Originally, the story was going to be a step-by-step guide on “How to lose the last 10 pounds.”

But, since this was Men’s Health, the focus shifted to getting abs. (Side note: the photoshoot for the story ended up being one of the weirder things I’ve done. I was reminded that I’m definitely no Zoolander.)

If I was going to help people see their abs, then so be it. But, I was hell-bent on not doing what was always done. From my perspective, the world didn’t need another insane workout with unrealistic time commitments.

I wanted the “get abs” plan to be doable. That meant I wanted dessert. And, I wanted it multiple times per week.

What Science Says About Losing Weight (And Keeping It Off)

I enjoy a good celeb story as much as anyone, and I’ve interviewed dozen of big-name stars and shared their workouts and diets.

But here’s the thing: it’s one thing to break down the routine of an actor, actress, or athlete whose primary goal and day are built around diet and exercise. It’s fun to read about, but it’s not exactly practical for the average person.

Real plans for real people can’t be too extreme or insane because it’s not realistic for others to replicate. For me, that meant no two-a-day-workouts or personal chefs. And, as I mentioned, I wanted to eat dessert each week.

I believe in eating good food. I also happen to love cheesecake, brownies, cookies, and ice cream. And, so do many other people.

More importantly, I needed to solve my own internal conflict between what I know is true and what I believed.

I love science. I’ve built my career around being evidence-based. Everything in my understanding of getting lean told me that calories matter and eating dessert while getting lean is possible.

After all, this is how a professor can go on a “Twinkie Diet “for 10 weeks and lose 27 pounds.

Or, how research suggests that eating dessert with breakfast led to longer-term weight loss compared to people who avoided a dessert-filled first meal. In fact, that study suggested that dessert eaters keep losing weight (an additional 15 pounds lost) while those that restricted dessert gained most of it back (22 pounds put back on).

In my opinion, I wasn’t blessed with the world’s greatest genetics. In fact, I was overweight my entire childhood.

So, if I’m being honest, I was skeptical whether I could actually get great results if I ate dessert. Maybe it works for others, but it just didn’t seem like it could work for me.

I knew the assignment was the ultimate test. I set the rules, the stakes were high, and the story was going to be published.

So, what happened?

I ate my desserts, and, at the end of the 12-week process, I was 8 percent body fat.

Women who ate small desserts four times a week lost 9 more pounds than those who enjoyed a larger splurge whenever they wanted.

Why You Should Eat Dessert (On Any Diet Plan)

For starters, complete food withdrawal is more likely to lead to falling off your diet than experiencing long-term success. [Note: I’m not saying you shouldn’t occasionally try to remove foods from your diet that seem to be causing issues. That’s a different story. I’m talking about creating a plan based on complete restriction.]

One of the biggest barriers to weight loss is the grind. Diets tend to be frustrating and mentally exhausting. And that frustration and exhaustion lead to stress and cravings. It’s a downward spiral to inevitably leads to you “cheating” on your diet, binging on foods you’ve missed, feeling guilty, eating more bad food, and then saying “F it!” and quitting the plan.

Some variation of this happens to everyone. And, it’s not just psychological. As you restrict calories and lose weight, your body adjusts, hormones shift, and hunger increases.

What should you do? You need to eat foods that fill you up and keep you satisfied (think proteins, fiber, and veggies), but you also benefit from dessert.

Desserts and treats can decrease cravings for sweet, starchy, and fatty foods. These are the “hyper-palatable” foods that derail diets. And, your desire to eat more of them happens when you completely restrict them. But, if you have a little, it can limit you from having too much.

It’s why my dessert and abs experience was so eye-opening. I ate real food, desserts, and treats. No, I wasn’t crushing massive slices of cheesecake three times per day, but I wasn’t starving for sugar, fat, and salt, either.

In many ways, it was the anti-diet approach. Instead of waiting for the moment where I wanted to quit, I proactively way prevented where most diets go wrong: cravings and withdrawal.

That’s why finding your sweet spot with some treats is important. After all, when you compare most diets you’ll find that a lot of them work. So, why choose one that makes you miserable or you’ll be forced to abandon it before and you stay on it long enough to see the real results?

Yes, you still need to create a diet the consists of vegetables, fruits, proteins, and healthy fats. But, that’s a message we all know by now. What’s still lost in translation is that what you eat doesn’t have to make you miserable.

Remember, part of the trick to healthy living is consistency and patience. It works for diet and exercise. No magic. Just consistency and sustainability.

The Dessert “Rules” (Sugar Not Sold Separately)

When you’re trying to lose weight, the worst thing you can do is ban all indulgences, which creates a feeling of withdrawal.

A more effective approach is one that allows you to satisfy your cravings in controlled portions.

Research from Alabama found that when overweight women ate small desserts four times a week, they lost 9 more pounds than those who enjoyed a larger splurge whenever they wanted.

The small sweets provide the psychological edge that allows you to stay motivated, without derailing your eating plan.

Within any diet, 10 to 20 percent of your calories can be directed toward a little treat. The key is watching the portion size (yes, always tricky), so that a cup of ice cream doesn’t turn into an all-night feast at the 24-hour buffet. Or, in many situations, putting yourself in a position where you have the support to make sure that those types of binges are harder to occur.

