Bravo! You’ve made it through the cleanse, and you’re ready to move on to the next phase. This is where I like to say that life gets normal, so enjoy!
Every day I want this to be less my Metabolism Plan and more your Metabolism Plan. But to do that, we have to start testing your responses to different types of food and exercise so that you know exactly what works for you and what doesn’t.
You know how you can go on a diet and it works for a little while and then it stops? That’s because your chemistry changes! But when you know how the testing process works, you can keep adjusting your food and exercise as your body changes over the coming years, always making sure that your choices are the healthiest for you.
Sound good? Here’s how we get started:
• On the even-numbered days, you test food.
• On the odd-numbered days, you test exercise.
On Days 5, 7, and 9, you are going to establish your baseline response to exercise. During this phase, the exercise is very mild. You might enjoy some mild weight loss, or that might not come until the next phase. You can expect to lose at least 0.5 pound each day, however, which is still a significant amount. Your ideal is a BBT of 97.0 to 97.3.
Our goal with exercise is not to overdo it, especially in the beginning, when we are setting up a successful framework—that’s only going to create inflammation, a sluggish metabolism, and weight gain. On the other hand, I don’t want you avoiding exercise because you think it’s got to be all or nothing. You’re going to learn your “sweet spot”—the amount and type of exercise that are just right for you.
What if you simply don’t like exercise? Well, you may be like my son, Brayden, who says that his favorite sport is relaxing. It just so happens that with trial and error, I found a sport Bray loves and truly excels at—sprinting. Maybe that’s because it’s fast and he can get it over and done with quickly! I promise, there is an exercise out there that you, too, will enjoy, so let’s get off that couch on Day 5 and find out exactly what your body wants and needs. Here comes the million-dollar trainer!
Remember our food reactivity chart (here)? There we saw some types of foods are more highly reactive, while other types of food are less reactive. Those numbers are for the general population, however—not necessarily for you. But I’m trying to stack the odds in your favor, so I’ll always have you start with what works for most people. Once you’ve built up a list of friendly foods, you can methodically test more foods, always starting with those that are least likely to be reactive.
We are taking this same approach for exercise as well. Some types of exercise seem to work almost universally, while others are more likely to provoke an inflammatory reaction. So you’ll start with the least reactive types and amounts of exercise, allowing us to establish your baseline response. We are looking for two things:
• the type and amount of exercise that produces better weight loss than you could get from just altering your diet alone
• the type and amount of exercise that helps your BBT reach the optimal range—the zone where your metabolism is performing at its peak.
Of course, many factors can lower your BBT, such as a lousy night’s sleep or a rotten day at work. That’s why if you have a negative reaction to a type and amount of exercise, we’re going to test your response to that same type and amount two more times. If you still have a negative reaction after all three, your body probably doesn’t like that exercise and would prefer another.
For example, suppose you’re a runner, and you go for your 15-minute run. You’d expect to lose some weight and see your BBT bump up a little. But if you gain a pound and your BBT drops a full point, your body might be telling you that running is not for you, at least not right now, and you might want to think about testing a new exercise next week, or retest on your next test day.
You might be wondering why we test exercise three times but food only once during the 30 days. It’s because your food response is based on your immune system, manifesting in weight gain and physiological symptoms, and the response to a food is much stronger than a response to exercise. Your exercise response is based on your thyroid (as measured by your BBT), which is more affected by such outside factors as sleep, stress, and hormonal fluctuations. If you find you test reactive to any food you love and are unsure of your data, you can always retest it.
Suppose you pass your “running test” with flying colors. Then, on your next two test days that week, I suggest that you try out some other types of exercise and see whether your body likes them just as well, or even better.
“But I know what I like, and I passed the test—why can’t I just stick with it?”
My clients ask me this all the time, and I’m going to tell you what I tell them: Rotate or react. You don’t want to do the same type of exercise all the time, day after day, week after week. Changing up your exercise will help you achieve optimal body composition—that is, your ratio of lean muscle to body fat. Good body composition means you aren’t just losing weight, but also improving how lean and toned you are. You have no idea how many people I work with are close to their goal weight but aren’t happy with how they look when it comes to beach time. Aiming for your optimal body composition will fix that—promise!
