MOST IMPORTANT Lean Habits for Lifelong Weight Loss.

Stay Slim forever. Part 2.

[Part 1 here]

A very important post for you!

If you want to stay not only superhuman healthy, but also superman/superwoman lean.

No diets, calorie-counting or cardio required.

I went to VR event yesterday — I love tech and believe, that certain technologies will transform every area of our life, health and fitness including. VR (virtual reality) and AI (artificial intelligence) are 2 of them. I went to one event to meet some smart people yesterday, to expose myself to some cutting-edge ideas, to bounce off some of my tech/health ideas of like-minded people.

What did I learn?

VR is not yet at the stage, where I can do anything with it to improve health of many people. It’s just not there yet — not where people outside research institutes will use it to change their health habits. Not quite yet.

Back to what’s important and doable now.

“LEAN HABIT 1:

EAT MOSTLY WHOLE FOODS.

[Habit 4 in the book]

Choose foods closest to their natural state for the bulk of your meals. On your next shopping trip, try to focus on the perimeter of the store: produce, meat, dairy and refrigerated items. Can you get home without any foil bags, cardboard boxes or plastic trays?

That’s not to say that all items in the center of those stores are equally processed and inherently evil — in those aisles, you’ll find lentils, oatmeal and diced tomatoes, which are scarcely processed and still quite nutrient-dense choices. What we want to reduce our intake of with this habit includes items that have been highly processed (containing more than five or so ingredients is a good clue), or are hyper-palatable thanks to lots of added sugars, salt and fat. Plain frozen veggies or canned beans are not to worry about. Think chicken breast over breaded, frozen chicken patties or whole grain oats over processed cold cereal. You don’t have to go from zero to 100 all at once, just take one step closer to the farm. Instead of granola bars or chips, have fruit and nuts. Instead of a manufactured protein bar with 30 ingredients, try having some Greek yogurt for a portable source of protein.”

A simple habit that is REALLY EASY to make happen. Yes, there are many many food-like products on the shelves of any supermarket, that are NOT FOOD designed for us to eat. We got carried away with “product” creation for a few years, instead of good-for-humans food supply improvements. But we still know what FOOD is. Our kids might not, but we do, we know good food when we see it. It doesn’t come in a package. It doesn’t have an ingredient list — it has a name. A name, that once was growing or running around. Or swimming. Or flying. You get the idea. Yes! Sugar is natural too and made out of sugar beets (or cane), but sugar itself doesn’t grow on trees! Or anywhere! Sugar is food-like product. Beets are food.

See the difference?

And food definitely is not made in a chemistry lab.

One of my favorite quotes on the subject, from one of the most gorgeous, talented and healthy woman out there, Cameron Diaz:

“Just because you can put something in your mouth, chew it, swallow it, and then poop it out doesn’t mean it’s food. It just means you can chew it, swallow it, and poop it out.”
― Cameron Díaz, The Body Book: The Law of Hunger, the Science of Strength, and Other Ways to Love Your Amazing Body

“LEAN HABIT 2:

MINIMIZE LIQUID CALORIES

[Habit 6 in the book]

Pay attention to the liquid calories you consume on a daily basis. If you want to dive right in and go for optimal, start right now by drinking nothing but water or other calorie-free drinks. If that’s a bit too daunting of a change, start by reducing portions of the calorie-containing drinks you enjoy. You can also set a goal for yourself to have only a set number of calorie-containing drinks per week, and reduce it as you get comfortable. It can be a pleasant change to discover new beverages to replace the old ones, so check out sparkling water, make your own unsweetened iced tea or investigate a new exotic hot tea. Make it your goal to eventually consume as close to zero calories from beverages as possible.”

Drinking your food is not the best idea to say the least, if your goal is maximum weight loss. I don’t care, if it’s a spoon of sugar in your coffee, a spoon of honey in your tea or green juice.

I don’t care.

If you want to lose weight, burn fat, especially around your beautiful hidden waist line — stop drinking your calories.

My personal take on it. If you have troubles quitting every calorie in your drinks, quit sugar and ANYTHING sweet. Natural or not. Sugar is natural too — it comes from sugar beets or sugar cane. So no, coconut sugar and honey are not better for weight loss and fat burning. Neither is juice. Cold-pressed or whatever.

Add some heavy organic cream, dairy or coconut, almond. No sugar added of course. No cane juice or other BS they name sugar these days. No agave etc.

For maximum weight loss: no liquid calories. Chew your food.

For OK weight loss: quit sweet calories. Watch non-sweet ones. Set a limit. Fats are energy dense.

LEAN HABIT 3:

TRACK YOUR HABITS.

The foundation of change of any habit in our life.

“you’ll need some way to keep yourself accountable. I recommend starting an Excel spreadsheet or using a paper notebook. Across the top of the page, write the dates for the next 14 days. On the left, you’ll write your habit. Each day, all you have to do is mark down an x to indicate you practiced your habit. As you progress and add a second habit, you can write it underneath the first. Tracking habits works. Saying “I’ll just do it in my head” or “I’ll just try and cut back” rarely works, if ever. When you’re practicing a new behavior, black-and-white evidence goes a long way. You’ll know whether you’re actually changing your habits or squandering your efforts just trying but not actually making any changes.”

And that, my dear readers, is the core of any habit you want to build to give you results for life.