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In the Primal or “functional fitness” communities, I’ve noticed that bodybuilding gets a bad rap. The story goes that bodybuilders are only in it for the aesthetics. Or that their strength isn’t “real,” that they do too many isolation exercises that rarely occur in natural settings or sports for that matter.

And I get some of that. The average bodybuilder who only focuses on the appearance of his or her muscles is leaving a lot of function on the table. Bodybuilders are often not the paragons of athleticism as commonly conceived—running and jumping, general physical preparedness. Yet critics miss the fact that bodybuilding itself is a sport. It’s a complex undertaking that requires extreme discipline and the development of certain skills. It’s anything but easy. Like any community, there’s plenty to criticize about bodybuilding, but there’s also a lot to learn from it.

What can we learn from bodybuilders?

The importance of the mind-muscle connection.

A bodybuilder doesn’t just “lift” weights. A bodybuilder consciously “feels” every muscle cell contract. A bodybuilder focuses on the burn. A bodybuilder directs a significant portion of conscious brain activity toward fully experiencing the act of lifting the weight and contracting the muscle. According to bodybuilding lore, focusing on that mind-muscle connection makes you stronger, gives you better results, and triggers greater hypertrophy.

You don’t have to be a bodybuilder to utilize this concept. Hell, you don’t even have to lift weights to understand that fully engaging with the activity you’re doing can improve your results.

Finding joy in the journey while still having goals.

There’s a great line in “Pumping Iron” where Arnold Schwarzenegger compares the pump you get from lifting and feeling your muscles engorge with blood to sex. While I’m not sure I’d go quite that far, it does speak to the bodybuilder’s ability to find joy in the journey toward a goal. Each lift, each rep, each set is an opportunity for you to feel something beautiful: your muscles contracting and propelling a heavy weight through space and time, and then swelling with exertion. That doesn’t just apply to bodybuilding. It applies to everything in life. The best way to do anything is to enjoy both the journey and the goal.

Because the bodybuilder still has a goal off in the distance. The bodybuilder goes on this journey to reach a desired body fat level, or to hit a new PR, or to add inches to this or that body part. They’re not just messing around in the gym. There’s a goal and there’s the path to the goal, and both are celebrated and savored.

Extreme discipline and consistency.

Bodybuilding doesn’t work if you don’t. The minimum effective dose method of training is great for getting fit, staying strong, and looking good naked, but it probably won’t get you into the upper echelons of bodybuilding. To do that, you must train consistently and never waver from your vocation. You need extreme discipline—to eat right, to sleep right, to endure the long and frequent workouts.

Sure, the “lucky” among us seem to have good things drop in their laps all the time, simply by virtue of their existence. But in reality, the lucky are disciplined and consistent. By getting out there and putting in the work, by putting yourself in the position to discover opportunities or even by simply being open to possibility and potential, luck finds you. That’s been my experience. I don’t even think that’s it anything “mystical” or “magical.” More likely is that being open and consistent and discipline sensitizes your brain to the opportunities that are always out there, always surrounding you.

To keep carbs low if fats are high and vice versa.

Bodybuilders are masters of “dieting down,” of modifying their body fat levels to extract the most definition. They do this by manipulating their macronutrient intakes.

If carbs are low, fats are high. If carbs are high, fats are low. Keeping carbs high and fat low is a good method for boosting leptin, a hormone that controls appetite and energy expenditure and tends to drop rather low when losing weight. You see, body fat secretes leptin to suppress appetite (because energy stores are high) and increase energy expenditure (because you have energy available to use). Dieting reduces leptin, and while dietary fat has little to no effect on leptin secretion, carbs increase it. This is why the low-fat, higher-carb carb refeed can be an effective weight loss strategy for long-term keto dieters who’ve lost a lot of weight but have hit a weight loss stall: the addition of carb in the absence of dietary fat promotes leptin secretion and “kickstarts” the fat loss.

Protein is king for body composition.

When a bodybuilder is cutting, protein is high. When a bodybuilder is on a mass gain protocol, protein is high. When a bodybuilder is recovering from competition, protein is high. when a bodybuilder is doing a keto phase, protein is high. When a bodybuilder is doing a high-carb phase, protein is high. Protein is always high.

Fasted walks are a lifehack.

An old bodybuilder trick that I’ve been using for decades is the early morning fasted walk. Basically, it’s exactly what it sounds like: you go for a brisk walk of at least 30 minutes on an empty stomach. This serves to liberate and oxidize body fat, and it’s just a great way to start your day. Even the most carb-reliant people can handle an early morning fasted walk because it isn’t intense and it never even hints at requiring glycogen. Excellent for everyone, not just bodybuilders.

Apologies for using the word “lifehack” but I just had to do it.

Counting calories works if you’re honest and meticulous.

I don’t recommend that most people count calories to lose weight. But if you do it right, and you’re committed to it, it can work.

But a bodybuilder who counts calories counts calories. They weigh and measure everything that goes into their mouths. They are obsessive about it. And they often have the willpower to simply stop eating if they’re about to exceed their allotted caloric count. Also, they do many other things in addition to counting calories that contribute to their success, like tracking their macronutrients (protein, fat, and carbohydrate). They count calories without claiming that every calorie has the same effect on body composition and metabolic rate.

Extremely low body fat levels are not sustainable.

Most people only ever see bodybuilders in their competition state: dehydrated, starving, sub-8% body fat. But walking around, your average bodybuilder is hydrated, well-fed, and closer to 12-15% body fat. Extremely low-body fat is not healthy, and it’s not sustainable. One study found that during competitions, bodybuilders who go from 14% to 4.5% body fat have low testosterone, high cortisol, and are stressed to the gills.¹ Their strength decreases and their mood worsens. But once they recover and go back to 14% body fat, everything normalizes (except for strength, which takes six months to recover).

Most meaningful pursuits are also hard.

Bodybuilding is neither simple nor easy. It takes detailed planning and logistics—meals, schedules, training time, sleep, naps—all while leading an otherwise normal life (because most bodybuilders aren’t getting rich off it). It requires extreme physical effort—the actual lifting of the weights, the cardio, the overall enduring of pain and suffering. You might even argue that the effort it requires makes bodybuilding that much more meaningful.

As a heuristic, “meaningful pursuits tend to be hard” works quite well.

Having a child is an enormously meaningful pursuit, usually one the most important tasks you can take on. It’s also hard as hell.

Starting a business is meaningful—it can give you financial and temporal freedom. But man is it tough.

Humans appear to derive meaning out of difficult pursuits. Go back to the earliest days and the hardest things we could do—hunting large animals, taking down prey many times larger, stronger, and faster than us—were the most objectively meaningful (they gave us sustenance). I don’t think this has changed over the years.

Broscience is often vindicated by “legit” science.

Bodybuilders were doing carb refeeds before the science of leptin was mainstream.

Bodybuilders were taking fasted morning walks before IF became a legitimate avenue of scientific research.

Bodybuilders were running (and sharing the results of) n=1 self-experiments on concepts that took decades to gain mainstream recognition.

Just like pro sports teams are often light years ahead on injury recovery and advanced surgical techniques, bodybuilders often get the science right before “Science” legitimizes it.

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You care about what goes in your body, right? Read food labels? Avoid questionable ingredients? Invest in the best quality animal products and produce you can? Well then, it only makes sense to care about what goes on your body as well.

It’s easy to treat skin health like it’s somehow separate from overall health—as if the important stuff happens inside your body, and the skin just holds it all together. You may take steps to keep it looking youthful and prevent burning, but do you consider skin care part of your wellness routine? Perhaps not, unless skin conditions force you to think about it. Yet, skin is your largest organ. It’s a major gatekeeper of what does and does not enter your body. We know now that the skin hosts a living microbiome that not only protects skin health but also plays a role in systemic immunity and inflammation.

Mark has touched on safer skincare in the past, but today I’m offering up something a little different. What if I told you that you can use one product to clean and moisturize your skin and fry your eggs in the morning? It’s true.

Oil cleansing is nothing new in the natural beauty space. Heck, people were using oil to wash their faces and bodies thousands of years ago. More people have become interested in it in recent years because it is a staple of Korean skincare routines, which have exploded in popularity worldwide. (Maybe you’ve noticed how you can find sheet masks in practically every store now? Thank the influence of Korean skincare, or “K-beauty,” for that too.)

While oil cleansing can be as simple as washing your face with whatever cooking oil you have in the kitchen, there’s a little more to it than that. Here’s what you need to know to get started.

Oil Cleansing: What is It, and Why Should You Try It?

Very simply, oil cleansing takes advantage of the “like attracts like” principle of chemistry. When you wash your face, the goal is not only to remove dirt but also excess sebum and oil-based makeup, sunscreen, and environmental pollutants. Sebum is an oily or waxy substance secreted by sebaceous glands in your skin, especially on the face and scalp. It’s part of your skin’s natural defense system, but it can also build up on the skin, become trapped in follicles, and contribute to acne.

We all know oil and water repel each other, which means water is not the most effective way to remove oily substances from the skin. To combat this, the soap and cleansers you’ll find in the skincare aisle of the drugstore use surfactants and other ingredients that can irritate and dry out the skin. Oil cleansing works because the oil binds with the grime on your skin so you can wipe it away more easily.

