Let us explore video games and how they are played and the individual’s overall lifestyle. Here are some factors to consider:

1. Physical Health: Video games are often associated with sedentary behavior, which can contribute to a sedentary lifestyle and potential health issues such as obesity, cardiovascular problems, and musculoskeletal disorders. However, there are many video games now that encourage physical activity, such as motion-controlled games or virtual reality (VR) experiences, which can provide exercise and promote physical well-being.
2. Mental Health: Video games can have both positive and negative impacts on mental health. They can be a source of entertainment, stress relief, and social interaction. Engaging in video games can also improve cognitive skills, problem-solving abilities, and hand-eye coordination. However, excessive gaming, particularly when it becomes addictive or interferes with other aspects of life, can lead to negative consequences, such as neglecting responsibilities, social isolation, and increased risk of anxiety and depression. It’s important to maintain a healthy balance and practice moderation.
3. Social Interaction: Video games can offer opportunities for social interaction, especially in multiplayer online games where players can connect and communicate with others from around the world. This can foster social relationships, teamwork, and cooperation. On the other hand, excessive gaming can lead to isolation from real-life social interactions and relationships, which can negatively impact mental and emotional well-being.
4. Sleep Patterns: Engaging in video games, particularly before bedtime, can interfere with sleep patterns. The stimulating nature of games and exposure to screens emit blue light, which can disrupt sleep quality and quantity. Adequate sleep is essential for overall health and well-being, so it’s important to establish healthy gaming habits and prioritize restful sleep.
5. Eye Health: Extended periods of screen time, including playing video games, can lead to eye strain, dry eyes, and discomfort. It is recommended to take regular breaks, practice the 20-20-20 rule (looking at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds every 20 minutes), and ensure proper lighting and ergonomics when gaming.

In summary, video games themselves are not inherently bad for health. The key lies in moderation, balance, and responsible gaming habits. It is important to maintain an active lifestyle, manage screen time, prioritize real-life social interactions, and be mindful of the potential impact on physical and mental well-being.

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1) What is your first and last name? Where were you born and raised?

Hi! I’m Becca Burkhart and I was born in raised outside of Pittsburgh, but now I live outside of Philadelphia.

2) Where did you attend college? What was your major?

I went to Arcadia University for marketing and management.

3) What inspired you to become a fitness coach?

I became a fitness coach because fitness has always been a big part of my life. For me it truly is a lifestyle and I love being a part of it. For me to be able to help others make it a part of their lifestyle is special for me.

4) Who has been a big influence in your life?

I grew up with one side of my family being extremely active, and always leaned towards that! My dad and older sister ran marathons, and we were outside from the time we woke up until after dinner. My father was also a bodybuilder back in the day so he really encouraged I get into hitting the iron, and it has saved my life.

5) How are you able to balance work and taking care of your family?

Our family is hectic to say the least. With my husband working rotational shift work and my working crazy early hours, we stay flexible. We try to prep meals and have tons of healthy pre-cooked food in the house so we don’t just order pizza every night. We take our 2 dogs and son for a walk/hike almost every day and try to catch up while getting everyone out of the house!

6) What is your favorite exercise and why?

Rear-leg-elevated Smith machine Split squats. They are the devil, and I love to hate them, but they are incredibly effective in building strength in your legs and glutes.

7)What are your favorite hobbies?

When I have time for hobbies I really enjoy riding my bike, cooking, and hiking. Getting outside as much as possible has been my goal lately! I also love listening to podcasts and reading, be it a book or an article online.

8) Do you have a favorite superhero/cartoon character?

My favorite hero is Wolverine. He fights the good fight but he isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, the goody goodies just don’t excite me. His physicality is also something to be desired. The regeneration ability and the claws just make him such a badass.

9) I have a super hero called Double Shot who has the ability to create and manipulate coffee. If the world was in danger, do you think he can save the world?

If Double Shot is our last hope then by all means I hope he can! I’ve seen people do some crazy things with enough coffee.

10) If you had a million dollars and you had to choose two types of charities to give away the money, which two would you choose?

