There is so much conflicting information out there. One person tells you that carbs are the devil, while another claims that all you need to do is cut out fat and you’ll lose weight. Who’s right? And more importantly,, who’s wrong? In this episode, Rebecca Scritchfield and I debunk some of the most common diet myths, set the record straight, and give you the information you need to make healthy decisions for your body.. So put down that fad diet book, grab a donut (yes a donut!), and watch us on Youtube or in the podcast below!
Diet Myths Debunked: What You Need to Know
Dieting maintains its power because it creates a deep need. So “I’m not good enough as I am right now. This is a pain point, and it promises that life will be so much better if you do this, right? And we ACTUALLY believe that promise! We feel hope just from that visual of that imaginary better life or how your body would look after losing a certain amount of pounds on Whole 30 or whatever. That visual sends a dopamine reward to your brain, saying, “This would be good if this happened to me.” So we’re not thinking rationally. We’re emotionally sold on the vision of what I can’t have, as I am right now. I must work to achieve this by depriving my body. It’s very, very twisted.
What if I told you?… You don’t need to eat low carb, workout for hours a day, spend your weekend meal prepping, or even miss out on eating donuts with your kids. Did you know that you CAN lose weight WITHOUT cutting out the foods you love?
How to Lose Weight WITHOUT Cutting out the Foods you Love
In this Youtube video, we are throwing back to my interview with Amber of Biceps After Babies (@biceps.after.babies on IG !) as she speaks ALL about how she created a body she loves WITHOUT giving up the foods she loves!
In this chat, you’ll discover, how YOU can also be an example that ALL foods can fit into your diet and that you can eat the food you love while seeing the progress you want to see (rather than taking breaks from your progress to “enjoy life”).
If you…
Eat “healthy” but don’t see the scale go down.
Are overwhelmed with the thought of getting started counting macros.
Feel “stuck” or “frustrated” in your fat loss journey.
Start the day with such good intentions but then end it with a carton of ice cream and guilt.
It doesn’t have to be this way….
You CAN find food freedom AND finally make progress on your fat loss goals… …without having to cut out ice cream or pizza.
(Got a friend who is struggling, removing everything from their diet, and seeing no progress? Share it with them!)
And Great News!!!
My friend, Amber Brueseke from Biceps After Babies, will be holding a FREE 5 Days to a Fitter You Challenge starting March 21, 2022. Trust me, you will love it!
Want to get fitter WITHOUT misery? Nothing restrictive. Nothing off-limits. 100% customized to the body you want? THIS CHALLENGE IS FOR YOU! Daily Emails, Daily Training, and ALL recorded – so get in it, get on it, and invite a friend!
Learn how stress affects your metabolism and why it can cause weight gain. Plus some tips on how to manage it.
How Stress Affects Your Metabolism
Stress is an inevitable part of life. It can be caused by both good and bad events, and it can affect our emotions, thoughts, and physical health. When you’re feeling stressed out, your body produces more of the hormone cortisol. This hormone can lead to weight gain, especially around your midsection. So if you’re trying to lose weight, it’s important to learn how to manage it. Take some time each day to relax, and you’ll see a big difference in your weight loss progress!
Practical ways to relieve stress in your life are:
Go for a walk
Drink plenty of water
Do something creative
Get plenty of sleep
Have some “you” time
Learn to say no
Hang out with friends
Hang out with your pet
Laugh and smile more
Limit caffeine and alcohol
Exercise
Clean your house
Breathe
Be sure to watch our video above for a more in-depth look into this issue and learn how to deal with the extra pounds caused by stress. Have you tried any of the techniques mentioned in the video? What works best for you? Let us know in the comments below.
When you suddenly stop losing weight, or results appear to be getting worse, it’s flat out frustrating. You can’t help but wrack your brain (and pound the google pavement) searching for THE answer.
Should I add more cardio?
Take a special supplement?
Maybe I’m fill-in-the-blank intolerant?
Fill-in-the-blank always worked in the past…I just need to stick with it…
The DIY Dieter’s Downfall – Allowing nostalgia to override the science
Too often DIY dieters reflect back on tactics they’ve used in the past, and use it as a measuring stick for how to move forward. If a certain diet or workout plan done for a short period of time gave them some “success,” they tend to assume that any plateau, or lack of visible progress can be fixed by going “back to” or doing more of it.
Wrong.
Unfortunately, there is no magic diet pill, calorie level, or workout plan that will help you achieve permanent success. At least not in the way that most people believe.
The diet industry has sold discouraged DIY dieters on the dream that if you just keep searching for that one, perfect-for-you style of eating or exercising, that you can “set it and forget it.”
Plateau Reality #1: The human body will adapt to ANYTHING that you do repeatedly.
Remember that first time you took up running/did that infomercial workout/cut carbs/tried Slim-fast? Whatever the thing is that gave you that first real taste of results? You got so focused on the results, that your brain made an immediate, long-standing (and incorrect) connection:
This is what it takes to get me results.
So, you either stopped doing it once you got to your goal, and pledged your undying devotion to it as your go-to from that moment forward…
Or…
You kept doing it religiously, thinking that the results could only get better from there.
But things didn’t quite pan out as you’d hoped. Eventually the results stopped, or started going backwards.
This is because your results are never based on one specific workout program. Results come from a compounding of multiple actions, including actions taken before, during, and after the program. This is known as periodization in the strength and conditioning world.
