Watch My Weight Loss

Cheat Days or Meals?

For as long as I can remember, I have allowed myself a cheat day once per week.  I have recently noticed that they seem to be affecting my weight loss more than they used to.  This morning while I was out on my run, I decided to try going for a month without a cheat day and see how my weight loss progresses.

I know that for me, cheat days have become dangerous.  Sometimes they turn into a cheat weekend.  Once I start eating things I shouldn’t, it is hard to stop.  Often, this is because we go out and buy a few treats for cheat day, but always end up getting too much because everything looks so good.  Since I hate having junk around the house during the week tempting me, I just end up eating way too much on cheat day, trying to get rid of everything.  Crazy!

After a cheat day, my weight balloons way up 5 or 6 pounds.  This is mostly food weight and water weight (from all the sodium).  It takes a good part of the week just to get back down to the weight I was before the cheat day.  It really seems to be affecting my overall progress.

If I could handle having just a single cheat meal, without going overboard, I’m sure the results would be a lot better.  I think I need some time going cold turkey to get rid of all the cravings.

There are many web sites out there with conflicting opinions on whether or not you should have a cheat day or cheat meal.  Some say that a cheat day is key to rapid fat loss because eating high calories causes release of the hormone leptin, which essentially burns fat.  Others say a cheat day can only harm you.  My personal opinion is that for those who have control, having a small cheat once per week is probably just fine and maybe even beneficial.  It’s when it starts to get out of control that it can become harmful.

Here is an article against cheat days: What’s Wrong With a Cheat Day?

And here is one touting the benefits of cheat days: Leptin and Weight Loss

I’d like to hear from you.  What are your thoughts on cheat days?  Do you use them?  Have they helped you?

Popularity: 49%

Calories In vs Calories Out

I’m going to share with you the most crucial weight loss strategy that will literally make or break your success. This is the number one fat loss tip I could ever give you. If you don’t get this right, you can kiss your fat loss results goodbye. This is the one absolute requirement for weight loss, and it’s something you’ve probably heard of before. However, there’s one critical distinction about this familiar advice that you might not have considered – and this one thing makes all the difference in the world…

Let me quote Melvin Williams, PhD, professor emeritus of exercise science at Old Dominion University and author of the textbook Nutrition for Health, Fitness and Sport (McGraw Hill):

“Human energy systems are governed by the same laws of physics that rule all energy transformations. No substantial evidence is available to disprove the caloric theory. It is still the physical basis for bodyweight control.”

There are a variety of diet programs and weight loss “gurus” who claim that calories don’t count. They insist that if you eat certain foods or avoid certain foods, that’s all you have to do to lose weight. Dozens, maybe hundreds of such diets exist, with certain “magic foods” put up on a pedestal or certain “evil fat-storing foods” banished into the forbidden foods zone.

Other weight loss “experts” invoke the insulin/carbohydrate hypothesis which claims that carbs drive insulin which drives body fat. That’s akin to saying “Carbs are the reason for the obesity crisis today, not excess calories.”

They are all mistaken.

Of course, there IS more to nutrition than calories in vs calories out. Food quality and nutrition content matters for good health. In addition, your food choices can affect your energy intake. We could even point the finger at an excess of refined starches and grains, sugar and soft drinks (carbs!) as major contributing factors to the surplus calories that lead to obesity.

However, that brings us back to excess calories as the pivotal point in the chain of causation, not carbs. A caloric deficit is a required condition for weight loss – even if you opt for the low carb approach – and that’s where your focus should go – on the deficit.

Now, here’s that critical distinction…

You’ve heard it said, “exercise more and eat less” a million times. However, saying “focus on the calorie deficit” is NOT the same thing. If you don’t understand the difference, you could end up spinning your wheels for years.

You could exercise more, but if you compensate by eating more, you cancel your deficit.

You could eat less, but if you compensate by moving less, again you cancel your deficit.

