Cassey Ho's Blog, page 117

Best Homemade Pizza and Breadsticks with Cauliflower Crust!

Hey guys!

Sorry for being MIA for so long on the blog. Traveling really messes my schedule up and it’s hard for me to sit down and type. It is something I am trying to overcome. I was talking about this issue with my friends last night, and I never want to sound like I am complaining, but I do want to honestly share my thoughts with you.

Before there were like a billion different types of social media, my blog was my #1 place to share my thoughts, feelings, and basically anything that was going on in my life. I remember the days when my blog was hosted on Tumblr and it got so popular that Tumblr would crash every time I posted something that drove a ton of traffic. So then, Blogilates moved to WordPress. I was still blogging about 7x a week – in fact, I would not let myself fall asleep until there was a blog post up!

Now I find myself blogging when I find time, and that really crushes my soul! But the thing is, now that there’s Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, Twitter etc…there are SO MANY CHOICES for thought sharing that sometimes I get overwhelmed and find myself not sharing at all. Do you know what I mean? Sigh.

I am going to try my best to blog more, like I used to. Because this blog is my open diary and it is very therapeutic to write to you. And it’s nice to write to people who will actually read – unlike on IG where people take a look at the pic, and make a comment asking where I got my dress when it says it in the caption – LOL.

ANYWAY!

That was a major tangent!

Are you ready to learn how to make the best Cauliflower pizza I have ever tasted IN MY LIFE!!!! The crust does not taste cardboardy or bland at all. In fact, the texture tastes and feels like real bread! I am really excited to share this gluten free, low carb, vegetarian pizza and breadsticks recipe with you!

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CAULIFLOWER MARGHERITA PIZZA

Yield: 8 servings

Serving Size: 1 slice

Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: 45 min

Ingredients:

1 large head cauliflower (about 425 grams, riced)
Pinch of sea salt
1/2 cup mozzarella/parmesan blend shredded cheese
1 egg
2 tablespoons almond flour
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Pinch of sea salt
Nonstick cooking spray
3 tablespoons tomato sauce
4 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced
1 tomato, sliced thinly (optional)
Basil leaves for garnish

Method:

Preheat oven to 400°F. Remove stems from cauliflower and chop florets slightly. Place into a food processor and “rice” until it resembles short-grain rice.
Lay cauliflower on a nonstick baking sheet and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 20 minutes. Let cool slightly and then place in a clean dish towel. Squeeze out all liquid (you’ll only be left with about 1 cup of packed cauliflower rice). Increase oven temperature to 425°F.
Place back into the food processor with the cheese, egg, almond flour, garlic powder and salt and pulse until it resembles dough.
Using your hands, flatten dough onto parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet coated with cooking spray into an 8-inch pizza crust. Bake for 18-20 minutes.
Spread tomato sauce and lay down fresh mozzarella. Return to oven for 5-6 minutes or until cheese melts. Sprinkle with fresh basil, top with tomatoes, and serve.

Nutritional Info:

Calories: 89 | Protein: 7g | Fat: 6g | Net Carbs: 2g | Fiber: 2g

CAULI-BREADSTICKS

Yield: 4 servings

Serving Size: 2 breadsticks

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 25 min

Total Time: 45 min

Ingredients:

1 large head cauliflower (425 grams riced)
4 tablespoons liquid egg whites
1/4 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 cup plus 1/2 cup mozzarella or vegan cheese, shredded
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Pinch of pepper

Method:

Preheat oven to 400°F.
Remove long stems from cauliflower and chop any large florets. Place in a food processor and pulse to “rice” the cauliflower. You want pieces no larger than short-grain rice. Transfer to a nonstick baking sheet or parchment and roast for 20 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 450°F.
Place riced cauliflower into a clean dish towel and squeeze out all liquid (you might get as much as ½ cup!). Transfer to a bowl.
Stir in the egg whites, quinoa, cheese, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
Line parchment paper on a baking sheet, and form a rectangle about 8-by-3-inches, and pat down.
Bake for 20-22 minutes, then top with remaining cheese and bake 5 more minutes.
Cut into 8 sticks and serve with marinara sauce.