I would pick a charity that can teach people how to buy groceries and cook in ways that are healthy and inexpensive. We have a HUGE obesity problem, and part of that problem is not knowing what/how to cook and realizing how cheap healthy eating can actually be. My second charity would be  a children’s outdoor preservation program. Teaching our youth the importance of keeping our environment clean and teaching sustainability to those who have a long time on Earth may benefit it greatly!

11) Do you have a fitness program you would like to share with the readers?

Yes! I have online challenges every couple of months, and offer one-on-one coaching as well. The focus is teaching you to eat and fuel your body properly. My clients can still enjoy their favorite drinks and treats while get strong as hell. I also have a free online community where we discuss fitness, nutrition, mindset and so much more. I’ll link that below!

12) If you had to give any advice to the young people out there, what would it be?

My advice for other young people (I’m still young right?) is to not get set in your ways. You have no idea where your life is going to take you and how you will get there. Have goals and smash them but don’t let tunnel vision block out other opportunities, because you might miss out  on something amazing!

You can follow me on Instagram at

@becca.burkhart

Or check out my website at

www.beccaburkhart.com

And my free Facebook community!

https://m.facebook.com/?_rdr#!/groups/400035570468831?ref=bookmarks

Do you think Double Shot and Becca Burkhart would make a great team? Let me know on Twitter @BlueJayHJB and follow SEVNetwork on Instagram @sevnetwork

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Conventional wisdom hasn’t been particularly helpful in figuring out how to get in the groove and become that person who says, “I’ll meet you for brunch later. Gotta fit in my run first.” You’re told you have to “want it” enough. Or that you have to do something 21 days in a row before it becomes second nature. But what do you do on the 29th day when it’s cold outside and you’re dying to skip your run and sleep for another hour instead?

Fitness Motivation Made Easy

Fortunately, economists and psychologists have been studying how to crack the code of what compels us to repeatedly do something we don’t always want to do. Here are some of their best strategies.

1. Give Yourself a Real Reward

Sure, some people might be motivated by vague goals such as “better health” or “weight control.” But if that’s not doing it for you, journalist Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business advises making the benefits of working out more tangible, such as by treating yourself to a smoothie or an episode of The Leftovers afterwards.

“An extrinsic reward is so powerful because your brain can latch on to it and make the link that the behavior is worthwhile.”

He describes creating a neurological “habit loop,” which involves a cue to trigger the behavior (setting out your spinning shoes next to your bag), the routine (making it through spinning class) and then the reward. “An extrinsic reward is so powerful because your brain can latch on to it and make the link that the behavior is worthwhile,” he explains. “It increases the odds the routine becomes a habit.”

Over time, the motivation becomes intrinsic, as the brain begins to associate sweat and pain with the surge of endorphins — those feel-good chemicals released in the brain that are responsible for that “I-feel-freaking-amazing” rush you get after a great gym session. Once you’ve trained your brain to recognize that the workout itself is the reward, you won’t even want the treat.

2. Sign a Commitment Contract

We can make promises to ourselves all day long, but research shows we’re more likely to follow through with pledges when we make them in front of friends.

You can up the ante even more by signing a contract agreeing to pay a pal $20 every time you skip Pilates. “It’s a simple notion of changing the cost,” explains Jeremy Goldhaber-Fiebert, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at Stanford University who studies health decision science. “I say I’m going to make a commitment to do something for a certain amount of time, such as exercising 30 minutes three times a week for 12 weeks. If I don’t do that, I’m going to pay some kind of penalty, whether it’s monetary or the embarrassment of having friends know I didn’t live up to my word.”

In studies of people who created online contracts via the site www.stickk.com, Goldhaber-Fiebert and his colleagues found that those who signed longer contracts ended up exercising more than those who agreed to shorter durations. “We have to get past the initial experience of displeasure in order to recognize the longer-term benefits,” he says. “The challenge is designing tools to help make that happen.”

