In a world of weight loss where people are so consumed with the
type of foods they are eating, the amount of calories they are consuming
and the amount of calories and fat they are burning through exercise,
often overlooked are the patterns in which they are consuming their
daily food.
In this article I am going to give you an analogy I think you will like to try to help you better understand your metabolism and how the fire within you works. I have helped countless clients beat plateaus and speed up weight loss with these simple yet effective eating pattern suggestions. First let's discuss how your metabolism works.
It's a long weekend and you are up north with friends camping and enjoying the beautiful weather. At night you have a huge camp fire, everyone is eating, laughing and sharing stories. 2am comes, the fire is burning out and you all head to your tents to retire for the night. 8 hours later everyone wakes up in the morning. The fire is out and you all go about your business for the day while no-one tends to the fire. Evening comes everyone gathers around a still unlit camp fire, with no wood, no kindling and most importantly no flame. Your best friend takes out a hot dog, put's it on a stick and throws it over the lifeless fire pit. It doesn't cook. Your friends throw some newspaper on the fire and light it. There are flames for a few moments but once again the fire dies out. So finally a few of you go and gather wood, slowly get the fire going, and your food slowly starts cooking.
I want you to think of your metabolism (your bodies process of breaking down food into energy) as the camp fire. I want you to picture the typical person's day. Wake up, get cleaned up and rush to work usually skipping breakfast. Work all day with maybe a small 30 minute lunch break you skip. Drink a couple coffees or a couple sodas. Something but not enough to get your fire started. You finally get home, kick back, make a huge dinner for the family, sit down and stuff your face. Then a couple hours later before bed you grab a bowl of ice cream.
You've just consumed your entire days worth of calories in one sitting on an empty stomach with a metabolism just like the camp fire that has not yet been lit. The body struggles to break down the food and because you are on your butt for the rest of night, inactivity means little chance of you burning off these calories. You go to bed on a full stomach and your body stores the fat and is unable to burn off everything you have consumed. This is a disaster scenario if you are trying to lose weight.
What you want to be doing is this. Waking up in the morning and making yourself something to eat for breakfast. Kick start your metabolism (light your fire) the second you wake up!
Then to keep the fire burning all day, you continue to eat small meals or snacks throughout.
An hour after you get to work, pull out that first snack you brought from home. A couple hours later it will be lunch time. Make sure you don't skip out!
Then when 2:30pm rolls around grab that afternoon snack. Workout at 6? Eat another small snack at 5 to fuel your body properly. By the time you get home for dinner your metabolism is in high gear. Your fire is burning stronger and brighter than it has all day. You sit down and eat your dinner and you easily digest and burn those calories off. Your body recovers from its day and workout with the nutrients you just fed it, with nothing stored as fat and you retire to bed for a great night sleep!
Your eating patterns are just as important as the foods you consume and your daily caloric intake. If you can master all three of them and combine with a regular daily fitness regimen you will reach your weight loss goals in a timely and efficient manner. If you choose to throw crap on an unlit fire, your fire pit will quickly become a garbage dump.
In this article I am going to give you an analogy I think you will like to try to help you better understand your metabolism and how the fire within you works. I have helped countless clients beat plateaus and speed up weight loss with these simple yet effective eating pattern suggestions. First let's discuss how your metabolism works.
It's a long weekend and you are up north with friends camping and enjoying the beautiful weather. At night you have a huge camp fire, everyone is eating, laughing and sharing stories. 2am comes, the fire is burning out and you all head to your tents to retire for the night. 8 hours later everyone wakes up in the morning. The fire is out and you all go about your business for the day while no-one tends to the fire. Evening comes everyone gathers around a still unlit camp fire, with no wood, no kindling and most importantly no flame. Your best friend takes out a hot dog, put's it on a stick and throws it over the lifeless fire pit. It doesn't cook. Your friends throw some newspaper on the fire and light it. There are flames for a few moments but once again the fire dies out. So finally a few of you go and gather wood, slowly get the fire going, and your food slowly starts cooking.
I want you to think of your metabolism (your bodies process of breaking down food into energy) as the camp fire. I want you to picture the typical person's day. Wake up, get cleaned up and rush to work usually skipping breakfast. Work all day with maybe a small 30 minute lunch break you skip. Drink a couple coffees or a couple sodas. Something but not enough to get your fire started. You finally get home, kick back, make a huge dinner for the family, sit down and stuff your face. Then a couple hours later before bed you grab a bowl of ice cream.
You've just consumed your entire days worth of calories in one sitting on an empty stomach with a metabolism just like the camp fire that has not yet been lit. The body struggles to break down the food and because you are on your butt for the rest of night, inactivity means little chance of you burning off these calories. You go to bed on a full stomach and your body stores the fat and is unable to burn off everything you have consumed. This is a disaster scenario if you are trying to lose weight.
What you want to be doing is this. Waking up in the morning and making yourself something to eat for breakfast. Kick start your metabolism (light your fire) the second you wake up!
Then to keep the fire burning all day, you continue to eat small meals or snacks throughout.
An hour after you get to work, pull out that first snack you brought from home. A couple hours later it will be lunch time. Make sure you don't skip out!
Then when 2:30pm rolls around grab that afternoon snack. Workout at 6? Eat another small snack at 5 to fuel your body properly. By the time you get home for dinner your metabolism is in high gear. Your fire is burning stronger and brighter than it has all day. You sit down and eat your dinner and you easily digest and burn those calories off. Your body recovers from its day and workout with the nutrients you just fed it, with nothing stored as fat and you retire to bed for a great night sleep!
Your eating patterns are just as important as the foods you consume and your daily caloric intake. If you can master all three of them and combine with a regular daily fitness regimen you will reach your weight loss goals in a timely and efficient manner. If you choose to throw crap on an unlit fire, your fire pit will quickly become a garbage dump.
Mark Robson
Certified Personal Trainer
Fitness Expert & Author
ME FIRST FITNESS
http://www.mefirstfitness.com
https://www.facebook.com/mefirstfitness