Now, I know you might be a hard-core weight lifter and that’s all you want to do, every workout for the rest of your life, but do me a favor. If you pass your first exercise, I want you think outside the box and try something new. C’mon, even pro football players practice ballet to improve their game! If one type of exercise passes the test, try another, and then another—you might be surprised to find out what your body likes! You might even switch up your exercise as the seasons change. Rotating both food and exercise keeps your body from reacting badly to something that might work well for you in small doses but is not healthy in larger doses.
My client Gregory discovered the benefits of switching exercise routines—although it wasn’t exactly by choice. A longtime marathoner and lacrosse player, Gregory was highly successful at both sports throughout his 20s.
Then, in his late 30s, things started to change. He began to get injury after injury. The final straw came when he tore his ACL (the anterior cruciate ligament, a connective tissue in the knee—a common injury for lacrosse players). Gregory started rehab for his knee, but he was very upset about not being able to either run or play lacrosse. Angry and depressed, he resigned himself to swimming, a sport he had hated in his teens.
Then a surprising thing happened: Gregory started feeling terrific every time he left the pool. At first he thought it was just the endorphin rush that he would have gotten from any exercise. Eventually he realized his body actually loved swimming. His knee soon healed, but Gregory hung up his lacrosse stick and put away his running shoes. Two years later, swimming is still his sport of choice.
If Gregory could find joy in a new routine, you can, too. If you find out that your current exercise program is holding you back, you’ll have a compelling reason to change it. And even if your body still loves what you’re doing, it might love a little variety even more.
The information we gather this week will lay the groundwork for the whole rest of the month. Here are the exercises that are the least inflammatory if you do them for less than 30 minutes:
Body-weighted exercise
Dancing
Pilates
Plyometrics
Running
Walking (if you are not used to walking) Weight training
Yoga.
For the next few weeks, we’ll avoid the following routines, which seem to have the potential to cause greater inflammation:
These types of cardiovascular exercises tend to be the least effective for weight loss and optimal body composition. In fact, Dr. Kenneth Cooper, the “godfather” of aerobic exercise, recanted on the benefits of excessive cardio after seeing so many of his peers pass away from diseases caused by oxidative stress such as heart disease and cancer. He now says that any aerobic exercise in excess of 20 minutes may be ineffective and may actually be harmful.
You should also avoid the following types of exercise, which just don’t maximize your effort and can slow weight loss:
Elliptical
Exercise bike
Most cardio machines
Treadmill (honestly, outdoors is better, even for interval training) Walking, for seasoned walkers.
So what gives with exercise machines? Research from the University of Tampa in 2013 stated that yes, initially you will have weight loss when starting to use a machine like a treadmill, but then your body adapts to the limited range of motion. Your metabolism adapts, too, and actually slows down.
Rather than plodding along on a treadmill or elliptical, the human body seems designed to burn more fat when you engage in short bursts. A quick dash away from a predator, followed by a brisk walk, and then another quick dash. A big effort to lift a weight, a bit of breathing room, and then another big effort. And to avoid the limited range of motion on virtually all machines, outdoors is better than on a machine.
So this week, we’re going to test the types of exercise that your body is most likely to love—exercise that raises your heart rate gently, like walking, or that intersperses effort and rest, like the other types of exercise. We’ve got the best chance of getting your body to say yes to these types of exercise, so that is where we’re going to start.
I am often asked, “Which sweetener should I use?” Here’s the list of approved sweeteners on The Metabolism Plan:
Agave
Honey
Maple syrup
Molasses
Sugar.
When I share this list with clients, it invariably leads to the incredulous response: “Sugar, are you sure you said that? Like, white sugar??”
The answer is yes. When you consume a nutrient-dense diet filled with proteins, fats, and fiber, a little sugar is not an issue.
