Real Life Fitness – Getting Fit With Brent

I’m going to write something that may be a bit controversial.  In fact, it may seem contradictory to my association with Beachbody, considering they sell supplements.  But it’s the truth, and everyone knows it whether they want to admit it or not (and most times, they will not admit it due to the financial gain they lose…more on that later).

So here it is:

It is NOT the supplement you are taking, drinking, whatever that is causing you to lose weight!

No, it’s not.

Supplements are named “supplements” for that very reason:  They are there to supplement some other change you are making in order to reach the desired effect.

To make my point:  If you started taking a supplement that promises weight loss, but you continue to eat like a pig, you may lose a couple of pounds (depending on what the supplement does), but you will not have any real long term success.

However, if you “supplement” a good diet, healthy habits like exercise, rest, etc, then the supplement MAY help.

No supplement is a miracle, though.  You will not magically lose weight unless you have already made drastic changes away from the standard American diet (SAD) and are eating how your body needs to be fed for the results you are wanting to do.

Yes, Shakeology is a supplement.  It is also usable as a meal replacement.  It is a GREAT product, but it is not a miracle product.  If you want long term results, use it to supplement a otherwise healthy diet.  You cannot drink a shake each day and then eat tons of other calories, sugars, bad fats, junk food, etc, and expect to look like Tony Horton or Shaun T.  It’s not happening.

So what brings this rant on?

There are so many companies out there in the direct sales industry that believe their supplements are miracles.  They truly believe that by just adding that supplement to their life that they have magically lost all of this weight.  And for a majority of them, that is simply NOT true.

The real truth is this:  They were approached by a product that could help them lose weight (so they were told), and they were given a plan to take the product, change how they eat to a cleaner, more wholesome diet, do some exercise, and they lost weight.  They made a lifestyle change that was supplemented with a supplement.

Who knew that eating healthy foods and exercise would help you lose weight?  (no sarcasm at all, I know)

But these people will never, ever admit that is the case.  Doing so would hurt their paycheck.  It would hurt their credibility.

When I first started P90X in 2009, I took no supplements.  I ate according to the guide.  I did my workouts every day.  I lost a LOT of fat.  Eating well, exercising, getting results…a novel concept, I know!

I did not add Shakeology until sometime in 2010 after my second round of P90X.  At that point I was taking the P90X multivitamin.  But again, it was there to support my lifestyle change I had already made.

You’re probably asking yourself, just as I have asked myself:  Why do you still use Shakeology then, Brent?

Because Shakeology to me has nothing to do with weight loss and everything to do with solid nutrition.  I’m not taking it as a miracle drink to help me shed pounds.  I am taking it, though, to make good nutrition convenient.  I credit the shake with helping me eat healthy, not lose weight (although by adding it in as a lower calorie meal option, with all natural products, toxin flushing ingredients, etc, it may aide in weight loss).

So please…quit trying to convince me that your product made you lose weight.  No….making the decision to change your life by eating better, exercising, and then supplementing your lifestyle with your supplement is what caused you to lose weight, plain and simple.

Brent Nutrition And Diet, Shakeology diet, exercise, nutrition, Shakeology, supplements

I’m going to be a bit vulnerable with this post.  It involves me, weight gain, and sugar.

First, I’m going to say this:  Sugar is addicting.  REFINED sugar is horribly addicting.  I don’t know the true chemical reactions of sugar conversion, but I swear it hits a major pleasure center (not quite like sex does, but some people claim they ‘d rather have sugar).

Sometime around last May, it hit me.  My daughter had a birthday party and we put together a “candy store” for her friends.  There were a lot of different types candies.  None of them really attracted me except the M&M’s.  YUM (or so my brain said).  I had been on a paleo diet all year with low carbs, and when my body tasted M&M’s, and ice cream, it went into overdrive.

Yes, I ate it.  A lot.  And often.

Fast forward to the holidays, where I had already gained a decent amount of weight back.  I weighed in on my surgery day at 186.  That’s 12 pounds heavier than where I had been averaging all year.  After my surgery, the holidays hit and we ate a LOT of sugary treats.  Oreos and milk?  Yep.  Christmas “trash”?  Oh yeah.  And then we went on a cruise.