For those with sensitive skin, the biggest benefit may be what oil doesn’t contain: parabens, sulfates, phthalates, dyes, fragrances, and other suspect ingredients. This is a plus for Primal folks, who like to be cognizant of what they’re putting on and in their bodies.

Although you can use oils to wash your entire body, the oil cleansing method generally refers to facial cleansing, so that’s what I’ll focus on here.

Is Oil Cleansing Right for Me?

Oil cleansing is perfect for:

• People with sensitive skin who tend to react to store-bought cleansers
• DIYers who enjoy making their own skincare products
• Anyone who wants to avoid certain ingredients due to health or safety concerns
• Minimalists who want to purchase the fewest products possible

Oil cleansing can work for every skin type, even oily skin. The trick is to find the particular oil or oil blend that works best for your skin. This may take some trial and error. I’ll discuss the pros and cons of different facial oils below.

Oil Cleansing Method Step-by-step

1. Start with dry skin. Rub about a teaspoon of facial oil onto your face. Don’t forget under your chin and around your jawline. Massage for at least 30 seconds, but one to two minutes is generally recommended, to release the sebum, dirt, and makeup from your skin.
2. Use a washcloth or microfiber cloth to gently wipe away the oil. Some people prefer a dry cloth, by one dampened with warm or hot water seems to work better.
3. Optionally, perform a second cleaning. (See the double cleansing method below.) This is especially useful if you wear a lot of makeup. You can do a second oil cleansing or follow up with a gentle cleanser. Now is also a perfect time to apply some more oil to your face and do some gua sha, and/or perform some face yoga.
4. Finish with your preferred skin products. Many people report that they don’t need moisturizer or additional products after oil cleansing because their skin already feels so supple.

That’s it! You can use the oil cleansing method nightly if you want, though you might find that your skin prefers only every other night. In that case, see if you can get away with just warm water and a washcloth in between.

Note: When you first start oil cleansing, you might experience some redness, dryness, or oiliness. That’s pretty common when switching up your skincare routine, especially if you have sensitive skin to start. Stick with it. Give your skin a couple weeks to settle down before experimenting with different oils unless you have a serious reaction, in which case stop immediately.

Double Cleansing Method

With the double cleansing method, you follow up your oil cleansing with a second face wash using a water-based cleanser.

Double cleansing isn’t necessary by any means. In fact, it’s probably overkill for folks whose faces don’t get too grimy during the day. Try it if you wear heavy makeup or sunscreen, or if you spend a lot of time outdoors in places with less-than-optimal air quality.

For the ultimate in self-care, check out the renowned 10-step Korean skincare routine. It starts with a double cleanse, followed by eight (optional) steps to exfoliate, tone, nourish, and moisturize your skin.

Best Cleansing Oils

You can buy pre-made facial cleansing oils at various price points. Alternately, you can purchase one or more basic oils, usually at a lower cost, and make your own. Personally, I like to customize my skincare and experiment with different oils, so I do the latter.

To start, you’ll need one or more cleansing oils. To those core cleansing oils, you might add other oils with beneficial properties. I think of these as luxury or specialty ingredients because they’re often more expensive than your core oils. However, they can also be used as cleansing oils if your budget allows.

Finally, you might choose to add essential oils according to your skincare goals. (Essential oils aren’t actually oils, but that’s neither here nor there when it comes to oil cleansing.) This is completely optional. Make sure you’re diluting essential oils properly, as undiluted essential oils are usually too potent for topical applications. A good starting place for most essential oils is a 1 percent dilution, which is three drops of essential oil per tablespoon of cleansing oil, or six drops per fluid ounce.

Popular Facial Cleansing Oils

When choosing an oil, quality matters just as in cooking. Don’t just buy the cheapest oil you can find. Some popular facial oils are ones that Primal folks generally avoid, such as grapeseed. As a rule, if I don’t eat it, I also don’t put it on my skin.

The following are not complete lists but common oils that people like. There are many more you might try based on what you think will make your skin happy.

Cleansing oils:

• Castor oil (only in combination with other oils – more on this below)
• Avocado oil
• Olive oil
• Jojoba oil
• Sweet almond oil
• Apricot kernel oil
• Sesame oil

Additional oil add-ins (can also be cleansing oils):

• Argan oil
• Calendula oil
• Rosehip oil
• Tamanu oil

Essential oils:

• Carrot seed
• Frankincense
• Lavender
• Lemon (use only under SPF or at night)
• Tea tree
• Thyme

Can You Use Coconut Oil for Oil Cleansing?

Want to start a ruckus? Go on a natural skincare forum and suggest that coconut oil is the best oil for your skin.

I’m slightly exaggerating, but for real, coconut oil is pretty controversial in the skincare world. Some people swear by it because it’s naturally antibacterial, not to mention readily available and affordable. It’s also comedogenic compared to the oils recommended above, meaning it can cause breakouts.

There’s no reason you can’t try it. I use coconut oil on my body but not on my face just in case.

Castor Oil Dos and Don’ts

People have been using castor oil cosmetically and medicinally for thousands of years, perhaps longer. An entire chapter was devoted to it in the Ebers Papyrus, an ancient Egyptian medical text dating back more than three millennia.¹

It is one of the most popular oils for oil cleansing because it is moisturizing, antibacterial, acne-fighting, and super effective at breaking down other oils. Although it is generally regarded as safe for topical use, castor oil is too astringent on its own, so always dilute it with another cleansing oil. Castor oil shouldn’t comprise more than 50 percent of your cleansing oil blend. There are also concerns about safety and sustainability during the harvesting and refining process, so be sure to choose ethically harvested, hexane-free castor oil.

Castor oil can also induce labor.² Pregnant individuals should never ingest castor oil without their doctor’s knowledge. To be safe, ask your doctor before using it topically.

How to Get Started with Oil Cleansing

Step one:

Pick a single oil or oil blend to start. If you don’t already have a preference, try a 50/50 mix of castor oil and another cleansing oil. My go-to oils are avocado oil or jojoba oil.

Don’t want to use castor oil? No problem. It’s not necessary by any means, and some people find that it dries out their skin anyway. Use one or two of the other cleansing oils instead.

Step two:

Start by incorporating oil cleansing into your nightly routine two or three times a week. Ideally, don’t use other cleansers in between. You’re trying to help balance your natural facial oils and allow your skin to adapt to oil cleansing. Simply wash your face with a washcloth and warm water.

Don’t add any other new products to your routine at this time. You want to be able to see how your skin reacts to the oils.

Step three:

Once your skin acclimates, optionally start to experiment with adding specialty or essential oils. Again, make only one change at a time to gauge your skin’s reaction, especially if it’s sensitive. Don’t do what I do and change it up every time on a whim.

Troubleshooting

What if your skin is still irritated after a few weeks of oil cleansing? First, try changing your cleansing oils. You could be having a mild allergic reaction, or the oil(s) you’ve chosen might not be a good fit for your skin type. Anecdotally, some people’s skin doesn’t do well with olive oil for some reason, and I already mentioned that coconut oil is iffy.

You might need to reduce the proportion of castor oil in your cleansing blend if your skin is becoming dry. On the flip side, if your skin seems to be getting oilier, increasing the amount of castor oil could help.

Remove any extra or essential oils you’ve added and focus on finding base oil(s) that work for your skin type.

Finally, you can try reducing the frequency of your oil cleansing down to just once or twice per week, then slowly build up from there if desired.

Ultimately, oil cleansing should be a relaxing addition to your skin-care routine that allows your skin’s natural beauty to radiate.

Oil Cleansing FAQs

How do you oil cleanse? What are the steps?

Start with dry skin. Rub about one teaspoon of cleansing oil all over your face. Massage it in for one to two minutes to release the oil and grime from your skin. Use a cloth (dry or dampened with warm or hot water) to remove the oil completely.

What oils should I use for oil cleansing?

Popular cleansing oils include castor oil, avocado oil, olive oil, jojoba oil, sweet almond oil, apricot kernel oil, and sesame oil. Some folks also add argan oil, rosehip oil, or other beneficial facial oils. Coconut oil is not recommended due to its comedogenic properties.

How often should you oil cleanse?

People who regularly wear makeup or sunscreen on their skin or who live in environments with a lot of air pollution might want to oil cleanse every night. Other folks prefer to use oil cleansing as a deep cleaning treatment only a couple times per week.

Is oil cleansing good for oily skin? Dry skin? Combination skin?

Oil cleansing is appropriate for any skin type. Although it may seem counterintuitive, oil cleansing can actually be more beneficial for people with oily skin than washing their face with harsher cleansers. The trick is to find the cleansing oil or oil blend that works best for your skin.

The post Oil Cleansing: The Best Natural Skincare Technique You Haven’t Tried Yet appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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I use my Los Angeles surroundings as a barometer for changes in the mainstream approach to health, and it holds up quite well. Silicon Valley can claim to be the cradle of technology, but L.A. is definitely the cradle of diet and fitness trends; and the latest is most definitely keto. At the local cafe where every species of Malibu fitness enthusiast gathers to gossip and fuel up, I’m seeing fewer gels and energy bars, and way more butter coffees and discarded packets of the new powdered ketone supplement products.