Of course, if you were on a restricted diet of 1,200 calories—or even worse, 500 calories—a small amount of sugar would constitute a large part of your overall calories, and that would be a problem. But when you consume more than 2,000 calories a day in a diet that is rich in protein, fiber, fat, and nutrients, the 16 calories from a teaspoon of sugar just doesn’t mean all that much.
Would another, less-processed sugar be a better choice? Probably, but if you spend every single second micromanaging minutiae like whether your sugar cane had a happy childhood and if you should switch to molasses, I think we have a bigger problem. Take care of the big picture and don’t stress about every detail. That alone will add ten years to your life, trust me.
What I do care about are the non-glucose sugars, including products like aspartame and stevia. I want you to avoid those 100 percent—read on to find out why.
Like all the cells in your body, your brain cells rely on glucose—a form of sugar found in all carbohydrates—for their food. There is a wonderful part of your brain known as the blood-brain barrier, which keeps toxins from passing into your brain. However, glucose is allowed to pass through that barrier, allowing your brain to get its food.
Now, here’s where it gets interesting. The molecular structure of aspartame is so similar to sugar that it, too, is allowed past the blood-brain barrier—and then it latches on to your brain cells. Your brain finds this very confusing, because the aspartame feels like glucose, but it doesn’t actually provide any of the fuel your brain needs. So now your brain is desperate for some real glucose, and what’s the best way to get it? Sweet, starchy foods with lots of refined sugars and carbs. So guess what aspartame makes you crave? Your brain wants its sugar fix, and it wants it now! Pretty soon you’re knocking back a donut with your diet soda—and what do you think that does to your weight?
To make matters worse, artificial sweeteners cause water retention, which promotes further weight gain. But the worst part? Aspartame is linked to disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis. Not. Worth. It.
My reluctance to give stevia the green light is based on what I’ve seen with thousands of people. When stevia is introduced into the diet, I see almost universal weight stabilization instead of weight loss. So do us both a favor and pass on the stevia.
• Eat until you’re full at every meal.
• Even if you don’t finish all the food, please make sure to have part of each recommended dish.
• You are now free to have either lemon juice and EVOO, or either of the two vinaigrettes from the recipe chapter (here), on your salads.
• Stay hydrated by drinking half your body weight in ounces. Drink between meals—45 minutes away from eating. Try to finish all of your water 45 minutes before dinner and do not have any water after dinner.
• Soup portions are 16 ounces for women and 20 ounces for men. Please do not have more.
• Women: When seeds, nuts, or cheese is listed at any meal, please have 1 ounce. Animal protein portions are 4 to 6 ounces. Your egg portion is 3 eggs.
• Men: When seeds, nuts, or cheese is listed at any meal, please have 1.5 ounces. Animal protein portions are 6 to 8 ounces. Your egg portion is 4 eggs.
• Take your BBT (see here for instructions).
• Weigh yourself and record the results in your journal.
• After weighing, drink 16 ounces of fresh water with lemon juice.
• Approved fruits for breakfast cereal on The Metabolism Plan are blueberries, pears, and apples.
• Women: Half a piece of fruit or ½ cup of blueberries
• Men: A whole piece of fruit or 1 cup of blueberries
Aaaah, Day 4, when I am everyone’s friend! You’ve experienced great weight loss on your first three days. That rapid loss indicates how high your inflammation levels were and how quickly they’ve subsided.
That’s terrific—but we’ve still got further to go. I want you to keep losing weight and to do some major healing this week. So we’re going to spend this week testing the least inflammatory foods and exercise. You should be losing a half pound every day, unless you introduce a food that doesn’t work for your chemistry. If any food causes you to gain weight or not to lose it, take it out of rotation immediately. This allows your body to quickly overcome the inflammatory response and get rid of the extra weight. The good news? Now you know how your body responds to that food. No more “mystery” weight gain!
Here’s some more good news:
• You may now have one large cup of coffee in the morning, with or before breakfast.
• Feel free to enjoy wine and chocolate below 65 percent cacao at night.
