Many people have been convinced by the diet industry that if you skip a meal or if you go for too long without eating, your body will go into starvation mode causing the slowdown of your resting metabolic rate – and also triggering the body to hold on to its fat reserves. That is why they advise people to never skip a meal or to go for too long without eating.

The diet industry is dead wrong. Your resting metabolic rate does not slow down, and your body does not try to hold on to the fat reserves just because you missed a meal or because you did not eat all day. You need to not eat for over 72 hours before your resting metabolic rate starts to slow down and even then, not always.  As a matter of fact, your resting metabolic rate goes up slightly and your body actually burns more fat, in the first few days of fasting. This is according to a research study published in June of 2000 in American Society for Clinical Nutrition and they have been many other studies to support these finding.

www.SimpleWayToVibrantHealth.com 

Recently I read an article on yahoo about how Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey, eats and lives.  He basically eats once per day, he does ice baths combined with hot sauna and fasts regularly.  That article received over one thousand comments, many of them criticizing Jack Dorsey on his practice of eating once per day.  

I can understand how the concept of eating only once per day sounds to the average person who has been brought up believing that the best way to eat is 3 meals per day plus snacks.  If you look at healthy regions around the world you will find out that they eat more like Jack Dorsey and not the way mainstream nutritionists are teaching people to eat in our country.

I have been in the weight loss field for over 25 years and I too was teaching my clients to eat 3 or more times per day, because that is what I was taught in school.  However, due to my upbringing, it did not take me long to wake up and realize how wrong, the idea of eating 3 or more times per day actually is for your health and weight.

When I lived in Greece in the 70s and 80s, adults only ate once or twice per day.  If they ate twice, one of the meals was very small.  Keep in mind on the island I was raised in Greece, people lived long healthy lives and thin was the norm.  Now, if you go back to Greece, people are not nearly as healthy or thin and if you look at one of the things that changed was how often people ate.  Now, people in Greece eat 3 or more times per day and they suffer similar health and weight problems as the rest of the western world.

I have done extensive research on the subject of how often one should eat for optimum health, and my conclusions are that eating once or twice per day is the best way to eat.  The human body needs a break from food for optimum health and there is plenty of research to back that statement up.   Don’t you find it interesting that all healthy regions around the world, on average they only eat once or twice per day and fast regularly?

The problem today is that people don’t eat out of true hunger, this is why they feel the need to eat more often.  Once you learn to eat out of true hunger, you will find yourself not needing to eat more than once or twice per day and you will have energy to spare!

Personally, Monday through Friday, I too, eat only once per day and just like with Jack Dorsey, it really helps my thinking and energy during the day.  On the weekends I do relax, and I could eat more often if I feel like it.  I believe in the 80/20.  If you eat the perfect way 80% of the time, your body will forgive you for the 20% of the day when you don’t.

Another great benefit of eating once per day is that your body is more forgiving if you are not eating the perfect foods. 

My message to the people who criticized Jack Dorsey for eating only once per day is to do some reading on the subject of eating less often and how good is for your health and weight.  While you’re at it, do some reading on how the popular ideas of eating 3 square meals plus snacks came about.  Look at all the studies that support the idea of 3 meals per day and who paid for them. You will find a lot of those studies were paid and promoted by special interest groups who profit from us eating more.  In my 25 years plus in the weight loss field I have come to realize that many of the popular beliefs we have on weight loss and health, have become popular, not because they are correct, but because of smart marketing by special interest groups who benefit from those popular beliefs.

If you would like to learn more about the benefits of eating less often read my report “The Benefits of Hunger”.  If you would like to receive that report, send me an email to Stavros@liveyourwaythin.com  with “Hunger Report” in the subject line and I will email it to you.  This report is a real eye-opener.

As far as the ice baths and hot sauna combination, they too have tremendous benefits to your health and that is something that I also do regularly, but that is a subject for another blog.

 

Many success experts, like Tony Robbins, a big ideal of mine, would tell you that if you want to succeed in something, find somebody that has already achieved what you want and follow their example.  That is great advice, but the problem is when it comes to weight loss and health most people are following the wrong example.  Let me explain.

Most people try follow the example of that 5% of people who are able to lose weight and keep it off with the current methods of weight loss.

Have you ever taken a closer look at how that 5% of people who succeed with the current methods of weight loss are able to stay in shape?  Their life is all about their diet and working out which requires tons of ongoing self-discipline and motivation to keep up. Basically, they focus so much on their diet and exercising that they miss out on most of the fun in life.

Most people are not willing to live like that and I am one of them.  What is the point of having a lean and healthy body if you don’t have any time to enjoy it?

The Great news is that there is a much better example to follow to lose weight and get in great shape without having to sacrifice all the fun in life.

We can follow the example of healthy regions around the world like Ikaria, which require NO self-discipline or motivation to stay lean and healthy.  Ikaria is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea that currently has one of the longest lifespans in the world and although 1/3 of its population is over the age of 90, there is virtually no mental disease on the island.  Ikaria boasts a population that is almost completely free of many chronic diseases that people in the west suffer from.

Do you know how are they able to maintain their good health and lean bodies without self-discipline or motivation?  It’s very simple.  All the healthy behaviors that keeps them in shape are habitual behaviors.  It’s like their fitness program is on autopilot.

If you want to lose weight and get in shape for life without having to sacrifice all your free time in the gym or worrying about your diet, you need to follow the example of healthy regions like Ikaria.  You need to focus on making habitual all the necessary healthy habits that will help you lose the weight you want and improve your health.  Yes, losing weight by creating new habitual behaviors will take a little longer to lose weight but at least once you lose the weight, you will not need to worry about your it gain.

