Mikael Mason

Stop doing endless cardio if you're trying to lose weight!

It's not the most efficient way to achieve your body recomposition goals.

Spend your time weight lifting or strength training.

Leave the excessive cardio for people who want a skinny-fat body like a marathon runner. You can spend that effort on building a healthier, stronger you! 💪

How to not feel overwhelmed about losing weight

5 tips:

Portion control:
Less overeating, Consume fewer calories, less mindless eating,

Protein First:
Makes you feel full, requires more energy (calories) to process, builds muscle

Drink more water:
Controls appetite, makes you feel full, less likely to over eat. Add ice and you *might* speed up your metabolism

Regular exercise:
Burn more calories, makes you feel good, keeps your body operating smoothly

Meal planning:
Makes it easy to stick to a plan, makes it easier to track your calories, save time and effort, less mindless eating.

Don't get overwhelmed

69% of men over 35 are overweight or obese!

Men over 35 who are over 30 pounds overweight have a significantly reduced quality of life and reduced life expectancy.

I want to help you live healthier!

Hit the Page Like button and follow for healthy lifestyle tips

👊

Problems with tight muscles and joint pain that are negatively affecting your workouts?

Do this:

Warm up with a foam roller

It’s a great way to warm up the muscle facia and improve joint mobility.

Try this on your next weight-lifting warm-up.

Any other tips?

My first two hours of most days:

3:30am - wake up and get my coffee ☕️

3:40am - write down my thoughts while my drinking my coffee

4am - workout - 60 minutes of strength training

5:15am - sauna

5:30am - High protein breakfast

I repeat this 5 days a week Saturday through Wednesday

And that’s just the first two hours of my day.

How do you start your day? LMK

Do you wake up with energy levels are way too low?

Try this:

Early morning strength training, resistance training, weight training

Whatever you want to call it

It's a great way to boost your energy levels, your mood and kickstart your day.

Try adding this to your morning routine.

Got any questions? I'll answer them

Breakfast is supposed to be the most important meal of the day. At least that’s the mantra that’s been drilled into our heads since we were little kids.

But is it really?

Now you have some health coaches saying to skip breakfast and wait until lunch to eat.

But if we do that then we’re going to set ourselves up for overeating later in the day. Right?

If we don’t eat breakfast, then our metabolism is going to come to a screeching halt and we’re gonna get fat.

It doesn’t work like that. Your body is smarter than people want to give it credit for.

The problem with skipping breakfast for most people is that their metabolism isn’t set up to handle it. They’re so used to having a continual supply of food that their body never gets a chance to burn its stored fat.

Most people in the Western world wake up hungry because they have gone so long without eating, they haven’t gotten used to it.

I’m not going to say that you need to skip breakfast. And I will emphatically say that children, teens and young adults - people who are still developing - should NOT skip breakfast.

If you’re used to eating breakfast everyday, and you want to lose a few pounds, then skip breakfast for a couple of days and see how it goes for you. If you find that you overcompensate in your calorie intake later in the day, then you might want to rethink it.

But breakfast, at least in the traditional sense of the word (being a meal right after you wake up in the morning) is not the most important meal of the day.

In fact, there’s no such thing as a singular “most important meal of the day”

Breakfast is supposed to be the most important meal of the day. At least that’s the mantra that’s been drilled into our heads since we were little kids.

But is it really?

Now you have some health coaches saying to skip breakfast and wait until lunch to eat.

But if we do that then we’re going to set ourselves up for overeating later in the day. Right?

If we don’t eat breakfast, then our metabolism is going to come to a screeching halt and we’re gonna get fat.

It doesn’t work like that. Your body is smarter than people want to give it credit for.

The problem with skipping breakfast for most people is that their metabolism isn’t set up to handle it. They’re so used to having a continual supply of food that their body never gets a chance to burn its stored fat.

Most people in the Western world wake up hungry because they have gone so long without eating, they haven’t gotten used to it.

I’m not going to say that you need to skip breakfast. And I will emphatically say that children, teens and young adults - people who are still developing - should NOT skip breakfast.

If you’re used to eating breakfast everyday, and you want to lose a few pounds, then skip breakfast for a couple of days and see how it goes for you. If you find that you overcompensate in your calorie intake later in the day, then you might want to rethink it.

But breakfast, at least in the traditional sense of the word (being a meal right after you wake up in the morning) is not the most important meal of the day.

In fact, there’s no such thing as a single “most important meal of the day”

There’s a lot of noise out there when it comes to dieting: Eat this to burn fat, don’t eat this or you’ll get fat. “Do these exercises for a six pack”, “Do those exercises for a bigger butt”.