3. Rethink Positive Thinking

Devotees of positive thinking have long promoted visualizing the benefits of a behavior as a motivational strategy. For example, when I’m deciding whether to get out of bed to go running in the morning, it helps to imagine how the sun will feel on my face as I run around the reservoir. Or how delighted I’ll be when I see my new muscles developing.

“After you imagine the obstacle, you can figure out what you can do to overcome it and make a plan.”
But such feel-good fantasies are only effective when accompanied by more realistic problem-solving methods, according to Gabriele Oettingen, PhD, psychologist at New York University and author of Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside the New Science of Motivation (due out in October).

Here’s the rest of the formula: After identifying your wish and visualizing the outcome, you have to identify what’s holding you back — a technique she calls “mental contrasting.” In one study of 51 female students who claimed they wanted to eat fewer junk food snacks, researchers asked each woman to imagine the benefits of nibbling on better foods. Those who identified the trigger that made healthful snacking difficult for them — and came up with a plan to reach for fruit when cravings hit — were most successful at sticking to their goal.

Feel too tired to go to the gym after work? “After you imagine the obstacle, you can figure out what you can do to overcome it and make a plan,” explains Oettingen. For example, you can switch to morning or lunchtime workouts or go straight to the gym instead of stopping at home first.

4. Get Paid

Still struggling? It may be time to turn to cold, hard cash. (Because, hey, money talks.) Research looking at monetary incentives and exercise found that people who were paid $100 to go to the gym doubled their attendance rate. “You just need to get people to keep doing an activity, and paying them money was effective,” explains study author Gary Charness, PhD, behavioral economist at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Don’t have a generous benefactor? Check out the app Pact, in which a community of fellow users will literally pay you to stick to your schedule. If you miss your session, you authorize the app to charge your credit card or PayPal account. When you reach your goal, you get paid out of a common pool funded by yourself and other pact-breakers.

No matter how you get there, you know you’ve succeeded once the day arrives when you can’t imagine skipping your workout. You can call it an addiction, a pleasure or an escape. But the important thing is that you’re doing it on a regular basis, and that you’re doing it for you.

But all of this is just advise. You can do whatever the F**k you wanna do..

Your friend and coach,

Crystal aka Barbell_Barbie.NY

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The Best Summer Hairstyles For Ladies With Curls

What’s a curly haired girl to do to stay fabulous in the summer?

Just because the heat and humidity is out, it doesn’t mean you should let your self-presentation go. The summer time is no excuse to look lazy or have bad hair days. Remember to always look presentable, no matter the weather, season or place. A part of being fabulous is to stay up kept. Black girls worry about their mane in the summer weather because of the humidity and heat that can cause their afro- textured hair or natural hair to frizz out of place. Black girls don’t always want to wear their hair natural especially with all the styles possible. You can go curly, straight, wavy, and much more, so why limit yourself? The answer to that question is because curly haired girls don’t want to worry about walking outside with perfectly styled hair, then enter an event with a horrendous mane. You want to walk around this summer with self-assurance and a glow that lights up any room you walk in. Instead of walking straight to the bathroom when you get to an event, you can walk straight onto the main floor and mingle. There’s no need to constantly ask your friends if your hair is frizzing up or sweating out when you have the perfect summer hairstyle.

GOING STRAIGHT 

No problem! Get a weave or a wig! There’s nothing wrong with a weave, as long as you love your hair without it. When you are psychology attached to weave it is a self-esteem problem because you can’t feel good without it. Wigs are to a bad hair day, what make-up is to a bad break out. They are a great temporary go to when you need a quick fix. It can be fun to up your hair style and experiment with makeup but always remember to take care of your natural beauty. Strive to better yourself natural by eating healthy, and drinking lots of water to keep your body hydrated this summer. Massaging essentials oils (try argon oil, caster oil, almond oil, avocado oil, olive oil and the old and faithful coconut oil) into your scalp and hair ends will add more protection under your wigs also. A weave is a great way to protect and aid in hair-growth through the summer weather. There are unlimited textures and colors to play with. This is the best way for black girls to have straight hair without over treating it with chemicals or straighteners. Weaves allow straight hair styles to last longer then 2 weeks, if even that long. Closures are great for styling with weave because you don’t have to worry about your edges sweating out or curling up.  A weave limits the amount of heat damage to your real hair, avoids over processed hair and allows your stair hairstyle to stay “on fleek”.