Nutrition Info:

Calories: 111 | Protein: 11.5g | Fat: 4.7 | Net Carbs: 7.7 | Fiber: 4.2

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And if you’d like to watch the fun YouTube video I filmed for this recipe, here it is!

Hope you guys enjoyed this! Comment below and let me know what your favorite pizza toppings are! If you love this recipe, I have more amazing clean recipes and a meal plan at the28dayreset.com.

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Published on May 12, 2016 13:24

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Published on April 30, 2016 12:23

Fave Places to Eat & Visit in Oahu, Hawaii!

Hey guys!

I just got back from Oahu last night. I was a little sad to be leaving the beautiful island, but work is fun too, so I’m not upset at all :)

This was a half work – half vacay trip, which are always the best kinds because I feel like I get 2 things done with just one flight! Great for someone like me who despises planes and the act of traveling. Although, the flight was actually very nice. The plane was supposed to be filled to 220 or so passengers, but there were only 70! Got to spread out and lay down! Oh and I finally got to watch “JOY“. Have you seen it? It was inspirational, BUT I felt like they could have gone soooo much deeper. I wanted to get to know Joy Manzano (inventor of Miracle Mop) as a person and as an inventor better. Read reviews later and learned that the real Joy is a private person, so I guess that’s why I felt like I wanted to know so much more.

ANYWAY!

I want to share with you what I did while I was on Oahu, in case some of you are planning to go to Hawaii in the future! Ready? Let’s get started!

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As soon as we got into Honolulu, we rented a car and drove straight to our hotel – The Outrigger Reef. The hotel is LITERALLY right on the beach. This is the view as soon as you step out of the hotel. YAH. Seriously.

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As I mentioned, this was a work-vacay, so the first duty was to teach a big POP Pilates class at the local 24 Hour Fitness to welcome POP into all gyms in Hawaii! Look at all the POPsters who showed up! Everyone was so kind. And I’m not just saying that…literally Hawaii has some of the warmest, sweetest people I’ve ever met. It’s in the Hawaiian blood!

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Sweaty selfie post class! I was a sweaty mess too. It was increds.

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Thank you to everyone who gave me a lei and gifts. I usually never get gifts at meet ups, so it was such a warm welcome onto the island! After the meetup, my Program Director and Master Trainer, Jules, led our POP Instructor workshop and got this fine group ready to TEACH! Welcome to the POP Army Hawaii!

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After the class and training day, we were ready to start the vacation part of the trip!!! I had to get my macadamias to prepare for island beach snacking of course. Onion & Garlic is my fave flavor, but it leaves your breath pretty stinky and not nice for kissing, so have a mint on hand.

I could tell you about all the beaches we went to, but this place stood out the most to me. This is the Lanai Lookout. It’s about 15 minutes north of Hanuama Bay (which is so incredible for snorkeling, very commercialized, but amazing nonetheless).

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Technically, you’re not supposed to go out after the mini rock wall that gates this beauty from the parking lot, but we saw people doing it, so we did it too! The view is just breathtaking. These pics do NO JUSTICE to what you can experience with your eyes and your body. You need to go here.

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Another MUST-SEE spot is the Waimano Waterfalls. It’s not easy to get there though. The hike I mean. I read on a blog that it was considered “Beginner” but I have to honestly admit that it felt more like intermediate-advanced to me! I think I will do a whole blog post dedicated to the hike because IT IS WORTHY. For now, I’ll show you what you will see when you get there.

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The falls has 3 pools. The first one is shallow with the huge waterfall, probably about 30 ft tall or so. Then there’s a mini pool in the middle, about the size and depth of a hot tub. And at the final and lowest pool, YOU GET THIS. TARZAN ROPES!!!! All the water is fresh and no there aren’t any weird fish or bugs! Just tiny baby fish but I didn’t encounter any Lochness Monsters, so I think you’re pretty safe here :)

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OK, can we talk food please? All my friends told me we HAD to go to Gionvanni’s Shrimp Truck on the North Shore, so we trekked there to see what all the hype was about!

