The Brain Diet

The following is MY DIET routine that has helped me successfully lose weight multiple times in my life.   I do not use weight loss supplements and I firmly believe only diet and exercise are the best and safest way to lose weight.  I also believe most supplements (in the long run) will only damage your body in some unexpected way and it's just not worth it.   While most people want immediate results, know that the quicker you lose weight, the easier it is to re-gain.  Take your weight loss slow and steady and it will stay off for a longer period of time. 
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DISCLAIMER:
I don't care what you do to yourself, this is just a guide on how I did it and it is NOT meant as a specific guide for anyone else.  It is up to you to customize your own diet to fit your needs.  You should consult your doctor if you are not sure.  
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My shopping list:

• Skinless Chicken
• Diet Soda
• Crystal Light
• Water bottles
• Beef/Turkey Jerky
• Vegetables (frozen or fresh)
• Salad Mix & Light Dressing
• Eggs
• Milk (1% or non-fat)
• Low-fat Cheese
• Bathroom scale
• Vitamins
• Spices (mrs. dash, etc)

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What you will have to develop:

• Patience - all diets are NOT fast nor SHOULD they be.  If your goal is quick and easy weight loss, you will fail.  If you succeed then you will likely damage your body somehow and you will just as quickly regain the weight.   All successful weight loss is slow and steady.  And be prepared for days of weight gain while you are trying to lose the weight.  Not all weight gain is bad and this will be discussed.  You should not aim for anything more than 3 pounds per week. 
• Will power - Like any diet, the hardest part is resisting foods that are counterproductive to your goal.  There's no real problem with "cheating" on a diet.  But every time you do, your progress is generally rolled back one or more days.  It does not "pause", it literally goes backwards.  And despite what GNC will tell you, the "cheater's pill" does not work.  You should learn to plan for bumps in your diet schedule which will be discussed.  Also, expect to be HUNGRY most of the time.  It will get easier over time, but not right away.
  
  I advise you clear out your panty/kitchen of any bad foods you can no longer eat.  That's assuming you don't have roommates that aren't on a diet as well.   If so, try to get their support by moving bad foods out of your sight as much as possible.  Until you get your cravings under control, you will want to avoid temptation for a while.   Keep healthy snacks everywhere you know you will be (work, school, home, the car, etc).  Don't give yourself an excuse to just run over to Burger King. 

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Food Labels

Start reading ALL food labels.  Everything on the label is important to know.  Cholesterol and Sodium are more important for anyone that is over 35 or has been told by their doctor to be concerned with those issues.  I am not a doctor, do not trust me with your life.   

Step one....serving size.   The information on the label is typically for ONE serving size.  But how big is the serving size?   if the serving size is a very small amount and you plan to eat far more than that, then you would need to figure out how many servings that is and multiple the values to determine the estimated total values you would be consuming.   You will quickly learn the serving size is there to TRICK YOU into thinking the food is a lot healthier than it is. 

For example, a quick look at Fig Newtons would make you think, well that's not TOO bad.  Lots of sugar and carbs but no fat.  Ok great.

However, if you consider the serving size is 2 cookies...who the hell eats 2 cookies?  Pre-diet, I could eat a whole sleeve.   And 23g of carbs on a diet is A LOT.  So this is not good food for a diet.  Start doing this math for everything you consider eating.  Soon you will realize how incredibly unhealthy the average fast food meal really is.

Calories - there's no general rule of how many calories you should consume.  All these labels are based on a 2000 calorie diet which is just the average healthy adult diet as described by the FDA.  But that's never applicable to everyone.  So first you need to consider what you normally consume on a regular basis.  Track down these items and locate their nutrition info (aka food label) to see how many calories you are consuming each day.   This is your current baseline (aka starting point).

From here you need to slowly reduce that number.   You do NOT want to suddenly reduce your caloric intake by anything more than 200-300 calories from any given starting point.  Most dietitians warn a drastic change in caloric intake will cause your body to go into metabolic shock as it believes it's being starved.  This will cause your body to GAIN weight even though you are trying to lose it and can lead to other serious health issues. 