Now, I’ll say this:  I’m not going to say I’ll never eat sugary treats again, and I’m never going to tell anyone that they’ll kill themselves over one treat.  But what I am going to say is this….its ADDICTING.

The problem is stopping the cravings.  I took the approach of cleansing the system via very low carb (VLC) paleo approach.  I’m not a big fan of being this low carb (under 50g), but I did it anyways.  The cravings are subsiding.

So how do you beat sugar addiction?  Beats me.  Sugar is a weakness.  Just like hamburgers.  And pizza.  But, I care about my health long term, so learning to control things is my #1 priority.

Here are the things I plan to combat it this year:

1.  Eat more fruit.  Sure, sugar in fruit.  But it is natural, not refined, or processed like high fructose corn syrup.

2.  Don’t deprive.  That’s what got me.  I cut myself off from anything until the party.  It’s okay to have something every now and then, just make it a treat and not a habit.

3.  When not depriving, control portions.  Small piece of cake?  Sure,  Half of the full sheet cake?  Not good.  Learn control, Brent!  (just kidding, never ate that much.  Not really a big cake fan. )

4.  Jump back on the bandwagon by referring back to #1.  Fruit does a great job of calming the urge of a sweet tooth.

5.  Ultimate Reset.  I hope to do this by August/September, just before the cravings hit.  And then go back to remembering #1.

6.  Shakeology.  With almond milk.  And peanut butter (or if still paleo, almond butter).  Good stuff, plenty of “sweetness” to it.

7.  Combat seasonal depression.  This year will be easier since my first time to really exercise won’t be until the fall.

Ok.  Game plan in place.  What is your plan or strategies for avoiding sugar?

Brent Nutrition And Diet, Primal/Paleo Eating Beachbody Ultimate Reset, fitness, paleo, Shakeology, sugar addiction, weight gain, weight loss

Wow, so here I am into week 3 of clean eating and P90X2 (although this is my 4th week of X2, but the first week was an “eat anything” week).  I’m seeing results.  I can tell I’m slimming up, my core is better, my shoulders hurt less, and all the other good things that come with getting into a routine that just doesn’t beat you senseless.

And on top of it, in my physical therapy, we’re are doing less strengthening and more work to challenge the body and the shoulders in the form of Tough Mudder training (more on this later).

This week is an odd week for me with some traveling coming up (heading out to Las Vegas for the Team Beachbody Summit).  So not a full X2 week on tap, but with 2 scheduled workouts with Tony Horton, I’m sure I’ll get plenty of X-style workouts in.

So I’m pleased, but….

I’ve been doing some research into how men (and women, but mainly men, since I am one) on why we store fat differently and what may be the cause behind it.  I’ve also read a lot about leptin, another hormone involved in weight loss, and am coming to a few conclusions about an experiment I plan on running with my body.

First, I want to refer to this diagram (taken from http://www.healthhabits.ca/2009/08/12/hormones-problem-areas-and-your-body-fat-map-part-2/):

The theory here is that hormone imbalance lead to men storing fat in different areas.  The chart is fairly self-explanatory, but the reasons behind may not be all too obvious.  The link has a lot of great information behind what may cause things such as low T levels, high E levels, and Insulin levels that cause the fat storage.

So I started thinking about my trouble spots and decided that its time to make some changes to my diet.  So here we go:

1.  My Chest

I don’t have large man boobs, but I do seem to store a decent amount of fat in my chest.  This is very annoying, and while I’m losing the fat, I cannot help but to wonder if high E levels may have something to do with it.

The problem is, this is the only symptom of high estrogen that I show.  All of the other things I have read about do not line up with how I feel.  But its worth the experiment.

So the correction:  Lower E, Raise T, manage insulin.  Back to the Primal Blueprint style diet, but with a slightly higher carb load (120-150) with some possible carb cycling, which I’ll talk about a bit later.

2.  My back

Of all the places that REALLY annoy me, its my back.  I have back muscles, but this big blob of goo covering them makes me look a lot bigger than what I really am.

The correction:  Again, Primal Blueprint diet, but increase fiber.  More on this too….later.

3.  My abs

This is common for all men.  I’m not stressing as much about this as the others, but the results should take care of themselves.  Our lower abs are usually the last place fat leaves.  And this one may be the trickiest due to cortisol.

