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Getting Back On Track With Your Weight Loss



When it comes to weight loss, "tomorrow" is the most dangerous word in the English language. If you're serious about losing weight, and not seeing the results you'd like, it's time to stop living the way you've been living. The price you pay is very high for the cheap thrill that food gives you. In the end, it might even cost you your health. How you're living today directly affects your tomorrow. So, what will you do differently?

I receive emails seeking advice, all too often, from people with a habit of doing a week or two of strict, metabolic boosting eating and then falling off the weight loss wagon into a pile of cookies or store-bought protein bars. They want to know what they can do to stick to the plan, or should they even try. The first thing I tell them is the reason most people fall is that they think they need to be perfect with their eating. It's important to understand that perfection does not exist. 

Most of us fall because we become too legalistic about our diets. Rather, our diets should be treated as a habit of making better choices, requiring us to decide what our actions will be. This makes us responsible for our actions, and the outcomes.

You know the old saying; "If you keep doing what you've always done you'll just keep getting the same results. To expect anything different is the very definition of insanity." Quite honestly, there is a lot of insanity surrounding the foods that will keep you from reaching your goals. 

Have you ever told yourself; "I'll just have a little"? Sorry to say it, but that little bit is what's stopping you from reaching your goals. 

It's at these very times to remind yourself that perfection does not exist. Focus on daily progress, not daily perfection. You have more control than you think when it comes to making food choices. But if you keep falling off the wagon, it's possible you may need a few tools to help keep you on track.

These tools make losing weight faster and easier because they:

    • Help kill hunger and cravings that cause you to fall off-plan
    • Boost metabolism by 25 percent, so you burn more calories all day long, even while asleep. This is especially important when you decide to go off-plan because it will help keep you from gaining weight.
    • Block cortisol (stress hormones) levels from rising, which helps prevent weight gain in the belly, hips, and thighs. Blocking cortisol is more important than you think. Stress causes your body to produce excess cortisol levels, and the only way to melt belly fat is by reducing these levels. It's not an easy job and the very reason you need to attack belly fat with a 1, 2, 3 punch.

STEP #1: BOOST METABOLISM AND BLOCK CORTISOL LEVELS

Drink a LynFit Complete Protein Shake 12 hours after your last meal. Do not add fruit or any type of milk if you're trying to lose a pound a day. Remember, it's all about replacements and better choices, so swap out your high-sugar juice or yogurt for this instead. 

Looking for a delicious shake recipe that will not only tantalize your taste buds but rev up your metabolism as well? Look no further — here's my Melt Belly Fat Birthday Cake Smoothie:

(3 scoops) LynFit Vanilla Complete Whey Protein Powder
(½ cup) Water
(3–4) Ice cubes

Throw it all in the blender and mix until smooth and then drink yourself thin. The extra protein used will help keep you feeling fuller longer and won't spike blood sugar levels the way fruit and milk will.

STEP #2: KILL HUNGER AND CRAVINGS

Belly fat makes you hungrier, so the faster you lose it; the faster you'll be able to lose overall weight. You need to flip the hunger switch off and trick your body into acting like a thin person by teaching and encouraging it to burn fat for fuel instead of overwhelming you with hunger pangs. 

This is where the smart use of safe supplements comes in. If you don't struggle with hunger and cravings, you may not need supplements. But if you've been trying to lose weight, and no matter what you do you can't seem to stay on track because of hunger pangs and cravings, then you may need a little outside help.

Taking a supplement stack is the best way to keep your metabolism from slowing down while killing cravings and hunger pangs. This makes it easier to stay on track with your weight loss. The secret is they balance blood sugar levels while providing natural energy. 

This particular stack teaches your body how to burn fat as fuel when it needs energy vs. sending you hunger signals. Your metabolism will become a high-efficiency fat burning machine. Trust me, if you skip them, you'll see and feel the difference. 

The best time to take this stack is three hours after your last meal, when your body starts yelling, "I'm hungry!"

Sip green tea instead of indulging yourself in your usual snack and take your supplements to balance blood sugar levels instead. 

One note — This step is not good for people with less than 10 percent body fat because they will burn muscle for fuel instead of fat. But if you have body fat to lose you have energy stored that can be used instead.

Here is your supplement stack:
  • LynFit Accelerator with Raspberry Ketones to accelerate the process and trick your body into acting like a thin person. A lean person will burn fat more efficiently. (If you're highly sensitive to caffeine you may want to skip the Accelerator. The stack will still give you what you need, so follow the steps without Accelerator.)
  • LynFit Carb Edge with Forskolin to help enhance thyroid function and balance blood sugar levels, which is the secret to killing your cravings and managing hunger.
  • LynFit Cutting Edge to force your body to burn off that stubborn body fat for fuel.

