Why You Are Not Losing Fat – Part 3

By Marco Girgenti

 Marco lost 160 Lb. and has maintained that weight loss for over a decade!
Marco lost 160 Lb. and has maintained that weight loss for over a decade!

This is a biggie, folks. Ignorance!

All roads that lead to excuses usually wind up in compromise and how we eat is no exception.

I have consulted people’s nutrition and exercise numbering in the thousands, let’s focus on food for a moment.

So we sit down at a table for your fitness consultation and you begin telling me everything you want to change about your body, how you have tried and made so many efforts and that you really want this, etc…

My first question will be: “how many calories do you average per day?’

“Oh, gosh, I don’t really know, but I try to eat healthy.”

Here is the deal; I do not advocate counting calories religiously, but you have got to at least know what your tipping point for losing/maintaining body weight is. So, what many people resort to is the commercial diet programs we see so many B-list celebrities endorse, because, after all, the program does it all for you and there is no thinking or weighing to do; and that, my dear yo yo dieter, is exactly where the problem lies. We do not think! So we go on some diet program with pre-fab boxed meals and are amazed at what happens when we come off the boxed food; BOOM, it all comes back and then some. Besides, can you actually commit to being on pre-packaged boxed food for the rest of your life?

I hear you: “I am just going to do this until I hit my target weight.”

Oh no, you’re not. You’re going to hit your target, come off the boxes and wind up with a whole new weight loss goal, but this time you will have to account for an additional 20-25% body weight.

Then of course, there are the famous, I call them infamous, point based programs. Ask yourself; what are you learning about the food you are eating? You may be staying within your prescribed point system, but what if 2-3 of those points are coming from foods laced with trans fats or lard? Are you really any further ahead, or is it just about a temporary dip of the scale? What happens when the food choices on vacation is not on the point system?

The bottom line is this, if you are not going to think about what you are eating, there are plenty of bogus food and diet programs who will do the thinking for you. You will pay them, they will continue to make billions and you will remain ignorant and on the dieting roller coaster.

Be prepared though; it’s going to cost you a lot more than just your health. Some of these programs run into the thousands of dollars.

What a price to pay for not having to think… actually, no; what a cost.

Why You Are Not Losing Fat – Part 2

By Marco Girgenti

 Marco lost 160 Lb. and has maintained that weight loss for over a decade!
Marco lost 160 Lb. and has maintained that weight loss for over a decade!

Great, You Are Exercising… I think.

In this second part of my 5 part series on “Why You Are Not Losing Weight,” I will look at exercising.

Let’s get one thing straight; everyone reacts to certain exercises differently. Just like a “one size fits all” diet will not work, neither will a generic approach to exercise. I used to tell people who were just getting started on their weight loss journey to simply “move.” 

Although movement is important, like in any other area, people define this differently.

“I went for a walk today.”

I hear that a lot from people. Fully remembering that for me just over a decade ago that was big news, we always want to progress. So I am suggesting you still do move, but do so with purpose. Your poodle will probably not pull you along quickly enough to generate a metabolic shift, but pushing a stroller uphill, might. A leisurely walk around the block might be a great thing to do following dinner, but a vigorous walk will yield better results.

At the gym, if you are training for weight loss, doing a set of exercises with medium to challenging weights followed by 3 minutes to get to a water fountain will not get it done, but circuit training in 3 minute intervals at 80-90% intensity and a 1 minute water break will.

What will definitely not get it done is you doing things incorrectly. This is where I have to stop, no, stomp all over the objections “I can do it myself/I can’t afford a trainer.” Most of us have had financial challenges, but I encourage you to closely examine where your money is going. Are you spending a lot of money, and calories, on expensive “designer” coffees? Weekly visits to the salon? Guys, the beer nights with your buddies and just eating out in general? That social outing drink(s) or buying lunches and snacks at work?  Your monthly VIP movie channel packages… these all add up.

