Horses for courses

By: Dean Chavallier

I have a friend of mine, Lonnie. He is a personal trainer and knows his stuff. Of course, I know my stuff too. We agree pretty much on everything apart from one subject: fat loss.

I am of the old school belief that you must eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a price and dinner like a pauper. I have seen this weight loss principle work time and time again over the past 20 years. You get the most carbohydrates in your system in early in the day, then gradually reduce and try not to have any later in the day. You can have proteins, vegetables, salads etc in the evening.

Lonnie agrees with me on this but he says that this “can” be a weight “gainer” for some people! I always rejected this because it made no sense. To be honest, I never listened to Lonnie’s explanation…until recently.

Lonnie has a simple theory. His theory is that not everyone responds to the King-Prince-Pauper theory for the simple reason that not everyone is hungry or ready to eat in the mornings! Not only that, but some people sort of “open their appetites” by eating in the morning and as much as they then try and reduce their intake, they end up eating more because they are…well… hungry! They opened their appetite and now they just can’t stop.

Now, don’t get me wrong, Lonnie’s theory does not apply to everyone. However if you find that you really cannot shift the weight and that you are getting fatter, then you are obviously eating more than you are using up and unless you can up your exercise regime, you are not going to get thinner.

Lonnie’s theory is based on you eating when necessary and NOT according to habit or what others tell you is right.

I have seen this work on Lonnie’s clients so you may want to give it a go. I suggest you do not do it if you are ill, have any health problems or unsure. If you are unsure, go to your doctor first:

Morning
Drink a glass of water. Drink a cup of tea with sweetener (if you have a sweet tooth).
Coffee is OK too but remember coffee has a lot of caffeine and gets your adrenals working over-time, defeating the object of this exercise.
Don’t drink a “big” cup of tea or coffee. Just a small cup of tea with as much sweetener as you want. This will trick your mind into thinking you have eaten something. If you have any sugar/diabetes problems, then needless to say that this is not for you. If you feel weak or faint, then you can have a few raisins.

Mid-morning, lunch
Only “when” you get hungry, eat! This cannot be earlier than say 11 or 12 in the morning. At that time, eat what you like but make sure you do not eat saturated fats or eat “too much” food. Just eat a small amount to kill off your hunger (not a birdie amount, but not a huge plate either).

If you want to really take this further, don’t eat a meal but have some corn flakes with soya or rice milk for lunch.

You will probably get hungry. If you do, you can have another cup of tea with sweetener. DO NOT have food lying around at work or at home or wherever you are, especially sweet foods or confectionary. If they are not around, you will not give in to them.

Early evening
If you had a proper lunch, you can have a light dinner now.
If you had corn flakes for lunch, you can have a proper dinner now (again not a huge plate).

Have your dinner no later than 5-6 hours before you are going to sleep. i.e. if you sleep at 10 pm, eat your dinner at 5 p.m.
After dinner, do not eat anything again. If you feel hungry, have a cup of tea with sweeteners. If you are really hungry and cannot control yourself, have a small apple.

Don’t starve yourself. If you are really hungry and the tea+sweetener is not doing the trick then have a handful of almonds.

The objective is to do something different and radical and break your normal habits. Let’s face it, if you are fat, then your normal habits are not working for you!

You should stick to this for say 1-2 weeks. You should see noticeable weight loss within 1 week. Drink 1-2 litres of water during the day.
Remember, don’t have food lying around, don’t go shopping on an empty stomach, don’t kill yourself doing this. If starving, eat a little something.
The idea here though is to get your mind set for a “light” day and not a day filled with food.

1. Isn’t this going against the principle that you should not starve the body as it will put all the weight back on later?
Yes and no. If you are fat and not able to rid yourself of it, then you need to lose it! You “may” put some of it back on later or you may not. There is no set rule. No point worrying about it now. Let’s get the job at hand done first.

2. Isn’t it dangerous to not eat anything for hours and hours?
People fast. They don’t die, do they? It is a sort of detox but you are tricking your body in a way with the tea and sweetener. The caffeine from the tea gives you some energy and the sweetener makes your brain think you have got sugar in.
Anyway, it’s not that you are not eating. You are just not eating for the sake of eating or according to habit.
By the way, if you don’t drink black tea, you can have herbal teas (but they won’t give you that kick).

3. Aren’t sweeteners bad for you?
Probably. But so is sugar, so is fat and so is living. Breathing oxygen is bad for you as it makes you old! No winning these days.

4. What about afterwards? Can I go back to my old ways?
Hey, hey, hang on a minute. Haven’t you been listening? This is a way of getting rid of body fat fast. It will also teach you a number of things:
- You don’t need to eat when others eat, especially if you are not hungry.
- You do not need to eat such big volumes.
- You may not necessarily need to eat often. Everyone is different. Yes, smaller meals, more often work for the majority of people but they may not work for you.
- You don’t need as much food as you have been eating. This is obvious as you have been getting fat. If your job or you become more active, then things can change.

5. Where is Lonnie now?
He died of starvation…. . just kidding (sorry, couldn’t resist that one :)
Lonnie is looking great and running his personal training business. He was putting on a few pounds himself as he pushed past 40. He put his own theories into action and is looking lean and mean. You can too from tomorrow. Give it a try.