Sure enough, keto is entering into mainstream health consciousness everywhere. Google searches for “ketogenic diet” are at an all-time high¹. The stream of keto-related email queries and comments I receive has seen a major uptick. Not long ago, a major publisher approached me with a keto book proposal, which I accepted. I dove headlong into a total immersion/participatory journalism experience where I walked my talk, and pricked my finger for blood tests enough times to get a little scar tissue going, for several months. The book is called The Keto Reset Diet and is available now. This is a comprehensive presentation to educate you on the science and benefits of ketone burning and to give you step-by-step guidance to go keto the right away, avoiding the common setbacks that happen when many adopt an ill-advised approach to something as delicate and rigorous as nutritional ketosis. You can order your copy from major retailers now.  We also filmed a comprehensive online multimedia educational course to give you a guided immersion experience that is available at ketoreset.com.

If you’re not quite ready to dive into the deep end of keto, read our beginner’s guide to keto.

Now for a Definitive Guide to Ketosis and the Keto Diet….

To understand ketogenic diets, you must understand the conditions that promote ketosis. And to do that, you must understand how our bodies beta-oxidize fatty acids for energy.

1. Fatty acids are broken down into acetyl-CoA.
2. Acetyl-CoA combines with oxaloacetate.
3. The acetyl-CoA/oxaloacetate duo starts the Krebs cycle.
4. The Krebs cycle produces ATP, the body’s energy currency.
5. Congratulations. You’ve just turned fat into energy.

Where Does Ketosis Come In?

If the supply of acetyl-CoA exceeds the supply of oxaloacetate, the liver converts any excess acetyl-CoA into ketone bodies. These ketone bodies are an “alternative” energy source for the brain and body. 

Both carbohydrates and protein provide oxaloacetate to the liver, so both carbohydrates and protein can prevent ketone production or knock you out of ketosis. Carbohydrates also elevate insulin, which blocks the release of body fat and reduces the amount of fatty acids making their way to the liver for conversion into ketones. A ketogenic diet, then, is one that limits carbohydrate and, to a lesser extent, protein.

Ketosis occurs in certain instances without any dietary change at all:

• Extreme physical exertion that depletes liver glycogen (total around 100 grams) and depletes around half of stored muscle glycogen (total around 400-500 grams)
• Fasting for significant time period (at least 24 hours for most people)
• Starvation or significant restriction in total calories for a signification time period

In all of these conditions, there’s a common ketogenic thread: liberation of body fat in excess of that which we can beta-oxidize. Any fat that isn’t beta-oxidized for energy will convert to ketones.

In one sense, ketosis is a stop-gap solution for situations where you’re burning huge amounts of body fat, like during a famine. Why would I want to mimic abject starvation if there’s all this food around?

Grocery stores are an evolutionary aberration. The constant drip of glucose into our blood is a modern luxury. For most of human history, if we wanted carbs, we had to climb a tree and extricate a bee’s nest, spend hours digging tubers, or wait around for the wild fruit to ripen. We are adapted to periods of low food availability, and, especially, low glucose availability.

Plus, humans are remarkably good at slipping into ketosis. Whereas for most other animals ketosis is difficult to achieve, a human will be mildly ketotic just waking up from a full night’s sleep. Heck, breastfed babies spend much of their time in ketosis despite drinking nutritionally balanced breastmilk. We’re clearly meant to produce and utilize ketones from time to time, and it’s safe to assume that mimicking this ancestral milieu provides adaptive benefits.

Let’s go over some of the major ones.

Adaptive Benefits of Ketosis

There are many benefits of ketosis and the keto diet, which makes it worthwhile to try for most people.

The Keto Diet for Treatment for Major Disease States

The ketogenic diet first emerged as a tool for clinicians to treat their patients with epilepsy. It was—and remains—the only thing with the consistent ability to prevent seizures. Whether it’s Thai kids with intractable epilepsy², Scandinavian kids with therapy-resistant epilepsy³, or adults with refractory epilepsy⁴, ketogenic diets just work.

Ketosis improves epilepsy via several mechanisms.

It increases conversion⁵ of glutamate into glutamine into GABA, reducing neuronal excitability.

It increases antioxidant status in the neuronal mitochondria, improving their function.

It reduces free radical formation in neurons, a likely cause of seizures⁶.

These effects on neuronal function and health, along with the ability of aging or degenerating brains to accept and utilize ketone bodies, also have implications for other brain conditions, like Parkinson’s⁷, Alzheimer’s⁸, bipolar disorder⁹, and many psychiatric disorders¹⁰.

Ketogenic diets aren’t just beneficial for brain disorders, though.

A Spanish ketogenic diet (keto with wine, basically) cured people of the metabolic syndrome¹¹ and improved health markers of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Over 92% of subjects improved their liver health; 21% resolved it entirely.

In cancer patients, a keto diet preserves lean mass and causes fat loss¹². Many researchers are exploring the use of ketogenic diets in preventing and treating cancer¹³, although results are very preliminary.

The Keto Diet for Cognitive Function

Since ketosis can help with major brain disorders, many have wondered whether it can improve cognitive function in otherwise healthy people. Unfortunately, researchers haven’t studied the nootropic effects of ketogenic diets in healthy people—yet. They have looked at people with “milder” cognitive deficits, though, finding some promising effects.

In mild cognitive decline, a ketogenic diet improves memory¹⁴.

In type 1 diabetics who experience reduced cognitive function when their blood sugar is low, increasing ketone production via medium chain triglycerides (found in coconut oil) restores it¹⁵.

In adults with bad memory, adding ketones improves cognition¹⁶. The higher the serum ketones, the better the scores.

In older adults, a very low-carb diet improves memory¹⁷. Again, higher ketones predicts bigger improvements.

Anecdotes abound of people with intact cognitive function going on ketogenic diets and experiencing huge benefits to their mental performance. I’ve been experimenting with more protracted ketosis for some time now, and I can add my hat to the pile. What could be going on?

It may clear up brain fog¹⁸, that enemy of clear thinking, by clearing ammonia from the brain and upregulating conversion of glutamate into GABA¹⁹.

It definitely increases brain energy production by increasing mitochondrial biogenesis in the brain. More mitochondria, more energy production.

It tends to produce a sense of euphoria. If you can parlay that into productivity instead of getting caught up in the sensation²⁰, your mental output will increase. A cup of strong coffee helps here.

The Keto Diet for Physical Performance

Being keto-adapted has several advantages for anyone interested in physical performance.

It increases energy efficiency. At any given intensity, a keto-adapted athlete burns more fat and less glycogen than a sugar-burning athlete. Long-term elite keto athletes can burn²¹ up to 2.3 times more fat at peak oxidation and 59% more fat overall than non-keto athletes, and they do it at higher intensities. They remain in the predominantly fat-burning zone at 70% of VO2max, whereas non-keto athletes switch over from predominantly fat burning to a spike in sugar-burning at 54.9% VO2max.

It spares glycogen. Glycogen is high-octane fuel for intense efforts. We store it in the muscles and liver, but only about 2400 calories-worth—enough for a couple hours of intense activity at most. Once it’s gone, we have to carb up to replenish it. Keto-adaptation allows us to do more work using fat and ketones for fuel, thereby saving glycogen for when we really need it. Since even the leanest among us carry tens of thousands of calories of body fat, our energy stores become virtually limitless on a ketogenic diet.

It builds mitochondria. Mitochondria are the power plants of our cells, transforming incoming nutrients into ATP. The more mitochondria we have, the more energy we can utilize and extract from the food we eat—and the more performance we can wring out of our bodies. Ketosis places new demands on our mitochondria, who adapt to the new energy environment by increasing in number.

The Keto Diet for Fat Loss

Although keto is not a classical weight loss diet, it can certainly help a person lose body fat. After all, to generate ketones without eating ketogenic precursors, you have to liberate stored body fat.

But that’s not the main mechanism for ketogenic fat loss. Ketosis isn’t “magic”—it doesn’t melt body fat away. Instead, it works for many of the same reasons a standard low-carb Primal way of eating works: by reducing insulin, increasing mobilization of stored body fat, and decreasing appetite.

Ketosis suppressing appetite²² may be the most important feature. The overriding drive to eat more food is the biggest impediment to weight loss, and it’s the reason why most diets fail. When people attempt to eat less food despite wanting more, they butt up against their own physiology. Few win that battle.

Ketogenic dieting avoids this issue altogether, suppressing the increase in hunger hormones that normally occurs after weight loss²³.

Ketogenic diets are especially effective for massive weight loss. If you have a ton of weight to lose, aiming for ketosis could help you lose body fat. Again, not because of any inherent fat-burning quality of the ketones, but because in order to make ketones you must liberate stored body fat.

Many diets work in the short-term and fail in the long run. Weight loss isn’t worth anything if you can’t keep it off. Ketogenic diets appear to be good for long-term maintenance of weight loss²⁴, at least compared to low-fat diets.

How to Do the Keto Diet Right

I’ll have more details in The Keto Reset Diet book, but there are right ways and wrong ways to do keto. What’s wrong or right is contextual, of course. It depends on several factors.

If you’re part of a small group that uses keto to keep seizures at bay, or treat serious neurological diseases, you’ll want to diligently maintain high blood ketone levels. That means sticking to very-low-carb (5-10% of calories) and low/moderate protein (10-15% of calories). But even then, modified ketogenic diets with slightly higher carbs and relaxed protein intakes are also effective against epilepsy²⁵.

