My wife has become healthier and a lot leaner than ever. She looks absolutely gorgeous. She accomplished her weight loss by simply eating mostly whole, real food and by eating fewer times through the day. She uses intermittent fasting. 

But for intermittent fasting to be successful, old thinking habits must be dropped. She’s still working on this.

I had a meeting that ran late, so dinner was delayed. After the meeting I called her to let her know I was on my way and she replied with a light-hearted comment: 

“Great, I’m starving!”

When I got home she was actually fine and said that her hunger went away after a few minutes. And that was that. We cooked dinner together, enjoying a glass of wine and a conversation.

But her reply got me thinking. She used the word starvation to describe something that’s biologically superficial like hunger. And since it is understood among psychologists that words and thoughts can dictate behavior, something as innocuous as a word — starving, or famished — may end up controlling how we act, or in this case, how we eat.

In the past, my wife would’ve grabbed “a quick snack” while waiting for me to get home, and then she would have eaten again, a full-on dinner. This would have netted her additional calories she didn’t need.

This experience reminded my wife that hunger is often temporary and that starvation is actually a physical response to being unfed for not just several hours but for several weeks.

Starvation, therefore, is a true biological emergency. Its usage should not be thrown around for something so trivial as a fleeting sensation no different from a passing memory. 

In today’s Western world, hunger is never an emergency. We can wait to eat.

Those who ask “What?” are in the long term rarely successful. Those who ask “What’s the reason?” are in the long term more  successful.

Those who say “just tell me what to do” never own their diet or exercise. Those who say “tell me the reason why I do this” are empowered to make healthful decisions for the rest of their lives.

Which one are you?

New exercise concepts come and go. New gyms, new classes, and new equipment always make their introductions, some disappearing quickly, while others achieving loyal followings, even cult-like.

But the stuff that truly matters and will stay around is the stuff that’s been around since we learned how to hunt for our own food several hundred thousand years ago:

• Walk
• Run
• Crouch
• Sprint
• Throw
• Jump
• Lift something 
• Do it all better

Everything else is merely a barcode and marketing.

If you’re trying to get healthier and look better, keep it simple.

I was at Border’s Book yesterday browsing my afternoon away in my cotton scarf and sipping on a medium Americano with heavy whipping cream. No more than two sips into my coffee did I find myself standing in front of a grand section near the front of the bookstore devoted entirely to dozens of books on the topic of dieting for weight loss and fat loss. 

These books contain different dietary premises for weight loss. Within their hard and soft covers they bound anywhere between 200 pages to 400 pages. They’re written by people from all walks of life, from doctors to celebrities to nobodies with 6-pack abs. There were literally several dozen books, and apparently their authors all claim that their diets work.

And I’m sure many of the diets work. But I couldn’t help wonder how much revenue is generated by the publishing industry on this very topic alone, one that promotes thousands of books pushing just as many dieting methods to achieve just one  single thing: weight loss.

And then I thought, what if someone comes out with just a single, no-bullshit secret that can put this entire segment of the publishing industry out of business. I took a sip of my espresso drink. And I thought that the unequivocal answer is, quite simply, eat less.

But then I thought that eating less might be too vague. People in general need a method, judging by the methods featured in all of these books. I sipped my espresso drink again, loosening the scarf from around my neck.

Then it hit me. The one single advice, the method, that anyone and everyone can put into practice immediately is: Eat Slowly.

That’s it!

Eat Slowly.

If everyone eats slower than they’ve been, they’ll likely consume less food, for the stomach shall have a chance to signal to the brain satiety, and for people will begin to eat mindfully, taste their meals again… and derive joy from the food they eat, rather than from the act of eating their food. 

And for this they’ll eat less, which after all is debated and wringed dried about diets like Atkins, South Beach, Zone, Paleo, Pritikin, and dozens of others that line the bookshelves, the one irrefutable law of weight loss is still: Eat Less.

A client of mine has been struggling with fat loss without success. This past weekend he went away to a health spa, where they measured his basal metabolic rate. He was surprised that his metabolic rate was a lot lower than he thought.