BRAIDS GALORE 

Braids are easy to keep for the summer especially if you sleep on satin sheets. If you don’t have satin or silk sheets wear a hair tie that’s close to these materials. Covering your hair at night prevents from split ends and dry, frizzy hair. There are several braided hairstyles to choose from: plates, box braids, plated twists, twist outs, or fish tail. Braids are also good styling techniques for curls or wavy hair because when you unravel them they look fabulous darling.

Finally, The How To: TWIST/ BRAID OUTS 

Wash your hair. Then deep condition your hair, keeping a cap on for at least 20 min to fully penetrate the hair follicle. (Use natural products on your hair because the delicate follicles can strip and create split ends from harsh chemicals) Next rinse and apply leave in conditioner for extra moisture, smoothness, and shine. Plate braids or twists however way you want your hair to fall when unraveled. Sleep with a silky hair tie. Lastly, gently unravel the braids and fluff out to your desired fullness. You can spritz hair sheen after styling. Braid outs last long from the moisturized hair being gathered into a pattern. When you’re out enjoying a hot summer day, your hair pattern will stay longer than if you were to do a wash and go.

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To answer one of your many impending questions, the chia seed stems from the plant Salvia Hispanica, which is a close cousin of mint. It’s said that ancient Aztecs and Mayans prized the chia seed for their ability to provide strength and energy. I feel as though through my week-long journey with these little tiny seeds, I have had more energy over the course of the few days, and I feel more awake.

Also through my research through the internet for information on this so-called “super food,” I read a lot about how they size up to flax seeds. Some say flax is better, others mainly levied with chia, but for the good of myself I went with chia seeds because I’ve heard about them far too much not to try them, mainly from my trendy vegan friends. Chia seeds are also tasteless, which means you can put them in any food. In contrast, flax seeds must be ground up (already too much prep work for me) and taste vaguely like peanut butter, a taste that probably wouldn’t work well in a large percentage of my food or at all considering I don’t like peanut butter.

Unlike flax, chia seeds do not need to be ground. They also absorb 10 times their weight in liquid, which makes them amazing if you’re someone who retains a lot of water. If you decide to put them in your food, remember to drink a lot of water throughout the day so you don’t get dehydrated. I actually started with one tablespoon of chia with lemon in water and I found it fun to drink (or eat). When you soak chia in liquid, it develops a jellylike texture around the seed which holds the water, with a similar texture to the flesh of coconut that they put in certain coconut water brands. It also has a bit of a crunch, which I found cute and reminiscent of lychee gels. I had to keep refilling my water bottle because the chia to water ratio was way off, but it was also a good way to encourage me to drink more and often.

I bought a 2lb. bag at one of those wholesale warehouse shopping centers for about $10 and I thought it was kind of a gyp, but then I realized how small these seeds are. They’re literally a little bit bigger than a hair follicle when you pull it out by the root, and honestly they look a little bit like bugs.

With a fresh, fairly sizable bag of chia and not a single clue, I decided (for at least a day) to put the seeds in every single one of my foods. I don’t think this is healthy or recommended, but I was really gung-ho about introducing them into my diet and the information I read said that chia seeds are a good way to curb hunger by staying fuller longer, due to their liquid-retention capabilities. I personally think I could benefit by eating less, so I thought it would be an interesting way to cut down my portions. That day I had the water with lemon, a single serve packet oatmeal with a 3/4 cup of granola, a light and fit yogurt with fruit and 1 cup of the same granola, and a spinach salad with chicken, tomato, and raspberry vinaigrette dressing. (Something about vinaigrettes makes me feel excessively healthy, wouldn’t you agree?)