However, this is assuming you are not eating only fast food and super unhealthy junk.   If that is the case, then you still need to completely change your diet to normal food.  Start cooking, eating whole foods, avoid processed food.  If removing all junk food is a drastic change in calorie intake, consult your doctor on the best way to approach this reduction. 

So from your baseline, plan reduce your calorie intake by 200-300. You lose weight as you USE more calories than you consume.  So once you find that magical ratio, you may not need to adjust it for a while.  Basically, once you stop losing weight (while doing everything else correctly), it means you can lower your intake again if needed.  But this may not be necessary. 

FAT - just try to avoid it in general.  Problem is you will be leaning on meat to avoid carbs.  And with meat comes Fat.  Fat is not as big a deal as the 90's would have you believe.  Turns out that was a conspiracy anyway invented by the sugar industry.  Just keep track of fat so you can identify foods that have way too much by comparison to other foods. 

Carbohydrates - It's not easy at all, but try to reduce your consumption.  The catch here, carbs are in most everything.  So you will need to do your best to limit your intake.  Sadly there are good and bad carbs.   Good carbs come from unprocessed food like vegetables, nuts, etc.   Bad carbs come from processed foods like bread and tortillas, etc.   the bad carbs while they taste soooo good are the carbs that cause the most cravings and (in my opinion) are harder to burn off.   Keep track of how many carbs are in your foods and adjust as needed.  You will be surprised just how many carbs your body needs vs. how many you typically consume.

Protein - You will mostly see this in meats, but some foods have protein like Brocoli and nuts.  Protein is good.  I find it works good to replace carbs for protein, but it's not easy.   Start to make protein foods a normal snack.  I use slim jims as Costco has a large box of snack sized slim jims (about 3" long) which make great snacks and are just protein (and a little fat).   Nuts are good protein too, but beware carbs are abundant. 

Sodium - Can be a problem for anyone with high blood pressure or another medical condition that can be affected by salt.  Please consult your doctor as needed.  With diet sodas, they are low or free of sugar and high fructose corn syrup which is good.  But to get the sweet-like flavor, they use a lot of artificial sweeteners that are made of salt.  Diet coke and pepsi tend to have the least amount of sodium.  But compare that to other diet drinks like diet Dr. Pepper and you will be surprised.  So be aware of how much you are consuming.  In my experience, too much salt makes the body retain water, which will add temporary weight.  But to get to that level you would have to drink 5+ diet drinks a day.  Just go easy on the diet sodas, learn to love water, and go crazy with crystal light. 

Sugars - Sugar will slow or reverse your progress A LOT.  Natural sugars from fruit and unprocessed foods are good as long as they are eaten with the fruit and not just fruit juice.   Added sugars are not good and unfortunately are everywhere.  Even the average jar of salsa has a bunch of sugar.  

Here is a good article I found that helps explain it quite well.  Note their daily allowance recommendations are to keep one healthy.  But if you are dieting, you will want to severely cut those numbers.  My daily allowance of total sugars is 3-5g.  .

Progress Tracking

Get a scale to track your weight.  Keep a pen and paper nearby to show when you dropped a little weight.   You can date each entry if you want, but I only tracked the losses just because I don't like looking at the points where I accidentally gained weight. 

Weight yourself first thing in the morning, right after you use the bathroom but do not shower yet.  If you can train yourself to go #1 and #2 first thing when you wake up, then you will be able to attain your actual weight.  Strip down and step on the scale tr reveal your true weight.

Any other time of the day you will have weight fluctuations for various reasons.  You've got weight from urine, or water weight after a shower, or you just ate lunch, or after the gym your muscles are swollen from the workout and thus heavier.   First thing in the morning is the best time for the most accurate weight assessment because you've fully digested before breakfast, your muscles aren't swollen and you can evacuate your bowels.  

