almonds, and mixed nuts are a great way to squash fake hunger pangs.  They also help a great deal during workouts, along with whole grains and wheat bread.
3. Get Better!         -  Find tasty alternatives that can act as a snack on a regular basis. Crackers, baby carrots, popcorn, fresh fruit, yogurt and water can all take your mind off the crave, for example.
4. Solve It!               -  Lay off eating when you’re stressed or nervous.  Attack the actual problem and leave the junk food out of it.
5. Tough Love!       -  About once a month, eat ONE of those things you usually crave when you’re not craving it.  This one was a weird one to learn but when I tried to eat something sweet (brownies) when I really wasn’t feeling it, my body began to follow suit.  This is more effective after following my nutrition portion of the plan.  (You can give in every now and then but after going the more nutritious route, you’ll find yourself naturally backing away from your usual over-indulgences.)
6. Walk Away!        -  This isn’t a “just-say-no” rule, this is a “do-something-else”rule.  If you crave what you see when you see it, immediately do something else, as if you had no choice.  Read, make a phone call, do anything productive really.  This will help you differentiate between real hunger and cravings.  Also, remember to take your time when eating and wait 10mins after a craving.  If you’re still feeling extra hungry, then the hunger’s real.  But reach for REAL food when that happens.

If you’re like me, you may tend to reach for those comfort foods.  The colder the weather gets, the more likely we will be less active and more prone to choosing whatever tastes good while trying to stay warm.  Usually, this is limited to those with four seasons but in recent years, when December comes, it gets cold pretty-much country wide, therefore, the less active you are, the less calories you burn.  My plan will help you keep off that winter weight, naturally.

Further down the line, I will post my favorite cheats, snacks, foods, restaurants, and drinks along with the complete fitness plan.  I firmly believe you can eat how you want, just as long as you place the essentials first.  I’ll also cover reading labels at the grocery store and possibly post some vids of places to eat and exercises to do.  

EXTRAS

http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2006-01-08-wlc-chat_x.htm

great website that kinda gets what I’m sayin here.

http://www.howtobefit.com/9-ways-to-curb-cravings.htm

another site I came across after writing this article that further confirms what I’ve already done.

MONDAY – Finally – Pt5 of the ImFATfitness series.

-JP

Minus the Coke

LAZYfitness Sidenotes:

Drop the soda.  You DO NOT NEED it, no matter what "it" tells you.  I'm not sure about 'cold-turkey,' but slowly substitute times you would drink it with water or natural juice.  You'll feel much more awake, longer, and your body will naturally reject the option for soda after a short period, which means NO forcing the issue.

BONUS post will be Wednesday Dec 29th.  Part 5 of the ImFAT series will post MONDAY JAN 3rd.  If you missed any of my previous posts, check'em out!

Exercise? #&@! that...

Some people like to use the word “diet” so loosely, but all that word means, really, is just a way to eat.  Some folks go on 2wk & 4wk diets ONLY to end up sliding back to their initial regimen and wonder why nothing is working.  Your real diet is actually your lifestyle of eating, everyday.  There's no deadline, no end date.  

To be frank, I think people use the word healthy a little too often also.  What’s considered “healthy” is actually what should be considered normal.  Healthy is only “healthy” in relation to the JUNK we tend to eat today, but let’s just use healthy for now.  By following my fat, lazy-ass guidelines, you WILL lose the bulk of your unwanted weight without one gym membership.  As part 4 of my story on how I’m doing it, I’m going to share with you how I eat and how I can still grab slices of pizza and be cool about it.

It’s a little crazy how most folks expect me to share exercise information with them after seeing my changes, but honestly, my home-style workout only accounts for ¼ of the entire process.  It was the last component to be worked in because my lazy self looked for all the non-physical alternatives first (horrible).  Most of what I share is the UNDOING of all the bad habits I’ve picked up.  My previous post and these next few tips & info play a major role in, not only losing the weight but,keeping it off, naturally, which is even more important.   

If you give your body the basics (after a detox), then trust me, you will be able to eat that Red Velvet and not regret it.  I’m one to love trying different foods and recommending places to check out, and you can’t really do that –calorie counting like some sort of psycho.  The whole reason for sharing what I did and do to lose weight is because I believe I’ve found ways to eat what you want and still be healthy and fit.  The catch?  Allowing your body to decide what’s right by starting with the basics.  

A couple posts ago, I added an image of the University of Michigan’s Food Pyramid.  I truly believe it represents what I’ve learned “hands-on” based on priority.  None of it tells you to completely drop everything you like.  Instead, it shows where to place more emphasis, more of the time.  So this brings me to more tips to share.  Honestly, you don’t have to suddenly become some sort of healthy fruit FREAK just to get in shape.  One to two fruits daily are sufficient enough, especially when the rest of your diet consists of other great options.   

I told you guys to eat a big breakfast, and that’s because I did.  Some say no big breakfast, but I didn’t have the time or money to fit in 6-7 meals a day.  Just think; you eat dinner, stay up for a few hours, then go to sleep for 6-8 hours more, and you think it wise to skip the next meal? I can’t believe I did it for so many years and I’ll never do it again.  Nothing’s so important that you have to skip breakfast, because ultimately, whatever’s SO important is bound to become adversely affected by missing that very breakfast anyway.  So before we get to the exercise, we’ll eat.  The usual question; what the hell is there to eat?

