Man 2.0 Engineering the Alpha (22 page)

Intermittent fasting takes that a step farther and turns your body into a fat-burning, muscle-building machine. You see, if you skip breakfast and extend the fasting period beyond the typical eight to ten hours, you increase insulin even more.

Does this make a difference? You bet it does—both internally, in terms of the efficiency with which your body functions,
and
externally, with how you look.

But that's just the beginning. Insulin sensitivity is also increased after you exercise (due to further glycogen depletion), in which case if you can train in your fasted state in the morning and then eat, you have set your body up to maximize fat burning in the morning. What's more, you turn
all
your post-workout meals—so everything you eat the rest of the day—into super fuel that will have you looking leaner and more muscular, and feeling more satisfied and energized than ever before.

In the end, there is no science that supports the idea—from a direct comparison—that eating breakfast is better than not eating breakfast. Some people might have a psychological dependence or belief that it's what they need, or they could have a habit of binging when they are hungry. But from a physiological perspective, as in how your body actually reacts to breakfast, there's nothing special about eating early in the morning. In fact, forcing yourself to eat at a particular time, or a prescribed number of times, is just as big of a problem as saying you need breakfast.

 

DIET FIX #2: YOU CHOOSE HOW OFTEN YOU EAT

The reason why so many people hate dieting is that there's too much confusion about what you can and can't eat. Calorie-restrictive plans like Weight Watchers certainly don't agree with plans like the Atkins diet, the first iteration of which allowed dieters to eat all they wanted as long as they kept carbs low. As we've already mentioned, this confusion goes out the window with intermittent fasting, as it offers much more freedom to eat foods that you enjoy.

Despite the incredibly disparate nature of most diets, the one thing that has been consistently suggested in most books published over the past twenty years is the frequency of meals.

If you've read a diet book, seen a nutritionist, or hired a personal trainer at any point during that time, you've probably been told that in order to lose weight, you need to eat five to six small meals per day.
^*

This style of eating, commonly referred to as the frequent feeding model, is popular with everyone from dietitians to bodybuilders and has been repeated so often for so long that it's generally taken as fact.

But it's not.

The reputed benefits of eating frequent, small meals have never been scientifically validated, although there have been studies that have tried. The theory suggests that since eating increases your metabolic rate, the more often you eat, the more your metabolic rate will be elevated. But this has never been conclusively shown.

That part is actually true, by the way. Every time you put food in your mouth, you burn calories. When you eat, your inner machinery needs to work hard to break down the food you eat; the breakdown and conversion of food into energy
requires
some energy itself, and some is used to help you walk, think, breathe, build muscle, lose fat, and even sleep. Some.

And the rest? Well, the leftovers require energy to be transported as adipose tissue—the bad stuff that gives you love handles—or broken down and passed through your digestive tract.

Going a bit farther, we know that the amount of energy you burn depends on the food you eat. This is known as the thermic effect of food. Of all the foods you eat, protein is the most metabolically expensive—it costs more energy to break down, digest, and put to use than either carbohydrates or fat. Up to 30 percent of the calories you eat from protein are burned during the digestion and processing of those foods.

That's one of the main reasons why diets with protein are so great; the more protein you eat, the more calories you burn. Carbohydrates are less metabolically active (about 6 to 8 percent burned), and fats are the least metabolically active (about 4 percent burned) despite being the highest in calories and great for your testosterone levels.

Now, here's where things got muddy for a while: it was posited that if eating requires energy, then eating more frequently would require energy more frequently—and that a net effect would be to require more energy. That's how the multiple-meals-per-day movement started. Makes sense from a logical perspective, but it's completely based on pseudoscience and assumptions. Shockingly, no one questioned this for decades.

The
reality
is that your body doesn't care about how many meals you eat. Read that again and write it down because it might be the biggest change that improves your new approach to food. You can choose how often you want to eat every day.