But you know what? Going from one scoop of ice cream to an entire pint is much less likely when you don’t feel like the food is off-limits.

Learn your limits. Understand your triggers. And build a system that helps you succeed.

But, if you want the highest likelihood of weight loss success that lats, then don’t remove all the foods you love. It’s one of the most common reasons why so many diets fail.

READ MORE: 

The Abs Workout: A Real Way to Transform Your Midsection

Want to Burn More Calories? Add This to Your Fat Loss Plan

Why Weights are Better Than Cardio for Fat Loss

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post Eat The Damn Dessert appeared first on Born Fitness.

• No, you don’t have to ditch alcohol to lose fat…
• BUT, if you do cut out drinking, it might help.

Alcohol And Weight Loss: It’s Complicated

Let’s start with the first point here. From a metabolic perspective, alcohol and your body have a weird relationship. There’s actually been a lot of research into it over the years because it’s so surprising.

Numerous studies, both observational and in controlled settings, have shown that people can consume light to moderate amounts of alcohol and not necessarily gain weight. (Moderate drinking is defined as 1 drink a day for women and no more than 2 drinks a day for men.)

Part of this may be due to alcohol’s unique effect on the body. Your body can’t store alcohol and the 7 calories per gram it delivers. (Yup, it does have calories — more per gram than carbs and protein, but less than fat.) So instead the body fast-tracks that booze through your system.

Additionally, a high percentage of calories from alcohol get burned up by your metabolism through a process called the thermic effect of food (TEF). The thermic effect of alcohol is about 22.5%, which puts it on par with protein (which has a TEF of 25-30%) and well ahead of carbs (6-8%) and fat (2-3%).

All of which is to say: Alcohol on it’s own won’t necessarily make or break your weight loss goals.

“If you enjoy a few drinks during the week, it is still possible to have a highly successful fat loss journey,” says Born Fitness Head Nutrition Coach Natalie Sabin.

Now for the but…

Why Alcohol Might Make You Fat

Just because your body doesn’t store alcohol’s calories, it doesn’t mean you (and your fat cells) get off scot-free.

When your body is processing those calories from all those hoppy IPAs, or just one more glass of wine, they take the place of other calories you could be burning — like the bacon double cheeseburger you had on the way home from the bar. With beer calories taking its place in the metabolic line, the burger’s calories become part of you (and your belly).

In fact, some research would lead you to believe that the problem isn’t necessarily the alcohol itself. It’s what can come along with drinking. You know, like nachos. Or two dozen wings. Or a box of Totino’s Pizza Rolls if it’s 2 a.m. and you’re in college.

“Many folks who drink alcohol also have a tendency to eat more,” Sabin says.

A review published in Physiology & Behavior backs her up on this. It found that, sure enough, drinking before or during a meal tends to increase food intake.

Also, note that even though your body can’t store alcohol, it can (and does) store the calories mixed with it — like the 83g of sugar in a frozen margarita.

So What Should You Do?

1. Examine how much you’re drinking currently. For some this can be very eye-opening on it’s own. You might see that the “beer or two” you have “now and then” is actually “a couple drinks every night, plus about a dozen on the weekend.” Remember, the studies mentioned previously involved light to moderate drinking — i.e. one drink per day for women, two for men. Drinking more than that is conclusively not good. Heavier drinking is associated with weight gain and increased waist circumference, as well as poor health. Excessive alcohol consumption is the third-leading cause of premature death in the U.S. If your drinking exceeds that one to two drinks per day guideline, then yeah, cutting back (or going dry) likely will help you lose fat.

2. Pay attention to what else you do when you drink. If your occasional cocktail with friends is just that — a cocktail — then the caloric load probably isn’t all that significant. But if your drinks seem to come with a late night pizza chaser, you might have an issue on your hands. Here again, cutting out drinks might help your fat loss.

3. Let’s say your drinking (and appetite) is under control, but you still aren’t losing fat. And let’s say your drink-per-day is a must-have. If that’s the case, you could try and offset the calories by trimming elsewhere. For example, a glass of wine is around 120 calories. A typical beer is about 150 calories (although those heavier microbrews that are so popular nowadays can be double that). Cut out 30 to 40g of carbs from somewhere else, and pay attention to any changes. “Remember, to get rid of fat you need to create a calorie deficit,” Sabin says. “That means burn more calories than you are consuming — whether that’s eating OR drinking.”

READ MORE

Why Am I Not Getting Stronger

Why Did I Gain Weight On My Diet

4 Week Fat Loss Transformation

The post Should I Cut Out Alcohol to Get Rid of Fat? appeared first on Born Fitness.

There’s research, case studies, and even a few stats that look great on paper. There’s only one problem.

The weight loss hypothesis and overstated claims aren’t accurate. Many people want to know how to lose weight. But that’s much different from “how to lose fat.” Or more importantly, how to maintain that fat loss for the long-term.

Any book or program that highlights one food as the root of all problems is oversimplifying how weight gain works.

While there are plenty of reasons to remove grains from your diet (in fact, it’s something I do with coaching clients who need the adjustment), eating grains does not have a direct effect on weight loss and fat gain.

Or maybe more importantly: wheat and grains are not the cause of obesity.