The good thing is, cortisol can be corrected overall by a few steps:  Better rest days (P90X2 has 2, which is good), better sleep (7+ hours), and unwinding time away from the TV.  I personally am trying to read and listen to music more to help manage stress.

Outside of this, the other thing of note here is “Low Growth Hormone” levels.  I’m not sure if this is the issue, and I’m going to assume it is not (I get a decent amount of aminos).

Correction:  Primal Blueprint with more fiber.

The correction is just simply holding to the path I’m taking now.  I attempted the X2 diet, but just kept slipping back to a paleo/primal style diet.  I felt better on days I ate more fat with the lower carbs.

But I’m going to make some other adjustments and see how it works as well.

1.  Carb cycling – On days where I have an X2 routine and PT, I will opt to eat higher carb, lower fat.  My carbs will come mainly from sweet potatoes (1 or 2) and extra fruit.  I will aim for 30-40% of my intake from carbs that day, with 25% protein and the rest in fats.  The thought here is that doing this can help regulate leptin.  Regulating leptin should help keep the fat burn consistent.

2.  Cheat days – This is a bit controversial.  I am 16 days into my focused diet and have been eating well above the 90/10 I set out for myself.  The only day I did anything extra was on Father’s Day where I allowed myself to have some rice as well as a handful of popcorn chicken and (literally) 4 fries.

But, the last thing I want to do is burn out.  And I’ve had success following the 1 cheat meal a week plan.

I’m going to start out with 1 cheat meal every 2 weeks starting in phase 2.  When I do that, the 2 days after the cheat day, regardless of what is going on, will be normal lower carb intake primal eating days.  I will probably opt for only one cheat meal, as opposed to the full day.

3.  Fiber intake – Honestly, I do not eat nearly enough veggies.  I could eat fruit all day (have I ever mentioned how much of a sugar addiction I have?), but veggies are just harder to come by.  And with a primal/paleo style of eating (no beans, no whole grains, no oats, etc), fiber can be difficult to get.  So I did research and ran across this list of highest fiber fruits and veggies.  Seems like a complete enough list to give me some ideas of what to eat.

I like avocado on salad, so I will start incorporating it more.  And while not 100% primal compliant, I will probably opt to get the Shakeology Fiber boost.  This would give my shake a total of 10g of fiber, roughly 30% of what I’m going to aim for each day.  If I can reach 30g a day I may see the affect of the hormones correct themselves.

All of this I must do without risking performance.  I believe the carb cycling will actually help performance, and the cheat meals should keep me from hating life, so to speak.

After I return from Summit I’ll be blogging more with more details about how I’m trying to reach these goals.

Brent Nutrition And Diet, P90X2, Primal/Paleo Eating fat loss, fiber, hormones, p90x2, paleo, primal, primal blueprint, Shakeology

It has been a LONG time since I’ve blogged about my nutrition, exercise, etc, so I thought I would catch everyone up on what is going on.

First, I’m on my last week of Insanity.  I’m glad, too!  I love the workout, but month 2 really starts to get to me after a while.  I think what I’ve learned about month 2 is what it really takes, nutritionally, to survive.  Remember, I’ve been eating Paleo, which is a higher fat, lower carb style of eating if you eat traditional Paleo.

The problem I’ve hit is in month 2 the carb cravings have been intense!  Even with taking the Results and Recovery formula (not Paleo, but I needed a recovery drink in a desperate way) and Shakeology, I still found that 100g of carbs and 80-100g of fat did not give me the energy I needed to strive in the days.  I found myself with INTENSE cravings at night.  And I cheated some because of it.

What I think I’ve discovered is that you really need carbs.  Mark Sisson talks about “chronic cardio” and its affect on the carb cravings in the body, and I believe it now.  While Insanity is more than just cardio, it still pushes your heart rate up in a high zone and pushes your body through your anabolic threshold as well as you aerobic thresholds.

My thought is if I ever do Insanity + Paleo again, month 1 I will not change, but month 2 I will need to carb cycle or simply go to a “zone” style 40/30/30 plan.

I’ve also learned that with Paleo, it is really hard for me to eat enough.  I needed to be getting 2100-2400 calories/day in, and I simply could not hit near that most days.  Another reason for intense carb cravings (when I get depleted, my body craves sugars as a quick and easy energy source)

With this knowledge, and the fact that month 2 was starting to beat on me, I had to make a decision:  To continue, or do something else.

