Clipped from: johnbarban.com (share this clip)
For some people, spending 4 months eating nothing but egg whites, chicken breasts and broccoli is easy. For the rest of us it's good to know that you don't HAVE to go to such extremes to get lean.
As John Barban illustrates in this post...a donut a day can still be fit into a lifestyle that gets you lean.
Clipped from: zenhabits.net (share this clip)
Focus - It's a free e-book from ZenHabits Author Leo Babauta.
Since almost everyone who reads this blog with any regularity could probably benefit from a break from reading about health and nutrition (myself included) I'm recommending you pick this up and give it a read.
BP
Clipped from: www.latimes.com (share this clip)
This one line reminds me a bit of the Coca-Cola "Vitamin Water Defense" of (paraphrasing) "no intelligent person would think this drink is good for you".
By making the claim that Jillian is 'an actress playing a fitness trainer '(a claim made by the author, NOT Jillian) it does really remove any accountability and responsibility away from Jillian...
Perhaps this is the direction this industry is headed in...after all, have we ever really seen any accountability from diet gurus?
Some of the biggest things holding you back in your weight loss efforts and your dream of perfect abs are not named 'Protein','Fat' or 'Carbs'.
It's probably not even 'Calories'.
(...well actually it is Calories, but it's just a tiny bit more complex then that.)
No, today I'm talking about two non-calorie things.
Self-Confidence and Perfection.
So let's clear this up right away.
It is a misconception that you have to be 'special' to be successful at weight loss.
This misconception stems from the fact that we like to think that the people giving us diet advice are somehow 'perfect'.
Living perfect lives, with the perfect bodies with the perfect jobs etc.
This creates a situation where it becomes difficult to have confidence in ourselves because we simply do not measure up to these seemingly perfect people.
However, Nobody is perfect.
So here's the truth...
That diet guru with the awesome abs that everyone thinks eats 'perfectly'...He's a chocolate FEIND.
The 600 pound bench presser who constantly gives advice on training..He's had three shoulder surgeries and bone spurs removed from his elbows...as a direct result of his benching.
The Hollywood celebrity touting his super dedicated workout program he used to get in shape for "Kiss of Death 32"...He forgot to tell you he's on various anabolic steroids.
The Paleo Princess who thinks that HFCS is made directly form the essence of the devil...She secretly loves the occasional Coca Cola when at the movies.
The shredded diet guru...who is actually about 60 pounds overweight (the pictures you see on-line are from 2001)
The dozen or so magazine covers you see every month...They are a result of photoshop mastery.
The point is:
No one is perfect, so don't freak out when you discover that you're not perfect either.
The idea of having shredded abs 24/7 without even flexing is just as foreign to the professional fitness model as it is to you.
We need to realize that the illusion of perfection is really, really hurting us and our abilities to reach our goals..or even define them.
So here are some givens:
You are going to have off days of dieting.
You weight loss is going to plateau, or even go up occasionally.
You are going to love the way you look some days, and be less then impressed on other days...and you don't probably look any different on either day.
This doesn't make you a failure, it makes you human...keep at it.
You are going to break a fast early, eat more than you want to, miss a workout, eat a 'bad' food.
The idea of eating perfectly for 4 months worth of hardcore deiting is just plain silly, even for the most dedicated fitness proffesional.
So if you slip, don't worry about it, just keep moving towards your goals.
Remember: No one is perfect.
This makes it a little easier to ramp up the self-confidence.
It's an even playing feild.
Realizing this is a giant step into becoming awesome. Because once you realize that no one is perfect, then you have ZERO reason not to be self-confident.
We're all flawed in our own special way, which of course means we can all be awesome if we choose to be.
BP
As a note...this post was highly influenced by this blog post --> http://bit.ly/b9DzcI
I’d like to let you in on one of my all time favorite ‘diet hacks’
No, it’s not fasting (that’s not really a ‘Diet hack’ – it’s more of a lifestyle)
Actually, it’s scotch.
Yep, good ol’ Scottish Whiskey (Irish is pretty darn good too, but I digress)
So you’re probably wondering how a ounce of the good stuff (neat of course) can be a diet hack?
Simple..
It’ll save you calories…. lots of them.
An ounce of scotch has about 70 Calories. That’s less than a glass of wine (120 ish) and a bottle of beer (140 ish)…but that’s not the ‘Hack’.
The “Hack” is in the social graces of Scotch.
Let’s say you go out for drinks with your friends…guys order beer, the girls order wine and you order a scotch.
Right away, you’ll probably get some looks… mostly because people have this weird idea that an ounce of Scotch has a TON more alcohol in it then a bottle of beer or a glass of wine (which is false, they are all equal).
And this is where the ‘hack’ comes in.
You can ‘nurse’ a glass of scotch for an hour and no one will say anything.
(I’ve never been in the situation where I’ve been nursing a scotch and someone has asked me if I was ‘on a diet’)
In a social setting, for some reason Scotch trumps people’s crazy need to push you to keep up with them when they drink.
So your friends can be 3 beers into the night, or a half bottle of wine..and you can still be nursing your first ounce of alcohol, and no one will say anything.
In a hypothetical situation where you’ve had two ounces of scotch, while your buddy has had 6 beers, you’ve saved yourself well over 500 calories…and a whole bunch of bloating and probably a really crappy morning..
Bottom line – Obviously you could just have a water, but with this diet hack you get to enjoy a Scotch, nice and slow…the way you should enjoy it (Without ice of course)…you drink about 70 Calories while your friends drink hundreds of calories in their beer, wine and assorted mix drinks (Oh and you still get the anti-inflammatory actions of alcohol too, just without any of the extra calories).
In settings like weddings, or awkward family reunions, this could save you hundreds of unneeded calories, while still allowing you to be ’social’.
Again, The obvious ultimate hack is water, but if you’re going to drink, you may as well drink the good stuff (just remember to drink it slow).
Drink Stop Drink
BP
PS- No this is not an excuse to allow alcohol when you are fasting!
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