If you’re doing keto for general health or weight loss, you can handle more protein and still remain in ketosis. Protein will help stave off the muscle loss, and, because calories are reduced, you can handle a bit more protein without interfering with ketosis. An older ketogenic diet study²⁶ in obese subjects shows that 50% protein diets are highly ketogenic as long as calories are kept low. And in another study²⁷, subjects eating a weight-maintaining ketogenic diet ate up to 129 grams of protein without leaving ketosis (129 grams is fairly high).

If you’re trying to lose weight, artificially boosting ketones won’t accelerate the process. Higher ketones do not enhance fat loss, but they may indicate it’s taking place.

How to Make Keto Work

Ketogenic dieting is a big jump for some people. You’re literally switching over to a new metabolic substrate. That can take some getting used to. Make sure you are well-prepared with a Primal-aligned eating pattern in place for ideally several months before you ponder a journey into nutritional ketosis.

Make a minimum commitment to six weeks of nutritional ketosis. The first three weeks will be the most difficult as you transition to new fuel sources, but then you can expect breakthroughs. Some serious athletes may experience a temporary performance dip in the early weeks, but then will come back strong after 4 weeks and beyond²⁸. Once you get to the six-week mark, the metabolic machinery is in place, and it’s hard to reverse the adaptation. Extra mitochondria don’t just disappear.

Get plenty of electrolytes. You’ll want lots of sodium, magnesium, and potassium. Try 4.5 grams sodium (about 2 teaspoons of fine salt or a little under 3 teaspoons of kosher salt), 300-400 mg magnesium, and 1-2 grams of potassium each day on top of your normal food. Going keto really flushes out water weight, and tons of electrolytes leave with it.

Eat fat, but don’t be crazy about it. Just because a ketogenic diet is a high-fat diet doesn’t mean you should eat ungodly amounts of fat. Being ketogenic is more about not eating carbohydrates than it is eating as much fat as you possibly can.

Eating extra fat in the first 4-7 days can accelerate keto-adaptation by increasing AMPK signaling. Dial it down after.

Lift heavy things. A common criticism of ketogenic diets is that they cause loss of lean mass. This isn’t totally unfounded. If your ketogenic diet reduces appetite so much that you undereat, you might lose muscle. If you’re on a super-low-protein ketogenic diet, you might lose muscle. Lifting weights prevents these issues by sending an anabolic signal to your muscles and allowing the consumption of more protein without hampering ketosis. 

Do lots of low level aerobic activity. Walk, hike, jog, cycle, row. Keep things in the aerobic HR zone (under 180 minus age in heart beats per minute), and you’ll increase your utilization of body fat, which will speed up ketone production and adaptation.

Eat vegetables. The vast majority of vegetables are keto-friendly. Not only do they provide important micronutrients and phytonutrients, they provide negligible amounts of carbohydrates.

Eat berries. Raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries are all quite low in glycemic load and extremely high in phytonutrients. While eating a flat of strawberries isn’t very ketogenic, a large bowlful won’t knock you out.

Eat fiber. Many people on ketogenic diets tend to ignore or malign fiber. That’s a mistake. First, fiber doesn’t digest into glucose. It doesn’t “count.” Second, fiber feeds your gut biome²⁹, providing fermentable substrate for your gut bacteria to turn into beneficial short chain fatty acids and to provide support to your immune system.

For a more in-depth look at what to eat, read my blog on what to eat when going keto.

How to Know if You’re Ketogenic

You can test your blood, urine, or breath ketones. There are drawbacks to each, and unless you have a medical condition necessitating a specific level of ketones, obsessive testing may be unnecessary/unwise/expensive. Forget the inexpensive urine strips, as they measure only what you excrete, not what you are making and burning.

Once you’re keto-adapted and naturally good at burning fat, the ketone measuring devices might not put up impressive numbers. That’s because, after weeks in ketosis, you have built enough metabolic machinery in your muscles that they run extremely well on free fatty acids and don’t require much additional fuel from glucose or ketones. 

You’re still making ketones, since your brain can’t run on fatty acids and needs them to offset the glucose that isn’t coming, but your muscles no longer require them. Many people who have been in long term ketosis can get by quite nicely on 20-30 net grams of carbs a day and might only show .4 or .7 millimolar ketones on a blood test, but they have plenty of energy from burning free fatty acids and maintain muscle mass on relatively fewer calories than when they were dependent on carbs. Few people understand this, but it’s a major benefit of keto-adaptation. You might even say that ketogenic diets are ultimately about becoming free fatty acid-adapted.

Instead of objective numbers, I prefer to go by symptoms and signs. Since you’re trying to divine what works best for you, relying on the subjective signs and symptoms you experience is perfectly legitimate. These include:

Reduced urge to snack: Being ketone-adapted means you’re less reliant on outside calories.

Steady energy: When I’m feeling full of relaxed energy, calm but not sleepy, I know I’m in ketosis.

You may have heard talk about the dreaded ketone breath, caused by the presence of the metabolite acetone (the breakdown product of the ketone bodies acetoacetate and beta-hydroxybutyrate). A sweet and fruity odor to your exhalations is a reliable indicator that you are in a state of ketosis, but it’s also a likely indicator that you are not yet super efficient at burning ketones. Don’t worry, that will come in short order.

So, are carbs out forever? What if you want to incorporate carbs for high intensity performance while maintaining the benefits of ketosis?

First of all, it may not make much of a difference if you’re just strength training. A series of recent studies looked at the effects of introducing carbs into a ketogenic diet in resistance trained adults, finding little to no benefit³⁰.

Carbs likely will help certain populations, namely CrossFitters, sprinters, and anyone else engaged in intense glycolytic work. But even then, being keto-adapted reduces the amount of glycogen you’ll use for a given intensity —so err on the side of fewer carbs and eat only as many as you actually earn.

There are two basic ways to construct a ketogenic diet that includes carbs: with one big weekly carb load (the classic CKD) or multiple smaller carb loads adjacent to training sessions (often called the targeted ketogenic diet, or TKD).

On a CKD, you spend the majority of the week and your workouts in ketosis and devote a day or a pair of days to eat lots of carbs. You might be ketogenic Monday through Friday, exercising all the while and capping the work week off with a really intense glycogen-depleting training session, then go high-carb, low-fat Saturday through Sunday to refill your depleted and newly-insulin sensitive muscle glycogen stores.

On a TKD, you spend the majority of your time in ketosis but selectively eat carbohydrate before, during, and/or after your workouts. Most people seem to benefit most from pre- and peri-workout carbs. These aren’t large carb loads — 15-30 grams of relatively fast-absorbing, simple carbs. If you don’t want to opt for dextrose or other powders, a baked potato works well.

Whatever option you choose, you’ll need to deplete glycogen if you want to include carbs in a ketogenic diet. As long as you have a glycogen debt, any carbs you eat will go toward restoring those glycogen stores and won’t interfere with ketone production.

Final Thoughts on The Keto Diet…

Also: Ketosis doesn’t have to be for life.

Going ketogenic can be refreshing. You’re not hungry like before. You’re euphoric. You have steady, even energy levels. Your brain works better. You’re leaner. You start thinking: Why not do this all the time?

A recent study³¹ of long-term (5 years) ketogenic dieting in patients with glucose transporter 1 deficiency syndrome found no apparent downsides. Bone mineral density, which can be a problem for growing kids on long term ketogenic diets for epilepsy, was unaffected.

Yet, I’ll admit to being a bit leery of long-term, protracted ketosis in people who aren’t treating a medical condition. It just doesn’t seem necessary. After all, while humans are unique in our ability to slip into ketosis and there are clear evolutionary precedents for being in ketosis, Grok wasn’t starving all the time. He wasn’t living through famine after famine.

Not everyone needs to be on a ketogenic diet. Even fewer need to be on a ketogenic diet for life. But I do think that everyone should try it for a few or (even better) six weeks, build and install some new mitochondria, remain long enough to get really good at burning free fatty acids in your muscles, and then return to a ketogenic state on a regular basis to keep your capacities topped up. If you’re wondering what comes next, watch my YouTube video on what comes after The Keto Reset.

That’s it for me today. Have you recently tried keto, or are you hoping to? Maybe you’ve done it for a while. I’d love to hear your tips and questions. Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week, everyone.

The post The Definitive Guide to Keto appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/

Enchiladas are often a mess of ingredients in a casserole pan, the two main ingredients being tortillas and a heavy blanket of cheese. But it doesn’t have to be that way. In this Primal enchilada recipe, it’s all about the meat.

Chuck roast is slow-cooked and tender with a thick, mildly spicy sauce, and the possibilities for toppings are endless.

Here’s the recipe.

Pressure Cooker Beef Enchiladas Recipe – Primal, Paleo and Gluten-free

Ingredients

Shredded Beef

• 3 lb. chuck roast, cut into 2-3 inch chunks
• 2 tbsp. avocado oil
• 1 chopped large onion
• 6 chopped cloves garlic
• 1 Tbsp. chili powder
• 1 Tbsp. paprika
• 1 Tbsp. cumin
• 2.5 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1.5 cups water or broth (if using water, you might want to add more salt)

Enchilada Sauce

• 2 tbsp. avocado oil
• 1/4 grated onion
• 2 Tbsp. tapioca starch
• 3 Tbsp. chili powder
• 2 Tbsp. paprika
• 1 Tbsp. oregano
• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2.5 cups chicken broth

Everything Else

• 8-12 paleo tortillas (we love Siete brand)
• chopped onion, pepper, avocado and cilantro
• sour cream or dairy-free sour cream

Directions

Add the avocado oil to your Instant Pot and set it to the “Saute” function. Once the oil is hot, add the chopped onion and saute for 2-3 minutes, or until they begin to soften. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant. Add the chunks of beef and sear for a minute or two on each side. Add the spices and stir to coat the beef.