I’ve decided that I’m going to move on to P90X2 (finally) instead of repeating Insanity.

And what that means is a transition off of Paleo/Primal eating….somewhat.

P90X2 does include a “grain free” option meant to help the caveman eaters, but it is not the high fat, low carb plan (just simply grain free).  Since this is my first time through the program, I plan on following the nutrition plan as it is laid out.  I think this is important for my Beachbody business as well as seeing how I feel and learning a bit more about my body.

June 3rd (Sunday) will be my official start date.  After I finish this round of Insanity, I am taking a week off to do nothing but stretch and recovery and get ready to push hard with X2.

And, of course, I’ll be forming a P90X/X2 Challenge Group.

Brent insanity, Nutrition And Diet, P90X2, Primal/Paleo Eating insanity, P90X, p90x2, paleo, primal, results and recovery, Shakeology

If you read my blog, you know I’m a Independent Team Beachbody Coach, a huge advocate of their workouts, and use the Shakeology product and recommend it for daily nutrition.  Before this year I had focused just on the Chocolate Shakeology product.  I loved the chocolate, its taste with how I blended it, and even could handle the Shakeology Cleanse.

Earlier this year, Beachbody came out with a new flavor:  Vegan Tropical Strawberry Shakeology.

Now, the first thing I thought was “Vegan….eewww.”  I’m way to much of an omnivore and do not mind how whey protein affects me.  I was concerned about taste to be quite honest.

So, after using it for a bit now, here’s my review:

1.  Taste – Naturally a better taste than chocolate.  It is very tasty, even with just water (something that chocolate lacks).

2.  Texture – The only knock I have on it.  Brown rice protein is a bit chalkier texture on its own.  It takes some experimentation to get rid of or minimize, but if texture does not bother you, you’ll love it.

3.  Intangibles – Disclaimer:  I love my chocolate shakes.  BUT I LOVE how I feel after Tropical Shakeology versus the chocolate.  I feel a bit heavier and a bit bloated after the chocolate.  I do not feel that way at all with tropical.  It is a very light feeling on the stomach.

Overall, if you are looking for something a tad bit better than chocolate, get tropical.

Brent Nutrition And Diet Shakeology

Beachbody’s Ultimate Reset has been released!  Here is a video describing the reset and what it will do for you.

I’ve been reading a lot about systemic responses, especially the role inflammation plays in heart disease.  Toxins, foods we eat, stress, all can play a part in inflammation.  When you are chronically fatigued, you start developing problems:  Higher cholesterol, blood pressure, and other cardiovascular issues.

In other words, fighting inflammation is extremely important to avoiding heart disease and related illnesses.

Taking it one step further, eliminating the need for processed foods, especially sugars, can drastically reduce inflammation as well as your chance of being a Type 2 Diabetic (and yes, you can become type 2 without being overweight).

I’m the first to admit when I saw the Ultimate Reset I was intrigued.  And then I was concerned as it moves you to a strict vegan diet for 2 weeks (with one week being nothing but fruits and veggies….but something I could definitely handle).  After all, I love my meat.  But the reason why this is a short term (21 day) cleanse is to not detract you from eating your normal healthy foods but rather have your body take in food that is nutrient rich with ease of digestion.  Fruits and veggies are great for this over a short term.

With my thoughts out of the way, here is some more info:

The reset is based around 6 supplements and eating clean.  VERY clean.  It is a fairly regimented program and will take some discipline and support (that’s why I am putting together an Ultimate Reset Challenge Group).  It also includes NO EXERCISE!  Hard to believe that Beachbody would put out something like that, but it is for a reason.  Exercise produces a mild inflammatory reaction in the body, albeit a positive one.  The goal of the reset is to minimize inflammation.  So giving up exercise for 21 days will not be the end of the world.

So who is the reset for?

1.   It is NOT for just those that are overweight….although you will probably lose weight on it.
2.  It is NOT just for people who need to eat better.  Athletes can use this too to improve their body and function.
3.  It is NOT just for people with inflammatory conditions, although they would greatly benefit from it.

