Strategy for Pandemic Weight Gain

I have been hearing it from many patients who were on track and doing well. There’s something about not having structure that makes it really hard to stick to their workout plan and they’re eating plans.  With  homeschooling, working from home, gym closures, and our very forgiving sweatpants it’s easy to see why it feels like the cards are stacked against us. This is really why Intermittent Dancing + Intermittent Fasting or Intermittent Fast Dancing.  This the way to go- Seriously it’s going to be a new trend and you’re hearing it here first because I’m pretty sure I invented it – at least I have never had a client tell me they had been prescribed this before. I’m actually going to dare you to do it for one month because it’s really easy to stick to and it works.  Comment below if you are going to take the challenge and share it with others-  and then click here to get started KinderFayssouxMD.com 

The Plan and why it works:

We are combining the power of Ketosis (Fasting) and Dancing (High Intensity Interval Training at a Minimum Effective Dose )

Fasting can be done for two main reasons- Longevity or Weight Management (loss or stabilization). I have an article on Intermittent Fasting here already, but essentially when you are doing fasting for weight loss the 16:8 works best and is the easiest to maintain long term. This means you eat for only 8 hours a day and you fast the other 16.  The best window can vary depending on your schedule, but for most people 12pm-8pm or 10pm-6pm work best because it is really hard to fast if you have a family and everyone is eating dinner.  Fasting is really easy- you just don’t eat. 

 So, what do you eat when you are not fasting? I’m going to tell you exactly what I tell my clients- You will plan to have 2 full meals during your 8 hour fasting window. And, you will take a ketone ester (not a ketone salt) – 1 capful if you are female, 2 if you are male 20 minutes prior to each meal.  Your meals should consist of a protein, a carb, and a veggie and if possible you will eat them in that order (if you are having a sandwich you don’t need to take it apart and eat it in pieces- that’s just weird).  If you get hungry, you can have one snack between your meals preferably something low fat like fruit.  The only other food rule is that  your meals is you can only have 100 calories of fat with each meal – you choose it, mayo, oil, butter, cheese, avocado, dressing, etc…  The first two days might be a little adjustment period as your body gets used to burning your stored fat for fuel, but you will be surprised at how easy it is to do this after 3 days- and that you don’t even get hungry. Drink water, unsweetended tea (hot or iced), no alcohol, black coffee, 

Now for the Intermittent dancing- super simple- you have to dance (and sing outloud if your location permits) for 5 minutes a day, but if you are only to purposefully exercise for 5 minutes a day you better be doing it hard enough so your body and muscles get the message and start producing all of the beneficial signaling hormones of exercise.  This is exactly how you do it- turn on your favorite music, start a timer for five minutes and you dance as hard as you can until you are out of breath and feel like you are going to die (energy level required for this will depend – if you are in shape you may have to throw some really high energy moves like jumping, squatting, somersaulting to get you winded -but do what you gotta do) and when you feel like you are going to die- dance for another count of ten and then stop and count to fifteen and start and repeat until your timer rings.  Dancing is way more fun, but if you wanted to be a little more structured or take it to the next level- just do any body weight exercise you can remember from middle school PE ( Burpees, Cherry Pickers, Jumping Jacks, Butt Kickers, Mountain Climbers, Squats, Quick Feet, Lunges, Cartwheels, Pushups) with the same of idea of setting your timer, doing them until you feel like you are going to die, stop for 15 seconds, repeat until timer ends.

The reason 5 minutes can work is because of a concept called minimum effective dose of exercise- the smallest dose or exercise required that will produce a desired outcome.  And for most of us busy people if done correctly it can mean as little as 5 minutes of HIIT exercise a day and combined with fasting can produce real results with respect to fat loss without muscle loss. 

Kinder Fayssoux MD

This challenge is for fun- but we will be opening up our new Fat Loss in 5 minutes a day course again in June.  Enrollment is limited, so gather your friends and hold your spot at the Quarantine rate of $399 for a 8 week program If you would like to hold a spot click here.