Unfortunately, all this information leads to confusion.

On top of that, there are so many diets and exercise plans that try to out-compete each other so they make their “program” more complicated than it has to be so they can market it to you as “new” and “unique”.

Don’t fall for it

Don’t get sucked into the noise

The key to losing weight is to find a diet and exercise plan that

A) works for you

B) you can stick with over the long term

I know this is generic and simple advice, but it’s usually the simple stuff that works the best

Set a solid foundation of weight loss with a simple but effective strategy

And go from there.

Thanks for reading!

Start with your habits!

When I first realized that I needed to lose weight I tried a lot of different things. Some seemed to work and some didn’t.

The thing I didn’t realize is that no matter what I tried, the underlying problem was my habits. I didn’t have healthy habits, so no matter what I tried, I would eventually fail.

But I also didn’t realize that it’s impossible to completely change my lifestyle overnight. I would just jump in full force to a new diet or a new exercise plan without addressing the underlying habits.

And then after a short time I’d be right back to where I started.
What I found that actually works is to not try to change everything overnight. Don’t try to go on a strict diet right away, buy a gym membership, and spend an hour in the gym working out.

You gotta start slow. You don’t want to try to change too many habits at once otherwise you’re brain is going to resist the change and you’ll be right back to where you started from.

What eventually worked for me was small steps. First I started taking account of the food I was eating, quantity and quality. And then I simply eliminated sugar from my diet. Once I built in the habit of avoiding sugar, I eliminated processed foods. Simple changes are sustainable.

So if you’re looking to lose weight, or more specifically burn fat, then don’t try to change everything all at once. Give it some time and start slow. That’s the way to see a sustainable long-term change in your efforts

Thanks for reading!

The primary strategy for losing weight is CICO - or Calories In/Calories Out

It works

It’s plain math + the laws of thermodynamics

Basically if you eat fewer calories than you burn, you’ll lose weight.

If you eat more calories than you burn, you’ll gain weight. Simple math

Eating more is a surplus - it gets stored

Eating less is a deficit - stored calories get burned

The problem with CICO, unfortunately, is that there’s too much confusion about how many calories your body actually needs.

All the calorie calculator formulas attempt to start out with your TDEE or your Total Daily Energy Expenditure - how many calories you burn in a day with your exercise included.

The problem is, which one do you use? Which one is the most accurate?

Let’s see…

There are at least 7 of them

The Harris-Benedict formula, the Schofield Formula, the Mifflin St. StJeor formula, the Cunningham formula, the Oxford formula and the Inst. of Medicine formula (which uses the Harris-Benedict formula as a baseline) and the Katch-McArdle formula.

If you were to run your numbers through each of them, you would get an extremely wide range of calorie suggestions for your TDEE.

The general guideline is that if you want to lose a pound per week, then get into a 500 calorie deficit per day - a pound of fat is roughly 3500 calories - 7 x 5 = 3500 calories - basic math

But the problem is that the difference between the lowest formula result (Cunningham) and the highest (Harris Benedict) is more than 500 calories (at least for my data inputs).

So if you’re using a calorie calculator app and religiously counting your calories, and you’re still not seeing results…

Check to see which formula you’re using.

My rule of thumb, if you’re trying to lose weight, use the Cunningham formula and if you’re trying to gain weight (some people are) use the Harris Benedict formula

You can find any one of these calculators doing a simple google search

Are you using a calculator? Let me know which formula it uses and whether you’re seeing results or not

Thank you for reading!

If you have a goal to lose weight, but no plan, then you’re going to fail

A plan is crucial when it comes to weight loss.

I got into the habit of scheduling time for meal planning. I put it on my calendar and scheduled it.

I find that it is much easier to stick to my healthy habits when I have a clear plan in place.

But if you don’t like meal planning then there’s a bunch of meal delivery services out there that will bring fresh meals to your door. All you have to do is cook it. This can help take the stress out of meal prep and make sure you're staying on track with your goals.

A little planning goes a long way to reaching your weight loss goals

It’s all about finding what works best for you and your lifestyle. Try different things until you find a plan that you can stick to long-term.

Because weight loss is a long-term effort!

It’s easier to achieve your weight loss goals, if you have a clear and specific goal in mind. It’ll help keep you motivated. You don’t want vague or open-ended goals. They have to be specific, easily measurable, and with a deadline attached.

