Insulin is bad.

Insulin makes you fat.

Eat foods that don't illicit a high insulin response.

By now I'm sure most of you have heard statements like this, statements issued based on the idea is that the consumption of certain foods will cause your blood sugar to spike and consequently cause your pancreas to release MORE insulin. This insulin then shuttles that sugar into your fat cells and as a result, you gain weight.

Another angle to this set of beliefs is that since your spike in blood sugar was sharp your body might shuttle too much sugar out of your blood and your blood sugar levels will drop rapidly, causing a strong increase in hunger. This increase in hunger then causes you to eat again, likely turning to the same insulin spiking foods, repeating the cycle until you’re fat, sick and feeling out of control.

Like many things in diet and fitness- these over-simplified, generalized statements are both true and NOT true.

What's true:

1- Some foods can influence a spike in blood sugar.

There is no doubt that certain foods are digested at different rates and along different pathways in the body. Any basic knowledge of human digestion will simply point out that some foods break down and digest faster than others. It is certainly true that simple carbs and sugars break down faster, enter the bloodstream faster, and therefore raise your blood sugar faster. But this is typically the case of singularly consumed foods. A single banana for instance. However, we rarely consume singular foods. A banana with peanut butter for example, or a banana with a protein shake, has a much DIFFERENT impact on your blood sugar than just a banana by itself.

2- Certain foods do digest faster and may cause you to become hungry again much quicker.

Since it is true that certain foods digest and break down quicker it’s also true that some foods have less sticking power in terms of helping you to feel full for a longer period of time.

For example a handful of chips is going to have far less of an impact on your satiety (fullness factor) then a bowl of oatmeal.

Simple, processed carbs, in other words, tend to NOT help you feel full because they digest quickly.

Part of the premise of the "insulin makes you fat" statement is based on the fact that eating these foods causes a rapid rise and fall in blood sugar, causing you to over-eat since you never feel full. So on the surface it seems like insulin would lead to weight gain, but it's really NOT that simple.

What's NOT true:

1- Insulin is not a fat storage hormone.

This is a total fallacy. Insulin is in fact not a fat storage hormone but a sugar storage hormone. Just think about it, all of the statements about insulin related to sugar in food, sugar in the digestive system and sugar in the bloodstream. Therefore insulin is not about fat storage but rather sugar storage.

2 -Sugar isn’t always stored as fat.

While it is true that insulin shuttles sugar out of your bloodstream it’s not true that it’s automatically then stored as fat. Your body has two other options for storage- the liver and muscles- that are first filled with sugar in the form of glycogen.

Insulin pulls the sugar from your bloodstream and primarily fills these two other storage tanks first.

If those two are already full then it may resort to filling your fat cells.

This is why I am a big fan of intense strength training. This type of training tends to burn more glygocen (stored sugar) while you're doing it, which helps deplete your glycogen levels and ensures that you have room to accommodate any incoming carb (sugar), therefore preventing it from being stored as fat.

3-Your blood sugar is going to fluctuate regardless of what your diet and exercise habits look like.

The theory that controlling your blood sugar will help you control your weight has some credibility. If blood sugar levels are stable it helps create less rises and falls in appetite, and therefore tends to prevent overeating. However it’s almost impossible to keep your blood sugar level all the time. That would be like trying to never feel too hot or cold or too sleepy or energetic.

Your blood sugar levels are actually designed to fluctuate and your body is appropriately equipped to handle these fluctuations on its own. If you notice you feel dramatic rises and falls in energy then it might be worthwhile to examine your food choices and ensure you're selecting nutrient dense foods that will help promote a sense of satiety and help even out your blood sugar levels.

But aside from that you don't need to resort to any sort of restrictive dietary measures unless you have some sort of physical condition that influences your ability to regulate blood sugar on your own.

4- Eating carbs doesn't guarantee a spike in your insulin.

While carbs (particularly simple carbs) in the diet are the closest linkage to an increase in blood sugar levels there is no guarantee that eating carbs will cause blood sugar to spike.

You have to remember that the rate of digestion is just ONE of the things that influences a spike in blood sugar. It's not the ONLY thing.

This is why many people fall into the trap of believing that whole grain, complex, low glycemic carbs are far superior to other carb sources. This mindset is build on the premise that even though these carbs ultimately end up as sugar, because they take longer to breakdown and digest, the increase in your blood sugar is slower and the insulin spike is subdued.

But, as I mentioned earlier, the glycemic index is the measure of SINGULAR foods. And rarely do foods get consumed singularly. For example eating a higher glycemic food alongside some fat and protein will slow down the digestion and thus the insulin response. In this way, you can effectively adjust the glycemic index of any carb by consuming it with some fat or a protein source.

And even then, there is often an insulin response from foods that aren't even carbohydrate based.

Red meat and whey protein are good examples. Both have been shown to cause a high insulin response. While we are not sure why this is the case, it does lend itself to the credibility that carbs are not the only food source that triggers an insulin response in the body.

Lastly, it’s important to keep in mind that the amount of sugar your body has to deal with is always highly influenced by portion control. It's all about NOT eating foods in amounts beyond what the body can handle.

Eating a smaller portion of a simple carb (like a couple of Hershey Kisses) won’t have nearly as much of an impact on your blood sugar levels as say eating a big bowl of fruit salad. Even though the fruit has more fiber and a slower rate of digestion, the little bit of chocolate won’t have that much of a spike in blood sugar simply because there isn’t that much to begin with.

In other words- portions count.

Higher portions of a traditional low glycemic or slower digesting carb food can elevate your insulin response more than a small portion of a high glycemic fast digesting carb.

5- You don’t need insulin to store fat.

Insulin does not hold the monopoly on fat storage. You can, and do, store fat without an insulin response. No matter what you do and no matter what your diet looks like, it’s virtually impossible to prevent fat storage from happening.

While it's true, simple carbs from processed foods such as white rice and white flour, and foods with added sugar, have a higher chance of increasing fat storage, they aren't the ONLY foods that get stored as fat.

For example, the body primarily stores triglycerides (fat) in fat cells called adipocytes. These fat calls can expand, if needed, to hold excess fat, but they do have a limit on how much they can expand. When they reach their limit of expansion the body synthesizes new fat cells. This creates seemingly endless space for fat storage, whether it originated as dietary fats or carbs.

THE TAKEAWAY:

Yes, blood sugar levels and insulin do play a role in your diet, eating habits, and overall body weight.

Eating foods that help you feel satisfied in full longer will help you eat less over the long term and possibly give you more energy to fuel physical activity.

In addition, eating foods that are higher in fiber will probably result in more natural substances like fruits and vegetables which will probably also have better health benefits due to the higher vitamin and mineral content.

If you’re someone who doesn’t get much physical activity it’s probably a good idea to avoid a lot of simple sugary substances since you’re not burning off that much sugar in your system to begin with.

With that said, it’s still important to understand that trying to control your body fat levels by way of controlling blood sugar and insulin is a limited process that cannot guarantee weight-loss nor will it promise protection against weight gain. There are LOTS of factors that contribute to your body fat levels and how your body stores incoming food- and MOST of them are completely unrelated to insulin.

Lastly- insulin is not "bad". It's not some demon hormone. It's actually CRUCIAL. Insulin’s job is a very important one: when you eat food, it’s broken down into basic nutrients which make their way into the bloodstream.These nutrients must then be moved from the blood into muscle and fat cells for use or storage, and that’s where insulin comes into play: it helps shuttle the nutrients into cells by “telling” the cells to open up and absorb them.So, whenever you eat food, your pancreas releases insulin into the blood. As the nutrients are slowly absorbed into cells, insulin levels drop, until finally all the nutrients are absorbed, and insulin levels then remain steady at a low, “baseline” level. This cycle occurs every time you eat food and it's a crucial process. Just because ONE of insulin's roles pertains to fat storage does NOT mean it's ONLY role is fat storage.

If you’re overweight and sedentary, and you happen to eat a lot of processed, simple, sugary carbs then yes, it's going to cause problems with weight management. Over time your body is going to have more and more trouble dealing with insulin, which can develop into Type 2 diabetes and place you at a greater risk of heart disease. HOWEVER if you are lean, train regularly and eat a sensibly healthy diet, you won't have these problems and likely don't need to freak out over the occasional higher glycemic carb and how it impacts your insulin. Your body will have plenty of use for the carbs you eat.

Most of the people who contact me looking for my help, do so because they have come to the decision that they need to go on a diet. And in wanting to take control of their physique, weight, and lose some fat, the next step seems clear: Hire a coach and go on a diet. But honestly, for those with a history of crash dieting, severe calorie restriction, or multiple failed diet attempts, jumping once more on the diet bandwagon is unlikely to yield results, and will probably do more harm than good. Often in these cases, I wind up INCREASING the client's calories FIRST, or "reverse dieting" them out of the deficit they've placed themselves in.

Over repeated bouts of calorie restriction, your metabolism takes a beating. When you drop calories too low for too long, your body intervenes on several fronts. Most notably, it reduces the number of calories you burn throughout the day, often priming your body for surprisingly rapid weight gain.

This biological phenomenon is NOT a "broken metabolism", it's simply "metabolic adaptation," but it can make weight loss and weight management challenging. With your body continuously fighting to erase the calorie deficit necessary for fat loss, eating fewer calories than you burn can eventually become very tricky. You can only drop calories so low and increase exercise so much before that lifestyle not only becomes utterly miserable but also unsustainable.

This is where reverse dieting can help. Reverse dieting is, essentially, an "upside down" diet, or a diet turned on its head. It's the process of slowly ADDING calories versus the process of slowly TAKING calories away. Although it sounds simple (eat more!) there's more to reverse dieting than just adding in food. If you want to maximize gains in metabolic rate without storing a ton of body fat, you have to go slow, be strategic and patient. You need to give your metabolism time to adjust by making slow, deliberate changes, rather than just hitting the Haagen Daaz, or having pizza every night for dinner.

To understand and appreciate the importance of reverse dieting, you have to understand what happens to your body during metabolic adaptation. When you drastically restrict calories or lose weight, your body senses the energy gap and your departure from its body-fat set point. As a result, it attempts to "correct" the energy gap and stop the fat loss.

1) Your organs consume less energy

2)Your heart beats slower as sympathetic nervous system activity declines

3) Hormones that influence metabolism and appetite, such as thyroid hormone, testosterone, leptin, and ghrelin, are adversely effected

4) You burn less energy during nonexercise activities, such as fidgeting, walking around the house, working, and doing chores

5) You use fewer calories to absorb and digest food because you're eating less

6) Your muscle becomes more efficient, requiring less fuel for a given amount of work

These changes ultimately boil down to burning fewer calories, both at rest and while working out. None of this sounds positive, but it's nothing to "panic" over, this is part of your body's natural survival mechanisms, and understanding and accepting that these adaptations take place can help you mentally determine whether or not reverse dieting might be something that will work for you. Because while yes, the body's metabolism can slow down, it can ALSO speed up. And many of the physiological changes that work to slow metabolism during calorie restriction can occur in the opposite direction when adding caloris back in to help make the metabolism faster.

How do you know if reverse dieting is for you? The following are some things to pay attention to:

1) You have come off of an extreme weight loss diet and never changed anything after the initial weight loss. (AKA never slowly started to eat more)

2) You have a history of yo-yo dieting (losing and gaining weight over and over and over)

3) You have hit a plateau and nothing you do seems to work or make a change in your body

4) You don’t eat a lot... at all (1000 calories or less a day) and you are often not even hungry

5) You have lost your period or it’s spotty month to month

6) You don’t really have regular BM’s

7) You work out a TON (everyday or close to everyday)

8) You do cardio 5x a week or more

9) You are often tired, cranky, depressed, sore, achy and overall just blah

10) You worry about your next meals or often feel guilty for eating certain foods

11) You don’t feel good about your body despite how much you diet and how much you workout

If you went through this list of questions and answered yes to more than half of them, then quite possibly the answer to your physique goals might NOT be another calorie cut, another cardio increase, another "diet". It just might be reverse dieting.

I know the idea of eating more food, for many women is terrifying, but you have to ask yourself what needs to be done in the best interest of your health and your fitness goals. Do you want to continue living your life as a slave to the gym and constantly placing rules and restrictions around food? Do you want to wander around hungry, cranky, and exhausted? Aren't you tired of losing and gaining weight over and over again?

Reverse dieting is a long term investment in your body and health. Not only can it change your physical appearance but it will have a positive impact on your entire life on a much larger scale.

This all being said it's not an easy process to go through. The following are some tips I can offer about the process of reverse dieting, having gone through it numerous times as an athlete, and having coached many clients through it as well.

1) TAKE IT SLOW. It's not a race! I know there are conflicting opinions out there as to how many calories to add into your diet and how fast you should take calories up. There is, however, no "hard and fast" rule. I feel that the "speed" of a reverse diet depends very much upon the individual, how low of a deficit they were in calorically, and for how long, and how mentally "positive" they feel about the reverse diet process. Some people can handle higher calorie loads right away, others need to go much slower. The key is to take it step by step and allow your body to adjust to each calorie increase. In general I feel 100-200 calorie increases each week are a good "baseline" from where to start. If you add that in and have zero to minimal weight gain, you can repeat that process the following week, and so on until you get calories up to maintenance. On the flipside, if you gained more than a couple of pounds, hold off a few more days or even a week to add more food in. Once your weight has stabilized for a few days, then try again. Some people will be able to add more frequently and at higher amounts, and that's fine. IT IS NOT A RACE. Go at your own speed and do what works for you.

2) ACCEPT THAT YOUR WEIGHT MAY GO UP. There are some people who actually LOSE WEIGHT during the initial phases of a reverse diet. They get leaner and tighter and bodyweight goes down. However, others aren’t so fortunate. Sometimes the scale leaps up. I have found that when the scale goes up, people immediately panic and get scared they are doing something wrong. This is a pivotal point in the process. Because the WORST thing you can do at this point is panic and cut back calories. You have to have some faith in the journey. For EVERYONE, at some point the numbers on the scale WILL increase. Even if your weight doesnt going up much during your reverse diet, your weight will likely go up when you hit maintenance calories and consume that higher caloric intake for a while. This is especially true if you're training hard and builiding muscle, which weighs more then fat. If you are doing things correctly (training & nutrition), fat gain will be minimal and muscle gain will be optimal.

3) KEEP THE BIG PICTURE IN MIND. This is crucial. Ultimately, the main goal in a reverse diet is to bring back and BUILD a healthy metabolism (again, our bodies were NOT meant to diet our whole lives’). Instead of focusing so much of your attention on the scale, try to remember that you are only given ONE body in life and you need to treat it properly. The last thing you want to do is continue to diet and deprive yourself day after day month after month year after year. Long term health should ALWAYS be your number one concern. Why would anyone want to live the majority of their lives’ feeling less than optimal? Why feel hungry and tired all of the time when it’s not necessary? Getting your calories back up, temporarily, will help speed up your metabolism and will inevitably put you in a better place to maintain a healthy weight, and to handle a calorie deficit if you chose to lose weight and/or bodyfat in the future.

4) REMEMBER TO APPRECIATE ALL PHASES OF YOUR JOURNEY– I feel like a broken record because I say this so often to my clients through email, and to my followers on IG and social media, but you have to find appreciation in the process, YOUR process. You have to accept that each phase of your journey has a place and a purpose. You cannot spend your life eating sub 1000 calories and doing cardio for hours trying to "keep" your weight at some arbitrary number. It will catch up for you and the results will be horrifying. So remember that getting calories back up after a long diet is a necessity, to your mental and physical health. Just as cutting calories, is a phase in your journey, so is adding calories back in. Find the positives in what you're doing, and appreciate the role this phase in your process will play in the overall scope of your fitness goals.

Hormones & muscle growth

When it comes to muscle growth the two hormones you need to focus on are testosterone and cortisol.

Male or female it doesn't matter, the key hormone for muscle growth is testosterone. If your training isn't effective in triggering testosterone release you will be hard pressed to build muscle.

On the flip side, too much cortisol will work against the action of testosterone, negating its positive effects. Cortisol is a catabolic hormone, meaning it breaks muscle tissue down. So if your training produces too much cortisol you will find it hard to make size and strength gains.

So the key then, to muscle growth is to MAXIMIZE testosterone release and MINIMIZE cortisol release.

Muscle Gain is Individualized

The truth about building muscle is that it's different for everyone. There is no hard and fast rule that accommodates everyone because everyone is uniquely different in how their body releases both testosterone and cortisol. While it's commonly assumed that heavy weight releases the most testosterone, studies have shown that it all depends on the individual.

Some people respond better to 8-10 reps and some to rep ranges of 15+ even though those rep ranges are commonly thought to be endurance rep ranges.

It's convenient to blame poor muscle growth results on genetics but the bottom line is that some people respond to the "common wisdom" on muscle growth (like heavy weight, lower reps) and others just don't.

What Does Science Say?

Two studies in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning assigned different exercise protocols to rugby players. The exercises were the same but the set and rep ranges varied from 4x10 with moderate rest; 3x5 with long rest periods, and 5x15 with only one minute of rest between sets.

You'd assume the 3x5 protocol gained the most strength and the 4x10 generated the most size but the studies showed that each protocol- even the high rep low rest one- stimulated high testosterone release in SOME individuals. In fact each person in the study had a unique hormonal response to the training. The same was true of cortisol. Some people released more cortisol in response to the high rep/low rest protocol, some to the heavy weight done at 3x5 and some to the moderate 4x10.

So Now What?

It's important to find a protocol that both 1) enhances your body's ability to release testosterone and 2) minimizes your body's release of cortisol. Obviously, in the real world we don't have easy access to equipment that can scientifically measure hormonal responses to exercise but there are several factors you can consider to get an idea of the effectiveness of your training.

Ideally you want training to be intense enough to produce sufficient testosterone release but not to the point that excessive cortisol becomes an issue. It's difficult to look past old beliefs and entertain new ideas but the truth is that if 3x5 hasn't been working for you in terms of strength, it's not the protocol for you. Even if you've read otherwise. Just as people respond differently to nutrition and diet, guess what- they respond differently to training as well.

I thought I'd take the time to address the VLCD diet trend particularly as it applies to women and female health.

A lot of women, including athletes, are embracing or experimenting with very low carbohydrate diets, and in particular, keto.

This isn't new.

Keto has been around since the 1920s, and while yes, keto can be effective, it's NOT for everyone.

And it DOES impact women differently then men- often, negatively.

Evidence suggests that women’s hormones are more sensitive than mens to energy availability, meaning that too few calories or carbs can cause imbalances.

But first - what IS a keto diet?

A ketogenic diet is a very low carbohydrate, moderate protein and high fat based nutrition plan that trains the individual’s metabolism to run off of fatty acids or ketone bodies. This state of ketosis, or being fat adapted has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity and reduce inflammation. It also improves cellular healing and mitochondrial biogenesis which supports stronger and healthier cells- all of which helps lead to a reduced risk of chronic disease, improved muscle development and more efficient fat metabolism.

But as I said, it's not for everyone.

For example men and women, in my experience don't respond the same to very low carb diets. The stress of very low carb dieting is much better handled by men, whereas in women, particularly female athletes performing at high levels of activity or intensity I notice some pretty negative effects.

One has to do with adrenal function. VLCD approaches impact the HPA axis, which is comprised of three major glands, the hypothalamus, the pituitary, and the adrenals.

These glands are responsible for hormonal regulation and impact mood, emotions, digestion, immune system, sex drive, energy levels, metabolism and more. These glands also happen to be sensitive to things like stress, exercise AND calorie intake.

The body can't differentiate between the type of stress it's encountering. So it doesn't matter if it's exercise, diet, or a fight with your spouse, it all impacts these glands the same.

Long-term stress, like the kind endured during a VLCD can cause you to overproduce the hormones cortisol and norepinephrine, creating an imbalance that increases pressure on the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal glands.

This ongoing pressure may eventually lead to HPA axis dysfunction, also sometimes controversially referred to as “adrenal fatigue” or can cause the onset of symptoms that mimic adrenal fatigue, like a weakened immune system, depressed thyroid function or greater risk of long-term health problems such as hypothyroidism, diabetes, heightened anxiety, erratic mood, or sleeplessness.

Some evidence has suggested that VLC diets (under 100g a day) can cause increased production of cortisol (stress hormone) which makes matters worse since cortisol increases body fat.

A 2007 study found that, regardless of weight loss a VLC diet increased cortisol levels compared to a moderate-fat, moderate-carb diet.

So basically, if I have a female client who works a high stress job or has a lot of responsibilities via her family, etc, I definitely would think twice before implementing a low carb diet or keto approach.

Being really lean is also something to watch for, as the leaner you are the more intolerant your body becomes to stress. This is because, as a woman, carrying super low levels of bodyfat is a stress in and of itself.

Lean women who are under stress, do high intensity training and are on a ketogenic diet are, IMO, creating a state of chronic stress that the body is just not able to handle. If you're hell bent on going VLC I would suggest cycling out of ketosis, using a carb up day, reducing training load and improving rest, along with using things like adaptogenic herbs and B vitamins to help you to recover more effectively.

Another thing to consider is the impact carbs have on the thyroid. I never suggest a VLCD to someone with hypothyroidism. Never.

I have done cyclic keto with some hypothyroid clients- but honestly a moderate carb approach always works better. The reason being that the thyroid gland produces two hormones: thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) which are both necessary for a wide range of bodily functions (breathing, heart rate, nervous system, body weight, temperature control, cholesterol levels and menstruation.)

T3 is very sensitive to calorie and carb intake. If calories or carbs drop too low, two things happen: 1)T3 levels drop and 2) reverse T3 (rT3) levels increase (rT3 is a hormone that blocks the action of T3).

Some studies have shown that ketogenic diets can reduce T3 levels, as much as 47% in just two weeks of a sub 50g carb a day diet. By contrast, people consuming the same calories but at least 50g carb a day saw no drop in T3. This matters a lot because low T3 and high rT3 can slow your metabolism, resulting in weight gain, fatigue, lack of concentration, depression and so on.

Being VLC can also cause the loss of a woman's cycle. Amenorrhea is what's known as a woman’s menstrual cycle being absent for 3 months or more and the most common causes are low calories, low carbs, stress, or too much exercise. Women need a certain amount of leptin to maintain menstrual function. If your carb or calorie consumption is too low, it can suppress leptin levels and interfere with leptin’s ability to regulate the reproductive hormones. This is particularly true for underweight or lean women who are also on a VLCD.

Now some women could care less about losing their period, particularly if they aren't trying to conceive, but keep in mind that the loss of your period causes OTHER issues. Amenorrhea results in a domino effect, causing a drop in the levels of other hormones such as luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. And NONE of this comes without ramification in the body.

Granted everyone is different- I firmly believe that, and optimal carb intake varies greatly between one person and the next. There is no one-size-fits-all solution in nutrition and how much carbohydrate you do or don't consume a day is ultimately going to be (or should be) based on individual factors.

But in general I think VLCD or keto diets should only be used for very overweight or obese individuals, those who are more sedentary, have insulin resistance, have PCOS or fibroids, or have diabetes.

I prefer a more moderate carb approach for:

high level athleteswomen who are very active and struggle to recover after trainingwomen who are very leanwomen who have an underactive thyroidwomen who struggle to lose weight or start gaining weight, even on a low-carb dietthose who have lost their period or have irregular periodswomen who are pregnant or want to bewomen who are breastfeeding.

I feel the topic of artificial sweeteners has become a hot debate lately, and although I've posted on it before, I wanted to address it again.

While yes- artificial sweeteners are calorie free and while yes, there isn't evidence stating their use directly causes weight gain, I do think it's important to understand that just because science hasn't established a direct link doesn't mean that using them can't negatively impact your weight loss efforts through indirect channels. For example artificial sweeteners enhance food cravings, which directly impacts your ability to be diet compliant. They also REDUCE satiety or physical satisfaction and the sensation of "fullness' when eating which can make it HARD to not over-eat on your diet.

The choice to use them or not is ultimately entirely up to you- but it's important to have the necessary facts required to make a sound decision and hopefully this post will help.

Before I get into the effects of artificial sweeteners on your waistline, I do want to discuss the issue of safety. There are numerous reports and websites that claim artificial sweeteners are toxic to your body because they're a chemical, and therefore unsafe for consumption.

Just because something's labeled as a "chemical" doesn't make it inherently bad for you.

Take, for example, lecithin, pectin, guar gum, and propionic acid. These are all common chemicals found in foods and have no reported side effects.

There's no available data on human subjects showing that consumption of artificial sweeteners can lead to diseases like diabetes and cancer. It's safe to say that if you include them in your diet in moderation, you'll be okay. What does "in moderation" mean? Well it's not clearcut. If you ask me, I would suggest that you basically be mindful of how much you rely on artificial sweetness and keep consumption minimal and you should be fine.

(I should note however that because artificial sweeteners are chemicals, the body does not process or digest them properly and therefore they can cause quite the hell in your GI tract depending upon the kind and amount- which I address further down in the post.)

The major issue of debate though is whether artificial sweeteners cause you to crave more sweets and hinder your weight-loss goals.

Some argue that substituting artificial sweeteners for the "real deal" may cause you to crave additional sugary snacks, or cause you to increase your caloric intake at the next meal. EXAMPLE: "I had a Diet Coke with lunch, so I can eat this cupcake for dessert"

So I did some digging. And there's a decent amount of science that will hopefully help you determine if and how to add artificial sweeteners into your diet.

So what does all this mean? It doesn't "mean" anything- it's just information- because the first step to making a good decision for yourself is to be informed. It's important to be aware of what the science is.