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I got the Spicy Shrimp, and within a minute I regretted it. On the menu it said something along the lines of “This is VERY SPICY. We will not offer refunds!” I was so cocky, I was like yeah, whatever, it’s gonna be a piece of cake. Honestly guys, for a girl who puts habanero sauce on her salads at lunch, I was DYING. THIS IS SPICY!!! Very spicy!!! Luckily Sam got Garlic and Butter shrimp (the most popular dish) and I traded him some of my shrimps so that I could survive.

So did it live up to the hype? Yes, it was yummy! But have cash on hand! There’s an ATM machine at the McDonald’s across the street though if you forget, like me.

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When in Hawaii, you MUST have an Acai Bowl! This one is from Nalu Health Bar & Cafe which is in Kailua, HI. There are plenty of places to choose from (just Yelp it), but make sure the fruits they put in your bowl are FRESH! I bought another bowl from another place the next day, and it seemed that they were using pre-frozen fruit over pre-blended acai. Not cool. You can significantly taste the difference. This one had bee pollen crunchies on top and it was spectacular.

Finally…THIS.

Obscene much? Yes. Very very much. If there’s one thing you don’t know about me, it’s that I am very egotistical when it comes to bragging about how much food I can eat in one sitting. I LOVE watching food eating competitions – it’s just so fun! There’s one food challenge that I’ve ALWAYS wanted to attempt, and that’s the Macdaddy’s Pancake Challenge at MAC 24/7 in Honolulu. The challenge is to eat this ENTIRE stack of pancakes in under 90 min and you get a free t-shirt, your face on the wall of fame, and your pancake bill paid for. I believe these were about $25.

I went in thinking I could totally take it down – easy peasy.

BUT BOY WAS I WRONG.

I FAILED SO HARD.

GUYS IT WAS EMBARASSING.

I ate way less than a quarter and nearly passed out.

Nope. This was my first food eating challenge and I am officially going to say that there is no need to ever attempt any food challenge again.

So those are the highlights from my Hawaii trip! You can see more of my pics on Instagram @blogilates. Like I said, I will blog entirely about the hike because I think it is something you guys will TRULY enjoy. So stay tuned for that!

Have you been to Hawaii yet? Do you plan on going?

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Published on April 28, 2016 16:08

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Published on April 24, 2016 23:02

LIFE BARS! How to Make your own Nutrition Bars

Hey guys!

I am soooo excited to share with you the most delicious homemade nutrition bars you will ever eat. LIFE BARS!

What are LIFE BARS you ask? Well, they are delicious energy bars that are healthy, clean, and vegan! THEY ARE LIFE!!! You no longer have to go to the store and buy prepackaged bars. Instead, you can make your own nutrition bars at home! You save on cost, and you know exactly what ingredients you’re putting into them. Perfect snack to take on-the-go, bring to school, or work!

Okay, here are your recipes:

PEANUT BUTTER BLISS

Serving Size: 1 bar

Prep Time: 5 min

Total Time: 5 min

Ingredients:

20 large pitted dates

1 cup lightly salted dry roasted peanuts

2 tablespoons natural peanut butter

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Method:

-Place all ingredients into a large food processor. Be sure to check for pits, even in “pitted dates.”

-Process for 1-2 minutes or until contents have broken down and resemble a thick dough.

-Press into the bottom of a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Press the top firmly and evenly.

-Place in refrigerator for 30 min – 1 hour. Cut into 8 bars and wrap in saran wrap until ready to eat.

The method is the same for the rest of the bars!

