Meal Planning for Fat Loss: Fastest Way to Lose 10 Pounds! (Recipes Included!)
“10 pounds gone!”
It always feels good to say that, right?
Let me help you get there…and maybe even beyond!
At my heaviest I weighed 205 lbs and was at 30% body fat (27 yo pic below). That’s the equivalent of a human donut. Not cool for a guy who once wrestled at 126 lbs in college.
Currently, at 44 years old, I won’t be winning any bodybuilding contests, Spartan Races or getting the fastest times at a Crossfit gym…but I am 175 lbs and 11% body fat. This is sustainable (and enjoyable) enough that I’ve weighed this for almost 15 years.
That’s 15 years of being able to burn fat, build muscle, and remain highly energetic for my kids, wife, jujitsu and aviation. And I never felt like I was in the midst of a diet that made me feel lethargic or run down.
If you’re carrying too much extra around the gut, you can use a few of my techniques to shed 10 pounds pretty fast…Or even up to 100 lbs.
Going into the new year, most people are ready to shed fat, and lose what I term, “dead weight”…AKA weight that holds you back from living young.
Let’s be real — excess weight slows everything down from the wine buzz, to the mile run, and even our lifespan.
Life is better leaner. And anyone can make it happen!
As The People’s Chemist, I’ve been hellbent on helping people crush dead weight for almost two decades. At the heart of this is my book, The Stop Eating So F#@%ing Much Diet. In addition to helping people avoid fad diets in favor of eating smart, it teaches you 6 simple habits for mastering your hormones so you can achieve your best body (not the shit you see on InstaFake or FaceCrack).
That book has garnered me dirty looks, hate mail, and a lot of sales! But most importantly, every successful reader has been able to reverse the complications of obesity — such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. (The above video features one such fan!)
But before jumping into those “miraculous” changes, let’s start slow…
A Calorie Deficit Doesn’t Mean “Go Hungry”
If you’re attempting to lose weight, the first thing you need to realize is that you must undergo a caloric deficit. That means you need to burn more calories than you consume. (By reading this, don’t misquote me as being an advocate of low-calorie foods.)
Living in a caloric deficit doesn’t mean you have to go hungry.
Let me explain…
A calorie is a slick term for “energy.” Energy in, energy out. Take in too much energy, and you’re going to store the excess as fat and diminish muscle.
The calorie controversy arises when people start going on extremely low-calorie (or no carb) diets. They lose weight super fast, feel like shit, give in to hunger and overeat like an alcoholic binges…or maybe they just feel horrible and lose nothing at all and jump right back into poor eating habits. Either way, victims throw up their hands and insist that low-calorie diets don’t work.
Well, if you choose the wrong “low” calories — or if you have an “injured metabolism” and refuse to address it — then you’re right. A diet that puts you in a caloric deficit (or carbohydrate deficit) won’t work. It will make you hungry, pissed off, and fat. That’s because your body is unable to curtail the hunger that follows calorie restriction!
My wife at 40 years old, after 4 kids, applying all the tips and adhering to The 18 Minute Workout Principles
A healthy body has numerous ways to curb hunger, just like a sick and obese body has numerous ways to signal false feelings of hunger! Therefore, you can call your diet whatever you want. But to make it work, you must ensure that you learn how to exist in a caloric deficit without raging hunger…And that’s all about hormones.
Master Your Hormones
Just like winds direct the movement of clouds, your hormones orchestrate your breathing rate, heartbeat, oxygen delivery, cellular water balance, caloric intake, emotions and most importantly, your sensation of hunger. They also control how your DNA expresses itself, which proves that our weight is not fully determined by our genes, but instead our hormones.
And those are managed by our habits.
You can think of your hormones as your own internal pharmacy…and something you need to tap into for your best body.
The “intelligence” that plants use to capture sunlight or take up nutrients from the soil and convert these things into energy for growth is the same intelligence your body uses to heal itself naturally and preserve a healthy physique with hormones. It is perfectly natural and happens without you even having to think about it.