I will say personally, I only use liquid stevia as a sweetener and try to keep anything else minimal. When my use of artificial sweetener becomes too high I notice I crave more carbs, my stomach troubles are exacerbated and I get headaches. A lot. I also feel that visually I look smoother and less defined. My abs wash out. In fact as I near the stage (last week or two of prep) I eliminate them altogether.

My advice is to educate yourself, then do what works for you. Try experimenting with and without them in your diet and pay attention to how you lookand feel. Let your own personal experience be the ultimate determining factor in whether or not you use artificial sweeteners, and if so, which kind and in what amount.

The post workout hype is real- some people seem to think that unless they slam 75g of dextrose and creatine immediately post-workout they will- literally- "waste their gains."

While there is a lot of science that backs the importance of post workout carbs the bottom line is that an immediate shake and fast digesting carb source isn't always necessary, and certainly isn't necessary for everyone. Like everything in fitness it depends on the individual and the context.

For starters the magical post workout window isn't some blink-and-miss-it 15 minute time frame. The research as to length is conflicting- anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hours. This means that for most people, as long as you eat a good meal somewhere in the vicinity of 1-2 hours following your training you will be fine. And quite a few studies have supported that total caloric intake across the day matters most.

For example, if you are supposed to eat 200g protein, 200g carbs and 100g fat during the day, as long as you meet those goals, your results will be very similar if not the same as if you slammed a post workout shake and carbs.

Secondly the type of training you do as well as the duration of your workout needs to be factored in. For example the average 45-60 minute strength training session likely doesn't warrant some massive post workout carb bomb. As long as you meet your macro requirements across the day you'll be fine. But if you are going through a rigorous 2 hour training session then likely your risk of catabolism is high and the sooner you get some protein and carbs into you the better.

It's also worth mentioning that one study found that EAAS or protein pre-workout is capable of sustaining amino acid delivery well into the post-workout window. This means that the immediate slamming of a shake and carbs to prevent losing your "gains" is a mute point. So long as you eat a good meal 1-2 hours before you train, your next scheduled protein-rich meal (so long as it's about 1–2 hours post-exercise) is likely sufficient for maximizing recovery and anabolism.

And another study published in the Journal of the International Society of Sport Nutrition showed that protein alone is as effective as protein with carbs following a workout when it comes to repairing or building muscle.

So now what?

For starters I do believe that for most people, how you eat across the span of the day is more important then what you do in the first 15 minutes following your workout. Rather than worrying about the post workout window, eat protein dense foods at every meal and eat the majority of your carbs to the meals closest to the time of day you train. It doesn't need to be much more complicated than that. If your goal is maximizing rates of muscle gain, then the current findings seem to support the broad objective of meeting total daily protein and carb needs (assuming you're not training in a fasted state).

If, however, you DO train fasted (say at 5am on an empty stomach) then you definitely want to consume 20-40g of protein immediately after your workout to help reverse the catabolic state in your body and maximize muscle growth. Because fasting itself will put your body at an increased risk of muscle loss, eating immediately after a workout is crucial for promoting muscle protein synthesis and glycogen storage. If your goal is to sustain or gain lean muscle add some carbs as well. Then have a nutrient dense whole food meal about 1.5-2 hours later.

As long as you don't 1) train fasted 2) start your training more then 3 hours after your last meal or 3) strength train for 90+ minutes there really is no need for big post workout.

It certainly doesn't hurt to throw back a protein shake immediately after you train, but you can still gain a substantial amount of strength and size even when delaying post-workout nutrition. As long as your macro requirements are met throughout the day you'll be just fine.

I constantly get asked about how to handle food cravings- how to combat them- how to work through them, and what even causes them to begin with.

Cravings are a major barrier to losing weight, living whole and eating healthfully. Some people downplay cravings, but I believe that if cravings weren’t a big deal, then I wouldn’t have clients who down a bottle of wine at the end of a long week; or "have” to eat all things chocolate during their time of the month, or

dive face first into a bag of salty tortilla chips or swing by the Dairy Queen drive thru after a hard day at work.

Apart from the obvious, what I always hate the most, as a coach, is the fact that cravings create feelings of defeat in my clients. They make you feel helpless, overwhelmed, frustrated, and out of control- and none of these feelings or emotions can or should be tied to your relationship with food.

Unfortunately, rather then work to pinpoint the root of their cravings, people either cave and give in (not optimal, obviously) or just attempt to struggle through them (which can be exhausting).

The truth is, cravings aren't random and they occur for a reason. And if you take the time to understand what a craving really is and why you have it, then you can adjust your diet, supplementation, or lifestyle so that you satisfy it properly.

This is what I strive to do with all of my clients- help them balance their diet so they aren't constantly feeling controlled by food or food cravings.

So first off, what IS a craving? A craving is an overwhelming desire or uncontrollable urge for either a certain taste (salty,sweet,spicy) or a certain food (ice cream, chips, etc).

It’s basically your body’s way of telling you it needs something…a vitamin, mineral, protein, or nutrient to function properly or to fulfill a deficiency.

A craving can also have a chemical component to it, which is why cravings are more common when someone is depressed or emotionally upset.

Despite your best efforts, the majority of Americans, even if they eat healthfully, don't eat enough variety or volume to get all of the nutrients their body requires through nutrition alone. And if your diet isn’t full of a wide variety of foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, quality protein, and flavors (beyond salty and sweet), your body will alert you the only way it knows how, by initiating a craving.

The problem with cravings is that because the foods you THINK you're craving only contain a trace amount of what your body really needs, you’ll have to eat a whole lot more of it to fulfill the deficiency. For example, if you are craving chocolate, one potential cause could be a magnesium deficiency. You may think your body wants chocolate, but really it wants magnesium. This deficiency could be fixed healthfully with a magnesium supplement, or with, say, one serving of butternut squash. However if you instead opt to eat a chocolate brownie, you'll find you don't feel satisfied and have to eat several before your craving diminishes. This is why I staunchly encourage clients to satisfy their cravings through healthy means, through supplementation or nutrient dense foods which actually supply the body with the source of what it's craving.

Learning to handle and cope with your cravings also helps promote a sense of empowerment and self control which is essential for psychological wellbeing and the development of a healthy relationship with food.

Some common cravings and their potential causes:

1-Chocolate.

Chocolate cravings are associated with deficiencies in magnesium and copper. Around “that time of the month,” the body uses up more magnesium which is why many women find they crave chocolate during PMS. To curb the craving, try adding or upping your magnesium supplement or try to eat more magnesium rich foods like butternut squash, apples, apricots, bananas, and nuts. You can also substitute with small amounts of raw cacao or unsweetened cocoa powder added to coffee, smoothies, or oatmeal.

2- Bread.

If you're specifically craving bread, what you REALLY need is more protein. Bread cravings are usually due to nitrogen deficiencies so adding in more fish, lean meat, nuts or beans will help.

3- Tortilla Chips, Popcorn, or Potato Chips (crunchy/snack).

One of two things is often the root of this craving: a magnesium deficiency or an over-consumption of sugar. Typically, when you eat too much sugar your body begins to crave salt. If you don't consume too much sugar then you likely are deficient in magnesium which is very very common. This is easily solved through supplementation. It could also be due to fluctuations in your stress hormones. Stress reduction techniques like meditation, deep breathing, prayer or exercise can help, as can increasing your intake of vitamins B and C, and your consumption of leafy greens.

4- Nuts.

Cravings for nuts or nut butters are usually a sign your body needs EFAs (essential fatty acids) or possibly protein. Usually an EFA supplement like Udos oil can help or try upping your protein intake.

5-Salt.

A salt craving, or a craving for salty foods could be caused by several things: a diet too high in sugar, a deficiency in sodium, or possibly too much potassium in the body. I usually suggest removing sugar, avoiding table salt, and opting for sea salt to help remineralize the body.

6-Sweet and Sour Cravings.

If you are craving things like pickles, lemons, limes, or a combo of the above, this usually means congestion of the liver. Add lemon to your water on a regular basis or add in a liver cleanse supplement temporarily until the cravings begin to diminish. You could also supplement with some milk thistle which aids the liver.

7- Sugar and Starches.

I think sugar has to be the single most common craving people tell me they struggle with. Cravings for starches (carbs) and sweets can be caused by numerous things but some of the most common reasons are serotonin imbalance, a lack of glucose (which is the brains optimal fuel source), or a tryptophan deficiency. Sometimes it's due to more uncommon causes like a candida overgrowth.

If you’re craving sugar while doing something that requires a lot of mental focus it’s probably because your brain burns glucose for energy and these cravings usually go away once you eat.

If your sugar cravings seem to correlate with a sense of depression or feelings of lethargy and hopelessness, look into serotonin imbalance and healthy ways to boost it through exercise or even a supplement like 5-HTP which is precursor to serotonin.

Good sources of tryptophan would be spirulina, pumpkin/sesame/sunflower seeds, raw cacao, oatmeal, sweet potatos, spinach, and raisins.

If you DO find you crave sugar constantly then likely there could be a bigger issue at play, like candida overgrowth or an imbalance of gut bacteria. Typically fiber, probiotics or even a candida cleanse can help.

8- Carbs at night (after a long day at work).

People who crave carbs at night or at the end of a busy day are usually dealing with overactive nerves due to stress. Again, magnesium helps. Take magnesium right before you leave for work so you won’t attack the chips when you walk through the door after a long day.

9- Spicy foods.

A spicy food craving is associated with a thyroid imbalance or sulfur deficiency. Try adding in things like garlic, horse-radish, curry, or cayenne to your diet.

10- Fried foods.

If you find you crave fried foods your diet is likely too low in healthy sources of fat. Adding in a supplement like a fish oil supplement helps. Or up your intake of healthy omega 3 fats like olives or olive oil, avocados, walnuts, or wild caught fish like salmon.

11-Caffeine or coffee.

If you constantly crave coffee, a few things could be at play. One, is that you are deficient in salt, and if so, add some sea salt to your food and/or take some apple cider vinegar or kombucha. Another is that your adrenals are overworked. I always advise clients to look at their sleep quality and stress management if they constantly want to drink coffee. Sometimes scaling back on training intensity can help as well.

Supplements like licorice root, a b complex, relora, or a proprietary supplement for adrenal health can also really help offer support for over working adrenals.

12-Alcohol.

If you have cravings for wine, beer or hard liquor some potential causes could be a glutamine, protein, calcium, or potassium deficiency. Increase your protein slightly, and supplement with L glutamine. If you don't want to take supplemental L glutamine, some good dietary sources would be cabbage, beetroot, beans, spinach, parsley, vegetable juice or vegetable broth, or bone broth.

13-Red meat.

This is almost always (in my experience) an iron deficiency. You can solve this with a supplement, OR you can increase consumption of beans, legumes, unsulphured prunes, raisins or other dried fruit, seaweed, or spinach. I advise taking with some Vitamin C to help enhance absorption.

Real talk: Dropping and regaining weight over and over could do more long-term damage than you realize. It doesn't matter if it's 5lbs or 25lbs, when you consistently lose weight, gain it back, re-lose it, and re-gain it, you are creating a MYRIAD of long term mental and physical problems.

Statistically speaking, when most people use a short-term diet or quick fix method to lose weight, they will regain 30–65% of that lost weight within one year. Within five years all or MORE of the weight lost will be gained back. In fact one in three dieters ends up heavier than before they dieted. Because of this fact, recent science is indicating that society's obsession with "dieting" is likely a contributing factor to the obesity epidemic sweeping our nation.

We all know losing weight (if you're overweight) makes you healthier while gaining weight makes you unhealthier. Yo-yo dieting however, is somewhere in between. While it's still conflicting, some science has indicated that yo-yo dieting or losing and gaining weight over and over and over is associated with many of the same health dangers as being overweight or obese.

Physiologically, yoyo dieting or weight cycling impairs insulin sensitivity and increases insulin resistance, making you great at getting fat and not so great at getting lean. Over time it also dramatically decreases your metabolic rate, making weight management that much harder with every weight loss and regain cycle.

When done properly, weight loss programs allow for the body to adapt and catch up to the internal changes and patterns without being overstressed, while still yielding results. But when there are too many changes or the adjustments to your eating and training routine are too extreme, your body resists because it’s fearful that there’s a problem.

For example cortisol rises. Cortisol is a hormone that both INCREASES fat storage and DECREASES fat loss. The adrenal glands become over-stimulated. Leptin increases. Hormones become imbalanced (studies have shown women can even have decreased thyroid output) and hunger levels become unpredictable.

To complicate matters, any form of intense training or excessive cardio will only further fatigue and damage metabolic activity. The harder you push, the more the body pushes back making weight management next to impossible, and over time, these unhealthy exercise and diet patterns that reuslt in weight loss and weight gain wind up making you fatter and unhealthier.

How?

1- Yo yo dieting increases bodyfat.

A majority of studies show yo-yo dieting leads to a higher bodyfat percentage. During the weight gain phase of yo-yo dieting, fat is regained more easily than muscle mass. This can result in your bodyfat percentage increasing over multiple yo-yo cycles. In one review, 11 out of 19 studies found that a history of yo-yo dieting predicted higher body fat percentage and greater belly fat. Which leads me to my next point....

2- It increases visceral fat. Visceral fat is the fat in the body that collects in the midsection, surrounds the internal organs, and wraps around the heart. This type of fat is normal is small amounts but is very dangerous as it increases.

Visceral fat is metabolized by the liver and ultimately turns into blood cholesterol, which collects in the arteries and narrows them. These clogged arteries can eventually lead to angina, heart disease, heart attack, stroke, and other cardiac symptoms.

Visceral fat is also responsible for the release of hormones that trigger insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, systematic inflammation, heart disease, and other cardiovascular diseases.

3- It causes your appetite to skyrocket.

The hormones in your body that are responsible for appetite regulation are leptin, which signals fullness or satiety, and ghrelin which signals hunger. Studies have shown people who lose and regain weight over the course of months and years, repeatedly, tended to have higher levels of leptin and lower levels of grhelin than people who lost weight and kept it off.

This is likely because both long term caloric restriction AND short term fasting both INCREASE ghrelin (hunger hormone) and DECREASE leptin (satiety hormone). Science has also shown that in overfat or obese individuals, there is an abundance of ghrelin and a lack of leptin, which essentially means that in overweight individuals the body's natural appetite mechanisms become disturbed and unbalanced.

An increased appetite can only be fended off for so long. If your body is prompting you to eat, it's only a matter of time before you wind up over-eating.

4- It causes your body to lose muscle. The loss of muscle resulting from chronic weight loss and regain is a large contributor the metabolic inefficiency that results. While your extreme diet may initially promote fat loss, in the long term you will likely regain that fat and more. In addition, extreme diets lead to muscle wasting, which means once you fall back to your normal eating habits, you'll be left with a physique that lacks muscle and carries excess fat. Muscle is ACTIVE tissue- which means it increases your body's ability to burn calories, even at rest. Therefore lack of adequate lean muscle means a slower metabolism which makes you less efficient at caloric usage and more efficient at caloric storage.

The bottom line is short term thinking prevents you from making lasting change. In your rush for immediate results, you will fail to use sustainable methods that will help create permanent weight loss. Remember that rigid rules and extreme measures set you up to fail because the methods you're using are unsustainable. And if unsustainable it means inevitably, at some point you will slip BACK into old habits. Except now, when you do, you will have downregulated your metabolism, lost muscle, decreased your insulin sensitivity, increased your appetite and likely gained bodyfat.

To break the cycle of temporary changes producing temporary success, stop thinking in terms of a diet and start thinking in terms of a lifestyle. Don't try to lose weight by doing something you can't sustain indefinitely. And when I say "Stop dieting” it doesn’t mean “stop caring about food.” It means “stop severely restricting food/calories in order to lose weight.” Remember being cognoscente of what goes in your mouth doesn't mean severe caloric restriction. Eating well isn’t dieting; it’s just eating

For many people, the desire to lose weight begins with two changes. First, they cut calories and second, they start doing more cardio, A LOT more cardio. I'm not debating that cardio can help with body composition goals and weight loss efforts, or that it has health benefits, but TRUST ME-there comes a point where you might be doing too much. In fact, excessive cardio may actually be preventing you from getting the fitness results you’re looking for. The following are six way to know if you might be doing too much cardio:

1) You're tired all the time.

Cardio, in the right amount can help energize and re-invigorate you. But if you feel chronically tired all the time, your exercise routine could be yielding diminishing returns. Moderate exercise is a positive stressor for the body. It strengthens the muscles and bones, improves mental and physical focus, and helps energize us. But, excessive cardio can have the OPPOSITE impact, leaving you feeling depleted and wiped out. And if your body cannot recuperate from your demanding cardio training while simultaneously dealing with other life stressors, you get tired, worn out, and become more susceptible to illness and injury.

e exercise in particular (like cardio) activates your stress response, and therefore elevates your stress hormones (cortisol, adrenaline, and norepinephrine). If these hormones stay elevated all of the time, it weakens your immune system, raises your risk of injury, and chronically disrupts your body's natural release of cortisol, which impacts your sleep-wake cycle.

on your joints without you realizing it.

4) You can't seem to lose bodyfat/ weight. Cardio can BLUNT fat loss in two main ways. The first is that the body adapts to it VERY quickly. This makes the "fat burning" component of cardio very short lived. Once you stop doing cardio, your body’s metabolism quickly slows, and so if cardio is your go-to exercise for weight loss, you'll wind up being forced to do more and more in order to see ongoing results.

The other issue is that chronically doing too much cardio can lead to actually losing muscle, which in turn slows down your metabolism. If your body loses even the slightest bit of muscle, your resting metabolic rate (i.e., how many calories you burn when you’re NOT exercising) dips even further.

5) You're carrying weight in your midsection. How many runners do you know who carry a "pooch" in their midsection despite having thin legs and arms? Lack of lean muscle will cause this look because cardio alone can't touch stubborn belly fat. Excessive cardio is horribly catabolic. You will wind up whittling away at your body's lean muscle, and this in turn has a negative effect on your visual appearance.

6) You don't look defined. Again, I got back to the "cardio burns up muscle" statement I made. Using cardio as your primary form of exercise can "shrink" your body but still leave you with a soft, undesirable physique, because cardio effectively reduces bodyweight- ALL bodyweight- and that, sadly, includes muscle mass. Most people I work with want to lose bodyfat, but ALSO want to have a lean and defined physique. This means HANGING ONTO and even GAINING lean muscle. So if all you're doing is logging hours on the treadmill or elliptical, you'll wind up losing weight- but not all of that weight loss will come from fat. It will also come from muscle, leaving you lacking definition and looking soft. The only way to revam

p your body's shape is through strength training.

Yes.

YES.

AND YES.

I'm just going to go ahead and say it: Anyone who claims all calories are equal, or advocates it being acceptable to eat whatever you want so long as you lose weight has no real training in nutrition nor any real understanding as to the far reaching impact nutrition has on whole body health and well being. It's not about being restrictive. It's about being SMART and MAKING THE MOST of your daily caloric intake. It's incredibly disheartening to me, when self proclaimed "fitpros" with no formal training in nutrition try to convince the general public that it doesn't matter what you eat so long as it "fits your macros".... or that energy balance (calories in vs calories out) is the sole determinant of whether or not a person reaches their weight loss goals.

"Macros" is just "scratching the surface" of what food, nutrition, and diet is all about.

Sure, you might lose weight having a taco a day, or two doughnuts a day, or working in cookies and pizza on a consistent basis, but what you need to keep in mind is that NOT ALL WEIGHT LOSS IS CREATED EQUAL and food does MORE than impact the number staring back up at you when you step on the scale. HOW?1. Food choice impacts your hormones. Hormonal balance is essential to how you look, feel, perform and function in day to day life. Food has the power to either optimize your hormonal environment or completely throw it off center.2. Food choice impacts your gut bacteria and digestive health. 70% of your body's immune system is in your gut. Good luck hitting your fitness goals if it's not optimized. Healthy foods feed good bacteria while sugar and processed foods allow bad bacteria to thrive. 3. Food choice impacts your mood. Simple sugars found in junk foods, have been directly linked to anxiety and depression- because insufficient nutrient intake resulting from a diet high in low quality foods triggers chemical and physiological changes in the brain that alter mood and behavior.

4. Food choice impacts your energy. We eat "food" but the body is seeking NUTRIENTS. Nutrition means nourishment- the process by which the body obtains nutrients. A low nutrient dense diet contributes to exhaustion, lethargy, joint aches, an inability to focus and a lack of energy.5. Food choice impacts your ratio of lean body mass vs fat mass. Not all weight loss is created equal!! This is not just me talking from personal experience as a coach an athlete- this is also science. The effects of diet macronutrient composition on body composition and fat distribution has been studied. Those eating a diet rich in nutrient dense high quality whole foods lost a greater percentage of fat and sustained more muscle. Diet quality has been proven to impact the amount of fat mass relative to fat-free mass that is deposited or lost. 6. Food choice impacts sleep quality. This relationship is cyclical. Alcohol, high fat, high sugar and high processed foods have been correlated with low sleep quality. And in turn, studies now show that people who are sleep deprived eat more fatty foods, simple carbohydrates, and fewer vegetables. Sleep loss alters chemical signals connected to metabolism and hunger and many researchers believe sleep deprivation plays a major role in obesity.7. Food choice impacts satiety. What do you think will fill you up more and provide a greater dietary satisfaction- 100 calories from tortilla chips or 100 calories from a baked sweet potato? 100 calories from a hot dog or 100 calories from chicken breast? Highly processed foods that are low in nutrients have been linked to an increase in cravings and feeling unsatisfied after eating.Not to mention measures of dietary quality have been directly linked to obesity. In fact medical nutritional treatment for obesity advocates focusing on the quality of caloric intake FIRST versus caloric restriction for successful and sustainable weight loss. I've worked with several medically obese clients over the years and we always began by changing how the client sourced their food versus cutting calories. And they not only lost weight, they lost the right kind- FAT versus muscle.Am I saying eat nothing but chicken and broccoli or egg whites and oatmeal? NO.

Am I saying never enjoy yourself by flexing in some "less than optimal" foods? NO. What I am saying is a nutrient dense diet incorporating a variety of whole, healthy food is best. Regardless of your goal. It might be tempting, but don't believe the BS.

My clients lose weight- but they lose FAT not muscle. As a result they don't just look better they feel better. They have healthier metabolisms. Less cravings. More energy. Better sleep. Better overall quality of life. We achieve this by emphasizing not just total calories consumed but the QUALITY of those calories. I get it. It's far more appealing to hear "come train with me because you can eat whatever you want as long as it fits your macros" than it might be to have a coach who is hammering home the importance of a healthy dietary intake. But I could care less about being IG trendy and popular if it means peddling nutritional falsities to an already confused public. What you eat absolutely matters. And I will ALWAYS emphasize food quality with my clients.

Stress largely controls the hormonal and metabolic processes that can cause weight gain. When you are chronically stressed it can wreak metabolic havoc by reducing the total number of calories that you burn in a day, impairing blood sugar control, and affecting insulin, testosterone, and thyroid hormones.

SO, instead of googling "ways to rev your metabolism" or "fat burners" or wasting time chasing the latest diet-cure-all- superfood, opt for the less-sexy option that actually works: regular sleep, exercise, and proactive stress management.

How does stress impact your metabolism?One study, done on mice involved subjecting the mice to bullying, to induce a stress response.

In these mice, the chronic social stress didn't just make the mice fat, it ALSO gave them hormonal disorders including dysregulated cortisol rhythms, depression, social withdrawal, changes to their immune and endocrine systems, and binge-eating disorders.

The mice who were subjected to chronic stress gained weight and developed symptoms very similar to Type 2 Diabetes and metabolic syndrome. This response parallels all of the hormonal, metabolic, and immune/autoimmune problems that go along with obesity in humans. Obesity isn’t just about an accumulation of fat cells; it’s also about the inflammatory, hormonal, and metabolic changes that throw off your body’s natural regulation of how many fat cells you should have.

This study, while done on mice, clearly demonstrates the role stress plays in CAUSING obesity and weight gain. The mice even displayed different metabolic compensation mechanisms that prevent weight gain (like extracting fewer calories from their food and higher body temperatures). Stress somehow impairs the ability of the stressed mice to make metabolic adaptations to a higher-calorie intake.

What about humans? Well, in this study, women attempting to cope with just ONE stressor on the previous day burned 104 fewer calories after a meal than women who reported no stressors. And what woman, do you know, that only deals with ONE stressor? Exactly.

The hormonal response to stress, in the form of a chronically activated fight-or-flight response, impairs glucose tolerance, decreases levels of testosterone and thyroid hormones, and increases insulin resistance and inflammation. So stressed humans show the same kind of adaptations as the stressed mice I mentioned: their metabolisms slow down, their energy expenditure decreases, their hormones become unbalanced, and their blood sugar regulation goes down the drain.

Basically stress- CHRONIC stress- blunts your metabolic efficiency.

This is just more proof of how silly all the hype is about "boosting your metabolism" by drinking green tea, or eating such-and-such superfood. If you REALLY want to maximize your metabolism then manage your stress. It will get you a whole lot further then drinking ice water, adding cayenne to all your meals, or obsessing over having to eat everything organic.

You don’t have to avoid every situation that could plausibly be “stressful” (that’s impossible) but you also don’t have to let yourself get anxious over things that you can’t control or walk around in a constant state of worry. The human body is well equipped to deal with small doses of hormetic stress (which can actually HELP make you more resilient to other stressors) but what the body CAN'T deal with is the constant flood of cortisol and adrenaline that results from being stressed day in, day out for weeks and months on end. Learning to manage your stress is an integral part of whole body health and weight management. So, be proactive about managing your stress. Doing things like making time to get enough sleep, exercising, journaling, and incorporating other methods of rest and rejuvenation into your day help a lot to eliminate unnecessary stress and keep your metabolism healthy.

