Happy New Year - It's Diet Time Again

At least, that is what most people decide to do every year.  I can count myself as one of those this year. But really what is the goal with a diet?  It's to lose weight right....that's the right answer isn't it.  Ah, there is the word "goal".  What is the true goal?  Well for me it's to get back into shape and give Chris Pratt a run for his money! Just kidding, good for that guy.

The talk I hear most often this time of year is to lose weight by going on a diet, usually some fad diet.  But then what?  Go back to eating the way you used to eat?  That's a terrible cycle.  For me and many others, it's about a lifestyle change, which can be difficult.  Not only for yourself but for your family.  I have to eat entirely differently than my family.  They need all the carbs they can get, not so much for me.  I wish I could really eat like a hobbit. Second Breakfast, elevensies.

For the past year, I've sporadically worked on a moderate/lax ketogenic diet/lifestyle.  I'll be getting back to that as well as looking at intermediate fasting.  What are these two things?  Well, in a nutshell, ketogenic is switching your main energy source from carbs to fats.  Now whether this is sustainable/good for you over the long run (decades) is still up for debate.  However, there are many great studies showing its short-term benefit.  Really the ketogenic diet cuts carbs, mainly sugars, which are everywhere. It also focuses on eating lots of good fats, very much like the Mediterranean Diet.  Actually, its a lot like the Mediterranean Diet.

Intermediate fasting is actually a normal time frame of eating with a fancy name.  Try this: At what time do you eat breakfast?  Now at what time do you take in your last calorie, be it food or drink?  I checked mine, it was 6:30am (Breakfast) and 9:00pm (Beer).  That's about 14 hrs out of 24 that I'm feeding my body.  It's really crazy how long we eat.  Our normal work days have screwed up sleep patterns as well as our eating.   I'm working on cutting that window down to 10hrs and then 8hrs and then back to 10 for the long term.

Of course, I'll also be doing some type of exercise.  Anything at this point can only help.  At the end of the day it all boils down to one simple formula:  Calories In < Calories Out.  I mean don't just drink juice all day.  The quality of food you take in is important as well. And just flat out not eating is also not great for your body.

If you are planning your diet, I urge you to really take time to look at your goals and which options there are out there with good studies to back them up.  There is a lot of crap out there too.  It's easy to want to take a pill and it fix everything.  I hate to tell you, but many of those simply do not work and have no evidence to support their claims.  I urge you to check out Examine.com as a source for what work has been done on supplements.  If no studies have been done, well then there is no evidence for or against it.  Now it's your call.

I wish everyone luck on your New Years Goals.  How you decided to get there is up to you, but just make sure that it something you can stick with over time.