Fat Loss – One Step at a Time
Let’s get rid of that extra body fat, step by step, one phase at a time. Time-Restricted Eating is an approach that I believe will work for everyone that commits to it. It takes things one step at a time and you don’t take the next step until you have OWNED the ONE you are on. You need to ETR (Earn The Right) before moving on to each subsequent step. This is how you will achieve Extraordinary Results over time.
Our First Step: Time-Restricted Eating (TRE)
Time-Restricted Eating (TRE) is sometimes also referred to as Time-Restricted Feeding (TRF). TRE is eating within a window of 12-hours or less. Most people eat on a 15-hour window, so they are only in a fasted state for 9 hours. For example, they might have a cup of coffee with milk at 7:00 am, and then have their last bite of food at 10:00 pm. Our goal in this first step is to master a 12-hour eating window first for at least 7 days. Eventually, some of you may choose to eat within a 10-hour, 8-hour, 4-hour or even 1-hour window on TRE. Eating within a one hour window is known as OMAD (One Meal A Day). I recommend decreasing the eating window to deepen the benefits of TRE, but only after you master the first step, which is at least 7 days of perfect adherence to a 12-hour window.
Why 12-hours?
When you eat a normal meal it generally takes 3-5 hours for your body to digest and absorb the food you ate. Insulin rises significantly, shutting off fat-burning completely and also triggering excess calories to be stored as fat.
After this digesting and absorbing process, your body goes into the post-absorptive state where the components of your last meal are still in circulation. This post-absorptive state can last for 8-12 hours after your last meal. So it takes approximately 12 hours after the last bit of your last meal to enter the fasted state. The fasted state is the period when your body can burn stored body fat that hasn’t been accessible during the fed state.
Until you are in the fasted state, your body is burning sugar as fuel in the form of glucose. From this 12 hour period, your body can start burning body fat as fuel. That is what we are aiming for here – annihilating excess body fat.
What if I Can’t Fast for 12-Hours?
If you are thinking this way, just stop. You can do it. I believe most people can fast for 12-hours if they decide to. The decision is yours.
Who Discovered the Benefits of TRE?
Professor Satchidananda Panda, a prominent researcher from Salk Institute in La Jolla, California. If you want to dig deep into the science of this, please read this PubMed article by Professor Panda. Professor Panda’s book – The Circadian Code covers this subject in depth.
How Did Professor Panda Discover It?
While researching how the liver’s daily cycle works, he found that mice that eat within a set amount of time (8-12 hours) resulted in slimmer & healthier mice than those who ate the same number of calories in a larger window of time.
How Could This Discovery Help Us Live a Healthier Life?
This discovery shows that the timing of eating may be as important as what is eaten. If TRE works for humans as it does for mice, we will be slimmer and healthier. This approach might stave off high cholesterol, diabetes, and obesity.
How Do I Apply Time-Restricted Eating For Fat-Loss?
- Decide when you are going to eat your last meal of the day
- Eat it and log the time that you finish your last bite or drink if it is a caloric drink
- Make sure that you don’t consume any calories in the form of food or drink for at least 12-hours.
- Log the time you have your first calorie in the morning in the form of food or a caloric drink.
- Do this every day for 7 days
- If you are an NORTHSTAR FITNESS Client, let us know when you start TRE for Fat-Loss and then submit your results to us on the 7th day via email.
Notes: Water, herbal tea, black tea or coffee are non-caloric drinks and permissible during the 12-hours that you are not consuming food or drinks as long as there is no dairy (milk or cream), sweeter (honey, maple syrup, sugar) or soy or nut milks in them.
Stevia, Erythritol, Xylitol is ok, but I suggest that you don’t have anything sweet during these 12 hours. You can eat sweet things during your eating window.
Also, refrain from artificial sweeteners like sucralose, saccharine, aspartame and the like as well as Coke Zero or other zero-calorie sodas or gelatins – they are poisonous and harm your health.
Salt, added to your water to balance electrolytes, is acceptable. I recommend this Okinawan sea salt for people in Japan. For people in the States, I recommend Redmond Real Salt.
You can brush your teeth – but don’t eat the toothpaste.
If you have any questions, drop all hesitation and ask us immediately.
Be Extraordinary!
Bodhi
