Dane's Guide to Nutrition and Weight Loss
Nutrition and weight loss, the ever going battle of our society. It is saddening to see how often the cycle is repeated for people that is based around losing weight. The struggle is real, the battle is never ending, the relationship with food is odd and the lack of accountability is incredible. But why? Why does this happen over and over again?
Manipulation and Food Reward
I have been just north of 290lbs as of three four years ago. I lived the husky life essentially since I was a younger child. I weighed 80lbs in first grade, 120lbs by third grade, 160lbs by sixth grade. I have not weighed under 225lbs since I was 16 years of age. When my brother and sister called me fat, my mom always backed me up and said I wasn’t fat, I was husky!
I decided to take control of my health almost exactly three years ago. I knew I could slowly lose 1-3 pounds a week by controlling my food intake and by holding myself accountable. The catalyst for me was being diagnosed with Lyme disease, being treated for 3 years and then finally recognizing that if I would gain control of my weight, I would have further control over inflammation and ultimately feel better as a father, a husband, a business owner and become a role model for athletes and clients in my gym.
What I figured out early on was to have a plan for everything. I grew up chubby, I have a sweet tooth, I have a salty tooth, I have a fat tooth, I have a milk tooth… I love food and I realized that food controlled me. I had spent tons of time researching food, studying Stephan Guyenet, Weston A Price, Taubes, Ray Peat, the Sonnenburgs, everyone under the sun! What I learned was making my food taste REALLY good lead me to overeat. So step one for me was to make sure my food was bland or only mildly tasteful at first. This doesn’t mean constantly eat bland food, but it does mean that you should set a target first step to achieve before you can really treat yourself to tasty, good food.
Establish a goal weight or a goal date of accountability before having tasty food. That means for me, I had to lose 20lbs (make it to 270lbs) before I could have a tasty meal and make sure that I eat properly for 25 days straight before “tasting” the waters of flavor.
Food can manipulate those that have struggled with weight. Almost as though the food is speaking to you….”EAAAAAAT MEEEEE!” By establishing those goal dates or numbers, you are educating yourself that you are controlling yourself!
Feed Your Gut!
That’s the buzzword today...gut health, microbiome, gut flora, you name it and everyone is speaking about it. In 2009 I was fortunate enough to be in a full day seminar with Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. Her focus for the entire day was on gut health, how to feed your gut to heal itself, decrease inflammation and get your gut to communicate with your brain properly! I used her principles (and still do) with many of my clients. Clients have lost over a hundred pounds on our nutrition system and by the time I was enlightened enough to partake in the weight loss myself, I began the process of healing my husky gut.
What did that mean? Lots and lots of GelatinPro, tons of bone broth from chickens raised on my farm and ample amounts of microbiota accessible carbohydrates….i.e. Twice boiled potatoes! Over time my husky gut slowly shrank, my energy felt better and my brain became clearer as well.
Preparation
Is it difficult to feed your gut? Absolutely. Is it hard to set goals and hit them? 100%! This shit isn’t easy, but preparation makes everything easier to attack! Preparation for nutrition and health is exactly like preparation for a football game, a weightlifting competition or a soccer game. Every possible scenario needs to be accounted for and planned for with a progressive approach. What will you do when you have a sweet tooth? What will you do when you get poor sleep? What will you do if you forgot your healthy food for lunch!?!?!? All of these scenarios can be planned ahead, prepared for, accounted for...BUT, it takes more time and energy.
Because it takes more time and energy, most people will take the easy way out, not by choice but by convenience. They will slowly fall off the wagon, they will slowly fall back into their old habits and soon enough, their health will return to the point of negligence, they won’t feel good again and now they will feel as though they are a failure because they were incapable of holding themselves accountable.
Preparation needs goals...make it a goal to prepare meals for 3 straight days, then the next step is to hold yourself accountable to make meals for the next 3 days to make it a little less stressful. Soon enough, you will be doing cluster meal preparation, making 7 days of meals at one time, easing the stress of not knowing what you will eat and being fully prepared for every possible scenario thrown your way. When you are more engrossed in the methods of preparation, failure is no longer an option. Now the methods are established and you can begin your journey to a healthier version of yourself.
Need nutritional guidance? Need help or a jump start to be a better version of yourself? Head over to the custom nutritional program and make those gains start rolling!