90/10 Is The New 80/20

I am so over yo-yo dieters.  That might sound harsh, but it’s the truth.

I hear people complain all the time about “I tried Paleo and it worked for a while, but when I stopped it all came back” or “I did the Whole30 for 30 days and got great results but it all came back” or “Weight Watchers was the only thing that worked for me when I was doing it.”

Um duh!  *** News Flash***

If you want long lasting results then you have to stick with it.

I’m not saying that Paleo, Weight Watchers or the Whole30 is for everyone and that any of them work all the time. My motto is that you are unique and therefore your diet should be too.  What I am saying, is that if it is working you can’t just “do it for a while” and then go back to your old ways.

I played in the 80/20 zone for a long time.

I was on my health A-game 80% of the time; eating ultra clean, getting adequate rest, exercising right, avoiding stress, and taking the right supplements.  And 20% of the time I was naughty, indulging and letting it all go to the wayside.

My relationship with the 80/20 zone was great while it lasted, but I still struggled.

The 80/20 has blurred lines. It can be the gray zone for too much fudge-factor.  You tend to get lost in the fog of eating out and start to lose track of just how much you’ve been cheating.

Let’s break down the 80/20 rule…

80/20 essentially allows 4 meals a week for cheating (21 meals in a week x 20%).

That equates to almost 2 FULL days of crossing the line with food or the majority of weekly dinners.

If Gluten is your food drug of choice, it increases something called intestinal permeability for up to 5 hours after eating it (no matter how big or small the bite was!), which allows an increase in toxins to seep into your bloodstream.  With the 80/20 rule that equals about 20 hours per week or more, unnecessary toxic exposure.

This contributes largely to the incidence of things like weight gain, brain fog, leaky gut, anxiety, depression, ADD/ADHD, hormone imbalances, autism, alzheimer’s and much more!

Would you only wear your seatbelt 80% of the time and risk your life 20% of the time?

Where do you draw the line of where living healthy begins and overindulging ends.

In this week’s video I talk more about how I used to live in 80/20 zone and why the 90/10 rule is my new baseline.

Let’s talk alcohol as another example.

Just one drink raises the stress hormone cortisol for 24 hours in men and likely longer in women increasing belly fat directly.  It also raises estrogen levels and slows down fat burning.  Studies have shown that one serving raises estrogen by 7% and two servings by 22%.  If you’re having a drink most nights of the week, even just one, you’re elevating hormones consistently putting you at higher risk for certain cancers and other health issues.

My new baseline is the 90/10 zone.

This is where I’m able to maintain my weight and health, and where my clients find long lasting success, too.

There’s just enough wiggle room to indulge but not go overboard with clean boundaries for keeping your health intact.  This equates to about 2 meals per week to relish in a cheat.

Typically for me that’s a Friday or Saturday night out with my hubby or friends.

And of course there are a few times a year that I even break this rule when there is something to really celebrate, such as a wedding or a trip to Europe.  I took 35 days of straight vacation last year and let loose- even that was only 10% (actually less) of the entire year!

These are big enough reasons to be in the moment, to eat lavishly and soak up every delicious minute.  But once it’s over, I’m get right back to my normal routine, and even find that I crave getting back to it.

If you really want to shift your health and weight then you have to shift your lifestyle- for good.  In the 80/20 I see people all too often get lost in the fog and start rationalizing why and how they crossed the line, losing track of reality and what healthy really is.

There is no such thing as a quick fix.

There is no such thing as an easy way out.

There isn’t even such thing as a 30, 60 or 90 day solution.

Life is work.  Health is work.  And practice makes perfect.

If you’re ready to really shift your lifestyle to best support your health and weight then I’m here to empower you to do so!

Schedule a FREE Ideal Health and Weight Discovery Session here with me so we can identify what’s holding you back and how you can move forward to embrace your best health and self.