Seriously, The Preacher TOLD Me To Cheat!

“Cheaters never win. Cheaters never wii-iiin.” Remember that oh-so annoying, holier-than-thou chant from childhood? Well, when it comes to weight loss – it's a bunch of hooey. I say cheat! Bring bread back into your diet – enjoy an adult beverage, if that's your thing – have your cake and eat it too! Just don't go nuts on me.

That's right, the preacher is telling you to cheat! Will the miracles never cease?

And believe it or not, we are still talking about metabolism (see, I told you weight loss is all about metabolism). We've talked about carbohydrates, fats, protein, enzyme biosynthesis, and even aerobic and anaerobic exercise – today we add to our list of weight-loss-geeky terms as we talk about leptin. And this one is really important when it comes to metabolism.

The word leptin comes form the Greek term leptos which actually means “thin” (do I have your attention now?). It's a hormone with a number of jobs, of which, one of the main ones is to tell your brain how fat you are. In doing so, it is one of the main regulators of METABOLISM! It causes fat loss and decreased appetite. (At this point, I feel like I should apologize to my leptinfor giving them so much work to do). The interesting thing is where leptin comes from – fat cells!

When we diet, we reduce fat and calorie intake, which has a tendency to lower our energy and metabolism (less to burn and less to give you energy). Leptin can help fight this tendency. So, how, on a diet designed to reduce fat, do we produce enough leptin (which comes from fat cells), to keep the whole weigh loss thing going? The simple answer is CHEAT!

When we reduce our intake of calories over long periods of time, our bodies try to self-regulate by trying to do the same amount of work using less energy. (Biologically this means reduced thyroid output, reduced metabolic rate and a number of other things that will require you to eat even fewer calories to produce the results you were getting at your originally lowered caloric intake). I don't know about you but, at 1800ish calories a day....I am NOT eating much less on a regular bases.

The answer to this problem is to cheat – yes cheat on your diet. Our bodies want to adapt to their current environment – it's their natural state (just ask Darwin). You see, when we diet, we are fluctuating the typical nutrients in our system. We actually have a system that monitors our nutrient flux (seriously, that's the technical name – nutrient flux – inventive, huh?). When dieting, the system tells our bodies that we are in “negative flux,” because of the reduced calories, and it reduces the production of leptin (we are not eating as much, so we won't be producing as much fat, so we don't need as much leptin...but my question is where does that leave me with the fat I ALREADY have?!). The inverse of this is, of course, when you overeat you go into a “positive flux,” when you will over produce leptin. Clearly, if you want to loose weight, you want to produce leptin. Being that our bodies want to adapt to their current environment, don't let it set a typical baseline for caloric intake. That way you can encourage it to keep producing leptin at higher levels.

So, cheat. Now don't go NUTS. I'm saying pick a day every week when you will consume 500-1000 calories more than you regularly would on your diet. For me that means going from 1800 to somewhere between 2300 and 2800. Considering that it takes 3500 calories for an extra pound and the average person (depending on their Body Mass Index or BMI) burn something in the range of 2000 calories a day, it will not even come close to wrecking your diet...if anything the science suggest it will temporarily boost your leptin production and hence help your diet!

I should say at this point, it you have already been cheating on your diet (extra carbs, sugar, calories) throughout the week, this is NOT the plan for you - it will only make matters worse - don't do it. Seriously.

Check in time, after a couple of workouts with weights and a physical workout in the yard cutting down a 25 foot tree, in sections, with a hand saw – it looks like I am in the muscle building stage. While the pants are a little looser – I have lost no weight in the last 2 days. No problem with me though. Increased muscles will, in the long term, increase the rate of weight loss!

I have to go now – Sunday is my cheat day and I have some...um “work” to do!! There is no calorie counting on Sundays!!!!!