The thermic effect of food is directly proportional to caloric intake, and if caloric intake is the same at the end of the day, there will be no metabolic difference between eating six meals or three.

This fact is so blatantly true that Canadian researchers wrote a published study that was literally titled: “Increased Meal Frequency Does Not Promote Greater Weight Loss in Subjects Who Were Prescribed an 8-Week Equi-Energetic Energy-Restricted Diet.” (We think they were trying to make the point clear.) In fact, as long as the total calories are the same, you can eat ten meals or one meal and you'll still get the same metabolic effect.

The best approach to your diet is the one that is sustainable for you and fits your lifestyle. With regard to energy balance and thermic effect of food, you can really eat as many meals—or as few—as you want. Your body primarily functions based on how much you eat, the composition of what you eat, and the sources of food you select. Yes, there are strategies that you should follow—such as eating more carbs late at night. But whether you split those carbs into one big meal or three nightly snacks is your choice.

There are reasons why eating less frequently could be a better choice for you and your body. Researchers at the University of Kansas Medical Center found that eating more frequently is less beneficial from the perspective of satiety, or feeling full. Which means that the more often you eat, the more likely you are to be hungry—leading to higher caloric intake and eventual weight gain. In other words, whether you realize it or not, when you eat more often, you're more likely to eat more food. When you eat less frequently, you can eat larger meals and feel more satisfied, and you're less likely to take in more calories.

This also makes sense if you're following an intermittent fasting routine to limit the number of hours you eat during the day. If you condense the amount of time you allow yourself to eat into a small window of four to eight hours, having more than two to three meals becomes impractical at best and impossible at worst. That's why most of our clients prefer to have just two to three meals, and they find that this works perfectly with their schedule and lifestyle. If more meals are needed, that's fine too—as long as it works within the intermittent fasting schedule and the eating window (eight to ten hours, on most days) that you create.

Whatever you choose, these two fixes offer you more control than other dieting methods do, and their lack of control is one of the most common reasons why people quit eating plans.

 

THE HEALTHIEST, MOST SCIENTIFICALLY SUPPORTED DIET EVER CREATED

The most obvious reasons to follow an intermittent fasting protocol is that there really aren't any downsides and it's the only eating strategy to help optimize hormones, according to what we've found within scientific literature. For starters, there's the improved insulin sensitivity that comes with fasting, especially when paired with the exercises in part 3. Fasting also increases the secretion of GH, offsets cortisol production, helps control leptin and ghrelin levels to keep you satisfied, and even facilitates a healthier environment for testosterone production. It's a hormone optimization cocktail that depends on only one action—setting a window of time for when you eat. And that window can shift based on the day and your schedule.

We'll be the first to admit that intermittent fasting isn't for everyone. Some people might try it and not like the approach. But for health benefits and ease of application, you won't find many dieting strategies with fewer rules. As you'll discover, after the initial phase, you're able to eat carbs, fats, proteins, and even dessert. You can eat breakfast—or skip it. You can drink alcohol—with the right approach—and you are even required to eat dessert on cheat days. All of the other dietary facts that are supported by science remain consistent with intermittent fasting. All that changes is that you choose an eating “window” that works best for your schedule, and simply shrink the number of hours that you eat. It's an adjustment, but one with many benefits and something you should try before you assume it's not going to work for you.

We realize that you might have some reservations. For most people, the main reservation is the fear of going into starvation mode or the idea that not eating for long periods of time is unhealthy. But we can assure you that you won't starve by going twelve hours, sixteen hours, or even thirty-six hours without food. The biggest blocks during the fasts will be mental. And we'll provide you with tricks and techniques to go longer periods without food, making your hunger pangs a thing of the past.