The key is to master insulin, glucagon, estrogen and testosterone by learning to habitually eat the right calories, at the right times. Coupled to that, you can also leverage the benefits of botanical medicines that are proven to improve hormone balance, output and sensitivity (BOS).
The right calories at the right time with the right botanicals is the right way to eat, not “diet.” And since there’s not a single fad diet that address’ this Holy Trinity, not a single one will help you restore hormone BOS…your metabolism will remain injured.
Do You Have an Injured Metabolism?
If you’re currently obese, a Type II diabetic or insulin resistant, then you’re at a huge disadvantage in the calorie-burning department. It’s like being at a gun fight with a pocket knife.
Who’s considered to have an injured metabolism?
Sugar addicts.
Women on birth control.
Those taking anti-depressants.
Insulin users.
Basically, anyone choking down pills out of an orange medicine bottle.
Sweets and “chemical invaders” terrorize the body and prevent you from cranking up your God-given calorie furnace. (Learn how to ditch your meds with my book, The 3 Worst Meds!) Therefore, no matter what you do, nothing’s going to work. (Hence, it’s 2019 and you’re making yet another resolution to get your weight in check…)
So, going into the new year with the goal of fat loss, you might have an injured metabolism that refuses to burn calories because your hormone balance, output, and sensitivity (BOS) have gone awol and are unable to light up the fuel that you eat on the daily!
This is true even if you’re only eating one meal a day!
A body that’s incapable of burning calories is always going to be taking in more than it burns, simply because it can’t burn a single shred of a single calorie. And if you’ve ever eaten anything served out of a window, package or box, then your hormones have been hijacked by Big Food.
Nature has several remedies to an unresponsive metabolism. Green tea, cinnamon, yerba mate, bitter orange, and Mormon tea are among the best. All are safe and effective as shown by their ability to increase calorie burn. For almost 2 decades I’ve been using them as the core ingredients for Thermo FX, my all-natural “diet pill” that’s proven to be the safest and most effective supplement on the market for targeting belly fat, while allowing you to build muscle!
Any diet plan that doesn’t address an injured metabolism is doomed for failure…
Big Food Hijacking Your (kids) Hormones and Your Science
Most people’s hormones have failed them because of medications, sugar, pharmafoods, artificial sweeteners, and juice. Companies like Nestlé, Gatorade, Kraft, and Unilever (and many, many others) have spurred the “eating-too-fucking much” trend by manipulating our food supply and your taste buds so that you’re never satiated.
Think about that…no matter how much “manipulated” food you eat, your hunger pangs will grow while your brain sends out SOS signals for more food! You can thank pharmafoods (foods made and packaged in a lab) and the companies that churn them out, while manipulating the science and the governments that support them.
Nestlé was recently caught red-handed paying nutritionists and scientists in China, US, and Brazil to manipulate diet trends and research. The New York Times covered this in a chilling piece titled, “How Big Business Got Brazil Hooked on Junk Food.”
In it they showed how the food giant hired “foot soldiers” to hand out free samples of processed foods (drenched in sugars, artificial flavors and pharmafood) to impoverished moms. Once hooked, they’d set up delivery routes to ensure ongoing supply for the entire family, successfully cutting them off from their traditional diets. The fallout has been epic rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and a growing mortality count from premature death.
In Asia, Nestle vetted mainstream scientific research to insist that, “children who drank malted breakfast beverages — a category dominated in Malaysia by Milo, a sugary powder drink made by Nestlé — were more likely to be physically active and spend less time in front of a computer or television.” Of course, this was blatantly false!
Kids drugged with sugar, artificial flavors and pharmafoods (chemicals made in a lab and designed to trick your brain into eating more) usually want to stare at their TV, phone and iPad, not go outside and run around. The end result is an epidemic of obesity, depression and diabetes.
These food manipulators have most of the planet covered. No matter where you are, you’re currently living in an Evil Empire that has imprisoned you with the invisible bars of food craving. It counts its money based on how many bites you eat, and goes back to the lab to find ways to increase your over-eating year after year.
