Hit your protein goal and stay at a caloric deficit by eating this one plant-based food.

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Episode 10: The Best Plant-Based Food For Weight Loss  

While going plant-based has many benefits, it can be hard to keep up your protein intake as you maintain a caloric deficit for weight loss. Here’s a few things you can add into your diet to keep calories down and still satisfy your protein needs.

In This Episode 

• [00:48] – Soy Bean
• [01:45] – Edamame
• [02:06] – Tofu
• [02:30] – Tempeh

“While going plant-based has a lot of benefits, such has more fiber intake and having higher nutritional value for the amount of food; it does become difficult to have a high protein intake, especially while being at a caloric deficit to lose weight.” — David Minishian

Soybeans:

Soybeans are the only plant-based food with a complete protein profile and a high digestibility score. This means that you’ll absorb the full spectrum of amino acids from soybeans rather than needing to combine different plant-based foods together to get the full spectrum of amino acids.  While you can get all the protein you need using complementary proteins, it will be more difficult to stay at a caloric deficit and hit your protein goals without soybeans.

Edamame:

Edamame is an immature soybean that can commonly be bought in their pod or already deshelled. Each half cup has 9 grams of protein and 95 calories, which is fantastic.

Tofu & Tempeh

Tofu is soybeans that have bean processed and can be bought in different varieties and textures that can easily be added to dishes you already enjoy. Tempeh is a similar soybean food that is less processed and has both a higher caloric and protein content per serving. The change in nutritional value is due to the combination of different nuts and seeds that are commonly added in for flavor.

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More exercise is not necessary for significant weight loss.

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Episode 11: How To Lose Weight By Exercising Less    

You can exercise less than you think and still achieve significant weight loss. To do that, let’s go over the effects of exercise, how it alters our metabolism, and what you need to focus on to lose weight.

In This Episode 

• [00:16] Exercise Effects on Basal Metabolic Rate
• [02:34] Less Exercise, More Results
• [03:40] Exercise vs. Nutrition

“Those with more body fat may find it more difficult to lose weight by exercising more.” — David Minishian

Exercise Effects on Basal Metabolic Rate

Exercise raises your metabolic rate. However, there has been some evidence demonstrating reductions in basal metabolic rates with increased physical activity levels. These outcomes are more prominent in those with more body fat who decide to partake in extreme bouts of exercise to lose weight. Instead of maximizing the number of calories burned, their bodies try to conserve energy, making it more difficult for those individuals to lose the body fat with more exercise.

Less Exercise, More Results

To maximize a weight loss goal, it is best to focus on increasing the amount of lean body mass. This is best addressed in a resistance training program, completing 3 to 4 workouts a week for 30 to 45 minutes. While cardio has its place in a weight loss program, resistance based training is more effective at producing more results in less time. Plus, resistance training delivers a toned, fit body.

Exercise vs. Nutrition

When creating your weight loss strategy exercise is definitely a fundamental part, but it is actually #2 compared to nutrition. The saying goes, “You can’t out-exercise a bad diet” and it is true. To lose weight, the amount of calories you consume should be roughly 500 calories less than what you burn each day. Don’t try to be much more aggressive than this to reach your goal. Maintaining a deficit of greater than 1000 calories a day will be difficult to sustain. Trying to drastically decrease your calorie intake or increase your daily activity will only result in a near impossible fight against your cravings to eat more. It’s tempting to think you can get faster results by eating less or exercising more; however, you’ll have more success by staying in a slight deficit where you can sustainably lose weight without fighting an uphill battle of against your hormones. 

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How you control your food intake depends on your personality.

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Episode #5: Ways to Control Your Food Intake  

The ability to control your food intake determines your success at losing weight and building muscle. What and how much food you eat will either support or hinder results. Has your nutritional intake has been preventing you from reaching your goals? Here are the two main methods you can use that will make a difference you can see in the mirror.

In This Episode 

• [00:35] – Methods for Counting Calories
• [02:25] – The Mindful Eating Approach

“Intentional (mindful) eating is really powerful, because you’re able to consume a certain amount of calories without having to think about the numbers.” — David Minishian

Method #1: Counting Calories

Monitoring your calorie intake helps you quantify how much food you are consuming and can increase the likelihood that you will reach your goal. However, implementing this approach accurately and effectively includes a learning curve as you need to become familiar with how many calories are in a serving for each food group. Recognizing the number of calories and servings in a portion will enable you to correctly balance your plate to either increase or decrease your caloric intake. By manipulating the proportion of your meals, you can have more control over your results. What method works best for you, whether choosing to count every calorie or estimate via serving sizes, depends on your personality.