In the end, we just want people to look good, feel great, and live healthier lives. And that's what intermittent fasting offers. For people looking to drop weight, intermittent fasting can help people reduce food intake by 30 percent without increasing hunger. And because you're eating smaller amounts and less frequently, your body can look elsewhere in your body for energy, which encourages cellular repair. That is, a cell will turn to its own damaged proteins for energy. While that cycle would be bad in the long term, keep in mind you're only fasting for brief periods; when you eat again your body will be rejuvenated. All told, this phenomenon—which, again, stems from caloric restriction—can generally help prevent both disease and age.

We've already provided plenty of evidence of these health benefits. But to further deliver the point, researchers at the University of Utah found that people who fasted just
one day
per month were 40 percent less likely to suffer from clogged arteries. In the survey-based study, more than five hundred people had their regular habits assessed. These habits covered eating schedules, including fasting; choice to smoke or not; and consumption of or abstinence from caffeine or alcohol. And only one trait—fasting—was correlated with lower rates of heart disease. Even when adjusted for age, weight, cholesterol, diabetes, or high blood pressure, the difference between fasters and non-fasters still remained.

 

THE EASY GUIDE TO INTERMITTENT FASTING

We just offered a lot of information on why intermittent fasting is an incredibly effective way to eat and has more health benefits than any other diet plan. Quite simply, it seems as if we were designed to eat this way. And while it might be hard to believe, your body will adapt in less than a week, and the hunger pangs that you used to experience will disappear and be replaced with freedom and control.

But just in case you're feeling a little confused, these are the only rules:

1. Fast:
Go without eating for a period of time. Most days, this will just be sixteen hours.

2. Eat:
Select an eight-hour window—
any
eight-hour window—and use that as your eating time. You could start eating at 9:30
A.M
. and then have your dinner at 5:30
P.M
. For us, that means we start eating at two
P.M
. and end at ten
P.M
.

3. Be flexible:
If you want to eat at ten
A.M
. one day or have a business breakfast planned, go for it. Ideally you'd just eat from ten
A.M
. to six
P.M
. Or if you don't want to start eating until four
P.M
., do that.

The best part about intermittent fasting is that it's designed to work for you. The restrictions are only related to overcoming your mental blocks and learning to control your hunger, which will become invaluable skills once you learn that your symptoms of hunger are more because of the eating schedule you've created than actually needing food.

 

 

Put it all together, and you start to see that intermittent fasting is not only misunderstood but is also the best plan for any type of person. When combined with exercise, it creates an optimal hormonal environment that will produce even greater results. And even if you choose
not
to exercise (although it's not what we'd recommend), intermittent fasting has been proven to be an effective weight-loss technique and a strategy that can mimic many of the health benefits of exercise, including fighting disease and improving longevity. For those who are active—as we recommend—intermittent fasting will enhance everything you do in the gym.

We know that letting go of your previously held beliefs can be difficult. And we acknowledge that for some people, it can take seven to ten days to adjust to an intermittent fasting schedule. But once you find a pattern that works for your lifestyle, you'll see that you'll never have to search for another diet again.

PART 3

ENGINEERING THE ALPHA

“FROM THE ASHES A FIRE SHALL BE WOKEN, A LIGHT FROM THE SHADOWS SHALL SPRING; RENEWED SHALL BE BLADE THAT WAS BROKEN, THE CROWNLESS AGAIN SHALL BE KING.”

—J. R. R. TOLKIEN,
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

CHAPTER 8

The Road to Alpha Status

EATING, TRAINING, AND BUILDING THE BODY OF A GOD

“I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games; 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

—
MICHAEL JORDAN

T
he best thing that ever happened to you was failure.
This isn't another one of our jokes. This is real. Although frustrating, it's good that you've struggled in your goal to get the body you want, have been pissed off by bad diets, and might genuinely consider this your last-ditch effort to see if exercise really works.

We're okay with that. It's not that we want you to struggle, suffer, and become cynical. And while we certainly feel bad for those people who have been plagued by decades of frustration (you younger readers have trodden through less crap), we do know that these struggles were essential if you truly are to achieve an unreal life and an awesome body. That's because it's a necessary part of your journey and may be the most integral part to achieving Apotheosis.

