WATER

Most people I know are guilty of not drinking enough water. Drinking adequate amounts of every day is absolutely essential for weight loss.

If you don’t drink enough water, you will simply not get the full weight loss effect that you’re after. Water helps your kidneys work at full capacity. When your kidneys aren’t working at full capacity, the liver needs to help out. 

The problem with this is that the liver is responsible for metabolizing fat in your body. When your liver is helping out the kidneys, it can’t do its job as well as metabolizing the fat we need to burn. 

When on The 2 Week Diet, you will lose water weight along with body fat. Remember, water weight is still weight and partly responsible for your body bloating and tight fitting clothes. 

The fact is, carbohydrates are hydrophilic (which means they cause water retention) and water retention is not something we want. Protein, on the other hand, encourages water to be released from the body. 

Once you restrict your carbohydrate intake, you will begin to let loose of that stagnant water that is being stored in your body. Because of this, it is essential that you consume enough water every day to avoid dehydration. 

Further, water acts your body’s filter, flushing out our dead cells and waste. Because you are burning a great deal of fat during The 2 Week Diet, you will need ample water to help flush out the by-product waste of fat burning. 

You will find that when you restrict the amount of carbohydrates you eat and increase the amount of water you drink, your body stops storing water and will begin to use it more effectively. 

This results in a lighter and “cleaner” body. My advice is to drink 8-10 glasses of water every single day. 

This amounts to about half a gallon of water. This may seem like a lot of water at first and you may have to actually force yourself to drink that much in the beginning. However, once you do this for a while, you will regain your natural thirst and actually be thirsty for this much water every single day. And again, once you begin drinking this much water, you will find that your body will not retain water, but will instead use it to flush your system keeping it clean and functioning right.


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MEAL FREQUENCY

Understand that your body does not store protein like it does with fat and carbohydrates. 

The protein you eat will either be used to repair and rebuild or eliminated as waste—it is not stored as fat. After about three hours, the amino acids taken from your last protein-based meal are no longer in your bloodstream. 

At this point, your body begins to seek out the amino acids it needs from your lean body mass. 

Eating every three hours prevents this from happening. Eating frequently ensures your lean body mass stays intact and that your muscles are not being broken down and used for energy. 

Remember, the more lean mass you have, the faster your metabolism will be. Frequent meals also help to control cravings and binge eating. 

When blood sugar drops and tells you that you’re hungry, it’s usually too late to eat a smart meal. By this time, you just want food and you go after whatever it is that you crave. 

When you eat strategically, you will never get to this point and you can always have a plan for your next meal. Frequent meals keep blood sugar levels normalized, which keeps insulin levels at bay.

 This means you will be burning fat rather than storing it. Missing a meal is a cardinal sin on The 2 Week Diet. 

The simple fact of the matter is that when you skip a meal, your metabolism slows down and puts your body into a catabolic state. 

Never, ever skip a meal! I know it will be difficult to eat 5-6 times at first but you must understand that your body needs amino acids…even when you skip a meal. 

The key to pulling this off successfully is to have preplanned meals for every day. 

In the diet portion of The 2 Week Diet, you’ll learn some “secrets” on how to do this effectively. Meal frequency is a key component to losing weight on The 2 Week Diet. 

By eating five meals a day as prescribed in The 2 Week Diet, you will significantly increase your metabolism, effectively build lean muscle and increase the amount of fat you burn on a daily basis.

HOW TO GET THIN?

TRIGLYCERIDES 

Remember those fatty acids we talked about? Guess what happens when they are not used up for energy? Well, what happens is that they head back into the fat cells, where they “hook up” with two other fatty acids and a glycerol molecule, to form what is known as a triglyceride (triglyceride = 3 fatty acids +1 glycerol molecule). 

And this is not a good thing… Triglycerides are problematic because they are much larger than a fatty acid. In fact, they are so large that they cannot leave the fat cells like “free flowing” fatty acids could.Because of this, they remain stuck inside the fat cells and become the stubborn, stored body fat that we want to get rid of. 