For example, instead of saying “ I want to lose weight," set a goal to lose a certain number of pounds within a specific timeframe, such as "I am going to lose 5 pounds in the next 30 days." Or “I am going to lose an inch on my waist over the next 2 weeks”

This is going to give you a clear target to work towards and help you stay on track

Specific and measurable goals with a deadline are the guidelines to success on your weight loss journey.

Set realistic and achievable goals for yourself and work towards them one small step at a time.

If you want to live healthy lifestyle and be at a healthy weight, build healthy habits. The key is to start off small. Don't try to change too much at once.

Don't try to change your entire life overnight. Focus on making small changes that you can stick to over the long run.

For example, start by tracking your food intake for a week or two to get a better idea of your current habits.

Then, pick one or two things to work on, like cutting back on sweets or adding more vegetables to your meals.

Then add another thing like going for a 10 minute walk every day.

Slowly replacing the not so good habits with better ones is what leads to lasting change.

Comment and let me know what habits you're trying to change!

46% of Americans at some point in their life will meet the criteria to be diagnosed with a mental health condition

And I think the majority of them are rather new conditions as a result of our modern lifestyles

Here are my top 5 ways to improve your mental clarity

1. Mindfulness -Pay attention to your thoughts & be objective. Your internal dialogue is habitual thinking. Ask if it's true or conditioned.
2. Be good to yourself. Practice self-compassion; you're human and allowed to make mistakes. You have tools, but no instructions. You're learning. Be kind to yourself.
3. Declutter - Things we don't need cause emotional burden. We must maintain and find a place for them, yet the enjoyment is outweighed by the cost of owning them. If not used in last 6 months, donate them.
4. Exercise - Get moving to improve mental health. Go for a short walk.
5. Sleep - Your brain needs rest; sleep 1/3 of life for productivity. More sleep = more productivity than waking earlier.

There’s something to be said, for doing things, the right way
A 48 hour fast is easier than fasting for 16 hours
Here’s why
a 16 hour fast burns through carbs
Once you have burned through all your carbs, you hit a wall
and then you’re ready to quit
BUT if you learn how to start burning fat through a Ketogenic diet
You’re body will already be in the prime state to fast
And your body doesn’t know the difference between 16 hours and 48 hours
But it does know when it’s hungry
If you’re fat adapted, you’re not going to be hungry
Because you’ll already be in the right metabolic mode
to fast pretty much as long as you want to

Sugar is a common ingredient in condiments, sauces, and salad dressings.

While it can add flavor and texture to dishes, it can also be a hidden source of added sugars in your diet.

Be sure to read labels carefully and be aware of how much sugar is in each product.

If you want to lose weight, you have to know your numbers. They say if you can’t measure it then you can’t improve it. If you don’t know how many calories you need in a day, then you probably also don’t know how many calories you consume in a day.

If you want to lose weight, you have to consume less calories than you need, so it helps tremendously to track your calories.

There are countless calorie tracking apps out in the app store that can help you with this. Most of them offer a free basic tier, and that’s all you really need.

But make sure you’re recalculating your calorie needs as you lose weight, because your needs will change

It's important to make sure that we all stay active and healthy, and physical activity is a great way to do that.

Making the effort to get up and move your body each day can make a huge difference in your overall physical and mental health.

Exercise can help to reduce stress and anxiety, improve your mood, and even give you more energy.

It doesn't matter what type of physical activity you choose - from walking or jogging to playing a sport or going to the gym - it can all help to keep you feeling your best.

Exercise also helps to boost the lymphatic system, which is responsible for removing toxins from the body.

When you exercise, your body pumps more blood and lymphatic fluid throughout the body, which helps to disperse the toxins and keep your lymphatic system in good working order. (Just make sure you’re also drinking plenty of water to stay hydrated and flush out toxins.)

Regular exercise also increases the production of white blood cells, which helps to fight off infection and keep your immune system strong.

So, make sure to get up and get moving each day.

Stop eliminating sugar from your diet!

If you eat a lot of sugary foods, I don’t advise eliminating sugar from your diet

At least not right away.

Sugar can be addictive if consumed in high enough quantities over a long enough period of time..

Reducing your sugar intake is an important first step in any detox plan. Eating fewer sugar-laden treats and processed foods can help to reduce your overall sugar intake.

Eliminating sugar from your diet can lead to a host of negative health effects, including fatigue, depression, and weakened immunity.

It can also lead to an increase in cravings for sugary snacks and an increase in processed food consumption.

*Reducing* your sugar intake is a much healthier and more sustainable option. You can reduce sugar consumption largely by reducing consumption of packaged foods.