Method #2: Mindful Eating

Mindful eating emphasizes the practice of listening to your body. Becoming familiar with your body’s cues allows you to make better nutritional decisions. We eat for reasons beyond satisfying our hunger, but hunger and nourishment are the only necessary reasons to eat. When you can recognize the difference between hunger and thirst, various levels of fullness, and the reasons for cravings, mindful eating will help you intuitively learn what you need to consume.

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Losing weight quickly is not easy or sustainable long term.

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Episode #4 -Trying to Lose Weight Quickly? Stop Wasting Time

Short term, rapid weight loss strategies don’t deliver the best results. If they did, we would be teaching you the quickest ways to lose weight in 30 days or less. The truth is that trying to lose weight quickly ends up becoming a major waste of time. Unanticipated life barriers end up getting in the way and the strategies don’t work long term. Also, the quick results, if any, won’t necessarily make you look better. I’m going to show you why a weight loss plan designed for quick results is not worth your time and energy. 

In This Episode 

• [00:37] – Sustainability of Rapid Weight Loss
• [01:19] – Developing Long Term Skills
• [02:02] – Impacts on Muscle Tone & Definition

“When people try quick weight loss techniques they don’t learn much, they never develop the long term skills they need to keep the weight off, falling back to old habits.” — David Minishian

Sustainability of Rapid Weight Loss

Rapid weight loss can be defined by trying to lose 2+ pounds a week. This rate of weight loss is not easy to do, and it’s not sustainable. To accomplish this, you will need to be in a calorie deficit of 1000 calories a day. This large deficit will cause your hormones to “fight back,” in the form of cravings to say “I need more food.” If you’re struggling to stay disciplined and control your cravings now, imagine what it would be like when your body goes into overdrive, pumping out the strongest cravings.

Long Term Skills

When people try quick weight loss strategies, they do not practice the long term skills necessary to maintain their results. Instead, they revert back to their old habits and regain the weight just as fast, if not faster. Since all the strategies are short term so are the results.

Muscle Tone & Definition

Toned arms, legs, and abs, etc. more accurately means having muscular arms, legs, and abs. When you build muscle tissue at a healthy weight, you’ll see the muscle definition without necessarily being bulky. However, rapid weight loss includes the loss of fat and muscle. Popular rapid weight loss strategies do not support muscle tissue growth but cause muscular atrophy, which has the opposite effect of toning. It is better for most to lose weight at a slower rate, implementing more resistance based training for muscle, not just cardio.

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A low fat diet may shift your focus to whole foods, but beware of possible unintended consequences.

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The Episode: Low Fat Diet – Pros and Cons 

Ever wonder why the push for a low fat diet died? The health and fitness industry goes through cycles pushing the next best thing for your health. Well the low fat cycle didn’t last and for good reason. Before you decide to cut back on fat, here are a few things to know about the low fat diet, the good and the bad.

In This Episode 

• [00:30] – The Power of Paying Attention
• [01:35] – The Impact of Whole Foods
• [02:56] – The Dangers of All or Nothing Mentality 
• [03:45] – Demonizing Fat Rich Foods

“What is really beneficial about going on a low-fat diet, or any diet, is that you become more aware of what you’re eating, being conscious about food choices and how they’re prepared.”  — David Minishian

The Power of Paying Attention

Any diet you adopt will make you more aware of what you are eating. By forcing you to make conscious nutritional decisions, you won’t automatically eat everything in front of you. As you shift your eating patterns to a low fat diet, you will naturally begin to reduce your consumption foods that are higher in fat, like dairy and meat. Instead, you’ll be more aware of your consumption of whole foods like fruit, vegetables, legumes, and grains that have a lower fat content.

The All or Nothing Approach

Restrictive diets, like a low fat diet, prove difficult to adhere to long term. They make social activities like dining out with friends or family cumbersome. If you’ve went out to dinner during a diet and felt like you can’t eat anything on the menu, it sucks. Being forced to break your diet makes you want to throw in the towel and eat whatever sounds amazing. This all or nothing approach is a product of a restrictive diet.

Bad Relationships With Food

Avoiding fats in your diet can be detrimental to the way you see foods, because you start to view foods as low-fat or high-fat, good or bad. The truth is that there are no bad foods, only foods you should eat in greater or smaller amounts and higher or lower frequencies. Some high fat foods that you should eat often like nuts and seeds are important for your overall health. But when you completely cut out foods for non-medical reasons, it does more than create nutritional imbalances. It creates a bad relationship with food.

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