This type of compensation can happen unconsciously, which leads to confusion about why you’re not losing weight or why you’re gaining. That often leads you to make excuses or blame the wrong thing… anything but the calories.

Therefore, “focus on the calorie deficit” more accurately states the most important key to weight loss than “exercise more and eat less.” Make sure you understand this distinction and then follow this advice.

Last but not least, keep in mind that there are a lot of ways to establish a deficit and many of those ways are really dumb. Eating nothing but grapefruits, cabbage, twinkies… but in a deficit?… Dumb!

The bottom line is that a calorie deficit is required for fat loss, but once your deficit is established, the composition of your hypo-caloric diet DOES matter. That’s why any good fat loss program starts with “calories in vs calories out” but doesn’t stop there – you also need to look at protein, essential fats, macronutrients, micronutrients, food quality and how the diet you choose fits into your lifestyle. This is the pivotal strategy that my entire Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle system hinges upon.

Don’t let the simplicity of this idea fool you. This is the #1 key to your successful weight loss now and in the future: Focus on the deficit!

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto, author of
Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle

About the Author:

Popularity: 100%

Chipotle Turkey Black Bean Soup

This is one of my favorite healthy recipes.  I actually discovered it by just experimenting with different ingredients and over time, I found the combination of ingredients that I like best. I like to make a huge batch of it and freeze it in 1 or 2 portion sizes so that I can easily pull out a container of it and have a quick and healthy meal.

None of these ingredients or amounts are set in stone, so feel free to adjust as necessary.

• 2 lbs of lean ground turkey (or chicken)
• 900ml (one container) of low sodium chicken broth
• 540ml black beans (not drained)
• 540ml chickpeas
• approx 700g of mixed frozen vegetables (peas, corn, green beans, carrots)
• chipotle powder to taste

This is super easy to make.  I cook up the turkey in a big pot, then add the broth and throw all the other ingredients in and let it simmer for an hour or so.  Once everything is in, I add enough water so that the ingredients are all covered. I often substitute lentils for chickpeas, in which case you may need to let it simmer longer so the lentils are soft.

The chipotle powder gives the soup a kind of smoky flavor, and if you like spicy foods, a can of chipotle peppers is even better than just adding the powder.

A big hearty bowl of this will be approximately 300 calories, with 29g of protein, 32g of carbs, 7g fat.  This will vary slightly, of course, depending on how much of what ingredients you add.  No matter what the exact numbers are, it is a great low-fat, high protein, high fiber meal.

Popularity: 17%

Current Exercise Routine

For the next couple of months, my exercise routine will be as follows:

Image via Wikipedia

Weight training 3x per week:
Monday – Chest / Triceps / Abs
Wednesday – Hamstrings / Quadriceps / Calves
Friday – Back / Biceps / Shoulders

Each weight training day I choose 2 different exercises for each muscle group and do 5 sets (8-10 reps each) of each exercise. So, for example:

• Chest – Dumbbell flyes – 5 sets of 8-10 reps with 1 minute rest in between each set
• Triceps – 5 sets of dips
• Abs – 5 sets of reverse crunches
• Chest – Decline press – 5 sets of 8-10 reps
• Triceps – lying dumbbell extensions
• Abs – 5 sets of planks

This workout usually takes me just over an hour. Sometimes if I still have energy after weight training I will hop on the bike or treadmill for 20 minutes as well.

Cardio at least 3x per week:
Tuesday/Thursday – 20-30 minute interval run or spin bike. I usually do my interval runs on the treadmill because it is easy to track your speed.
Saturday – long run (currently 10k, hope to increase it a bit each week). I am training to run a half marathon in the fall so I need to get the distance up.

I also take the dog for a long brisk walk a few times per week. I don’t consider it part of my exercise routine, but every calorie burned helps!

Incidentally, I don’t currently have a gym membership so I have to do all of my workouts with dumbbells at home.  I do have a treadmill and spin bike and pullup bar at home as well.  I miss some of the equipment at the gym, but have found reasonable substitutes for all of the exercises I’m used to doing there.

