SECRET #1 – EAT MORE, NOT LESS:
THE LIE OF CALORIE RESTRICTION

Have you ever celebrated the fact that you went all day without eating anything?
Or perhaps you thought your diet was right on track if your breakfast consisted of
a half bagel and your lunch a small cup of salad greens.
No doubt, the media along with a slew of fat loss misinformation has
programmed us to believe that less is best.


The less you put into your mouth, the more fat you’ll lose. Twelve hundred
calories is much better than sixteen, and a simple thousand even better.
Unfortunately, this is the exact opposite of how our bodies work.
To understand why, you have to understand your body’s number one priority: to
keep you alive.


Fail to give your body enough food each day and it won’t be long before your
body shifts into “starvation mode” as a defense mechanism. It’s simply your
body’s way of protecting you from a lack of food.


Now, you’ve probably heard of starvation mode, but it’s not likely that you fully
understand it, so allow me to explain the process, albeit quickly.
As you begin to curb your food intake, especially if you are heavily restricting
calories, the body begins to send out hormonal signals to decrease metabolism,
preserve body fat, and increase appetite. Great scenario for the dieter trying to
lose body fat, right? Yeah, I know…


One of the major players in this whole chain of events is the hormone leptin.
When you heavily restrict calories, leptin levels plummet, sending a signal to the
brain that you are not eating enough food. Once this happens, all those other
things (decreased metabolism, stalled fat loss, increased appetite, etc) occur as
a chain reaction.


At this point, fat loss becomes one heck of a battle, and to be frank, it’s the
reason why so many individuals fail at the whole dieting for fat loss thing.
So what do you do?

The key is to create a moderate caloric deficit through both diet and exercise—
enough to have you losing fat at a consistent, steady rate, but not so severe that
it triggers your body’s starvation protection mechanism.
Some practical recommendations: First, never skip meals—ever—especially
breakfast. Second, be mindful of your calorie intake. To avoid the disasters of
starvation mode, I recommend keeping your caloric deficit moderate—no more
than 500 calories below your daily maintenance intake.
Eat more, lose more. It’s a counter intuitive concept, but one that will save you a
lot of dietary frustration when followed, I can guarantee you that.

Carbs + fat = insulin + fat.
Insulin (storage hormone) + fat = fat storage.


Again, some practical advice: Eat protein with every meal and choose to
combine it with either carbohydrates or fat, never both. And never, ever combine
carbs and fat in the complete absence of protein (i.e. cookies, pastries, chips,
bread & butter, pastas with cream sauce, etc). Simply put, it’s a recipe that
spells out dis-as-ter.



SECRET #2 – MIRROR YOUR
METABOLISM

Skip breakfast. Moderate-sized lunch. Large dinner.
That’s the typical American diet.
And here’s the problem. That’s the exact opposite of your daily metabolic
rhythm.
No wonder why America has a weight problem.
We eat our largest meal when metabolism is at its lowest point and when
metabolism is at its peak (in the morning, upon awakening), we eat nothing.
If you are serious about dropping body fat, it’s time you break the American habit
and start mirroring, not defying, your metabolism.
Again, metabolism is highest in the morning, so breakfast, not dinner, should be
your largest meal. A large breakfast also helps to stroke overall metabolic rate
and get your metabolism fired up to burn even more calories throughout the day.



Want proof? Research has repeatedly shown that those who regularly consume
breakfast have faster metabolisms than those who don’t—eat a large breakfast
every day and your body (both inside and out) will thank you for it.
Then, as the day goes on, metabolism starts to taper off until it reaches its nadir
in the evening hours just before bed.
Do your best to limit food intake, especially carbohydrate intake, during this time.
For dinner, it’s probably best to go the low-carb route (while getting most of your
carbs during breakfast and lunch).


A great dinner for the “mirror your metabolism” approach is a large salad full of
mixed greens, protein (chicken or some other form of animal protein), and some
healthy fats (i.e. an olive oil-based dressing).
If you do choose to eat something after dinner (which is OK if you follow the
rules), just make sure it’s from either the green vegetable or animal protein
categories (no carbs allowed).


Because green veggies contain minimal calories while being high in fiber, they’re
sure to curb just about any hunger pang with very little caloric damage. Protein
on the other hand will contain more calories, but has the advantage of directly
supporting calorie-burning muscle tissue (instead of going to bed and leaving
muscle “starved” for 8 or more hours).
As you’ll see in a later secret, maintaining muscle tissue while dieting just may be
the most important thing you can do for fat loss and metabolism.