Unfortunately, this is not the way most weight loss programs approach weight loss.  They have chosen to take the fast approach which requires ongoing self-discipline and motivation to stick with.   This is one of the main reasons why with most weight loss programs people end up regaining the weight back.

My question to people who want fast weight loss is this?  What is the point of losing weight fast, if you are going to regain the weight back? Won’t you rather take a little extra time and do it the sustainable way and never have to worry about your weight gain?

The funny part is that the sustainable way is the fastest way to lose weight because you only need to lose the weight once.  I know people who have been losing weight the fast way, and 10 years later they still overweight.

If you are looking for a weight loss program that can help you lose weight the sustainable way, check out my Live Your Way Thin System.  It’s unlike any other weight loss system on the market today.  It will show you how to lose weight and improve your health, following the example of healthy regions like Ikaria.

For everything you want to achieve in life, there will always be obstacles that will get in your way of achieving what you want.  Obstacles are not a bad thing but simply necessary lessons that you must learn in order to be able to handle the success of achieving what you are going after.  This is why, whenever an obstacle arises, look at it as something you need to learn in order to be able to handle that success that is coming your way.  Never try to go around an obstacle without dealing with it, because it could have very negative consequences in the future. The show “The Biggest Loser” is the perfect example of what happens to people when they don’t deal with the obstacle that life throughs at them

In the show “The Biggest Loser” they remove people from their everyday life, and for 6 months all they do is diet and exercise to lose as much weight as they can. Obviously, if you only have to worry about your diet and exercise and nothing else, everyone can lose weight and that is exactly what happens with all the contenders,  they all lose weight.  The person who lost the biggest percentage of body weight wins. 

The problem with that is that by removing people from their everyday lives they remove all the obstacles that had gotten in their way of losing the weight on their own.  You would think that is a good thing, but it is not.  By simply removing all the obstacle without having the people deal with them and find solutions to those obstacles when all the participants return to their normal lives, they have a very hard time keeping the weight off.  As a matter of fact, 100% of them regain most if not all of the weight back.  The main reason is that they never learned to deal with the obstacles that had prevented them from losing the weight while living their life, so when they went back into their life, those obstacles were still there.

When it comes to developing any new healthy habit, expect that you will have to overcome some obstacles.  When you come across an obstacle, don’t get frustrated, they are part of the lessons you need to learn.  So, instead of getting frustrated, simply focus on finding solutions to the obstacle.

I truly believe that if there is a will, there is always a way to get through any obstacle, but if there is no will, you will always find good excuses as to why we couldn’t overcome the obstacle.

While trying to overcome any obstacle, keep your focus on all the benefits you will receive by developing the healthy habit you are working on and not on the obstacle that gets in your way.

Remember, obstacles are lessons that we must learn in order to be able to handle the success that comes our way.

“We don’t teach people how to diet & exercise but how to LIVE thier way to a lean and healthy body and still Fully Enjoy Life”

 

A slow metabolic rate is usually one of the reasons people give as to why they gain weight easily. If you do a search on Google or YouTube, you will find hundreds of articles and videos on how you can speed up your metabolic rate.

The question I would like to ask all those fitness professionals who promote ways to increase your metabolic rate is this; what is wrong with a slow metabolic rate, health-wise?

The answer is nothing! A slow metabolic rate is an efficient metabolic rate. What is wrong with being efficient? Other than the fact that you can’t indulge on as much food, having an efficient metabolic rate is a great thing for your health.

Speeding up your metabolic rate by eating a certain way, or excessive exercising is actually bad for your health. If you have a slow (efficient) metabolic rate, don’t try to speed it, find other ways to entertain yourself other than food.

Did you know, the only proven way to increase longevity is to decrease caloric intake? So if you have a slow (efficient) metabolic rate you can get away with eating less food than people with faster metabolic rates, so you have a much better chance of living a longer and healthier life. So basically you should consider yourself lucky.

The problem with our society is that we no longer eat food out of true hunger, which is the only reason we should be eating, at least most of the time. Food has become a way of entertaining ourselves. So, somebody with a slow metabolic rate, or the way I would like to call it, an efficient metabolic rate, can’t use food as entertainment as much as somebody with a faster metabolic rate.

If you have a slow metabolic rate and you are overweight, the answer is not to try to artificially speed up your metabolic rate, the answer is to find other ways to entertain yourself other than food. I have been helping people lose weight and keep it off for over 25 years, and I can tell you that there are plenty of ways to entertain yourself without having to overeat. You just have to look for those ways and you will find them.

Here is another fact that I think many people don’t know. The biggest difference between people who gain weight easily and people who don’t is not their metabolic rate. The biggest difference is the absorption rate. In other words, two people can eat the exact same amount of food, it does not mean their body will absorb all the calories contained in the food they ate.

Some people’s bodies are more efficient and can absorb most of the calories from the food they eat, and others, their body is not as efficient, so their body absorbs a lot fewer calories from the same meal. This is how they can get away with overeating without gaining weight. By the way, just because they don’t gain weight, it does not make them healthy.

The only way to increase your metabolic rate, without a negative effect on your health, is to increase your lean muscle mass through some form of resistance training.

In my opinion, manipulating your diet so you can increase your metabolic rate is not a very good idea when it comes to health and I would advise you against it.

Here is one thing I want you to keep in mind. When you eat less often and only when truly hungry, you get a lot more pleasure out of your meal than when you eat more often and not hungry. I am speaking from personal experience.

Stavros Mastrogiannis
Sustainable Weight Loss Coach
Founder of the Live Your Way Thin System.