It all boils down to one thing; what is important to you? The amount of overweight people I consulted who refused to get a trainer, nearly all had perfect hair, Michelangelo level nail detailing and $500 Gucci glasses, and not just the guys 🙂
Nice things are wonderful to enjoy, I am just challenging you to examine where you might be putting money that could better be used to help you on your fitness journey.

What costs more than anything is doing things incorrectly, which can lead to injury and then you, sitting back on the couch thinking, “wow, I am never going to lose this weight”, and being in a very discouraging place. If you have been hurt in the gym or still don’t know what kind of cardio to do and whether or not you should be doing it before or after weights, do yourself a favor; stop wasting your time just moving, and move with purpose instead.

I Know What To Do To Lose Weight, I Just Have to Do It

By Marco Girgenti

DO YOU REALLY?

 Marco lost 160 Lb. and has maintained that weight loss for over 10 years!
Marco lost 160 Lb. and has maintained that weight loss for over 10 years!

One proclamation that we repeatedly hear is “well, I know what to do, the problem is doing it.” Well, I am going to challenge you on that, because the truth is most people actually think they know what to do, but they don’t!

To help gauge how accurate your statement is, here are a few questions that will quickly tell us if you really do know what to do, and are just not doing it.

  1. What is your Basal Metabolic Rate? (Basically, at what rate does your body store or process its calories?)
  2. How many calories did you take in today and from what food groups?
  3. At what heart rate (beats per minute) should you exercise in order to burn fat and preserve muscle?

The list goes on and on, but if you do not know the answer to these three questions, here is some tough love; you really don’t know what you are supposed to be doing. What you have is the general 98% failure rate de-facto mantra : “I just need to eat better and exercise more.”

Okay, let’s say I give you the part about exercising more. Can you tell me how many of the foods in your kitchen right now are laced with trans-fats, have hidden sugar or contain more chemicals than they do nutrients and whether or not those labels like “fat free, low in sugar, or part of a healthy and balanced lifestyle” actually help or sabotage your weight loss and health goals? If you do not know, then again, you simply think you know, or you cannot be bothered to take the time to know. If that is the case, I must ask you the golden question; who are you going go trust to give you the information you need to succeed? Who do you trust to feed your children? Take it from a single dad who coached his son to a 17 LB weight loss; the responsibility falls solely on you.

All that we can do is educate you, but you have got to want to take matters into your own hands. If you don’t I will give you a list of commercial diet programs and “health” food manufacturers who are making billions of dollars on our blind faith.

I challenge you to educate yourself and stop handing your health and the health of your family over to brands and convenience.  Do you remember that exam you had to pass? How about that job you wanted so badly or that sporting event you wanted to excel at? What did these require in order for you to succeed?

Like anything worthwhile, proper nutrition and weight maintenance require knowledge, discipline and action.

Know what to do and do it!

“What Are You Thinking?” (if Anything at All!)

By Marco

 Marco lost 160 Lb. and has maintained that weight loss for over 10 years!
Marco lost 160 Lb. and has maintained that weight loss for over 10 years!

The commercial diet programs now advocating “no calorie counting, no weighing and basically no thinking,” these are the companies who do not want us to think for ourselves. They just want us consuming their product. Permanent and safe weight loss requires thought and knowledge. Take it from me, you do not drop 160 Lb. and keep it off for 10 years by not thinking.

We blame the fast food industry a lot. Yet, I have never seen someone magically be pulled into one of those establishments by force while walking down the street. We make choices and these companies, whether fast food or “diet” meet the consumer demand based on that. If we “tell” these companies: “I don’t have time to exercise, nor figure out what I need to eat, weighing myself once in a while bugs me, I don’t want to know how many calories will help me gain/lose…

I just don’t want to do this and and…” Well, those companies are going to give us exactly what we are looking for! The QUICK, NO THINK FIX! It will be customized to makes sure that they address all of our peeves.

