How to lose 2-4 lbs per week by changing up breakfast
Hormones are programmable with food! Get a few details right and you can flip the switch to start losing weight. Hormones will work for, rather than against, you.
Get the details wrong, and weight gain is only one symptom of hormone chaos. There’s also high blood pressure, low testosterone, diabetes, infertility, heart disease and Alzheimers (now being called “type 3 diabetes”).
In this post I’m going to show you how to modify breakfast so you can begin to reverse the progression. One nice result is the ability to burn fat for an extra 20-40 hours per week without feeling hungry or having food cravings.
If you want to know how to lose 2-4 lbs per week by changing up breakfast, we need to talk about the hormone called insulin.
Get a few details right and you can flip the switch to start losing weight. Share on XInsulin turns on fat storage
The first-used source of energy for our bodies is glycogen. The body doesn’t switch to fat for energy until liver glycogen stores have been depleted.
Dr. Joseph Mercola says, “It takes most people eight to 12 hours for their body to burn the sugar stored in your body as glycogen. Now, most people never deplete their glycogen stores because they eat three or more meals a day. This teaches your body to burn sugar as your primary fuel and effectively shuts off your ability to use fat as a fuel.”
It can take up to 48 hours with extremely low carbs (less than 50g per day) to fully transition into fat burning mode. The shift has earned a reputation for being very uncomfortable, with flu-like symptoms.
There’s a trick to avoid the long transition and it’s part of my coffee recipe, detailed later in this post. I have experienced this personally and have verified in the research of Dr. Dominic “Dom” D’agostina, who does research on nutritional/therapeutic ketosis for the Department of Defense.
You are closest to fat burning right before breakfast, when your body is in a fasted state from not eating overnight.
In a fasted state, insulin is not being released. Insulin is a necessary and natural hormone, but it initiates fat storage in order to stabilize blood sugar.
The Standard American Diet (SAD) often involves high glycemic (blood sugar) foods that spike insulin. Just one bite or sip of cereal, milk, toast, bagel, danish, donut, OJ or oatmeal, causes insulin to spike. Insulin flips your fat storage switch to ON!
Any carbohydrate or protein can turn on insulin and fat storage, however, some foods cause much more insulin to be released. High glycemic foods with lots of complex carbohydrates like sugar and bread (especially whole wheat!) result in the most insulin release – and fat storage – for the longest time. Vegetables and meat cause the least insulin release for the shortest time.
Complex carbohydrates also get converted to fat. Dr. Mercola writes, “A high-complex-carbohydrate diet is nothing but a high-glucose diet, or a high-sugar diet. Your body is just going to store it as saturated fat, and the body makes it into saturated fat quite readily.”
Eating complex carbs every few hours eventually makes it harder for insulin to turn off. The forced overproduction of insulin is called insulin resistance.
The most obvious symptom of insulin resistance is belly fat.
A high carb breakfast flips your fat storage switch to ON! Share on XThere’s a cascade of other negative hormonal responses
One of the hormones that controls appetite is called leptin. Eating high carb meals every few hours will make you become more leptin resistant, so the brain doesn’t get the “I’m full” signal as quickly.
High insulin increases inflammation (the body’s response to a perceived threat), raises triglycerides, lowers HDL, and raises blood pressure.
In men, high insulin lowers testosterone. In women, high insulin and lack of fiber causes an oversupply of estrogen and contributes to infertility and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Low testosterone and higher estrogen also signal the body to store fat.
High carb breakfast foods are generally high in fructose. Fructose goes right to your liver, where it starts manufacturing fat in people who are insulin resistant… which worsens insulin resistance. This directs your body to store almost everything you eat as dangerous belly fat.
It’s a vicious downward spiral. You get a fatty liver, which initiates more inflammation. Then ongoing inflammation causes more weight gain and “diabesity” (a recently made up word to help people mentally connect obesity and diabetes).
Processed foods also contain chemical toxicants and GMO ingredients (frankenfoods) that inhibit endocrine function (your hormones).
A high carb breakfast starts a vicious downward spiral of hormone responses. Share on XHow to reverse insulin resistance and burn fat
Here’s how: Replace breakfast with black coffee or plain green tea blended with grass-fed butter and C8 MCT oil (which is refined from coconut and palm oil) to jump instantly into fat burning mode.