I put around a half a table spoon to one full tablespoon of chia seeds in all of these foods and I found myself feeling weighed down by the end of breakfast. Typically, I’m ravenous a good 20 minutes after I finish eating my first meal of the day so I was honestly surprised. However, my brain still wanted me to eat, so I tried to drink tea and have more water to pacify the neuron signals. I felt bloated with liquid because of this need to placate my pathology, which at first I thought was contradictory because of the chia. Slowly it did pass and I think it considerably cut down the amount I snacked throughout the day. Every day after, I have added chia to at least one or two meals or drinks I ingest during the day, (usually my first drink of the day, lemon water) and I can definitely sense a difference in my eating habits.

The main take aways from chia is that they are high in fiber, protein, and Omega-3 fatty acids; three items of which I recognize everyone could use a lot more of.

Also, for someone who is worried about hereditary disease, chia helps with glucose and insulin tolerance and major cardiovascular risk problems. They also are packed with high levels of antioxidants and help reduce inflammation.

Ultimately, I’m having a good experience with chia, because it has curbed my hunger, but I find myself a little lost. What do I do with all this free time that I am not snacking? I honestly feel like I lost an integral part of myself, the part of myself that enjoyed eating for sport and eating often. My brain still tells my body, “You’re watching some Netflix? Go get a bite to eat!” but my stomach insists she’s doing okay. It’s all very confusing. Maybe in due time this will subside, like kicking a habit. In the mean time, I have taken up more book reading as well as exploring.

In the mean time, tell me what you think about Chia Seeds! Have you tried them? How do you like to use them?

Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to share with friends! Remember to follow SONIC ECLECTIC on Facebook and YouTube for updates!

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Millions of people go on diets every year, but by the end of the year, most of them have regained any weight lost and find themselves starting back at square one. After all, dieting is no easy feat, and it might even be harder than you think! Your body has an appetite, and if you consistently take in fewer calories than you burn, your body responds by revving up your appetite hormones, making you hungrier.

It’s not uncommon to hear names like insulin, testosterone, estrogen, and cortisol thrown around when talking about hormones that affect body fat. For example, insulin is often cited as a fat-storage hormone and criticized for being a key contributor to weight gain and obesity. While this is oversimplified and not entirely true, there are two hormones that may play a much larger and more direct role in weight gain and weight management: leptin and ghrelin.

These two hunger hormones can directly affect energy balance and play a much bigger role in weight-loss success.1 If you want to improve your body composition and be successful with long-term weight management, understanding the role of these two hormones and how you can manipulate them is key!

WHAT IS LEPTIN?

Leptin is considered the master regulator of hunger, and is known as your appetite suppressor. Leptin influences food intake due to its effect on the hypothalamus, a region of the brain that governs many processes and emotions such as hunger, thirst, sleep, and mood.

LEPTIN INFLUENCES FOOD INTAKE DUE TO ITS EFFECT ON THE HYPOTHALAMUS, A REGION OF THE BRAIN THAT GOVERNS MANY PROCESSES AND EMOTIONS SUCH AS HUNGER, THIRST, SLEEP, AND MOOD.
For example, when you eat a meal, leptin levels increase. This sends a signal to the brain telling your body that it’s full and to put the fork down. However, if an individual is leptin-resistant, or if the leptin pathway isn’t working properly, they may continue to overeat and often have poor control over food intake—in other words, they overeat without even knowing it.2

For these reasons, it’s easy to understand why leptin plays a key role in long-term dietary adherence and success.

THE LEPTIN SPIRAL

Leptin is stored in and secreted by fat cells. As you gain more fat mass, leptin levels increase to tell your brain to eat less and burn more calories. Conversely, if you cut down your calories and start to lose body fat, leptin levels go down, which then sends a signal to your brain to eat more and burn less! Think of this conundrum as a safety mechanism that regulates energy expenditure and food intake.3

Based on this information, you would think someone carrying around extra body fat would have more leptin, and thus, fewer desires to overindulge in food. This sounds great in theory, but research has shown that despite an elevation in leptin levels, obese individuals continue to overeat and energy expenditure fails to increase significantly.