Add the liquid to the Instant Pot and secure the lid. Set it to the manual setting on high pressure for 55 minutes. Once the timer goes off, allow the pressure to naturally release for 20 minutes before opening the Instant Pot.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Shred the meat and pour the meat and at least half of the liquid into a baking dish. Roast for about 20 minutes, or until the liquid thickens a bit and the top of the shredded meat is browned.

While the meat is cooking, prepare the enchilada sauce. In a pot, heat the avocado oil over medium heat. Once it’s hot, add the grated onion and stir. Stir for a few minutes, or until the onion is very soft. Whisk in the tapioca starch, stirring continuously to prevent it from burning. Add the chili powder and paprika and stir. Whisk in the chicken broth slowly. Continue stirring to break up the clumps of spices and tapioca starch. Once the clumps are gone, continue stirring while adding in the oregano, garlic and salt. Allow the sauce to thicken to be able to coat the back of a spoon, then season with salt and pepper to taste.

Spray a little avocado oil spray on the bottom of a baking dish. Place a small amount of the pulled meat in a tortilla and roll them up. Place them in the baking dish with the flap portion of the roll ups facing down. Repeat with the remaining tortillas until you’ve filled the baking dish. Pour the enchilada sauce on top of the tortillas.

Bake for about 15 minutes. Remove the baking dish from the oven. Top with enchiladas with chopped onion, red pepper, avocado and cilantro. Serve with your favorite dairy-free or regular sour cream or cheese!

Tips

– This will make more beef than will probably fit in your tortillas. The extra meat is delicious with big salads.
– Warm your tortillas before filling them to make them more pliable.
– If you’re short on time, you can use a store-bought enchilada sauce. Siete and Simply Organic both have clean options.

Print

Pressure Cooker Beef Enchiladas – Primal, Paleo, Keto, Gluten-free and Grain-free!

---

• 
  Author: Mark’s Daily Apple
• 
  Prep Time: 5
• 
  Cook Time: 80
• 
  Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
• 
  Yield: 8 enchiladas
• 
  Diet: Gluten Free

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

Description

Beef enchiladas in a thick sauce made paleo and gluten-free, without grain ingredients.

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Ingredients

Shredded Beef

• 3 lb. chuck roast, cut into 2–3 inch chunks
• 2 tbsp. avocado oil
• 1 chopped large onion
• 6 chopped cloves garlic
• 1 Tbsp. chili powder
• 1 Tbsp. paprika
• 1 Tbsp. cumin
• 2.5 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1.5 cups water or broth (if using water, you might want to add more salt)

Enchilada Sauce

• 2 tbsp. avocado oil
• 1/4 grated onion
• 2 Tbsp. tapioca starch
• 3 Tbsp. chili powder
• 2 Tbsp. paprika
• 1 Tbsp. oregano
• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2.5 cups chicken broth

Everything Else

• 8–12 paleo tortillas (we love Siete brand)
• chopped onion, pepper, avocado and cilantro
• sour cream or dairy-free sour cream

---

Instructions

Add the avocado oil to your Instant Pot and set it to the “Saute” function. Once the oil is hot, add the chopped onion and saute for 2-3 minutes, or until they begin to soften. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant. Add the chunks of beef and sear for a minute or two on each side. Add the spices and stir to coat the beef. 

Add the liquid to the Instant Pot and secure the lid. Set it to the manual setting on high pressure for 55 minutes. Once the timer goes off, allow the pressure to naturally release for 20 minutes before opening the Instant Pot.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Shred the meat and pour the meat and at least half of the liquid into a baking dish. Roast for about 20 minutes, or until the liquid thickens a bit and the top of the shredded meat is browned.

While the meat is cooking, prepare the enchilada sauce. In a pot, heat the avocado oil over medium heat. Once it’s hot, add the grated onion and stir. Stir for a few minutes, or until the onion is very soft. Whisk in the tapioca starch, stirring continuously to prevent it from burning. Add the chili powder and paprika and stir. Whisk in the chicken broth slowly. Continue stirring to break up the clumps of spices and tapioca starch. Once the clumps are gone, continue stirring while adding in the oregano, garlic and salt. Allow the sauce to thicken to be able to coat the back of a spoon, then season with salt and pepper to taste.

Spray a little avocado oil spray on the bottom of a baking dish. Place a small amount of the pulled meat in a tortilla and roll them up. Place them in the baking dish with the flap portion of the roll ups facing down. Repeat with the remaining tortillas until you’ve filled the baking dish. Pour the enchilada sauce on top of the tortillas.

Bake for about 15 minutes. Remove the baking dish from the oven. Top with enchiladas with chopped onion, red pepper, avocado and cilantro. Serve with your favorite dairy-free or regular sour cream or cheese!

Notes

This will make more beef than will probably fit in your tortillas. The extra meat is delicious with big salads.

 Warm your tortillas before filling them to make them more pliable.

If you’re short on time, you can use a store-bought enchilada sauce. Siete and Simply Organic both have clean options.

• Category: Lunch, Dinner
• Method: Pressure Cooker
• Cuisine: Mexican

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1/8 of recipe
• Calories: 519.5
• Sugar: 1.6 g
• Sodium: 724.1 mg
• Fat: 37.7 mg
• Saturated Fat: 12.9 g
• Unsaturated Fat: 20.57 g
• Trans Fat: 0
• Carbohydrates: 9.4 g
• Fiber: 3.14 g
• Protein: 35.7 g
• Cholesterol: 125.8 mg
• Net Carbs: 6.25 g

Keywords: gluten free beef enchiladas recipe, grain-free beef enchiladas recipe

The post Instant Pot Beef Enchiladas – Primal, Paleo, Keto, Grain-free and Gluten-free! appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/

Research of the Week

Asymptomatic COVID cases aren’t very contagious, and if they do infect others, those infections are more likely to be asymptomatic too.

The more time you spend outdoors in natural light, the happier you’ll be.

Single dose intranasal vaccine works well against COVID in mice.

Control that blood glucose, folks.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 515: Darryl Bosshardt: Host Elle Russ chats with Darryl Bosshardt of Redmond Salt fame.

Health Coach Radio: Jill Coleman on why you need to get into the trenches with your clients.

Media, Schmedia

People need nature.

A simple proposal: Reduce sugar, reduce disease.

Interesting Blog Posts

The invention of Crisco was a disaster for the human race.

How Indian vegetarians can get more protein.

Social Notes

Interesting.

Don’t negotiate everything.

Everything Else

The math behind muscle building.

Meditation boosts the ego.

Things I’m Up to and Interested In

I agree: Raw onions are incredible.

Good news for people who recovered from COVID (like me): Natural infection confers strong, long-lasting immunity.

Great article about our nomadic past: Would you swipe right on a steppe-brother?

Good news for kids: The delta variant is no more severe than the last one.

Interesting site and service: Offering facial reconstructions of ancient skull remains.

Question I’m Asking

Have you had COVID?

Recipe Corner

• Simple and delicious sausage and kale soup.
• Asian cucumber salad is incredibly refreshing.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Aug 21 – Aug 27)

• How I’d Change School— What I’d do different.
• All About Balsamic Vinegar: Benefits and Uses— How and why to use it.

Comment of the Week

“I try to work as little as possible.”

-Solid approach, Hate_me.

The post New and Noteworthy: What I Read This Week — Edition 144 appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

Originally posted at: http://www.nerdfitness.com/

I’d like to introduce you to Brian, a fellow Rebel in our Online Coaching Program who is currently celebrating losing over 75 pounds!

Incredible.

Brian’s achievements are truly amazing, considering all he’s gone through:

• Old injuries? Check.
• Losing and regaining the same weight over and over? Check.
• Frustration over never maintaining progress? Check.

But then Brian decided enough is enough. This time, things would be different.

This time, Brian would ask for help.

I’m honored that he decided to trust us in this most recent attempt.

So let’s explore the plan that Brian and his coach created to make this time different!

The 4 Keys to Brian’s Amazing Transformation

#1) Don’t Underestimate the Power of Eating Your Greens

When you ask Brian about the most important change he’s made as part of NF Coaching, he’s quick to answer: “Eating more vegetables.”

Brian explains:

“Filling up on veggies instead of chips has made me feel a lot better.

I don’t get as hungry between meals anymore, and I’ve even noticed more energy into the afternoon.

For someone who lived on processed food, I never imagined I’d eat vegetables daily.

I almost feel like my coach tricked me to get here. We started by adding a small portion of vegetables here and there, like a salad with my dinner.

Now, most of my meals include a vegetable. It’s wild.”

Takeaway: it’s no surprise that Brian feels better when he eats vegetables instead of chips.

What you might find surprising is that Brian learned to like vegetables.