Fasting windows and recipes are perfect for the entire family
Your stomach can’t keep up, your bowls are bloated, and your intestines are so filled with processed food and shit that it’s pressing on your arteries and inflating your blood pressure as fast as the profits flood into Big Food companies. These “food makers” and their profits manipulate everything from Google, your kids’ education, to media, to science, to politics.
So, blame the doctor, blame Big Food, or blame yourself for being overweight. Either way, take action. Understand that you need to master your hormones to shed fat! And since not a single fad diet today address’s this assault on our hormones, not a single once can help you until you get your hormones mastered with The Stop Eating So F@#king Much Diet.
5 Tips for Losing 10 Pounds in January!
Here are 5 simple but guaranteed strategies that prove you’re never too old or too fat to start living young.
Don’t eat sugar! If it tastes sweet spit it out. That includes fruit.
If you’re overweight, stop eating fruit. (If you have your best physique, eating it minimally is best and even then, stick to the citrus fruits and berries.)
When you eat anything sweet, your body produces a fat-storing hormone called insulin. As insulin rushes into the blood, it pushes out testosterone and glucagon. Those are two hormones that help you look good naked by setting calories on fire! They also help curb cravings. Out they go…every time you swallow sugar. And your metabolism takes a nosedive.
Don’t go drowning metabolic hormones in insulin because you can’t say no to a whipped cream in your coffee or refuse to have the discipline to say no-thank-you to a damn cookie that you’ve already had year after year! I can assure you that looking good in a bathing suit feels way better than how the damn cookie tastes.
If you want to break the sweets rule, use stevia or honey (be aware of the added calories in honey). Also, supplement with Serotonin FX to get deep sleep and to curb sugar cravings throughout the day!
Drink 16 ounces of spring water three times per day — morning, noon, and night. Your body (Earth, too) is 70% water. Without it, you wrinkle up and ruin your hormone function.
Most importantly, without sufficient water, you crush the delivery mechanism that your body has evolved over eons to send hormones to their receptor sites. No water, no hormone taxi, no calorie burn. Drink the water, already!
Don’t complicate this.
Your water doesn’t have to be pH balanced, promise world peace, or be blessed by a micro-dosing shaman who likes to brag about his podcast.
The best water just has to be clean water — not poisoned with fluoride, chlorine, aunt Helga’s flushed prescription meds, or other environmental toxins that are known to kill us all slowly.
Spring water is the best.
Want a simple and highly effective filter? Get a Zero Water Filter (see www.ZeroWater.com).
Stop grazing on 4-6 meals per day!
The grazing myth grew from the discovery that eating boosts your metabolism. It’s called diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT). I learned about it in 9th grade, along with all the other outdated, simple-minded personal training drab – written by ‘roiders – found in muscle magazines.
There is a limit to everything. And the limit to diet induced thermogenesis diminishes after three meals. Otherwise, why not eat 10?
Eat 3 meals per day and space them out by “fasting windows” of 4-6 hours (The longer the better). Between meals, stick to water and tea.)
And when you do eat, choose high-fat, high-calorie, satiating foods! That would be things like eggs, chicken, humane-raised red meat, whey, bone broths, raw milk, quinoa, coconut oil, avocados, fish, butter, seeds, nuts.
All of these foods are slow digested and ensure that you don’t have low blood sugar and corresponding “psychoglycemia” during the 4-6 hour “fasting windows.” These periods will force your body to optimize its hormone balance, output, and sensitivity (BOS) so that you begin controlling your hunger and caloric intake, naturally – akin to your breathing rate and heartbeat.
Forcing yourself to have fasting windows is one of the best things you can do for your health and longevity! During this time, drink lemon water, tea (with cinnamon) or coffee to help your hormones control appetite (I’d limit all caffeine after 1pm). Sticking to daily fasting windows will renew your energy, rewire your tastebuds, and even slow the aging process. It’s one of the best things you can do to live young!
Plan your meals.