This is called leptin-resistance. As someone gains weight, the signal to their brain can get “disrupted” or become less “sensitive,” which causes them to continually overeat.4

LIFELINE YOUR LEPTIN LEVELS

If your goal is weight loss or maintenance, leptin resistance is obviously an important issue. In fact, it’s currently considered one of the largest biological causes of obesity.5 Losing body fat is one obvious way to fix leptin resistance, but it takes more than a flash-in-the-pan diet. To really make a difference and correct leptin resistance long term, consider these strategies:

1 SWAP OUT JUNK FOOD FOR FRUITS AND VEGGIES
Excessive inflammation may disturb the signaling mechanism of leptin on the hypothalamus. Eating a primarily unprocessed diet high in fruits and vegetables—along with certain supplements such as omega-3 and antioxidants—may help reduce inflammation.6

While cookies and snack cakes may taste good, they are typically less satiating than whole foods, they’re extremely calorie dense, and they provide little nutrition to your diet.

2 BREAK A SWEAT
Regular exercise plays an important part in improving leptin resistance and decreasing inflammation.6 Make sure to include resistance and high-intensity interval training, which will not only help control leptin levels, but are great for building muscle and burning fat.

REGULAR EXERCISE PLAYS AN IMPORTANT PART IN IMPROVING LEPTIN RESISTANCE AND DECREASING INFLAMMATION. MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE RESISTANCE AND HIGH-INTENSITY INTERVAL TRAINING, WHICH WILL NOT ONLY HELP CONTROL LEPTIN LEVELS, BUT ARE GREAT FOR BUILDING MUSCLE AND BURNING FAT.
If you need a complete workout regimen, check out Find a Plan, which has complete training, nutrition, and supplement programs for your specific needs.

3 INCREASE PROTEIN INTAKE
Along with helping you feel fuller longer, protein may also improve leptin sensitivity.7 Aim for 30 grams of lean protein per meal. This can include chicken breast, white fish, tofu, or lean ground beef.

4 GET MORE SLEEP
Alongside the abundant benefits of a good night’s sleep, logging eight hours of shut-eye on a regular basis may also help improve leptin sensitivity.8 If you struggle with falling asleep, try some of these tips: Set a regular bedtime, turn off your TV or computer thirty minutes before you hit the sheets, make sure your bedroom is dark, keep outside noise down, and turn down your thermostat to around 65 degrees.

GHRELIN, THE APPETITE GREMLIN

In contrast to leptin, ghrelin acts as an appetite stimulator. It’s released primarily in the stomach, and when elevated, sends a hunger signal to your brain letting you know it’s time to eat. After a meal, you can expect ghrelin levels to return back to baseline within three hours.9

Factors like age, gender, BMI, blood glucose levels, insulin levels, leptin levels, and growth hormone (GH) have been shown to affect ghrelin levels. Leptin itself, for example, can help reduce ghrelin.

Furthermore, if you often find yourself feeling full after a tough workout, it could be because of an increase in GH, which can help dampen hunger and food intake by reducing circulating levels of ghrelin.

THE HUNGRY GAMES

Put simply, ghrelin makes you feel hungry. Why is perceived hunger so important? Because research has highlighted hunger as a compounding factor in the reasons many diets fail.10

Studies have repeatedly shown increases in ghrelin levels following calorie-restricted weight-loss diets. One study out of the New England Journal of Medicine showed a 24 percent increase in ghrelin levels following a six-month weight-loss diet.11 In a more recent study, researchers from the University of Oklahoma investigated a male bodybuilder during a six-month prep phase and witnessed around a 40 percent increase in ghrelin levels after six months of dieting!12

If you continuously diet or have dieted several times in the past, it’s likely that your baseline ghrelin levels are elevated. This could be bad news if you want to stay lean year-round or diet again in the future.

FIGHT THE GHRELIN GREMLIN

While the research on ghrelin and diet is limited, recent studies have shed some light on potential dietary strategies that may help to control your appetite and fight the grehlin gremlin.