In short, the Beachbody Ultimate Reset is for everyone.  I plan on using it once I can break free from physical therapy for 3 weeks (i.e. the no exercise portion).  The more I read about our food sources, and the more I heard about the Ultimate Reset, the more I knew this is something that I will (and need to) do.

The  6 supplements?

1.  Alkanalyze – To restore your body’s pH balance.
2.  Oxygenize – Liquid oxygen that helps eliminate toxins.
3.  Mineralize – Natural healthy salts to introduce trace minerals back to the digestive track.
4.  Revitalize – Natural Pre and Probiotics.
5.  Optimize – Systemic emzymes to help reduce inflammation.
6.  Detox – Restore optimal digestive health.

All  6 of these products are made with organic, natural ingredients (no chemicals here).  Combine these with Tropical Strawberry Shakeology (the only Shakeology product allowed during the reset) for optimal health, resetting your body, your metabolism, and your digestion to its ideal state.

For maintenance, they suggest continuing to take Alkanalyze and Optimize along with Tropical Shakeology.

Would you like to know more about the Ultimate Reset?  Post questions or comments below!

Brent Featured beachbody, cleanse, Shakeology, ultimate reset

I’m 12 days into my Insanity + Shakeology + Paleo Diet challenge and I’ve got to share a bit of my results and tell you why this happened:

In my first 10 days, I dropped just under 10 pounds.  That’s right, an average of one pound a day.

Even better than the weight loss is the changing of my body.  Things are fitting a lot looser now than what they did just 2 weeks ago.  Needless to say, I’m thrilled.

But, while Insanity is my chosen path for exercise, it’s not really Insanity that I believe is making the difference, but rather the consistent focus I am putting on my nutrition.  I am not cheating.  I’m eating strict paleo, which also means no butter or cheese (two things that I would incorporate into my more Primal Blueprint style diet).

In my opinion, Insanity is just the catalyst for my nutrition.  I could be doing anything with a level of intensity, be it P90X, X2, Crossfit, whatever, and probably get the same results.  The reason why is this:  You can exercise all you want, but if you do not keep aware of what you put into your mouth, you may be defeating the purpose of exercise.

Just from my personal experience, and maybe you can relate:  When I exercise, especially lifting heavy weights, I get a lot hungrier over the day.  It’s easy to go into the panty and find junk and put it into your body just to satisfy the hunger.  But what did you just do?  Most likely, you took in empty calories.  You just put something into your body that will provide no real nutritional benefit.

Change that around to having things planned and knowing exactly what you’ll eat:  If you have a nutrient rich snack on hand, such as almonds, you know what you are eating.  You know the calories.  You know the nutritional detail.  You know whether that fits into your plan or not.

The great thing about the paleo/primal way of eating is knowing what you put into your body.  Instead of purchasing products that have a lot of additives, chemicals, preservatives, etc, you eat something that is usually a single ingredient or just a few.  But you know they are whole food sources, good for you, nutrient rich for the calories, and will keep you on track with your goals.

Now you could any reasonable whole food diet and produce results.  Maybe you cannot break free of starches, so you decide to do a lower fat, higher carb diet.  If you are focusing on good carb sources, you could get results.  Any diet that provides single ingredient, non-processed foods or foods that are good for you will produce results.

Now, I can already hear people saying:  “But Brent, Shakeology is NOT a single ingredient food!”

You’re right, and the strict paleo’s would denounce me as not eating true paleo for drinking it.  And that’s fine.  So be it.  I’m pseudo-paleo, and fine with that.

But this is (as I’ve mentioned before) a situation of not throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  Shakeology is a collection of whole food ingredients.  Similar to making a big salad with lots of little things, Shakeology is the same.  It is good for me, and that’s why I drink it.

But it fits into my overall diet.  It is my main carb source when mixed the way I like.

It’s part of my focused nutrition plan.

So let’s do this:  What are you currently eating?  Tell me:  Does it fit into your plan, or does it detract from it?  Use the comments section below to answer.

Brent insanity, Nutrition And Diet insanity, P90X, p90x2, paleo, primal, Shakeology

Let’s face it:  We all need to exercise.  My dad and I were talking the other day about a new “study” that came out that linked NOT exercising to an increase risk of cancer.  While I never really buy into these studies, it does bring up a great question:

What can I expect from eating clean and regular exercise?