The most common name for this coffee/butter/MCT combo is Bulletproof coffee. Bulletproof is a brand, named by Dave Asprey, the guy that invented Bulletproof coffee. It’s also the name of the recipe. I am using it in the recipe sense.
Delaying breakfast is called intermittent fasting (or IF) and I have another post that explains what a powerful tool IF is for weight management.
You probably already have a sense of why this works, but let me break it down for you.
No insulin release means no fat storage
With black coffee (or plain green tea), grass fed butter and pure C8 MCT oil, there are no carbs or protein. That means no insulin release. The fat storage switch stays in the off position.
C8 MCT oil gives energy and appetite suppression but isn’t stored
I specify C8 MCT oil because 98% is not stored as body fat, it has no taste or odor and is the rarest 6% of coconut or palm oil. It would take 18 tablespoons of coconut or palm oil to get the equivalent one tablespoon of pure C8. It is the fastest to metabolize to the brain and has potent anti-microbial properties to aid gut health.
Pure C8 MCT oil instantly puts you into fat burning mode (mild ketosis) and resets your hunger and satisfaction hormones (grelin and CCK).
Here are links for additional information: [The coffee/butter/C8 recipe], [How it works], [Brands of C8 MCT oil compared].
Grass fed butter provides energy, vitamins and antioxidants
When a cow eats grass, the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids changes entirely and the butter becomes anti-inflammatory. It becomes a healthy fat. When the cow is not grass fed, or if you use a butter substitute made from vegetable oil or soy, the fat becomes inflammatory and unhealthy. There isn’t really a middle ground with butter (or any fat from animals). It’s either great or terrible for you and the key is what the animal ate. You are what you eat – ate.
Grass-fed butter is a nutrient dense superfood rich in vitamins A, D K2 and E. It has more beta carotene than carrots, contains antioxidants, and is an excellent source of butyrate that increases metabolism. CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), found in grass-fed butter, has been shown to reduce body fat mass.
See the recipe for my brand and amount suggestions.
Caffeine and coffee itself blunts appetite
When you do first feel hungry, drink some black coffee or plain green tea. The caffeine blunts appetite and will buy a few more hours of fat burning.
If caffeine is a problem for you, no problem. Decaffeinated coffee may actually perform at least as well at surpassing appetite. [report]
With these simple adjustments, you can add around 20-40 hours of additional fat burning every week without feeling hungry.
The result is weight loss of about 2-4 lbs per week
The typical results I hear from people who try this is improved mental focus and weight loss of 2-4 lbs per week. Results improve when additional aspect of The Wellness Repair Diet are used.
Additional considerations
If you lose fat quickly, it will be critical to eat a heavy amount of green vegetables. I recommend 6-11 servings per day. The reason for this is because your body stores toxicants in fat. Releasing belly fat can result in a lot of toxicants hitting the blood stream and it makes some people sick. Chlorophyl from green leafy vegetables will help you expel the toxicants. Green tea is another helpful tool for expelling toxicants.
If you prefer to eat food for breakfast, no problem. Just delay as long as you comfortably can and aim for low glycemic foods like eggs, pastured meat, wild-caught fish, healthy fat (like coconut oil or avocados) and vegetables.
When you do break your fast, limit eating to a 6-8 hour window. If you eat 6-11 servings of veggies and aim for the lower glycemic foods, you will feel full easily and won’t get hungry.
To turn on fat burning, replace breakfast with Bulletproof coffee or green tea. Share on XWill eating grass fed butter and oil harm my cholesterol?
It is first important to understand that cholesterol isn’t bad.
Every cell in the body contains cholesterol and most cells produce it. Only around 25% of cholesterol comes from diet.
Think of cholesterol as being like a firetruck at a fire. It shows up in response to the problem, but isn’t the cause.
The real cause of heart disease is oxidized lipoproteins. What causes lipoproteins to become oxidized? Here’s the list to avoid:
- Hydrogenated vegetable oils
- Excess fructose
- Eating grains
- Foods cooked at high temperatures (burned)
- Smoking
- Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol
- A sedentary lifestyle
- Emotional stress
I have detailed the role of cholesterol with links to the evidence in a post called Why Cholesterol is Not Bad.