Upon returning he emailed me and said that basically, if he wants to be lean, then he’d “have to live on a diet.” He then asks if there’s anything we can do to increase his basal metabolic rate.

My reply to him:

Hi *****,

Everyone, whether lean or fat, has to live on “a diet.”

Don’t be surprised by the “low” metabolic rate.

First, metabolism assessed through any measurement of oxygen-exchange rate is only an estimation.

Basal metabolic rate is often a lot lower than most people believe, even when adding activity levels.

Your organs burn far more calories at rest than your muscle.

Each pound of muscle you add can burn only an additional 6 calories per day — not the mythical 50 calories. Not much in other words.

• 1 hour of weight training averages a burn of 450 calories.
• 1 hour of CrossFIT averages a burn of 560 calories.
• Difference = 110 calories.
• 110 calories is less than a tiny Yoplait yogurt. Or a less than a Skinny Cow.

The point is this:

Increased muscle mass does not burn significantly more calories.

Killing yourself for an entire hour of CrossFIT burns only a few calories more, but can be neutralized with a few extra bites of food.

Basal metabolic rate is a reflection of current total body weight; increasing 10 pounds of muscle burns only an additional 60 calories per day.

Therefore, basal metabolic rate (limited to mostly organs) is not changed easily.

The best way to lose fat is eating less.

Although many diets work (Zone, Atkins, Pritikin, Paleo, high protein, high carbs, etc.), they’re mostly hypothesis that scientists and promoters still argue about.

However, the single, irrefutable law of weight and fat loss is a long-term calorie deficit.

So whatever diet you chose, if you want to lose fat, you must eat less. It’s that simple. It’s not debatable.

As such, I have found long-term success in eating fewer times per day. I also make sure most of the food is nutrient-rich — mostly vegetables, fruits, and meats. This may help to preserve optimal health while in a calorie deficit. Beyond this I still enjoy some sinful food — or what’s the point?!

Our culture is conditioned to eat 4 to 6 meals a day, believing this stabilizes blood sugar, maintains muscle, speeds up metabolism, etc. But no scientific evidence can demonstrate these factors to be different in fewer meals a day.

From a metabolic standpoint, there are no advantages to spreading 1, 2, or 3 meals over more smaller meals throughout the day.

People who eat 5 or 6 meals per day are still overweight. Bodybuilders who eat 5 or 6 meals are still fat in the off-season, and are lean only when they “diet down” for a competition, typically by eating fewer calories. 

My suggestion, *****, is that you view your exercise program as a way to become physically fit, strong, healthy, and build some muscle mass for “shape,” while you reconsider your diet as the primary factor for your fat loss.

Are you busy at work, running errands, taking care of the kids?

What if –  by some miracle — you have some downtime today? What would you do? Read the papers, watch some television, or catch up on your favorite blogs?

When you have downtime, do you do what most people do and eat mindlessly? It’s common.

What I’ve found effective for breaking the habit of mindless eating is a conscious decision to not eat until after a certain time. It’s that simple — it’s like fetching my mail, letting out the cat, or turning on the porch light. It makes no sense to do these things before their time.

In my case, I typically just don’t eat until around 5PM. This has removed any ambiguity about eating, and the result is that I can sit through any downtime without falling victim to mindless eating.

Most people would think that not eating until 5PM is insane, unhealthy. This is because our culture is conditioned to believe that regular feeding and constantly digesting  (3 – 4 hours per meal) is normal, that as long as we’re awake our digestive system should never rest.

But research shows that this constant feeding induces excessive postprandial oxidative  stress, which can increase inflammation. Constant feeding also increases the likelihood of calorie creeping, and ultimately overweight.

Studies show intermittent fasting of 24 hours and up to 72 hours improves health factors, and it promotes hormones that help regulate energy as well as mobilize stored fat for burning.

For these reasons I’m excited that I don’t have to continuously feed but also I get to enjoy less body fat as a result. And I’m grateful for the health benefits promoted by regular breaks from eating (decreased oxidative stress, improved insulin sensitivity, better blood pressure, decreased brain aging, etc.).

