How to Grow a Human-and How to Shrink One!!

Hello again my friends.

The following blog is the long version of the meal plan I am following right now and the why I chose to start using it. I also wrote one that is the Plan Simplfied,it includes a menu plan the link is http://amyeaustin.blogspot.ca/2012/03/plan-simplified-with-sample-menu.html

So here's a story.  I usually don't watch "Dr. Oz".  Do think he is a great resource, just at the time of day he's on, I am usually way to busy to sit down and enjoy him.  Two weeks ago, for some reason I did have that time.  Totally a God ordained moment have to say.  During this episode Dr. Oz had Chris Powell on the show.  Some of you may know Chris from ABC's "Extreme Makeover-Weight Loss Edition".

Chris is an amazing guy, he spends his life helping the extremely obese win the battle over their weight.  I can say I've not seen the show, when the episodes where on last year as we didn't have cable at the time, but I've gone back and found the ones that I can on youtube.  This guy rocks!

So....what has happened since I found this guy.  I've changed up my eating patterns.  Oh don't worry Isagenix is still a HUGE part of that, but I have incorporated a different timing.  More details to follow in a few paragraphs.

The program that I am doing now incorporates 3 things I love....Isagenix, Clean Eating & now Chris Powell.

But why.  I've liked Clean Eating for a while, but never really got into the science of why it works.  Chris Powell's book was a totally "V8 slap upside the head".  Imagine it you know you can!

So this is the moment things will change for you too I hope.

How to Train a Sumo Wrestler......

7am-wake up-skip Breakfast work out on wrestling moves for 4-5 hours-increased rise in adrenalin from wrestling-stress hormone hormone cortisol pumping from workout and no food
Noon-Eat 1st meal of the day-no limits at the all you can eat buffet.
Afternoon-nap, work out again for 3-4 hours
Evening-Eat 2nd meal of the day-no limits at the all you can eat buffet-go to bed within an hour of eating.





A day in the life of a North American 

7am-Wake up-drink a cup of coffee for breakfast (if time) rush to get kids out the door, off to work on time.  Work related stress builds-cortisol and adrenaline running on high.
Noon-Stop (maybe) for lunch, anything goes as who has time to stop and eat a healthy meal.
Afternoon-More work, work and work-get kids from school-to afternoon activities-cortisol and adrenaline pumping due to the mad dash rush
Evening-stop for dinner-take out is faster-no time to make dinner-snack late into the night to make up for the food not eaten during the day.  Go to bed on a full stomach.

SOUND VAGUELY SIMILAR?????

Our American lifestyle is growing sumo wrestlers!!! No kidding-look around you.

In the 2011 Census run in Canada, it was found that 1 in 4 people are considered obese, 1in 6 of those are classified as morbidly obese.  In the US these numbers are 1 in 3 for obesity and 1 in 5 for morbidly obese.  Sumo wrestlers on average if they calculated their BMI would be classified as obese with a few as morbidly obese!  The MAJOR difference however in the sumo wrestling world, is that under the weight is actually a very healthy person....they work out a large portion of the day.

How on earth did we get to a point that we are growing our own Sumo Wrestling team?
We are (both sumo wrestlers and the rest of us) putting our bodies into a constant state of starvation mode and stress mode.  Both of these factors combined signal our bodies to store the food we consume as fat, add to that the high levels of toxins in our systems and bam....obesity rates at the highest ever seen in history!

What is Starvation Mode?


Our body needs calories to function properly.  Even the most sedentary person needs a minimum requirement of calories to run body functions.  When we don't eat on a regular basis our brain tells our body to hold on to any food intake and convert as many of the calories into fat stores, so that when we skip the next meal, our body at least has something to burn.
Here's a dictionary definition:

Starvation mode is a state in which the body is responding to prolonged periods of low energy intake levels. During short periods of energy abstinence, the human body will burn primarily free fatty acids from body fat stores. After prolonged periods of starvation the body has depleted its body fat and begins to burn lean tissue and muscle as a fuel source.

Part of starvation mode is to slow down the metabolism to a level as low as possible to retain as much energy as possible.  however as you see by the definition, without food our body finds the energy and uses our muscles to burn and create energy.

By skipping breakfast, thus going for 16 + hours from eating dinner to our next meal, we are effectively slowing our metabolisms to a stand still and forcing our bodies to want to retain every drop of food we eat as fat cells to protect it's self.

The next time we eat, our brain says "food, eat all you can now while he/she is still willing", so we over eat.  Research has also shown that this type of eating pattern sets us up for intense cravings as our body tries to tell us what it needs to simply survive.