Gain muscle and lose fat without counting calories. Might sound like a BS tagline but it's not. A huge percentage of my clients do NOT log macros or count calories.

That's because my nutritional programsgo beyond valuing foods for calories alone.

I am all for dietary balance and sustainability. But what I am NOT about is the notion that all foods and calories are equal.

Yes- weight gain or loss always comes back to calories in vs calories out. However, that’s just overall bodyweight, that is NOT reflective of a change in body composition.

Food is much more than just calories and macros, you have to consider the physiological affects that food has at both a genetic and metabolic level as well as the psychological and hormonal impacts as well.

For example, I don't advocate my clients eating a large amount of hyper-palatable foods. When I say hyper-palatable foods I'm referencing foods higher in sugar/salt/fat and lower in fiber/protein, which make them extremely easy to eat in large quantities without feeling satiated.

Typically these foods are also highly processed and contain additives that can alter natural hormonal regulation within our bodies. Not only that, if you look at the neurobiology of obesity, there is research that links consumption of these foods with reward centers in the brain that impact future food choices. Basically you eat these hyper palatable foods, get a reward stimulus from the brain, and as a result are likely to eat them even more.

It's not that you should never enjoy yourself, or have a piece of cake, or a cookie or anything like that- but I believe its important to be aware of the impact that dietary decision may have on your body. You might enjoy the food in the moment, but you likely will not feel satisfied, will struggle to not over-eat, and might deal with cravings after you consume it, which could set you up to over-eat or binge.

This is why even my clients who use macro tracking nutritional plansare provided with food lists, which are basically suggested guidelines as to which foods should comprise the majority of your meals. I believe you have to always consider the psychological and metabolic impact of the foods you consume and I do the best I can to inform clients as to what's optimal for them and their goals.

The other issue with thinking all calories are the same boils down to the factors of nutrient density and food volume. For example, lets say you eat 400 calories of PB, or 4 TBSP. That's not a whole lot of volume. But, have you ever tried to eat 400 calories of broccoli? You couldn't. Because as you eat and your stomach stretches, hormones are released which send signals to your brain communicating that you’ve eaten enough. Hyper palatable foods are often low in fiber and protein and the release of certain hormones is dictated by how many times you chew - foods low in fiber and protein are much easier to chew and swallow in a few bites. So they satiate much less.

Think about the difference between a few handfuls of chips and an apple. Their caloric density is about the same but the overall volume from the apple seems greater due to the amount of time it takes to chew and swallow. This impacts your mind and body's perception of fullness and dietary satisfaction.

And while some people have a great deal of self discipline in having a small amount of hyper- palatable food now and again, for many, it's a slippery slope that leads to over-eating. A simple shift I suggest with clients who struggle with over-consuming processed food is to focus on maximizing food volume while minimizing caloric density. I always suggest they eat minimally processed foods, more fruits and vegetables, minimal shakes or liquid calories, lots of lean meats, and opt for high satiating carbohydrate sources such as potatoes or sprouted grain breads.

By minimizing consumption of processed hyper-palatable food, selecting nutrient dense whole food, and increasing healthy food volume- many of my clients have been able to see dramatic shifts in body composition (fat loss and/or muscle gain) without having to track a calorie, weigh a meal, or log a macro.

Basically- FOOD QUALITY counts. Don't be fooled into thinking otherwise. Eating well allows your body and all its natural processes to work WITH your body composition goals not against them.

There's a quote I read somewhere along the lines of " Structure results in freedom. Feeling overwhelmed results from a lack of structure, not an abundance of it."

Yet many of us, balk at the notion of structure, particularly when it comes to our diet. We all avoid or procrastinate on dietary changes for a whole myriad of reasons- mostly because we fear some semblance of structure.

We have kids.

We travel.

We eat out alot.

We don't have time.

It's too expensive.

We don't have support.

And so on.

And while I do understand that dietary changes can be intimidating and challenging, I think a shift in the way that you APPROACH a new way of eating, makes all the difference.

Structure can feel restrictive or confining, but it can also be empowering and freeing. It all depends on how you look at it.

The ability you have to pick and chose optimal foods for your goals is, ultimately, to me, a path to freedom and ownership over your health and body. If you approach dietary structure with the right mentality, I honestly believe it can make you feel motivated and powerful, rather than limited and discouraged.

And so I wanted to write this post to address some of the ways in which we think about, and speak about nutrition. Trust me, what you think and say about your diet can empower or disempower you to make the necessary dietary changes that will ultimately change your life.

1) SELF DISCIPLINE IS NOT LIMITING- IT'S FREEING

When I think about the foods I don't consume, or the type of diet that I'm following, I don’t consider myself limited. I consider myself FREE of the effects of poor dietary choices on my health and body composition. I consider myself empowered and in control of the decisions that impact how I look, feel and perform. I know how I feel if I eat dairy. Or processed food. Or lots of sugar. My colitis flares, leaving me exhausted and struggling both mentally and physically, and when I make decisions that take me FURTHER from my goals it leaves me feeling angry and disappointed in myself.

For me, it's not worth it.

Sadly, in our society, we consider a self-indulgent diet freedom, and a self-disciplined diet limitation.

I honestly think this is backwards. Consider the ancient spiritual paths of yoga, martial arts, or monastic lifestyles. Individuals underwent rigorous schedules of chants, meditations, and fasts.

One could look at these ancient practices and say, “Wow, that’s a super limiting way to live.” But dedicated individuals eventually became masters of their craft or art. These are the types of people who succeed in life, who reach their goals, and who become MORE.

Think about the rigid structure of the military- how it directs the actions of those who chose to enter it. And yet that same structure which could be seen as "limiting" is ALSO the same structure that unleashes potential, that trains soliders, that elevates the average from good to great to elite.

Self-discipline is not a personality trait; it’s learned. It's a skill, something that you can practice. The more you do it, the better you get. And self-discipline paves the way to freedom.

2) INDEPENDENCE IN YOUR DIET MEANS INDEPENDENCE IN LIFE

Hear me out on this.

One challenge to dieting is what I call the, ‘Self-Perceived-Wierdo Phenomenon.’

Perhaps you pass up the birthday cake at the office and get the comment, “Why can’t you just have a piece of cake to celebrate?” Or, you’re out to dinner and have extra requests regarding a menu item to make it more suitable for your diet.

Perhaps you choose to eat before going out, knowing you won’t find an appropriate option. So yu pass on eating altogether. Colleagues or friends may give you inquiring looks.

Or maybe you whip out a pre-planned meal in Tupperware. As if THAT doesn't genereate an eyebrow raise.

I hear it alot from my clients- that as a result of how others react to their diet, they seem to then in turn consider themselves "weird".

You may feel embarrassed or self-conscious, or simply painfully misunderstood. You may also feel uncomfortable with the attention you are bringing to your food choices, when all you really want is to eat that chicken breast, almonds and bag of baby carrot sticks in peace.

In situations where your food choices make you feel weird or self-conscious, take the opportunity to claim your independence. Be confident in your choices. Be proud of your decision to prioritize your health in an unhealthy society. Independence requires following your own path, despite the critics.

My take home point here is this: if your diet is nonconformist, it can put you on the path to further nonconformity. IT sets you apart, and those who are set apart are usually on the path to greatness.

3) EATING NATURAL FOOD BRINGS YOU BACK TO YOUR TRUE NATURE

Whole foods provide nutrients that work in synergy with our bodies. When we eat the foods our bodies have evolved to eat, we speak to the body in its own language. It understands how to use the nutrients in whole foods to orchestrate healing processes, to provide energy, focus, strength, and ultimately- to help facilitate a healthy body weight and body composition.

On the other hand,when all you do is bombard the body with highly processed food it's like someone speaking German to you when all you speak is Chinese. There's no understanding of what to do with what you're eating. Substances we call ‘food’ like refined sugar and artificial ingredients, are a perversion of nature. As a result, they pervert the body’s own nature. Processed, ‘fake’ foods not only confuse the body’s mechanisms, but also quiets our own natural intuition. These foods upset hunger and satiety signals, making it hard for us to figure out if we're hungry or not, they cause cravings, headaches, upset our healthy gut bacteria, and cause other issues that make it hard for us to "be in touch" with ourselves.

Fake food, sugar, processed chemical sweeteners, pharmaceuticals, and alcohol can all distort our healing wisdom and intuition. BUT, when we provide our body with the whole, nutrient dense foods we balance our own natural hunger/satiety signals, reduce cravings, facilitate a healthy digestive system, and in turn wind up experiencing more success with weight management.

At the end of the day, the path to your health, or weight loss, may mean giving up familiar comfort foods, or junky "food favorites." Sometimes there's simply no place for candy, cookies and pizza when you have health or weight goals.

But I encourage you to consider not what you give up, but what you gain. You’ll gain self-discipline. You’ll experience independence. You’ll expand your intuition.

You don't need a "new year" to begin working on a new you. And in fact, I feel part of why so many people become a fitness disaster during the holiday season is because the holidays themselves precede the New Year. In other words, who cares if you fly off the wagon during the holidays because hey, come Jan 1 it's a fresh start- right?

Sort of. It won't feel so fresh if you've skipped the gym for damn near a month, ate your weight in holiday cookies and are struggling to fit into your clothes.

I encourage you to view Jan 1 for what it TRULY is, another day, like any other day. It follows December 31st and comes before Jan 2nd and nothing REALLY changes, unless YOU decide to make a change. All of the objections you have about cleaning up your fitness habits now will still exist. All of the excuses you allow yourself will still be there- "I don't have time", "I'm too busy", "I don't have the money", "I can't." None of this just miraculously up and vanishes come Jan 1st.

So if you can "start then" you can start now.

And CERTAINLY you can stay on track and enter the new year ready to crank it up even more. After all, "an object in motion stays in motion." It's easier to keep going then it is to stop and try to start again.

Some suggestions for keeping yourself focused during the holidays:

1) Start NOW. Procrastination leads to stagnation. You can't and won't feel motivated if you have no momentum and are not taking any action towards your goals. I have seen so many people be INCREDIBLY successful during the holidays by STARTING NOW, and NOT waiting until Jan 1. Beginnings have excitement and newness, and help fill us with motivation. These are all feelings that can help generate much needed momentum through the holiday season. I've had a few clients start with me mid Nov and December and they are KILLING their programs with focus and commitment. Nothing helps create motivation like a new program. So if you're "Waiting" until Jan 1. Don't. Start now.

2) Set frequent and measurable goals. If you have ALREADY started, then its time to focus on establishing frequent and measurable goals. Studies have shown that people thrive on frequent and measurable feedback, and that this can actually help create momentum in goal achievement. Rather than thinking in terms of the bigger picture, set daily, and weekly goals, such as "drink a gallon of water" or "get to the gym 5x a week". When one is achieved, then update your goals so small wins are continually captured.

3) Get support! People tend to make more progress when they feel they’re part of a supported community. This is part of why I started the Alli-Fitness FB Group, a closed group for my clients. If you struggle to stay motivated this time of year it can help to connect with individuals who maybe have an easier time staying focused during the holidays. Connecting with like minded individuals can help reaffirm your purpose and give you the momentum needed to stay on track.

4) Adapt don't QUIT. It's not the individual impact of eating one cookie, or missing one workout that's a big deal. It’s the cumulative impact of allowing it to become the norm. It's critical to stick to your schedule, even if it's only in a very small way. Don't have enough time to do a full workout? Just go for a walk. Drop and do 25 burpees. Do that a few times throughout the day. Adapt don't quit. Something is ALWAYS better than nothing. It's not about perfection, because perfection does not exist, anywhere, in anyone. it's about making progress, and that hinges on your ability to find a way to stick to your schedule, no matter how small may be.

5) Plan ahead. Schedule your workouts if you find you're getting busy. Block out time to food prep. Headed to a holiday party this weekend? Call the restaurant, get the menu. Figure out what healthy options are available. How can you make a good choice? If it's catered try to find out what will be served or plan to eat before or after the party and bring your own food. Want to indulge? Plan to make it fit your macros and adjust the rest of the day accordingly. Have to travel for the holidays? Do some research on travel workouts or bodyweight only training that you can do with ease and simplicity. Be proactive in taking control of the holidays. Good decisions are empowering. They fill you with confidence and THAT helps keep you motivated and on track.

The fitness industry is still, sadly, an industry of trends. Diets gain rapid popularity, then wane, then suddenly out of nowhere become popular again. One trend I've noticed regaining popularity is the vegan diet.

And lately I’ve received some emails from current and potential clients asking questions about whether or not vegan is healthy and if they should give up meat and/or animal products.

Diets, and dieting, can seem complicated, especially because information is both conflicting and abundant. Sadly one downfall in the abundance of information out there is that MOST of it is unreliable and isn't backed by science in any way. And, when a dietary approach is popular, the vast majority of "information" on it, trends in its favor. Think about when Paleo was new. Most of the information on the internet was staunchly in it's favor. As the diet fell under scrutiny, suddenly conflicting evidence cropped up and now you can find all sorts of information AGAINST the Paleo diet.

When it comes to dieting, as a coach, one key component I like to focus on, regardless, is keeping nutrition balanced and keeping food sources abundant. By this I mean I like to see my clients eat diets including not just appropriate amounts of all three macronutrients (carbs, protein and fat) but to also be consuming a wide variety of food sources, both plant AND animal based.

So in short, I'm NOT a big fan of vegan diets despite the trend. Nor do I consider them as healthy as some claim them to be. And here's why:

1. Vegan diets are extremely unhealthy for your digestive system. Humans aren't herbivores any more than we are carnivores. Just as we shouldn't consume a diet of just meat, we ALSO shouldn't consume a diet void of any animal products. We are omnivores, designed to consume a wide variety of food sources.

The most edible part of a plant is called cellulose and it isn't even able to be digested by our bodies. We lack the gut bacteria for it. And we can only eat grains and beans and seeds after grinding, soaking, and cooking, because unlike birds and rodents who are adapted to eat them, they’re poisonous and problematic to humans in their natural state. So a lot of popular vegan products, dishes and foods wind up resulting in all sorts of digestive issues. This causes inflammation.

The enzymes in our body (pepsin, trypsin, chymotrypsin, and other proteases) can efficiently break down protein, and bile salts and lipase can break down fat, but our bodies don't break down sugar, starch or fiber (found in grains, beans and vegetables) the same way.

Think about it- what makes you fart? What makes you bloat? What comes out in your stool sometimes un-digested? Beans, starches and veggies.

Since 70% of your immune system is in your gut, when it becomes chronically inflamed or ill you can imagine the impact that has on your energy, focus, strength, weight management and overall sense of wellbeing.

2. Vegan diets often rely too heavily on soy. Excessive consumption of soy is like laying out the welcome mat for hormonal issues. And while the dangers of soy are much more widely accepted and understood now than they were 10 years ago, a lot of vegan diets still unfortunately incorporate a lot of soy products like soy milk, yogurt, soy protein powder, soy protein bars, soy cereals, tofu and tempeh.

Thousands of studies link soy to malnutrition, digestive distress, immune system breakdown, thyroid dysfunction, cognitive decline, reproductive disorders and infertility — even cancer and heart disease.

The primary concern with consuming soy in any form is the phytoestrogen content. Phytoestrogens mimic estrogen in the body, causing a chain reaction of hormone imbalances.

Soy also contains Trypsin inhibitors which interfere with protein digestion and may cause pancreatic disorders.

Goitrogens are potent agents that block your synthesis of thyroid hormones and can cause hypothyroidism and thyroid cancer. In infants, consumption of soy formula has been linked with autoimmune thyroid disease. Goitrogens also interfere with iodine metabolism.

Another issue is the protein denaturing with soy. Fragile proteins are denatured during high temperature processing to make soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein (TVP). Chemical processing of soy protein results in the formation of toxic lysinoalanine and highly carcinogenic nitrosamines.

And lastly, soy contains high concentrations of phytic acid which reduces assimilation of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc. Phytic acid in soy is not neutralized by ordinary preparation methods such as soaking or sprouting but only with long fermentation. And high-phytate diets have been linked to growth problems in children.

3. Vegan diets have been shown to have several glaring vitamin/mineral deficiencies like B12, Iron, K2, and the fat soluble vitamins A and D.

I'll start with Vitamin A and D- both of which are important for immune regulation and hormonal balance. Contrary to popular belief, you can’t get vitamin A from carrots. Vegetables provide carotene, a precursor to vitamin A, while only animal sources provide true vitamin A. Many people believe that carotene can be converted into vitamin A, but this conversion is usually insignificant. First, it takes a huge amount of carotene to convert to a moderate amount of vitamin A. Second, when there is poor thyroid function, impaired digestion or a lack of healthy fats in the diet, this conversion won’t happen.

In the same way, useable vitamin D (vitamin D3) is only found in animal products such as pastured eggs and wild caught salmon. And the vegan claim that you can obtain vitamin D from mushrooms is malarkey. Mushrooms contain vitamin D2, which is extremely poorly absorbed, NOT vitamin D3.

Vitamin K2 is the shuttle that transports calcium into your bones. You can eat as much calcium as you want but it won’t strengthen your bones unless it is accompanied by vitamin K2. And you can't get it from plants. Like other fat-soluble vitamins, K2 is found fatty sources as in from pastured eggs, milk and cheese from grassfed animals, beef, and chicken.

And the readily-absorbed form of vitamin B12 and iron is found only in animal sources (seeing a pattern here?). Testing shows that 83% of vegans are B12 deficient, compared to 5% of omnivores.

Chris Kessler has some great info on vitamin deficiencies and vegans and in his one post he says: "A common myth amongst vegetarians and vegans is that it’s possible to get B12 from plant sources like seaweed, fermented soy, spirulina and brewers yeast. But plant foods said to contain B12 actually contain B12 analogs called cobamides that block the intake of, and increase the need for, true B12."

Chris also discusses iron in the same post. While plants such as lentils and leafy greens do provide some iron, it is not as well-absorbed as animal-based iron. "Vegetarians and vegans have lower iron stores than omnivores, and vegetarian diets have been shown to reduce non-heme iron absorption by 70% and total iron absorption by 85%."

4. Vegan diets include way too much "faux" food. How in the heck do you think you can create cheese, bacon, milk and yogurt without cheese, bacon, milk or yogurt?

With a whole myriad of faux foods including stabilizers, gums, thickeners and highly processed protein extracts. Yum.

Using Earth Balance, a non-dairy butter often used in vegan diets as an example, the ingredients include: Palm fruit oil, canola oil, safflower oil, flax oil, olive oil, salt, natural flavor, pea protein, sunflower lecithin, lactic acid, annatto color.

Ingredients in butter: butter.

We have been eating butter for thousands of years, but we only started producing canola oil in the last century. Butter is real food, but canola oil is arguable. The other ingredients are as well. Pea protein is highly processed. Even the term "natural flavors". Do you know what that means? I don't.

Two other examples?

Ingredients in "tofurkey": tofu (water, organic soybeans, magnesium chloride, calcium chloride), vital wheat gluten, expeller pressed non-GMO canola oil, water, shoyu soy sauce (water, non-GMO soybeans, wheat, salt, culture), soy flour, sundried tomatoes, basil, granulated garlic, sea salt, spices and on and on we go.

Ingredients used in vegan "cheese?" Well, to get the taste and texture right the profile could include any (hell maybe ALL) of the following: soy protein,solidified vegetable oil, nutritional yeast, thickening agar flakes, nuts, plant starches or flours or gums, natural enzymes, vegetable glycerin, bacterial cultures, arrowroot, pea protein and varying emulsifiers and thickeners.

The holidays can be rough, particularly if you have fitness or body composition goals that don't align with copious amounts of stuffing and pumpkin pie. While I don't advocate throwing your diet out the window and engaging in a food free for all, I also understand that carrying Tupperware and pre prepared meals to a family get together isn't feasible for everyone.

So perhaps entertain one (or more) of the following suggestions, which should help you to strike a middle ground for the holidays:

NO MATTER WHAT, DON'T BINGE-

Regardless of your goals, stuffing yourself yourself to the point of mental guilt, regret, and physical discomfort is never a good idea. I have literally seen people eat themselves right out of any progress made on their programming in the matter of a day or two. Remember that any weight that is put on will eventually have to come off again. Be sensible and use self control. You're an adult. Eating yourself senseless does nothing but create physiological and psychological damage.

NEVER ARRIVE HUNGRY -

One huge mistake I see people make is to fast for damn near a day before Thanksgiving thinking they can then just stuff their face with whatever and the consequences will be mitigated. The trouble is by the time you sit to eat you're famished and it's hard to make a good decision with insane hunger pangs present.

Eat your meals as normal if possible and don't show up hungry.

One great trick is to chug a protein shake right before you walk inside. The water will expand in the stomach and help stave off hunger and protein has the highest satiety factor of any macronutrient so it will help you to feel fuller longer.

HAVE A PLAN BEFORE YOU GO-

This is SO ESSENTIAL. I never dictate to clients how to handle the holidays- as I feel each person needs to do what's best for them, however I DO encourage you to figure out what you want to do and how you plan to approach Thanksgiving before you hit the big day. This helps incredibly because you won't head into the meal panicked. You will feel more calm and better equipped to make healthy and informed decisions. It also helps prevent you from making decisions based upon familial or peer pressure ("oh just have a bite it won't kill you.").

If you're cooking try to include some healthy items that allow you to adhere to your diet (such as a baked sweet potato, turkey and veggies without sauce, or a healthy salad) or if you're going somewhere try to find out in advance what will be served and plan out what you can and can not have.

ADJUST YOUR MEAL PLAN-

This is one instance where tweaking your meal plan can help. For example let's say that you carb cycle. If your usual high carb day is Saturday, switch it to Thursday and then skip it when Saturday swings around. Or, if you track macros and you have a flex day switch your flex day to Thanksgiving so you have some extra wiggle room with calories. Or, if you track macros you can also make the remaining meals of the day smaller and "calori hoard" or save the bulk of your calories for Thanksgiving dinner. Estimate foods eaten if needed, keep portions reasonable, and enjoy yourself.

Another suggestion is that if you know you're going to indulge a little at Thanksgiving dinner try making the day before and the day after low carb or lower calorie days to help balance it out.

Some creative rearranging can help get you through the holidays unscathed

IF YOU PLAN TO INDULGE DO SO SENSIBLY AND SMARTLY-

By this I mean only eat what's truly "worth it" to you. I'm not against treating yourself, but I am against mindless eating and binging. Don't eat just to eat. Eat what's WORTH the extra calories to you.

For example, if you absolutely love your grandmas pumpkin roll but aren't really going to be upset if you miss out on stuffing, then don't eat the stuffing and treat yourself to a small piece of pumpkin roll. Instead of loading your plate at dinner, fill up on turkey and veggies so you have some leeway with the pumpkin roll. And then ENJOY IT- guilt free.

RELAX, DON'T STRESS, AND HAVE FUN-

I think it's SO important to remember that Thanksgiving is about just that- giving thanks. It's NOT about food. While food is one part of the holidays it shouldn't be the determining factor as to whether or not you can relax and enjoy time with loved ones. There's no need to be so food oriented. It's a day to take a deep breath and be grateful and you don't need to overeat in order to do that. Have fun and enjoy yourself but remember your goals and keep your priorities in mind. Making responsible choices is part of life- period, whether it's a holiday or not!

“I just want to enjoy myself a bit.”

This right here is the sign of someone that is about to go off the f***ing rails!

It may seem so innocent. In fact, it is meant to be innocent. After all, they have usually been dieting for months and now that the diet or prep is at an end, they want to enjoy the foods and have the freedom that they haven’t had in a while.

While this may sound harmless, I can say that nearly every client that has ever said those words to me has had binge issues after the show. I bet that if you ask any reputable coach, they will tell you the same. This seemly small statement is usually the first step in a line of self bargaining and rationalization for why it’s okay to eat your face off. It usually starts with wanting to enjoy yourself. Then it’s convincing yourself that counting macros would hinder “enjoying yourself”, then you start to realize how many different foods you want in the name of “enjoying yourself”. Before you know it, you’re up 15 lbs.

When your diet or prep is coming to an end you need to remember that you are in absolutely no mental state to completely remove structure and boundaries. There are times where you could likely get away with not counting macros and trying different foods more freely, but immediately after restricting yourself for months on end is not one of those times. You aren’t in a proper mental state to manage moderation.

You’ve spent months restricting and structuring, so if you want to succeed post diet then you need to treat the first 4-8 weeks after almost like an extension of your diet. You should bring food up, slowly add new foods, slowly reduce the structure, and gradually reintroduce normalcy.

I know it’s hard to deal with the fact that the end of your diet isn’t really “the end”, but I promise you that a little bit of discipline will keep you from creating a disastrous situation after your diet is over. If you already have the mindset that you’ll enjoy yourself a bit after your diet is over, just remember that it’s one slippery slope you’re on."

( CLIFF WILSON, Bodybuilding Prep Coach and Professional Natural Bodybuilder)

Coming off of a diet ( after a competition or any other leaning out phase that requires you to follow a calorie-restricted nutrition plan ) can often be more challenging than the diet itself. This is particularly true if you dieted to the point of being shredded and carrying ultra low levels of bodyfat, as with bodybuilding. The strain of an intense diet places both the mind and body in a hyper sensitive state, making you very susceptible to binging and subsequent weight gain if you aren't careful.

Trust me I know firsthand.