To lower cholesterol, eat grass fed butter but ditch grains and vegetable oils. Share on XNext steps
- Get the coffee/butter/C8 MCT oil recipe.
- Subscribe to my email list so I can let you know when I post new articles.
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- Click below to share this post on social media.
I have an entire list of lifestyle tweaks designed to give you comfortable weight management without food cravings. It’s called The Wellness Repair Diet and it’s free.
Thanks for reading!
Jeff
Jeff is the author of The Wellness Repair Diet – designed to help you optimize your endocrine, adrenal, immune and nervous systems. The result is enjoyable fat loss without food cravings, a lower risk of disease, improved mood and better mental clarity.
hi, I have no gallbladder and currently 2 weeks post op and do not need too loose weight, but dont want too gain it either.
I dont eat palm oil due to ethical reasons and dont like coffee ,so is green tea and coconut oil OK? I also dont consume any dairy due to it causing gut issues and aggravating eczema.
I tend to usually have coconut yogurt with a few berries and a couple of nuts and sprinkle of seeds, is this OK? I dont eat usually before 10 am anyway.
I then usually have homemade soup at lunchtime or eggs with a small bit of avocado on gluten free toast ( rice or buckwheat, organic)
if I am late I skip the 10 am and just eat the yogurt dish or soup around 11.30 and then eat in the evening but trying not to skip, as lost too much weight since my gallbladder issues.
I have meat and salad/veg of an evening with kraut and at weekends will eat rice and sweet potato.
I eat usually between 10-6pm ( occasionally 6.30-7pm)
thanks
Hi Nat,
Green tea is fine, but coconut oil doesn’t provide the quick ketone benefit. If it makes any difference to you, all of the C8 brands I’ve tried are RSPO certified. This certification is meant to address the very real environmental issues. I contacted all the C8 brands for verification and published the results here.
Skipping breakfast like you describe is also an excellent strategy to help you stay insulin sensitive and keep weight in check.
The usual problem with dairy that would trigger your immune system and lead to eczema would be the dairy proteins. You might try ghee, which is real butter but without the proteins.
If weight starts to creep on, try reducing your high glycemic-load carbs (the gluten free toast). A step after that would be to shift sugar sources like fruit to just your evening meal. Also be aware of any sugar content in the yogurt.
thanks:) will have a ;look around for that oil as never heard of it before and if I can get it in Australia RSPO certified.
I dont eat any dairy sadly, not even ghee, I flare with all dairy and it causes IBS symptoms.
I am only eating the bread at weekends and only one piece, usually in the week I have very little carbs, but not gaining any weight yet and checking my weight today, underweight now, hopefully I wont gain to much when it starts to come on, aiming for around 4kg gain. If I gain to much, I plan to go more keto, so will keep a check on it but the carbs are stopping me loosing anymore 🙂 so fruit only eat in the evening? I am happy to switch it to the evening if it is better for my body and just eat the yogurt with a few nuts and seeds ( no sugar added, I read ingredients all the time)
what are your thoughts on honey? thinking of baking some foods but everything seems to have honey!
Hi Nat,
From what I’ve found, honey is fine as an occasional treat for anyone who isn’t sensitive to fructose. Honey is very high in fructose. If you’re dealing with IBS, it’s a safe guess that fructose might be one of your flare-foods. But you could always experiment to find out how much you can tolerate.
Since you mentioned IBS, here’s a link to a brand new blog post I just published to help folks beat it.
STOP IBS With This Natural SIBO Protocol
May you stay exactly the weight you like always, Nat! 🙂
Jeff, You are awesome and thank you for all this insight —
Just a question I usually fast (16/8 intermittent fast) but drink black coffee upon waking up, before a HIIT workout and light weight lifting workout daily – if I add the MCT oil will it break the intermittent fast? If so I can just mix it in to the green tea after….Also, do I add butter as well. Then I will eat breakfast for lunch. I do hardcore keto consistently. annnnnnd I just got my gallbladder removed 11/26/2018 as they said it was dead from the HIDA scan. They scared me to believe it would eventually infect and possibly become septic if not taken out.
