Brad Pilon.com

(The mistress in the basement)

The relationship between fasting and strength seems to be an issue that has been coming up a lot in the comments on this blog.

So here’s something to think about:

I’ve been following Eat Stop Eat for over three years.

I am significantly stronger than a lot of on-line fitness personalities who do not fast.

And, there are on-line fitness personalities who don’t fast who are also significantly stronger than me.

So really, comparing me to other people (or vice-versa) is pretty pointless….

(Just like how comparing yourself to anyone on-line is pointless)

But here’s something very important to consider: I’m significantly stronger now than I was three years ago.

In other words, I’ve become stronger while fasting once or twice a week for the last three years.

Did fasting make me stronger? I highly doubt it. In fact, I’m pretty sure I owe any strength gains I’ve received in that last little while to a well planned workout protocol.

But I know one thing: fasting didn’t suck all of the strength out of my body…

Bottom line: if your strength is suffering don’t look to your diet, look to your workout.

BP

PS – If you are looking for a more ‘research heavy’ explanation of fasting and strength you can find it in  chapters 9 and 11 of Eat Stop Eat

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Some people are naturally big and strong, while some people will always be small.

Some are short, and some are tall.

But nobody was ‘meant’ to be fat.

You can always improve.

You can work within your strengths, and improve on your weaknesses, but you can’t change you you are.

But your body fat?

That’s not you.

It’s hiding you.

I know this sounds ‘new age’, but it’s true.

You don’t need to be ’shredded’ to have self-worth.

6 Pack abs wont make you a better person.

But, if you want to change how you look, body fat is the ONE thing you can really change.

One small change to the way you eat, and some dedication to stick with it.

That’s all it really takes.

Some people are big and strong, some people will always be small.

But nobody was meant to be fat.

BP

(This is my reasoning for Eat Stop Eat)

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Human nature is a tricky thing. We all seem to have some form of innate competitiveness built into our genetic code.

And while this competitive streak doesn’t always manifest itself into a love of conflict or confrontation, it does drive us to constantly seek the extreme.

It’s this drive that can turn tools meant to make our lives easier into tools that burden us.

Think of laptops, Black Berries and iPhones.

All of these are tools that were meant to give us more freedom, but that have ultimately turned into tools that make us work harder and longer.

The idea of answering your cellphone while on family vacation simply did not exist 20 years ago, nevermind the idea of answering emails, texts, Skype calls, etc…

Many experts refer to this as “The Technology Trap”

From my experience this same trap happens in health and fitness.

Eat Stop Eat was designed to be freeing and flexible. To free us from having to count calories, measure portions and stress about our food. To be flexible in the fact that we can fit it into our lives without drastically altering our lifestyle.

With Flexible Intermittent Fasting the idea is to lose weight while breaking free of Obsessive Compulsive Eating.

1 or 2 24-hour fasts per week.

It is simple, and incredibly effective. It is the best way to get results while doing nothing. A great way to lose weight without stressing over what to eat.

The key is to stay loose with it.

1 or 2…not 4 or 5

24 hours, not 35,42, 50 or 72.

Eat Stop Eat is about fitting short periods of fasting into your life, Not turning your life into fasting…

The bottom line is that forcing yourself to agonize through a 100 hour fast just for the sake of seeing how far you can go is NO DIFFERENT than packing 8 Tupperware containers full of chicken and broccoli and carrying them around with you all day…They are both OCE.

When it comes to health and fitness, keeping it free means keeping it simple. You don’t need to workout 8 times per week. Your workouts don’t need to be 3 hours long. you don’t need to fast 4 times per week, and your fasts certainly don’t need to be 72 hours long.

1 or 2 24-hour fasts per week. – This is Eat Stop Eat

Anything more is a much different form of fasting.

It’s not Flexible Intermittent Fasting and it’s certainly not Eat Stop Eat.

If you lose the Flexibility, your just dieting all over again.

BP

Keep it Flexible with these steps.

1. Don’t try fasting without reading Eat Stop Eat. This may seem a little self-serving on my part, but I get close to 100 fasting related questions and comments per day, and the people having the hardest time are always the ones trying to follow Eat Stop Eat without reading Eat Stop Eat.

2. Start with ONE fast per week. I am a firm believer that many people would be surprised at how effective even one fast can be for weight loss.

3. Fight the temptation to fast more than twice a week, or to extend your fasts into 2 or 3 days straight. There’s nothing wrong with cutting a fast short at 22 hours, or extending a fast to 27 or 28 hours IF IT FITS INTO YOUR SCHEDULE. But if you end up fasting for 40, 50 or even 70 hours I simply don’t see how this CANNOT become intrusive on your life.

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What should I break my fast with?