When I began competing over a decade ago I struggled with my own post-competition weight gain. Early on I rebounded hard from a few shows because I binge ate on all the foods that had been “off limits” for months. Sadly this isn't uncommon. I have seen competitor after competitor blow up after a show, accumulating adipose tissue at an alarming rate. Normally, after a competition, we treat ourselves by having a cheat meal that has been, in a lot of ways, the light at the end of the tunnel. One meal usually is fine, but the problem is that many people eat too much, continuing to shove food in past being comfortably full and they continue to splurge into the following days and weeks. Once the muscles fill after a big meal or two it doesn't take much time to spill over into the fat cells. I have seen people EASILY put on 20-plus pounds in the week after a competition, and then struggle for the next six months (literally) to get it off. That's because the trouble is that with each rebound and rapid weight gain, it makes it harder and harder to lose the weight and maintain a healthy metabolism. In order to diet, lost weight or bodyfat, calories have to creep lower and lower, cardio continuously increases, and all of this (excessive cardio coupled with restrictive caloric intake) causes significant muscle wasting, a steady decline in metabolic efficiency, and disrupts a healthy hormonal environment.

Even though mentally and physically you may want to eat, it also happens to be one of the MOST dangerous times for anyone to go off the deep end. When you are on a calorie-restricted diet, your metabolism will actually slow down for a period of time, (a natural physical adaptation to insufficient caloric intake) and therefore, is usually not able to process the extra calories fast enough, thus storing a lot of the incoming calories as fat. NOT FUN.

That's why reverse dieting becomes so essential. It helps you AVOID the post contest binge . The process of reverse dieting (which I'll get into in a moment) varies from person to person based on a variety of factors like gender, their training program, their bodyfat and individual level of muscle mass, how hard they had to diet (how low of a deficit they were in), how long they had to diet, and genetics – some people are blessed with a faster metabolism and others are not.

The key in reverse dieting is to not rush, to take your time and do it right.

So what is a reverse diet? Reverse dieting is the process of increasing your caloric intake while simultaneously pulling back on the amount of cardio. It sounds easy, but it can be even more challenging than the original diet itself. After being in a caloric deficit for so long, not only is your body screaming “FEED ME!”, but your brain is also screaming the same thing. Reverse dieting requires a great deal of discipline and focus.

When done properly, reverse dieting provides you with two main benefits:

1) It restores a slowed metabolism over time and gives you the metabolic capacity to diet again.

2) It helps to keep you lean in the offseason, so you don’t have to diet so long and hard the next time to achieve your desired results. It’s the situation all competitors should strive to be in – leaner in offseason, metabolism fired up on higher calories to support the next prep, and a nice offseason of lean muscle growth.

Keep in mind that, as I mentioned, this process varies greatly from person to person, but the following paragraphs should help to give you an idea of where and how to start.

YOU MUST BE VERY DILIGENT WITH YOUR MACRO COUNTING AND CONTINUE TO MEASURE ALL FOODS FOR THIS TO WORK. TRACK YOUR DIET, PREP YOUR MEALS AND BE JUST AS DISCIPLINED AND CONSISTENT WITH YOUR REVERSE AS YOU WERE WITH YOUR PRE-CONTEST DIET.

Saturday

Typically Saturday is the show day. When the show ends I usually allow my athletes an untracked free meal, but caution them to maintain control. It's unhealthy to eat yourself sick.

Sunday

Typically I encourage they get RIGHT back on track the next day. If needed, stick to your usual macros but "flex" in one or two foods you have been wanting, or some "non typical" diet foods. Again, maintain discipline and control.

Week 1 POST SHOW

I usually START a reverse diet where the athlete left off BEFORE peak week. For most this is the same dietary intake they were on about 2 weeks out from their show. I begin by usually increasing carbs. By how much depends upon the individual but a good rule of thumb is 10 grams. So for example, if you were eating 100g of carbs each day before your show, your carbs would go up to 110 grams a day for week 1, then, if all goes well, 120 grams of carbs for week 2 and so on.

Continue to do cardio, but cut the amount. How MUCH I cut, again, depends on the individual, but I usually like to back off cardio fairly quickly. I'll reduce each session by 5-10 minutes if there are multiple sessions. If you are one of the lucky ones who only needed to do one session of cardio, continue doing that while adjusting your diet, but maybe drop by 3-5 minutes for Week 1.

End Of Week 1

I usually introduce a re-feed day, but BE CAREFUL. For some who are very low calorie or have had a harsh prep you will need to make sure you do not eat too much at once, as the metabolic rate may not support it. Typically I don't like cheat meals at this point as it's too close to the show and all it does is usually instigate cravings and/or perpetuate a binge. Typically I add in anywhere from 100-200 grams of extra carbs for most people depending on the situation.

Week 2 POST SHOW

Week 2 simply builds off Week 1. Start to add calories back in again but ONLY if your weight hasn’t really gone up much. If weight has gone up I still usually will advise a drop in cardio – at least 5 minutes – while holding diet the same for another week. Right now, the key is going to be adding back calories from carbs and backing the amount of cardio down slowly.

This process goes on and on each week until you are doing anywhere from 3-5 sessions of 30-45 minutes of cardio per week. If you are looking to build muscle, I do not advise doing 2 sessions a day or anything longer than 40 minutes a day.

Week 2 POST SHOW AND BEYOND

I recommend slowly increasing your macros each week , adding in either 10 grams of carbs or 5 grams of or 15 grams of carb and no fat. Again- ALWAYS watch the mirror and the scale as you go.

When this is done correctly this creates a metabolically efficient and hormonally healthy environment that will set you up not just for a successful offseason of muscle gain, but also a successful contest prep when you chose to aggressively target fat loss again. However, as you get deeper into offseason, usually after 8-12 weeks of reverse dieting, you will have to slow the rate you add calories and look to maintain caloric intake versus just continuing to increase it. Again, this is based upon the individual. If your weight gain slows or weight is stable you COULD increase calories every 3 weeks or so.

Typically I find it takes most people 8-10 weeks to reverse diet properly, but some, with faster metabolisms can handle more drastic calorie increases without unwanted weight gain and can get their dietary intake up in 4-6 weeks. Others, with stubborn bodies or very slow metabolisms can take much longer, upwards of 12-14, particularly if they're struggling with compliance and consistency.

I hope this insight into reverse dieting has shed some light on how useful it is. It isn’t easy and if you are in need of help, I definitely recommend hiring a coach to help assist you. The way you look at your next show will largely be determined by how you come off the diet of your LAST show. Keep in mind- bodybuilding isn't just a contest prep, it's a year round lifestyle of discipline and dedication. Stay focused!

Even if you consistently are able to get 7-8 hours of quality sleep each night, you might still wind up feeling fatigued throughout your day. This is because the human body simply isn't designed to power ahead full speed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Moments of restoration are essential to your ability to live fully and healthfully. So between your long hours at the office and dedicated training sessions, here are the three types of downtime you should prioritize each week:

Passive rest is the kind of rest that makes most goal driven individuals feel like they're wasting their time: You basically just sit. Essentially, passive rest is time spent doing nothing. You could be laying down outside, relaxing on the coach, or daydreaming or reflecting on life. But the bottom line is that we need moments of decreased brain activity for purposes of recovery and restoration.

Researchers at the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California found that these passive moments, devoid of external stimulation, allow your brain to take a much needed break. These rest periods also allow your mind to access a so-called default mode of neural processing, which is critical for helping you to develop self-awareness, recall personal memories, make moral judgments, and give your life meaningful context.

Passive rest has never been more important than in this day and age either. This is because we live in a time of constant stimulation, due to the ever present nature of modern technology. Unfortunately this technology (especially smart phones) keep the default mode largely suppressed. Think about the last time you found yourself standing in a long line at the grocery store: Did you wait quietly with your thoughts, or did you pull out your phone and start scrolling social media? By occasionally doing the former, you can improve your social-emotional wellbeing and your ability to focus.

HOW TO DO IT: Try to spend a few moments each day just sitting and relaxing. Don't watch TV, don't pull out your phone, don't surf the internet. Just sit quietly and allow yourself some time to relax. Start with maybe just 5 minutes, and work to increase it from there. If you find it hard to sit passively, try taking a long bath, or engage in a low-demand task like painting or journaling.

ACTIVE REST:Intense training undoubtedly improves your strength, fitness and body composition. But active rest, or active recovery is an essential component of your overall health and wellbeing as well. Active rest involves light exercises (often yoga, walking, jogging, swimming or cycling) that stimulate the recovery process without imposing undue stress on the body. Basically this is easy movement that helps get blood moving, reduces residual fatigue in tired muscles and provides a much needed mental and physical break from the intensity of hard training sessions. This kind of light-activity rest can not only speed your physical recovery but can also help control your stress and boost your mood. A report from researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital found that people who incorporated light activity that they enjoyed were more likely to develop into what has been called “superagers,” which are individuals who maintain the cognitive functions of 20 or 30 year olds long into their old age.

HOW TO DO IT: Active recovery can take many forms depending upon your personal interests. Try going for a long walk outdoors and enjoying some fresh air. Or go for a bike ride, a swim, or try a yoga class. Even some stretching and time with a foam roller can be beneficial. As long as you incorporate some movement into your day and keep it easy and light, you'll be engaging in effective active rest.

SOCIAL REST:There is sufficient evidence throughout many avenues of research that supports the importance of social interaction for emotional, mental and even physical health. Spending time being social isn’t slacking off; it’s a critical way to combat stress, ward off depression, improve your sleep, enhance brain function, and even prevent sickness. A meta-analysis from Utah’s Brigham Young University concluded that a lack of socialization impacts human health in ways comparable to smoking and alcohol consumption. Essentially, it takes years off of your life. People with social relationships live 50% longer than those who are socially isolated. So if you don't schedule regular interactions with your friends, it's time to start.

HOW TO DO IT: Some people are naturally more social, others are not. Regardless, social interaction (person to person, not through the internet) is integral to your wellbeing. If you don't socialize much, try to at least meet up with friends or family you don't frequently see once or twice a month. It could be something as simple as grabbing lunch or coffee or doing some shopping together. If you don't have many friends or close family, then you'll need to actively begin to formulate new relationships to help improve your social health. Try joining a book club, taking a fitness class, a cooking class, even strive to meet and interact with others through volunteer outreach.

It's really easy- almost unavoidable actually- to get confused when it comes to diet and nutrition. Thanks to the internet there is an abundance of information out there, most of which is contradictory.

Eat no fat. Eat lots of fat. Go vegan. Carbs are bad. Wait no they're good just don't eat past 6pm. Keto is back. Carb back loading. Or worse- things like take "x" supplement 3x a day with "x" shake and stand on your head and you'll become a fat burning machine, no exercise required.

This information overload leads to what I call obsessive program hopping. People try one approach then move quickly to another, changing course based on whatever new fad, trend or method they just read about. They get so caught up in "finding the ideal diet" that they completely disregard the importance of factoring in individual lifestyle variances and preferences.

Never forget that the single most important factor when it comes to nutrition is consistency. Whatever you do, whatever method, it has to be one you can actually adhere to with consistency. This is the basis for all my nutritional program design when it comes to my clients. The first thing I consider is what the client needs in his/her life to be compliant.

So when people ask me what the ideal diet is, or what the "best method" would be, I'm not trying to be wishy washy when I say "the best diet is the diet that works for YOU." That's not a vague answer, that's the damn truth. You can split hairs over the "right" macronutrients ratios, meal frequency, nutrient timing, even daily caloric intake all you want but while this information matters, it's all secondary to your ability to be consistent in your adherence.

For you science nerds a 2008 study done on varying diets, dietary adherence and bodyweight change followed participants over the course of 12 months and found that regardless of what diet approach they followed, those who lost the most weight and kept it off were those with higher rates of adherence.

Duh.

No matter what you eat or what diet you're on you have to adhere to it consistently. The saying "it's what you do daily that matters not what you do once in a while" is true. A few good days of healthy choices followed by utter diet chaos for a week doesn't do anything in the way of generating lasting results. You have to get consistent and STAY consistent. And yet it's one of the most overlooked components when trying to figure out the best nutritional strategy.

Stop worrying about what's "best" and start trying to identify what's best for YOU. Can't eat six times a day conveniently? Then don't. Love steak? Then going vegan likely won't work, even if that article you read said otherwise. Super busy and hate technology? Then who cares if macro tracking is what you read is best- it likely won't work based on your lifestyle. If you love dietary variety then don't waste your time purchasing yet another set meal plan.

What is most admirable is working on establishing healthy habits and consistent eating behaviors that you can sustain day in and day out, year round, not spastically hopping from one crash diet to another.

You break yo-yo dieting only when you stop chasing fads and seek nutritional sustainability. Ask yourself what YOU need to do to get and stay consistent. Successful body composition hinges on consistent habits and the best way to ensure dietary adherence is high is to find a way of eating that is not only enjoyable but that fits with who you are and how you live your life.

You follow your diet religiously for months, and then break it with a weekend binge.

Or maybe you miss a meal, or skip the gym.

You tell yourself it's just one time, and it won't hurt anything, but then suddenly you've skipped the gym AGAIN, or missed several meals, or stopped at the drive thru on the way home from work.

You try to get your act together, commit to working out more, hit the gym again for a day or two, but despite your best efforts, you keep finding yourself back in the habit of making excuses and pushing your fitness aside.

You don't meal prep, and as a result wind up snacking your way through the kitchen for a few days in a row. You continue to skip the gym. And with each poor decision, you feel worse and worse about yourself, which sadly, just perpetuates the cycle.

Suddenly, despite your fitness goals, you find you are back in the place you worked so hard to get yourself out of. You haven't been to the gym in weeks, you're not eating well, and what's worse, you're allowing yourself excuses.

Your diet slip up has become a snowball.

Small hiccups don’t make you a failure, they make you human. The most successful people in the world slip up on their habits. No one is perfect.

But where the danger begins to occur is when slipups turn into downward spirals, when one missed workout becomes months of missed workouts, and when nutrition plan deviations become daily habits versus random occurrences.

It's one thing to dig yourself up out of a missed meal or a weekend bender. But what do you do when your diet slip up becomes a setback? When your weekend binge turns into a total diet hiatus?

There will always be instances when following your regular routine is basically impossible. And no one is perfect. We all slip up. But at SOME point you need to take a long hard look at yourself, and where you are at and ask yourself if this is really a slip up or if you have just utterly let yourself go. And if you have, at what point is it time to get your act together and get back on track?

Successful people are people who are able to pick themselves back up even after the worst of falls. It's not about motivation, or even superhuman willpower, it's about implementing the right strategies into your daily life to pull you back on track. It's about re-forming GOOD habits.

Here are a few strategies- REAL LIFE STRATEGIES- that I suggest you use to help you bounce back and lose the weight that you've been piling on:

1. STOP TALKING ABOUT IT- SCHEDULE IT!

Obviously, talking about it hasn't helped. How many times over the last few months have you said "I need to get back to the gym" or "I need to start eating better". Talk is cheap. And it's ineffective. It's time to ACT, and the best way to do that is to give good habits a specific space in your life. There are two main options for making this happen, the first being to actually WRITE IT DOWN or PUT IT IN YOUR CALENDAR. Want to get back on track with your workouts? Schedule it. Give yourself a time and place that it needs to happen. 6pm every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. You are in the gym. The second option is to tie it to your current behavior. Not all of your habits will fit a specific time frame, but they all should have a trigger that acts as a reminder to do them. Want to eat better? Lay out your meals for the next day, the night before. EVERY DAY. In that order. Form the habit. Eat dinner. Wash the dishes. Measure out meals for the next day. Dinner is the reminder. Same trigger, same sequence, every time.

The bottom line is this: it might be nice to tell yourself that you're going to change, but getting specific makes it real and gives you a reason and a reminder to get back on track whenever you slip up. Soon is not a time and some is not a number. When and where, exactly, are you going to do this? You might forget once, but what system do you have in place to automatically remind you the next time?

2. STICK TO YOUR SCHEDULE- even in small ways

It's not the individual impact of missing one meal, or one workout, or messing up your schedule that's a big deal. It’s the cumulative impact of never getting back on track. If you miss one workout, you don't suddenly feel more out of shape than you were before. But when one workout becomes ten and suddenly you're feeling mushy and your pants are snug, THEN it becomes a problem. For that reason, it's critical to stick to your schedule, even if it's only in a very small way. Don't have enough time to do a full workout? Just go for a walk. Drop and do 25 burpees. Do that a few times throughout the day. It's like this with anything in life. Don't have enough time to do yoga? Take ten seconds to breathe deeply. Don't have enough time for a vacation? Give yourself a half day and go shopping, drive to a nearby town, or take a long relaxing walk.

Individually, these behaviors seem pretty insignificant. But it's not the individual impact that makes a difference here. It's the cumulative impact of always sticking to your schedule that will carry you to long–term success. It's not about perfection, because perfection does not exist, anywhere, in anyone. it's about making progress, and that hinges on your ability to find a way to stick to your schedule, no matter how small may be.

3. IMPLEMENT ACCOUNTABILITY- have someone who expects something of you.

I've been on many teams throughout my athletic career and you know what happens when you have friends, teammates, and coaches expecting you to be at practice? You show up. When people count on you, or expect things of you, it changes the way in which you react. It's why having a coach or a trainer helps when you're in prep for a competition. You have to check in. Submit photos. Hold yourself accountable. It's why popular weight loss programs all involve coaches and weigh ins and progress monitoring. Most people, when left to their own devices, just don't keep themselves on track the same way in which they do when they have someone to "report" to. It doesn't matter if it's even just your spouse or a friend. Get someone in your life involved in your process and in your goals and get them to help hold you accountable to your actions.

4. DO THE BEST YOU CAN- Focus on what you can work with.

We waste so much time focusing on what we can't do, or what is withheld from us, versus what we CAN do. This is especially true after we slip up and get off track from our goals. Anytime we don't do the things we want to do, like eating healthy or going to the gym, we come up with excuses: “I don't have enough money. I don't have enough time. I don't have the right contacts. I don't have enough experience. I need to learn more. I'm not sure what to do. I feel uncomfortable and stupid. I'm too busy. I'm so far behind."

Here's what I want you to think instead: “I can work with this.” Because you can. The truth is that most of us start in the same place, feeling like there is NO way out of where we are, no momentum helping to push us forward, no money, no resources, no contacts, no experience, but people who succeed, in weight loss and in life are people who make the decision to get started anyhow. It's not easy, but I promise you that your life will be better if you choose to feel uncomfortable and make progress, rather than complain and make excuses. Shift your focus from what is withheld from you to what is available to you. What CAN you do with what you have? Remember, it's rare that your circumstances prevent you from making any progress. Typically the only thing preventing you from making progress, is YOU. You might not like where you have to start. Your progress might be awkward, uncomfortable, slow and downright challenging, but some progress is better than stagnation. ANY forward movement is better than staying stuck. Tell yourself, "I can work with this."

5. JUST BECAUSE IT'S NOT OPTIMAL doesn't mean it's not beneficial.

It's so easy to get hung up on doing things the optimal way and end up preventing yourself from doing them at all. This all ties into the notion of "having to be perfect." For example, if you can't make it to the gym, you just don't go at all. Seriously? You're telling me that if you can't go to the gym for an hour then it's a waste of time to go for a 30 minute run? Do a quick bodyweight circuit in your living room? I don't think it is. And I'm sure you don't think it is either. SOMETHING IS BETTER THEN NOTHING. Just because you can't do EXACTLY what's best, doesn't mean "do nothing at all". Good habits are built gradually. Start slow, live your life, and get better along the way. Progress is a spectrum, not a specific place. The optimal strategies will make the last 10% of difference. Meanwhile, 90% of your results will hinge on you simply sticking to the basics: don't miss workouts, eat real food, do the most important thing first each day. Master the mindset of not accepting excuses, and of finding a way, no matter what. This is what will matter most.

6. CHANGE YOUR ENVIRONMENT- set yourself up for success

If you think that you need more motivation or more willpower to stick to your goals, you don't. While motivation does play a role, it plays a much smaller role compared to things like habits and strategies. One great way to get back on track is to design your environment for success. It's not just the people we spend time with or speak to who influence our actions and behaviors, it's also the items that surround us, the music we listen to, the food in the house, the signs we see, the things that are on your desk at work....these are all pieces of our environment that can trigger us to take different actions. When you're trying to re-establish good habits in your life, it's incredibly important to be aggressively proactive in doing everything within your power to set yourself up to be successful. This includes changing your environment. Have a really bad habit of grabbing pretzels when you're munchy? Throw them out. Don't buy them. Struggle to stay focused on your goals? Write them on post its and stick them where you'll see them. Put photos of yourself at your BEST on your desk at work. Set your laptop backdrop to a motivational quote or saying that you enjoy. Simple environment changes, help make the establishment of new habits easier.

7. REMEMBER WHY

It sounds so simple, but make sure that the habits that you're trying to stick to are actually important to you. Sometimes, in the busy mess of life, it becomes easy to forget WHY certain things are, or were, so important. You only have so much energy to put towards the next 24 hours. Pick a habit that you care about. If it really matters to you, then you’ll find a way to make it work. When it's important, TRULY important, it becomes a priority. If you haven't made it a priority then it's either not important to you, or you've lost touch with your WHY. If it's the latter, then sit down, take 5-10 minutes and WRITE DOWN why this habit is important. Why do you want to get back to the gym? What will working out do for you, and for your life? How will it help you reach your goals? Why is healthful eating important? Why does it matter to you? Trust me, it HELPS to remember why this whole "fitness thing" is so important to you, because it's easy to lose touch. Identifying your why can help you stick to your plan when it matters most.

I know that change is hard. In many ways, it's even harder the second, third, or fourth time around. You likely will take one step forward and two steps back. But any forward movement, like I said, is better than staying stuck, and if you're truly sick of where you are, and where you've allowed yourself to be, then it's time to get your mind right, recommit to your goals, and start taking the necessary actions towards the life you want to be living.

I have had clients get in incredible shape on 6 meals a day.

On 4 meals a day.

On 3 meals a day.

The idea that the only way to get in shape is to eat 5-6 small meals a day spaced every 2-3 hours apart is a really outdated train of thought.

5-6 small meals a day works. But so does 3 meals. Or 4. It all depends.

One of my core beliefs is that the best approach to your nutrition is the one that will work- short and long term- for you. Some people simply do not have lives, jobs, or schedules that are conducive to stopping to eat every 2-3 hours and if so, a plan that dictates a high frequency of feedings isn't going to be best.

And in all honesty, it really doesn't matter.

The actual science that compares the same break-down of calories per day, spread out over various kinds of meal frequency - 3 meals versus 6 as an example- yields no discernible difference for weight loss in the majority of cases. Granted in what I've read it doesn't account for nutrient timing (when you eat what) just meal frequency but I consider nutrient timing (for most) to be an advanced diet hack. It's not a core mover in my opinion.

The whole 5-6 small meals a day gained popularity from bodybuilding. When you have extremely large caloric totals to hit each day it becomes hard to get it all down in just three meals. Eating more frequently is a logical solution. It makes the process of massing or trying to fulfill high daily calorie requirements much easier.

Somehow this concept also got spun into fat loss circles as well- the idea being that eating small frequent meals would "raise" your metabolism (it doesn't) and would reduce insulin and this would lead to weight loss. It's been something marketed to people by weight loss professionals, nutritionists, and dietitians for years- that if they aren't seeing weight loss progress it's because they aren't eating small meals spaced evenly throughout the day.

But seriously it doesn't matter much.

I have clients, friends, family members- all of whom eat different meal frequencies and are still healthy and in good shape. Some people eat 3x a day, some more, some eat erratically, some practice fasting, and others do the traditional 5-6x a day deal. No one is wrong. They're all valid. There's more then one way to skin a cat.

There's also nothing wrong with changing meal frequency as well. I had one client, who increased meal frequency as calories came down during his contest prep, and then as calories came back up he dropped back to less frequent feedings. That's what worked for him.

I have another client who does swing shift work- and we are constantly changing his meal timing to accommodate his erratic hours.

There is nothing wrong with cycling your eating habits on a daily/weekly/monthly basis- nowhere is there some law that says you have to eat the same way every day of your life.

Personally- I like 5 meals a day. 6 is too many, 4 appears to be too little. But they aren't all the same size and when I eat (my eating schedule) is a bit "rough". I always give or take about 30 minutes. I don't literally stop and drop at the 3 hour mark to eat. My schedule just doesn't always allow for it.

As a whole, I believe nutrition and dieting, meal timing or frequency to all be an iterative process, or a constant evolution. If your current frequency doesn't feel like it fits, try something else. Nowhere is it written (or scientifically supported) that 6 small meals are needed for you to reach your fitness goals.

Just remember to give any new approach TIME before you assess its effectiveness. Typically it takes about 2-4 weeks to settle into a new eating routine so don’t be surprised if you feel hungry at odd times, or feel lethargic, unfocused or moody if you're removing a meal or reducing feedings. Staying well hydrated helps.

If you're adding a meal be prepared to feel a little full or not as hungry.

I do recommend you don’t go below 2 meals a day- that seems to cause issues for most... and whatever adjustment you make give your body plenty of time to respond before you write it off as effective or not.

Have you ever “just felt like picking” but when you really thought about it, weren’t physically hungry at all?

Eating when not hungry is a major barrier in weight loss and in weight management. I have found that people who are successful not just losing weight, but in keeping it off are those who have also successfully managed to differentiate between their “true” hunger signals versus simply just wanting to eat.

There are two types of hunger:1) Physical Hunger – generally felt in the stomach, this will tend to occur every 3-4 hours after the last time that you ate. Signs of genuine physical hunger could be stomach rumbling or an empty stomach feeling, light headiness, dizziness and irritability.