Let’s take weight loss/fat loss out of the equation.  We all know these are the biggest reasons why people start a diet and begin to exercise.  I don’t want to discount weight/fat loss (everyone who reads this blog knows my story or can read more about it), but there are more benefits to it than just getting skinny.

I’m going to outline benefits I’ve noticed as well as others I’ve read about:

1.  More Energy

This one is the most obvious to me.  I work an office job.  I sit in front of a computer every day.  It is easy to want to eat junk, but when I did, I felt tired, lethargic, not as sharp, etc.  But when I’m really focused on nutrition and regular exercise (like my Insanity + Shakeology routine I’m on now), I feel steady energy all day.  I never feel like I’m crashing.  I can focus better.

Outside of work, I have more energy to play with my kids and do things with them.  I can exercise more than once a day a few extra times a week, burn some more calories, and not feel out of it.

2.  Better Sleep

True story:  During the fall, I get on a sugar kick.  Usually the sugar kick starts around 8:30-9pm at night and last until I go to bed.  When I do this, my stomach does not feel as good and I do not sleep as well.  During this past fall, due to the shoulder issue being a bit of a bummer, I quit exercising outside of physical therapy.  And I didn’t rest as well, had a hard time wanting to wake up each morning, etc.

Just a few days into what I’m doing now and I’m resting better than ever before.  I’m going to sleep faster, waking up refreshed, even if I only get 6-7 hours of sleep.  And getting better sleep leads back to my first point:  More energy!

3.  Improved Self-Confidence and Image

I’m proving to myself that I CAN do something with I eat clean and exercise daily.  I show myself that I can focus, be consistent, and accomplish goals.  Combining that with the fat loss (that yes, after one week, I can notice a bit of), makes me feel better about myself.

4.  Less Irritable

I’m a lot nicer person to be around after an Insanity workout.  Just ask my wife.

5.  Increased Libido

I’m neither going to confirm/deny this (I don’t “kiss and tell”), but I get emails from Men’s Health magazine and have read some various diet books that boast this.  And it make sense.  For a male, eating certain foods and exercising seems to give a boost in natural testosterone.  And it produces sweat, which they say is a pheromone.  And pheromones seems to turn women on.  Or something like that…

For women, there’s actually been ladies reporting climaxing while exercising!  If that isn’t libido increasing I do not know what is!  Along with that, though, having better self image (#3) and a less irritable husband (#4) seem to help this happen a lot…umm…..easier (that’s a good word for it).

Don’t believe me?  Google it.

6.  Stronger Bones

I’ll admit I don’t know the science behind this, but it has been reported that strength and resistance works actually helps with bone density.  My mom is living proof of this:  Combined with some calcium treatments, she has moved her bone density away from a dangerously low level by lifting weights.

7.  Better Health/Quality of Life

This is probably the most important, although many people simply overlook it.

Sure, do all of the above, but the best thing is what happens on the inside.  The better you eat, and the more you keep toxic foods and fat off and out of your body, the better your health is.  Eating foods that prevent chronic inflammation and producing mild exercise-induced inflammation is good for you.  People can move away from being diabetic by doing these things.  They can reduce their chances of stroke and heart attack.  They can reduce their cancer risks and other things simply by eating clean and working out.

So from these reasons, which ones do you want to have happen to you?  To your spouse?  Let’s discuss this in the comments section!

Brent Fitness Tips, Nutrition And Diet diet, exercise, health, insanity, libido, nutrition, Shakeology, sleep

It happens to people, and it has happened to me:  You stop losing weight/fat, you plateau (a common name for this), and you get frustrated.  You’re exercising, you’re eating right, you’re sleeping well, you seem to be doing all the right things, and yet the scale hasn’t budged in 2-4 weeks, you’re clothes are not getting looser, and you’re thinking about grabbing that gallon of Ben and Jerry’s and just saying “Screw it!”.

Been there.  There currently, minus the Ben and Jerry’s.

Plateaus happen.  They suck.  They are frustrating.  I’ve personally been stuck at the same weight for 3 weeks now and can relate.  With my shoulder issues my exercise has been scaled back, but I’m still eating on my chosen nutrition plan.

When plateaus happen, it’s time to shock the body.  You’ve got to try something different, right?  So here are a few things that may help, may not, and cannot hurt to try (just don’t go overboard here).