In the past couple decades, what to eat has been transformed into what’s most available to eat.  Well, by NO coincidence whatsoever, isn’t it nice that we can find a 69cent burger 5x quicker than we can find a fruit stand or salad? Or even an actual burger for that matter.  This is especially true with the confusing produce section, which can be a nice little visit to a foreign country before you get to the meat section.  With a bunch of fruits and vegetables that you never heard of and are not sure how to eat, one can understand how sane it would seem to stick to what you know.   

So, I’ve listed the greens and veggies that I’ve picked up so far, and in future posts (fruits in previous posts), I will share how to prepare & eat these items, so that you will be more likely to follow my steps.  I mean, we’ll try an insane looking drink before we try a new food, and that’s just plain ass-backwards.  After New Year’s? Understandable, but ass-backwards nonetheless.

Get Green (Fresh and/or frozen)

String Beans

Carrots

Cucumbers

Celery

Lettuce (Romaine)

Tomatoes

Red Leaf

Watercress (with some adjustments)

Spinach (a late favorite)

Broccoli

There’s more to this list but let’s just start with this since it’s mostly my typical salad mix.  You can eat these as they are or with just a light sauce/dressing (vinaigrette) to give it flavor but not too much or the calories in the dressing could help to defeat the purpose.  You can even work more veggies into an existing meal.  This is why, when I get a fresh burger from a local spot, I get it with everything on it.  Most of the time, the items added are pretty much a salad anyway. (I’ll have burger-centric posts soon just to clarify).

How I adjusted my diet to lose 70lbs

I started eating smaller portions, more often.  I suggest at least three times a day to keep a consistent schedule and keep from the overeating that we tend to do when skipping meals (2xday).  But IDEALLY, you want to eat smaller portions 4-5 times daily.  You may hear some say 5-7 times a day but real people hardily have the time or funds to keep up such a schedule, not to mention it not being much different at all from 4-5 times.   

Truthfully, eating more times a day doesn’t really mean much if the calories you take in each meal are exceedingly high; especially if you have no sort of significant physical activity to follow that.  Really, losing and keeping weight off is about burning as many calories as you take in.  I just made sure I to use the standard daily 2,000 calories and a benchmark and decided what I ate based on my chances in exceeding that amount or not and being active enough to offset when I did go higher.  My eating schedule is no real schedule at all; it’s just eating when you’re hungry yet controlling that very hunger.  

Meal Tips

If you know you’re overweight and tend to eat LARGE amounts in one sitting, get that plate of food that you normally set for yourself, go ahead and set it. Now, look at it, take a picture, and cut it straight down the middle.  Eat one half then and save the other half for the next day.  You think it won’t be enough just reading this but trust me, it is.  Drink a cup of water before you eat and don’t rush.  Having some conversation, pausing during your meals, you’ll notice that you’re NOT as hungry as you thought you were.  Your body will adjust when you take your time eating and you’ll reach this weird point where you find you can’t finish what you would normally breathe down.  This is FINE.  This is the point that matters most; controlling your hunger by not overstating it.  

Instead of grabbing four pieces of chicken, grab two.  Instead of two scoops, grab one.  Instead of 16ounces, grab 8oz. Always sip beverages towards the sides of your tongue; this is how your thirst is quenched.  Most people drink way more than they need to just to get that satisfaction of the quench when they really could have gotten it 12oz. earlier, thus taking in fewer calories per meal.  Instead of coke, drink water first, before you eat and that smaller portion will suddenly feel just right.  (Soda can increase your appetite, which is what pushes us to eat that extra slice after washing down the previous one with… soda).  These tips work BEST after a Detox. 

This step is the LARGEST of the steps as it is where you establish a new, better way of eating, thereby creating a new lifestyle, NOT a 2 week diet.

___________________________________

Contributors to my overall fitness plan

¼ = Water and Breakfast

½ = Natural Detox

¾ = Eat fresh, less heavy, 4-5x daily

1  = …….

_______________________________

Natural Detox - Recipe

A natural 2 week recipe that will get you on the road to losing weight, before hitting the gym.

In my previous post, I talked about cleaning out your system before just stuffing your face with health foods for a week.  In order to see the results you want from those foods, and NOT discourage yourself, your body has to actually "get some." (pause) I'm mean the nutrients, the energy, the things you REALLY need to lose weight.

You don't want to just pick up a 4 week diet, you want to maintain a healthy lifestyle.  No deadlines, just priorities.  This recipe is a more natural way to clean out your system and ABSORB what you NEED in order to burn fat and generate energy successfully.  This step is the 2nd step in my 4 part pie. The 1st step is drinking MORE water MORE often and always having a sizable, fresh breakfast.  The 3rd and 4th steps will be posted next week and the following week.  Before you do my workout, ya gotta do the intro.

NATURAL DETOX - recipe 

(simple 2 week format)

• 8oz. of Water - room temp/ filtered preferred
• 2oz. of pure Lemon Juice
• 2 tbl spoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 capsules of Cascara Sagrada - herbal supplement

That's it.

ONCE a day, in the morning, for 2 weeks. NOT for the rest of your life. You don't renovate non-stop, you renovate, then maintain. If you have any problems finding the Cascara Sagrada supplement, just contact me at imFATfitness@gmail.com.  I will post all supplements and foods I used before and while I created my workout starting Next Week. 

"I'm not telling you how to get in shape, I'm telling you how -I- did and still am."


-JP