2) Emotional/Psychological Hunger -this tends to occur in the chest or mouth. It usually results in conjunction with an event, a habit or ritual, boredom or feelings. For example a stressful day at work can prompt a desire to eat; a picnic with friends or family; or a holiday or tradition. Other reasons for psychological hunger can include sensory signals (appearance, smell, texture) which can stimulate the appetite or create a mental desire to eat despite not being physically hungry

If you are truly physically hungry, the first thing to address is how long it's been since you have eaten. If you have not eaten in the last 3-4 hours then plan what you are going to eat, prepare your food, eat it slowly and enjoy it. Be sure to allow your stomach plenty of time to register satiety and communicate that satisfaction to the brain (approximately 20 minutes)

If it's been more then 3-4 hours since you have ate don't put off eating as it will only lead to increased thoughts of food and likely set you up to binge. Regardless as to how many times you eat per day I think it's important to find a regular meal pattern that works with your schedule and stick to it. This helps allow you to recognize your bodies’ signals of hunger and fullness.

What if you just ate? Well, before eating take a moment to think – is it emotional/psychological hunger?

If it's emotional or psychological:

1) Consider something else you can do other than eat like calling or texting a friend, taking a bath, going for a walk etc. Distraction is the best tactic. Get away from the kitchen or the food and engage your mind with an alternative activity.

2) If you are experiencing stress or anxiety and are tempted to soothe yourself with food try the following: close your eyes and take ten deep inhales and exhales. Try to calm down before eating irrationally. Think about the last time you stress ate. Did it wind up making you feel better or worse? And did it actually do anything to make the stress causing circumstances disappear? Probably not

3) After trying another task and still feeling hungry to the point of needing to eat, then plan out something healthful to eat, and be mindful. Don't make a poor choice or just reach for what's convenient. Commit to making a positive choice that won't set you back with your goals. A few raw almonds, baby carrots, even a hardboiled egg or a few slices of chicken breast dipped in mustard can be enough to take the edge off before your next meal

And, if you find that you frequently are eating due to emotional/psychological hunger try keeping a food and feelings diary. This method of journaling often helps people get in touch with what emotions tend to trigger psychological hunger and helps them come up with alternative coping strategies.

I work with so many clients who become overwhelmed with all the "what ifs" of a new process, and a new program.

"What if I lose my resolve and eat too much?"

"What if I eat the wrong things?"

"What if I don't follow the program right?"

"What if people at the gym laugh at me?"

"What if I don't understand or can't do the workouts?"

"What if I can't stick to it?"

Worst of all: What if I fail?

Everyone is afraid of failure. But most of us manage to keep that fear in check as long as life is steady, stable, and we're able to hang out comfortably in our daily routine.

But what happens when LIFE takes over? Work stress? Family emergency? Injury? Illness? How can you keep making progress and keep yourself on track when absolutely nothing around you goes right?

Well, for starters, let go of the idea that you need to be perfect. The moment you accept that imperfection, and imperfect circumstances are an inevitable part of life, and of being human, focusing on your fitness becomes a whole lot easier.

Instead of looking at your program, and thinking that ANY deviation from it means you have somehow failed, instead ask yourself, "what am I capable of doing today?" If I can’t follow the program to the letter, what can I do instead? What can I manage (physically, emotionally, mentally) now? Then go and do it.

Something is always better than nothing. Consider the following tips and suggestions to help keep you on track with your diet and training when life takes over.

1) If you can't train on the scheduled day to work, family emergency, travel, sickness, WHATEVER, then try just switching up days. Take a rest day and make up the workout later.

2) If that doesn't work, or you simply don't have the amount of time needed to complete the programmed workout- what can you do instead? Do a bodyweight workout. Take a quick spin class. Go for a run. Use phone poles as markers for intervals if you want.

3) Try what I call "chunking" which means taking your training time and just breaking it up. It’s hard sometimes to find a whole hour. But anybody can manage 10 minutes here and there. Go for a 10-20 minute walk in the morning, do a quick bodyweight circuit for 10 minutes midday and maybe do some jump rope intervals, yoga, or foam roll for 10 minutes later in the evening. Fit it in wherever you can, when you can.

4) Use what's available to you and what's convenient. Go for a walk or a jog and stop every few minutes to perform burpees, pushups, squats, lunges, plank holds- whatever. Use your body as your machine. No gym needed!

5) Re-examine your perspective about fitness, and about fitting activity into your life. Remember you don't NEED a gym. Fitness is movement, and you can do that anytime, anywhere. Be creative. Make it fun. And think of fitness as your “anchor” rather than an obligation – it might be the only thing keeping you sane during tough times.

6) Ran out of time to food prep? Stuck with nothing "healthy" to eat? A 10 minute run to the grocery store can send you out the door with tuna in packets, pre made grilled chicken strips, hardboiled eggs, fresh fruit, chopped veggies, nonfat greek yogurt, raw nuts.... items that you can use to throw together healthy meals WITHOUT needing to go to a restaurant or hit up a drive thru.

7) No time to weigh and measure food? No big deal, use your hand as a guide. Your thumb is a serving of fat. An open palm is a serving of protein. A cupped hand is a serving of carbs. Just get yourself within the ballpark, and you'll be fine! No stress.

8) Plan ahead by ALWAYS having items on hand with you, stashed in your briefcase, purse, gym bag or car. Protein powder, low sodium jerky, raw nuts and rice cakes require no refrigeration and make better snacks or meal options in a pinch then McDonalds or a gas station stop.

9) Put your crockpot to work. I swear by the crockpot. Set it and forget it. You can make meatloaf, chicken and rice, oatmeal, EVERYTHING in the crockpot. Google will turn up some amazing recipes, but I also just love throwing chicken breasts and a jar of salsa into the crockpot with some taco seasoning. Set it to low and come back in several hours to easy meals. Shred the chicken with a fork and voila. You can serve it on top of rice, alongside a roasted sweet potato, with steamed veggies, on top of Ezekiel bread, etc.

10) Remember that the point isn't to be perfect, the point is to make progress, and that involves making decisions that are mindful and health REGARDLESS of what life throws at you. You will get nowhere fast if you believe eating healthy is all about strict rules, willpower, and unwavering perfection. In fact, the idea that health doesn’t exist without perfect adherence to a specific protocol can be damaging in the long run and can wind up making you feel like a failure. The stress you put on yourself trying to eat all the perfect things is detrimental to your mental and physical health. If your meal is supposed to be chicken and veggies and sweet potato and it winds up being a protein shake and almonds, well guess what- that's a hell of a lot better than a burger and fries from a drive thru or a processed wrap from a gas station.

Health, weight loss, and the pursuit of a leaner body is all about balance, and recognizing what works best for you, your schedule, and your needs. Some days will be better than others, and that’s okay. Sometimes you'll hit everything 100%, other days you might fall short. But the important thing is that you continue to make every effort within your power to make to eat nourishing foods that align with your goals, to incorporate fitness each and every day, and to embrace that this is a LIFESTYLE. It's about making sustainable change to your daily habits. Chase progress, not perfection.

The low carb craze has ebbed and flowed in popularity, but lately, I've noticed a DEFINITE revival of low carb diets, ketogenic diets, and a general "fear" of carbohydrate consumption, regardless of individual or goal. MOST people have some "issue" when it comes to carbs. They cut them first from a diet when attempting to lose fat, they assume they'll blow up if they eat too many, or, even if they DO consume them, they feel guilty in doing so.

Some common carb issues?:

1) Carbs spike blood sugar and insulin and both make you fat as a house

2) Carbs cause inflammation

3) Carbs are not an essential part of the diet like fat and protein

These REALLY basic statements about carbs as being "good" or "bad" ignore both the bigger picture and the complexity of individual biology. Do carbs increase insulin levels? Yes. But does this always leads to fat gain. Um, no. Do carbs cause inflammation? Well, are we talking about corn syrup? Ho-Hos and Twinkies? Or are we talking about whole grains and sweet potatoes? Are carbs non-essential? Processed carbs- yes- most certainly. But whole, nutrient dense carbs are a different story.

But can't you lose weight going low carb? Yes. But you can lose weight in a MYRIAD of ways, and often times losing weight on a low carb diet comes from 1) Loss of water weight (carbs are water loving) and 2) cutting carbs is one way in which to cut calories, and eating less typically yields weight loss. What people SHOULD be asking, particularly those who are active, is "can eating carbs help me look, feel and perform at my best?" Because the answer is yes.

A ton of people have had success losing weight on low carb diets, because slashing carbs, as I mentioned is one way in which to reduce your overall caloric intake. But it's been my experience, especially when it comes to working with athletes or people who regularly work out that dramatically reducing carbs winds up backfiring. And it's my job, as a coach, to not just look at what will benefit a client short term, but what will ALSO be sustainable LONG TERM. The goal is never to just lose weight, it's to lose it and not gain it back. And I've found that seriously low carb diets are unsustainable for the majority of people I work with. Keeping carbs too low for too long winds up having disastrous consequences, which I know I've posted about before on both FB and IG. If you are sedentary, it's another story, but even though not everyone I work with is a competitive bodybuilder, nearly everyone I work with is active and/or DOES work out. And I've found they just can't get away with as much restriction, long term. In fact extreme caloric restriction, particularly in active women (who seem to respond more negatively to dramatic carb cuts then men) can lead to:

1) Decreased thyroid output (magnified in those with hashimotos or hypothyroidism)

2) Chronically elevated levels of cortisol (magnified in those who work stressful jobs, long hours or who have stressful personal lives)

3) Decreased testosterone

4) Impaired mood and cognitive function (low carb fog anyone)?

5) Loss of lean muscle tissue (muscle catabolism)

6) Suppressed immune function

7) Impaired digestive function (there's a reason people get constipated on a low carb diet...)

8) Poor sleep

In other words, going very low carb, for a very long time can send your stress hormones slowing, leave you with poor sleep, a slowed metabolism, and a decrease in anabolic (muscle-building hormones ). Most people wind up feeling burnt out, sluggish, cranky, unfocused, and even sick. What's more, I've found that ALL of this winds up being counterproductive in the area of lasting weight loss. Why? Because 1) Most people can't stick to the diet (who can function in life being chronically tired, sluggish and brain dead?) so they wind up slipping up on their diet or full on binging 2) I have NO science to support this, but I've found when you remove or eliminate carbs for a very long period of time, and then reintroduce them, the body seems to REALLY respond poorly. Weight gain SOARS .

I'm not saying low carb diets don't work, can't work, or don't have their place.... very sedentary people, people who are dramatically obese or metabolically dysregulated (e.g. metabolic syndrome, diabetes), can see and feel great results from a low carb diet, but even in THAT case I tend to like to see them use low carb diets as part of a transition into a nutritional approach that includes more activity and, as a result, healthful carb consumption. But that's another blog.....

The bottom line is that thinking that carbs are bad because you read somewhere they cause inflammation or elevate insulin or some other such "generalization" is likely doing yourself, and your goals a disservice. Every athlete, every person is unique when it come to carbohydrate requirements. Learning how to PROPERLY consume the right kinds of carbs, relevant to your unique biology, and your goals, is the way to go.

The fasted cardio debate has raged for years. People swear by it or curse it, the research supports it or criticizes it, and trainers/coaches argue that it works and that it doesn't. But before I weigh in and offer some points for thought, I think it's really important to define what fasted cardio is- because most people don't even truly understand what qualifies cardio as fasted.

Most people think fasted cardio is simply training on an “empty stomach,” which they usually think is simply a stomach that “feels empty.” But fasted cardio is cardio performed while in a “fasted” state, and this means more then just an empty stomach feeling. It has to do with how your body processes and absorbs the food you eat.

When you eat food, it gets broken down into various molecules that your cells can use, and these molecules are released into your blood. The body releases insulin as well, and the job of insulin is to shuttle these molecules into cells. Depending on how much food you eat in a meal, your insulin levels can stay elevated anywhere from 3-6 hours after. When your body is digesting and absorbing what you’ve eaten, your body is in a “fed” or “postprandial” state. Once it has finished processing and absorbing the nutrients, insulin levels drop to a “minimum” low (or “baseline” level), and your body enters a “fasted” or “postabsorptive” state. Every day your body moves between these two "fed” and “fasted’ states.

So, knowing this, you know that training done when insulin is elevated and food is being processed is considered "fed" training. Exercise done during periods where insulin is low and food is done being processed is considered fasted.

So what is the benefit of fasted training? Well, the idea is that the higher your insulin levels are (fed state), the less your body is going to use fat for energy. Why burn fat when there’s a surplus of energy readily available via the food that you just ate? This makes sense, but the problem is that fasted cardio is much more complex then just "work out without eating to lose fat." What kind of cardio? How long? And what about the impact of individual factors which vary from person to person? Are we doing fasted low intensity cardio? Or fasted HIIT? And what is the purpose- performance? Fat loss? Is the individual male or female? What other training are they doing that day? Are they 10% bodyfat or 30% bodyfat? All of these things play a role in whether or not fasted cardio hurts or helps. Rarely in fitness is an answer just a"good or bad, yes or no black and white" answer.

1- There is the impact of fasted cardio during the cardio session itself, and then also the impact of cardio after the session is completed. For example, some studies have found that fasted cardio can burn 20% more fat then fed cardio. Why? Once we eat, insulin (which regulates the breakdown of fat) increases in our body. According to some research, higher insulin levels have been shown to suppress fat metabolism. This makes fasted cardio sound GREAT for fat loss. But what about the impact of fasted cardio AFTER the session? Because research has also demonstrated that fasted cardio does NOT increase fat burn in the 24 hour period following the session. Another study indicated that consuming carbs before morning cardio increased the post-exercise "after-burn" effect when compared to training fasted. This would mean if you eat before you do morning cardio you'll wind up burning more calories throughout the day, not just during the cardio session itself. So it's important to consider not just the impact of the cardio session during the session itself, but also the impact of the session AFTER it's completion.

2- Fasted cardio sessions increase your risk of muscle loss. This is, imo, one of the strongest arguments AGAINST fasted cardio. In general, when you wake up in the morning, your body is in a catabolic state due to high levels of cortisol — the hormone associated with stress. That means that your body is primed to break down molecules for energy. But if you’re in this state too long, it can lead to degradation of body tissue, including muscle, which isn't desirable all no matter your goal. The number one priority when trying to lose fat should always be the preservation of muscle. Losing muscle mass has NO benefit, regardless, and will make it harder to continue losing fat since muscle tissue is metabolically responsible for most of the fat you'll lose. For example, 10 pounds of muscle burns 50 cals a day, even at rest, so if you lose 10 pounds of muscle, your RMR (resting metabolic rate) will lower in response, and you will burn approximately 50 fewer cals a day which adds up to 350 LESS cals per week. Keep doing the math and this adds up over the long run.

There is also the issue of insulin sensitivity. If you have more muscle, your insulin sensitivity will be directed more towards accruing muscle mass. A larger muscle has more insulin receptors, which makes the muscles more insulin sensitive which means you'll tend to store more of what you eat in the muscles instead of storing it as body fat. This is why people who carry high levels of bodyfat (30%+) usually also have insulin sensitivity issues. They have insufficient muscle tissue in comparison to an abundance of adipose tissue, which makes them less insulin sensitive.

Lastly, when you have more muscle mass, you're able to lift more weight, train harder and longer, which increases the amount of calories you burn during your workouts.

And research has shown that intense fasted cardio sessions like metabolic conditioning or HIIT, for example, can lead to the breakdown of muscle. This concern about muscle loss becomes even more paramount as you get leaner and the body has less fat reserves to tap into. If you're 30% bf then fasted cardio can make a lot of sense. And be beneficial. When you're super lean however there's a really likely chance you'll just elevate cortisol beyond what the body can handle and wind up wasting muscle. When I'm prepping athletes, particularly if they're natural, I actually pull back on intense cardio as they progressively lose fat because all it does is heighten the chance we will lose precious muscle tissue.

3- I've posted before about my two favorite forms of cardio being HIIT or LISS. Of the two, the "safe" option for fasted cardio is LISS. MISS (moderate intensity/steady state cardio – the type that most people do when trying to lose fat) increases cortisol levels the most. The activity intense enough to stimulate the release of cortisol, and long enough to elevate it significantly. But LISS, for example in the form of maybe taking a walk, isn't intense enough to stimulate much cortisol release. In fact it actually has the potential to lower morning cortisol levels by having a relaxing effect. So if I do suggest fasted cardio I usually encourage longer, low-intensity work (a relaxing pace at which you can sustain a conversation) for 45-60 minutes. This style of cardio can increase overall energy expenditure without the negative hormonal impact that other forms of cardio can have. It also has a VERY low risk of muscle wasting, which is a primary concern of mine where my clients are concerned.

The bottom line is that there's no absolute. But before you start adding fasted cardio ask yourself if it's right for you given your goals and your individual factors. And if you are truly interested in improving athletic performance or losing fat, make sure you’re asking the right question- which is not are you eating before workouts, but what and how are you eating throughout the whole day? Check in on your diet and reduce your calories or make some healthier dietary changes overall. If you're dieting properly, and training right, chances are something like whether or not your cardio is fasted is going to have a negligible impact, and the risks you may run in doing it simply might not be worth it.

I have written before, on FB and on IG about the positive benefits of low intensity steady state cardio, but just as with anything, it's all about balance. Cardio is incredibly healthy and can impact the body in positive ways, when integrated as part of a balanced program. But taken to excess, it can have the opposite impact, and can even be largely responsible for why you DON'T see the results in your physique that you're after.

This blog addresses the impact of chronic cardio on women in particular, because I feel women, more so then men, fall into this "cardio trap", thinking that hours and hours logged on the treadmill or elliptical are necessary.

The truth is, it's not only NOT necessary, its often counterproductive, mostly because of the hormonal shifts chronic cardio forces your body to make.

1. It decreases T3. The thyroid is extremely important when it comes to metabolism. Through the production of several hormones, your thyroid directly contributes to numerous biological functions, one of which, is weight control. Of particular interest when it comes to weight management, is the primary hormone T3, or what is clinically called triodothyronine. Keeping T3 levels with a healthy range is vital for both controlling and losing weight. Unfortunately, prolonged, intense bouts of cardio performed over the course of weeks and months, disrupt healthy production of T3, decreasing it and placing your thyroid at risk of enduring long term damage.

2. It decreases testosterone. For many women, when I mention testosterone decreases, they don't seem to think it's a big deal. But testosterone is not just a "male" hormones. It's also found in women, and it's vitally important for both burning fat and building muscle. Studies show that adding a lot of cardio to your routine not only decreases testosterone, but that it can also decrease thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) which controls your thyroid function, and brings my back to the first point I mentioned, the decrease in T3.

3. It decreases growth hormone. Studies have found a significant decrease in Human Growth Hormone (HGH) as the result of excessive cardio. As its name suggests, HGH stimulates the growth of new tissue, including muscle.

4. It increases cortisol. Long cardio sessions, performed frequently, increase levels of the stress hormone cortisol. While low concentrations of cortisol let your body know that it’s time to burn up some extra fat, chronically high levels do EXACTLY the opposite. In fact chronically elevated levels of cortisol have been directly linked to weight gain, particularly around the midsection. This is because when cortisol becomes elevated and remains elevated, the body begins to make adaptations to aid in your survival. One of these adaptations involves storing more fat for emergency fuel AND burning up hard earned muscle.

So what does this all mean?

Taken together, these varying hormonal changes mean that long, frequent cardio reduces the amount of muscle mass on your body and can even increase the amount of fat. This is a double edged sword in the sense that not only will it create a physique that won't look the way you'd like, it also winds up slowing the metabolism and rendering your body LESS effective at utilizing calories.

This is NOT to say that cardio is bad- I feel like I should keep emphasizing that point. It IS saying, however, that chronic cardio, particularly in the absence of sufficient strength training, can be. Cardio, when implemented properly, can be incredibly effective. But in and of itself, it will not create the physical change you're after and can do more harm than good.

Women need to engage in strength training. Strength training stimulates the growth and development of muscle fibers, which burn fat even when you’re at rest. Having a lot of dense, lean muscle tissue is integral in elevating your metabolism and helping you obtain the lean, defined physique that so many women claim to be after. One study published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Medicine separated women into two groups – one that did just aerobics and another that did both aerobics and strength training. At the end of 12 weeks, while BOTH groups lost "weight", the strength group had significantly reduced body fat, resting heart rate and blood pressure.That’s huge. Strength training not only improved their body composition, but their overall health.

Cardio simply doesn’t work the way you may think it does. Long, intense cardio workouts are going to put you into a hormonal state that encourages increased fat and decreased muscle, while possibly even doing long-term damage to your metabolism. Strength training with heavy weights, on the other hand, pretty much does exactly the opposite: making positive changes to your hormones, boosting your metabolism, and improving your overall health.

General guidelines:

Keep low intensity cardio to three, maybe four sessions a week. Avoid doing hours of cardio every day, several days a week.If needed or desired, add in one to two sessions of HIITBuild the bulk of your exercise program around strength training, making it a goal to work in 3-5 solid 40-60 minutes sessions a week.

People love to reach for excuses when it comes to an inability to lose weight, and one of the most popular ones seems to be "my metabolism is just slow."

I always hate these kinds of statements because the inference is that your metabolism is somehow permanently fixed and as a result you're doomed to spend your life in an overweight body.

There actually is really no such thing as a "slow" metabolism, and it's usually not what's behind being overweight or obese - that's ultimately usually a result of interactions among genetics, diet, physical activity and other factors.

Metabolism, by definition, is the process by which your body converts what you eat and drink into energy. Even when you're at rest, your body requires energy for essential body functions such as breathing, circulating blood and repairing cells. The number of calories your body uses for these basic functions is what's known as your basal metabolic rate. The difference between what is termed a slow and fast metabolism is how many calories you burn to support these basic bodily functions (aka your BMR).

There are several factors that play into your basal metabolic rate:

1) Your body size and to a greater extent, your body composition. If you carry more muscle mass, you will burn more calories, even at rest, because muscle tissue is calorically active. Therefore, more muscular individuals tend to have faster metabolic rates because more of their total body weight is muscle. Individuals who are overweight and carry excess adipose tissue tend to burn less calories, because unlike muscle, fat tissue is not metabolically active.

2) Your sex. This is simple, men almost always burn more calories then women.

3)Your age. As you get older, your muscle mass naturally decreases. This is largely why the rate at which your body burns calories slows with the passing years. And as it relates to women, shifts in hormones, particularly menopause will cause the body's metabolism to be altered.

Obviously, you can't control your sex or gender. But you CAN control your body composition and more importantly the lifestyle factors that contribute to it, such as dietary intake, physical activity, stress management, sleep quality and duration, hydration, and so on.

I'll touch on some of these factors below:

1) Lack of lean muscle. Although some people are resistant to hearing it, there's a good bet that if your metabolism isn’t cranking as it should be, it's partly to do with the fact that you likely don't have enough muscle and/or are carrying too much bodyfat. Adequate lean muscle tissue accounts for 70% of your BMR (basal metabolic rate) and therefore accounts for the vast majority of the calories you burn every single day. It's in your best interest to have a healthy amount of metabolically active muscle tissue because this helps ensure your body burns rather than stores the bulk of incoming calories. This is why strength training is an integral part of any weight loss program. It helps ensure you build the muscle tissue required for a healthy, efficient metabolism. Unfortunately when most people approach weight loss they do so through two avenues: cutting calories and increasing cardio. They forget that MUSCLE sustenance is an integral component of long term metabolic efficiency.

2) Over-eating has LESS of a negative metabolic impact then you might think. Yes, it can cause the metabolism to slow, but honestly most people think they over-eat simply because they select poor quality foods. More often then not I've seen overweight or obese people be prone to under-eating total calories, but over consuming processed high fat, high sugar, low nutrient food, which has a negative impact on the body at a cellular level. So it's a no brainer to say that if you're overweight or carrying too much bodyfat, you may therefore be inefficient at utilizing incoming calories as fuel, but usually its food selection, lack of physical activity and lack of sufficient lean muscle tissue that causes the slow metabolism, not the daily caloric intake itself.

3) Restricting calories too severely. When you eat too few calories on a daily basis, and continue this pattern for weeks and months, your body sits up and takes notice. As a result, it initiates a series of adaptations to your metabolism in order to "survive" the fact that it's starving. One of these adaptations occurs within the thyroid, which is the master gland of the metabolism. When your caloric intake is low, it starts to slow down, and as a result, causes the metabolism to become sluggish as well. In fact, it's been found that severe caloric restriction over the course of just a few days can decrease thyroid function or production by 38%. Your body needs enough energy-in the form of food and the calories it contains- to run those basic functions I mentioned earlier, and the problem with a lot of extremely low calorie diets is that they restrict dietary intake below this basic level of caloric necessity. Continue this pattern long enough and you will wind up forcing your body to catabolize (consume) it's own muscle tissue for fuel, and that, in turn slows metabolism even more. In many ways, chronic under-eating is worse than over-eating in terms of what it does to healthy metabolic function.

The bottom line? While genetics do affect metabolism, they are not the sole contributing factor. Nor is your metabolism fixed, or locked. It can change, positively or negatively based upon the decisions you make about how you live your life, how you eat, and how you train.

Don't waste your time or energy thinking that you are somehow doomed to a slow metabolism from bad genetics. Instead, direct your focus to managing the contributing factors you can control- sleep, stress management, diet, and exercise.

Just because HIIT is trendy doesn't mean longer duration cardio (aka L.I.S.S) suddenly became pointless. I frequently get comments from prospective clients along the lines of "not wanting to do tons of cardio." And while it's very true that too much cardio while dieting can have a negative impact on the metabolism , that doesn't mean ALL cardio is counterproductive. The right amount of cardio, and the right TYPE can be incredibly beneficial in weight management and fat loss. I know HIIT is the trend, but trust me when I say L.I.S.S is still highly relevant.