Triglycerides cannot be burned for energy until they are broken down back into those smaller “free flowing” fatty acids and released back into the bloodstream. This is why so many people have so many problems with stubborn body fat. 

They can reduce their calorie intake all they want but as long as they are consuming carbohydrates, those triglycerides are going to remain intact! So…the question becomes, “how do we break these triglycerides apart, so that that they can be used for energy?” The answer is simple: significant carbohydrate restriction I know it probably sounds like I’m beating a dead horse here, but it is imperative that you understand this: carbohydrates cause insulin to be secreted into the bloodstream.

 Insulin causes your body to store excess calories as fat AND prevents fat from being released from your fat cells to be burned for energy. To put is simply, carbohydrates = excess body weight and fat storage. The 2 Week Diet - Launch Handbook | 33 Remember, nothing causes us to burn fat faster than starvation. But…starvation has negative consequences on our lean body mass. So, ideally, we want the body to “think” we are starving so that it is breaking down triglycerides and burning that fat for our energy needs. 

Since the body relies primarily on carbohydrates for its energy, when we remove those carbohydrates, the body will be forced to get its fuel elsewhere. Now, in the case of starvation, the body would normally begin to break down lean body mass for glucose (energy) via a process known as glucogenesis. 

However, since we are “sneaking” small amounts of protein to the body, we end up getting all the “benefits” of starvation without the loss of our precious lean body mass. Now, glucogenesis will be completed by using the protein we are getting from our diet which spares our lean body mass. And, consuming less carbohydrates increases glucogenic activity. 

The presence of glucogenic activity means we cannot store fat because that glucogenic activity needs all the fat it can get to be able to fuel the glucogenic process. In other words, glucogenesis requires a lot of energy…and it will burn even more fat to supply that energy. 

This results in the ability to turn our bodies into a 24/7 fat burning machine. And needless to say, maximizing the hours that your body is burning fat in a day is the ultimate key to a sexy, lean body. Again, your body NEEDS energy on a 24/7 basis. 

Without carbohydrates, your body is forced to turn to an alternate fuel source to keep you running all day long. So, let’s get now get our bodies revved up to burn body fat on a 24/7 basis.


As I’ve pointed out, the fastest and easiest way to lose weight is to stop using dietary carbohydrates for energy and to start burning our own body fat instead.

 Once you restrict carbohydrates from your diet (and keep protein intake up), your body has absolutely no choice but to break down and burn body fat for the fuel it needs. 


When your fat cells begin breaking down those stubborn triglycerides (the stored, stubborn body fat that is stuck inside the fat cells) and releases those fatty acids back into the bloodstream to be used for energy, your fat cells get smaller…and so do you! You will be truly amazed at just how much fat you will burn once you restrict carbohydrates from your diet. 

Remember, your body needs fuel all day long… It needs fuel to blink, think, talk and walk… It needs fuel for everything you do.

 On The 2 Week Diet, we will use nothing but stored, gooey body fat to keep us going. Losing weight on The 2 Week Diet is a matter of strategic eating—it’s a combination of reduced carbohydrates and eating very specific types of proteins and fats that are consumed in the appropriate amounts at just the right time. 

This diet alone will produce amazing weight loss. However, by following The 2 Week Diet exercise program, we can nearly double our weight loss goals, while obtaining some very favorable body composition changes.


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HOW WE GET FAT?

Modern medicine, weight loss “gurus” and so-call fitness “experts” have been telling us the same ol’ outdated, bogus advice for years: “Losing weight is just a matter of eating less and exercising more” or “We get fat because we eat too much fat” These ideologies are better known as the “Calories In/Calories Out” and the “Fat Makes us Fat” theories that have been proven time and time again to be complete nonsense. 

These diets fail to take into account our bodies and how food is metabolized and take the easy way out by implying that anyone who is overweight is either eating too much fat or they’re just plain lazy. It points the finger at us and it refuses to acknowledge what science has already proven… Carbohydrates Make Us Fat I know…I know…you’ve probably heard that one before. Perhaps you even gave it some credence for a while. 