I know a lot of other diet experts encourage you to get chocolate with a higher cacao content. But here’s what I have found—once you go higher than 65 percent, some of the compounds in chocolate can trigger inflammation and acid reflux… and that means weight stabilization or weight gain.
Meanwhile, hallelujah! You get to have coffee! There really aren’t enough words to describe that delicious aroma, are there? That first time you smell it again, you think you have never smelled anything so fantastic. Enjoy that cup o’ joe—you earned it.
Then, at lunch, your lips slowly touch the creamy, slightly salty goodness of goat cheese and your mouth explodes with flavor. When you get home that evening, you decompress with a deep sigh. If you love red wine, this is your magic moment. Enjoy.
But the love fest doesn’t end there! Enjoy an ounce of your favorite chocolate after dinner, to top off your meal. Ahhhhhh. Life has never felt better.
Women: 1 cup Flax Granola (here) with one of the following: ½ cup blueberries, ½ apple, or ½ pear—these are your friendly fruits
Men: 1.5 cups Flax Granola (here) with one of the following: 1 cup blueberries, 1 apple, or 1 pear—these are your friendly fruits
Served with Silk Coconut Milk or Rice Dream
Leftover roasted vegetables, reheated and served on a bed of baby romaine with pumpkin seeds, along with hard or soft goat cheese
Carrots with raw almond butter
Women: 2 tablespoons
Men: 3 to 4 tablespoons
OR
Trail Mix (here)
Chicken with herbs or approved spices
Baby romaine with carrots and ¼ avocado
Zucchini Pasta (here) with Sunflower Pesto (here)
The scale will be interesting for you after your first test day. What if you failed goat cheese? Well, first of all, I recommend that you retest it at some point. You can do that starting on Day 21, when you begin to make your own menus. And if it doesn’t work for now and you need a dairy-free menu, you can download one from my website. Either way, you are now going to test exercise at the least reactive amounts possible—meaning there’s no way you can fail this and we are now establishing your baseline response to exercise.
I want you to take whatever exercise routine you have been doing and start with the time frames listed on the following page. Not sure what you would like to do? Pop on over to my website and try out some of our free videos! And, dear folks who have been enjoying a guilt-free break from exercise, we’re not asking you to do much, so don’t worry!
So here are your guidelines for exercise for Days 5, 7, and 9.
Beginner: 4 to 6 minutes
Intermediate: 8 to 12 minutes
Advanced: 15 minutes
New to exercise and feeling a little overwhelmed? Here is a great beginner’s routine, which is also on my website. You can do each exercise for 30 to 45 seconds, taking breaks as indicated if you need them. This routine will work your legs, glutes, hamstrings, shoulders, abs, pecs, back, and arms. It will also improve cardiovascular function. If you have knee or hip issues, always choose the low-impact (LI) option when you’re given that choice.
Stand with your head facing forward, your chest held up, and your feet hip width apart.
Sit back as though you are trying to sit in a chair, keeping your chest and gaze facing forward. This will prevent your low back from rounding, which can cause lower back pain.
Lower down so your thighs are parallel with the floor. Don’t let your knees come too far forward.
Come back up to standing position.
Repeat until the time is up, increasing your speed as you feel more comfortable.
It’s your choice here—time to get back to your playground favorites! Jumping jacks have the advantage of warming up your shoulder girdle.
Stand with your feet hip width apart and your hands reaching overhead. Do a high forward kick with your right leg, bringing your left hand to meet your toes. Repeat with the left leg and the right hand touching the toes.
Stand with your feet together. Step your right foot forward as far as possible but don’t let your knee come too far over your ankle, to prevent knee injury. Step your right foot back and repeat the sequence with your left foot. As you feel comfortable, build up speed.
Take a break here if you need to decrease your heart rate.
Get down onto your hands and knees. Make sure your wrists are directly beneath your shoulders and your knees are directly below your hips.
Extend your elbows, keeping your back relaxed.
Spread your fingers out so that you can distribute your weight evenly throughout your hands, which will be supporting your weight.