Longer duration cardio sessions performed at lower intensity levels have positive impact for almost anyone regardless of their fitness goals, but are particularly effective when fat loss is a focus.

1) L.I.S.S is restorative. One way in which I like to implement it in the programs of my clients is to follow up a day of hard strength training by prescribing a 40-50 minute low intensity walk. It helps to alleviate muscle soreness from weight training, helps flush toxins and reduces lactic acid buildup. It also helps strengthen joints and ligaments and provides scientifically backed mental and physical stress relief by helping to lower cortisol levels and balance the hormones.

2) A healthy aerobic system is a key component of health regardless of your goals. It lowers resting heart rate, boosts capillary density and oxygen transport, elevates lung diffusion capacity, and maximizes lung ventilation. What does all this mean? It means that when you have a strong aerobic capability you improve the efficiency with which the entire body works. Cardio health even impacts how efficiently your body transports and metabolizes nutrients, which has a direct impact on other body composition or strength goals.

3) Low intensity work burns fat. Yes, HIIT does too, but mostly through the afterburn effect. Low intensity cardio burns fat during the actual training. Typically the body relies on carbs for fuel when it comes to short bursts of activity, but after about 12 minutes of consistent activity the body shifts from using carbs to using fat for fuel. The percentage at which your body uses fat versus carbs for fuel increases as the workout continues. It's estimated that about 35% of energy utilized during HIIT is fat, the remainder is carbs while 50% or more of the energy used during L.I.S.S comes from fat.

4) Low intensity cardio helps preserve muscle, particularly when in a caloric deficit. It's a hormonal thing. Moderate intensity cardio – the type that most people think they need to do for fat loss - will increase cortisol levels beyond what's optimal. The activity is intense enough to stimulate the release of cortisol, and long enough to elevate it significantly, and since cortisol is catabolic, this can put you at risk of losing hard earned muscle. Low-intensity cardio, on the other hand, like a 40-60 minute walk is not intense enough to stimulate much cortisol release and can actually lower cortisol levels by having a relaxing effect.

5) Lower intensity cardio also helps with appetite control, which is another reason I like it when dieting. Again, it comes down to hormones. Research from the January 2009 "American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology" indicates that long sessions of low intensity cardio can influence hormone activity in a manner that blunts hunger. A study found that a 60-minute session of cardio (walking), done at a very low intensity, increased the body's release of leptin (appetite-blunting hormone) and decreased the release of ghrelin (hormone that promotes hunger) and cortisol, which also had an appetite increasing effect. HIIT on the other hand can stimulate the appetite. High-intensity workouts, particularly ones that are longer in duration (10:00 or longer) place more stress on the body and cortisol, the hormone released in response she to stress can stimulate the appetite. During HITT the body temperature increases more, anabolic and stress hormones are produced, your heart and lungs have to work harder, fuel stores get spent and more lactate builds up in your bloodstream. During the recovery period, your body has to expend more energy to restore homeostasis and this can also cause an increase in hunger.

Typically, when dieting or trying to lose weight I like to see most cardio either be high intensity and super short in duration (maybe 2 sessions a week) or very low in intensity and long in duration (3-4 sessions a week).

My favorite ways to do L.I.S.S? I like long morning walks, adding a weighted vest, pulling a light sled, walking my dogs, doing long low intensity stepmill sessions, or low intensity incline treadmill walking.

The concept of nutrient timing is most often discussed as it pertains to muscle growth or fat loss. But when you eat certain foods can also impact your energy levels, your focus, your hormones, your strength and performance, even your ability to get a good nights sleep.

For example did you know oatmeal causes a pretty significant rise in melatonin? This makes it a great nighttime carb, but a sub optimal food choice for breakfast, which ironically is when most people consume it.

There's a reason "breakfast for dinner" is so popular. If you struggle to sleep well at night try consuming: Oatmeal, pistachios and some whey protein or egg whites for dinner, or your last meal of the day. Don't feel like a bowl of oatmeal? Make some oat flour pancakes for the same sleep inducing effect. Whey and egg whites are both easily digested protein sources, which is optimal before bed because an active or burdened digestive system can often keep you awake. And foods containing large amounts of B6 like pistachios convert L-tryptophan to melatonin which helps induce sleep.

If you struggle with energy in the morning opt for easily digested sources of protein like whey or egg whites which help rapidly provide much needed protein and aminos after a long period of not eating. Pair this with a good source of omega-3 fats like walnuts or avocado which will help with serotonin release and provide early morning energy and focus. Watch your consumption of refined carbs at breakfast, because an early morning insulin spike can upset the body's natural cortisol balance. Instead when it comes to carbs consider a sprouted whole grain bread like Ezekiel bread, which is nutrient dense and rich in plant sources of protein, or a try a low sugar fiber rich fruit like an apple. The soluble fiber helps promote satiety and keeps you feeling fuller longer and lower amounts of sugar help contribute to more stable blood sugar levels. Soluble fiber has also been shown to reduce abdominal fat.

What about the dreaded mid day slump? If you are like most Americans, you likely struggle with a crash in energy and mental focus half way through your day. For lunch, or a mid day meal, try consuming slower digesting protein sources rich in Omega-3 fats like wild caught salmon or grassfed beef. Combine this with a big salad and a side of blueberries or raspberries and some dark chocolate. Lunches higher in fats (particularly healthy omega-3s) have been associated with more accurate responses to memory and cognitive tests, and grassfed beef in particular is high in tyrosine which helps to keep you focused. Adding a dose of greens will provide nutrients, minerals, and added volume and fiber. Berries contain polyphenols which are chemical compounds that prevent fat from forming. Small amounts of dark chocolate provide an antioxidant and caffeine boost which helps enhance mood and increases "feel good" serotonin levels. Consumed moderately dark chocolate can also help increase blood flow to the brain which helps with concentration mid day.

If someone has a primary goal of fat loss, typically the first thing I notice them do is reduce their carbohydrate intake. However, this is often NOT the best option, particularly for athletes or very active individuals.

While on the surface it might seem like cutting carbs is the best option, there are a variety of ways in which to create a caloric deficit and a caloric deficit, not a carb specific deficit, is what initiates fat loss. That means you can also create a deficit by reducing fat calories, protein calories, or increasing your daily energy expenditure through exercise.

Most people opt for carbs because sadly this is the information the public is bombarded with: carbs are bad, cut carbs to lose weight.

This idea is further perpetuated by the fact that a reduction or elimination of carbs usually causes an initial weight drop that's pretty significant. This is because carbs are water lovers- for every gram of stored glucose (stored carb) in your body, you ALSO store (on average) 3 grams of water. So if you reduce or eliminate carbs, thereby depleting stored glucose, guess what, you will also initially drop a ton of water.

While this initial drop in weight can be very rewarding to see on the scale, it's also very misleading because the weight lost is primarily water weight, NOT fat.

So if you don't pull calories from carbs where should you pull them from?

I don't recommend going very low protein, at all. Stick to at least 1 gram per pound of bodyweight if active, because protein helps sustain muscle in a deficit AND has the highest satiety factor of all macronutrients- meaning that when calories are scarce, a higher protein intake will help you to feel fuller longer.

So that leaves us with fat, which, for most people, is where I like to pull calories from first.

A minimum amount of fat is necessary for maintaining hormonal balance and certain bodily functions, but past that minimal amount, aside from simply making food yummier and providing caloric excess in times of maintenance or mass gain, there isn't really a huge need for them. And, at 9 calories per gram they are the most calorically dense macronutrient which means reducing them slightly causes a bigger calorie deficit then a reduction in carbohydrate.

There are several benefits, in my opinion , of keeping carbs as high as you possibly can while in a deficit:

1. Carbohydrate is the body's preferred energy source, and the brain's "go-to" fuel. Sufficient carbohydrate intake helps keep you level headed and focused.

2. Carbs also help to restock muscle glycogen (stored energy within the muscles), whereas fat and protein do not. This is particularly key post workout as it helps prevent excessive muscle wasting.

3. Carbs fuel training intensity, support high levels of athletic performance, and overall help increase your energy level. I find this particularly important for athletes who weight train or strength train for long sessions (60 minutes plus). You're going to be more productive in training with sufficient carbohydrate intake.

4. Carbs are uniquely anabolic (they support muscle gain) as well as anti-catabolic (prevents muscle loss). Both equally crucial for improving you ratio of fat mass to muscle mass.

5. Carbs are essential to the production of serotonin, which is natures own appetite suppressant. It helps curb cravings and makes you feel satisfied even if your stomach is not full. Serotonin also regulates mood, makes you feel emotionally stable, less anxious, and more relaxed. All of this helps with weight loss.

6. Adequate carb consumption helps promote healthy sleep, and getting enough sleep is crucial for weight loss. Chronic sleep deprivation has been directly tied to obesity, weight gain and decreased insulin sensitivity.

7. Carbs also help lower cortisol. Elevated levels of cortisol (a stress hormone that unfortunately both prevent fat loss and promotes fat storage) makes dieting for fat loss miserable. High levels of cortisol causes insatiable cravings because the body is seeking a way to combat the physiological stress response and lower cortisol. Carbs trigger a prolonged release of insulin which helps to lower cortisol.

Carbohydrate intake is all incredibly individual, but usually I try to keep carb levels as high as I possibly can, while still allowing for fat loss and physique progress. By this I mean as long as the individual is losing bodyfat or weight as desired, I strive to NOT cut carbs any lower then necessary.

If you're highly active and training hard, but looking to reduce bodyfat, consider reducing fat first for a caloric deficit versus carbs. The results might surprise you.

I have posted on my FB page, and social media outlets before about the dangers of chronic under-eating, but while under-eating can negatively affect both men and women, in women, I feel, the impact is magnified. Women simply aren't wired to handle extreme caloric deficits with the same efficiency that men are. In working with a lot of competitors, or former competitors, one trend I see over and over is women habitually cutting calories and eating in a gross caloric deficit. Ironically enough, many of these same women are the women complaining about how they can't lose weight or bodyfat, or how their body never changes or looks as they'd like it to. Many times, they've even experienced weight GAIN in response to cutting calories and upping exercise frequency. Unfortunately, this is largely because mainstream information on weight loss leads you to believe that the body is a machine and all it takes to change how you look is simple math; calories in versus calories out. Eat less then you burn and voila- weight loss. And when weight loss stalls, cut calories and increase exercise again. But honestly- think about it- if it was THAT simple, we'd all be lean. The body is more complex then that. While calories in vs calories out is "true" to an extent, you can't just expect to input and output calories and miraculously see some amazing response. The body is an adaptive organism, hard wired for survival and as you make changes to your diet and training, your body in turn, upregulates certain hormones, downregulates others, and makes a series of metabolic adaptations which ALL affect your ability to lose weight. Slight calorie deficits and tweaks can lead to sustainable weight loss, but it's been my experience that dramatic or extreme deficits usually cause the body to adjust thyroid, adrenal and sex hormones to the point at which the negative impact is just too great. And these changes are magnified in women, mostly because of the impact severe under-eating has on both the thyroid and on cortisol production. Under-eating both DOWNregulates thyroid and UPregulates cortisol and this lethal combination makes it VERY hard to gain control of your weight. Chronically elevated cortisol (stress hormone) leads to weight gain via leptin and insulin resistance and chronic under-eating causes a down regulation of T3 (active thyroid hormone). This can lead to a condition called euthyroid sick syndrome, where T3 is low, reverse T3 is high, and TSH and T4 are often normal. This means your body develops symptoms of hypothyroidism without necessarily showing any change in typical thyroid function markers. So basically your bloodwork wouldn't indicate that you have hypothyroidism but you are still going to display symptoms of it.

Some of which are: 1) Inability to lose weight (as I mentioned above, due to the combination of increased cortisol output and downregulated thyroid function) 2) Constipation or impaired digestion. This is a very common symptom of hypothyroidism, as active thyroid hormone helps stimulate peristalsis in the gut, keeping digestion humming along smoothly. When T3 drops, gut motility slows, and this can lead to chronic constipation. 3) Sleeplessness or insomnia. Inappropriate calorie and carb intake can cause insomnia or difficulty sleeping. As blood sugar drops overnight, the liver releases stored glucose to keep blood sugar steady. But if you're under-eating, and glycogen stores are chronically depleted, the body has to release stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline to fuel a process called gluconeogenesis,which creates glucose. If these hormones are high enough they can wake you in the middle of the night and/or prevent you from falling asleep. And lack of sleep, particularly over time, leads to weight management difficulties, mostly because of the elevated levels of cortisol in the body which impede weight loss or fat loss and can even cause weight gain. There are a ton of factors that come into play when it comes to weight loss and bodyfat loss, but whenever I work with women, in particular, I take care to make SMALL changes to the diet versus drastic changes, and I absolutely will not "starve" them to death- regardless of whether we are in prep or not. I admit, I have had to do this in the past with some athletes, to get them to the stage, but it has ALWAYS has disastrous results and has caused the competitor to spend MONTHS trying to regain homeostasis. It's been my experience, that the risk is just not worth the reward. I'm not saying that women can't handle a caloric deficit, they can- and yes, a calorie cut is warranted when weight loss is of concern (so don't think just because your coach or trainer has you cutting calories you're somehow riding for some serious health issues).... BUT if you've been GROSSLY under-eating, like many competitors do, for months and months on end, and are struggling to lose weight or are maybe even gaining weight, consider this post and maybe re-evaluate what you're doing. Often times, when I begin to dial back on a woman's activity level (reduce her cardio or training) and pair that with small increases in calories, several things happen: 1) Digestion improves, and thus weight loss improves (less stomach volume = drop on the scale) 2) Sleep improves, and thus weight loss improves (lowered cortisol = drop on the scale) 3) Energy improves, and thus training improves, so weight loss improves (more intense training = drop on the scale) 4) Her body looks better- we see less of a skinny/soft look and more of an athletic, lean, muscular look because being under-fed leads to deflated muscles and typically places the body in a catabolic or muscle wasting state. This shift in body composition also occurs as a result of lowered cortisol. Cortisol tends to cause adipose tissue accumulation in the abs, low back, upper thighs and buttocks, and therefore, when cortisol comes down, these areas tend to see visual improvement. I just think it's important to know that under-eating hurts you the same way over-eating can, and to understand that placing yourself in the path of serious health issues is never worth being one jean size smaller, or stepping on stage at some absurdly lean bodyfat or hitting some weight loss number you think you need to be. Health can, and should ALWAYS come first.

(client example: Photo on the left, severe caloric deficit, 2+ hours of cardio a day. Photo on the right, 30-45 mins cardio a day (for prep) and we never went below 1200 EXCEPT when she was inn prep and we depleted the last two weeks or so, so she had about 2-3 weeks MAX in a sub optimal deficit)

Simple Slow Cooker Greek Chicken:

This dish is as easy as mixing the sauce and pouring it over the chicken. It's incredibly simple and you just add the olive and capers towards the end of the cooking. Prep time is silly minimal and the end result is delicious- super tender and moist chicken infused with the flavors of Greece. Ready to portion out into meals for your busy week ahead.

First, you'll need to mix up your Greek seasoning:

1½ tablespoons dried oregano1½ teaspoons salt1 tablespoon onion powder1½ tablespoons garlic powder2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper (note: freshly ground black pepper is less volume than non-freshly ground, if using non-freshly ground use half the amount)2 teaspoons beef bouillon powder2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes1 teaspoon dried thyme1½ tablespoons sweet paprika powder¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients and whisk well, setting aside. Lay 2lbs chicken breasts in the bottom of a crock pot.

To make your sauce add to the above mixed seasonings:

⅓ cup chicken broth3 tablespoons water2 tablespoons lemon juice1 tablespoon red wine vinegar1 clove garlic, minced1 tablespoon chopped Preserved Lemon

Pour the sauce over the chicken and set the crockpot to low for 6-8 hours OR high for 4-5 hours. During the last hour of cooking, add 1 cup of whole or sliced kalamata olives (rinsed of sodium) and 1/3 cup capers.

One Pan Italian Chicken & Veggies:

This recipe doesn't involve a slow cooker, but it's just as simple. All you need is chicken breasts, veggies and seasoning.

You will need:

2 skinless chicken breasts (about 6 ounces) chopped

1 cup of chopped bell pepper

1/2 an onion chopped

1 zucchini, chopped

1 cup of broccoli florets

1/2 cups of tomato (chopped, or grape tomatoes)

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 tsps Italian seasoning

1/4 tsp paprika

Preheat the oven to 450. Chop all of the veggies into large pieces. Then chop the chicken. Place the chicken and veggies in a large bowl and add the seasonings, tossing well to coat. Then transfer them to a roasting dish or a sheet pan, lined with parchment paper or foil. Spritz lightly with PAM, shake the around, spritz again.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the veggies get a little char and the chicken is cooked.

Slow Cooker Chicken Salsa:

This has been a staple in my household for YEARS- my basic crockpot chicken salsa. It is a go-to meal I make when I don't have the time to dedicate to an extensive prep. All you need are two ingredients: 1) Chicken breasts and 2) A jar of your favorite salsa and (obviously), a crockpot.

Thaw the chicken breasts and place in the belly of the crockpot. Dump a jar of your favorite salsa over the top, set the crockpot to low, and walk away. 5-6 hours later, poke the chicken to see if it's done (you'll know if the flesh sort of shreds apart easily). Using two forks, shred the chicken and voila- instant meals!

Try the following serving ideas:

1) Over white rice topped with guacamole, a dash of lime and cilantro

2) Tucked into lettuce cups with slices of avocado for a low carb meal

3) Spread on top of Ezekiel Toast

4) Alongside seasoned baked sweet potato wedges

5) Over top of zucchini noodles or spooned into 1/2 of a baked spaghetti squash

6) As a protein packed dip for chopped veggies like carrots, bell pepper or celery OR alongside a serving of natural tortilla chips

7) This also makes for VERY healthy family taco night- stuff into shells, top with low fat sour cream, shredded cheese, fresh lettuce, etc.

I constantly get asked about how to handle food cravings- how to combat them- how to work through them, and what even causes them to begin with. Cravings are a major barrier to losing weight, living whole and eating healthfully. Some people downplay cravings, but I believe that if cravings weren’t a big deal, you wouldn’t down a bottle of wine at the end of a long week; "have” to eat all things chocolate during your time of the month, and you wouldn’t dive face first into a bag of salty tortilla chips or swing by the Dairy Queen drive thru after a hard day at work.

Apart from the obvious, what I always hate the most, as a coach, is the fact that cravings create feelings of defeat. They make us feel helpless, overwhelmed, frustrated, and out of control- and none of these feelings or emotions can or should be tied to your relationship with food. What's more, rather then work to pinpoint the root of their cravings, people either cave and give in (not optimal, obviously) or just attempt to struggle through them (which can be exhausting). The truth is, cravings aren't random and they occur for a reason. But if you understand what a craving really is and why you have it, then you can adjust your diet, supplementation, or lifestyle so that you satisfy it properly. This is what I strive to do with all of my clients- help them balance their diet so they aren't constantly feeling controlled by food or food cravings.

So first off, what IS a craving?

Despite your best efforts, the majority of Americans, even if they eat healthfully, don't eat enough variety or volume to get all of the nutrients their body requires through nutrition alone. And if your diet isn’t full of a wide variety of foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, quality protein, and flavors (beyond salty and sweet), your body will alert you the only way it knows how, by initiating a craving.

Because the foods you think you're craving only contain a trace amount of what your body really needs, you’ll have to eat a whole lot more of it to fulfill the deficiency. For example, if your body is craving chocolate, one potential cause could be a magnesium deficiency. You may think your body wants chocolate, but really it wants magnesium. This deficiency could be fixed healthfully with a magnesium supplement, or with, say, one serving of butternut squash. However if you instead opt to eat a chocolate brownie, you'll find you don't feel satisfied and have to eat several before your craving diminishes. This is why I staunchly encourage clients to satisfy their cravings through healthy means, through supplementation or nutrient dense foods which actually supply the body with the source of what it's craving. Learning to handle and cope with your cravings also helps promote a sense of empowerment and self control which is essential for psychological wellbeing.

Some common cravings and their potential causes:

Chicken breast, fresh broccoli, and shredded carrots add healthy veggies to this fried rice recipe full of flavor. This is GREAT to make in bulk in advance and portion out into grab-n-go meals for the week!

**I have also made this using cubed zucchini instead of broccoli, so feel free to swap out other green veggies if you don't care for broccoli! Shredded sweet potato or shredded butternut squash could likely replace the shredded carrot as well.

You will need:

3/4 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes4 TBSP low sodium soy sauce or Bragg's Aminos2 cloves garlic, minced1.5 cups chopped fresh broccoli3 sliced green onions2 TBSP EVOO3 large carrots, shredded4 cups cold cooked rice1/4 tsp black pepper

In a bowl, combine the chicken, 1 TBSP soy sauce and garlic and set aside. Then, in a large skillet or a wok if you have one, stir fry the broccoli (or other veggie) and the green onion in 1 TBSP soy sauce and 1 TBSP EVOO for a few minutes. Add in the carrots and stir fry for another 3-4 minutes or until crisp/tender. Remove it from the heat and set aside. Then, in the same skillet stiry fry the chicken in the remaining soy sauce and oil In the same skillet, stir-fry chicken in remaining soy sauce until no longer pink and juices run clear. Then add the rice, black pepper, reserved vegetables and remaining soy sauce. Stir-fry until heated through. Divide into meals!

One supplement I suggest regularly, regardless of the individual or goal is an omega 3 or fish oil supplement. The right balance of omega-6 and omega-3 in the body isn't just about general health but also about strength, performance, and recovery.

The typical American diet is abundant in omega-6 and deficient in omega-3. Omega -6 oils like corn, soy, and safflower are more strongly associated with causing inflammation in the body. High levels of inflammation can negate the positive impact of exercise and healthy eating by their negative effect on insulin sensitivity and other metabolic processes. If inflammation in the body remains elevated it can actually slow protein synthesis (which impedes muscle growth), increase soreness after training and blunt tissue repair. On the other hand, Omega-3 (EPA and DHA) which can be found in flaxseed oil, olive oil, canola oil, or fish oil helps fight inflammation in the body.

Omega 3 fats augment blood flow to the muscles during training and decrease post workout muscle soreness. They also help to reduce swelling and increase mobility and range of motion after hard training. There have also been studies that indicate omega-3s improve insulin sensitivity which is paramount in both increasing the body's ability to burn fat or lose weight and to prevent future adipose tissue accumulation. And although still new and emerging, some research has indicated that omega-3s help with muscle growth and help during extended periods of rest by slowing down the loss of muscle tissue.

Personally, if I have a client who is injured and not training I always suggest increasing omega-3 intake or omega-3 supplementation to help prevent catabolism and to help speed up recovery. Even if you're just plain old sick with something as simple as a common cold, temporarily increasing your intake of omega-3 can help your body heal and recover faster.

Good dietary sources are wild caught fish like salmon or tuna and plant based sources like flaxseed or flaxseed oil, canola or olive oil, and to a lesser extent walnuts, almonds, and chia seeds.

Most people, particularly athletes, even if well intended, don't get enough omega-3 through the diet alone so supplementing is a good idea. Krill oil, salmon or fish oil, or cod liver oil are great sources. If you wanted a plant based option look for flaxseed oil capsules.

Depending upon the individual and their lifestyle/diet/goals anywhere between 1-4g a day is ideal.

Another tip when looking for a fish oil or omega-3 supplement is to look for the inclusion of vitamin E.

I think it's a good idea to take your omega-3 with an antioxidant. Omega-3 fats are completely unsaturated and susceptible to degradation by free radicals and something like vitamin E being included in the supplement helps prevent this.

By now, most of us know that muscle is broken down during training, and build up during rest. Recovery has to occur in order for progress to be made, and not just recovery between training sessions, but recovery between sets and reps within the workout itself.

The trend of shorter workouts done with lighter weight, higher reps and minimal rest has grown into a widely accepted truth as being the optimal way to train. But just how important is the length of your rest interval? Is less rest or more rest better? Do rest interval needs change for strength versus muscle gain?

As with anything in fitness- it depends upon the context, and ultimately, the goal of the workout. The research is not only scant, it's also contradictory. Some of what is available has indicated that when it comes to performance, the length of your rest interval can have a significant impact. For example several studies indicated that a rest period of less then two minutes resulted in GREATER performance as opposed to 3-5 minutes with compound movements such as the squat or bench. It seemed that 1-3 minutes was optimal for maintaining performance while anything less then 1 minute produced a performance reduction, as did anything over three minutes.

But rest period don't just impact performance, they also have an impact on the metabolic, hormonal, and cardiovascular responses to training. A study published in 2016 compared one minute and five minute rest periods and found shorter rest periods resulted in LESS muscle protein synthesis and other anabolic responses (muscle building) following the session. In other words, it hindered muscle gain. Inadequate recovery time prevents the muscles from replenishing themselves between sets and tends to result in a metabolic buildup within the muscle cells, which is thought to be why there's a decrease in anabolic responses. If you give the muscles more time to recvoer between sets, it allows for more total overall work to be completed at a maximum effort. This also typically allows you to train with more overall volume which can help increase strength and stimulate muscle growth.

But another study found shorter rest intervals to be beneficial in muscle growth. And yet another study found that while a rest period of two and a half minutes resulted in greater muscular growth over a 10 week period when compared to a one minute rest period, it had no significant impact on strength gains. This study was done on untrained men versus trained men, so this indicates that rest periods will vary depending upon how seasoned an athlete you are (for example if you've been training 5 years versus 5 months).