Maybe you’ve even tried a low-carb diet or the Atkins Diet (or something similar) but found it just wasn’t for you. Unfortunately…if you truly desire to lose weight fast, drastically reducing carbohydrates is an absolute must. If you don’t want to…or just feel like you just can’t give up carbohydrates for the next 2 weeks, then truthfully, there is nothing that can be done for you to lose weight except for hours and hours in the gym and severe calorie restriction over a period of 5-6 months.

 However, if you truly want to burn 10-20+ pounds of body fat in the next 14 days and if you’re willing to follow this diet without deviation—then I personally guarantee that you will lose weight. If you continue reading, you’re going to learn exactly why carbohydrates cause us to get fat…and you’ll learn exactly what to do about it. 

The 2 Week Diet - Launch Handbook | 29 CONTROL YOUR BLOOD SUGAR AND YOU CAN CONTROL YOUR WEIGHT FOREVER We get fat because of the carbohydrates we eat. If you want to burn fat and become lean, you must accept this fact right now and you must hold this truth sacred. When you restrict carbohydrates in your diet, you will become leaner. This is an absolute fact. When you increase your carbohydrate consumption, you will get fatter. 

This is not disputed. This is simply a matter of the human body’s response to your hormones and how they are affected by the foods we eat. Here’s how it works… When we eat carbohydrates, particularly those that are sweet or starchy, our blood sugar increases rapidly. 

When our blood sugar increases, our pancreas secretes insulin into the bloodstream. Insulin’s job is to bring our blood sugar back to normal levels. It does this by moving the sugar out of the blood and into the muscles, liver and fat cells. If not for insulin, this high blood sugar (aka glucose) would be toxic. 

As you may know, diabetics need to add insulin to their bodies to keep them alive and functioning. So, insulin is a good thing with regards to keeping us alive by alleviating high blood sugar levels that are triggered by carbohydrate consumption. BUT… Insulin is also very, very problematic with regards to our ability to lose weight. 

As mentioned, when blood sugar is high, insulin’s job is to move that sugar out of the blood stream and into the liver and muscles to be used for energy. But there’s more to it. Insulin is also a storage hormone. 

What this means is that when insulin is present in the bloodstream, as it is when we consume carbohydrates (sugar, starch), the excess carbohydrates (those that are not needed right away for energy) are broken down and stored in our fat cells as fat. 

When this happens, our fat cells get larger...and so do we! And not only does insulin force those excess carbohydrates and fat into our fat cells, it also slams the brakes on our body’s ability to burn the fat that is already stored in our fat cells. So, as long as there is high levels of insulin is flowing through your bloodstream (which is only caused by carbohydrate consumption), your body will be working to store fat rather than working to burn it. You simply cannot consume a carbohydrate-rich meal and burn fat at the same time. 

Your body is either storing fat or burning it, depending on the food you eat. Now The 2 Week Diet - Launch Handbook | 30 that you know this, you can put yourself in control using the methods you’ll learn in The 2 Week Diet. Keep in mind that our body is in constant need of energy—it needs energy whether we are out for a morning jog, cooking dinner, sitting on the sofa watching television or lying in bed sleeping. 

While we tend to think we only need energy when we are physically exerting ourselves, you need to keep in mind that there is a lot your body is doing “behind the scenes” even while you sleep. The fact is, our bodies are at work 24/7 to keep us healthy and functioning. And because of that, the body needs to fuel its work on a non-stop basis for as long as we live. 

Another thing to keep in mind is that YOU can make a decision to have your body running on carbohydrates or have it running on fat. On The 2 Week Diet, we will shift from carbohydrate burning to high-octane fat burning instead. Contrary to popular belief, fat flows in an out of your fat cells (in the form of fatty acids), on a continuous basis throughout the day, making itself available to be used for energy.