The sixth stage of the Hero's Journey is the Road of Trials. One could argue that this is the most important phase because it is here that you will receive the knowledge and experience necessary to reach your ultimate goals. It's the process of earning your stripes, proving your keep, and being able to learn by doing—and occasionally failing—that has the most value. And now that you've spent time learning why everything works, now you can begin to take action.

As a phase, the Road of Trials serves as a series of tests that the hero must face to prepare him for the final challenge. But it's not all about beating the game or saving the princess—as we'll cover soon, the tests are a necessary step in the hero's development, preparing him for life after the challenge. The exposure to the tests—and both succeeding and failing—will teach him about the world and himself. The successes will allow him to keep moving forward on his journey. But the failures specifically are what will instruct him of his flaws, make him aware of his weaknesses, and spark a deeper drive to succeed.

 

FINDING THE EYE OF THE TIGER

Your tests started before you picked up this book. While not directly in order of the Hero's Journey, all those frustrations led you here. And it's a good thing you're here now because what you'll find in this section and beyond will lead to dramatic changes you wouldn't find unless you were placed in this situation. So if you never struggled, you'd never be able to open your eyes to what is really possible. And that's why your prior failures will ultimately be the spark that triggered your future success.

This concept is a mainstay of nearly every great story. Whether it's played out on a screen, on a page, or even in a video game. Looking at ancient mythology, Odysseus had to go through ten years of hell and endless obstacles to reach his final destination. King Arthur had to repeatedly overcome obstacles in his ascent to royalty and then in the quest of the Holy Grail. Even Link from
The Legend of Zelda
was constantly fighting increasingly difficult challenges to save Princess Zelda and her kingdom.

We could also look at sports and movies, but in the interest of brevity, we'll look at the best of both and examine sports movies, in particular the
Rocky
films. Choose any of those movies and you'll find instances of the Road of Trials. But maybe the most prominent is
Rocky III
. (It's also the first time in the series that Sly really gets shredded for his role—and it marks the birth of the “Eye of the Tiger.”)

In this film, the movie opens with Rocky destroying everyone he fights. Only it turns out that these were handpicked opponents who wouldn't really challenge the aging fighter. In many ways, this opening holds the most importance for you.

In life, we like to find the opponents we
know
we can beat. Success is a drug. And we've mentioned many times that creating success is the key to experiencing more success. But there's a caveat. Success only has value if it's earned. That process of overcoming an obstacle or becoming better at a process is what gives you real confidence—not a façade of machismo—that allows you to control your universe. Don't settle for the easy path just because it's easy. Don't be afraid of failure. Because even if you fail, it can lead to something so much greater.

That's what happened to Rocky. Once he took on a real challenge—“Clubber” Lang—he was easily defeated.
^*

This was the road Rocky needed to take to become a real champion. He had to find something that created fear. And for him—that was the fear of losing. This allowed him to start training with Apollo, get back that eye of the tiger, get in ridiculous shape, and box like a fucking boss.

It was the failure—and the fear—that made him better. And it's what will make you better too.

 

EMBRACING YOUR REALITY: BE THE UNDERDOG

The Road of Trials is the reason why we like underdog stories. It resonates on a deep psychological level. We like to see a group of ragtag kids defeat the bad guy because we like to see development. It's inspirational. We love the process of taking the impossible and watching it become reality. But before reaching success, we have to deal with many struggles. And along the way, the obstacles become more difficult, thus preparing the underdog for success.

This same concept is played out in every aspect of life. To win the Super Bowl, you have to play well in the regular season, defeat a bunch of difficult opponents in the play-offs, and then peak for one sixty-minute game on the biggest stage. In baseball, you start on home base—and even if you knock it out of the park, you still have to run the bases. In relationships, you don't marry the first person you meet. You learn something from each relationship that helps you find the one.