I won’t tell you that I don’t experience occasional hunger, because I do. It usually appears around 11AM, and then again around 3PM (although it’s probably different for various people). But this hunger always diminishes completely within minutes. The result is mental sharpness and enhanced energy for work, for writing, or for anything I need to do — perhaps a result of released catecholamines, and the steady availability of energy from fat burning.

This feeding schedule works well into my life, and I imagine it would work well for almost anyone. (It’s probably not for everyone, like growing children, pregnant women, elite athletes under a heavy training schedule, etc.)

You don’t have to follow a 5PM feeding schedule like I do, but the concept is this: there’s generally no physiological reason that you must eat all day long. So use a schedule that works for you — it could be 3PM, 4PM, or even as late as 7PM — whatever works. You don’t have to do this everyday, but you can… and many cultures and tribes do.

The best part? Once you’re used to it (and people do eventually accommodate to different feeding schedules), it’s ridiculously easy. The benefits are also visibly amazing.

So, what are you doing today?

Mine is not breakfast, and I’ll tell you why.

Nutritionists and health experts tell us that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Skip breakfast, they warn, and you’ll end up eating more later.

So this promotes a rush of early morning activity in kitchens across America, people trying to get ready for work while mindlessly shoving down low-quality food before they slip half-awake out the door. This is our most important meal of the day?

Looking into the research, we find there’s no supporting evidence that breakfast is the most important meal.

As I’ve written before, the act of bingeing after a fast (or skipping breakfast) is probably independent of fasting and based on a behavior of those who have bingeing tendency to begin with, no matter the meal pattern. On the other hand, a study shows that a 36-hour fast did not induce a powerful, unconditioned tendency to binge at the next meal or later meals.

But even if bingeing does occur after a fast, it does not mean we’ll put on weight. Whether we eat the same amount of calories through 3 meals or 2 meals (or even 1 meal) per day, meal frequency does not effect DAILY metabolic rate or energy level.

But consuming calories in fewer meals to equal the same as those from more frequent meals is a practice in physical discomfort, even in the face of gluttony. Here’s a quote from a 2007 study that demonstrates free-feeding (ad libitum) after a fast still nets an overall lower caloric intake:

…when on 1 meal/day, the subjects would have eaten less than those on 3 meals/day if we had not asked them to consume the same amount of food that they normally eat on a 3 meal/d schedule. When rodents are subjected to an alternate day fasting regimen, their overall calorie intake is decreased by 10–30% and they maintain a lower body weight than animals on an ad libitum control diet, and exhibit increased insulin sensitivity and decreased blood pressure.

As you can see, if you fast (24 to 36 hours) or skip breakfast, you’re not likely to binge; and if you do binge, you’re not likely to eat the same calories as you would have if you hadn’t fasted.

So, what is YOUR most important meal of the day? Is it shoving down breakfast in a rush, or is it some other meal in your day?

My most important meal of the day is almost always dinner. It is the time when I get to sit down with my wife, with family, or with good friends, and enjoy every bite of food, slowly, deliberately, with a glass of burgundy.

Perhaps this is why my feeding starts around 5PM. It works for me in so many ways: schedule, relationship, health, body composition, and real enjoyment of food.

Although I’m a technical writer, I also earn a decent living as a part-time personal trainer. It’s what I enjoy doing because it gets me away from the desk and moving around.

I have a list of loyal clients, many of whom have been with me for a decade or so. I’m grateful, but what I find interesting is this:

I tell all of my clients that I cannot help them. Yet year after year they continue to pay me nearly $100 per session.

It is no hiding that most potential clients come to me with one goal in mind: lose fat and get lean.

Well, it took me several years to realize that there was no exercise I can prescribe within my scope of practice as a personal trainer that could help them achieve their goal. In short, I cannot help them lose weight. And I make that clear.

What I tell them, though, is that exercise (particularly resistance training) may improve their health: it can increase insulin sensitivity, regulate their glucose, and improve their mood. It builds muscle and may give their bodies some shape. Exercise may also help them prevent weight or fat gain.