Nutrition Info: Calories: 200, Protein: 5g, Fat: 9g, Carbs: 31g, Fiber: 4g, Net Carbs: 27g

COCONUT CASHEW CRAZE

Serving Size: 1 bar

Prep Time: 5 min

Total Time: 5 min

Ingredients:

20 large pitted dates

1 cup lightly salted dry roasted cashews

1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

2 tablespoons cashew butter

1/4 -1/2 teaspoon coconut extract

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Nutrition Info: Calories: 200, Protein: 5g, Fat: 9g, Carbs: 31g, Fiber: 4g, Net Carbs: 27g

CHERRY ALMOND CHEER

Yield: 8

Serving Size: 1 bar

Prep Time: 5 min

Total Time: 5 min

Ingredients:

20 large pitted dates

½ cup lightly salted dry roasted cashews

1/2 cup raw almonds

10 unsweetened dried cherries

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/4 teaspoon sea salt (optional)

Nutrition Info: Calories: 233, Protein: 5g, Fat: 11g, Carbs: 33g, Fiber: 6g, Net Carbs: 27g

Alright! There you have it! The most delish homemade bars ever! These were so fun and easy to make. You may even think it slightly resembles a Lara Bar! But they are better…hahaha and not so crazy sweet! After taste-testing them right after I made them (because I couldn’t wait -they looked so good!!), my favorite was the Peanut Butter Bliss bar because well, peanut butter is life. AM I RIGHT!!???

Which one are you DYING to make first? Let me know in the comments!

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Published on April 14, 2016 15:53

Does Eating At Night Actually Make You Fat?

Hey guys!

Did you grow up hearing that eating at night would make you fat? Remember when Oprah lost a ton of weight because she said she didn’t eat after 6 or 7 pm?

Well, I dare you to eat at night. And guess what? You won’t get “fat”. Don’t believe me? I’ll explain.

Somehow we have been given the idea that timing of meals will impact our weight – that eating after 6 or 7 pm automatically means you will gain weight. But real-life examples of people who eat “after dark” as well as research from scientists, have concluded that WHEN you eat your meals has no direct effect on weight gain!

Your body does not store more fat at certain times of the day than others!

Your body’s weight will change depending on WHAT and HOW MUCH you eat, and your activity level– not when you eat. Like I’ve said before, overall calorie consumption in an entire day will affect your weight. If you eat more calories than your body uses, then it will be stored as fat – no matter what time it is.

Now, I don’t want you to go crazy and eat less during the day knowing that you can go home at night and eat a bunch of food, because that will lead to binging and probably eating high calorie snacks. There are certain circumstances when eating at night WILL hinder your progress or weight loss goals. Let’s talk about the most common ones.

What are you eating?

Eating at night is okay, but just be mindful of WHAT you’re eating. Is it a “fluff” food that’s highly processed, high in calories, fat, salt, and sugar and will leave you feeling sluggish? Or is it a high quality, nutritiously dense food that’ll leave you feeling better?

Obviously if you snack on junk food every night, then you’re likely to gain weight. But that weight gain isn’t caused by the time you ate the food, it is caused by the extra calories consumed in the junk food. Get it? You’re less likely to prepare a nice salad or healthy meal at night, and more likely to opt for ice cream, chips and high-fat foods that are easy to grab because you’re tired and hungry. You’re more likely to fall into the cravings trap.

You’re also more likely to binge at night, which can cause you to go to bed with raised blood sugar levels. A raised blood sugar level is correlated with increased weight gain. A balanced blood sugar level is what we should all strive for as it is imperative for hormone regulation, metabolism function, and fat burn.

So, instead of eating highly processed and sugary foods, try your best to prepare healthy snacks like fruits, veggies, and nuts to munch on at night if you know you will get hungry at that time. Choose foods that are low on the Glycemic Index. They will satisfy your hunger and won’t raise your blood sugar compared to the other options.

Emotional and Routine Eating

If you’re someone who struggles with snacking (on not-so-healthy food) at night, think about WHY you’re eating it. Are you actually hungry, or are you eating because you’re bored, tired or stressed? If you’re actually hungry, then sure, eat! But if you can recognize that you’re snacking for other reasons, try to figure out what’s making you choose food to fulfill your emotions and try to change that habit. You may also be eating out of routine.

