A Diet for People Who Don’t Want to Starve
What makes me an authority on the subject? I am not a licensed nutritionist, trainer, or expert in the fields of bromatology or appetency, but I have been somewhat of an exercise guru for the last 10 years and like everybody else, I try to maintain a healthy physique. Make no mistake about it, diet and exercise are the key to maintaining a healthy body, but sometimes the order, quantity, and patterns with which we engage in these activities make a difference in their overall effect. I call this plan “Energy Efficient.”
Energy Efficient is a plan based around the idea of providing your body with the energy it needs when it needs it most, and for me personally that time is somewhere between the 7th and 13th hours of the day, after lunch but before I begin to wind down for the night, essentially the second and third quarters of a typical 16 hour day. The plan is basically built around a Sumo sized lunch, morning stretches, light wake-up and bed time snacks, light cardio, and a teeny tiny bit of targeted weightlifting.
When I wake up, I’m not that hungry, but I am thinking about food. As I get ready for work, I know that I am going to need to put something in my body before lunch so that I am not groggy. One way to avoid grogginess is to systematically stretch our muscles before you get ready for the day. It is sort of a way to wake your body up. Many people achieve this balance through Yoga, or derivatives thereof. It’s very light. It’s easy on the joints, and it serves as an alarm clock to wake that body up. Plus, you can sleep through it. That’s the great thing about Yoga, it requires no mental commitment on your part, a perfect way to begin your day.
The second part to this 2 part avoid grogginess in the morning I’m not going to overeat diet is the breakfast snack. Notice I said snack. This could include a piece or two of fruit, a snack bar, a protein shake, bowl of cereal, even a low fat muffin. The trick is to have something that is somewhat nutritious, but tastes great in the process. There are plenty of products out there. All you are trying to do is make it to lunch, because when lunch comes around it is seriously time to party.
When lunch comes around, do your best to find a place where you can load up on the fruit, vegetable, and protein groups. You could pick one a day because remember, you are going to be eating so much food during this meal that you may not have to focus on each food group every day. This is the time to stuff your face, not to a sickly or immovable state, but you definitely want to get to a point where you are high, loaded and ready for a nap but too full to sleep, you hear? This gargantuous Sumo sized lunch should give you enough fuel to bypass dinner, do a little bit of treadmill work come dark, and then rest comfortably for a lengthy snooze. Plus, you will not be in a hurry to leave work because you will be too full. The only thing on your mind will be work because you’re belly will be full, and their will be nothing else to do. Consider it a refuel, and then a coast because what’s the best feeling when driving your car? That’s right, when there is plenty of gas.
This Sumo sized lunch should take you straight into the twilight hours of the night without a nary for food in sight. Along the way, your stomach will deflate to a point where you can engage in some light cardiovascular activities or targeted weightlifting. Fifteen, twenty minutes tops, lift some weight for those areas that give you the most trouble, and do it hard; one, two sets, lots of resistance. To get that heart going; jump on the treadmill, cross-trainer, or go for a jog. Stimulating the heart after a healthy meal is good for the arteries. The nice thing about this cardio routine though is that you don’t have to do it that often; three times a week, four times a week. Remember, daily you are really not eating that much. The big lunch is only accompanied by a morning and bed time snack.
The bed time snack should be somewhat similar to the morning snack; a piece of fruit, some carrots, a glass of milk, even a serving of lowfat ice cream. The point is to satisfy your craving and give you enough energy to get to the morning because nobody likes going to bed on an empty stomach. Remember, this plan is Energy Efficient and rule one is don’t go hungry.
For years I tried diets that didn’t really work. I was always hungry. They told me to eat a little here, a little there, but there was never really any sensation of feeling full, content, and digestively satisfied. Some people can get away with eating 6 or 7 small meals during the course of a day, but like your car, a special feeling is felt when the tank is full. It’s a high really and people who like to eat, eat so much because they like to experience that high. I’m proposing a plan that will allow you to experience that feeling once a day, a once a day that really lasts for 7 or 8 hours. By eating light snacks for breakfast, waking up those muscles in the morning before work, pounding your face with well balanced food for lunch, and exercising before a light late night snack, the body will be kept emotionally content and you will experience a diet that keeps your weight at the level you prefer. Even if you pig out on this diet, you are honestly only going to be consuming around 1800 calories per day. It doesn’t seem like a lot and it isn’t, but you are going to feel the sensation of being digestively content.
The secret to this diet is the timing. It is specifically designed to make you hungry when you are not awake, and when you do wake up the light snack will hold you over until lunch because you know that at lunch, it’s definitely chow time, in a huge and Sumo sized way. This diet is specifically designed for those people who enjoy the sensation of feeling digestively content, want to maintain their weight, and want to do it in a way that doesn’t include prescription or over the counter drugs. Believe me, it works.
One of the reasons it works, is because of the strategically placed times for physical activity; stretching in the morning, cardio, and weightlifting in the middle evening, a total of 45 minutes. The stretching will wake your body up and the light snack that follows will give you fuel. After the Sumo sized lunch, the body will coast. Come middle evening, enough energy will be preserved to engage in a light cardio workout with some muscle specific weight training if need be. After the workout you will be tired, but you might be somewhat hungry so have a snack. You won’t eat again until the morning so make it something that will last, but not on your stomach. The late workout and the bed time snack should put you to bed tired and satisfied. When you wake up, start the whole thing all over again.
What I have done with this diet is tried to create a well balanced routine that incorporates smart eating and exercise into a routine that does not leave an individual hungry. It’s not always how much you eat or how much you work out, but when you eat and when you workout. This philosophy might prove to be an effective tool for those who are having trouble with small meal diets and don’t want to have surgery. It’s all natural, it’s safe and it’s something you can do with the food you find at your neighborhood grocery story. There’s no special meal plans or generic food to worry about. With the right discipline, any objective can be achieved. Try this plan on for size.
