When you’re trying to lose a lot of body fat, controlling your appetite is the most important determinant of your success.
Obviously other factors are important as well, but if you can’t stick to your diet, then you will fail to reach your goals.
Once you start getting to a very low body fat percentage and your calorie intake starts getting lower, your leptin levels will decrease.
When your leptin levels get very low, you can become voraciously hungry and it can be very easy to cave and go raid the pantry and completely wreck your diet.
Aside from the fact that leptin levels will inevitably decrease, the biggest mistake that individuals make is not taking precautions to manipulate their hormones and minimize hunger.
Understanding how your body’s chemistry works becomes a necessity when you get extremely lean.
Common diet practices would dictate that you split your daily macronutrient intake evenly throughout the day into 6 meals.
But if you eat a diet with carbohydrates, your insulin levels will spike along with your blood sugar.
The result of this is an increase in appetite, regardless of how hungry you were beforehand.
You’ve probably noticed that if you wake up and aren’t hungry, and then take in a sugary breakfast, suddenly you’re a lot hungrier than you were upon waking.
This is due to your insulin levels balancing out the blood sugar and artificially increasing your hunger level.
This can be diet suicide for many individuals, as you will already be hungry from being in a calorie deficit. Adding insulin spikes into the mix only makes things harder to deal with.
It’s not uncommon for some people to eat past their daily allotted calorie intake with their first meal in the morning simply because they let their blood sugar and insulin levels get out of whack.
The key is to take advantage of your insulin levels being low in the morning and have a meal dense in protein and fats. But no carbs (unless you workout after your first meal and need carbs for energy).
By having a meal with no carbs upon waking, you can eliminate a sharp insulin spike and curb your hunger for several more hours during the day.
The less hours you’re hungry, the more manageable your diet will be to stick to.
I’m a big advocate of skipping carbs in your first meal, as it has helped me keep my insatiable hunger at bay during very strict cutting phases where all I could think about was eating.
Not using this diet trick can lead to the downfall of many individuals once they start getting very lean and very hungry.
And while this trick may not be useful for every person, it is a fantastic way to offset hunger.
3 replies to “The Biggest Diet Mistake Made While Cutting”
Eric
So when you cutting,you can eat carbs for energy before your workouts.What about after your workouts?do you still need to eat carbs after your workouts to replenish muscle glycogen stores? And, on off days, you mentioned not to eat carbs but eat lots of protein and fats,but I noticed if I don’t eat carbs throughout the day I have mood swings and low energy,so how can I manage my cutting cycle? I assume to eat carbs at the beginning of the day and close when the day ends skips carbs? Thanks
Steven
Cutting means that you are trying to burn fat. Eating carbs spikes your insulin levels which leads to the inability to burn fat. It’s best to avoid carbs when cutting. You can have carbs right before and after workouts for energy boosts but it’s not 100% necessary, especially when you’re cutting. You have mood swings and low energy from not eating carbs because your body is used to having carbs all the time. Switching to a diet of primarily fats & protein is bumpy at first, but actually satisfies your hunger much better than eating carbs does after your body gets used to it. You should try to avoid carbs in the beginning of the day because “By having a meal with no carbs upon waking, you can eliminate a sharp insulin spike and curb your hunger for several more hours during the day.” I Hope this helps!
alex
Excellent advice, Derek. I’ve been doing nothing but black coffee in the mornings and that allows me to go up until 12pm-1pm without eating. You gave me a good idea, however. I am going to start having no carbs for my first meal of the day, and leave the carbs for my last meal of the day. I find that I get hungry after my first meal, and this article has helped me understand why. Great stuff!
Do you want to know a big secret in the fitness industry? Anyone can create the body of their dreams. You don’t need to have great genetics, you don’t need to pay for some expensive physical trainer, and you certainly don’t need to get a fancy gym membership… All that you need to do is …
A lot of guys come to us asking different versions of the same question: “I want to get bigger but not get fatter, can I do it?” Of course you can! There’s a lot of misinformation and confusion out there about how to properly “clean bulk”. Or about how to effectively gain muscle while minimizing fat. …
Cardio is something that is commonly overlooked by fitness enthusiasts and those who are looking to get in shape. The common misbelief is that if you train your ass off and lift heavy, eventually you will somehow just end up with a physique that is not only big, but ripped as well. This is almost …
The Biggest Diet Mistake Made While Cutting
When you’re trying to lose a lot of body fat, controlling your appetite is the most important determinant of your success.