For example, when you’re relaxing in front of the TV after a long day, it’s easy to reach for snacks and eat without thinking. Next time you do this, ask yourself if you’re truly hungry, or if you’re doing it out of habit or emotions. The more you can recognize it, the better you will be able to make smarter snacking choices.

Hormones and Your Sleep Cycle

Eating at night can alter your hormones and sleep rhythm. What does this mean? Well insulin, the hormone in your body that controls sugar in your blood, runs along a circadian (24-hour) clock. At nighttime, when your body thinks you should be sleeping and fasting, your cells become more resistant to insulin. That means eating a large meal at night can cause high blood sugar, fat accumulation and insulin resistance over time. It can even put you at risk for Type 2 diabetes! But remember – this goes back to the food choices you’re making. If you’re eating highly processed and sugary foods, then your hormones are more likely to be affected. But if you’re eating healthier options, your blood sugar won’t rise as much and you won’t run into these problems.

Also, eating high fat meals and snacks at night can disrupt your sleeping patterns and even make you crave more food the next day! The best option is to stop eating 1.5 to 2 hours before going to bed. This will allow your body to digest food before lying down and decrease the risk of discomfort and hindered sleep.

Conclusion?

The myth that eating at night will make you fat is just another restriction that people put on themselves in order to reach their weight loss goals! Many of these restrictions are unnecessary and will actually cause more harm than good. No wonder people hate dieting! I mean, who doesn’t want to eat at night? Why put that limit on yourself when you don’t need to? No matter what, always listen to your body for hunger cues. If you’re truly hungry, then eat – just eat smart! Going to bed hungry will cause you to have low blood sugar levels and crazy cravings, which also isn’t healthy. The key is to choose a combo of healthy carbs and fats to satisfy your hunger throughout the night, without raising blood sugar. Apples with peanut butter, mashed avocado, or carrots and guac are perfect options. These snacks will stabilize your blood sugar, help you maintain a healthy weight and aid in a good night of sleep. What matters most is consistency, balance and finding an eating habit that you enjoy.

Do you eat a lot at night? Do you think it’s because you’re actually hungry or for some other reason like out of habit or boredom?

RESOURCES:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3263249.stm

http://time.com/3020266/you-asked-will-eating-before-bed-make-me-fat/

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/health-wellness/articles/2015/06/26/will-eating-at-night-really-make-you-gain-weight

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Published on April 11, 2016 14:09

Is “Metabolic Damage” a real thing?

Hey guys!

Most people start off on an innocent health and fitness journey wanting to lose some weight and tone up a little bit. You start changing your diet, eating less food, and exercising more. You start to see results! Weight loss! It gets exciting. You feel “happier” and you get motivated to keep going! And you think you can keep going forever.

BUT, did you know that after you restrict calories for so long, your body becomes tired, you’re hungrier, you’re crankier, and you’re more likely to plateau?

It’s frustrating to hit a plateau because the thing that once motivated you to push harder (the constant leaning out of your physique) is no longer happening. So what’s the normal reaction? You start cutting even MORE calories an exercising harder and longer. I mean, it worked before right? So why can’t it work now? Then the cycle begins again. You lose a pound or two and you’re happy. But then…it stalls. AGAIN.

This time you’re hungrier than ever and your energy levels plummet drastically. UGH! What’s going on?! You’re doing everything “right”. Dieting, exercising. WHY does this keep happening? Why isn’t my body changing?

Then, you start to realize that something isn’t right. You aren’t fueling your body with enough nutrients to function properly. I mean, you’re HUNGRY and tired all the time – so that’s not a good sign! So, you start eating “normal-healthy” again. It’s not like you’re eating junk food all day erry day. But you’re not eating 1000 calories a day of just vegetables and protein. You find that you’re reacting weird to food. You become bloated. Gassy even. You may become irritable, constipated, and your sleeping habits are unnatural.