  Don't just eat something because it's in a diet or weight loss program you are on. Many of the prepackaged diet system foods contain trans-fats and HFCS, among other harmful ingredients. 
Don’t just eat something because it’s in a diet or weight loss program you are on. Many of the prepackaged diet system foods contain trans-fats and HFCS, among other harmful ingredients. 

Let me ask you; do you run any other part of your life just guessing like that, or just the part about what you are putting into your body?

Look, I realize that the allure of a lot of the “commercial diet” programs is the support group piece, and I am all for that. I am talking about taking control and being as aware as possible of what we are eating.  If I were to ask you a question like; are you eating 7000 calories a day, or 700, do you have any idea? It would really be good to have a slight idea, don’t you think?

When I first started out to lose weight over 10 years ago, I would just stand in the shopping market aisles for hours reading ingredients, trying to understand what it all really meant. It was a daunting task which sometimes bordered on frightening however what was really frightening was finding out just what was in the stuff I was eating. Trust me, it’s not just the obvious junkier food, a lot of the so-called “health-food” is just as bad if not worse. 

Commercial diet programs don’t want you to think for yourself because they want you to buy their products and services, it’s that simple. If, for example, you are using a point system, or a card or color-coded system I understand this is based on caloric intake, but what if you actually knew what the ingredients in these foods were? Are the calories then all that important, isn’t it more about the quality of the ingredients of those calories? I’m often said in presentations that I believe turpentine has zero calories as well. So if I put a bunch of sugar into turpentine and told you it had zero calories because I used sweetener and told you it may help you lose weight, would you buy it? The answer is probably yes if it tasted good and you thought it would help you lose weight and it fit into a “quick fix, no think” diet. “They just told me I could have that, so I did.” 

Oh boy.

There’s no substitute for knowledge. However, it seems to all come down to the quick fix, doesn’t it? Everybody wants it as fast as possible, but very few want to do the work that is involved to get there properly, even though it’s going to take them a little while longer. If you’re not in the habit of reading labels, it’s pretty simple to start. 

Here are some tips to get you, umm… thinking!

  • Start reading food labels more carefully. Pay close attention to the serving sizes
  • Perhaps more importantly, it is all about INGREDIENTS! Read the ingredients list. If there is something you do not recognize, DO NOT blindly assume it is okay to eat it, ‘cus, after all, “they” allowed it. Copy the word down and FIND OUT what it is! What you discover may shock you!
  • Stop “free pouring” “lite, light, low cal…” (whatever “sell it to you” terms the company is using to lure you) salad dressing! Did you know there are over 100 different types of and names for sugar?
  • Realize that many people plan their TV time and what shows they will watch, how to PVR and time shift so as to not miss them. They will program their recorder for an entire week, BUT… do they give a moment’s attention to what to eat when, or do they just show up and see what’s available at any given moment in the fridge or the food court?

Once you get into the practice of reading food labels you’re going to notice what I call the usual suspects, or, the repeat offenders. They seem to show up everywhere in the form of hydrogenated fats and oils, high fructose corn syrup, or what I like to call the “ose’s,” just about everything that ends with an “OSE” is a sugar! Have a look around the house right now and in your cupboards. Pick up a few bottled or boxed items and read through the ingredients. There are a few things that you may notice immediately, 1) you probably need a science or language degree to get through the pronunciation of some of the ingredients and 2) that you’re going to see the same names over and over again.

If you’ve got any of those so-called gummy vitamins in the house, you should really have a close look at those as well because they are some of the worst offenders.

Then again, you wouldn’t know that unless you have knowledge as to what the ingredients are.

Don’t you think it’s worth the investment in time to do some learning?

Getting in the habit of reading food labels a few minutes each day is definitely one way to getfitfaster!

Why You Can’t Afford a Personal Trainer

By Marco

 Marco lost 160 Lb. and has maintained that weight loss for over 10 years
Marco lost 160 Lb. and has maintained that weight loss for over 10 years

After holding thousands of consultations, both privately and for large fitness chains, I can say with absolute surety that there are undeniable patterns at play when it comes to whether or not someone elects to work with a fitness trainer. At the very top of the list is “I’d love to, but I can’t afford it.”