They are often loaded with sugar, and the sugars are often hidden.

Read the labels or just eat whole food. 🥑

You can replace that packaged sugar with natural sugars you find in whole fruits 🍇 This will help minimize and reduce the cravings.😋

While you’re at it, start eating food that are higher in fiber and protein to help reduce your appetite.

And of course, staying hydrated is an important factor in reducing your sugar intake.

💧 Drinking plenty of water throughout the day can help to reduce cravings and flush toxins out of the body.

Everywhere you turn you hear the same thing, the most important factor for weight loss is diet. I think it’s wrong.

Here’s why:

Don’t get me wrong. Diet is important when it comes to losing weight. More important than exercise. It could take over an hour to burn off the calories that it took mere seconds to consume. So avoiding eating is more efficient than burning more calories.

But it’s not easy. And that’s where the most important factor for losing weight comes in. MINDSET.

It’s easy to get started on a weight loss program. But after you spend a few weeks in it, you’re ready to go back to the way things were.

It’s tough.

Ask anyone who has had to lose a significant amount of weight and keep it off. What are you going to do when you get to the point where you want to quit?

It’s easy to have a weight-loss diet plan. It’s easy to have an exercise plan. There are an infinite number out there, and the vast majority of them work.

But if you don’t go into them with the proper mindset, they all will fail.

It’s not enough to just change your diet, and get the exercise.

You have to change the habits ***and*** the lifestyle you live.

It’s easy to stick to a plan when everything is going *AS PLANNED.*

But what happens when things don’t go according to plan? What happens when that unexpected stressful event shows up and triggers your need for “comfort food”?

What is your backup plan when your boss calls you to go to lunch so you can present your sales pitch to a new client?

What is your mindset when you have that sudden craving for a pint of ice cream?

The general consensus is that weight loss is 80% diet and 20% exercise

I’d like to add the third part and recalculate the percentages

Weight loss is 50% mindset, 35% diet, and 15% exercise

Why 50%? Because you have to have the right mindset to stay consistent with both your exercise plan AND your diet plan. It’s tough to sustain both over the long term.

It get’s tougher as you go and your body wants to revert back to it’s old state of comfort. That’s where you have to strengthen your MIND to override what your body wants to do.

But once you get past that threshold of change, then everything gets easier.

Don’t forget this!

One thing most people don’t realize when starting a weight loss program is that the fat cells area a magnet for toxins. In fact, it’s been hypothesized that fat cells often grow in response to excess toxins and that’s why many people hold on to those extra pounds.

But if you’re looking to burn extra fat, then be careful about doing it quickly because those toxins can get put right back into the blood stream and cause additional stress to your liver and kidneys, and that can lead to a wide variety of ailments.

As a precaution, water can help speed up the process and flush those toxins out quicker

Here’s how you can make sure you’re gettin enough water even if you find it tough to drink enough water during the day

- Simply drink more water! Pretty obvious

- Drink herbal teas like dandelion root tea or nettle tea.

- Increase your intake of fresh fruits and vegetables.

- Add lemon or lime juice to your water for added flavor if you don’t like drinking plain water.

- Try some lightly flavored sparkling bubbly water.

- Take a hot bath with Epsom salt to help draw toxins out of the body.

These are all simple to do and don’t really take much extra effort.

But staying hydrated will certainly help flush out extra toxins floating around in your bloodstream

Stop eliminating sugar from your diet!

If you eat a lot of sugary foods, I don’t advise eliminating sugar from your diet

At least not right away.

Sugar can be addictive if consumed in high enough quantities over a long enough period of time..

Reducing your sugar intake is an important first step in any detox plan. Eating fewer sugar-laden treats and processed foods can help to reduce your overall sugar intake.

Eliminating sugar from your diet can lead to a host of negative health effects, including fatigue, depression, and weakened immunity.

It can also lead to an increase in cravings for sugary snacks and an increase in processed food consumption.

*Reducing* your sugar intake is a much healthier and more sustainable option. You can reduce sugar consumption largely by reducing consumption of packaged foods. They are often loaded with sugar, and the sugars are often hidden. Read the labels or just eat whole food. You can replace that packaged sugar with natural sugars you find in whole fruits. This will help minimize and reduce the cravings.

While you’re at it, start eating food that are higher in fiber and protein to help reduce your appetite.

And of course, staying hydrated is an important factor in reducing your sugar intake. Drinking plenty of water throughout the day can help to reduce cravings and flush toxins out of the body.