Results viewed out of context can lead to an extremely messy situation for DIY dieters. Years are wasted chasing the onestyle of eating, the one calorie level, or the one workout plan that will solve all of their problems. If only that’s how it all worked…
Plateau Reality #2 – If you want something to keep working, take a break from it.
Ok. So how the heck are you supposed to navigate this new reality that no matter what you do, your body will adapt and it will stop working?
Short answer: quit while you’re ahead.
Longer answer: know and accept the fact that anything works short term, but nothing works forever. Then you can strategically step away from something when (or preferably just before) it stops working.
Do you have to let it go forever? No. But don’t let your addiction to the short term “benefits” override the science: once your body has adapted, diminishing returns are on the horizon.
If you have a favorite workout plan, style, etc. you can still do them. But decide upfront if you’re doing it for the love of it, or because you want a physique-based result from it.
If it’s the former, then do what you love, as much as you like, for as long as you like. #noregrets
If it’s the latter, you’ll want to set yourself some boundaries. Decide ahead of time on the season, phase, or circumstances that you’ll be adding it in (ex: you love running in the summer time, or Thursday night Zumba with the girls).
But most importantly – set a designated time frame for when you will start, stop, and take a break from it so that you don’t experience diminishing returns on all your hard work. (For example: 3-6 weeks, or only ONE round of a 12-week plan, etc).
Here at EM2WL we have talked in great length before about this lifestyle being a journey, not a race. We don’t reach the end result in 21 days or 90 days, or even in a year. The path to breaking free from Diet Mentality begins with a single step forward. For CTDM Workshop Alum member Rachel Perry, the first step forward was to take a step back.
Healing During the Messy Middle
Rachel joined the Fam during our first Crushing the Diet Mentality workshop over two years ago. Eager to learn how to take control of her life again, Rachel jumped right in to the materials and began her journey. She quickly realized that she had wasted over 20 years of her life by jumping on every latest diet trend. (not including the thousands of dollars in the process) After the workshop ended, the real work was set to begin. Rachel made the decision to enter a chill phase and spent the next two years relearning how to just live life again.
Rachel recently sat down with Kiki to discuss her messy middle – that part no one sees between the before and after pictures. In her interview, Rachel discusses many of her mindset shifts that occurred over her two years in chill. Some key points they discuss in this vlog are:
Having a DEXA scan done and seeing just how much muscle she had lost from dieting
Gaining 10 pounds in a year and none of it being Fat.
Learning that the work is being done under the surface, and that you can’t see it most of the time.
Understanding what it truly means to be in a Chill phase.
Learning that diet mentality makes you track time, not behaviors.
Realizing that it is a really cool journey learning about yourself.
Appreciating that she can now have Cadbury eggs in the house months after Easter
No more GUILT!
Rachel’s journey is far from over. She shares her messy middle to encourage new members that there are people who took back their life. There are members of the Fam who understand your struggles and are here to help. And there is life after the scale.
Be sure to take a few moments and listen to this amazing conversation!
Be sure to head on over to our Online Facebook Community to see Rachel and all of the Fam who have gone through, or going through the Messy Middle
A food tracker can be a powerful weight loss tool. When used correctly, it can give you a ton of data about your eating patterns and caloric intakes. For many, tracking food can mean the difference between eating enough calories and eating the right kinds of calories. However, the ultimate goal for the majority of #crushers is to be able to live and eat without the aid of a food tracker.
Intuitive eating vs. Food tracker
The goal to stop tracking comes with an important caveat. You have to actually track your food for a period of time in order to stop tracking later. So for many, this means understanding that if your goal is to stop using a food tracker, then you must be able to perfect intuitive eating, by knowing how your food choices line up each day.
By tracking, this allows you to see each day where your calorie intake actually hits, and where your macros fall in. This allows you to make notes of what you need to eat daily, and how your choices affect your macros for each meal. Paying attention to your daily food habits will set you up for success when the time comes to stop tracking. Your understanding of how to hit that protein goal becomes apparent after you track consistently.
Another good reason for using a food tracker is seeing if there are patterns in your moods and hunger cues. By tracking your moods daily using the notes section of your diary, you will be able to see if there are patterns to certain issues. Things like skipping breakfast causes you to binge eat later in the day. Or a pattern in eating a certain food brings on the bloat or gives you headaches/migraines. These cues can tell you a lot about your eating habits and how to troubleshoot them long after you stop tracking.
Finally, tracking your food allows you to be self aware. It keeps you accountable to your daily required calories, and hitting those macros. Both are necessary for fat loss. It also gives you the stepping stones to make these changes in your food a habit. Habits which need to be solid before you begin intuitive eating.
The goal for everyone is to eventually stop tracking food. But take the steps now to track so your foundation is solid in the future.
Here at EM2WL we have talked in great length before about this lifestyle being a journey, not a race. We don’t reach the end result in 21 days or 90 days, or even in a year. The path to breaking free from Diet Mentality begins with a single step forward. For CTDM Workshop Alum member Rachel Perry, the first step forward was to take a step back.
A food tracker can be a powerful weight loss tool. When used correctly, it can give you a ton of data about your eating patterns and caloric intakes. For many, tracking food can mean the difference between eating 
Another good reason for using a food tracker is seeing if there are patterns in your moods and hunger cues. By tracking your moods daily using the notes section of your diary, you will be able to see if there are patterns to certain issues. Things like skipping breakfast causes you to binge eat later in the day. Or a pattern in eating a certain food brings on the bloat or gives you headaches/migraines. These cues can tell you a lot about your eating habits and how to troubleshoot them long after you stop tracking.
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