Now granted, if someone does not see the value of working with a pro, then they are not going to invest a dime. They may feel this way because the consultation they received was more of a sales pitch than anything else, but the reality is that ignorance can kill a person. Don’t believe me? Spend a day in a battle field somewhere without training, try to fly a plane, try to fix your own car (without being a mechanic), try to do surgery on yourself… see what I mean?

You think those are extreme examples? How would you like a list of the injuries: strokes, pass outs, calls to 911, the amount of people who quit trying and chronic conditions now in full swing, that all started at a gym; all because an inexperienced person “tried it” on their own. 

So you can’t afford a trainer? Well, let’s have a look at what you apparently “can afford.”

  • Designer coffees
  • Dinners out
  • Vacations you can’t afford but put on credit
  • Weekly hair appointments
  • Weekly nail appointments
  • Mani / Pedi
  • The golf course fees
  • The huge car you drive that you can’t afford and the gas that it eats
  • The weekly partying, girls/guys night out
  • Not making your lunches, buying them instead
  • Nights out at the movies
  • I love my wine and my booze. How much is that costing you?
  • That outfit you just HAD to have.
  • The “diet” and weight loss supplements you are buying
  • The shopping spree
  • The boxed “diet” food you are buying
  • The cigarettes
  • The big screen TV
  • Binge buying at Costco, Best Buy, Guess
  • Video games
  • Fad electronics
  • The list goes on and on…

Truth is you could do away with any one of these if not several and put some money aside to get educated by a fitness pro, but you don’t. You choose not to.

It IS a choice

Are you deifying your kids and buying expensive outfits that they outgrow in weeks?

What about that expensive hobby? Scrapbooking, cars, crafting?

As a man who lost 160 Lb. naturally and has kept it off, let me assure you of this: there is NOT A SINGLE SOLITARY SUPPLEMENT THAT WILL FIX YOUR WEIGHT PROBLEM or help you lose weight properly and long-term. Forget it; It is all a cash grab. You are spending money on shortcuts that do not work. 

The truth is that whatever we desire or prioritize the mostwe manage to find the money for, or put it on credit, or find a way around getting it. Don’t believe me? Got any debt? What did you spend that money you did not have on?

The truth is we don’t WANT to spend money in the area of hiring a trainer. We would rather spend it on the vices and pleasures above. That and/or we think you can do it ourselves. This is the ONLY area people seem to skimp on. Not car repairs, not medical issues, not renovations, not golf lessons, but as far as the gym goes “I will try it on my own.”
As a trainer and award winning fitness consultant I can say this; NOTHING causes someone to leave a gym and give up on their fitness goals more than a lack of results. Why is there a lack of results? Because people in general have no idea what they are doing in the gym. I am not just talking about technique here. I am talking about programming, working around injuries, having a specific program; no, not just a class, though they are great as well. I mean a focused program that is right for each individual.

Bottom line? Everyone wants it, but few are willing to work for it, much less pay for it.

TRUTH IS, you can’t afford NOT to work with a trainer!

Check where your money is going. You may be able to make a few adjustments and at least get started with some potentially injury saving, discouragement preventing advice.

Most of all though, you have to decide that your health, fitness and well-being is THAT important to you. More than the vacations, more than the things we have all spent money we did not have for.

What Happened After I Cut Refined Sugar Out of My Life

 By Marco Girgenti

In my last article, I wrote about ‘The Only Time I Ever Gained Some Weight Back,’ the article outlined the effects a 16 week, no carb transformation had on me. Today, I’d like to share how cutting refined sugar from my everyday eating has impacted other areas of my life; not just my reduced waistline.