Note that you will not SEE phsyical results right away.  You will only see it on the scale at first.  But over time you will start to see more physical results.  Men and women lose weight on different areas first so it's not the same for everyone.  Men lose weight first in the face, so for me I saw those results first and my belly (just my luck) took bloody forever to go away.
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First Two Weeks

The first two weeks are just a warm up, but very important to develop new habits.  First, go out and buy a bunch of new and decently healthy food.  Chicken is your new best friend.  It is high in protein and low in fat.   Just bake it or pan fry with very little oil or use a george foreman grill, etc.  Fried chicken will not help you and don't eat the skin. Make all meals as lean and healthy as you can.

Stick to white meat as much as possible.  My list of items is included above.  These are the things I use, but you can customize it based on your restrictions and taste.   I will include my exact schedule below if you need more help.

Keep in mind, "taste" should NOT be a goal for your diet.  You are now entering the realm of bland tasting food.  You will learn to appreciate a good array of spices as they are the only low-calorie way to bring flavor to your food.  But in general, you need to start training your brain to stop expect amazing flavor from your food.  This is where your cravings will come to haunt you like a drug addiction. 

But still this is all temporary.  Once you reach your goal weight or shape, you can start eating more normal food on a less restrictive diet.  You should still and always consider yourself "on a diet" to keep the weight off, but at that point you will be able to eat something sinful and not gain a ton of weight overnight.  Until then, the plan is exercise and proper diet.  

Start forcing yourself to stop eating your entire meal when you eat out, even if it's healthy like a salad.  Eat half your meal, save the rest to eat about 2-3 hours later.   The point is to get your stomach and brain used to receiving less food at once.  Also, try to keep your body digesting and metabolizing as much as possible (just don't eat within an hour of bedtime).   Small healthy snacks between small meals keeps your body digesting.   This has worked for me and controls cravings. 

 ABM: Always Be Metabolizing

A helpful note on flavor... use flavored oils.  There are a ton of flavored chardonnay   oils out there that will add a ton of flavor to an otherwise bland meal.  You can use the oil to pan fry something, just go easy on the oil...don't soak it. 
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My weekly schedule

Monday thru Friday
8am: 2 eggs & 1 small sausage (or 2 slices of bacon), water
11am: salad with chicken, diced tomatoes, sliced cucumber, and shredded cheese, light dressing, & diet pepsi
3pm: 5 slim jims or 1/4 cup almonds
6pm: steamed vegetables with chicken, diet pepsi, vitamins
8pm: Gym
9pm: one apple or pear, or ~10 strawberries, crystal light
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Saturday & Sunday
8am: 2 eggs and 4 pieces of turkey bacon, water
11am: Chipotle: chicken salad no dressing, no rice, black beans, pico, and cheese, with coke zero
3pm: 5 slim jims or handful of beef jerky
6pm: steamed vegetables with chicken,diet pepsi, vitamins
8pm: Gym
9pm: one apple or pear, or bowl of strawberries, crystal light


As you can see the schedule is basic, boring, and rather bland.   There are other things I can eat but I'm lazy.  And this schedule has been the most effective for myself so I stick with it consistently until I reach my goal.

I do Chipotle because it tastes great, it's fresh and healthy, and I can limit the calories and carbs by reducing what's included.   Black beans are a good whole food and I skip the rice to reduce the carbs.

Monday and Tuesday, I make my own salads and force myself to eat them because it saves a little money.   Weds-Fri i usually go out and get a salad.  Oregano's has an amazing chicken salad.   

Light salad dressing helps but is not critical so as long as you don't use too much or too often.  Just use enough to get the job done so you can finish the food but not too little to where you feel like you are eating straight from the garden.  

I use "I can't believe it's not butter" spray to give the steamed veggies some flavor.  The spray adds a negligible amount of calroies to the meal.  I use mustard or mrs. dash to flavor the chicken.   Ketchup is typically loaded with sugar so be careful using it.  Always be aware of what's in your condiments and flavorings.  Mustard is mostly sodium, so no big deal for me.

I add vitamins to the daily mix to make up for anything I am no longer ingesting with such a strict and limited diet.   Centrum dailies work great, whatever works for you is good.   If you like chewables, be aware most of them use a lot of sugar to make them taste better.  So keep in mind chewables aren't the best choice if you are trying to avoid sugar. 
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Exercise

Exercise is incredibly helpful.  Depending on your age and general metabolism, it's not always required to lose weight.  You can technically lose weight by just diet.  Most diets are 80% food and 20% exercise.  But most nutritionists say one can't work without the other. 