    STEP #3: AVOID THE AFTERNOON ENERGY CRASH TO ESCAPE CRAVINGS BEFORE THEY BEGIN

    This step is critical because it will not only boost your metabolism, it will also help fight off those emotional cravings that we all battle in the afternoon when we start to get tired and our blood sugar levels begin to rise.

    This is actually where most people fall off the weight loss wagon. But, it's also where your weight loss battle can be won. I call this the "Emo Meal" — meaning emotional, when you're hungry, tired, and craving food.

    PREVENTION is the cure, so grab a LynFit Lean Bar to defeat the afternoon energy crash.

    The LynFit Lean Bar has 10 grams of prebiotic fiber and 15 grams of protein to kill cravings before they begin while helping to keep you feeling full. LynFit Lean Bars are guaranteed to be the best tasting protein bar you've ever tried and #1 in its class when it comes to weight loss and melting belly fat. Try one; you'll see.

    Most store-bought bars are full of sugar and don't supply your body with the right type or amount of protein. They spike blood sugar levels and prevent you from losing weight, despite what their labels may claim.

    Make LynFit Lean Bars your go-to comfort food from now on when trying to lose weight. Comfort in knowing you're making a smart, nutrient-dense food choice that doesn't sacrifice delicious taste and texture.  LynFit Lean Bars are the best of both worlds — they don't leave you with any guilt, only satisfaction that you'll begin to crave. You can eat your new comfort meal food with pride and get on with your day.

    This will be especially important if you're an emotional eater. Choosing the wrong kinds of snack foods can increase hunger and cravings and turn the weight gain switch on. Swap out those store-bought protein bars with a LynFit Lean Bar instead.

    Should you find yourself unable to suppress the urge to eat junk food, adopt the 80/20 rule. You're already following it; you just don't know it. 

    For the most part, you're eating your favorite foods every couple of weeks — it's inevitable. It's going to happen, and you should expect it. So, the best solution is to plan it ahead of time. If you plan for it ahead of time, you can cheat and still lose weight. Have a little pep talk with yourself. Sit down and tell yourself to try the 80/20 plan. 

    On the Advanced Metabolic Boosting Meal Plan, you can eat on plan 80 percent of the time and go off the plan 20 percent of the time and still lose weight. That's the beauty of this plan. In fact, this is the only plan that takes into consideration that you live in the real world, you're human, and that you cheat once in a while.

    Planning in advance when you cheat also puts you in control of the binge vs. the binge controlling you. It also changes how you emotionally respond to a binge—no guilt, because it's all a part of your weight loss plan. You'll accept the situation, not struggle in vain against it. You'll eat less and know exactly what to eat, and how much. The scale will go up slightly, but you'll be back on track in no time. 

    Although there are physiological consequences to binging on junk food, I'd wager that most of the damage comes from the stress we inflict on ourselves—the internal fight and refusal, which only causes us to binge more. The refusal to accept the inevitable situation, combined with the guilt and shame you're piling on yourself for losing that fight.

    Here's what the 80/20 plan get you: Acceptance! You learn to accept things you cannot change. You're no longer fighting a battle you most likely cannot win. 

    I can't think of anything harder or more stressful than struggling with food. I've struggled with it my entire life until I learned about the 80/20 rule. 

    You can live guilt-free. Guilt about eating junk food can actually cause you to gain weight and depress your immune system. By making a plan to "go off" for a meal as an occasional (1–2 times weekly) deviation from your regular schedule, rather than betraying your body, you remove the guilt. Make a plan, if you plan on losing.

    I would encourage you to read this article I wrote previously about how to cheat and still lose weight to keep your metabolism in full swing, and how if you don't, it can alter the physiological effect it has on you. 

    As Kelly Clarkson says in her song: "Think Before You Cheat" so you don't hurt your health or destroy a month's worth of dieting. Most of the time it's not worth it anyway. 

    So, eat happily, just don't' forget to boost first! 

    Eat Chocolate For Breakfast And Lose Weight

     

    Can eating chocolate help you lose weight? Eating chocolate before and after your meals is the newest weight loss tactic. Is it efficient since you're simply adding extra calories which means you’ll gain weight? Is it too good to be true?

    "New science proves you should eat chocolate every day is real and proven." If this sets off your, it's too-good-to-be-true alarm, it should! Not all chocolate is created equal. It’s the kind of chocolate you eat that matters most, as well as when you eat it and how much.

    Let’s be honest, women need chocolate. Chocolate lovers, you can rejoice because there’s another new study that shows eating more of the dark stuff might actually help you stay slim.*  But be careful — chocolate contains more calories than many foods. However, the U.S. study showed that those who consume the right kind of chocolate have less body fat than those who didn't.  

