We agree that since we have been eating at home most of the time; we are eating much healthier since last spring. We had to for financial and health reasons. But…sad to say I still did not lose weight. There is something else going on. My husband is the same skinny weight he has been all his life. We enjoy eating at home much more now, and eat very healthy. We enjoy this. Something is terribly wrong, all my fat burning switches must be turned off. I was forbidden to buy your program by my husband, so I can’t get it. I will continue to read all you and your friends send, for support. Thanks.
This month my brother in crime and one of my absolute best friends Vince Del Monte (and his kick-butt wife Flavia) are staying with my wife Lisa and I here in warm, sunny Tampa. You know, I can’t imagine why the heck someone would want to get out of the 19 degree weather in Canada during the winter, but whatever the reason, we’re all currently on a mission to get in some serious shape.
Vinny is set to take the stage and compete in the Canadian Fitness Model Championships come April, and I’ve got a little contest of my own going on. So how are we getting ready?
Well I’ll tell you one thing we’re NOT doing — going out to eat. In fact, every evening this week Lisa, Flav, Vinny, and myself sat down to an AMAZING dinner at home, and they’ve honestly been some of the best meals I’ve eaten in a long time:
Ricotta & Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast
Canjun Style Catfish
Organic Grass Fed Bunless Cheeseburgers
Organic Grass Fed NY Strip Steaks
Organic Omega-3 Egg Omelets with Roasted Red Peppers and Artichokes
All served with a huge mound of veggies, like grilled eggplant, roasted squash, zuchinni, and onion, grilled asparagus, sugar snap peas, and steamed brocolli. A little olive oil, garlic, and/or organic butter…man, we’ve been eating good. And oh yeah, some killer salads…roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, spinach, artichoke hearts. DE-LI-CIOUS.
And we’ve been saving an average of 406 calories EVERY day simply by eating at home, as a recent study discovered that eating out just one meal adds approximiately 406 calories to one’s daily calorie total as compared to days in which those same individuals didn’t eat out.
And there’s more:
**Restaurant dining, on average, costs FIVE times more than groceries bought for a home-cooked meal.
**People who eat out often eat 25% less fruits and veggies compared to those who eat in.
Skip out on 406 calories daily, save a bundle of CA$H, and eat a much more balanced, nutrient-rich diet – sounds like a winning combo to me, all achieved by enjoying delicious, home-cooked meals instead of those prepared at a restaurant.
My challenge to you: Skip restaurant dining for the next two weeks, and instead make it a point to dine in. I guarantee your results will thank you for it (as will your wallet).
Want another EASY way to burn 8 lbs of fat without doing ANYTHING? My buddy Jon Benson just posted a really cool tip here:
==> How to burn 8 lbs of fat without doing ANYTHING (30 second tip)
Keep rockin!
Joel
P.S. Are you up to take the 2-week challenge with me? Questions? Comments? Post your replies below in the comments section!
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15 comments - add yours
That omelette sounds really good! I have a question about losing fat, to lean up- when you are trying to get really lean, say for a competition or photos, would you suggest omitting a cheat/free day, or perhaps on the cheat/free day using whole grains, sweet potatoes (healthier sorts of carbs)?
I can’t agree with Joel more about the cheat day. When I prepared for a state level bodybuilding competition I hit a plateau with 12 straight weeks of no cheating. I had a taco bell burritos and 2 tacos and wound up dropping the additional 4 PBS I needed to lose to make middle weight. FYI I got 3rd out of 9 in that contest.
I’ll take the challenge! No restaurant dining for the next 2 wks!!!! This is going to be extremely difficult for me but I gotta lose this weight! Wish me luck.