Check out this awesome chart to see what your body is really trying to gain from the most common food cravings.



Stress Mode: 




This is true in the American version as well.  Daily living in North America is stressful, from waking up and skipping breakfast, to running the morning commute to the stress of our daily jobs, living etc. Add to this stress level the high consumption of caffeine based beverages (coffee, tea, energy drinks, caffeinated sodas) and our bodies don't stand a chance against the fat building training we are giving it.

Eating High Caloric Meals Late into the Evening:


The last part of our grow a sum wrestler american diet is late night eating.  If you look back 50 + years ago our grandparents were smart.  They consumed their largest meal mid day.  Alot of other cultures still continue this practice.  In North America, dinner has become the main meal of the day.  If you look at the lunch and dinner menus of a restaurant you will see this there as well.  Typically lunch menus are made up of 1/2 portions compared to the dinner menu.

By waiting till late in the day to eat a large quantity of our calories we are again growing a sumo wrestler.  Our metabolism slows considerably when we are sleeping, by having those large quantities of calories sitting in our digestive tract we are slowing it down even further as well as training our body to hold those calories as fat, as it knows that this large meal will be the last for many hours to come.


How To Shrink a Human!

So this is where the change happens. Our bodies need a minimum of calories to run our system.  To lose weight we need to lower this intake so that our body will go into mild ketosis and burn the fat stores that we have.  By combining this with cleansing our bodies of toxins we burn through fat cells like crazy (as I have learned over the 2 weeks)!

First off that's take a look at how many calories it takes a day to keep your body running at it's basic level with little or no activity.
For an average male 5'8-find your age and weight and see what the number says :

WEIGHT	20 YEARS	30 YEARS	40 YEARS	50 YEARS	60 YEARS	70 YEARS	80 YEARS
125-150	2318	2230	2142	2054	1966	1878	1790
150-175	2521	2433	2345	2257	2169	2081	1993
175-200	2724	2636	2548	2460	2372	2284	2196
200-250	3130	3042	2954	2866	2778	2690	2602
250-300	3334	3246	3157	3069	2981	2893	2805
300-350	3740	3652	3564	3476	3388	3299	3211
350-400	4146	4058	3970	3882	3794	3706	3618
400-500	4755	4667	4579	4491	4403	4315	4227

For the average woman 5'4-find your age and weight and see what the number is

WEIGHT	20 YEARS	30 YEARS	40 YEARS	50 YEARS	60 YEARS	70 YEARS	80 YEARS
100-125	1827	1766	1705	1645	1584	1523	1462
125-150	1968	1907	1847	1786	1725	1664	1603
150-175	2109	2049	1988	1927	1866	1805	1745
175-200	2251	2190	2129	2068	2008	1947	1886
200-250	2533	2472	2412	2351	2290	2229	2168
250-300	2674	2614	2553	2492	2431	2371	2310
300-350	2957	2896	2835	2775	2714	2653	2592
350-400	3240	3179	3118	3057	2996	2936	2875
400-500	3663	3603	3542	3481	3420	3359	3299

Since we aren't all either 5'8 or 5'4 you can up the calories needed by roughly 50 calories per inch of height.  If you want a more accurate number this is a great calculator that also includes your activity level into the equation :

http://walking.about.com/cs/calories/l/blcalcalc.htm

Ok so what does this chart mean?  Take my numbers:  I am 5'5 and weigh 310.  So on a daily basis my body will burn roughly 2835 calories even if all I do all day is sit on the couch and barely move.
How Weight is Lost:


So this is what happens to the calories ingested:

Resting Metabolic Rate: 60-75% of calories burned
Physical Activity:  20-30% of calories burned
Digestion:  10-15% of calories burned
By lowering the amount of calories ingested we force our body to burn the stored excess fat.  By increasing the amount of physical exercise in your life, you also force your metabolism to kick up the calorie burning and force it to use stored fat cells as energy!


By lowering your daily intake by 500 calories you can and will lose 1lb a week.  The lower the calories and higher the exercise, the more weight lost.  Simple math!

BUUUUUUUUUUUT how to eat so that your metabolism doesn't slow to a crashing halt is the trick to this new thought process of mine-ok I am a tad behind the times.  This practice has been around the weight lifting world for years!

Ready for it.....eat less...more often...but keep your body guessing all at the same time!

Sounds confusing I know but I will explain.

