Three Habits to Stay Lean for Life
Practical advice about what and when to eat
Strength Sensei CP
I see many of my colleagues yo-yo their body composition. They get themselves to six percent bodyfat, bounce back to 20 percent, get enraged, go back down, and rebound back up. Here’s the reality.
You need to stay lean for 18 months before your body believes it’s true. The premise is that you need three sets of new cells to make it permanent. I am not certain of the science behind it, but I’ve found that those who stay lean practice the following three habits:
Habit 1: Taper down food intake as the day goes by. As a kid, my father told us, “Breakfast of a King, lunch of a Prince, and dinner of a Beggar!” It’s good advice!
A well-structured breakfast with a rich composition in dopamine and acetyl-choline building nutrients, respectively such as tyrosine and choline, will set up your neural drive for success and work capacity. This breakfast also has been shown to affect the quality of your food selection for the entire day. In other words, a great breakfast helps you make better food choices.
What do I eat for breakfast? Yesterday, I had goat stew and macadamias. Today, salmon cooked in butter, cashews, and avocados. Tomorrow, I’ll have beef carpaccio, almonds, and açai berries. With breakfast, I always have coffee: black, like my soul. Sometimes, in cold weather, I will add coconut oil.
Train hard, smart, and eat well to stay lean. (Miloš Šarčev photo)
Tip 2: Increase your carbs as the day goes by.One of the biggest myths in nutrition is that you are carb-sensitive in the morning. Nonsense. Carbs should be increased as the day goes by so you can make the correct neurotransmitters for shutting off the nervous system: GABA and serotonin. This way you can sleep properly, which in return makes you leaner.
Tip 3: Don’t eat within two hours of going to bed.Want to get lean faster? Stop eating four hours before going to bed for three non-consecutive nights a week. Don’t freak out about going catabolic. It won’t happen. Heart disease expert Dr. Mark Houston told me that German researchers believe this approach has the greatest potential for restoring hormonal balance. Interestingly, he said three nights a week work as well as seven nights a week.
Get lean, apply these three habits daily, and you will stay lean for life!