CHRONIC PAIN

When you get used to living with joint pain or inflammation, you come to a place where you accept it and don’t really notice the symptoms any more… until one day you wake up and they are gone. It is a well documented fact that sugar causes inflammation which is a major factor in a long list of diseases, from cancer and diabetes, to atherosclerosis and digestive disorders. On a personal level, I had pain in my left knee for years, a trigger finger – caused by local swelling from inflammation or scarring of the tendon sheath around the flexor tendons and I also had recurring pain in the lower left side of my back and my left wrist. Since eliminating refined sugar or “simple carbs,” these are all gone!

Again, I want to take you back to my last article and remind you that I am speaking strictly about eliminating refined sugar, the kind you find in almost anything baked, any packaged foods, or meals in restaurants. Yes, it is everywhere. I still have lots of sugar from dates, fruits, etc… but my waist keeps shrinking and I feel stronger now than I did even 10 years ago (I am 49 as I write this article).

ENERGY

Refined sugar is also referred to as a High GI (Glycemic Index) food. My workouts are intense. They are all superset exercises and the HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) in my boxing workouts is extremely punishing. Yet, without any type of “pre workout” supplement, I power through these workouts with no inflammation and my energy comes solely from plant based foods. It amazes me. No “super science made in a lab” concoction. For a pre workout energy boost, I prefer 5-6 medjool dates and 2-3 tablespoons of seeds and my favourite are pumpkin and some coconut water to wash it all down. Alternately, I will juice an entire red beet, a 1-2 inch piece of ginger root with some cilantro and kale. These provide clean energy with nutritional benefits that are almost immeasurable and oh, they taste great by the way! 

POST WORKOUT STIFFNESS

In the past I would feel a lot of soreness following intense workouts, even when I was younger, which means I should have been able to recover more quickly than at 49. However, since I eliminated refined sugar, that post training soreness has dropped to 90% of what it was. In fact, I train to the absolute max, the kind of max where one more rep could mean the bench press bar landing on my neck, or one more HIIT could mean the heart rate at above 190. The fact that I feel little to no discomfort at all from 24 hours following this type of intense workout astounds me perhaps more than anything else.

I no longer find myself with energy drops throughout the day; the 2:00 p.m. dip etc…  I am wide awake and more alert than I have ever been since I replaced refined sugar with foods that have naturally occurring sugar.

In my next article, I will talk a bit more about sugar, as well as the shocking effects I experienced after coming off dairy and then having a 3/4 cup serving of greek yogurt; a darling of the health food industry.

I hope this information helps to inspire you to make healthy lifestyle changes.

Thanks for reading!

Marco

The Only Time I Gained Some Weight Back.

The Only Time I Gained Some Weight Back.

Some time ago I made a conscious effort to eliminate all processed sugars from my everyday diet. When I say “diet,” it is not in the commercial sense of the word; I mean it to be defined as my way of eating on a regular basis. I also decided to stave off large quantities of bread, pasta and those types of carbs in general. I have enough “stored energy” in my body and that is what those foods represent and function as – energy.

Sounds like a no carb diet, doesn’t it? The exact thing I have been preaching against and wrote about in my book, “Starving to be Fat.”  Years ago, I took a 16 week “transformation” type challenge on for a few reasons:

1) I wanted to see if I had the discipline to do it. 

2) As a trainer, I had clients who were trying it.

3) As a fitness consultant I met with many who had tried that lifestyle and failed. So, over the course of this challenge, I ate nothing but chicken, some red meat and fish, only greens, no fruit, no bread, potatoes or any carbs of that sort. No fat to speak of, other than some portioned cashews 3 times per week, maybe some flaxseed oil and enough eggs and egg whites to support a small supermarket.

I trained in the gym 4-5 days a week and wound up doing upwards of 1 hour and 20 minutes of steady state cardio. Fun, huh?

I dropped weight alright and loved the results. So, why did I gain some weight back after I came off that challenge? Now that I have dealt with refined sugar in my life, I have my answer. I never kicked my system’s addiction to refined sugar and that is why programs and diets like that only work short term and they can be harmful as well.