How’d he do it?

Brian went slow, introducing one new vegetable dish at a time.

You can do the same thing.

Maybe you order a vegetable at a restaurant you haven’t tried before. Or maybe you try and prepare some greens differently.

If you don’t like the new dish, nbd. Just don’t order or prepare it again.

But if you do like it…boom! We can add it to the menu.

Once we find a vegetable we like, our taste buds will start to adapt. We might find that we start to like greens we didn’t like before.

This can help expand our vegetable selection when planning meals.

Here’s a step-by-step plan on eating more vegetables to help you get started.

#2) When It Comes to Strength Training, Start Slow

Here’s another thing we shouldn’t rush through: weight training.

Unfortunately, Brian had to find this out the hard way.

“I’d tried to get in shape before joining NF Coaching a couple of times.

During one such occasion, I hurt myself. I did too much too quickly and injured my back.

I have since learned that proper form is EVERYTHING and it’s best to go slow until you’re comfortable.

Also, my coach has taught me that dynamic stretches BEFORE and static stretches AFTER go a long way towards safety.

Takeaway: when we first start strength training, we need to go slow.

We must learn the movement correctly before we start adding weight to the equation.

When we begin resistance training, our body is not only building strength but also creating internal connections to allow our central nervous system to coordinate properly.

In a way, when we start exercising we’re teaching our body how to talk to itself. If we go too fast, before this improved communication occurs, injuries can happen.

That’s why bodyweight exercises are a great place for beginners to start strength training.

#3) It Can Still Be Possible to Train With an Injury

Despite Brian’s back problems, a coach was able to build a workout routine that allowed him to keep progressing.

“Considering my past with injuries, I’m doing mostly bodyweight training stuff.

But I’m surprised how strong I’ve gotten with just these!

For example, the crow pose is really challenging:

Practicing it consistently has allowed me to build a lot of strength.

Plus, I’ve been doing a little bit of yoga to help my back…which allowed me to make a nerdy purchase:

Steve note: Feel free to send this to me!

I’ve even started a regular running practice!

I’m grateful that my coach has helped me continue to grow strong while working around my back issues.”

Takeaway: getting injured STINKS!

But if you are hurt, all is not lost.

There are likely still plenty of ways to stay active.

• If you can’t run, how about an elliptical or stationary bike?
• If you can’t use one leg or the other, can you work out your upper body?
• If you can’t use one arm/shoulder, can you still do lower body exercises like lunges/squats/step-ups?
• If you can’t do any resistance training, can you still go for walks?

A coach (with a doctor’s blessing) can likely create a workout routine around a preexisting injury.

Here are our recommendations for training with an injury.

#4) You Might Be Going Too Fast

Brian had tried to get in shape twice before.

Why was he successful this time?

Because Brian started slow with Nerd Fitness Coaching.

“My coach helped me set small, reasonable goals over time that grew into significant changes.

Through this, I learned that consistency is key. Even when my life would get crazy or an injury would flare up, my coach helped me do ‘something’ rather than ‘nothing.’

Maybe I’d just go on a walk after work if I was stressed out.”

Brian continues:

Takeaway: throughout this email, we’ve touched on “going slow.”

For example, Brian did this by:

• Eating his greens. Brian would add a small portion of vegetables to his dinner to start, instead of going full Keto or Paleo.
• Running. Brian started with interval training, only running for brief bursts during his walk. Now he can run a 10k!
• Resistance training. Brian started by just doing bodyweight exercises in his home. Now he can hold himself up in a crow position (which is not easy).

It’s okay if the actions seem super small (one vegetable a day). The important thing is to make a little bit of progress towards our goal, every single day.

Even if it’s not exactly part of our plan (“If I miss a workout I’ll go on a walk”), doing “something” rather than “nothing” can be critical for getting in shape.

Let’s explore that a little more.

A little Every Day Can Go A Long Way

Many clients are surprised at the pace we take in our coaching program.

We intentionally go slow.

We want to make sure the habits we create together stick. That way we prove to ourselves that we can consistently move forward.

Only once that feels sustainable do we add another action or dial up the effort.

This is often a big mindset shift for our clients.

Many of them, like Brian, expect to change everything at once when they sign-up.

They’ll plan on “going Keto” and “lifting weights 4 times a week.”

While these might be great goals, the problem is they often can be way too much, way too soon.

When life inevitably gets in the way (like a back injury), it’s easy to quit altogether until there’s a better time to start again.

Here’s the thing: there’s never a “perfect time.”

The stars will never magically align for us to get in shape.

Instead, we’re going to have to deal with:

• An intense deadline for work.
• A sick child.
• A pulled back.

However, when such events happen, it’s okay to scale back our efforts.

I call this the “Dial vs. Light Switch” Mentality:

When life throws us a curveball, it’s okay to pull back from 100% (or 11, Spinal Tap style)

But maybe we hit them at 50% (or a 5):

• Instead of lifting weights four times a week, maybe we do resistance training once and go for two long walks during the week.
• Instead of “#ketolife,” maybe it’s a protein shake in the morning and a vegetable with dinner.

This “slow and steady” pace really is the secret of our Online Coaching Program, and something that comes up again and again when we chat with our most successful clients.

If you want to learn about it yourself, we’d love to sit down with you to see if we’d be a good fit for each other.

Because even though you’re unique, we’ve likely seen some of your challenges before:

• Many of our clients have intense jobs.
• Many of our clients manage busy households with kids.
• Many of our clients have preexisting injuries.

There’s likely a way to make progress – even if it’s only a little bit – no matter what challenges you face today.

You just need someone to show you the way.

Ready?

If you want to see if Nerd Fitness Coaching can help you, schedule a call right here:

Learn more about Nerd Fitness Coaching!

No matter what, just remember:

If you’re having trouble staying consistent, go slow.

A little every day really does go a long way.

-Steve

PS: Shoutout to Brian and Coach Matt! What they’ve done together is truly incredible.

###

The post 4 Strategies for Losing 75 Pounds first appeared on Nerd Fitness.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/

I love those posts about famous people who didn’t reach their stride until mid-life. Or ‘til after receiving hundreds of rejection letters. Or following some huge life-altering experience. Like George Lucas who got turned down by three major movie studios. Michael Jordan who got cut from his high school basketball team, twice. The dude who started FedEx who allegedly got a C on his college term paper promoting the original biz idea.

They’re all well-known now (well most of them), but without special skills like tenacity, self-compassion, and flat-out trusting the process, they might not have ever gotten there.

The same thing goes for those of you struggling with sticking to a primal or keto diet, or trying to stretch out your fasting window by a few more hours, or ramping up your workout routine. I see it fairly frequently with my health coaching clients. They’re diligently following their real-food-eating-plan, tuning into their hunger levels, and moving their bodies regularly, then suddenly, there’s some obstacle that totally derails their hopes and dreams of success.

Obstacles can look like:

• The number not budging on the scale
• Lack of support from friends or partners
• General self-doubt
• Lack of motivation
• Fear of the unknown
• Temptation
• Chronic stress

Breakthroughs are Never Linear

The path to anything, be it fat loss, healing, PRs, or personal growth, is never a straight line. It’s curvy, messy, and often times chaotic. It’s just part of being human. And although it feels like you’re not making progress, you actually are.

It’s like in the old days before electric drills and powerful jackhammers were a thing, they used to break boulders with handheld sledgehammers. Workers would hit those darn things over and over again without seeing any progress, but they’d keep at it because that was their job. Then, on the 50th or so hit, the boulder would magically split in half. Except it wasn’t magic, it’s science. They’re breaking down the integrity of the structure, each hit microscopically chipping away at it.

Just like my boulder analogy, the same thing is happening to you and your goals. Even though it looks like nothing is happening on the outside, each time you choose bacon and eggs over a jumbo Costco-sized muffin or go for a walk even when you don’t feel like it, you’re shifting something key to your success on the inside.

Why You Need Resiliency

When you’re armed with this knowledge ahead of time, you can lessen the powerlessness that can tag along for the ride. You know, the feeling like you’re banging your head against a wall that doesn’t ever move. People with a sense of resiliency are usually the most successful at persevering the ups and downs of their struggles. They’ve learned how to adapt, emotionally and physically, in the face of adversity. Not only does this help them keep a positive mindset, it prevents them from giving up — which, really is the biggest piece of this puzzle.

The Three Cs of Resilience

Resiliency isn’t just something you’re born with either, you can learn to develop it. According to research by Susan Kobasa, a psychologist who studies hardiness and grit, there are three elements essential to resilience:

• Challenge. As in, challenge your thoughts. When you reframe a stressor as an opportunity to grow versus something to be dreaded or threatened by, you’re more equipped to move through it. That’s true for setbacks too. You can choose to view them as feedback, not failure or a reflection of your self-worth.
• Control. Knowing what you can control and what you can’t is crucial here. Those who lack resilience often spend time stewing over uncontrollable events, which can create a feeling of helplessness and powerlessness. In contrast, putting your efforts toward situations where you can make an impact leads to feelings of empowerment and confidence.
• Commitment. Are you committed to following through even when the going gets tough? Or are you only willing to go ‘til it gets uncomfortable? Resilient people are dedicated to taking action until their goal is met, regardless of the obstacles that arise.