Why is all this happening? Well, when you push your body so far through diet and exercise, you experience something called adaptive thermogenesis, the fancy term for “metabolic damage”. Basically, this means that your body is adjusting to the low calories that you have been feeding it. As a result, you can’t expend as much energy because your body is holding onto those calories. The reason why your body does this is because it is a human survival reaction. Back in the day, our ancestors had to hunt and gather food. A meal was not guaranteed. So in order to survive, they could not spend more energy than they consumed. This means that they could not keep burning excessive calories if they could not find something to eat! If they kept doing this, they would shrivel away and die. Our ancestors were NOT worried about weight loss. They ate to live!

Because there are too many debating schools of thought on what “damage” actually means, I am going to now refer to this condition as “metabolic disruption” for the sake of clarity in our conversation. In my personal experience, metabolic disruption exists. I endured it and eventually, I healed from it. It took me 3 years, but I dug myself out.

Here’s a vlog I just filmed sharing my metabolic disruption story with you.

This all happened to me while I was preparing for my bikini competition. Advised by my trainer, I was put on this crazy diet – only eating about 1000-1200 calories a day and working out for about 4 HOURS every single day. 1000-1200 calories is NOT enough energy to sustain such an intense workout routine – I was weight lifting, doing cardio, HIIT, and teaching POP Pilates classes. My calories came from vegetables and protein mainly. I wasn’t allowed fruit, grains, or fat sources. I became SO tired and irritable. Some days I literally had no energy to do anything. I would just fall asleep. My mind was foggy and I couldn’t concentrate. So, for 8 to 10 weeks I endured this crazy plan, I did the bikini competition with my new, lean body, and then I decided to go back to “normal-healthy.”

I decided to introduce a variety of foods back into my diet, like brown rice, quinoa and different types of protein – not just chicken breast and tilapia. I’m talking salmon people! Salmon.

Well let me tell you, my body did NOT like that. My body acted like a sponge. SOAKING EVERYTHING UP.

For the next 3 years, I gradually gained weight. And there was nothing I could do to stop it. During this time, I was STILL working out really hard for about 1 hr a day like a normal healthy person! But my body just didn’t respond. It backfired and rebelled instead! It was seriously so frustrating because in my mind, I was doing everything right. Diet + exercise should = weight loss or at least maintenance. But because of the damage and stress that I put on my body during that bikini prep, my hormones changed…in a bad way.

Cortisol, the stress hormone, increases when you significantly lower your calories, over-exercise and/or don’t have enough sleep. And cortisol plays a role in increasing abdominal fat! Even more specifically, LOWER BELLY FAT. AHH. This stress also decreases leptin, the hormone that controls your appetite. So, you feel EXTRA hungry all the time and it’s likely that you may crave those carby, high-fat foods. That’s EXACTLY what happened to me!

Beyond the scientific reasons for my weight gain, it was very much a psychological game. When I was dieting like crazy, I was labelling food as “good” and “bad”. I felt like I was trapped in food jail.

But you know what happens when you start labelling food as bad? You start craving everything you CAN’T HAVE, even if you never liked it to begin with! All I wanted for some reason was cereal and bread! I honestly never cared too much for those things before. And now, they were controlling me.

It even got so bad that I would look at a banana and think “OMG, it’s going to make me so fat.” I feared bananas for crying out loud.

Metabolic damage doesn’t just happen to people who do bikini competitions. It happens to anyone who puts themselves through extreme dieting and exercise routines. Now listen up, I don’t want to scare you. Just because you see a plateau in weight loss and experience increased hunger, THIS DOES NOT MEAN you have metabolic disruption or adaptive thermogenesis.

Metabolic disruption includes many more severe symptoms:

-You literally cannot lose weight

-You become extremely bloated and “puffy” when you eat certain foods

-You become depressed and irritable

-You experience many digestive issues

-Exhaustion

-Difficulty concentrating

-Hormonal dysfunction – lower levels of leptin and higher levels of cortisol

-Loss of motivation

-Problems sleeping

-Loss of libido

-Amenorrhea (women will stop menstruating)

-You are cold all the time

So, what do you do if you feel like something’s not right?