In general, the exercise is good for your cardiovascular system anyway which is always a good thing.  I highly recommend exercise as it only helps speed up your progress and keeps you healthy.  
 
Do at least 30 minutes of exercise that is rigorous enough to make you sweat.  If you just sit on the bike and use level 1 the whole time, it's not going to be very effective.  Get your heart and breathing rates up and get in shape. 

For a decent result, I recommend at least 4 days per week.  6 is optimal and will provide better results as well as the one day to rest.   Rest is important if you've never progressed very far on a real diet.  The first time I tried, I made it 14 days of exercise and then noticed I became extremely tired.   That could have been my body adjusting to the diet, but now I am able to exercise every day and I don't feel any slow downs.   So play it by ear and try to build up your stamina.
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Backing up?

The reduction in carbs tends to be a toilet problem because lots of food with carbs are the foods that provide fiber.  The loss of fiber will tend to get you backed up.  You may need to get some laxatives as necessary.  However, try to eat healthy foods with fiber.  You will want to research what foods have fiber.   This is why I include an apple or pear with my diet.  Fruit peels tend to have some fiber.

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Cheating

Bending the rules of your routine for something out of your schedule is virtually inevitable.  So it's best to be prepared for these occurrences and just do your best to ensure they are NOT frequent.  The general way to handle "cheating" is to compensate when it happens.  

For example, if you have coworkers like I do, they eventually want to do lunch and it's likely not anywhere that has something that will work with your diet.  My coworkers decided on a Mexican fast food place.  The Mexican place didn't have a "bowl" or salad option like Chipotle, so I just got a chicken burrito with only pico, no sour cream or guacamole, etc..   The tortilla was unavoidable so I just went with it and compensated later that night.  

For dinner, I skipped my usual steamed vegetables to compensate for the extra carbs I had at lunch, so I only ate lean chicken.  Then at the gym I stayed an extra 30 minutes to burn a little more calories.   The next morning, I still weighed less than the previous morning. 

This method works for me, but keep in mind you still don't want to go overboard when you cheat.  Don't eat a huge quantity and try not to go too unhealthy.   If you have to detour, don't backtrack your progress too much.  And the above compensation may not work or work every time.  So don't think you can cheat whenever you want.  The more you cheat, the bigger your cravings will get.  
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Muscle Gain:

If you want to gain muscle mass while losing "bad" weight,  it is possible but harder to track and appreciate any such results.   Muscle literally weighs more than fat. So you can lose more fat than you gain muscle and you will still end up gaining weight according to the scale.  So if you do both at the same time, it will feel like you are getting no good results unless you have done this before and know what to expect.

I suggest instead you just focus on bad weight loss first.  Once you've reached your goal, then you can change your diet to just keeping the weight off by not eating too much and as healthy as you can, same as before.  But now, to gain more muscle, you need to start adding more protein so your muscles can grow.   Casein protein mix with low calorie almond milk works great.  From there you can focus on positive weight gain.  Using the bathroom scale may not be an effective progress tracker. 

I do NOT recommend whey protein.  Also, be cautious of the protein shakes as the pre-mixed ones have lots of sugar.  My method was the lowest-calorie vanilla almond milk mixed with a scoop of Casein protein powder mix.  You can use water instead for lower calories, but wow does that taste like crap.
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Alcohol

Avoid at all cost. Ever heard of beer belly?  It's not a myth.  It's a very easy way to gain weight without even trying, especially after 30.  If you have belly to lose, then STOP drinking completely.   Once or twice per year is plenty. 
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Results:

Results will vary but my average daily weight loss was about .3 pounds per day.   Some days I gained a tad or broke even, but most days (90%) I lost at least something.  I averaged about 2-3 pounds lost per week, which most dietitians say is respectably healthy weight loss for anyone not incredibly obese.  

Within 3 weeks I had to change into a lower pant size.   Within 2 weeks my energy level improved and I was sleeping better.   I hope you found this helpful.