 The problem is…this fat cannot and will not be used for energy unless your insulin levels are way down. Insulin, however, will not be down so long as you’re eating carbohydrates. Now, when we eat three meals per day and everything is working properly, your body will become fatter after eating a carbohydrate-rich meal and then, leaner in between meals after all the carbohydrates have been burned and the body begins to burn fat because it has run out of carbohydrates. 

A good thing to keep in mind is this: For every gram of carbohydrates you eat, your body is unable to burn at least that many grams of fat. And… As long as you are eating carbohydrates, your body is storing everything it doesn’t need…right into your fat cells (making you fatter). 

At the same time, those carbohydrates are making it impossible for you to burn stored body fat. The 2 Week Diet - Launch Handbook | 31 The problem, however, is that when blood sugar spikes and insulin is secreted, blood sugar is normalized in a matter of minutes, while insulin remains “on guard” in the bloodstream for the next couple of hours—preventing fat to be burned during that time. Understand that various cells in the body have a need for fat. However, when those cells that need fat to function properly are not getting the fat they need (because of insulin present in the bloodstream), your blood sugar drops.

Low blood sugar level is what tells your brain that you’re hungry…and because you are hungry, you begin to eat again before those fatty acids can ever be burned up. When you follow up with another carbohydrate-rich meal, those fatty acids will need to be stored away because your body is going to have to secrete insulin to lower blood sugar again… and to use that blood sugar—instead of fat—for its energy for the next few hours. And this starts the vicious cycle all over again—constantly prohibiting your body from burning fat.


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PROTEIN, FAT, CARBOHYDRATES

The primary nutrients humans consume are protein, fat and carbohydrates. Understanding the role each of these primary nutrients play on our health and on our ability to gain or lose weight is an important feature of The 2 Week Diet. I strongly encourage you to familiarize yourself with this portion of The 2 Week Diet, as it will have long lasting ramifications on your daily life. 

Protein Proteins are the foundation of your body’s cells, tissues and organs. They are essential to your muscles, hair, skin, hair, organs and hormones. 


While the body can survive without eating another carbohydrate and last for extended periods without eating fat, a lack of protein in your diet will cause degeneration of your muscle tissue and organs, which will eventually lead to death.

 Knowing how important protein is to the body, it is unbelievable to see how many people still get most of their calories from high-carbohydrate diets. 

Several studies have shown that the recommended daily allowance for protein consumption is far lower than it should be...especially for those engaged in regular exercise. What this research has shown is that people following the “recommended daily allowance” of protein consumption while engaging in regular physical activity, were actually losing valuable muscle tissue because there was not enough protein in the body to repair and rebuild their muscles after their workouts. 

Proteins are made up of amino acids and there are just 20 amino acids that make up ALL human proteins. Of these 20 amino acids, the body can only produce 12 of these itself. This means the other eight amino acids must be obtained through the foods you eat. The 2 Week Diet - Launch Handbook | 19 Lysine, leucine, isoleucine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine are the essential amino acids that are not made by the body (there are two others necessary for infants and small children). 

We get these amino acids when we consume protein sources like meat, fish, poultry and legumes. Protein sources that contain adequate amounts of all of the amino acids are called “complete proteins.” Those food items that do not contain all or adequate amounts of amino acids are known as “incomplete proteins.” In general, animal proteins (meat, fish, poultry, cheese, eggs) are considered “complete proteins.” The “incomplete proteins” are those that are vegetable based, usually in the form of grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. 

To get enough essential amino acids through vegetable protein, one usually has to combine several different food groups together in a strategic combination. Breaking down and processing protein takes a lot more energy and much more time than it does to break down other nutrients. In other words, the body has to work a lot harder to digest protein than it does with carbohydrates and fat. 

The extra energy it takes to break down and process protein reduces the amount of energy your body receives from that food it consumed. Also, because it takes longer to break down and to assimilate protein, the process of emptying the stomach takes longer as well, which causes us to feel full longer, which reduces hunger pangs. It is believed that the body can only use about 50% of the protein we eat. 