But, exercise will not help them lose weight.

Only eating better and eating less can help them lose weight. Plenty of evidence suggests this.

They understand. And amazingly, this up-front disclaimer and honesty has made my personal training service more valuable to them.

First, it addresses the ambiguity and misinformation so prevalent in the fitness industry: selling people the false hope that exercise causes weight loss, which encourages them to rely on exercise and half-ass their diet.

Second, telling them the facts will effectively remove the exercise-weight-loss BS so that they can finally accept that they are indeed accountable for their eating behavior.

Otherwise, you’ve seen it: clients paying their personal trainers to baby-sit them with hours of cardio, or to beat them to pulps using strength-and-conditioning methods meant for elite athletes, yet they look the same month after month, year after year.

I believe that personal trainers must first devalue themselves as weight-loss experts, in order to increase their value as health and fitness professionals.

The egg omelet represents everything that is good and bad about today’s diet.

The omelet is traditionally made with just an egg or two as the sole ingredient, and that’s it. The egg is whisked, cooked in butter, folded over, and placed on the plate — and the taste of fresh egg enjoyed slowly with a fork.

The original word for omelet is alemette, meaning “thin plate” in French. Here in the West, the thin-plate omelet is gone along with the thin, sleek bodies. It’s now overstuffed.

Today we cut, dice, and slice as many things as we can to throw into the egg, effectively burying the very element that gives the dish its name — the egg itself. It’s no longer about the egg, but everything else. It’s a deranged amalgamation of distraction, an ADD on the tongue, a Hail-Mary stimulus to our exceedingly lost sense of taste.

The egg omelet now suffers an onslaught of cooking rules and methods: Beat it with water… no, beat it with milk… actually, it should be heavy cream… about two tablespoons… actually, only one tablespoon, or you’ll make it too watery. Make sure it’s all eggwhite.

The omelet also suffers obesity: add sausage, bacon, ham, onion, potatoes, mushroom, 3 different cheeses, salt, pepper, and a dash of paprika. Maybe throw in hot sauce. And, maybe add in just one yolk.

How many ways can we complicate the egg omelet?

We treat our diet the same way we treat the omelet. We assign our diet unnecessary rules, then complicate it with novelty concepts, and then bury it in distractions. Just as we’ve lost the meaning of an egg omelet, we’ve lost the meaning of food. Which is to sustain life, and to enjoy.

Instead, we’ve turn a thin plate into mound of gluttony — unfocused and reckless.

I want you to try something:

For your next meal, make an omelet. You can use one, two, or even three eggs. Beat it in a bowl to a delicate froth, and then cook with a little butter in a frying pan. Cook it well, but don’t over-cook it. Then fold it over and place it on a plate. Then sit down and enjoy it. Just the omelet. And maybe a piece of fruit. That’s it.

If we can keep our diet this simple and minimalist, I think we’ll enjoy eating — and living — much more.

I spent the past several years reviewing books, reading blogs and watching videos on the subjects of diet and exercise. Throughout this exploration I’ve learned some things — but it’s not what I had hoped to have learned.

One is that everyone has vastly different information on diet and exercise. Another is that everyone seems to be correct in varying degrees — that is, they’re either correct significantly, or they’re correct just a little. Which also means that they’re just a little incorrect, or they’re significantly incorrect.

I also noticed that I can become easily confused by all of this information… even though I have a formal education and have worked for nearly 2 decades in this area! It’s absolutely confusing out there. I can’t imagine the average person wanting to lose some fat and get a little healthier trying to wade through this informational mess. It isn’t easy for me, so it must be a nightmare for this person.

The most important thing I learned was that, throughout my exploration into the available information, I have done extremely well by keeping to the bone of becoming leaner and healthier. I am now calling this strategy: rational simplicity.

And here it is:

• Eat more vegetables and fruits, but eat less overall by eating less frequently.
• Lift some weight (heavier and frequent, for bigger muscles — lighter and infrequent, for less).
• Periodically elevate the heart rate really high.
• Finally, walk around. A lot.

I wish I could impress people with more technical information than this. But it’s really this simple.