These food sources do not automatically make you gain weight. And the removal of grains  (or carbs, fat that matter) doesn’t remove the laws of thermodynamics or the role of calories.

You see, if there’s one attribute that I’m universally disliked for it’s my somewhat agnostic approach towards nutrition. I’ve been in too many research labs, read too many studies, and worked with too many clients to ignore an undeniable truth: many diet approaches work for fat loss, muscle gain, and general health. From low carb diets to high carb diets–I’ve seen both more.

Why? Because there isn’t a single “cause” of fat gain.

It’s why the played out “eat less, move more” just doesn’t work as actionable advice that leads to better results.

And it’s not just opinion. Scientists have literally created a battle royale of diets, pitting one against the other, only to find out that…surprise!…there’s more than one way to drop pounds. Many diets work. That’s a scientific fact.

Create a diet that primarily (but not exclusively) consists of real foods (think proteins, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and yes, even grains) and you can lose weight and be healthy.

So after reading Wheat Belly and other similar demonizations of wheat, I was beyond frustrated with the overgeneralized claim that has scared many people into unnecessary wheat-less eating habits with the misguided belief that it offers weight loss magic.

But the recent influx of clients who have reached out about how they removed grains and gained weight has reached critical mass. And while it’s not my preference to undress the work of others, there is a social responsibility to help you make choices that make it easier to lose weight and enjoy eating.

Wheat Doesn’t Make You Fat: The Proof

To make a point about grains and weight loss, I’m going to do something I’ve never done before on this site: share a shirtless picture of myself.

I’m not a fan of playing the body image game, so why share now? To make a point that the over-generalized wheat hypothesis just doesn’t make sense.

If you’re going to make a blanket statement such as, “wheat makes you fat,” then disproving that theory would be pretty easy. If you have examples of people that eat wheat and aren’t fat, then we can’t apply the rule universally.

And that’s the issue with wheat and weight loss: any book or program that highlights one food as the root of all problems is oversimplifying how weight gain works. 

Having abs doesn’t make you healthy. But they are a pretty good indictor that you’re not resistant to fat loss.

This picture shows me on a diet where I ate cheesecake once per week. Yes, I was counting macros. And, sure, about 80 to 90 percent of what I ate was in the form of vegetables, fruits, proteins. Did I mention I also ate grains every day?

By this association, I should conclude that adding cheesecake to your diet once per week results in abs, right?

Obviously that sounds insane and isn’t true. But it’s the same style of reasoning that leads a researcher like Dr. Davis to say, “I have clients who removed wheat and lost weight. Wheat must be the problem.”

The point here is not that removing wheat is ineffective. Instead it’s that we can’t definitively draw a cause-and-effect conclusion that wheat causes weight gain.

Not only because the wheat hypothesis lacks proof to suggest that with certainty, but also because there are far too many case studies of people who do eat wheat and can lose weight.

Take the picture above. During that time of the above picture, this was my diet.

As you can see, wheat and grains were a prominent part of what I consumed every day. Eventually I achieved sub 10-percent body fat following this plan. And it’s not because I did anything special or removed any particular food.

I ate well, I exercised hard, and I was extremely patient with the process.

That’s not to say that people don’t have wheat allergies or sensitivities. Those are real and can be problematic.

Gut health can play a role in weight loss, and we continue to research and learn about the microbiome. And I do believe that many people can benefit from removing or limiting grains. 

But that does not mean grains cause weight gain or prevent you from dropping fat.

Whether it’s wheat, or gluten, or dairy, or carbs, or fat, the finger-pointing at the “cause” of weight gain must end.

I also have many clients who wanted to eat wheat and were terrified about removing some of their favorite foods. We made sure that their diets were not devoid of carb sources. Here are their “wheat bellies.”

The Science of Fat Loss: The Only Undeniable Truth

Selecting a diet based on blind removal of a food group can lead to weight loss. But that should be a choice that matches your lifestyle, not one that is done on undeserving faith that any food possessing a magical “weight gain” gene.

And just because an adjustment in a diet leads to weight loss doesn’t mean that altered variable is the cause of weight gain. 

If you want to remove wheat because it’s not something you enjoy or eat often, then do it.

If you have reason to believe (medically) that wheat is a problem for your digestive system, then make the adjustment.

Or if you feel better not eating grains, then you should alter your diet and do what works best for you.

But don’t believe that any one food–especially one that is “natural” and is has numerous studies suggesting health benefits–is suddenly problematic.

In the end, any diet that suggests absolute certainty on a topic and doesn’t even acknowledge other possibilities is just delivering more hype, which is likely to lead to long- term frustration.

Is Wheat Your Problem?

If you’re interested in why wheat is not the cause of weight gain (as well as other research claims), click here for a full review that analyzes all of the research presented in Wheat Belly. Unraveling the truth about wheat and weight loss.

READ MORE: 

Wheat Belly Deception: Understanding Wheat, Insulin, and Fat Loss

Do Carbs Actually Make You Fat?

Why Weights are Better Than Cardio for Fat Loss

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post Grains and Weight Loss (A Twisted Relationship) appeared first on Born Fitness.

But then, taking your body into ketosis — the process by which the body runs on fat because you don’t have enough carbs/glucose — is a rich resource for the seemingly unbelievable. This is, after all, a dieting method that requires you to purchase special test strips to examine your urine in order to confirm if you have “achieved” ketosis. (Yes, seriously.)