Basically, resilience helps you handle stress in a more positive way. A study by developmental psychologist Emmy Werner backs up that thinking. She followed a group of 698 kids from birth through their third decade of life, monitoring their exposure to stress along the way. Two-thirds of the subjects came from stable, successful backgrounds while the other one-third were qualified as “at risk.” Of the at-risk kids, she discovered that some developed significant behaviour and mental health problems, while a small subsection of the group achieved academic, domestic, and social success.

Sifting through the data, Werner learned that there were several elements that predicted resilience, most of which had to do with how the children responded to their environment, adding that the resilient kids had what psychologists call an internal locus of control — they believed that they (not their circumstances) had the biggest impact on their accomplishments.

Are You on the Verge of a Breakthrough?

The reason resiliency is so important here is that breakthroughs typically happen right as (or after) you hit your breaking point. And you want to have the skills to actually get there and persevere. While some of these signs may seem negative on the surface, they mean that you’re on the right path, and that a breakthrough is right around the corner.

1. You notice an increase in resistance. Does it seem like it’s harder to do the things you’re trying to do? Maybe you’re up against a physical challenge like an injury, or your spouse continually brings home donuts. Resistance to opening a new door in life is always strongest right before you get to that door. So don’t let these obstacles derail you. Also don’t take them as a sign that whatever it is you’re working toward isn’t worth it. In contrast, it’s a sign you’re on the brink of something great.
2. You feel like giving up. Self-doubt typically stems from previous negative experiences and limiting beliefs. And it’s completely normal, especially when you’re up against a goal that’s important to you. Know that never wanting to quit isn’t a sign of strength, it means your goals are too small. Big goals will always elicit some level of self-doubt, so take this opportunity to lean into that feeling even more.
3. You want to change your goals. Ditching sugar or grains might have felt like a great idea a few weeks ago, but suddenly, in the midst of pumpkin-spice-everything, you’re not so sure. Think of working on your goal like hiking up a mountain. There’s always going to be places where you feel like stopping or turning around and heading back to your car. But instead of settling (or hiking up a different mountain), stay the course. The view from the top is 100% worth it.
4. You’re uncomfortable more than you’re not. Most people life their lives on autopilot, staying within the cozy confines of their comfort zones. If you’re at a point where most of the time you’re feeling unsure, scared, doing things you’ve never done before, and wondering why the heck you’re even doing them, congratulations, your breakthrough is definitely on the horizon.
5. You find something that clicks. I realize there’s a lot of potential discomfort in these signs — after all, who wants to be faced with fear, self-doubt, and uncertainty on an almost-daily basis? But when you stick with it long enough, you’ll reap the rewards. With enough resilience (and an understanding that you’re headed in the right direction), you’ll get to a point where everything starts to fall into place and your path becomes crystal clear. That’s when you know you’ve reached the other side.

Don’t Give Up, You’re Almost There

Most people give up before the good stuff happens. Right before they see the results, get the PR, or fit in the smaller pant size. If you’re feeling frustrated, filled with doubt, or wondering why you ever started working toward your goal in the first place, let this be your invitation to stay the course. These five signs mean that you’re just on the other side of a breakthrough:

1. You notice an increase in resistance
2. You feel like giving up
3. You want to change your goals
4. You’re uncomfortable more than you’re not
5. You find something that clicks

How about you? What signs do you notice when you’re getting close to a breakthrough?

The post Don’t Give Up, You’re Just on the Other Side of a Breakthrough appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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It’s one thing to look at studies. What if we look at “finished products”? What if we look at whole organisms that appear to be doing things right and try to learn from them? People are always looking at the “Blue Zones” or this guru or that celebrity and trying to glean insights about healthy diet, lifestyle, and behavior. I say expand that outlook to encompass other populations you might not have considered. LIke kids.

Kids are kids. We tell them what to do, they learn from us, and they are put on this earth to watch us and do what we do. What if we flipped that? What can we learn from watching kids? How do children approach life, health, and movement—and what can we take from that approach and apply to our own lives?

Here’s what we can learn from kids.

Keep asking why.

Kids never stop asking why. They don’t just accept answers from authorities because they want to understand why the answer is what it is. They want to know your reasoning. They take nothing for granted, even or especially such “mundane” facts like the sky being blue, rain falling from the sky, and dogs having fur.

Never stop asking why. The eternal student doesn’t just learn more. The eternal student is never bored.

Never stop moving.

If you watch your kids, they don’t stop moving. They fidget. They dance. They stand up then sit down then stand up again. They twitch and pace the room and climb over furniture. Even if they’re sitting in a chair, they’ll rock, lean back, sit on their knees, and never stop moving. Kids are constantly adjusting their position throughout space and time. And while you can’t say their constant movement is a cause of children’s well-avowed high metabolic rate and energy expenditure—it’s most likely both cause and effect, a virtuous cycle—we can still emulate their.

Now, don’t fidget in the board room. Don’t climb on the desk during a job interview. But constant movement is one path to better health, and it will keep you limber, supple, mobile, and energetic. Try moving throughout the day for a solid week and see how you feel. See if you’re less stiff. See if you have more energy. I bet you will.

Sprint more.

Kids sprint everywhere. Watch kids at play together and they don’t just walk slowly and orderly in single file lines. They dash off to go play, run up and down hills, sprint up the stairs. If they want to go somewhere, they go and they go quickly. But, and this is crucial, they aren’t sprinting non-stop. Unless they’re playing freeze tag or some other playground game, they sprint and then rest. They sprint as a mode of transportation, not training. Kids aren’t concerned with “working out” or “running intervals.” They go hard, as hard as they can, and then stop when tired and do something more quiet and sedentary until it’s time to sprint again.

They are the perfect example of moving frequently at a slow pace walking/fidgeting/playing on the floor doing relatively sedentary low level movement interspersed with bouts of all out high intensity sprinting.

Eat whole foods that taste good.

Kids at least from the start of their lives absent processed food have pure appetites. Before their taste buds and reward systems are corrupted by industrial foods expressly designed to corrupt by food engineers, they make excellent food choices. In one old study, researchers took a group of breastfed infants and. placed a broad selection of whole foods in front of them. Without any adult input, the kids chose what to eat from the following foods:

• Bone marrow, bone jelly
• Beef, lamb, and chicken muscle meat
• Liver, kidney, brain, sweetbreads
• Haddock
• Cod liver oil
• Whole wheat cereal, whole barley cereal, oats, corn, rye
• Eggs
• Raw milk
• Oranges, apples, tomatoes, peaches, pineapples, bananas
• Cabbage, carrots, turnips, potatoes, peas, beets, spinach, cauliflower

Each kid took a different route. They all chose different foods. Some ate a fruit and meat-heavy diet. Others ate more grains. Some kids ate a ton of fish and organs. But whatever they ate, they managed to satisfy their nutrient requirements. One child even cured his rickets by eating a ton of cod liver oil. He didn’t know he was low in vitamin D. He didn’t know what vitamin D even was. They just knew what they needed. They ate what was most appealing in the moment and managed to provide what their bodies required. Amazing, right? Or is it just normal?

Embrace awe.

Children are in constant awe of the world around them. Of course if they have their nose in a tablet all day that sense of awe quickly gets subsumed and extinguished. But if you take a four-year-old kid out for a hike through the redwoods or along the water or anywhere natural they are in awe of everything around them. The bird overhead, the squirrel scampering up the tree, the sand crabs bubbling under the sand, the waves crashing, the seagulls swooping overhead. In the past I have written about the importance of cultivating a sense of awe, and I stand by it. You can get that back, even as an adult who’s “seen it all.”

“Awe researchers” induce awe in regular adults by showing them nature scenes on television screens or having them stand in eucalyptus groves on college campuses and looking up. Awe isn’t hard to find. It’s all around us.

Play more.

Get five kids in an empty room and within ten minutes they’ll have figured out a game to play.

Get five adults in an empty room and within ten minutes they’ll be crawling up the walls trying to deal with the awkwardness and boredom.

Don’t be like the adults. Be like the kids.

This appears to be the secret to life. Kids turn everything into a game. And the adults who live the best, longest, happiest lives do the same. They laugh about life, they joke around. And of course, play for adults looks different than kids at play. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend you go play cops and robbers or play with Barbies. The point is to find something that you enjoy doing, particularly with other people (but not necessarily). Something where the reward is the activity itself, not some goal or prize glittering at the end of the game. Bonus points if it’s physical play.

I’ve long made this a cornerstone of my life: the insistence on play. For too long, I trained to endure. I trained to win races. I trained so I could deal with more and more pain and suffering. And it ended up being a self-fulfilling prophecy, as I grew unhealthier and unhealthier and accrued more and more damage. But when I made the switch to training so I could play—Ultimate Frisbee, standup paddling, snowboarding, and anything else I truly enjoyed doing—everything opened up.

Trust your intuition.

Kids come into this world with nothing but their intuition. They don’t have “empirical evidence.” They don’t have “research.” They don’t even have language—they can’t get advice from people. All they have is instinct, urges, and intuition to guide them. Oh, and the benevolent helping hand of their parents and other caregivers. But mostly it’s just the feeling that something is right or wrong, good or bad, healthy or unhealthy.