STILL EATING SUGAR

If you read my article “How Marco Continues to Reshape…” (if not, please click here to read it) you will have a general idea of how I eat now. You will also read there that I eat a lot of sugar and fat and that I am dropping weight steadily. So what is the difference between how I live now and that 16-week program? There are a few differences; the sugar and fat are natural, not refined or artificial. Since I dealt with the refined sugar addiction and replaced the refined sugars with natural ones, in a sense I detoxed (big fad word there) my body’s dependency on sugar. Think my diet is boring? If you tried the raw desserts Susan has been creating, you would be astounded. They all taste better than their refined impostors and though they are calorically dense, they carry massive nutritional density. Because they are natural, the body responds differently and you become satiated with less. The urge to gorge is gone, as a result! Everything in moderation, of course. If you eat 3 cups of nuts, organic or not and you are not training to support that kind of eating, you are going to gain weight.

CLICK HERE for one of our raw treat recipes.

CARBS GALORE

Among other significant damage the diet industry has inflicted is its insistence on pointing primarily to pasta, potatoes, breads and the like, as carbs. However, all vegetables and fruits are carbs as well. So you could say I am eating more carbs now than I ever have.

SUGAR ADDICTION

This sugar addiction is passive. One may not go around “jonesing” for a hit of sugar; it works in the background and hooks you slowly. I can tell you this 100% though; until you wean your body off refined sugar, you will probable never have long term success in your weight loss goals. In my next article, I will talk about the major differences I have noticed, even in relation to training as a result of eliminating refined sugar from my diet.

Confession: Last night Susan and I had a lovely dinner outdoors and had tiramisu, a decadent Italian desert. Sugar indeed! Once in a while, but not a lifestyle… and that makes all the difference in the world.

 

How Marco Continues to Lose Weight and Reshape His Body at 49 Years of Age.

How Marco Continues to Lose Weight and Reshape His Body at 49 Years of Age. (over 25 Lb. dropped in the past 6 months)

Throughout my weight loss journey, I have learned, researched and also tried many concepts for losing weight and I continue to evolve and learn what works best and what is rubbish! This health and fitness journey is not a sprint and for me, it is a way of life. It’s about feeling great, being healthy, energetic and strong, looking better, getting results that last, and equally important; making it doable for my lifestyle. 

Here’s the gist of it all:

I do not eat or drink refined sugar.

No sodas, diet or otherwise. Get your head out of the “zero calorie” trap, you are being poisoned, period.

No simple carbs, baked goods, bread, etc…

Nothing man made as far as “food products.” E.g. low fat, low carb, sugar free… it is all marketing and a scam. If I look at anything in a box, a bottle or a bag, I read every label and ingredient and if it is foreign, artificial and unrecognizable, I won’t buy it!

No fast food… ever. 

Nothing fried. Okay, last week at a movie I had 3 sweet potato fries,

I stopped eating meat, fish and poultry some time ago. I am not saying this is necessary for weight loss, it is just a choice I made for other reasons, namely that there is no way I trust the food providers and the raising and preparation of the animals. Far too many recalls and ties to illnesses associated with livestock.

I rarely cook food anymore, unless it heightens the nutritional profile and release of certain properties of foods that are beneficial. 

I have all kinds of fats; olive oil, avocados, omegas in natural foods.

I have all kinds of sugar, the kind found in fruits, dates, etc…

Once a week I might have real Italian style pizza or an organic prosciutto sandwich.

My protein comes from plants, spirulina powder (a fresh water green microalgae that contains a host of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and 2 g protein in 1 tsp.), nuts and seeds. I do not eat any soy based products.

I do not trust any whey protein powder manufacturers. Pretty much, all dairy based whey protein powder comes from cows that are fed grains and are bombarded with antibiotics. As far as any protein supplements, I use plant based hemp protein powder.

I do not use any type of weight training supplement and I am in better health with more energy now at 49 than I was 10 years ago.

