Few people believe Diet Coke is healthy. But many people believe it is a low risk guilty pleasure and a reasonable afternoon treat.
I was one of them. So about a month ago I ramped up my Diet Coke consumption to about one daily. I figured one per day would be fine.
But then unexpected fat gain occurred. Not much, obviously. But enough to where I could notice. Perhaps 0.6% over a two week period - significantly more than I had ever experienced over a two week period in years.
In getting to the bottom of the change, I realized I was eating much more than the weeks prior, even when my training wouldn't justify it. Which meant something had to have been happening hormonally that made me feel hungrier.
I realized that the largest change I'd experienced was the inclusion of a daily Diet Coke. I also remembered that years ago, I had several stevia protein shakes in one week that resulted in a similar spike in sugar cravings. So 7 days ago I went cold turkey on artificial sweeteners.
And guess what? Within 5 days, I had lost the fat I had gained and my sugar, carb and overall food cravings had return to their normal levels.
Some trainers would say that I could have accomplished this result by counting and restricting calories. And perhaps they are correct. But what they won't tell you is that I would have had to deal with unpleasant food cravings the entire time and likely would not have had the willpower to sustain such restriction indefinitely.
I teach my clients that it is a lot easier to create an environment that normalizes cravings than it is to create rules that restrict them.
By becoming extremely in tune with what leads to hunger changes and how hunger can be manipulated, I lost 23 lbs of fat without ever counting calories or going hungry.
This of course, underpins the framework that I teach to others. If this intuitive system is something you want to better instill in your life, please do not hesitate to DM me for guidance.