You still have intuition, and it’s still worth heeding, it’s just drowned out by the stories and narratives other people, society, and even your own brain tell you. The little voice inside you that instantly reacts to a situation, a person, or a choice is your intuition. You can still say no to that initial reaction, that gut feeling, but you should at least consider and vet it.

Embrace magic.

It doesn’t matter if magic is “real” or not. For one, we can’t really even define magic, can we? What we can know is that children readily ascribe huge amounts of meaning to seemingly inconsequential natural phenomena. And perhaps they’re right to do it.

Dragonflies actually look an awful lot like dragons if you look closely. They shimmer. They hover. They dart to and fro. They’re brightly colored, almost scaly.

Making a wish before blowing a dandelion—what if it does work? What if by envisioning what you want to occur and then consecrating it with the forced dispersal of dandelion seeds into the spring wind you trigger something in your subconscious that drives you to accomplish the goal and never give up? Isn’t that a kind of magic?

Be present more.

Kids are often extremely present. They focus on the moment, the situation at hand. They squat down to look at the ant trail. They spot the turtle in the pond before anyone else. They can play, and dance, and read and really be there for the moment. They aren’t thinking about the bills, or the fact that they have to go into work tomorrow, and yes, that’s a bit of a luxury because they by and large don’t have as much to worry about. But we can learn from that. We can inject some of that presence into our own lives.

I won’t say “be present at all times.” Sometimes it’s good to be distant from the situation at hand and sometimes we need to worry about the future, but adults are way too good at doing that. We’ve got “lack of presence” in the bag. Most of us need more presence.

Lose yourself in your pursuits.

I can remember playing in the woods from morning til dusk, not eating, not drinking, ignoring the skinned knees because the immediacy of the moment and our pursuit demanded our full attention. That was true living. That was an archaic form of flow that every biohacker and meditator and nootropic-taking coder would pay thousands to tap into.

If you can capture that, if only for an hour or two a day, you will become unstoppable.

Stop eating when you’re not hungry.

Kids are finely tuned metabolic machines. This is why you get so many struggles at the dinner table—a kid won’t be hungry but his parents will force him to keep eating. Or a kid won’t eat anything all day and then wake up and eat six eggs, two potatoes, one banana and two glasses of milk. It’s hard to understand as a parent, and even I had issues dealing with our kids not eating their meals, but eventually I learned to trust them.

What it comes down to is that kids stop eating when they aren’t hungry, as long as they’re eating whole foods and not processed industrial junk. If you did the same, you’d have a lot less issues with your weight. Now, this is easier said than done. We aren’t kids with pristine metabolisms. We’ve had decades to cultivate dysfunctional appetites and satiety mechanisms. But if you look deep within, you’ll see glimmers of the old signals telling you when you’ve had enough food. Listen to them.

The post What We Can Learn From Kids appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

Originally posted at: http://www.nerdfitness.com/

“I thought it was crazy at first when my coach told me to start eating more, when my goal was to lose weight.

But then I tried it. And it worked.

‘Reverse dieting’ actually helped me lose the last few stubborn pounds.”

This is Megan, a member of Nerd Fitness Coaching who is celebrating hitting her goal weight.

What’s so interesting about her story is how she did it.

Megan’s coach saw that she was hitting a wall with her lower-calorie diet.

Instead of continuing, Coach Evan proposed they try something different: eat more.

Unconventional?

Perhaps.

Successful?

You bet!

Let’s dive right into Megan’s story and what helped her crush the last year of NF Coaching.

4 Lessons Learned From Talking With Megan

#1) Don’t Feel Bad if a Cookie-Cutter Program Doesn’t Work for You.

“Before joining Nerd Fitness Coaching, I had a personal trainer.

It didn’t go well. Despite my objections, they would continue to advise me to do 40-minute blocks of cardio – which I hated. I grew frustrated and quit.

This all-or-nothing pattern continued for years.

Until I partnered with a coach who met me where I am, I found working out consistently to be a challenge.”

Takeaway: there are lots of different ways to get in shape. However, not all of them will work for you.

Maybe it’s tough to train during the week. Maybe you have an old knee injury.

Or maybe – you’re like Megan – and don’t like doing excessive cardio (this is also me).

Be honest with yourself, and if something isn’t clicking, go try something else.

You don’t need to try harder. You need to try differently.

#2) Restriction is Hard to Maintain.

Megan had some initial success cutting down her calories.

However, this proved challenging to stick with (understandably!).

“I had been on a 1,200-1,300 calorie diet for an extended period of time.

I had lost plenty of weight, but then plateaued.

That’s when I started getting stressed out about it all.

I shared this with my coach, who then suggested we try reverse dieting. I was surprised by the suggestion, and even more surprised that it worked!”

Takeaway: reducing your calorie intake can indeed spur weight loss.

But as you continue to lose weight, you’ll need to keep reducing the number of calories you’re eating – or your progress might stall.

Oh, and your body will do what it can to hold onto any remaining body fat, in case it needs it for a rainy day!

Plus, it’s mentally taxing to be restrictive. If your progress slows down, maintaining a low-calorie diet can become tedious, frustrating, and can often lead to binges or falling off the wagon

If that happens, it may be time to try something new.

#3) There can be a lot of Benefits to “Eating More.”

Reverse dieting revolves around slowly and strategically eating more and more food.

Here’s why it might be helpful:

When following a calorie-restricted program for a long period of time, your body might respond in a few clever ways to reduce calorie expenditure:

1. Making exercise more challenging. Because you’re eating less food, you’ll have less energy, and working out might feel tougher. You might burn fewer calories, simply because you’re doing less activity.
2. Lowering your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), or the number of calories your body burns at rest. One of the ways it does this is by burning muscle tissue alongside body fat, which can be especially true if you’re only doing cardio without any strength training
3. Decreasing NEAT, or non-exercise activity thermogenesis. Think of pacing while you’re on the phone, fidgeting, etc. Studies suggest NEAT can be reduced when on a prolonged low-calorie diet. Makes sense: less energy, less desire to move, and less movement!

These are all points we bring up in our guide, Why Can’t I Lose Weight?

So when you start to eat more, you have the potential to reverse some of these scenarios.

Think of it this way: increased “energy in” leads to even MORE increased “energy out.”

That’s what happened to Megan.

“It’s been the best decision we’ve made by far.

I’m eating more, lifting more, and stressing less.

I’m glad I tried Coach Evan’s suggestion.”

Takeaway: food is fuel.

When you cut out too much of it, your day-to-day performance may suffer.

We need the energy from food to do our jobs, get some movement in, and spend time with our loved ones.

While a low-calorie diet has its time and place, strategically eating more of the right foods can help if you’ve hit a plateau.

#4) An Expert can Help in a Tricky Situation.

Megan wasn’t immediately sold on the idea of reverse dieting.

“To be blunt, I was worried it was just going to make me gain weight.

I had made a lot of progress, and didn’t want to lose it.

Yo-yo dieting is something I’m quite familiar with, and I didn’t want to repeat that pattern.

But Coach Evan told me we’d keep a close watch on everything. If we didn’t like the outcome, we could always switch it up, NBD.

We went slow and structured it in a way where I gained little to no weight. Eventually, I increased my daily calories by 600, about 50% higher from where I started.

This has allowed me to wake up every morning and work out, something I never used to do before.

I can now say I’m the strongest I’ve ever been.

Takeaway: if you find yourself stalling, it’s okay to ask for help.

An expert might have a solution you haven’t thought of.

Plus, they might be able to provide feedback on whether or not you should continue as is, or if it’s time to try something new.

There are lots of different ways to get help: from a coach, an experienced friend at the gym, or even a fellow Rebel in our private NF Prime community.

Just know that if your progress stalls and you grow frustrated, there’s probably someone who’s been there before. They might even know the way out.

Can We Help You Get Unstuck?

Maybe you’ve been struggling in the same scenario for a while.

You can’t seem to work out consistently…

You abandoned every diet you ever started…

Your kid grabs the fire extinguisher every time you step into the kitchen…

If that’s the case, I want you to know it’s okay.

Lots of our coaching clients come to us with tales of trying every fitness program under the sun. And stopping just as many of them.

That’s why we do things a little differently with Nerd Fitness Coaching.

We get to know you before we recommend anything. We then come up with a plan together.

Sure, we might throw you ideas you’re not familiar with (reverse dieting). But we won’t make you do anything you’re not comfortable with.

• Never want to step foot in a gym? We’ll teach you how to train at home.
• Hate excessive cardio? We won’t make you do any.
• Afraid of going on another diet? We’ll help you build habits to improve your nutrition, sustainably.

If the above sounds like a program that could help you, I’d love to find out if we’re a good fit for each other!

Learn more about Nerd Fitness Coaching!

For the Rebellion!

-Steve

PS: Props to Coach Evan for helping Megan crush the last year. I’m super proud of both of them.

###

The post Megan lost 15 pounds by eating MORE first appeared on Nerd Fitness.

Originally Posted At: https://breakingmuscle.com/feed/rss

It’s been 10 years since Breaking Muscle began. When I first started, I wrote about what was interesting to me at the time because I couldn’t find the information anywhere else. I was interested in yoga, CrossFit, Russian kettlebell training, MMA, and then that lead me to weightlifting and gymnastics, but most of the specialist press was about bodybuilding and physique, with very little else. What was interesting to me and Breaking Muscle was niche and difficult to find and definitely not mainstream.

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