Exhale as you tuck your toes, pressing through your feet and hands to lift your knees off the floor, so that your weight is supported by your hands and feet. Shift your pelvis up into the air, and then pull your sit bones down to face the wall behind you, so your whole body makes an upside-down “V.” Keep your body extended—don’t walk your feet or hands closer to each other.
Rotate your arms outward so that the creases in your elbows face your thumbs.
Pull your chest in toward your thighs so that you lengthen your spine.
Pull your thighs inward while lifting up your sit bones and pulling your heels down toward the floor.
Line up your ears with your upper arms, keeping your head relaxed but not hanging. Look back at your navel or between your legs.
Hold for 30 to 45 seconds.
To release, exhale while bending your knees so that you come back down to your hands and knees.
You can choose either a modified or full push-up. Get in a plank position with your legs fully extended in back of you, or, for the modified position, with your knees on the ground.
Slowly bend your elbows halfway as you draw your shoulder blades together.
Come back up to plank position. Repeat.
Lie on your back with your knees bent. Clasp your hands gently behind your head.
Lift your torso as high as you can without your lower back leaving the floor. Think of keeping your nose in alignment with the ceiling.
Release down.
Repeat.
TMP Smoothie (here)
Baby romaine with radicchio, grated raw beet, and pumpkin seeds
Cream of Broccoli Soup (here)
Carrots with raw almond butter
• Women: 2 tablespoons
• Men: 3 to 4 tablespoons
OR
Bare brand Apple Chips OR Apple Chips (here)
Chicken with Spicy Apricot Glaze (here)
Sautéed zucchini with onion, basil, lemon juice, and ½ ounce Manchego
Baby romaine with pomegranate
Good morning! Yesterday was a big day! You are on the road to finding out how your body responds to exercise. What can you do on your off exercise days? Whatever your body doesn’t perceive as stress; you can use your BBT to see what your body likes best. Gentle movements that don’t increase heart rate work for just about everyone! For most people it is an easy 10- to 15-minute walk, 10 to 15 minutes of gentle yoga or stretching, or 5 minutes of abs.
Today, you are going to test one of the least reactive proteins. Here are your choices, with portion sizes listed here:
• Beef
• Lamb
• Wild whitefish, preferably halibut or flounder
• Duck breast
• Eggs.
If you choose eggs, please make sure to follow these guidelines.
• Women: Use 3 eggs with kale or broccoli.
• Men: Use 4 eggs with kale or broccoli.
Flax Granola (here) with friendly fruit of choice
Served with Silk Coconut Milk or Rice Dream
OR
Blueberry Compote (here)
Baby romaine with leftover zucchini, ¼ avocado, pumpkin seeds, and Manchego
Lemon Basil Escarole Soup (here)
1 ounce Bare Apple Chips OR Apple Chips (here)
OR
Trail Mix (here)
Your choice of grilled steak, lamb, wild whitefish (preferably halibut or flounder), or duck breast; OR eggs with kale and broccoli (portion sizes are here)
Roasted Vegetables (here)
Baby romaine with ¼ avocado and herbs of choice
Yesterday was a big day—I hope you passed your first protein test! Did you know that for optimal weight loss, you want to be able to rotate at least three proteins? This not only gives you a wide array of nutrients, but also makes it less likely that you will build up a food sensitivity that can turn into a food allergy.
There is no food test today, because we are going to focus on exercise. If your last test showed up negative—if you gained weight or had a suboptimal BBT, you can retest the same exercise because your data might have been affected by stress, sleep issues, or other factors.
If your previous type of exercise did pass, I would love it if you tried a new type of exercise today. Remember, your goal is to have several different types of exercise that work for you so that you can support your body in a wide variety of ways. However, if you are brand-new to exercise or haven’t worked out in a while, feel free to stick to the routine I gave you here, or try one of the videos on my website (www.lyngenet.com).
