The Beauty of Breakfast in Weight Loss

So you’ve got a super fancy idea.  You just started your new diet and your brother-in-law is throwing a super swanky shindig tonight.  The whole thing is catered with an (excited squeal) open bar and everything!  You know you will indulge later, so how do you prepare?  You skip breakfast to save calories.  That way you can get lost in the fondue and cocktail franks without repercussion.

Pretty crafty thinking, ay?  Not so fast

Let me ask you a question.  What kinds of activities burn calories?  Walking you say.  Jogging, cleaning the house, sex.  Well, that is a start.  But do you know what else burns calories? There is a significant amount of energy expended to digest and metabolize the foods you eat.  Pretty awesome right?  You burn calories just by eating!  This is every dieter’s fantasy.

So now onto why eating all your calories at night won’t work.   First of all, if you don’t eat in the morning, your body has no need to digest until midday.  This means that your metabolism is completely inactive until your first meal.  Thought you need 1600 calories a day?  Not anymore because you wasted your calorie burning potential in the morning.

Next, studies have shown the people who skip breakfast have higher levels of insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar.  This is also a hormone that is responsible for turning energy into fat.  So when you finally have lunch, your meal is more likely to turn into your double chin.  You will also have more of the hormone called ghrelin that tells your brain that you are hungry.  No wonder your stomach is ferociously growling!  By the time you start eating, your body is so desperate for calories that it will push you to binge.  You will likely take in many more calories than if you had actually eaten breakfast.  This isn’t lack of willpower.  This is a biological response to excess ghrelin. 

Want one more reason why you want to limit your trips to the make your own sundae bar at the soiree?  Eating before bed is one of the worst things you can do for weight loss.  This is because your metabolism shuts down while you sleep for other important functions like detoxification and repair.  Without much energy to burn, where do you think that ice cream sundae goes?

Breakfast doesn’t have to be a big meal.  It can be something as simple as a protein smoothie.  Eat breakfast and you will be able to taste, savor and enjoy the food at the party.  You can still eat.  You are just much less likely to binge.  I promise you won’t miss the binge because you barely taste what you are eating when you are inhaling calories.  Yay breakfast!

Cardio Barre, Zumba and Anit-Gravity Yoga – Why Even the Hippest Exercise Trends Can Fail to Take Off the Pounds

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I see it all the time.  A person gets into that super motivated place where they are ready to climb mountains to lose weight.  So what do they do?  They try to climb a mountain…literally.  The gym is filled with the hopeful, sweating and pumping and stretching up to seven days a week, with the idea that the more they sweat and pump and stretch, the more weight they will lose.  What usually happens to these ambitious fitness enthusiasts?  Most of the time they build muscle, their hearts get healthy…yet those size six jeans only fit in the blissful dreams they have after collapsing at night from all that exertion.

Yes, exercise will be the magic pill for some, but it isn’t the complete answer for all.  Confused?  Don’t worry, I’ll explain.  Your body is the super coolest machine you will ever encounter and it is programmed to keep things in balance.  Keep in mind that we were constructed for a time in history when food was hard to come by and famine was a real concern.  What does your super smart body do after an afternoon of vigorous ping pong?  It starts growling for food like the plant Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors. 

The answer then is to eat less, right?  Well, not exactly.  Remember what I said about your body being smart and wanting to create balance?  Have you ever been able to stick long term to a calorie deprivation diet?  Your body’s job is to stay fueled with a full tank of gas.  Deny yourself now and your body is going to pester you for food even louder later.  Don’t feed it and it will start working more efficiently.  Efficient is good right?  Well, this means it will expend less energy now so you can build up your fat reserves for later.  Starve yourself and gain fat??? Yay for efficiency! (Heavy sigh).

So is the answer to give up exercise for a sloth like existence?  Hell no!  The answer is to exercise in moderation, give yourself enough rest to repair and learn to eat SMARTER.  This will help your body work more efficiently in a way that encourages fat loss. How does this work?  Well, the answer is a little different for everyone since we all have unique bodies.  Nonetheless, this probably means:

1)      Eating more good quality, lean protein.  This helps build muscle as well as remove toxins created by exercise that can be getting in the way of weight loss.

2)      Eating whole grains like quinoa, brown rice or barley which slowly release fuel into our bodies making us fuller for longer. 

3)      Eating healthy fats found in foods like fish and flax seeds to fight the inflammation in the body that encourages fat storage. 

4)      Using food to heal your body and create balance despite fat loss.

5)      Removing man made food products like high fructose corn syrup and hydrolyzed soy protein that get in the way of repair.

So keep training for that marathon.  Because weight loss is like a marathon.  Sweating off quick pounds rarely leads to long term sexiness.  What does work is treating your body like the high-end machine that it is and learning to use exercise as just one tool to create long term fat reduction.

Being Good to that Person Inside the Mirror

How often when you look at your reflection do you feel like you are looking at one of those fun house mirrors?  There are days when I look in the mirror and I’m not really sure what I see.  Do I look fat, thin, ugly, pretty, put together, unkempt?   As far as I know I have 20/20 vision.  So why is it so difficult to see myself accurately?

How many of you have been there?  You look in the mirror and the more you stare at yourself, the more the image starts to shift in your head.  My thighs will grow from being normal to looking huge right in front of my eyes.  Were they always like that?  Or maybe my stomach has gotten a little smaller which is making my thighs look larger.  Or maybe my shirt is hitting my pants in a weird spot accentuating my big thighs.  Or maybe my hair is just out of place, throwing the rest of me off-balance.  Or maybe….

Gosh, sometimes you just need to take a breath. 

The thing to remind myself when my mirror is acting wacky, is that my mirror is just a piece of glass.  It doesn’t have special powers.  It isn’t going to tell me that I look ugly.  It isn’t that mean kid from junior high who shouted nasty one-liners at me down the hall.  It is a lifeless object.  Just an innocent piece of wood and glass.

The mean bully is my own mind. 

Next time I look in the mirror and the reflection starts acting funky, I ‘m going to have a few choice words with my bully of a brain.  I’m going to tell it to stop shouting nasty things at me.  I’m going to tell it to stop making up rumors and lies.  I’m going to tell it to stop being hateful and spiteful. 

Fun house mirrors are for carnivals, not my house. 

Then once my brain is better behaved, I’m gonna look at myself again.  This time my brain is going to say something nice to me.  Because once you have a cooperative brain, the mirror will reflect something beautiful.