Ever done a diet and hit the dreaded PLATEAU?  Been there done that...as recently as 2 weeks ago.  I had been following my Isagenix plan fairly well for over a year.  Oh I had cheated don't get me wrong, but on 85% of the days, it was followed.  I kept seeing people dropping the weight and I kept saying ok what the heck am I don't wrong????

Simple answer-my body and my metabolism had adjusted completely to this new way of eating and was just happy with it.  Your bodies metabolism will adjust according to the calories you are putting in.  Eat less and it slows down, eat more and it speeds up.  Now...wait....not eat more junk!!! That would defeat the purpose lol!

There are a couple of rules to this new approach:

#1:  Eat More Often
#2:  Eat Carbs-yep you heard it
#3:  Build muscles and move them!!!!!  (the more muscles you have the faster your resting metabolic rate will be!)

Why Eat More Often?


This part goes back to the Starvation thoughts earlier.  The more frequently you eat, your body won't want to go into save it mode.  This actually turns on your metabolism, because your body isn't living in fear of when it will get it's next meal, therefore it can burn the calories coming in without having to store them for the next starvation moment.

As well the more often that you eat, the more digestion happens (remember 10-15% of calories burned are done while digesting!) The technical term for this revved up metabolism is food-induced thermogenesis.  From the minute you start to chew your body turns on digestion which generates energy and burns calories!

Here are a couple of fact busted myths about overweight people and their eating habits....this was another bam moment for me!

MYTH	FACT
All people who are overweight eat too much, all the time.	Many overweight people eat too little, and skip meals frequently.
If you eat a low caloric diet you will achieve your ideal weight quickly and easily.	Your body adapts to a low caloric diet by lowering your metabolism, making it more difficult to lose weight.
You should eliminate carbs, protein or fats from your diet to really lose weight.	Your body is designed and NEEDS all 3 of the nutrient groups to run. Eliminating one or more of them actually puts your health in jeopardy.
Skipping meals and eating less is the best way to lose weight.	You must eat frequently and eat enough each time to turn your metabolism from starvation mode to burn mode.
Eating two to three meals with snacks is optimal for weight loss.	Eating 5 smaller meals with equal calories a day has been shown by research to increase metabolism as well as helping to curb cravings and prevent overeating at the next large meal.
It takes the same amount of energy to digest your food, no matter what it is.	Eating junk food actually taxes your body's energy levels and puts your body into stress mode. Eating protein requires more energy as well as helps to break down carbs and fats. Eating high quality protein actually turns up your metabolism.
Muscle and Fat burn at the same rate	Muscle burns as much as 30% or more calories. The bigger the muscles the faster the metabolism.
Exercising more and eating less helps raise your metabolism.	Only by eating the right amount of food for your body will increase your metabolism, doing this more frequently also raises metabolism. Adding in exercise gets your metabolism revving faster.
Cardio exercise is the only exercise need to help you lose weight.	Go back up a couple of myths...the bigger the muscles....adding resistance training as well as cardio will increase your muscle weight and thus help you burn more calories!

So what is my fat really.....

Two things

#1-A layer of unused energy
#2-A protective layer that encloses the toxins we ingest through daily life.

So get rid of the fat and....lose weight.

Here's how to do that:

Carb-Cycling the Isagenix Way (totally my words-guess I could TM it???)

What is carb cycling?

Simple way to put it...tricking your body to never feel hungry, tricking your brain to never feel deprived of foods....losing weight fast, easy and permanently!

Carb cycling has been a trick used in the weight training world for years, Chris Powell has brought it into the weight loss world with amazing results.  By combing it with my Isagenix lifestyle, my fat cells don't stand a chance.

When you are carb-cycling you are eating high carb meals every other day.  This keeps your body from every thinking it's not going to get enough nutrients to burn.  By eating high carb one day and lower carb the next day, we turn on and crank up our metabolism and help it to burn the extra stored energy (aka fat cells).  By confusing your body  by going back and forth it never feels like it needs to store fat cells.

When we cycle our food intake like this our body can't keep up with the pace and won't be able to catch up fast enough to slow metabolism on the low carb days.  Instead it will use the fat cells stored to create energy and thus burn them off faster.
Cleansing Your Body of Toxins


A vital part of this new regiment for me is the continuation of my cleansing cycle.  There is another blog in process on the why's of cleansing, but I will go into it quickly here, knowing that some of you haven't caught the cleansing bug.

The carb cycling program is perfect for burning through fat cells.  But I know that these fat cells also have another vitally important role in my body.  They have enclosed in their lovely little selves all the toxins that my body ingests on a daily basis.  I actually love them for this lol.  Yes I said I love my fat cells, and it's in writing for all the world to see!!!!