I am an avid juicer. Cold pressed, organic produce. It is time consuming, but I don’t care. I view it is an investment in my health. I would rather spend 1.5 hours juicing and prepping food than wasting it sitting on my arse watching soap operas or some unreal reality show.

Cheese? If I am in the mood; once in a while. 

Popcorn? Yes, but just popcorn made at home or one I am familiar with as far as ingredients. I steer clear of GMO foods and all corn is pretty much GMO unless otherwise indicated.

Chips? Once in a while, yes. The chips have 2-3 ingredients maximum. -Potatoes, salt and some sort of healthy oil.

I tell you this; “desserts” that are uncooked, using coconut fat/oil, cocoa, real chocolate and the like are absolutely delicious! It is pretty much impossible to overindulge on these because what they are made of is “real” and the sugar is natural. When it hits your brain, it does not cause responses that fake or refined sugars do.

My coffee is black. I used to be triple cream and sugar.

Is it easy? It is a lifestyle choice. It is just my new reality and it is what works for me. 

During my last business trip to South America, glorious food was everywhere and you have to be committed to take the lifestyle with you. If you are on a diet, you are doomed! I plan ahead when traveling. Susan piles me up with healthy snacks to take on the plane. When I fly, I have already decided to not eat the food they serve (the equivalent to disgusting and unhealthy hospital food). I research food markets and restaurants in the area where I will be staying before I travel. My first trip is to the local grocery store to pick up fruits and veg. These go back to the hotel room with me and are ready anytime and affordable both financially and calorically.

EXERCISE 

I train 3 times per week for 45 minutes. Travel and a few other items as of late have made that more of a challenge than usual, but I do not gain weight, even during a layoff.

My training sessions consist of full body, superset weight and resistance training). I do not do a lot of cardio, but if I do, it is a form of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training. One example is a heavy bag, boxing workout. 20-30 seconds of full out combinations, followed by 30 seconds of lower intensity for a half an hour total time. Believe me, you can forget the treadmill.

THE TAKEAWAY:

Stop eating refined sugar.

The right choices 90% of the time and by this I mean REAL WHOLE UNPROCESSED food is a “cannot fail” weight maintenance lifestyle. You just have to want it bad enough. You can whine, you can be a slave to the cake you “just cannot pass up,” or you can go through discipline and some discomfort now, to continue to progress towards the body and health profile you want.

 Marco's book, 'Starving To Be Fat' takes you through his up close and personal weight loss journey of losing 150 Lb.  -  To order your copy, please email us @ marco@getfitfaster.ca 
Marco’s book, ‘Starving To Be Fat’ takes you through his up close and personal weight loss journey of losing 150 Lb.  –  To order your copy, please email us @ marco@getfitfaster.ca 

The Diet You Should Be On

The “Diet” You Should Be On

by Marco G.

The word “diet” itself has been twisted to mean so many different things. Instead of it describing one’s eating habits, it has become a term that breeds fear and deprivation. We decide to “go on a diet,” gives rise to many of the same feelings some have when they “go on” lent, or “go on” a low carb, high protein diet. It is like we are strapping on some kind of fat body armour and going to war against our impulses. No wonder the moment your mind gets a hint that deprivation is coming, it signals the rest of your body to get ready for a famine, to defend and hold on to everything it has. The result? Your cravings automatically go up and your body begins resisting weight loss/healthy choices because it is in fear of a famine. Wow, what a backfire for those who thought “diet” was their weight loss solution. It reminds me of the old adage: “tell someone they can’t have something and soon that is all they will crave.”