Beginner: 4 to 6 minutes
Intermediate: 8 to 12 minutes
Advanced: 15 minutes
Flax Granola (here) with friendly fruit of choice
Served with Silk Coconut Milk or Rice Dream
OR
Apple Streusel (here)
Leftover roasted vegetables, reheated and served on a bed of baby romaine with almond slivers
Cream of Broccoli Soup (here)
1 ounce salt-free potato chips with Zucchini Noush (here)
OR
Trail Mix (here)
Chicken with herbs of choice or approved spices (here)
Sautéed vegetables: Broccoli, yellow squash, and scallions
Baby romaine and grated carrots and herbs of choice
Today you get to take your third protein test. I am rooting for the foods you love to pass! I also want you to develop an arsenal of food choices as quickly as possible so you can start to rotate them.
TMP Smoothie (here)
Leftover sautéed vegetables on a bed of baby romaine with Chicken Kale Soup (here)
Trail Mix (here)
OR
Spicy Roasted Pumpkin Seeds (here)
Test a new protein—beef, lamb, wild whitefish, duck breast, or eggs. If you choose eggs, see here for portion sizes, and add broccoli and kale.
Zucchini Pasta (here) sautéed with scallions and topped with grated Manchego
Baby romaine with grated carrot and herbs of choice
Today is your last day for testing basic exercise. Next week, we’re going to step it up a bit, but for now, we’re still checking out the friendliest possible workouts. If there is any exercise you are unsure of, please retest it today.
If your Day 7 test was successful, consider trying something new—perhaps that schoolyard favorite, jumping rope? Did you know it’s a great warmup or complete workout? Jumping rope is not only great for getting your heart rate up, but also fantastic for building the muscles in your biceps, forearms, and shoulders. If your knees and ankles can tolerate a high-impact workout, enjoy some schoolyard fun! This in conjunction with planks and pushups is a great at-home workout.
Because we’re testing exercise today, we’re going to focus on foods that we already know your body likes. Remember, you only ever want to test one thing a day—just one new food or one new thing about your exercise—so that the next day, you know exactly what your data means.
Beginner: 4 to 6 minutes
Intermediate: 8 to 12 minutes
Advanced: 15 minutes
Flax Granola (here) with friendly fruit of choice
Served with Silk Coconut Milk or Rice Dream
Sautéed kale with TMP Caesar dressing (here), avocado, apple, and pumpkin seeds
Lemon Basil Escarole Soup (here) or Carrot Ginger Soup (here)
Low-sodium potato chips (1 ounce)
OR
Trail Mix (here)
Any friendly protein (to help you choose, see “Rotate or React: The Protein Story” here; portion sizes here)
Leftover roasted vegetables
Baby romaine with grated carrots and herbs of choice
Here’s an extra day to establish a new protein that works for you. We want you rotating your proteins—but to do that, you’ve got to have as many proteins as possible in your arsenal.
Keep in mind, your body might be ready for a change. If you’ve been eating lots of red meat, your body might be longing for something new and will respond beautifully when you test fish and eggs. If you’ve been on more of a vegetarian diet, your body might have maxed out on beans and grains and may need some new proteins.
There’s a reason we say “rotate or react”: Your friendly foods are based on your nutritional needs—and those needs are always in flux! The great thing about The Metabolism Plan is that you don’t get locked into any patterns after they’ve stopped working for your body. Your trusty scale and digital thermometer let you know right away what your body does and does not like.
Flax Granola (here) with approved fruit of choice (see here)
Served with Silk Coconut Milk or Rice Dream
Cream of Broccoli Soup (here)
Baby romaine with almond slivers and carrots
Spicy Roasted Pumpkin Seeds (here)
OR
Trail Mix (here)
Your choice of a new protein: grilled steak, lamb, wild whitefish (preferably halibut or flounder), duck breast, venison, scallops, lentils, tempeh, or pinto beans on a bed of romaine; OR eggs, cooked any style, with kale, yellow squash, and broccoli
Sautéed kale with scallions and grated Manchego
By now you’re seeing how quickly you can heal, how much weight you can lose, and how you are able to get stronger after just a few days of exercise. You’ve done a great job at laying some solid groundwork that you can keep building on. Get ready to gather some more incredible data during Days 11 to 20, so that you can be at 110 percent every day!