    Researchers suspect the calories in chocolate are not like “normal” calories. If the chocolate calories are of a particular kind, they might just make your metabolism work harder, which means they offset the extra calories (aka "thermogenic"). Your body burns calories digesting it, leaving you with a calorie burning advantage. The study shows the that the metabolic effects of certain specific ingredients make this particular chocolate a good “slimming” food because it is calorie-neutral.

    The study leader, Dr Beatrice Golomb, from the University of California at San Diego, said, “Our findings appear to add to a body of information suggesting that the composition of calories, not just the number of them, matters for determining their ultimate impact on weight. Does it get any better than this? When it comes to eating chocolate this is good news for those who have a regular chocolate habit, and those who wish to start one.”  

    I love these scientists. They actually investigated the chocolate eating habits of 972 men and women with an average age of 57 for a study of cholesterol lowering drugs and found out that chocolate can be good for weight loss. These surprising findings showed those who ate chocolate on more days of the week than average were statistically likely to have lower Body Mass Indexes because the chocolate speeds up the metabolism.  The right kind of chocolate can also:

    • Reduce blood pressure
    • Improve mood (this is why we crave it)
    • Lower the risk of heart disease and stroke

    However, the researchers warn the study’s findings do not apply to all products containing chocolate, and some people might actually gain weight unless they do these specific things. Here is the 411 on chocolate and what you need to know if you’re a chocolate addict like me, need it every day, and are trying to lose weight.

    • Eat your chocolate first thing in the morning to boost metabolism. You’ll burn off the extra calories throughout the day.  
    • Make sure it is pure, high-quality cacao. High-quality cacao contains chemicals called theobromine. Theobromine is a stimulant and that's why it speeds up the metabolism. That's also why you crave chocolate when you are depressed or lack energy.
    • Epicatechin is also a chemical that’s derived from the chocolate ingredient cocoa. It has been known to boost numbers of mitochondria, the cells’ energy-generating powerhouses. So you feel better, and it's good for your health. These awesome little mitochondria burn up calories which is good news for weight loss.

    Wait, it gets even better. If you've been reading my blogs, you know by now that the trick to losing weight is keeping insulin levels down, or lowering them if they are high. Guess what? Pure defatted cacao can decrease insulin resistance by almost 50 percent, thanks to the flavonoids it contains. 

    Thanks to these miraculous ingredients, dark chocolate can also slow the absorption of sugar into the bloodstream. That helps prevent the much-dreaded insulin spike, which is famous for shuttling sugar straight into your fat cells. These dreaded insulin spikes turn off your body's fat-burning mechanisms which stop fat loss and make you hungry again several hours later. Over time, they can also lead to insulin resistance and diabetes. The best news ever? Dark chocolate kills craving for sweets.  

    Here is a metabolic boosting chocolate breakfast that helps you lose weight while boosting mood and improving health. You’ll never miss breakfast again. 

    It nourishes the body because the protein powder is full of amino acids that boosts metabolism, turns off the weight gain switch and also helps kill cravings. That’s why you don’t want to wait until later to eat these.

    CHOCOLATE BLISS, HIGH-PROTEIN TRUFFLES (Adapted from my recipe in The Metabolism Solution)

    (2 scoops) LynFit Chocolate Complete Protein Powder
    (1 cup) Dark chocolate spread or Nutella
    (1/8 cup) Honey
    (3/4 cup) Raw oats (if you're not trying to lose weight)

    Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Form into 1 inch balls and place in the freezer until frozen (usually 1 hour or less) and eat them. For extra special occasions decorate with shredded coconut, crushed almonds or walnuts. Sprinkles make them attractive for kids.

    BE SURE TO LOOK FOR THE FOLLOWING SUPER STAR INGREDIENTS WHEN YOU SHOP FOR CHOCOLATE

    • Go dark or don't it. Look for at least 70 percent pure cacao. It has less sugar, contains some monounsaturated fatty acids, and has a bittersweet taste which reduces the amount you eat. It kills cravings for sweet and fatty foods.
    • Stick to a small serving. Each helping should be no bigger than the end of your thumb.
    • Chocolate Protein Powders and Protein Bars can be a great way to get your chocolate fix, but make sure what you choose is made from dark chocolate that’s been defatted, and contains no sugar. For the best results, use LynFit Complete Protein and LynFit Lean Bars.
    • Check the label and look for 155 calories or less, 2 grams max of fat, and less than 3 grams of sugar.

    You’ll know you're buying good chocolate by the price. Chocolate is in high demand and is at a premium of $8 an ounce for the good stuff.

    If you want all of these benefits but don't like chocolate (what, are you crazy?) you can find them in the LynFit Accelerator with Raspberry Ketones. Once you try this supplement and see how fast you melt off body fat and excess pounds you’ll see why it’s been called The Miracle in a Bottle.

    (*Study Cited and Related Links: Beatrice Golomb, MD, Ph.D., discusses chocolate and weight loss. Filed Under Health & Medicine)