Sure they get older, more experienced, wiser (hopefully) but their inner nature?  I think it stays the same.

Which is why I think diet rules are silly – They try to change you.

As I type this I’m eating an espresso brownie while drinking an Americano – This habit isn’t going to change anytime soon. So any diet that tries to force me to quit this habit is going to be met with resistance, and ultimately failure.

For dieting to be successful, you need to understand yourself.

If you don’t understand yourself, you can’t really respect yourself and therefore you are easily influenced by others…Jumping from diet to diet, fad to fad.

To be successful at weight loss and changing your body you need to know who you are and what you like, so in a way you need to be self-reliant

Self Reliance Starts with recognizing who you are and what you have to work with and what works best for you.

You need to know the foods you really can’t do without. The ‘bad’ habits that you have that you aren’t willing to give up.

You also need to know what you have to work with.

With Eat Stop Eat I made sure I never tell people what they can and can’t eat. The Same with John Barban and The Anything Goes Diet – There really are no diet rules.

What you are and are not going to eat is up to you. This allows you to work with your own inner-nature while dieting. Diet Rules do the opposite – Try to force you to change in a way you may not be willing to change.

Bottom Line- Don’t think of weight loss as trying to change yourself, think of it as improving yourself in a manner that fits who you are.

Success will come naturally this way.

BP

But, I really wanted to write a post about diet books today, and I had a point that I REALLY wanted to share with you, but I simply did not have  enough time to write a nice wordy post…so I quickly jotted some notes down and realized that they had almost formed some sort of really poor  haiku.

…so smiled and had some fun with it.

I hope you like it.

The thing with Diet Books -

They all have to have a catch

This part is what sells.

Eat less and move more

The truth with no hook, no catch.

No secret science.

Hormones and Enzymes

Make for great diet book titles

but the truth remains -

Eat less and move more.

BP

A great read and over 100 very interesting comments.

http://zenhabits.net/2009/06/its-time-for-a-new-relationship-with-food/

Happy reading!

BP

(Brier meeting her little brother Ro Wilder Pilon)

My wife delivered our second child (baby boy) on Saturday…so life has been busy (but busy is good).

And this leads me to the point of this post.

We’re all busy, and when life gets busy, there is nothing worse than wasted time.

And when it comes to weight loss success, exercise may actually be a WASTE of your time.

Crazy right?

And I know it’s super popular right now to pick on ‘long slow boring cardio’ but that’s not the point of this email -   I’m talking about most forms of exercise!

A recent research trial examined the relationship between exercise and our populations weight gain, and came to the startling conclusion that:

“There is no evidence that a marked reduction in physical activity  has been a contributor to this epidemic in the United States,”

“over the last couple of decades virtually all of our weight gain can be explained by an increase in energy intake.”

I know this sounds really counter intuitive, but consider the following:

Once you get passed a certain point, it may be that the effects  of exercise have been largely exaggerated.

Example:

A friend of mine just competed a marathon.

Now, she wasn’t running for weight loss (she’s a full blown competitive runner), but if she were, she would probably find the following information down-right depressing:

She weighs 120 pounds. She ran 42.5 Kilometers (it took 3.5 hours).

Using these numbers we know that she burned roughly 2300 Calories.

Since a pound of fat contains roughly 3,500 available calories in the form of fat, and assuming she was burning 100% fat (which is virtually impossible) Then that marathon run for 3.5 hours burned less than 2/3 of a pound of body fat!

Running for 3.5 hours straight, covering 42.5 kilometers (over 26 miles) and not even a pound of fat lost.

This is not including the gels and sports drinks she probably consumed during the race!

With the right amount of in-race calories, you could actually finish an entire marathon without putting a dent in your body fat at all!

And this doesn’t just apply to marathons. If you spread those 26 miles over a week, and ran almost 4 miles EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK,  you still would not have burned off even one pound of body fat.

Bottom line – for the vast majority of us, it’s not that we are exercising to little, it’s that we are simply eating more than we need to.

Now, please do me a favor and read that last line again.

I am certainly NOT saying that exercise doesn’t work, or that it doesn’t burn calories.

I am simply saying that for most of us, diet is the answer.