Make it easy to eat healthy food. (This means stop using Uber Eats and ordering takeout on a whim!)
Make your dinners every Sunday or Monday for the entire week.
This allows everyone the ability to make their own lunch or dinner in a matter of minutes. Otherwise, someone is going to get an arm eaten off…and I’m going to chase it down with a big fat peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Not good for hormone function, family dynamics, or the highly coveted caloric deficit.
(If I’m traveling, I pack hard boiled eggs, whey advanced mixed with nutritional yeast and Essential Greens, beef jerky (no sugar or MSG), grapefruit, water, zevia, yerba mate and lunch meat like ham, turkey and salami. For emergency situations, I carry RX Bars and HNINA Chocolate.)
Here are some of my favorite recipes that keep for a week:
Homemade Chicken Rice Soup
Ingredients:
- 1 whole free-range chicken or 2 to 3 pounds of bony chicken parts, such as necks, backs, breastbones and wings
- 4 quarts cold purified water
- 2 tablespoons vinegar
- 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
- 3 celery sticks, coarsely chopped
- 1 bunch parsley
- Gizzards from one chicken ( optional)
- Feet from the chicken (optional)
Directions:
Prepare your rice.
Place whole chicken into a large stainless steel pot with filtered water and vinegar. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 6 to 24 hours. The longer you let it simmer, the richer and more flavorful it will be. About 10 minutes before broth/stock is finished remove debris off top with a slotted spoon, add parsley.
Cut your vegetables, while cooking chicken and broth.
Remove chicken, let cool, remove meat from carcass to reserve for stock once vegetables and rice are added. Strain the broth into a large bowl – cheesecloth is helpful, but not required.
Add vegetables of choice ( carrots, garlic, celery, onions) and simmer until veggies are cooked as desired.
Add rice, chicken from carcass and simmer a minute more. Save for a week in fridge!
“Shouldn’t Be This Good” Quinoa Salad
Ingredients:
- 2 cups quinoa
- 2 pounds chicken tenders
- 1 bunch red kale
- 1 bunch green kale
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 red onion
- 1 large cucumber
- 1 cup snow peas
- 8oz crumbled feta cheese
Directions:
Brown your quinoa first in frying pan, with a bit of butter, then cook as instructed on bag. Sauté kale until only slightly firm. Be careful not to fry. Add garlic salt, pepper, oregano, parsley and basil per your preference. Sprinkle chicken with garlic salt, pepper, oregano, parsley and basil per your preference. Chop all vegetables and place in large mixing bowl. Toss together. When quinoa and kale are finished place in mixing bowl with vegetables. When chicken is finished cooking chop and mix with the rest of the salad. Add feta. Give it all a good mixing. Cover and place in fridge.
Chili Verde
Make sure you serve this with fresh cilantro, red onion, and a freshly shredded cheese of your choice.
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs ground beef chuck
- 2 large red bell peppers
- 1 1/2 chopped large onions
- 6 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 4 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 jars green salsa or green enchilada sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 cans pinto or kidney beans, rinsed. Or one can of each.
Directions:
Cook beef, bell pepper and onion in a large skillet or saucepan. Crumble meat with a wooden spoon and cook over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until browned. Add garlic and spices. Cook for about 15 seconds. Stir in salsa or sauce and water, bringing to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are tender. Around 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in beans and cook until heated through, about 1 minute.
Peruvian Chicken with Roasted Organic Rainbow Carrots
Ingredients:
- 12 organic, bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- Fresh cilantro
- 1 1/2 tablespoons paprika
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano leaves
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Combine the ingredients for the spice rub in a small bowl. Rinse and dry the chicken pieces, then generously rub them all over with the spice rub. Arrange the chicken skin side down on large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Roast for 20 minutes, then turn the chicken pieces over. Continue roasting for 20 to 25 more minutes, until the chicken skin is crisp. Garnish with Cilantro. Serve with roasted rainbow carrots and roasted red potatoes. See recipe below.