HOW DID WE GET HERE?
The choices overweight people have made have been wrong from the get-go. I know, I was one. Here is the big reveal; what the nations (USA and Canada) eat, in fact the western-food industrialized world eats, started us all off on the wrong foot. Most of our readers here at GetFitFaster.ca are enlightened about the awful effects os fast/processed foods, so I am not going to spend a lot of time educating you on this, since I would be “preaching to the choir,” so to speak; but I do hope to encourage you on a couple of points that have been very important in my own journey. We got “here,” borderline epidemic obesity, diabetes, heart disease… you name it, because our “sugar daddies” hooked us on crappy food as “good for us,” and made us believe that foods like veg, fruits, seeds etc. represent a “DIET.” Our parents, look, I adore mine, led us, rather, FED us to believe that good behaviour = sugar! My near silver hair bears witness to this as I can recall the lollipop my barber gave me in Italy, after not crying during the cut. By the way, that guy snipped my ear once! There was blood, then there was another lollipop… all better. It is no different than the practice of hooking someone on a drug, a little at a time.

WE HAVE IT BACKWARDS 
The following may revolutionize the way you think about what “a diet” actually is.  To our bodies and the way they are naturally designed, NOT eating fast food, junk food and boatloads of refined sugar is NORMAL! Yes, you read that correctly; it is the NORMAL way our bodies were designed by nature – to NOT want to eat that stuff. What IS NORMAL, is eating unprocessed, unrefined foods; veg, fruit, greens, seeds etc… what is naturally ABNORMAL to our bodies is to not eat that way. However, we have taught them differently.

What is ABNORMAL is to buy diet/health related products to try and counteract the awful choices we are making. What is ABNORMAL is getting so hooked on sweets, sugars, unhealthy fats that “eating clean/right” is now considered, yup, here is that word again: ABNORMAL! Do you see how backwards we have this? Going on “a diet” now means “eating healthy!” The power of natural food is reversing disease across the planet everyday, but you won’t hear about that much because there is no  money in “health,” but there are billions of dollars to be made in despair and sickness. See just one example of how natural food eradicated disease, from Dr. Mercola here: http://goo.gl/mvHvxJ

NO, THAT IS NOT “FOOD” YOU ARE GIVING UP
If your initial thoughts run along the lines of “Marco, what are you saying? That I have to give up the foods I love?” My immediate answer is this; if what you mean by “foods you love” is Fried Chicken, Fries, Poutine, Sodas, Donuts, Chocolate Cake, fattening cookies, diet products including sodas, certain protein bars, low carb this, low fat that, fast food, most pre packaged frozen items, things in plastic wrap or shiny foil packaging, processed snacks and so on…” YOU ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT “FOOD,” you are talking about products manufactured in a lab, or that are cooked in such an unhealthy way that they defy the very meaning of the word “food” itself. If instead your thinking is “I could never give those things up,” then, as unpopular as this might make me, you have a different challenge before you, and it is that of mindset and self-imposed limitations. 

HOW I DID IT – HOW I AM STILL AT IT
I made a conscious decision that being healthy and liking the way I look, is more important to me than any momentary satisfaction junk food can offer. Was it easy? Ask me that after I tell you that I also quit 20 years plus of smoking 1+ packs of cigarettes a day. NO. IT WAS NOT EASY. But trying to go up one flight of stairs at 25 years of age and clutching my chest in pain was not easy either. When I really cleaned up my eating, I went through sugar withdrawals and headaches, but they are gone. Now I get these if I ever overload on sugar. You can train your body to do just about anything, including going through some discomfort in order to get a desired result. Nothing you eat that is “dead,” as in processed, made in a lab, or has no nutritional value has any place in your body if your goal is quality of life, or weight management. 

WHO WILL GET THE FINAL WORD?
Excuses like “I can’t, I don’t have the willpower, the discipline…” you can say all of that for a while, a long while in fact, because our bodies are capable of withstanding massive amounts of abuse. But at some point these statements will stare you dead in the face and scream at you when the doctor says “you have diabetes, your kidneys are shutting down, your blood pressure is through the roof, your pancreas is malfunctioning, you will need medication for the rest of your life” and worse. 

Don’t give your lack of willpower or your addiction to bad food the chance to say “GOTCHA,” at some point later in your life. Go through a little discomfort now to lessen the chances of massive pain and suffering later. I challenge you do rethink what “diet” means to you.

I tackled some of this in a podcast earlier this year. You can download it here for free.