So is the keto diet effective? Yes and no.

The claims about keto superiority for fat loss and muscle gain are significantly inflated.

But that doesn’t mean the diet is without value.

To help you determine if the keto diet is the right approach for you, we dig into your biggest keto diet questions—and some you probably hadn’t even thought about asking. In the end, should you decide that going keto is best for you, you’ll at least know how to do it properly (most people don’t), understand what it’s really doing to your body (ditto), and be aware of the risks involved.

What is a ketogenic diet?

In a traditional ketogenic diet, you eat 80 percent of your daily calories from fat. The remaining 20 percent is divvied up between protein and carbohydrates—but most of it protein. Typically, carb intake is capped at 20 grams per day, or less than what you’ll find in a single apple, according to Andy Galpin, Ph.D., C.S.C.S., C.P.T., associate professor of kinesiology and director of the Biochemistry & Molecular Exercise Physiology Lab at California State University, Fullerton.

This number is far lower than what you’ll find with most low-carb diets, which generally max out carb intake at about 45 percent of daily calories, according to a review from Tulane University. For someone following a 2,000-calorie diet, that works out to as much as 225 grams per day.

But, don’t forget the most important part — it’s not the low carbs that surprises most people. After all, keto is known as the low-carb diet. What you need to remember is that the ketogenic diet is also surprisingly low in protein.

Why? As you’ll learn, taking your body into ketosis means having your body run on fat for fuel, and protein can be converted into glucose in your body. That means you need to keep protein levels lower to truly establish a state of ketosis.

Why do ketogenic diets go so low with carbs?

Carbs and glycogen (or carbs stored in the liver and muscles) are the body’s preferred and most efficient energy source. Once you deplete them, your body must find other energy sources.

When you cut carbs so drastically — as one does on a keto diet — you can put the body in a state of ketosis. What does that actually mean? Your liver is forced to convert fat into fatty acids and ketones — compounds the body can use to produce ATP, a.k.a. energy, Galpin explains.

It’s this process that truly separates the ketogenic diet from other low-carb approaches such as Atkins, and why the diet revolves around such a high intake of dietary fat: without it, your body cannot produce the ketones needed to keep you up and running.

To determine whether the body has truly entered a state of ketosis, you’d need to test yourself for high levels of ketones, Galpin notes. That’s why people who go keto have to urinate on at-home test strips.

If your body is not in a state of ketosis, you’re technically just following another low-carb diet.

Which means your body is not running on ketones. And all that carb-depletion isn’t going to work the way you intended.

Through ketosis, your body becomes what many refer to as “fat adapted,” meaning your body adjusts to what you’re giving it and uses fat for energy.

In a world of quick fixes and promises, this usually is not a quick process. Research suggests that it usually takes several weeks to occur, according to ketogenic diet researcher, Antonio Paoli, M.D., director of the Nutrition & Exercise Physiology Lab at the University of Padova in Italy.

What happens in the process of becoming fat adapted? Expect extreme fatigue, brain fog, and sluggish exercise performances. After all, your brain is the primary user of your body’s carbs and glycogen. Without that fuel, your entire central nervous system feels the effects.

In fact, it’s those effects on the neurological system that first popularized the keto diet. According to a 2014 review published in the Journal of Lipid Research, ketosis alters the activity of mitochondria in the brain of those with neurodegenerative conditions, which helps cut down on the frequency and severity of seizures.

Is a keto diet good for fat loss?

For those who are looking to cut their body fat percentage or improve exercise performance, the keto diet comes with mixed results.

In one Nutrients study, male cyclists who followed a keto diet for four weeks decreased their body fat percentages and improved their VO2max levels (the amount of oxygen they could take in and use in a minute), but their max power decreased.

Other studies suggest that following a ketogenic diet can allow the body to burn a larger percentage of calories from fat instead of carbohydrates and glycogen when participating in endurance events such as marathons and triathlons, according to a 2017 review in the Strength and Conditioning Journal.

But some of this is very misleading. According to nutrition researcher Alan Aragon, you’re not actually burning more body fat.

You see, when you eat more fat your body is going to burn more fat. This causes an increase of “fat oxidation,” which can easily be interpreted as an increase in fat loss.

But when protein and calories have been balanced (as in, you’re comparing diets where total calories and protein are the same — but fat or carb intake is difference), there is no difference in fat loss between a keto diet and a non-keto/higher carb diet.

“To lose weight on the diet, you still have to consume fewer calories,” Galpin says.  “There are no physiological shortcuts. Calories still matter, and while they aren’t the only thing that matter for fat loss, you still have to maintain a caloric deficit to lose fat.”

Paoli notes that a ketogenic may aid in cutting calories by increasing satiety, but that potential benefit is not yet definitive.

Is a keto diet good for building muscle?

Unfortunately for people who have body-comp goals (think: ditching fat and muscling up), research consistently shows that in order to lose fat without also losing a significant amount of lean muscle, daily protein intake has to be higher than what a traditional ketogenic diet offers.