I really dislike that video, because it leaves out some information. A dietary calorie is actually a kilocalorie, or 1000 times the amount of heat it takes to raise a milliliter of water a degree Celsius. And unless it’s frozen solid, the vast majority of the water is not going to be 0 degrees Celsius. I read online that an ounce is 29.5ish milliliters. So you’re drinking about 700 milliliters of water. Say 500 milliliters of your water are halfway between 0 and 20 degrees, or 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees). If that’s the case, they’re only going up 27 degrees, and or 13.5 kilocalories (27 degrees times 500 milliliters, divided by 1000 to get kilocalories). If you ate 34 ounces of ice, you’d end up with 37 calories (so he’s doing the math right, even if he’s not stating that a dietary calorie is not the same as the scientific definition of a calorie). Twenty four ounces of ice would be almost 27 calories. With 24 ounces of ice and water, it’s more like 20 calories, at a guess. Which could be significant over time; done three times a day, it’d be 400 calories a week, or 6 pounds a year.
I realize not everyone cares that the definition is inaccurate as long as the end numbers are close, but it makes me wonder what else in his program isn’t completely accurate.
we have a tip to make it easier to dine in. have a very ACTIVE 2 year old…
we have trouble keeping him quiet at mealtime at home, so dining out is nearly impossible. couple that with 2 older boys, and we generally exersize and eat at the same time (2 birds, one stone)
enjoy the challenge, i bet we can do a month….
Totally agree with Joel about a cheat day, always recommend a cheat day in my healthy eating plans for clients, it give your body a break. Its great for then rev up that metabolism and clients feel better following the healthy eating plan when they know there is a cheat day to look forwards too.
Great work Joel.
If it only were that simple… I’ve won your 2mont dining-in challenge a good number of times. And I dare say my gourmet meals can easily be just as mouth watering (think adding slice of salmon with baby spinach for starters and an avocado-cacao-date cream or litchis for dessert) but what does NOT necessarily happen, is the fat to budge. Neither did your XFLD help – in spite of following to the T, I mean, I would deviate by 5 grams at most at any macro nutrient from what the plan foresaw for the meal AND I did not skip the workouts that were increadibly tough (yep, about 3-4 times I did cut them short, literally being afraid I might collapse, so in essence I believe I did what I was supposed to do). If I only had kept the minutes on the computer, I would have claimed the money back. Now I only whine here. :(
While your tips might be really helpful for those with a lousy hygiene of life… if you’re already working out and eating decent amounts of veggies… I dare say all this can be next to useless. OR no, perhaps not. You might still inspire someone eating rubbish to start doing better, right?
Off to prepare the afternoon snack for myself and kids. Oven-baked apples with raisins, plenty of cinnamon and almond slices for today!
@ Zach:
Zach that is truly awesome! You know I did notice that even though I totally bloated from simply pigging out on New Years, I mean overboard totally but after about 5 days- it took that long to drop the water weight, I felt much leaner. Usually on my cheat days I don’t go that crazy. I have been experimenting with cheat days since ’07 (got derailed by a pregnancy) and I really do know they work. Sometimes psychologically they are difficult for me though.
I am a restaurant chef and have been taking my own food to work with me for many years. If people only new how unhealthy and down right dangerous restaurant food is. It has to to with much more than just calories. The chemicals, state/age of the food, cooking techniques, equipment, knowledge of the chef
(some-not all- still use chemical-loaded bases for flavoring sauces, offer unsustainable seafoods and use jared sauces and dressings and call it their own recipe). Chefs are trained to make food taste good and few I have worked with have any idea about nutrition or nutrient retention techniques. Wort of all is the “healthy menu” items offered by well meaning but basically ignorant chefs. If you do eat out ask questions about ingredients and cooking techniques. If the servers don’t know that means the chef doesn’t care enough to train them and you are in danger! Walk out immediately. Save money and your body from insecure, egotistical, apathetic chefs and learn to cook for yourself. It is not that hard!
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Hey, it’s Joel! So you want to know a little more about me, huh? Well, I’d be happy to oblige :-)
I guess it all started back in 2001 (my freshman year of college) when I was just a “skinny fat” 19-year old kid. At the time, I was spending close to 2 hours a day in the gym (now my workouts last about 30 minutes), and despite my efforts, you’d probably never guess I worked out a day in my life by looking at me...