Freshman 15

[McKenzie]

Well... actually, it is more like sophomore 15 that I didn't take off from last year. I eat healthy, lots of salads and fruit. I try to exercise a few times a week, but don't always make it. Can you help?

[joel]

Sometimes salads and fruit can be the problem. Think about it this way. It's not food that creates weight loss. Its the hormones produced from eating food. The hormone produced from eating fruit or salad is insulin, albeit, in lower amounts than say pasta or SunnyD. One of the functions of insulin is to TURN OFF your fat burning switch. If you are producing insulin at every meal, guess what, you will find it difficult to burn fat no matter what you eat!

What you want to do is break things up by meal. The hormone produced by eating good fats in isolation or with protein is glucagon. One of the functions of glucagon is to TURN ON your fat burning switch.

One of the easiest things you can do to lose the extra 15 pound is to SWITCH UP energy sources with every meal, particularly breakfast. If you ate carbs your last meal, no matter what kind of carbs they were, try eating some good fat and protein like an egg (without ANY carbs) or half an avocado. The good fat will turn on your fat burning by producing Glucagon. Make sense?

[McKenzie]

So I should just alternate every meal? Meals with carbs, and then meals with fats, proteins and no carbs. It sounds too easy.

[joel]

It really is that easy. There are a few tricks, the most important one being breakfast. It's critical that 3 days a week your first meal is fat and protein. What this does is keep the fat burning you are in during sleep going a few extra hours. But the basic gist of this works because it turns on the hormonal control of fat burning. Also, remember, fat has a lot of energy, so don't eat too much fat at any one time, i.e. no more than half an avocado, tablespoon of olive oil, etc. Also, avoid fried foods and heated cooking oils.

[McKenzie]

I am defiantly going to try it. It sounds easy, and if it works. Wow.

I did have a question. You said that breakfast is important because it will extend my fat burning during sleep. What should I eat at night? To get that fat burning during sleep do you have to do anything special, or are you burning fat because you have not eaten for a long time?

[joel]

Really good question McKenzie. I didn't have space to get into all of this prior but dinner, not breakfast is your most important meal of the day. There are 3 reasons

1. Dinner sets up hunger or lack of for breakfast
2. Dinner is where all the weight gain occurs for most people
3. Dinner is how you can set up most of your weight loss

The trick with dinner is lots of roughage, some protein and a bit of good fat. The key is the roughage. By roughage I mean things like green beans, broccoli, foods that are very high in dense cellullose (fiber).

Gastric action (meaning how much energy it COSTS you to digest something) is the most overlooked element of weight loss. At night, eating roughage promotes a lot of gastric action during sleep. This means you body has to expend more energy to digest food. Doing this maximizes fat burning and sets you up to wake up hungry. Eating an egg for breakfast 3 days a week maximizes the fat burning.

Now the really cool part, you don't have to live this way. You just have to incorporate a few days a week like this. Even just doing breakfast in this manner will help. On days you don't do the egg, feel free to have a big breakfast with carbs. Make sense?

Also, at bedtime, take about 2 grams of L-carnitine and 50mg of coq10. It will help you burn fat while sleeping.

[McKenzie]

Thank you. That does make a lot of sense. I WILL try it. It doesn't seem drastic or crazy. Its something I can follow. I'll let you know how it works. Thanks again.

[Tigger]

It might be something for me to try, too. It doesn't seem drastic at all, and I usually eat a good dinner.

[McKenzie]

Okay, wow. So, I talked my roommate in to trying this with me and we both lost weight! It wasn't that hard to follow at all either. I lost 5 lbs in the week we have been doing what Joel suggested, and she lost 7! I can't believe it.

I could tell a difference right away, I was very hungry in the mornings (not normal for me). Thanks Joel.

[joel]

Awesome, Mckenzie! All we are doing here is using food to manipulate "on/off" switches for hormones basically causing you to burn fat on cue. Sign up for our VEEP system when you get a minute. Basically it has all this stuff built into it at a much more intricate level, so you are not stuck doing the same thing all the time. it goes live in a week or two.

Keep me posted on your weight loss! Happy to add a few tweaks here and there for you.