Month: November 2016

The answer is easy: Eat right.

I did a Whole30 and transitioned into Paleo. How much weight did I lose? How is over 100 lbs in 12 months? Here’s the cherry on top of that cake: I did it without exercise.

You read that right. I’ll say it again: I lost over 100 lbs in 12 months without exercise.

Now, I will say that eating right is harder than it sounds, because we’ve been taught to eat the wrong things. We were taught that low-fat and grains were good for us while in reality, they are the root of the obesity epidemic in the US (and most of the developed world). To add insult to injury, almost anything pre-prepared and packaged for our consumption contains either grains or sugar (or both!). The true enemies of our health is the food industry.

The difficult part of eating right is finding foods without sugar, grains, soy, beans, or dairy. That will typically mean having to eat whole foods like meats, vegetables, and fruits which translates into having to prepare food the old fashioned way: from scratch. This is neither easy nor cheap. Cheap food is typically very bad for us from a nutrition standpoint because it’s mostly filler, and filler is cheap (and mostly either sugar or grains).

The other part people wrestle with is the mindset to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Notice I didn’t say anything about exercise. That will come later for most, but it doesn’t need to. You can lose weight without exercise. I did it; I know it can be done. Once you set your mind to changing your relationship with food and eating right while avoiding those foods that are bad for you, the rest becomes easy. Sure, the first few months are tough avoiding foods you’ve been eating your entire life, but once you learn the healthy alternatives and start feeling the benefits of eating right, you won’t want the old/bad foods anymore. Again, I know this, because I have experienced it as has my wife and many of our close friends who have also went Paleo.

Easy rules to follow below.

Avoid the following:

• Sugar
• Grains
• Beans
• Soy
• Dairy

Eat more of the following:

• Meat
• Vegetables
• Fruit (in moderation)

If you want more information on how you can lose weight without exercise, go to Whole30.com or thepaleodiet.com.  I recommend you visit both. You will find a lifestyle that keeps you filled up, has delicious and satisfying food, and will help you lose weight and get healthy.

As of this morning, I’ve lost more than 135 lbs since I weighed my heaviest in 2014. Of that 135 lbs, 113 lbs of it has been lost since September 1 of last year. Of that 113 lbs, 110 lbs of it was lost without exercise. Since I began running on September 10th of this year, I’ve only lost 3 lbs.

When people find out that I’ve lost over 100 lbs in a year, they immediately assume that I’ve been working out like a madman. They couldn’t be more wrong. When I tell them that I did it through a change in lifestyle alone, they seem almost disappointed. They would rather learn that I did it through exercise than through diet alone, because then, they have no excuse. Changing what you put into your mouth to fuel your body is something we each have 100% control over (unless you’re in a coma, and in that case, how are you reading this?).

135 lbs.

I have a hard time getting my head around that. I have lost more than 1/3 of my former weight, and I did it safely and improved my health and blood chemistry at the same time. I did it all without anything more than eating smart. If I can do this, anyone can. I feel like I really did stumble upon the secret to weight loss, and while it’s not easy or painless, it’s doable with some perseverance.

We sacrifice for those we love. We sacrifice to reach goals. We sacrifice for others all the time. Isn’t it time you sacrifice a little for your self? Aren’t you worth it?

I’ve been saying for months now that I eat more protein and meats than vegetables and fruits, and I’ve achieved some great weight loss while doing so. It turns out that a few studies and this article may explain why this has been the case.

I have been eating at least one or two sides of vegetables with my meals which consist of at least a main portion of some kind of meat, but rarely have I been eating fruits due to the sugars contained in them.

I’m not saying eat protein only. I’m just saying that a diet heavy in protein may be better in reducing hunger between meals and help your body process the food better and aid in weight loss. The link is worth taking a look at.

You know those commercials on TV that tell you that if you buy their ab-roller, it’ll flatten your stomach by removing fat? How about those who think that using dumbbells will take the fat off their arms? I have bad news for them; it’s all a myth. You cannot exercise a certain part of your body to reduce the fat there. You WILL build muscle, but you will not remove fat there. That’s not how it works.

Your body burns away, or more precisely, flushes away the fat after the fat cells are no longer needed and the fat content of the cells are depleted for a period of time (around 45 days). Exercising a certain muscle doesn’t necessarily draw the fat from these storage cells directly adjacent to the muscles. That’s just not how the body works. The body pulls energy from all the cells on a pretty much equal basis from your entire body at the same time. The energy in these cells is drawn into the blood which then carries the energy where its needed. Muscles can’t directly pull from the fat cells.

Problem area with lots of fat? Sorry; you have to continue to lose the fat and let the body use up the fat there on its own. Nothing you do will make that one target area lose its fat. Nothing. No pill, no specific exercise, nothing. Now, exercise WILL build muscle, and building good, strong muscles under fat areas will help that area look better, and once the fat goes away, you will have glorious and beautiful muscles to show, but you won’t get rid of the fat on your arms by using dumbbells all day. It just doesn’t work that way.