A vital part of even the "skinniest most fit" persons health and diet regiment needs to be cleansing.  If we don't get rid of the toxins we only set ourselves up for a serious rebound effect.  The best illustration of this is here:


As you can see if we lose the fat without losing the toxins, the fat cells just come back in.  So as you will see the meal timing includes Isagenix cleanse days all the way!  If you need more information on this, just ask :o)

So the anticipation is building i can feel it!  Couple more steps and rules to follow:
The schedule.

Yes it runs 8 days, can also run a 9 day cycle as well if you put in a 2 day cleanse.  Just remember to follow a cleanse day (or two) with a high carb day so that your body doesn't get scared and go back into starvation mode and start storing again.

Weigh in day is Day 1.

The 8 Day Carb Cycling Plan
Day 1	High Carb Day
Day 2	Low Carb Day
Day 3	High Carb Day
Day 4	Low Carb Day
Day 5	High Carb Day
Day 6	Low Carb Day
Day 7	Cheat Day
Day 8	Cleanse Day
Day 9 (optional)	Cleanse Day

Did you all say.....what is cheat day!?  That's the best day of the week.  Cheat day is the day that you can go out and have what you want.  Yes there is a within reason guideline, as well Chris Powell gives this very smart suggestion.  Whatever your cheat is DON'T BRING IT HOME unless it's a single serving.  If you keep stored cheat items they will call your name and you will listen to them!

Daily Timing

We are going to eat every 3 hours.  By eating every 3 hours  1) gives your body time to digest the foods you have eaten previously 2) Never lets' your body think...store it, she's/he's not eating again for a long time.
I can honestly say this was hard the first couple of days.  I was still full from the previous meal, but I re-read the section in the book.  Our metabolism starts burning every 3 hours, so as long as there is food there to burn it won't go into starvation mode and store.  The more frequently the meals the higher and faster your metabolism burns.  Convinced me to get that meal in.
By day 3, my tummy was hungry but the time the 3 hours was almost up.  This was the best sign that this was working for me.....hunger means your metabolism is working!!!

There is a lot of "diet systems"  out there saying this....because it works.  Some of them just don't give the right nutrients, and all of them don't include a cleanse, so that's why they fail miserably.

The only rule about timing is to be sure to eat within 30 minutes of waking up.  If you are a morning work out person, try and get that meal in within an hour max, as the combined stress of working out and having fasted for the last 12 + hours will start the starvation mode clock again.

Here's what my day looks like-adjust your times according to when you wake up.

6:30am-Wake Up: Do 20 Minute Work Out
7:00am-Breakfast
10:00am-Meal #2
1:00pm-Meal #3
4:00pm-Meal #4
7:00pm-Meal #5

So What do We Eat 5 Times a Day?


So no matter what day or what meal, we are eating protein!  Best to eat it first as it goes in and gets things started.  But I am not the separate your food and eat one type at a time kind of girl.  I try to make sure my first couple of mouthfuls are protein and then I go from there!

How much to eat is also a very important rule.  For weight loss women should not go below 1200 calories a day and for men that number is 1500.  So for each meal if you are going to the lowest caloric amount allowed you will average 250-300 calories a meal.  I am not a huge calorie counting fan.  In fact it drives me a tiny bit insane to have to count calories!  There is a simple trick though to make sure that your body is getting the right amount of food at each meal.  It even comes in a handy dandy guide that is always with you!  Your hand!

PORTIONS:

Protein:  The size and thickness of the palm of your hand.

Carbs:  The size of you closed fist.

Fats:  The size of your thumb from the base to the tip.

Veggies:  The size of two closed fists.  This is depending on the type of veggies.  In the chart to follow if the veggie is listed as unlimited then don't worry about the portion size-within reason :o)  There are some veggies that are limited on the chart-use the fist guide for those ones.

Flavorings (dressing, condiments etc):  The size of two of your fingers.

Using the hand method keeps your portions under control as well as keeping your calories under control!  It's so simple, your hand is always with you!
Sometimes though even using this portion controlled method can get our portions out of control.  For the first couple of days measure your portions or weigh your protein to get a feel for what they really look like.  The food chart that follows has each listed in 100 calorie or less increments.  If you need to check in on your calories, use it as a guide along with  your hands.  It's amazing just how precise the hand measurements are!