Diet:

Right now I am not following any particular diet plan, I am just trying to eat as healthy as possible. I eat 5 meals per day and make sure to get some healthy carbs and protein with every meal. I am also tracking calories so that I can adjust as necessary after seeing how my progress goes. I do allow myself a cheat meal (or a cheat meal and a treat) every Saturday. I used to call Saturday “free day” where I didn’t watch my diet at all, but quite often went overboard so I am limiting it now.

I have recently found a few really delicious recipes that are super healthy and I plan to start a healthy recipe section here shortly.

Looking forward to my weigh in this weekend – I’m having a pretty good week so far!

Popularity: 5%

My experience with the Velocity Diet

Image by digiyesica via Flickr

About a year ago, I wanted to see if I could quickly drop 20 pounds. I had been slacking for a few months and wanted to kick start my weight loss again. I decided to try the Velocity Diet.

In a nutshell, the Velocity diet consists of drinking protein shakes and taking various other supplements. You don’t really eat any solid food except once per week, you can have oatmeal. Every night you can have a small amount of natural peanut butter. Some of the supplements I took included CLA, Omega 3-6-9, and other healthy fats. I also added ground flaxseed to some of my shakes. It was a while ago so I don’t remember the exact details of it, but if you’re interested you can just Google Velocity Diet and you’ll find information about it.

There were 2 different caloric intakes on this program: a higher one for weight training days, and a lower one for non weight training days. All of the calculations to determine how many calories you should be taking in were provided on the website where I found the diet. The creator of the diet did not recommend doing cardio as it can cause muscle loss when you are restricting calories. He recommended doing 1 hour walks on non weight training days.

Again, a disclaimer. I’m going strictly by memory here. To get the exact details of the diet, you’d want to search for it. I do know that I followed his plan exactly, with the exception of the brand of protein he recommended. I used the brands of casein and whey which I already use and like.

Before I continue, I just want to say that this is definitely not something you would want to do long term. In fact, I personally will never do anything like this again. If I remember correctly, you are supposed to do it for 28 days. I only lasted 21 days. I am also not posting to discourage anyone from trying it, I’m merely describing my experience.

I guess if there is any benefit to doing something like this, it is that it’s extremely simple to plan your daily calories. It takes all of the guesswork out of that.

Now, for my experience.

The first few days were fine, I didn’t really notice too much in the way of hunger, even though my caloric intake was a lot lower than what I was used to. After a few days, though, I was really looking forward to that tablespoon of natural peanut butter every night. I was getting really sick of nothing but shakes. I started having trouble sleeping. Toward the end it was getting really bad. I couldn’t fall asleep easily, and when I did, my sleeps were restless and I was constantly waking up. I have no idea what was causing that.

I lost a bunch of weight the first week – 11 pounds! I now know that it was probably mostly water weight (because of a lack of carbs). The second and third weeks were not nearly so spectacular. Maybe a couple of pounds each.

Even though I tried to slowly re-introduce carbs to my diet, I gained a lot of that weight back right away, as soon as I started eating solid food again (probably the water weight I lost in the beginning). I continued exercising and eating a healthy diet, but I just couldn’t lose any more weight. It took over a month of this before I started seeing results again.

Now, I don’t claim to have all the answers, but here’s what I believe happened. I think that restricting calories so much caused my metabolism to slow way, way down. It took a month of eating normal amounts of food and exercising to get it back up to normal.

This was a lesson to me that there are no quick fixes when it comes to weight loss. The only healthy way to lose weight long term is through healthy eating and regular exercise. When you restrict calories too much, your body will fight back and not only will you be constantly hungry and more likely to binge, but you will stop seeing results. You do need a caloric deficit to lose weight, but not such a large deficit that it causes your metabolism to slow down. I also recommend having a higher calorie day every few days to help keep your metabolism humming.

Popularity: 19%