After all, with only 20 percent of your daily calories coming from carbs and protein combined, there isn’t a lot for muscle-building protein. A 2015 review published in Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism showed that, in order to retain muscle mass while cutting calories, protein intake should be set at about 25 percent of total daily calories. And why must protein be so low on a keto diet? It all has to do with preventing side effects (which we’ll get to in the next section).

Just as important, keto research to date seems to indicate no performance benefit among those performing high-intensity activities such as sprinting and weightlifting, according to the review authors. This is due to both a decrease is fast-acting carb availability as well as a recruitment of slow-twitch endurance-based type II fibers over fast-twitch power ones.

It’s worth noting, however, that a lot of the studies on keto done to date have suffered from at least one big design flaw.

“A major problem with the research on the ketogenic diet is that a huge chunk of the it doesn’t establish whether study participants are actually in ketosis,” Galpin says. “Researchers often don’t draw blood to determine a state of ketosis and instead assume that participants were eating few enough carbs and enough fat that they were.”

What about side effects – is a keto diet safe?

When it comes to protein, a keto diet puts people in a sort of “screwed if you do, screwed if you don’t” situation.

While a low protein intakes can cause the body to lose muscle mass, too high of a protein intake can cause the body to spring out of its state of ketosis, Paoli says.

Basically, breaking down protein for energy is easier than producing ketones and using them for energy. So, if that is an option, your body is going to take it.

But a far bigger issue is that eating too much protein during a ketogenic diet can put your body in a state of ketoacidosis, in which keto acids (ketone-containing acids) accumulate and decrease blood pH, Galpin says.

When this occurs, symptoms include nausea, vomiting, excessive thirst and confusion. In very rare cases, “extreme ketoacidosis” can be fatal.

While some may think a keto diet gives them license to go crazy on greasy, processed foods and still lose weight, it’s important to focus on getting dietary fats from whole, natural sources including red meat, eggs, avocado, nuts, olive oil, and dairy (although many forms of dairy have sufficient carbs to kick you out of ketosis, FYI).

It’s worth noting that, since these high-fat foods tend to be low in fiber, a person who does go keto should work with a dietitian to keep their fiber intake at a level that prevents constipation and GI issues such as diverticulitis, Galpin says. He adds that most keto dieters require a fiber supplement to get enough fiber without going overboard on carbs.

Lastly, having a high protein intake can also increase keto-dieters’ already-elevated risk of developing kidney stones. Note that a high protein diet alone is not a precursor to kidney problems like many people believe. But, adding high protein + a keto diet approach can potentially lead to kidney stones.

What else should I know if I want to go keto?

The keto diet has a lot of very interesting research around brain health and fighting autoimmune diseases. For people that struggle with a variety of health problems, the nature of the diet is promising. And for those that don’t mind the fairly rigorous rules, it can be a very effective approach for fat loss — just like several other diet methods.

At the same time, there’s no getting around it: the keto diet is incredibly tough to follow. Researchers have found that to be true even when adults attempt the diet to control their epilepsy. If people who have such a high degree of motivation have trouble following the protocol, you have to ask yourself a simple question: how well do you think you’re going to do following the rules of the diet?

Research has shown over and over again that your success on a diet depends entirely on how consistent you can be.

So if you can’t stick to it for a long period of time, then another option might be a better fit.

After all, nutrients don’t occur in isolation—they are found in whole foods that, generally, contain some mix of the three macros. So it can be difficult to find high-fat foods that don’t put you over your protein or carbohydrate goals. And since fat is an energy dense macro, packing nine calories per gram, it’s also easy to go overboard there and wind up gaining weight, rather than losing it.

If you choose the ketogenic diet, keep a cheat sheet of ways to stay on track. Reminders like “overdoing it on protein can snap you out of ketosis” will help make sure that your efforts pay off. Or how even one carb “cheat” on the ketogenic diet can cancel out any purported benefits of the eating plan. If you’re going to see success with the ketogenic diet, you have to do it to a T — and it’s best to do so under the supervision of a physician or registered dietitian, according to Paoli.

READ MORE: 

Healthy Fat: Which Foods Should You Really Be Eating? 

The Protein Guide: How Much Protein Do You Need?

Do Carbs Actually Make You Fat? 

The post What is the Keto Diet? (And Should I Try it?) appeared first on Born Fitness.

Many of those opinions were sparked by a University of Massachusetts medical school study that found people who routinely skipped breakfast had a significantly higher incidence of obesity than those who ate eggs and an English muffin.

It’s helpful information, but not a black-and-white issue. Just because one meal is good doesn’t mean others are bad. It’s something I’ve discussed many times.

Your body isn’t on a 24-hour clock. Weight loss and fat gain do not occur in a vacuum.

Yet, somehow the importance of breakfast was translated by many as, “Eating at night will make you fat.” That was perpetuated by many celebs claiming that once they dropped late night eating the pounds simply disappeared. [Somehow 6 pm and 7pm became the magic hour to end your late-night eating.]

While a life of early dinners and not late night carbs sounds about as enjoyable as a swift kick to the face, fortunately for you, the fear of late night eating is misguided.

Whether it’s real life examples of people that enjoy massive late meals or research from scientists all over the world, one thing is clear: when you have your meals does not directly influence weight gain.

Don’t misunderstand that message. If skipping breakfast causes you to binge the rest of the day, then breakfast is the right option for you.