Some foods also don't fit into the hand measurement...here's a list to watch your portion sizes of:

Type of Food	Approximately 100 Calories	Type of Food	Approximately 100 Calories
PROTEIN		CARBS
IsaPro	1 scoop	Cereals
Eggs	1 whole	Steel Cut Oatmeal cooked	¾ cup
Egg Whites	4	Old Fashioned Oats cooked	¾ cup
Plain Greek Yogurt	1 cup	Low Fat Granola	½ cup
Cottage Cheese	1 cup	All Bran	½ cup
Poultry		Root Vegetables
Chicken Breast	3.5 oz	Sweet Potato	½ cup
Chicken Thighs	3 oz	Potatoes	¾ cup
Turkey Breast	2.5 oz
Ground Chicken or Turkey	2 oz
Duck Breast	2 oz	Legumes
		Beans & Lentils	½ cup
Beef
Flank or Round Steak	2oz	Starchy Veggies
Ground Buffalo	1.5 oz	Peas	1 cup
Venison/Elk	2 oz	Corn	2/3 cup
Stew Meat	2.5 oz	Carrots	2 cups
Seafood		Grains
Tuna Canned	3 oz (whole can)	Long Grain Brown Rice	½ cup
Tuna Fillet	3 oz	Wild Rice	½ cup
Salmon Canned	3.5 oz	Barley	½ cup
Salmon Fillet	2 oz	Amaranth	½ cup
White Fish (Halibut, Trout, Tilapia etc	2 oz	Couscous	½ cup
Shellfish	4 oz	Quinoa	½ cup
		Buckwheat	½ cup
FRUIT		Pasta/Breads
Berries	1 ½ cups	Whole grain pasta	½ cup
Apples	1 medium	Brown Rice Pasta	½ cup
Pears	1 medium	Whole Grain Bread	1 slice
Grapes	1 ½ cups	Ezekiel Bread	1 slice
Orange	1	Corn Tortillas	1
Peach/Nectarine	2
Plum	3.5	FATS
Apricots	6	Avacado	1/3 cup
Kiwi	4	Pecans raw	1 ½ tbsp
Melon	¾ cup	Walnuts raw	1 ½ tbsp
Banana	1	Sunflower Seeds	1 ½ tbsp
Pineapple	1 1/3 cup	Olives Large Size	10
		Heavy Whipping Cream	2 tbsp
VEGGIES		Real Mayo (Hellmans)	2 tbsp
Spinach	Unlimited	Cheese	1 oz
Lettuce	Unlimited	Butter	1 tsp
Eggplant	Unlimited	Salad Dressing-Creamy	1 tbsp
Tomatos	Unlimited	Olive Oil	1 tbsp
Mixed Baby Greens	Unlimited	Flaxseed Oil	1 tbsp
Broccoli	Unlimited	Vinaigrette	2 tbsp
Asparagus	Unlimited	Almond Butter	1 tbsp
Cauliflower	Unlimited	Peanut Butter	1 tbsp
Celery (organic	Unlimited
Mushrooms	Unlimited
Green Beans	Unlimited
Zucchini	Unlimited
FLAVORINGS
Salsa	1 cup	Marinara Sauce	½ cup
Lemon/Lime Juice	unlimited	Chili Sauce	2 tbsp
Chili Paste	2 tbsp	Tomato Sauce	3 tbsp
Tomato Past	3 tbsp	Hummus	2 tbsp
Balsamic Vinegar	2 tbsp	Mustard	Unlimited
Ketchup	1 tsp

BUILDING A MEAL

Using the hand portions as "1 Portion" make each of  your 5 meals look like this:

Ingredient	High Carb Meals	Low Carb Meals
Proteins	1 portion	1 portion
Carbs	1 portion	None
Veggies	Unlimited except for root/starchy veggies they count as carbs	Unlimited except for root/starchy veggies they count as carbs
Fats	None	1 Portion
Flavorings	1 portion,  plus unlimited herbs, spices, seasonings	1 portion, plus unlimited spices, seasonings

and the final part

WATER

I don't think I have to go into why we need to drink water....so if you need to know ask.  But on a daily basis drink at least 1/2 of your body weight in ozs or 3litres...whichever is easiest to remember.  The more the better!

So this has been a very long blog with alot of info in it.  Not only that but I have a limited to the info I can put.....so....you have to come back for the menu/recipe ideas!

.....to give you an idea.  I started this plan 1/2 hearted 14 days ago...took me a couple of days to adapt and get into it.  So I count really starting it 12 days ago. So I am on day 4 of my second "cycle" (only did 1 cleanse day) I have already lost 14 lbs as of this morning!  LOVE IT!