So what's the best way to interpret all of this? Remain open minded and understand that how long you rest between sets is going to be dependent upon a variety of individual factors, including how long you've been training, what your fitness goals are, and what the desired result of your workout is. There is no "one best" rest interval just as there is no "one best" diet. Nothing about fitness is cookie cutter, it's all about figuring out what works best for you and your goals.

In GENERAL, I tend to believe that when it comes to training for maximal strength or hypertrophy (using heavier weight) its best to rest longer (2-3 minutes, sometimes even more) to limit neural fatigue and to maximize strength and performance output on multi-joint compound movements. For anything single joint, like a leg extension or other isometric or accessory movement, there isn't a need (in my opinion) to rest quite as long, and something in the realm of 1-2 minutes is usually fine. And if your goal is high intensity output for a sport, or fat loss, resting even LESS might have a positive contributing impact.

Try different rest intervals within your programming and pay attention to how you feel and how you perform. You can also adjust your rest periods as your goals change to find what works best for you. Hypertrophy, or muscle growth is stimulated through low reps and heavy weight as well as high reps and lighter weight, and it also stimulated through varying rest periods, so don't get pigeon holed into believing that one way is the right way, or the only way.

Real life transformation from a former client of mine- post baby to bikini competitor!

Lately I've been working with a lot of new mothers, which has been an amazing experience,- and the following are some tips and suggestions to ANY mother (new or seasoned!) for balancing motherhood and fitness:

All too often I find people, in particular women, avoid salt like it's the plague. Usually, people avoid salt because they feel the consumption of salt will lead to water retention and bloating, but you have to keep in mind there’s a big difference between regular table salt and pure sea salt.

Sea salt, which is obtained by evaporating seawater, contains essential minerals and nutrients that are removed from table salt during the refining process. Minerals contained in sea salt are in their natural ratios, and this helps keep the body’s electrolytes in balance, and makes sea salt, in my opinion, a crucial component of any healthy diet.

Pure sea salt contains approximately 80 essential elements and minerals in their natural ratio that are essential for maintaining a healthy balance of electrolytes in the body. Balanced electrolytes are essential for communication between the brain and nerve cells. These communications impact heart rate, blood pressure and muscle tension, among other functions.

Sea salt also assists the kidneys in removing excess acidity from body fluids while at the same time helping to regulate blood sugar levels, which helps with weight management.

Sea salt also plays a crucial role in digestion. Since it helps contract muscles and nerves, it plays a key role in the contraction of the muscles in the digestive tract which help to push waste through the colon. In this way it helps force out toxins which can contribute to lethargy and constipation. It also activates the enzymes needed for proper digestion and is required by the parietal cells of the stomach wall to make hydrochloric acid.

Salt also helps balance hormones , enables healthy functioning of the thyroid gland, and establishes an optimal pH level in the body. It also positively facilitates with metabolic processes. Sea salt supports “hyperosmolarity” of extracellular fluids, which has positive effects on your metabolism by helping with the breakdown of proteins and glucose.

Plus, a diet that’s very low in salt causes more aldosterone to be synthesized, which can have effects like lowering potassium and magnesium levels in the body — the opposite of what most people need. In fact science has shown that while a diet high in sodium (over 7000mg a day) is indeed very harmful, a diet UNDER 3000mg of sodium a day is even more harmful. A diet too low in sodium can cause adrenal fatigue, lethargy, constipation, dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, hormonal imbalance, sluggish digestion, and impaired muscle and nerve function.

The bottom line is that while minimizing consumption of processed sodium dense foods is advisable, avoiding salt altogether is not. If you don't currently salt I advise adding in some high quality sea salt to your diet.

The bottom line is that while minimizing consumption of processed sodium dense foods is advisable, avoiding salt altogether is not. If you don't currently salt I advise adding in some high quality sea salt to your diet.

Last year, there was a huge article published in the NY Times, which detailed the weight regain that happened to the participants of "The Biggest Loser". The article looked at former contestants and concluded that almost all of them regained the weight they'd lost on the show. Two reasons for the drastic weight gain were stated:

1) Resting metabolism decreases (so you burn fewer calories).

2) Hunger and cravings increase, thanks to plummeting levels of leptin, the hormone that controls hunger.

What bothered me at the time about the article wasn't that it was exposing the rate at which these participants regained weight, but that the article made it seem like lasting weight loss was this unachievable feat. To anyone reading it who might have been contemplating a diet or trying to drop excess body fat, I'm sure it would've been incredibly disheartening.

The truth is that while there are, indeed, people who drop weight only to gain it back, there are ALSO countless people who have lost weight and kept it off. I'd know, I've helped dozens of them as a coach myself. But these people didn't lose weight and keep it off by engaging in the extreme measures taken on shows like "The Biggest Loser."

And that's the key. The dismal views about weight loss in mainstream society are largely the result of the "one dimensional approach" mentality to weight loss, which is that all you need to do is eat less and move more. And when progress stalls, which it inevitably will, just move even more and eat even less. And the bottom line is this strategy may work, in the short term, but there's absolutely no sustainability to it whatsoever. You can only eat so little and move so much.

The successful individuals who have lost weight and kept it off have done it slowly, methodically, and through holistic lifestyle change. Anyone can diet and exercise hard for several weeks, even months and get results. But those who lose weight and keep it off are those who learn to eat healthfully and sustainably, not restrictively. They don't deprive themselves, they learn to sustain themselves. They are those who have learned to make exercise a part of their life without making it their WHOLE life. They use exercise as means by which to build lean muscle and become stronger and better versions of themselves, not to punish their bodies for bad dietary choices. And they've likely addressed the other areas of their life that contribute to weight loss and general wellbeing such as stress management, sleep duration, sleep quality, hydration, and so on.

You can lose weight. You can transform your body. It's just that most people go about it the wrong way, acting out of impatience and impulse rather than logic. I’ve worked with people who have lost a significant amount of weight, but the thing is that most of the time, it happens over the course of years, not months, and certainly not in three to five episodes on a TV show. Weight loss that fast, might be entertaining to watch, and it might ramp up ratings, but any time you utilize methods that extreme, you can't expect the results to last. Which is why so many people regain weight. It's not because losing excessive fat is impossible, it's because they go about it all wrong.

The key to lasting weight loss begins with changing your definition of “success." You have to set aside the desire for instant gratification, accept that it's a process (and not a quick one), and educate yourself on how fat loss actually works.

If you’re patient about it (say, focus on losing 1-2 pounds per week at most), then you’re more likely to keep it off for good. This has been supported over and over by science. The problem is most people quit before significant weight loss begins to occurs. Initially they may lose a few pounds, which is typically due to a release of water weight and/or a reduction in stomach volume. Initial weight loss usually makes them feel great (rightfully so) but then progress stalls. If progress continues to stall, they get pissed off, and they throw in the towel and write themselves off as simply being unable to lose weight. The thing is, plateaus, or lulls in progress are an important part of the weight-loss process. Dropping 1-2 pounds per week is considered healthy, but it’s also the average. That means you might drop 4 lbs one week and then the next week lost nothing. On those weeks, when the scale doesn’t change, don't panic. Plateaus and standstills are a part of losing weight, and once you accept this reality it can change your perception of the process.

This brings me to the discussion of the set point theory, which is a theory I've written about before, and one which works to both your advantage AND your disadvantage. I'll explain....

For starters, your body does not like change. I don’t care who you are; it’s very resistant to anything that takes it out of its comfort zone (a.k.a. homeostasis). When that change occurs—specifically when you try to lose weight—your body does everything in its power to bring you back to a place of homeostasis. Your body does this by making a series of adaptations- such as increasing hunger if you're restricting calories, prompting you to eat more. This is a process known as the "set point theory".

Essentially what this means is your body has a specific set point, or place of balance in which it's reluctant to leave. For some individuals this set point is lean, for others it's not- your set point is influenced by a complex network of physiological, psychological, and social factors

For most of us this set point is not a specific weight, but rather a weight range- for example 125-130lbs. This means that your body will be hesitant to drop below 125 or to go above 130. So when you try to lose weight, or even gain weight, beyond the realm of your body's "set point", the initiates physiological reactions KEEP you in the body you’ve known for so long. For example if you're cutting calories to lost weight, the body will increase levels raise ghrelin levels, which is the hormone that induces hunger.

In my opinion, the set-point theory is the reason why so many people fail on long-term weight-loss goals. They simply aren't willing to wait it out while the body adjusts to change before allowing the scale to move again. But if you can hang in there and resist the urge to quit, these changes are temporary and can actually set you up for long term weight loss success. This is because set points aren't "set" in stone. Your set point can change.

Typically, if you've lost weight using extreme measures, like I discussed above, and not focused on making lasting behavioral or lifestyle changes, then at the conclusion of your "diet" you slowly find yourself reverting back into old habits. The junk food creeps back in, you begin to skip workouts, and so on. And boom- the weight you lost comes RIGHT back on. This is because you haven't allowed your body time to adjust to its new set point and lock it in. Your body is still struggling to return to your former self, so as soon as you let up and give it the chance, your body will jerk you right back into your previous weight.

People who lose weight, and keep it off, are those who reach their goal weight and then CONTINUE to utilize the healthy habits they learned during their weight loss journey to allow their body time (usually several weeks or so) to adjust to its new set point, and essentially in doing so, they're able to lock in a new body weight. Then you’ll establish a new set point, and your body will respond like that’s your new normal. It doesn’t sound that exciting, but it’s better than you think.

Everyone’s set point is a little different, so there’s not one hard rule for how long you have to wait. The more weight you have to lose (say 50+ plus) USUALLY the quicker or more consistently it can happen without hitting your set point. But if you want to lose less then say 20 lbs, you might hit a wall after the first 10, or even the first 5. This is why so many magazine cover lines read “How to Lose the Last 10 Lbs.” They should really say, “How to Be Patient After You Lose the First 10 Lbs.” But that doesn’t sound as appealing.....

If you go from 200 to 180 pounds or 150 to 130 pounds and wait out the set-point process, your body’s drive to move back to the old weight has changed. It becomes much easier to stay at your current weight because your body no longer thinks it’s outside its comfort zone.

This is why I stated earlier that fat loss or weight loss is never something that occurs miraculously in a month. It happens in phases, with time allowed to lock in those new "set points" along the way. Yes, there are extreme plans that promise faster results, but if you want your weight loss to LAST then you need to ignore those. Instead focus on what you can do for yourself over the course of the next six months to a year. Make a commitment to the process and resolve to be patient. Hopefully this blog will help you to understand what the REAL process of fat loss looks like and sheds some light on what it means when the scale stagnates or process stalls. And more than anything, I hope it gives you the willpower to keep pushing and prevents you from being so disappointed or frustrated that you lose motivation to continue.

Remember "what comes easy won't last, and what lasts, won't come easy."

So these are like pancakes. But they’re not like pancakes. While they look like little pancakes and feel like them, too, the texture and taste is not exactly that of a pancake. Probably because there’s no flour in them. BUT they may a fun and healthy food variation, with lots of possibilities. I like them sweet- with cinnamon and stevia added, but they can easily be made to be savory if you added some salt, pepper, chipolte chili powder, garlic powder, maybe curry (you get the idea).

What's really great about them is there are literally 3 ingredients and all you need is a blender. SUPER easy to make, and I'm all about ease and convenience when it comes to food prep.

You will need:

½ cup mashed sweet potato (or about 1/2 cup canned sweet potato, although it will be runnier in consistency and will change the outcome of the pancakes. I used real sweet potato)4 egg whites (from REAL eggs not liquid egg white measure)1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder1 tsp maple flavoring or vanilla flavoringSeasonings you want (I used cinnamon, ginger, stevia and allspice)

Combine ALL ingredients in a blender. I used the Nutri bullet. Add the sweet potato and egg whites first, then the dry ingredients. Blend until you get a nice smooth consistency. Meanwhile heat a frying pan over medium/low heat. Spray lightly with PAM. Wait until the pan is good and warm and then add the batter in 1/4 cup amounts (or more or less if you want). Don't flip too soon, but don't overcook. You'll have to check the bottom of the pancakes first. Lower heat works better, and don't try to flip them before totally cooked on one side.

Losing weight is never easy, whether it's the last five pounds you're fighting to eliminate, or the first twenty. While the last few pounds can often be the most stubborn, trust me when I say that beginning a weight loss endeavor isn't easy either. This post is for those of you who may be reading and have a significant amount of weight to lose. In other words- this isn't for people wanting to drop a few pounds, or change their body composition, of reach new levels of low body fat. This post is for someone with a significant amount of weight to lose, someone with 20+ pounds that need to come off, someone for whom a major lifestyle change is needed.

And that's my first tip. If you have a lot of weight to lose, my first suggestion is to wrap your head around this fact: weight loss is not a sprint, not even a marathon it is changing of your life. If you are challenged to lose a large amount of weight, your first step is to find a weight loss approach that will provide lasting sustainability. Study after study has shown that the best approach to nutrition is one that you can stick with over the long term. This means looking for a dietary method that works WITH your lifestyle rather than against it. (check out my Vlog on the "best diet" for you!)

My second suggestion is to master the basics first. Before you worry about trendy fitness topics like pre and post workout nutrition and nutrient timing, you need to master the basics of healthful eating. and healthy living. I encourage anyone with a lot of weight to lose to start with small, general changes such as eating breakfast every day, working more vegetables into their daily diet, getting protein at every meal, and eliminating or reducing consumption of refined sugars, processed foods and alcohol. When the basics become habit, then you can work on the little things that improve the quality of your plan. But when you start, you need to lay a firm foundation first. That means making exercise a priority, focusing on consuming healthy foods, and changing any lifestyle habits you have that negatively impact your wellbeing (poor sleep, high stress, lack of adequate hydration, excessive alcohol consumption, smoking, etc).

My third suggestion, is to set small goals, and focus on the achievement of those girls, rather than just assessing progress by the scale. There's NOTHING wrong with having weekly weight loss goals, however it's important to remember that weight loss plateaus are inevitable, and in order to make this a lifestyle change rather than a temporary effort, you need to create sustainability by broadening your focus beyond the scale. Sticking points are part of everyone's weight loss journey and if you only focus on how many pounds you are (or aren't) losing, it becomes incredibly easy to feel like you're failing if you have a week where you don't experience a drop in body weight. However, if you focus on the achievement of small daily, even weekly goals, you can easily keep yourself motivated and on track. For example, start taking your conference calls standing, or make it a goal to keep a refillable water bottle on you at all times to ensure you consume enough daily fluid. Struggling to get to bed on time? Commit to making it a goal to get to bed 15 minutes earlier every night for a week. Don't move enough during the day? Decide that you are going to begin parking farther from the supermarket’s entrance to get in some extra steps each or start taking a walk on your lunch break. These small habitual changes can enhance your calorie burn, increase the efficiency of your metabolism, and keep you focused on the establishment of making your health and fitness a priority. What's more, by setting and achieving small goals you will be encouraging yourself to stay focused and motivated, whether the scale moves or not.

Make sure you don't slash calories too quickly either. It is obvious that in order to lose extra weight, you are going to need to reduce your calories. But if you slash your calories too low, too soon, you'll have nowhere to go when you begin to hit a sticking point or a plateau. Your best bet is always to create a small caloric deficit, and build from there. More often than not, shifting from processed foods to whole nutrient dense foods is enough of a change to get most people's weight loss efforts moving in the right direction. In fact, studies have shown that when it comes to individuals who are obese or severely overweight, food quality contributes more to weight loss then calorie restriction alone. So focus more on picking and choosing healthy foods versus calorie counting. By emphasizing nutrient dense, real food you will naturally be lowering your caloric intake and the reduction in consumption of processed and sugared foods will help to create a hormonal environment conducive to your weight loss efforts.

Lastly, don't forget to love your body throughout the process. I know this might sound sort of "lame", but self confidence is crucial to be motivated in your weight loss journey. Love your body enough to feed it well and train with a purpose, don't hate it so much that you begin to punish it with extreme caloric deprivation or excessive exercise. I understand that many people have simply failed at their dieting and weight-loss efforts with such frequency that there is an ever present voice in the back of your mind that says, ‘you're going to fail this time too." Self doubt and insecurity can be loud, persistent, discouraging and even destructive to our efforts. The importance of self esteem in achieving life goals, including weight-loss, is immeasurable. It is a factor in all our human endeavor

s. With a secure and confident “self” we can be more successful in achieving any behavioral goal. Make sure that you think positively, and even more importantly, SPEAK positively to yourself and about yourself. One thing I always tell my clients is that they need to give themselves permission to feel good about themselves. Actually SAY it out loud "I have the right to feel good about myself" or "I deserve to be in a healthy and happy body." The more you say the words, and the more you think in this direction, the more you begin to program confidence and strength into your mind. Make sure every time you catch yourself engaging in negative self talk or self doubt, you come back with a positive statement. It can also help to make sure you surround yourself with people who support and encourage your weight loss efforts. IF you struggle to find what you need from close friends and family consider hiring a coach, a trainer, joining an online community, or taking some group exercise classes where you can be around like minded individuals

It blows my mind lately, how so many fitness professionals and so called "experts" frame cheat meals or cheat days as having vitally important benefits. The claim is that these cheat meals are supposed to prevent you from feeling deprived, help boost your metabolism, increase your ability to continue to be consistent with your diet, etc.

The acceptance of the "cheat meal" as being a dietary necessity is further perpetuated by social media. What we see influences us, and if you're scrolling through Instagram and viewing photo after photo of a jacked guy or ripped girl inhaling mountains of junk food, it's easy to wonder why, if they can, why can't you? Or why shouldn't you? After all, isn't that something you also need to do to reach your goals?

In short: NO. Cheat meals are NOT for everyone.

The truth is, while cheat meals are tempting, they only work if you're lean enough (and I mean LEAN ENOUGH) spend enough time doing very intense training, and have a 95% adherence rate to a really solid nutritional program.

I have nothing against using structured period of caloric increase, or “refeeds,” as in eating more carbs or calories than usual one day. In fact I often use refeeds, diet breaks or healthy cheat meals in the programs of my clients. When used correctly, methods like the ones I mentioned can help reset the hormones responsible for metabolism and insulin regulation, replenish glycogen stores for increased energy, and keep the mechanisms responsible for calorie and fat burning, functioning at a high level. This is important because the return of your hormone levels to normal can help reverse or even prevent any negative effects on metabolism, hunger drive, and energy expenditure. In addition, the increased clean calories will also help to increase thyroid function, further boosting metabolism. I've often found clean caloric raises can sometimes even help break weight loss or fat loss plateaus.

But the claim that it is somehow beneficial, even necessary, for a caloric increase to involve "cheating" or pigging out on extremely harmful junk foods with sugar, refined and processed carbs or trans fats just doesn’t make sense to me. And it's not really anything that is ground in science either. Here are some of the reasons why I always err on the side of caution when it comes to having a client go eat a full fledged "cheat" meal:

1. Depending on your dietary approach to fat loss, "cheating" can disrupt your body's adaptations. When you drastically change the way you eat, a certain adaptation process needs to take place. For example, if you’re doing a low-carb or ketogenic diet then your body needs to change certain hormones and ramp up production of enzymes to make use of fat as the primary source of fuel versus carbs. If you cheat, or flood the body with carbs while on a low carb protocol you disrupt that metabolic adaptation. Food impacts you down to a cellular and hormonal level, and when you're trying to lose fat it's important to focus on food quality and keeping the junk food out.

2. Unless you're ridiculously lean, most often, big cheat meals SLOW the metabolism rather than SPEEDING it up. Your body's ability to lose weight safely, healthfully and SUSTAINABLY, is reliant upon the health and efficiency of your metabolism. And when it comes to explaining the impact a cheat can have on the metabolism, a good analogy I like to use is that of a fire. If you have a burning fire, and you dump a ton of wood on it at once, what happens? It puts the fire out. Well, in a sense, if you're trying to lose unwanted adipose tissue, what you're trying to do by dieting is get your metabolism BURNING like a fire. But when you eat a huge cheat meal, it's akin to dumping a ton of wood on the fire at once. It shuts down that efficiency you are trying to establish with your metabolism so that you lose weight/fat as per your goals.

HOWEVER (as I mentioned clean cheat meals or healthy refeeds above) if you get your metabolism burning, like a fire, and then feed it a LITTLE bit of food at a time (think about adding kindling wood to a fire SLOWLY), then what happens? The fire GROWS. It speeds up, rather than slowing down. In this way, occasionally adding in clean calories or gradually increasing calories can help to speed up the metabolism versus slowing it down.

3. Eating junk food doesn't help eliminate cravings. It makes cravings worse. I personally believe junk foods to be downright addictive. Science has shown that junk food consumption (in particular sugar) acts on the same portion of the brain and with the same measure of addictive intensity as opiates. That's why you can sit down and eat a bag of cookies without blinking, but couldn't sit down and eat a bag of salmon filets.

If you tend to have issues controlling yourself then you should abstain from junk foods as much as possible. Because if you keep having something that you’re addicted to, it just keeps the addiction going. Junk food is manufactured with the INTENT to be addictive. Food manufacturers don't want you to be able to consume one cookie and then stop, they want you to be able to eat the whole bag, because the more you eat, the more money you spend on their product, and the more money they make. So for many people, particularly ones transitioning from a diet dense in processed food to a healthier diet grounded in whole foods, having "everything in moderation" or indulging in a weekly cheat meal isn’t a good idea. It will make things worse, not better. If you crave junk foods all the time and keep giving in to these cravings, that will just make the cravings even stronger. But if you avoid those foods completely you'll likely find the cravings diminish over time.

4. Cheating creates a poor mental perspective about dieting. Ever feel bloated, guilty and miserable after eating junk food? That’s pretty common, actually. That's because "cheating" causes psychological damage. A cheat meal may give you some pleasure while eating it, but it won't make you feel good afterwards, and often times the guilt and shame that follows a huge cheat meal, make it even harder for you to re-focus and get back on track with your diet the following day. Any success you achieve in dieting, is going to largely be dependent upon your ability to remain focused and mentally positive about the process. I've found that big cheat meals really hurt a persons ability to remain in a good mental space about their journey.

5. Cheat does not prevent "starvation mode". The concept of “starvation mode” has really been taken out of context lately. So many people are justifying cheat meals because they think if they're "dieting" in any way, shape or form (counting calories, adhering to macro totals, etc) they're in "starvation mode".

In other words, they seem to have this mentality that unless they have free license to "eat whatever" then they're in some massive horrible caloric deficit and are owed a weekly cheat meal as a result.

The truth is that the body evolved over hundreds of years and has an insane ability to do a lot on a little. What's more, "starvation mode" doesn’t really happen until you get to an extremely low body fat percentage. It really only becomes an issue when your body begins to have MINIMAL fat stores to tap into. If you’re a bodybuilder on a long cut for a show, then refeeds are likely to help prevent the adverse effects of dieting for too long. But even in this case, I still believe that choosing healthy foods is a better idea then consuming junk.

However, most people aren’t preparing for a bodybuilding or fitness competition and do not need to take drastic actions to "boost their metabolism" or "prevent starvation mode." If you're 25% bf and dieting, guess what, you're not in starvation mode. You still have plenty of fat stores for your body to access. In my opinion, for the vast majority of people simply trying to stay healthy or lose a bit of weight, cheat meals are unnecessary at best and may be detrimental.

1/2 cup + 6 TBSP gluten free flour (I use 4-6 TBSP oat flour and then the rest from King Arthur gluten free flour)3/4 tsp baking powder1/2 tsp baking soda1/4 tsp sea salt2 packets stevia2 egg whites from real eggs1/2 cup + 2 TBSP unsweetened cashew milk1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar1/4 tsp vanilla extract

In a large bowl whisk together all the dry ingredients. Then make a well in the center and add the milk, vanilla, apple cider vinegar, and egg whites. Mix well, until smooth. Then allow the batter to sit for a few minutes. I find if you skip this step the batter is runnier, so don't. :)

Meanwhile heat a pan on low to medium heat. Spray with PAM. Pour 1/4 cup of the batter into the pan and cook until the bottom is light golden and there are some bubbles on the surface then flip. Cook a few seconds more, remove. This should give you 6 pancakes.

Each one will be approximately 73 calories, 1g fat, 12g carb and 4g protein. The texture of the pancake will vary depending upon what flour you use. If you want them to be more like traditional pancakes, use ALL gluten free flour versus gluten free AND oat flour. I like the density that the oat flour lends to the pancake, so I like mixing the two- it's all based upon personal preference.

ENJOY!

1. Log your meals in a food journal. The first few weeks of any new nutritional endeavor is going to warrant some method of logging or track by your food. It takes just a few minutes a day and can make a big difference.

In one study, people who kept food journals or used some method of caloric logging over the course of a year lost more weight than those who didn't. I believe this is largely because when your write down or account for what you consume it brings awareness to your actions. So many of us fall into the trap of eating mindlessly- a handful of this or a few pieces of that. Throughout the day this can easily add hundreds of calories to your daily intake. We also tend to lose track of portion sizes- one serving of nuts spills into two or what should be a level cup of rice or oatmeal turns into a generous scoop.

There are tons of ways to log your food, you can try online tools, mobile apps, or plain old pencil and paper to find what works for you. You don't even need to necessarily weigh and measure, just write down what you eat, as you eat it, and approximate your portion size. Don't have time to write it down during the day? Take five minutes at night and account for everything consumed. The object is to make yourself more aware of your food choices and help you to adhere to a healthy diet. Food tracking or logging isn't even something you necessarily need to do forever. We all tend to be habitual in our food choices, so it won't be long before you know the numbers of your typical meals and will be able to eyeball portion sizes.

