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No calorie counting
If you are anything like most, you probably are tired of calorie restrictive diets with or without exercise. With them, you have seen some weight loss for a while, but eventually, you gain some, most or even more of the weight you lost. If this is true, you are not alone. But you should not blame yourself for a lack of persistence or weakness because the calorie restrictive diets are bound to fail, by their very nature. They are not sustainable.
Low-fat diet and exercise
The truth is that the scientific and medical communities and the pharmaceutical and the food industries have deceived us with misinformation for decades. They convinced us that only low-fat diets and exercise result in weight loss and prevent obesity, heart disease and even cancer. In science, however, the truth eventually comes out. Now. we are slowly learning that obesity is NOT caused by high-fat diets.
Insulin control
Regardless of what your views are about nutrition, here are some alternative plans that have one thing in common: Reduce the effects of Insulin that have kept you gaining weight through the years. These are not about reducing caloric intake while working out for 1 hr or more every day. However, be sure to get started right away in one of these life-changing plans. As you begin losing weight, you will have several other beneficial effects. Among them:
- A greater affinity for exercise (without it being so hard!).
- Reduced inflammation (like arthritis).
- Reduced blood glucose (and possibly reverse diabetes).
- Reduction in the cravings for sugar and other carbohydrates.
There are physiologic reasons why we may want to do one of these programs. At FFFL our goal is to make it all clear to you. But for now, focus on getting started with what seems easier for you, as you learn the benefits of each program. None of these programs require you to keep a count of the calories you consume. You are not going to keep your weight off on calorie restriction diets.
1. Intermittent Fasting (IF)
Please don’t let the word “fasting” scare you. IF is not about being hungry all the time, far from it! In this context, we are simply extending your normal fasting when you sleep for 8 hrs or more. We do this by progressively reducing the number of meals you currently take: From 3 main meals plus snacks to 2 meals and then reducing the window of eating from 8 hrs to 6 or even 4 hours. The goal here is progressively making the changes in a way you could easily adapt to them.
2. One Meal a Day (OMAD).
This is by far the most effective approach to lose weight while continuing to eat your favorite foods. If you think it is scary, don’t. It is not that hard. Focus on eating all you want until satiety, and when you are done, wait for 23 hrs until your next meal. Also, drink plenty of water and even a few grains of Himalayan salt when you think you are hungry. You may start “cold turkey” as they say for people kicking a smoking addiction. It may feel hard at first, but if you keep this up for 3 weeks, you will make it a habit that could stay with you for life. You are really kicking the sugar addiction.
3. High fat, low carb diet.
This is what they call the “ketogenic” diet. Users consume small amounts of carbohydrates and large amounts of fats. They do keep 3 meals a day, however, in some cases this requires medical supervision. The goal here is also to reduce the size of the insulin spikes in each meal and to get you into ketosis. The goal is to train your body to use ketones from your fat stores as a source of energy. This will require major changes in your diet and constant monitoring of your glucose and ketone bodies.
4. OMAD with low carbohydrates.
This is probably the best approach that may even reverse diabetes in weeks to months, but naturally. This is the hardest to do. However, it is well worth the try because it will very likely result in the fastest reduction in body weight, reduction in the levels of insulin and blood sugar. It may, however, cause a reduction in your muscle mass.
Exercise is always beneficial
As the pounds come off, especially in the OMAD programs, you will feel that you are regaining control of your body. You will feel that you want to do some form of workout, simply because your body will seem to ask for it. But you will be delighted to comply. It would be very advantageous if you’d do your exercises while in fast, first thing in the morning. We will explore the reasons in the postings in the blog, including growth hormone, testosterone, and autophagy among others.
Fasting can be flexible
Intermittent fasting, and especially OMAD is very flexible because you can eat anything you like and the eating window can be adjusted to your daily routine or to special social events whenever they occur. What could be easier? all that is required is a little determination. It will pay off!
Feel free to ask your questions in the forum and try to get started as soon as possible, and please do take your “before and after” pictures and tell us about your experience in the forum!