If you’re life is already busy, then for all intents and purposes, it is easier to eat less than it is to add in two and a half MORE hours of walking EVERYDAY. If you are already weight training 4 days a week, it may not make sense to add in 2 more days of training.

It doesn’t matter if you are doing high intensity training, intervals, hill sprints..fancy shmancy bodyweight circuits you name it, it’s a waste of your time (for weight loss) if you are eating more than you need to!

(Of course if you are already eating in a calorie deficit these things will help, just not as much as we’ve been told – or more correctly, sold).

Eat for weight loss. Exercise to build or maintain muscle mass. Stay active by doing activities you enjoy doing. If you have a sport, then train to be better at the sport but don’t expect them to create stunning transformations in the way your body looks – not without the proper diet.

There are a lot of benefits that come from exercise, (especially when that exercise builds muscle and is extremely time efficient) however the key to weight loss success will always be your diet.

If you are looking for weight loss success then as always I recommend Eat Stop Eat as an easy and effective way to lose weight, but any diet will do as long as it is easy, creates a caloric deficit and fits your lifestyle.

I hope this helps free up some of your time!

BP

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.

I only know of 3 people who I consider to be truly successful in business.

None of them became successful by taking shortcuts. None of them were the “right place, right time” stroke of luck success story either.

In fact, they all became successful the EXACT same way.

They used the EXACT same method that worked for me in my life, and its the EXACT same method that will work for you no matter what you goal is.

All 3 people had to move outside of their comfort zone in order to become successful.

I had the same thing happen to me…twice.

The first time was when I was in my third year at university. Back then my goal was to bench 300 pounds. Both my workout partner and I were mid-200 benchers and 300 seemed like ‘the ultimate bench press goal’.

By the end of my 3rd year I was benching 280 pounds. It wasn’t 3oo, but I thought it was pretty darn good. After all, in my group of friends, I was one of the top benchers.

That summer I decided to stay at University and take some extra courses.

I can remember the first day I went to the gym during the summer semester – It was a COMPLETELY difference crowd.

My usual crew was not there, instead the gym was almost empty, except for 4 or 5 guys who were A LOT bigger and A LOT stronger than me.

Adam, Steve, John and Big Jer were all 50 or 60 pounds heavier than me, and they were ALL high 300 pound benchers.

At this point I had 2 options:

Stay in my comfort zone, workout by myself and try to hit 300 pounds on the bench.

Move out of my comfort zone, Start training with the big boys, and accept the fact that 300 pounds was no longer an acceptable goal.

I picked the later. It was uncomfortable. Actually, that’s not true. It was darn right SCARY.

But I’m glad I did it.

By moving outside of my comfort zone 300 pounds was no longer a mental block, and by the end of August I was bench pressing 355 pounds for sets of 2.

55 pounds more than what I previously thought was the ‘perfect’ Bench Press.

This was the first time I reaped the rewards of moving out of my comfort zone.

The second time was when I walked away from my career in the supplement industry.

I had a great job, a great title, a massive office, financial stability, good co-workers, a great staff, even the commute wasn’t too bad.

But I knew it wasn’t what I was meant to do.

I moved out of my comfort zone the day I resigned. And while this isn’t a rags to riches story, I am now doing something I love. And this wouldn’t have been possible if I didn’t move outside of my comfort zone.

Most likely it is YOUR comfort zone that is keeping you from reaching your goals. ESPECIALLY if you goal is weight loss.

Doing an extra 20 minutes on the elliptical two or three times a week isn’t going to help you become noticeable leaner – What it IS going to help you stay in your comfort zone.

Switching from a white bagel to a whole wheat bagel for breakfast isn’t gong to help you lose weight- all it will do is keep you in your comfort zone.

The number one reason why most people have not tried Eat Stop Eat is because it is too far outside of their comfort zone. They miss out on hitting their weight loss goals simply because they are afraid to try something different.

Make a commitment to move outside of your comfort zone. Do the things you need to do to become successful.

Here is THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE I have ever been given:

If you want to be successful you have to do the things that unsuccessful people aren’t willing to do.

Your comfort zone is what is keeping you from attaining the success you want. Move out of your comfort zone and you will FORCE change and you will see results.

Unsuccessful people do the same ineffective things over and over because they are the things they are comfortable doing. To be successful you have to break this habit.

BP