This means the other 50% is eliminated from the body as waste because protein is not stored in the body the same way that fat and carbohydrates are. So, when you eat calories primarily from protein, you can rest assured that these protein calories are repairing and rebuilding your body with the excess being eliminated as waste. The extra protein will not be stored as body fat. 

As you will see, this is in stark contrast to excess carbohydrates and fat we eat, which are stored on our bodies in our fat cells instead of being eliminated. Adding protein to your meals causes your body to release a hormone called glucagon. Glucagon works to slow down the harmful effect of excess carbohydrates from being deposited into our fat cells. It does so by slowing the rate of absorption of those carbohydrates. 

Additionally, there are new studies that have shown that when the body releases glucagon (by consuming protein in your diet), it also works to stimulate fat-burning by freeing up your stored body fat, so that it can be used to fuel your body. As you will see, when we increase protein consumption and significantly decrease the amount of carbohydrates we consume, we benefit from a dual fat-burning effect. 

On one hand, when the body does not have carbohydrates to turn to, to fuel the The 2 Week Diet - Launch Handbook | 20 body, it begins to use stored body fat. Secondly, the release of glucagon into the body appears to have the added effect of attacking the fat stores that the insulin has worked to preserve. 

The 2 Week Diet is strategically designed to take advantage of both of these events. Fat Unfortunately, fat has received a bad rap for decades. So much so, that it has become ingrained in our minds to intuitively reach for anything that says “low fat” even when we know better! 

The notion that fat makes us fat makes perfect sense at face value, especially when you considered how calorically dense fat actually is. A gram of fat contains 9 calories while the same gram of protein or carbohydrates are only 4 calories. Fat doesn’t have anywhere near the thermic effect that protein does (only 3% vs 30%), so consuming fat is not necessarily going to “turbo charge” our metabolism. 

On the same token, it is important to note that fat by itself also does not make us fat. In fact, fat plays an important role in many parts of the body. While we can go for long periods of time without fat, we cannot live without it completely. 

Those fats that we cannot live without are known as essential fatty acids (EFAs). Research has shown that these EFAs actually help us burn the stubborn, stored body fat that we want to get rid of, in addition to numerous other health benefits. In The 2 Week Diet, we will focus on getting an optimal amount of these good fats to enhance our ability to lose weight fast, while becoming healthier. 


Fat Cells Recently, research has shown that once a fat cell is created, it never goes away. Fat cells get larger and larger until they can no longer hold stored fat. When this happens, your body creates new fat cells to hold the excess. And again, once those new fat cells are created, they are yours for life. 

While we cannot totally eliminate fat cells from the body, we can get rid of the gooey fatty acids and dangerous triglycerides that those fat cells are holding which will make us thinner. Understand that fat is actually the perfect fuel for your body. 

When we can switch your body to using this “better” fuel, we can effectively turn your body into a 24/7 fat-burning machine. The 2 Week Diet - Launch Handbook | 21 Carbohydrates Although carbohydrates are the most common source of energy in humans, the simple fact is, there is not a single carbohydrate that is essential to human life. Carbohydrates are classified into two types: Simple & Complex. 

Simple carbohydrates are also known as simple sugars. Simple sugars are those found in refined sugars (and the foods they are made with like cookies, candies, etc) but also in food like fruit and milk. Complex carbohydrates are known as starches. Starches include grain products such as cereals, bread, pasta, crackers and rice. 

Like simple carbohydrates, complex carbohydrates can be refined or left unrefined. Refined carbohydrates are considered to be less healthy as the refining process strips away much of the vitamins, protein and fiber. Unrefined carbohydrates cause less insulin spike and because of that, they are considered to be the healthiest of the carbohydrates. 

Regardless of whether the carbohydrates are simple or complex, both of them cause spikes in blood sugar. As you will see shortly, these spikes in blood sugar are the #1 cause of unwanted body fat.

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