The same holds true with fitness. You don't start out bench-pressing 300 pounds. You have to set benchmarks. You have tests and a journey. If you start at 135, your first goal is hitting 225. Then you'll progress up to 250, then 275, and finally 300.

Our goal in this book is to ensure that you actually experience a Road of Trials so you can guarantee success. We don't want you to be frustrated, but much like video game developers, we've devised different phases that will help you prepare for your final battle—having a body that looks fucking amazing and living an unreal life. Those are big goals, which means you need big tests. This goes beyond giving you hard workouts. You need to earn your way to this existence. And by doing so, you'll not only experience success, but more importantly, you'll be the one in control of maintaining, sustaining, and continuing your progress so your unreal life becomes your reality—rather than a fleeting moment in time.

 

HIT THE ROAD: THE FOUR PHASES OF ENGINEERING THE BODY OF THE ALPHA

Your body transformation happens in four phases. Each phase has a distinct focus and scientific design that will solve all of the problems that typically hold you back, create plateaus, or just cause a lack of inspiring results. But before we give you the exact details, we want you to be prepared for what you're going to experience. Just as importantly, we want you to understand what you'll be doing and why you'll be doing it. You'll see why our approach is unique, and you'll understand the type of results you can expect to see.

 

PHASE I: PRIME

The Foundation: Building Your New Body

Chinese wise man Lao-Tsu said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” the implication being that the first step is the hardest and most important. We certainly agree. Within the context of engineering the Alpha, the most important steps toward greatness occur in the beginning as well: heeding the Call to Adventure and Meeting the Mentor—all the things we've discussed so far are crucial to the success of this program.

But even within the workout and diet program itself, the first phase is also the most important. It sets the stage for everything else that will occur in the ensuing weeks and phases. Phase I is all about insulin. This hormone is a threshold guardian standing between you and the next phase of your development. Just as you have to pay Charon to ferry you across the River Styx, you must take control of insulin to take power over your body.

The Diet

The foundation of the first phase is an insulin reset. This is a strategic approach to your nutrition that will do exactly what the name implies—reset your insulin. And we mean that literally. Ultimately, the goal is to increase your insulin sensitivity, which is the first step to making your body better at building muscle and losing fat. And the intermittent fasting approach we use has been proven to speed up your metabolism and burn more fat, according to a study published in the
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
. What is important about this study is that it was done in non-obese individuals. You see, most studies usually focus on the obese—people with a BMI upward of 30. While BMI is not the best indicator of a person's fitness level, it's pretty accurate for the sedentary, which is exactly the population that tends to be studied.

And while we've already seen research that shows intermittent fasting works for obese populations and sustains weight loss (an important point because most diets are not sustainable), this study showed that it worked for normal weight and healthy people too. This means that science supports the hypothesis that an insulin reset will burn fat for everyone.

We'll be honest: the amount of research on intermittent fasting in healthy populations is limited. And it's not because studies haven't confirmed our philosophy; it's because very few studies have analyzed the topic. You need to understand that getting funding for scientific research is extremely hard. And that's why lots of cool topics never have any research behind them. Trust us—we've been in the university environment and have gone through the frustrations ourselves. Getting funding is the worst part of a researcher's job. (That noise you hear, it's all the researchers reading this book simultaneously saying, “Mmmm hmmmmm.”)

So given that reality, we decided to run our own scientific experiment. We tested the insulin reset on
all
kinds of people. Fat clients, thin clients, those who wanted to lose weight, and those who wanted to pack on muscle. In fact, we even tried the insulin reset on Arnold Schwarzenegger himself.

The results were undeniable. Two years of testing and thousands of subjects later, we had all the proof we needed.

It works.

By limiting your carbs—and timing them for the moments when you need them most—we retrain your body to manage the master hormone the right way. That is, there's a direct relationship between insulin management and nutrient uptake: the more insulin sensitive you are, the more nutrients (especially from carbs) will be directed into your muscle cells rather than your fat cells.