Roasted Organic Rainbow Carrots
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds (one bag) organic rainbow carrots
- Olive oil
- Sea salt
- Black pepper
- Honey
Directions:
Heat oven to 425°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Peal all carrots. Cut carrot in half then slice that half. Put carrots on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and toss making sure every carrot has oil. Then sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper. Toss again. I like to drizzle a bit of honey over the carrots for an added sweetness but only use about a tablespoon. Toss again and place in oven. Roast for about 25 minutes.
Slow-Cooker Latin Chicken with Black Beans and Sweet Potatoes
This is a favorite in our home. Seriously delicious! “The best meal I’ve ever had in this home!” said TPC!
Ingredients:
- 3 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- Salt and pepper
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 cup salsa
- 3 large cloves garlic, crushed with press
- 2 cans (15 to 19 ounces each) black beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks (yams are good too, or mix them up)
- 1 jar roasted red pepper, cut into strips (1 cup)
- 1/3 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves with Chopped lime wedges as you prefer
Directions:
Sprinkle chicken thighs with 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper. Heat 12-inch stainless steel pan over medium-high heat with olive oil until hot; add chicken thighs and cook until well browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer chicken to plate. Remove skillet from heat.
In the same pan, combine smoked paprika, allspice, chicken broth, salsa, garlic, and remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin.
In 6-quart crockpot, combine beans and sweet potatoes. Place chicken on top of potato mixture in slow cooker; pour broth mixture over chicken. Cover slow cooker with lid and cook on low 8 hours or on high 4 hours. Check it periodically as sometimes it finishes a bit quicker.
With tongs or slotted spoon, remove chicken pieces to a large platter. Gently stir roasted red pepper strips into potato mixture. Spoon mixture over chicken. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with lime wedges.
Never drink your calories and avoid these “fast eating calories.”
These are all on the “Do Not Eat or Drink” List:
- Almond milk
- Homogenized and pasteurized milk
- Soy milk
- Juice
- Gatorade
- Soda
- Bananas
- Peanut Butter
- Cheese
Sure, some of these foods can be healthy and are great for a cheat meal, but overall, they flood the body with excess calories, far too quickly. Been there done that.
Give these 5 habits 4 weeks and watch the magic!
What About Exercise?
I say “magic” because I didn’t even include exercise!
Workout programs are just as flawed as the bozos popularizing fad diets. And if you work out without addressing the “metabolic injury” that prevents you from burning calories, then you’re just wasting time and money.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t get your ass moving once you take up these 5 habits! If you want to really take charge, Download My FREE App by searching “18 minute workout” in your Apple App Store or Google Play Store!
Keep The Weight Off For Life
In closing, remember, losing weight fast and keeping it off — while building lean sexy muscle, forever — can be virtually effortless when you learn to work WITH your hormones by creating a caloric deficit. The permanent solution you’re looking for has nothing to do with deprivation, denial, or sacrifice. It’s all controlled by your hormones.
Want to ramp it up and make damn sure you rebuild a new body? Then learn how to master your hormones for life with 6 simple habits at www.AmPmFatLoss.com.
Hormones are everything. They determine how much you eat and when. Whether you burn fat… or store it. Whether you feel like shit, or feel great.
They determine whether you’re energetic and satisfied after a meal… or lethargic and prone to cravings. They determine whether you feel groggy and cranky in the mornings…or rested and rejuvenated.
Most importantly, your hormones determine whether you’re traveling a path toward disease and early demise…or a lifetime of youthful activity and healthy longevity.
If you’re done tolerating “injured hormones”…then get on the AM PM Fat Loss program and make 2019 your fittest, healthiest year ever!
About the Author
My name is Shane “The People’s Chemist” Ellison. I hold a master’s degree in organic chemistry and am the author of Over-The-Counter Natural Cures Expanded Edition (SourceBooks). I’ve been quoted by USA Today, Shape, Woman’s World, US News and World Report, as well as Women’s Health and appeared on Fox and NBC as a medicine and health expert. Start protecting yourself and loved ones with my FREE report, 3 Worst Meds.