Obviously other factors are important as well, but if you can’t stick to your diet, then you will fail to reach your goals.
Once you start getting to a very low body fat percentage and your calorie intake starts getting lower, your leptin levels will decrease.
When your leptin levels get very low, you can become voraciously hungry and it can be very easy to cave and go raid the pantry and completely wreck your diet.
Aside from the fact that leptin levels will inevitably decrease, the biggest mistake that individuals make is not taking precautions to manipulate their hormones and minimize hunger.
Understanding how your body’s chemistry works becomes a necessity when you get extremely lean.
Common diet practices would dictate that you split your daily macronutrient intake evenly throughout the day into 6 meals.
But if you eat a diet with carbohydrates, your insulin levels will spike along with your blood sugar.
The result of this is an increase in appetite, regardless of how hungry you were beforehand.
You’ve probably noticed that if you wake up and aren’t hungry, and then take in a sugary breakfast, suddenly you’re a lot hungrier than you were upon waking.
This is due to your insulin levels balancing out the blood sugar and artificially increasing your hunger level.
This can be diet suicide for many individuals, as you will already be hungry from being in a calorie deficit. Adding insulin spikes into the mix only makes things harder to deal with.
It’s not uncommon for some people to eat past their daily allotted calorie intake with their first meal in the morning simply because they let their blood sugar and insulin levels get out of whack.
The key is to take advantage of your insulin levels being low in the morning and have a meal dense in protein and fats. But no carbs (unless you workout after your first meal and need carbs for energy).
By having a meal with no carbs upon waking, you can eliminate a sharp insulin spike and curb your hunger for several more hours during the day.
The less hours you’re hungry, the more manageable your diet will be to stick to.
I’m a big advocate of skipping carbs in your first meal, as it has helped me keep my insatiable hunger at bay during very strict cutting phases where all I could think about was eating.
Not using this diet trick can lead to the downfall of many individuals once they start getting very lean and very hungry.
And while this trick may not be useful for every person, it is a fantastic way to offset hunger.
Another way to suppress your appetite and burn fat, while increasing your energy and boosting mood is to get your hands on Red Burner by clicking here.
3 replies to “The Biggest Diet Mistake Made While Cutting”
Eric
So when you cutting,you can eat carbs for energy before your workouts.What about after your workouts?do you still need to eat carbs after your workouts to replenish muscle glycogen stores? And, on off days, you mentioned not to eat carbs but eat lots of protein and fats,but I noticed if I don’t eat carbs throughout the day I have mood swings and low energy,so how can I manage my cutting cycle? I assume to eat carbs at the beginning of the day and close when the day ends skips carbs? Thanks
Steven
Cutting means that you are trying to burn fat. Eating carbs spikes your insulin levels which leads to the inability to burn fat. It’s best to avoid carbs when cutting. You can have carbs right before and after workouts for energy boosts but it’s not 100% necessary, especially when you’re cutting. You have mood swings and low energy from not eating carbs because your body is used to having carbs all the time. Switching to a diet of primarily fats & protein is bumpy at first, but actually satisfies your hunger much better than eating carbs does after your body gets used to it. You should try to avoid carbs in the beginning of the day because “By having a meal with no carbs upon waking, you can eliminate a sharp insulin spike and curb your hunger for several more hours during the day.” I Hope this helps!
alex
Excellent advice, Derek. I’ve been doing nothing but black coffee in the mornings and that allows me to go up until 12pm-1pm without eating. You gave me a good idea, however. I am going to start having no carbs for my first meal of the day, and leave the carbs for my last meal of the day. I find that I get hungry after my first meal, and this article has helped me understand why. Great stuff!
-Alex
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