1.  A cleanse, detox, or something similar – I’ll talk about what I plan on doing a bit later in this post, but try a cleanse.  Sometimes our body needs to reset.

2.  Over-eat one meal – Similar to a cheat meal.  In fact, you can take this as a cheat meal if you want.  But if you’ve been on calorie restriction for a period of time (or severe calorie restriction), eat at-or-above maintenance one day, or eat one really big meal.  One big meal won’t kill you and very well may reset your body to need to burn more.

3.  Take a slight break from exercise.  Yes, I said it:  Stop exercising!  But only for a short time, such as a week.

4.  Up your intensity of exercise.  The opposite of #3.  Lift heavier, do a HITT, something different.

Try one of these four.  Can’t hurt, right?  Eating one meal isn’t going to cause you to gain 5 pounds of fat back, and one week of not exercising is not going to turn you into a soft body.

As for me….

With going through shoulder PT, I’m limited on upper body work.  I plan on using my body as a human lab.  I’m experimenting with two different things:

1.  I plan a Shakeology Cleanse.  I need to reset my body nutritionally.  Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of doing a cleanse, but it has always helped me when I need to move my metabolism into overdrive.

2.  I am going to do a Leptin Reset.  I have a slight feeling that I may have a bit of leptin resistance which causes my body to burn more sugar than fat (hence why last year I was 159 lbs, approx 13% body fat, and still did not look slim).

I have nothing to lose doing either of these.  I will not be blogging daily about how it is working but will hit on it every now and then throughout the week.  My goals is to bust through this plateau through nutrition and moderate exercise while the shoulders are healing.  I will take before/after pictures of the cleanse, and will also take weight measurements during the reset with full measurements every two weeks as well as pictures.  The Leptin Reset is only a 4-6 week cycle, so I should finish up by end of March, maybe into the first bit of April.

Note:  This is fairly extreme.  Not that it is extreme as in extremely difficult, but rather just a big change for most.  If you have been eating Paleo/Primal, it cannot hurt to try, which is why I want todo it.

By the way, what are some of the advantages I’ve read about doing a Leptin Reset?

-  Fat Loss
-  Better hair/nails
-  Better sleep (a big reason I want to do this)
-  Increased sex drive
-  Better recovery from intense exercise
-  Decreased cravings

I’ll write more on how I plan on doing the reset (yes, it will include Shakeology, since I’ll be taking reduced carbs I want maximum nutrition).

If you’ve busted through a plateau, I’d love to know what you did and see if anyone else here could benefit from it as well.

Brent Nutrition And Diet, Primal/Paleo Eating fat loss plateau, leptin, not losing fat, Shakeology, weight loss plateau

Ok, anyone who just glances at my blog knows that I am a coach with Beachbody and I support all of their products.  I use a good portion of them purposely (they work).  But, one product in particular can be fairly controversial with a Primal Blueprint style diet.

Shakeology, of course.

So I decided to do an experiment on my own body:  Eat primal, do not take Shakeology often (or at all), high protein/no fat breakfast, more carbs are night, etc.  I decided to do this after reading some post out there about a study where the participants ate more carbs at night, less in the morning, and how it affected their leptin levels, their weight loss, etc.

The results:  Not pretty.  In 2 weeks, I managed to only lose .25″ off my waist, only .2% body fat.  .2%!  That’s ridiculous for someone in the 18% range.  I ate at a deficit each day, exercised at least 3x a week (first of 2 weeks was doing P90X, the second I decided to let PT do it’s job and recover some from this impingement).

Not only did my fat loss nearly stop, but I was more irritable (ask my wife).  I didn’t sleep as well.  I did not feel as good.  I started having cold like symptoms.  I had cravings (MASSIVE cravings for sugar, breads, etc).

Moral of my story:  I’m not doing that again.  In fact, I’m going to revert back to how I was doing it:  More carbs in the morning post workout, veggies mainly at night.  I may mimic the Asylum style diet where no carbs at night, and a carb at lunch 2-3x a week (I’m thinking 1/2 a sweet potato at lunch every now and then).   I’m also going to log, for one week, everything I put into my mouth again to make sure I’m eating enough.

But Shakeology will be on that list everyday.

Brent Nutrition And Diet P90X, primal blueprint, Shakeology