It’s the simplest answer. REST. RELAX.

You need to sleep. Strive for about 8 hrs a day, so that you body an recalibrate itself.

You need to stop restricting calories.

You need to stop over-exercising.

Look, I know this sounds weird. I know you won’t want to do it. And I know you may think that you’ll turn into a lump of a potato if you do this, but you won’t. Because that’s what I did, and it worked for me. Unfortunately, I resisted for 2 years as I slowly gained weight. It was a torturous time for me mentally. But in the 3rd year, I decided to just eat whatever I wanted and not work out as much and my body started to recalibrate. I allowed myself to relax.

Then a mind shift happened.

I realized, why the heck am I so concerned about my physique when really, I should be concentrating on working out because it makes me happy! And eating food because it makes me energized!

When I stop focusing on the skinny and started focusing on the strong, I started to see results again. This was the inspiration that propelled the birth of PIIT28 – the Pilates Intense Interval Training program that I do every single day. It’s what I look forward to because it makes me a happier, healthier, sharper and more invinceable person. And why wouldn’t I want to do something that makes me feel that way?? And the best part is, it’s only 28 min and 40 sec a day.

If you want to hear more details of my personal story, please watch my video above!

I hope you learned a lot from this post. I used to get mad that I wasted a few years of my life worrying about weight gain. But now, I understand why it happened. It happened for a reason. I am meant to share my story with you to help you find your joy in health again.

RESOURCES

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3673773/

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/88/4/906.full

http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v34/n1s/full/ijo2010184a.html

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Published on April 06, 2016 18:49

Is “Metabolic Damage” is real thing?

Hey guys!

Most people start off on an innocent health and fitness journey wanting to lose some weight and tone up a little bit. You start changing your diet, eating less food, and exercising more. You start to see results! Weight loss! It gets exciting. You feel “happier” and you get motivated to keep going! And you think you can keep going forever.

BUT, did you know that after you restrict calories for so long, your body becomes tired, you’re hungrier, you’re crankier, and you’re more likely to plateau?

It’s frustrating to hit a plateau because the thing that once motivated you to push harder (the constant leaning out of your physique) is no longer happening. So what’s the normal reaction? You start cutting even MORE calories an exercising harder and longer. I mean, it worked before right? So why can’t it work now? Then the cycle begins again. You lose a pound or two and you’re happy. But then…it stalls. AGAIN.

This time you’re hungrier than ever and your energy levels plummet drastically. UGH! What’s going on?! You’re doing everything “right”. Dieting, exercising. WHY does this keep happening? Why isn’t my body changing?

Then, you start to realize that something isn’t right. You aren’t fueling your body with enough nutrients to function properly. I mean, you’re HUNGRY and tired all the time – so that’s not a good sign! So, you start eating “normal-healthy” again. It’s not like you’re eating junk food all day erry day. But you’re not eating 1000 calories a day of just vegetables and protein. You find that you’re reacting weird to food. You become bloated. Gassy even. You may become irritable, constipated, and your sleeping habits are unnatural.

Why is all this happening? Well, when you push your body so far through diet and exercise, you experience something called adaptive thermogenesis, the fancy term for “metabolic damage”. Basically, this means that your body is adjusting to the low calories that you have been feeding it. As a result, you can’t expend as much energy because your body is holding onto those calories. The reason why your body does this is because it is a human survival reaction. Back in the day, our ancestors had to hunt and gather food. A meal was not guaranteed. So in order to survive, they could not spend more energy than they consumed. This means that they could not keep burning excessive calories if they could not find something to eat! If they kept doing this, they would shrivel away and die. Our ancestors were NOT worried about weight loss. They ate to live!

Because their are too many debating schools of thought on what “damage” actually means, I am going to now refer to this condition as “metabolic disruption” for the sake of clarity in our conversation. In my personal experience, metabolic disruption exists. I endured it and eventually, I healed from it. It took me 3 years, but I dug myself out.