Seven Recipe Ideas for the 4th of July Weekend!
I posted this link on Facebook so you guys
could have several healthy recipes to use throughout the holiday weekend.
Hopefully, you are still journaling and logging your exercises and
caloric intake. We are coming to the end of week three, and it's time to
begin shifting gears. Week four, we'll be making small adjustments in the
uptake of calories consumed in concert with your continued exercises.
This change will recalibrate your metabolism, and in week five, you will notice
an increase in inches lost.
Your metabolism works like a
thermostat; it regulates your internal combustion. It is either
generating the necessary heat for burning fats and sugars by converting them
into energy or cooling down and storing them in reserves. The last three
weeks have activated your body to kick into the burning mode. You have
increased the demand for fuel, and your body has delivered more energy by utilizing
its fat stores to stimulate weight loss. However, here's the catch.
Now your body has the awareness that you are continually feeding it fewer
calories and demanding more fuel to support your increased energy
expenditure. These two energic demands are taxing your metabolism by
delving into your fat stores. So, to conserve some of your reserves, the
body's thermostat slows down the burning of fuel: the result, a plateau in
weight loss.
Primitive man had to traverse
the planet and sustain himself, sometimes for days, without sufficient
food. The body learned to conserve energy by slowing its metabolism and
reserving fat stores in case of famine. This metabolic mechanism placed
the body in "survival mode." When eating a calorie
deficient diet, your body slips into this mode.
This energy conservation
explains the “plateau” phase of most diets; even though you are eating less and
exercising more, your body stalls out, and you do not see weight
loss. The ancestral memories of early man have embedded themselves
at a cellular level and dictate how your body uses its reserves for energy
expenditure.
In week four, we’re going to
add 250 calories back into your daily menu. This increase in caloric
intake will stimulate the body to continue using its fat stores. And
because you will still be exercising, I advise that you increase the level of
exercise to a higher intensity. If you are walking for 20 minutes,
try 45. If you are exercising three to four times a week, try
increasing it to five or six times. And the most critical element to add
to your exercise regimen is to integrate more resistance
training. This change in caloric uptake and energy expenditure will
alter the thermostat in your body, rather then decreasing your metabolism, it will
continue burning your fat stores while building muscle mass.
Trust your body; it knows what it needs to do to keep you healthy, fit, and alive. Listen, feel, and sense the attention it deserves.
Be the best you can be today and every day.
Clarita
(310) 548-5984