My body, I believe knows how to function optimally without the gallbladder as it had no function at all they think for years –. -With that said I still just bought the Digestive Enzymes (I can’t gain weight and go backwards I’d get nuts and just read too many folks dealing with weight gain) …I also take a great probiotic from garden of life, omega 3 vitamins, multivitamin and turmeric.
I haven’t had any known issues digesting fats – but it seems issues develop over time so I guess I am taking precautions…I’m 43, 5 foot 5 1/2 was 128 before surgery on 11/26. I will not eat grains, sugar, legumes, and starch. I also gave up dairy except today I did sprinkle parmesan cheese on my zucchini lasagna.
Is there any other supplementation I need? Bitters? Vitamin D?
Great to meet you, Floriana!
First, WOW! You’ve established some great habits! I’m impressed!
Sorry to hear about the gallbladder. I hope the healing goes quickly for you. I remember that phase not being so fun.
MCT oil doesn’t contain any carbs or protein, so it won’t trigger insulin and take you out of ketosis (break your fast). You can do butter also as it doesn’t contain enough protein to trigger insulin. I recommend blending them in your tea. Here’s the recipe. You can mix it into green tea or coffee.
Since you’re into weight training, you may enjoy all the info about MCT oil from Parillo Performance. He was one of the first to figure out that C8 MCT oil helps prevent muscle loss. The MCT oil he sells is more expensive than the others I’d recommend. Here’s a comparison of MCT oil brands I put together.
Bitters are always a good idea. My preference is arugula with greens. If you don’t live in south Florida, then vitamin D is also a very good idea. The other nutrient that’s difficult to get enough of these days is magnesium (info here). I favor pico-ionic magnesium because it absorbs the best.
I imagine you’re inspiring many around you. Thank you for serving people that way!
Jeff
Yes, I try. I’ve been walking this week up to 6 miles though surgery was Monday. I’m an avid believer of listening to my body. Today o boulght Dandelions, beets collards kale to juice with my masticating juicer… but will only juice half lemon to keep carb down. I also make an organic raw beet salad that I eat very sparingly to cleanse blood and liver. I’ve been into holistic healing forever, and read quite a bit. I fought tooth and nail not to have the gallbladder taken but with a prognosis of “it’s decaying…it will burst” you have literally no choice.
Thank you!
Flo
One more Question: juicing would I get my vitamins from juicing the vegetables ? Like kale is loaded with vitamin K, and A and all of my juicing incorporates, Cucumbers, dandelion greens, beet roots, celery, ginger, spinach, and half lemon. Since this is a nonfat method wouldn’t it provide the body the nutrients … i hope this doesn’t mess my keto but as I said normally I workout 2 hours Monday through Friday incorporating hitt cardio & weight training and my body fat went down to about 13 percent this summer from 23—-I can’t wait to get back into training …. walking is boring.
You have awakened my inner geek, Flo!
To convey my understanding, I’m going to borrow some words from a paper called Nutrients and Solubility from the Department of Chemistry at Washington University. They say, “Fat-soluble vitamins must be consumed together with dietary fat to be absorbed. The vitamins are first dissolved in the dietary fat. Then, bile released from the gall bladder acts like a detergent and allows the fat (with the vitamins dissolved in it) to be solubilized in micelles.” Based on this and other papers I’ve read, a simplified explanation would be that fat soluble vitamins travel through the wall of the small intestine in lipids (good fats). So I wonder if a small amount of avocado or coconut oil would be of benefit. While MCT oil has it’s benefits, I’m not sure I’d use it for fat soluble vitamin bioavailability. Short chain fatty acids absorb very early in the digestive tract and may not stick around long enough to grab all your potential vitamins.
I like the sound of that juice!
I’m guessing the cucumbers and beet roots would trigger enough insulin to take you out of Ketosis. But not by much and your body fat percentage (wow again) already says you’re not in any trouble with insulin resistance.
And SIX MILES AFTER SURGERY MONDAY!?!?!? I dare say you could call pretty much anyone a wimp and get away with it now. 🙂