Or if more food at night sends you straight to your snack pantry, you want to be mindful of your late night eating.

These are both behavioral triggers and dependent on your reactions to eating patterns. Just as you can be perfectly healthy and skip breakfast every day, you can also be lean, fit, and energized by having your biggest meal at night.

“Don’t Eat After 6 pm:” The Nighttime Fat Loss Myth

If you’re serious about changing your body, a little bit of freedom can go a long way. The one thing almost everyone hates about “dieting” are the rules. Fewer rules mean less restriction, which results in more freedom to eat how you would prefer and a higher likelihood of staying on a plan for a longer period of time.

Why does this matter? Because consistency and patience are probably the two most important aspects of any diet and fitness program that no one ever discusses.

Those 4-week programs? Lots of hype.

The 7-day juice cleanse and weight loss? Smoke and mirrors.

Want to stop the yo-yo cycle? Stop searching for quick fixes and start applying things that you can do for the long term that don’t make you miserable.

And for most people this would include late night eating.

Do you have more breakfast meetings or more dinner parties? Do you prefer drinks at night or in the morning? Eating at night is essential component of the social fabric of our society. And living in a world where you can’t eat at night and can’t enjoy food with your friends and family is too restrictive. It’s a reason why so many people hate dieting.

While the foods you eat are very important, as is the quality, you can’t discount calories. To quote renowned nutritionist Alan Aragon, “Your body does not store more fat more readily at night than at other times during the day.”

Your body’s ability to gain weight is mainly about what you eat and how much, not when you eat.

Your body isn’t on a 24-hour clock. What counts is whether you burn more calories than you ingest over time. Weight loss and fat gain do not occur in a vacuum.

Science Says: Late Night Eating Does Not Make You Fat

Researchers from Israel wanted to test whether eating more at night actually led to more weight gain. What they found wasn’t exactly groundbreaking if it wasn’t for the overplayed idea that eating after 6 or 7 pm will make you fat.

In the 6-month study, the scientists compared people who ate their largest meal at breakfast to those who ate their largest meal at dinner (8 p.m. or later). The participants who satisfied their late-night munchies not only lost more fat, they also experienced more fullness throughout the entire 6 months and saw more favorable changes to their fat loss hormones.

Consider some of the impressive findings. Compared to the morning eaters, those who ate at night:

• Had less hunger cravings and were more satisfied with their meals
• Lost 11 percent more weight
• Had a 10 percent greater change in abdominal circumference
• Lost a whopping 10.5 percent more body fat

Let’s not take this too far. That’s not to say you must eat your biggest meal at night. That’s not what the study showed. But it did offer evidence that late night eating isn’t the weight gain villain.

What’s more, a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture also showed some convincing evidence for nighttime feasts. When dieters ate 70 percent of their calories after 7 p.m. compared to earlier in the day, they preserved muscle mass and lost more body fat. 

Is Late Night Eating for You?

My job is to help people discover what works best for their body. That means understanding behavior as well as the science of fat loss and muscle gain.

Many people eat at night out of boredom or other emotions instead of hunger, and they wind up consuming more calories than they need for the day. Again, you can’t forget that calories matter. And so do personality and behavioral triggers.

Nighttime eaters typically bust past their calorie goal, which leads to fat storage. But that doesn’t mean your body processes food differently at different times of day, particularly at night. However, if one meal turns into three, then you have a problem.

What’s more, while eating carbs at night can potentially help you sleep, it could also mean less rest. If you’re up eating…and eating…and eating, then that means you’re not sleeping.

If you’ve ever experienced a stressful week at work or in your home, you know that a lack of sleep appears to instantly add pounds to the scale.

And researchers from Wake Forest University discovered why: Too much or too little shut-eye might lead directly to weight gain. People who slept 5 hours or less each night gained nearly 2.5 times more abdominal fat than those who logged 6 to 7 hours.

People with sleep deficits tend to eat more (and use less energy) because they’re tired, say the researchers. And if you’re sleep deprived and not just groggy, University of Chicago researchers report that lack of sleep can torpedo weight loss by slowing your metabolism, increasing your appetite, and decreasing the number of calories you burn.

Meaning you have two options:

1. If you can control the late night meals and not allow it to keep you up, then feast away, sleep better at night, and watch as you don’t balloon and feel more in control.
2. If you know that one big late night meal will open the flood gates and find you in the fridge still snacking at 2 am, then bigger nighttime meals might not be the best idea.

Whatever you choose, know that the best option for you has much more to do about lifestyle preferences and behavioral triggers than the fear of eating at a particular time or consuming a type of food. Just as eating at night isn’t a problem, making the meal full of carbs–as long as it fits into your daily allotment–also won’t automatically transform into fat.

Like most absolute diet rules, it’s just another myth meant to offer an incredible promise that only promises to drive you crazy.

End Your Health Confusion

Tired of bad and misleading health information? You’re not alone. Learn what workouts and diet will work for your body, and how to have a personalized, risk-free assessment.

READ MORE: 

Breakfast is Not the Most Important Meal of the Day

Big Meals vs. Small Snacks: What’s Best For You?

Healthy Fat: Which Foods Should You Really Be Eating?