What should I eat after my fast?

What’s the best thing to eat after my fast?

The answer to all of these questions is exactly the same.

When you finish your fast you need to pretend that your fast NEVER HAPPENED.

No compensation, no reward, no special way of eating, no special shakes, drinks or pills.

The minute you decide to stop fasting, you need to wipe the fast from your memory, and eat the exact way you would normally eat at that specific time of the day (responsibly of course).

If you end your fast at dinner time, have dinner. If you end your fast at 4 PM, and you don’t typically have dinner until 6 or 7 PM, then have a light snack…but nothing larger than you would normally have at that time.

There is no magic way to end your fast. The absolute best thing you can do is simply pretend your fast never happened and begin eating in the exact way you would normally eat at that specific time of day.

BP

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Here’s a great blog post about fasting written by Craig Ballantyne. I usually find Craig’s posts entertaining, but this particular post was ‘extra special’ for a number of reasons:

1. It starts with a picture of Steak AND a picture of a pint of Guinness!
2. Craig talks in great detail about his experience with fasting
3. Craig was a HUGE fasting skeptic, especially when it came to fasting during exercise! So it’s nice to read that he finds Eat Stop Eat so easy.
4. Craig mentions one of my biggest pet peeves (Hint: He mentions it while talking about the other passengers on his plane)
5. Last but not least, Craig mentions hitting a personal best with the Deadlift  – It’s always motivating to read about people making progress in the gym – Makes me want to do deadlifts tonight.

You can read Craig’s post here ==> http://www.ttfatloss.com/fat-loss/fasting-for-fat-loss/

BP

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So its Jan 1st…again.

For many people this means new years resolution time…and like a bad case of deja vu…it’s typically the SAME resolutions EVERY YEAR.

“I’m going to lose weight”

“I’m going to eat healthy”

“I’m going to go to the the gym every SINGLE DAY”

The problem with these resolutions is that..well..they are boring.

So this year, lets shake it up.

First..let’s combine the first two “traditional” resolutions ..”I am going to eat healthy and lose weight”..throw it out, and replace it with:

I am going to commit to getting results by doing nothing

Way more fun…and if you think about it, that’s exactly what happens when you follow Eat Stop Eat…all of your weight loss success come from…doing NOTHING!

Next, lets take the traditional resolution of “I will go to the gym every single day” and replace it with something much easier and FAR more effective:

I will record my workouts in a journal, and will try to improve with each workout

Like I said, much easier, and 100 times more effective.

Lastly, lets add one more resolution to the mix:

I will commit to one strength goal this year

I like this one becuase it really focuses your workouts, and because strength in the gym is a great measure of improvement.

For me, I commit to doing a standing barbell shoulder press with 225 pounds. It has been a goal of mine for a while now, but 2009 is going to be the year that I accomplish this.

So there are three health and fitness resolutions that are not traditional, not boring, but are super effective.

BP
PS- My own personal new years resolutions are to explore the first resolution to its fullest

I will commit to getting results by doing nothing

I am starting to think that this may have a far greater reach than simply intermittent fasting and weight loss.

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Here an Interesting take on the research behind Intermittent fasting and longevity from Scientific American’s Podcast “60-Second Science”.

You can listen to the podcast here:

http://www.sciam.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=fasting-may-equal-calorie-restricte-08-12-26

BP

PS- I just put the finishing touches on my presentations for my 1 day seminar coming up on January 17th. All I can say is that I’ve even surprised myself with how many nutrition myths I manage to tackle in this presentation!

It’s going to be an amazing day, and there are still a couple seats left so make sure you sign up soon ==>

http://www.ttmembers.com/products/item14.cfm

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Here’s a great interview with Jennifer from Austria, a long time friend of Eat Stop Eat.

Jennifer is living proof that you can look amazing in your 40’s with the right attitude, the right workout routine and a little help from Eat Stop Eat.

Jennifer’s Interview

BP

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I just did a really fun interview for ‘The IF Life’.

It was a joint round table discussion between the author of the IF Life, Martin Berkhan of LeanGains.com and yours truly.

We covered our basic philosophies on IF (Intermittent Fasting), the biggest mistake we see people making with IF (Can you guess what I said?), and our top advice for anybody wanting to try intermittent fasting for the first time.

You can read the interview here ==> Intermittent Fasting Round table

BP

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I stumbled across a really good post about some of the more “Life Friendly” benefits of following a intermittent fasting lifestyle such as Eat Stop Eat….

You can check it out here ==> Simple Benefits of Fasting

You can learn more about the benefits of following a flexible form of Intermittent Fasting by Clicking here ==> Flexible Intermittent Fasting

BP

No more counting calories to lose weight

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