2. Shop smart. Most all of us have what I call trigger foods- one (or more) particular foods or types of foods that cause us to over-eat, no matter what we do or how hard we try not to. I know that often times removing something from your diet only makes you want it more, but frankly that just might be part of the mental battle you need to fight in order to learn how to do without. You are not meant to be controlled by food- and any food that causes you to lose self control, in my opinion, is doing more harm then good.

So don't buy it. Stop making it convenient and accessible. You can't eat what's not there, no matter how badly you're craving it. And if you can't control yourself around a jar of peanut butter or a bag of pretzels then the solution should be simple- stop buying them. Go through the house and throw out or donate all foods that trigger over-eating for you and resolve to shop smart from here forward. Make healthy foods easy to get to and remove the trigger foods that cause you to derail.

3. Drink more water. Any client of mine who happens to be reading this should have predicted I'd mention H20 intake at one point or another. That's because most people don't drink enough, and lack of sufficient water intake can create a myriad of problems, one of which happens to be impaired fat metabolism.

Water is integral in a variety of bodily processes, and fat loss is one of them. For starters, adequate water consumption increases your RMR (resting metabolic rate) or the amount of calories you burn a day. In adults RMR increased by 24-30% within ten minutes of drinking water and this impact lasted for 60 minutes. Throughout the day, this adds up.

Drinking sufficient water also helps reduce and curb appetite, stabilize blood sugar levels, aids in the digestion and absorption of food, helps to eliminate waste and toxins from the body and helps promote satiety. The "general" guideline is 6-8 glasses (8 ounces) a day but recent research has indicated that this is likely not enough for most of us. Like anything- water intake is highly individualized. For example leaner individuals tend to require more water as do athletes, active individuals, or people who sweat a lot.

4. Eat protein at every meal. Not surprisingly, the majority of America over eats fats and carbs and under eats protein. This is problematic on several levels, but it's particularly detrimental to body composition goals. Protein is used by every single cell in our body and is critical for building and sustaining muscle, supporting neurological function, aiding in digestion, helping to keep hormones in balance, and keeping blood sugar stable. Protein also helps to prevent weight gain due to its high satiety factor. It makes you feel fuller longer. It also has a high thermogenic impact on the metabolism- it requires a lot of energy to digest which means you actually burn calories as your body metabolizes protein.

I find many health and body composition "complaints" can be alleviated by simply consuming adequate protein. When you fail to consume enough protein it can cause a sluggish metabolism, trouble both losing weight AND building muscle mass, fatigue and low energy levels, inability to concentrate, moodiness, muscle , bone and joint soreness or pain, and a poor immune system.

I always suggest .8-1.5g per lb of bodyweight for active individuals or athletes, depending upon their goals and about .6-.8g per lb of bodyweight for sedentary or non athletic populations.

It’s best to eat small amounts of protein throughout the day, at every meal versus eating large servings sporadically. This gives your body a steady flow of healthy protein portions. Your body can only use so much protein at once, and because your body cannot store protein, eating it throughout the day is the surest way to balance your blood sugar level, ward off hunger and support your metabolism.

5. Eat more real foods. This sounds so simplistic you're probably going to write it off but time and time again, as a nutritionist I have seen it work- simply shifting to a diet rich in real, whole food creates huge changes in how a client looks, performs, and feels. I encourage ALL of my clients, regardless of their goal, to focus on “whole foods” that are nutrient dense rather than “processed foods” that are energy dense. Nutrient dense foods provide nutrients for your body such as fiber, vitamins and minerals with low added sugar and fat, while energy dense foods, or high calorie foods, provide many calories with little, if any, nutritive value to your body.

A whole food would be considered, ideally, a food with only one ingredient like a sweet potato, an egg white, an apple, a chicken breast or a cucumber. These foods assist in fat loss and muscle gain, balanced blood sugar, healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and overall energy and wellbeing. A processed food, on the other hand, is any food with more than one ingredient, and food companies typically add additional sugars, preservatives, dyes and “bad” fats such as saturated and trans fats.

For example let's compare a plain baked potato (one ingredient) to instant mashed potatoes. The ingredient list on Hungry Jack instant mashed potatoes includes the following: POTATO FLAKES (SODIUM BISULFITE, BHA AND CITRIC ACID ADDED TO PROTECT COLOR AND FLAVOR), CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: MONOGLYCERIDES, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED COTTONSEED OIL, NATURAL FLAVOR, SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE, BUTTEROIL. (Note: hydrogenated oil is trans fat, which is directly linked to heart disease and plaque build up.) It may not seem like it but all of these added ingredients and chemicals and altering of oils impact your body at a cellular level and THAT will impact fat loss or weight loss efforts.

Resolve to minimize processed food consumption, even foods that "appear" okay, like protein bars, pre-made "wraps", and sugar free, fat free or calorie free condiments, seasonings, sauces, etc. Instead focus on eating more of the good stuff- whole, nutrient dense REAL food. It's the simplest way to lose weight and body fat without ever cutting calories.

I'm not a big "chef"- I tend to be VERY plain when it comes to my own food prep. But I do enjoy cooking alot for others, including my husband, who happens to be a big chili fan. This is a chicken chili variation I made for him, which he LOVED. Since it's been a while since I've posted any sort of recipe- and chili is perfect for the colder months, I thought now was as good a time as any!

YOU WILL NEED:

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast or tenders1 large onion, peeled and chopped1 large red bell pepper, seeded and chopped down fine 1 cup of chopped fine celery4 garlic cloves, minced1 TBSP olive oil24 ounces jarred roasted red peppers in juice (I used fire roasted cause Randy likes some heat)3 tablespoons chili powder1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin2 1/2 teaspoons sea salt1 and 1/4-1/2 cups chicken broth (use less if you like thicker chili)OPTIONAL- 1 can of dark red kidney beans ( my husband likes beans in chili, but this would be JUST as delish without the beans)

Preheat a large skillet over medium heat. I used a big cast iron. Add the oil, followed by the chopped onions, peppers, celery, and garlic. Saute for 3-5 minutes to soften and then pour the sautéed veggies in the slow cooker. If you're using beans, drain and rinse them, and add them along with the veggies. Then put the chicken breasts on top then sprinkle the chili powder, cumin, and salt over the top.

Pour the jarred roasted red peppers and their juices in a blender and puree until very smooth. I used my Ninja food pro, but a typical blender would work fine. Just get them as smooth as you can. Pour the pureed red pepper and chicken broth in the slow cooker. Cover and turn on low for 6-8 hours, or high for 3-4 hours. When the chicken is cooked through remove it with tongs, and shred. Stir the shredded chicken back into the crockpot. If you want to kick up the heat, add 1-2 teaspoons cayenne pepper, or add hot sauce after cooking.

This yields a ton of chili- so you can cut the recipe in 1/2 if needed. I served this over rice, but you could also serve it with some quinoa, toast, with some roasted sweet potatoes- this has a lot of possibilities.

It's common, when you get "stuck" in your own fitness or run into a plateau to immediately look to your diet and training for a solution. More cardio? Less food? Change macros? Cut carbs? And so on.

But fitness is about more then what you eat and how you train. While those are obviously both integral components, they are by no means the only factors that play a role in your results.

Fitness is holistic- it's a lifestyle.

So when you hit a plateau or reach a sticking point don't just look to your diet or your training. I always discuss the following factors with my clients because these three things often are often times what is preventing them from achieving the results they're after:

1. Hydration or water intake. Lack of sufficient water intake doesn't just hinder your strength and athletic performance. It hinders fat loss too.

Signs of dehydration can include headaches, dizziness, sluggishness, stress, and of course, being thirsty. Another sign is the color of your urine. Dark yellow indicates you need to drink more, and in general, the clearer, the better. And while some people claim drinking in response to thirst is enough, I personally have found it's not. If you wait till you're thirsty it means you're already dehydrated. And a meager 5% loss of total body weight in water decreases work capacity by 30%, which is a lot. Hydrated muscles are strong muscles.

Insufficient water intake also slows and hurts digestion, as H20 is important in the metabolization of food.

Lack of water also causes you to hold water which will impact the number on the scale.

Water also aids the kidneys in the elimination of toxins, helps with appetite control and aids the liver in using stored fat for energy.

2. Lack of sleep. I can't stress this one enough, and I know I pound it home often. If you think 4-5 hours of sleep a night is enough you are grossly mistaken and you could be shooting yourself in the foot when it comes to fat loss.

Sleep is necessary to keep your brain and body performing optimally and for the body to repair and rebuild muscle. Chronic sleep deprivation leads to decreased glucose metabolism (basically makes you become inefficient at utilizing carbs, AKA carb sensitive) as well as elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol (which INCREASES fat storage), and decreased production of human growth hormone, which both aids in fat loss and tissue repair.

Nothing positive comes from sleeping less then 7 hours a night and chronic sleep deprivation can literally alter your hormonal balance.

If you want to improve your health, energy, body composition, athletic performance or strength - sleep 7-8 hours a night. Period.

3. Chronic stress. We simply weren't made to deal with chronic stress. While our bodies can benefit from stress in small doses, being in a constant state of flight or fight causes a myriad of negative consequences, including crappy workouts and poor fitness results.

For starters, chronic stress lowers anabolic hormones (such as testosterone and insulin) that stimulate protein synthesis and muscle growth, and increases catabolic hormones (such as cortisol and progesterone) that contribute to muscle degeneration. Translation? Stress can actually cause a decrease in muscle mass and an increase in body fat.

Stress also manifests in different forms depending on the individual so some other signs of too much stress could be feeling anxious, engaging in nervous habits such as nail biting or pacing, feeling fatigued, irritable, getting sick frequently, struggling with digestive issues, and even experiencing a loss of sex drive.

Stress management needs to be an essential component of your fitness plan, and it's something I discuss with each and every client- how can we reduce stress or balance their lifestyle to allow for less stress to occur.

A very frequent question amongst clients of mine is "what fat burner do you suggest?"

Typically I don't even recommend a fat burner, yet alone any particular one. In most instances fat burners are, by in large, a waste of your hard earned money. Supplements are expensive and you don't want to throw money at a pill or powder that in all honesty won't offer you much return on your investment. You'd be better off focusing on your diet, your training and your lifestyle management.

But there definitely are some scientifically backed supplements I suggest my clients utilize. Purchasing supplements individually not only allows you to be able to control the dosage of each individual supplement per your unique needs, but nine times out of ten you wind up saving money as well. And you can combine as many or as few as you want.

1- Fish oil. Not only does fish oil prevent omega 3 deficiencies (which helps prevent food cravings) but it also helps improve insulin sensitivity. If you have poor insulin sensitivity it makes it next to impossible to lose weight. There is also evidence that suggests fatty acid oxidation is increased as a result of fish oil supplementation. In other words, fish oil can simultaneously prevent fat vain AND increase fat burning. 2-3g taken 2-3x a day with food.

2- CLA. The research on CLA is a bit sparse and inconclusive but I personally have seen improved fat loss from my clients who use or have used CLA. CLA occurs naturally in meat and dairy but at levels typically too low to aid in fat loss. While CLA isn't a cure all there has been strong research that indicates it helps both reduce bodyfat and increase lean muscle. 1.5-3g taken 2-3x a day with food.

3- L Carnitine- I swear by this. It's been studied since the 1930s and the evidence is pretty solid. L Carnitine transfers long-chain fatty acids into mitochondria where they can be oxidized to produce energy. Carnitine has also been shown to reduce fatigue and suppress appetite. It not only helps keep your body from storing fat, but it increases your aerobic capacity to help you burn more calories as well. 1-3g taken 2x a day, ideally pre and post workout.

4- Green tea. Green tea is a natural fat burning powerhouse, and most people by now are familiar with it. It's heavily backed by science and can definitely aid in your body's ability to burn calories by helping to rev your metabolism through an increase in RMR. It also increases norepinephrine which is the body's natural fat burning hormone, extends thermogenesis and is packed full of antioxidants that help bolster the immune system. 500-1500mg 2-3x per day.

5- Fucoxanthin. Again, research isn't dense, but I've seen it work (although it takes a while, anywhere from 8-12 weeks to kick in). It's a xanthophyll, which is a molecule structurally similar to a carotenoid like beta-carotene. Fucoxanthin seems to help white fat cells behave as brown fat cells (brown fat burns energy as opposed to storing it). Science has indicated that if you increase the amount of fucoxanthin in your diet, you not only burn more fat you burn more visceral fat which is the stubborn, dangerous fat that hangs out around your midsection. Abdominal fat is particularly dangerous because it's fat situated around the organs. Fucoxanthin can also help correct abnormalities in glucose metabolism in muscle tissue which can help reduce cholesterol levels. 200mg 2-3x a day with food

If you want to add a stimulant based kick to the supplements I've listed above you can also try adding in caffeine, at 200-400mg taken 2-3x per day with one dose pre workout. Just watch your total caffeine amount of you drink coffee and don't take past 2pm as it may inhibit sleep quality. Capsaicin can also help, taken in between meals, 2-3x a day with one dose pre workout between 40,000-80,000 SHU. Capsaicin has been shown to change the function of fat cells. Instead of growing larger and larger like they usually do, capsaicin can help shrink fat cells by making them more metabolically active.

www.alli-fitness.com

I am a HUGE advocate of following any weight loss effort with a strategic maintenance phase to help lock in your results. And some recent research about weight gain, weight loss, appetite, and metabolism is shedding light on the importance of self control AFTER the "diet" is over.

I have talked about the set point theory before (on my FB page) but in case you've missed those posts, the set point theory refers to the body's desire for homeostasis, or a balanced hormonal environment. In layman's terms this basically means that your body will fight to hang onto its mass or to maintain a particular bodyweight. This number is different for everyone, but let's use 150lbs as an example.

The set point theory states that your body will be reluctant to drop weight much lower then 150 or to gain weight much beyond 150. I call it the body's "happy place". It's where your body becomes content.

The body maintains this weight by automatically initiating physiological responses (like an increase or decrease in hunger) and adaptations to the metabolism (metabolic rate slows or speeds up).

This can make weight loss a challenge, because basically the more weight you lose the more you'll find your body resists any further loss. This is part of why plateaus occur and also part of why the last few lbs or the last few bodyfat percentage points are the hardest to drop. It's ALSO why it is SO easy to regain weight once you've lost it. Your body is fighting to return to its old weight.

The National Institutes of Health in MD found that for every 2lbs you lose your body prompts you to consume about 100 calories more per day. This boost in appetite is the body's attempt to PREVENT further weight loss from occurring, because (as the set point theory states) your body is HAPPY where it's at and doesn't WANT to lose more weight. This boost in appetite, even more than the drop in metabolism people have after weight loss, really drives weight regain. The effect of appetite is three times stronger than the slowing metabolic rate and it's why it's so easy to see weight creep back up.

So what's the best thing to do? For starters, don't just revert back to old dietary habits or hop off the clean eating wagon altogether when your diet or fat loss focus is done. Once you reach your goal weight you have to exercise control to ensure that the weight lost doesn't pile back on. While this is easier said then done, the good news is that if you maintain your new, lower bodyweight for a period of months your body will recognize that as its new set point and it will settle into maintaining that weight with ease.

I've found this is best done by SLOWLY increasing caloric intake and food variety while watching for unwanted weight or fat gains. When I work with my clients I strategically add calories in to their diet, and/or cycle in some free meals/cheat meals or food variety while carefully watching that their photos don't display overt adipose tissue gains and making sure their body weight doesn't skyrocket.

How long your maintenance phase lasts will be different for everyone, as everyone's body is different. Some people tend to gain weight more easily then others and this will make for longer phases of maintenance with VERY slow caloric additions. A good rule of thumb is that you should expect to AT LEAST maintain your new weight, or be in a maintenance phase for about as long as you cut weight for. So if it took you 3 months to get the weight off, anticipate about a 3 month maintenance phase to lock it in.

Sooooo..... brief history as to how this recipe came about.

1) Every morning my husband has oatmeal for breakfast. And periodically complains about how said oatmeal is boring

2) I suggested baked oatmeal and he did a backflip said he loved baked oatmeal. Asked for it with blueberries.

3) I wanted to come up with a version I could "set and forget" in the slow cooker AND one that would be healthy (i.e no full fat milk, butter, whole eggs etc).

I really was NOT sure if this was going to work- at all. This was an experiment, nothing more, but it wound up producing some amazing baked oatmeal (or so my husband says). All I know is it baked completely in the middle and I did not overcook the edges. I've been serving his warmed up in the morning with a little bit of unsweetened cashew milk and some raw honey and he's one happy camper.

Couple of points- I think it worked well because I have an amazing slow cooker, that has three settings- "keep warm", "low" and "high". I used the low setting first, then switched to the "keep warm" to prevent it from overcooking. I did stalk this a little more then I usually would with something I put in the slow cooker, mostly because I wanted to make sure I didn't overcook it. Overcooked oats are just gross. I also sprayed the bejeezus out of the ceramic base. I did not want to be scrubbing crusted on oatmeal out of the bottom forever....

This took about five minutes to prep and should give you about 10-12 servings based upon how much carb you want to be eating. For my husband, it was about 10-12 (I estimated). You can also freeze these squares individually and/or take them to go cold. Cold baked oatmeal is awesome.

YOU WILL NEED:

4 cups quick cooking oats (I used GF)1/2 cup brown sugar/Truvia blend1/2 cup Stevia for baking1 Tbsp baking powder1 tsp saltcinnamon to taste2 egg whites (from whole eggs, not liquid egg white measure)2 cups unsweetened cashew milk or unsweetened almond milk1 TBSP vanilla flavoringBlueberries! As many as you want- I used abou 1 cup fresh

Basically- combine ALL ingredients in a bowl. I sifted together the sugar, oats, baking powder and salt first. Then I added in the milk, vanilla, and egg whites and beat it all together. The "batter" is going to be runny and loose- no worries. Then I gently folded in the blueberries and transferred the entire mixture to the crock pot. Put it on "low" and left it go for about 1.5-2 hours then turned it on "keep warm" for another 30-45 minutes (cannot remember how long exactly).

Voila.

Done and done. I removed it and allowed it to cool completely before cutting it.

There is an old saying that "you are what you eat", but beyond that I believe it's more about "you are what you absorb, store and/or use." Even if you eat all the right things you might not feel any healthier, be performing any better, or seeing the changes in your physique that you're after if the nutrients you consume aren’t being properly absorbed by your body.

Everything from your age, diet, stress levels, and in particular, the health of your digestive system and your gut bacteria can affect the amount of vitamins and minerals that your body actually absorbs.

Digestion is the process by which your body actually absorbs and uses (or doesn't use) the food you consume. If this process is "off" or if your gut is unhealthy, consequently you are not going to properly metabolize the foods you eat. And what's more, nutrient absorption can vary drastically- anywhere from 10%-90% to be exact. Because your body depends on scores of nutrients to function at an optimal level, making sure that you’re absorbing nutrients as efficiently as possible is a key influencer when it comes to overall well-being.

The process of digestion has TONS of steps-processing, absorption, storage, and use — and all of these steps, combined with your own individual physiological makeup — can all change whether or not you "see" or "get" the strength, performance or body composition results you are after.

What's more, we may absorb more or less energy based upon the type of bacteria in the gut and the overall "health" of your gut. Your gut environment is home to 100 trillion bacteria living within and comprising your intestinal tract. The vast majority of your gut bacteria work in your favor, helping to keep you healthy, but unfortunately, gut bacteria balance is largely impacted by the choices you make as it regards your diet and your lifestyle. In fact statistics show that about 74% of Americans report some form of GI discomfort, illness, or struggle, whether diagnosed or not.

While some factors that contribute to your gut health are beyond your control, such as age and genetics, other factors, such as what you eat, how you eat, how you manage stress, if you exercise, etc are all within your control.

Here are some things to consider:

1) Heal your gut. Consider supplementation with digestive enzymes, probiotic or prebiotics. Our beneficial microbes are under daily attack from things like the overuse of antimicrobials and antibiotics or NSAIDS, frequent consumption of processed and unhealthy foods, exposure to toxins in our environment, smoking, drinking, lack of sleep and other poor lifestyle habits. Supplementing with digestive enzymes, protbiotics and prebiotics can help aid in digestion by populating the beneficial bacteria naturally found in the gut as well as supporting digestive and immune health.

What's more, it can ALSO help ensure that your body is able to efficiently extract the nutrients it needs from your food. And I cannot emphasize proper nutrient absorption enough. It will maximize the impact of your dietary choices as well as any vitamins, supplements and even medications you’re taking - which will save you money and may even allow you to decrease the dosage. In short, digestive enzymes, prebiotics and probiotics are one of the best supplements you can take to make sure all of the other beneficial foods and supplements in your life are effective. Just make sure you do your research and/or consult with a doctor or gastro first- because the world of digestive supplementation can be hard to navigate.

2) Examine your lifestyle choices. If you work a high stress job, regularly consume alcohol, caffeine, and/or tobacco products - you might want to consider making some shifts in your current habits. All of these lifestyle choices negatively impact digestion by inflaming the intestinal lining. I'm not advocating an entire system overhaul- life change is hard so take it slow- but there are subtle shifts in your daily routine that can help positively impact your digestion and nutrient absorption. Experiment with taking an evening walk after work, reducing your consumption of caffeine and gut damaging stimulants, getting outdoors more often or consuming more healthy fruits, vegetables and whole foods .

3)Try experimenting with the "state" in which you consume your food. The TYPE of food you choose, as well as the STATE that the food is in also impacts your body's ability to digest and absorb it. Some examples:

- We absorb less energy from minimally processed carbohydrates, and fats, because they’re harder to digest.

-We absorb more energy from highly processed carbohydrates and fats, because they’re easier to digest. (Think of it this way: The more “processed” a food is, the more digestion work is already done for you.) This is why more processed carbs are recommended for pre or post workout consumption, because they are "easy" on the digestive system and rapidly absorbed.

A good example of this is cream of rice (highly processed) versus whole grain brown rice. One absorbs much faster than the other due to being broken down through various measures of processing. OR hydrolyzed whey protein powder (known as "pre digested" whey) versus whey isolate. While both are faster digesting then whole foods, hydrolyzed whey is put through a series of processes that breaks down the whey even further, making it available to the body at a much faster rate. Another good example would be peanut butter versus whole peanuts. Researchers actually found that almost 38% of the fat in peanuts was excreted through the stool, whereas seemingly all of the fat in the peanut butter was absorbed.

Some other good examples:

-We absorb more energy from foods that are cooked (and/or chopped, soaked, blended) because those processes help break down plant and animal cells, increasing their bioavailability and easing the burden on our digestive system to break them down and metabolize them

-Raw vegetables and foods however are VERY hard to metabolize and break down. We often don't absorb the nutrients as efficiently from these foods depending upon your gut health.

-When eating raw starchy foods such as a sweet potato, you absorb nearly NOTHING. But after cooking the starches are much more available, tripling the number of calories absorbed.

Cooked and cooled starches DECREASES the amount of calories we can extract from them, due to the fact that cooked and cooled starches forms what is known as RESISTANT starches which are (as the name implies) starches that RESIST digestion.

By changing how you prepare your food, you can improve the way your body extracts the nutrients it needs. Try lightly steaming or cooking your vegetables, eating nut butters instead of raw nuts, or blending or juicing which can also help with nutrient absorption. Avoid eating food that is burnt or really well done as it tends to reduce nutrient availability.

4) Chew your food well, and eat SLOWLY. This might sound "stupid" or trite, but trust me, it makes a huge difference. Digestion begins the moment you start chewing and saliva is released into your mouth. You may not realize, but your saliva contains enzymes that help break down food from large particles to small particles, making it easier for the body to digest. According to researchers, this process also makes it easier for your intestines to absorb nutrients from the food particles as they pass through. So if you are constantly inhaling your meals, chances are you aren't chewing your food properly nor giving your body the time it needs to release the enzymes that can help with the breakdown and absorption of foods. Take smaller bites and chew your food slowly. Wait a few moments between bites of food and resist the urge to continuously shovel. You want to chew your food until it's really lost its texture. Another good tip is to wait to put food and fluids into your mouth until you have swallowed.

5) Reduce or eliminate alcohol consumption. Alcohol affects nutrient absorption in a couple of ways. First, it decreases the secretion of digestive enzymes, meaning your body has a harder time breaking down food. Also, alcohol simultaneously damages the cells lining the stomach and intestines, making it harder for the nutrients you consume to enter the bloodstream. Anything more then 1-2 drinks a week has been shown to have a dramatically NEGATIVE impact on the digestive system.

6) Work on stress management. You may not know, but your brain and your gut are VERY closely linked. This intense connection has been studied for years but researchers are just beginning to understand the impact emotions, feelings and thoughts have on your digestion. If you've ever been seriously stressed and suddenly experienced poor digestion- it's not by coincidence. One way to help enhance the health of your stomach and your nutrient absorption is to manage your stress to the best of your ability.

7) Pay attention to how your body responds to the foods you eat. nearly 74% of Americans report having digestive problems in response to the foods they eat- whether they are diagnosed with an actual illness or not. That's NOT normal, healthy or OKAY. If you consume a meal and suddenly are nauseous, get cramps, are bloated, or have a change in bowel habits, that is a sign from your body that it clearly didn't respond well to something that you ate. Rather than continuing to consume foods without regard for how they impact your body, start paying attention to how your body responds to what you eat and take some notes. This can help to pinpoint foods that may be problematic or troublesome for your body. For example does your body get funky when you eat dairy? Or that new protein bar you bought? Too much fruit give you gas? These are things to pay attention to and make note of, because if your body is responding negatively, chances are it's not DIGESTING optimally. A really great exercise to do is keep a food journal for a week or two and jot down how your body responds to varying foods you eat.

By following the above suggestions, you can, hopefully, increase the health of your gut, and therefore your ability to metabolize the food you eat and generate the results in your fitness that you're after.