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post Eating At Night Does Not Make You Fat appeared first on Born Fitness.

The second rule of eating is picking a goal and sticking to it for more than a month.

The third rule of eating is tossing out most of what you think you know about dieting because it might be the reason you’re currently stuck in a plateau.

Macros are not for everyone. Yes, counting works, but sometimes the number crunching does more harm than good from a practical standpoint.

While rule #3 has plenty of exceptions, it’s usually necessary for even the savviest of dieters and fitness pros. Why? Because what we know oftentimes makes it harder for us to accept new information or to question what we already assume as fact.

When it comes to building the right diet for you, simply avoiding what didn’t work in the past or blindly following what appears to work now is important (see rule #1), but it has many limitations. The biggest of which is understanding that progressing to a new level of success and noticeable results usually means identifying flaws in your current plan, and understanding why what you’re doing might not be the most efficient way to get the job done.

To help provide more clarity, use this guide as a starting point for any diet plan you create. It will help you understand what you we know about good diet design, as well as what factors might relate to seeing the most results out of your body.

The Macro Question: Does IIFYM Work?

The undeniable aspect of counting your macros (AKA “if it fits your macros” or IIFYM) is that science is on your side. This is a very good thing if you’re looking for a way to finally jumpstart weight loss frustration or a stagnant muscle building plan.

The laws of thermodynamics are very real, so if you receive a good macro plan that understands progressions, how to manipulate the nutrients, and how to factor in types and duration of exercise, then playing by the numbers is a great path to results. If you know what you want to look like or a have a goal weight, use this as your starting point (instead of your current weight). This will allow you to eat towards a goal.

That said, macros are not for everyone. Yes, counting works, but sometimes the number crunching does more harm than good from a practical standpoint. Becoming OCD about how much to eat or worrying about being 5 grams “over” on daily carb intake (which, honestly, is not a big deal) is something that is determined by your personality.

For some people, creating food templates that allow for “serving-size” based eating is a style that takes a macro approach without all the math. This means breaking down your meals into types of foods, and then just filling in the gaps with what you want to eat.

If you’re not going to count all your proteins, carbs, and fats. however, you still might be best served by a 1-week counting and measuring period that will help you learn portion sizes.

If that still feels like too much, start by learning how to measure portion sizes by eyeballing quantities. The images below (via Precision Nutrition) area great start to visualize individual portion sizes.

Either way, if you’re struggling with your diet, the best way to start in the right direction and make progress is by recording your foods.

You see, research in the New England Journal of Medicine has suggested that those on a weight loss diet tend to under-report how much they eat by as much as 47 percent and overestimate how much exercise they perform by 51 percent. You don’t need to be a math major to see how this ends up.

Recording your foods does not have to be a long-term approach; just the opposite, it’s a short term investment that will offer you eating freedom for the long-term. At the same time, it will allow you to be honest with what’s happening in your body and why you might not be seeing the results you want.

Goal-Based Eating: Understanding Macro Meal Plans

Remember rule #2? The one about goal based eating? This is why so many “one-size-fits-all” plans simply don’t work.

On one level you need to know your primary area of focus. While it’s certainly possible to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time (despite what many people might suggest), maximizing your results is about maximizing your focus.

If fat loss is the goal, don’t worry about your biceps becoming bigger.

If muscle gain is what you want, getting the most out of your plan might mean adding a little bit of fat. (But nothing crazy; there’s no need to go on some old-school type of bulking program. In fact, that could lead to more problems.)

After you choose your general goal, then you need to adjust for your own personalized goal. (More on this below.)

As I tell my clients, the goal is to eat for the body you want, not the body you have.

So setting up a clear target will make the process of building your diet easier.

Finally, you’ll want to start with a generalized approach and then adjust as you see how your body adjusts.

Here are a few breakdowns of what a diet might look like, based on goal

Maximizing Fat Loss

The Approach: higher protein, moderate fat, lower carbs

Your Nutrition Plan: 40% protein, 35 % fat, 25% carbs

Recomp (mild muscle gain and progressive fat loss)

The Approach: Building an isoisocaloric (AKA balanced) macronutrient split. Want equal parts muscle gain and fat loss? Then it should come as no surprise that your diet is going to be fairly evenly spread out across all macros.

Your Nutrition Plan: 33.3% protein, 33.3% fat, 33.3% carbs

Stubborn Mass Gain

The Approach: For the stubborn mass gain, ingesting a lot of calories is key, and oftentimes more protein beyond a certain amount is not as productive as upping the carbs to achieve the extra food.

Your Nutrition Plan: 30% protein, 40% carbs, 30% fat.

Understanding Diet Design: Is This for You?

The guidelines above are for people who spend anywhere between 4 to 7 hours of training each week. This includes all types of activity, such as weight training, recreational cardio, and sports.

These numbers are not designed to meet the calorie needs of endurance and endurance-type athletes who have a high training volume. This type of person needs  more carbs.

Why the Diet Design Works

Muscle Gain and Fat Loss

The balanced breakdown of the ensures enough protein for muscle repair, growth, and maintenance. It provides enough fat to support optimal testosterone production. It supplies enough carbs to provide training stamina, as well as synergy with the protein for muscle growth. It does not have the tendency to provide carbs in excess of the individual’s training and physical activity demands; instead it supports lean gains and lean mass maintenance.