Supplementing with around 20 grams of oligofructose—a subgroup of the fiber known as inulin—per day split into small doses with each meal may help decrease ghrelin levels, energy intake, blood glucose, and insulin levels.13

Eating higher-protein meals, which are well-known for increasing satiety through several different mechanisms, can help reduce ghrelin levels.7

A SENSIBLE APPROACH TO CALORIE CYCLING MAY BE A 4- TO 6-WEEK DIETING PHASE WITH A 1- TO 2-WEEK PERIOD AT CALORIC MAINTENANCE.
When dieting, following a high-fat, low-carb (ketogenic) plan may help you control appetite and reduce hunger by keeping ghrelin levels low.14

Short calorie-cycling diets may be a novel strategy to help control some of the metabolic adaptions to weight loss. For example, prolonged dieting reduces leptin and increases ghrelin. By doing shorter blocks of dieting interspersed with higher-calorie blocks, it may be possible to offset some of these adaptations.

This is one of the mechanisms behind the success of weekly high-carb and calorie refeeds. However, it is likely that one would need to refeed for several days in a row to impact ghrelin.15

A sensible approach to calorie cycling may be a 4- to 6-week dieting phase with a 1- to 2-week period at caloric maintenance. If your maintenance calories are set at 2,700, you’ll likely be consuming around 2,200 calories during your dieting phase before returning back to 2,700 for a couple weeks to give your body a break.

Along with supporting leptin and ghrelin levels, this strategy may also provide psychological benefits. By breaking your diet into smaller chunks, it becomes easier to focus and adhere to, compared to a 12-week (or more) continuous diet.

One of the few studies on this topic to date investigated minicycles of 11 days dieting and 3 days at maintenance versus continuous dieting.16 Despite total calorie intake being the same between groups, the group that dieted for 11 days and maintained for 3 days lost more weight! Interestingly, these individuals even kept the weight off during the maintenance phase.

MASTER YOUR APPETITE HORMONES

Both leptin and ghrelin levels are key for weight management and successful dieting. Yo-yo dieting will most likely have a long-term negative impact on hormones, body composition, and general health. To avoid the vicious cycle of losing weight and then regaining it, plan in periods of energy maintenance or refeeds. These can be small periods of 3-4 days every two weeks or longer, or one-week periods every 4-6 weeks.

While dieting may feel hard, research shows the maintenance period afterward may be even harder! Make sure your post-diet plan is as optimal and effective as the actual diet itself. Aim for 20-30 grams of protein each meal, and don’t ditch the gym. Exercise is key!

Applying the strategies listed above will help you maintain leptin and ghrelin health, but it’s critically important that you plan your diet ahead of time, set clear goals, and be patient with the process. If you’re going to try cyclical dieting to help your leptin and ghrelin levels, give yourself plenty of time.

REFERENCES

Klok, M. D., Jakobsdottir, S., & Drent, M. L. (2007). The role of leptin and ghrelin in the regulation of food intake and body weight in humans: a review. Obesity Reviews, 8(1), 21-34.
Lindqvist, A., de la Cour, C. D., Stegmark, A., Hakanson, R., & Erlanson-Albertsson, C. (2005). Overeating of palatable food is associated with blunted leptin and ghrelin responses. Regulatory Peptides, 130(3), 123-132.
Pelleymounter, M. A., Cullen, M. J., Baker, M. B., Hecht, R., Winters, D., Boone, T., & Collins, F. (1995). Effects of the obese gene product on body weight regulation in ob/ob mice. Science, 269(5223), 540-543.
Münzberg, H., Björnholm, M., Bates, S. H., & Myers Jr, M. G. (2005). Leptin receptor action and mechanisms of leptin resistance. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 62(6), 642-652.
Jung, C. H., & Kim, M. S. (2013). Molecular mechanisms of central leptin resistance in obesity. Archives of Pharmacal Research, 36(2), 201-207.
Reseland, J. E., Anderssen, S. A., Solvoll, K., Hjermann, I., Urdal, P., Holme, I., & Drevon, C. A. (2001). Effect of long-term changes in diet and exercise on plasma leptin concentrations. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 73(2), 240-245.
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