Maybe most importantly, it allows for the full range of food groups in order to get not just the proper macronutrients, but also a good range of micronutrients. By focusing on macronutrient splits (instead of just focusing on particular foods), it allows you to focus both on foods that are good for you (animal and plant proteins, vegetables, fruits, fibrous starches, dairy) while still enabling you the flexibility to eat foods that you enjoy.

After all, research in the International Journal of Obesity suggests that the diet you can follow for the long term is always the best option for you.

Although alcohol and desserts are not listed, they can be used sparinglly. These foods are a highly individual matter; research shows that 1-2 drinks per day may have health benefits without hindering physique goals.

However, if you don’t already drink, there’s obviously no need to start. As for desserts, either limit your intake to 1-2 large desserts per week, or a very small portion per day, max (try to limit this to 100-200 calories of dessert of you intend to have dessert daily or most of the days per week).

Maximizing Fat Loss

In the scenario of a very low-carb diet with high training volume, there’s domino effect of defensive physiological phenomena that can help fat loss or cause trouble.

For instance, going to low carb as you push intensity can stimulate your hunger hormones at the same time as decreasing the hormones that suppress hunger. This leaves you wanting to eat everything and the kitchen sink, all while experiencing a drop in the hormones that regulate your metabolic rate.

Translation: this is why so many ultra low carb diets combined with high intensity exercise is a fast road to frustration or failure.

It’s not that these changes are significant enough to halt progress altogether, but what they do is prime your body to fight against losing fat and weight. Or more importantly, they set up your body for rapid weight and fat regain once the dieting phase is over. In a nutshell, that explains your typical yo-yo diet.

The best way to minimizing these dietary backlash is to diet as little as possible in the first place; in other words, your caloric deficit should be as little as necessary to achieve the desired rate of loss, and carbohydrates in particular should be set at the highest level possible that will allow the desired rate of fat loss.

Planning Cheat Days

That said, while severe carb restriction combined with training amplifies the body’s natural defenses, sometimes it is necessary to achieve extreme levels of leanness. But these approaches should only be applied once you achieve levels of the super lean. (In general, starting below 8 percent body fat.)

In this case, carbohydrate “refeeds” serve the multi-purpose of replenishing glycogen, and reversing the defensive hormonal and metabolic events that occur with severe restriction.

However, in order for the refeeds to be effective for this purpose, they must be rather massive (picture a carb shoveling fest spanning from a few hours to a few days).

But in the case of the less severe and gradual fat loss diet, a traditional refeed used in cyclical ketogenic (low carb) dieting isn’t necessary or beneficial.

Instead, a single indulgence meal can be employed. The purpose of the hyperfeed is more psychological than anything else, since it isn’t being used for that purpose of reversing the effects of severe prolonged carb restriction.

Unlike traditional low-fat carb-based refeeds, the hyperfeed can be anything on Earth you damn well want to eat, just keep it to a single main dish, plus a dessert if you’re feeling like eating like a king.

Men at 15% body fat or lower (for women, around 20%) can enjoy a hyperfeed once a week by having it in place of a main meals.

If you’re concerned about weight gain, you can either cut out all snacks or cut out an entire meal on the day of a hyperfeed.

Those dieting for a show or a photoshoot (mind you, with enough weeks in the pipeline to not need to diet severely) can  get away with a weekly hyperfeed, but it’s a touch riskier. Most folks in this population refuse to take advantage of this meal even when given “permission”, but a hyperfeed every 2 weeks is certainly not gonna impede progress regardless of how much of a banger it is.

The Pink Elephant: Personalization

The worst thing that can happen is for you to read the numbers above and think, “I’m set for life.”

Good nutrition is much more about understanding how to eat healthy and work around your frustration than trying to find a magical formula.

All of those formulas will help you; but most people will receive benefits only up to a certain point. The formulas should serve as a ballpark guide, not a set-in-stone blueprint. Everyone has unique requirements, genetics, and food sensitivities.

Just as important (and often overlooked) is that your current state of body composition (your ratio of muscle-to-fat) will significantly influence how your body responds to what you eat. It’s not fair, but very lean people can “get away” with eating more carbs and treats, whereas those with more weight to lose don’t have as much room to slip up in the amounts that they eat.

Notice, I didn’t say that being heavier means you can’t eat good food. Therein lies the joy of a good diet and a macro based plan: any diet has room for treats and indulgences. So it’s not about restriction, but instead a matter of control and confidence that it doesn’t take being perfect to be healthy.

Rather than committing to staying within the lines, use all diet plans (like the one above) it as an initial template from which to adjust according to your results.

Just make sure you weight long enough. Too many people change diets within a matter of days, when in reality it’s best to measure progress after about 2-4 weeks, and then continually adjust.

Diet Planning 101

Still not sure what to eat? Sign up for a risk-free month of personalized coaching, including assessments that reveal the biggest mistakes with your current plan.

Get started now. 

READ MORE: 

How Much Fat Should I Eat?

Big Meals vs. Small Snacks: What’s Best For You?

Winning the War on Hunger: Practical Solutions to Overeating

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post Diet Plans: Considerations for Muscle Gain and Fat Loss appeared first on Born Fitness.