Hey everyone!

I am honored to be one of the featured speakers for Breakthrough Success Point 2014! Join me at this FREE virtual speaker series: www.breakthroughsuccesspoint.com where myself and many other influential successful women are sharing our personal stories on how we broke through hard times and came out on top. Many people assume from the outside looking in successful leaders were either born into a fortunate upbringing or had some sort of advantage over others in order to get to where they are at. This powerful speaking series will empower all people- men and women- to fully optimize their happiness, wellness, and success. We’re bringing together an international group of highly influential women to share their life-changing, “breakthrough” moments and tips on how they’ve achieved success, confidence and extraordinary lives.

My audio interview went live today and I am so excited!

If you are curious to know about my background and how I got to where I am today please tune in by clicking the link below! And don’t forget to sign up before its too late to here all the motivational speakers!

http://leangoddessblog.com/amber-dawn-orton/

Breaking Down Binge Eating: Why We Do It & What You Can Do

Lately I have been asked a lot about how I have found balance with my mentality involving food and the ability to eat in moderation, especially post competition or restriction. I have written about this topic before, because I believe it is something that should be discussed more. It is a very prevalent/ depressing part of the sport, that is often hidden or suppressed by many athletes. I have actually jokingly coined this term “PTCD- Post Traumatic Competing Disorder”. So, I figured, the best time to write about it, was when I was in the midst of dealing with it. So todays post is focused on binge eating and the mental aspects that go along with it, as I have gathered some archived writing I did on this subject last year post nationals when I was in the midst of dealing with this myself.

At 6 weeks post Nationals last year, I was bouncing around with my nutrition and choices each day. Some days I was in the mentality that “I need to lose weight or lean out” again and therefor I resorted back to thinking I needed to be on a “prep diet”. The misconception there, which I have just recently been able to connect for myself, is that in order to lean out a bit, I didn’t need to go to the extreme of a prep diet. Extremes are what cause rebounds, and the ongoing cycle that causes bingeing which is being “all in” or “all out”. You see, for many athletes, once you achieve your “best” as far as weight, body-fat, etc. you will automatically connect extremes to getting back to that point (that is if you had the presence of these extremes in your prep plan or journey to your personal best, of course). One may think, “I need to be on fat burners again” or “I need to do extra cardio” or “I should cut my carbs today” because those are the things they relate to getting their “best” body back. However, these are also the extremes that lead to the ever so prevalent binge eating disorder that happens to so many in the industry.

I, myself, am very guilty of binge eating post long term restriction. But thankfully, I have found a solution that seems to be working for me. I wrote the following in a journal entry of mine after my last show in 2013:

I am now 8 weeks post being on a restricted diet, and finally feel “in balance” with my lifestyle and choices. It has taken 8 weeks for my leptin to restore itself- as I just now have the sense of being full again. But in order to get back to this point of balance, I had to change my mindset and reprogram the way I viewed food. I will explain here:

I have always been a big believer in variety in the diet. However, I have also been a very clean eater while in prep. I do not believe one should eat the same sources of foods day in and day out, but I do believe the micronutrients found in clean, wholesome foods are crucial in a prep diet. That being said, I allow all my clients including myself, to make substitutions between clean protein sources, fat sources, and carb sources as long as the macros are fairly close. Now that I am out of prep, I have been allowing myself a little more creativity in my diet. I love to cook, and seeing all the clean food posts on social media sights, such as instagram, has helped my creativity come out in the kitchen. But even with that aspect, I have found myself often overeating these clean foods, to a point where I feel guilt and ask myself why? As I have paid more attention to this “binge” type of behavior, I have found that I personally overeat for a few different reasons, the primary being:

1) It can take weeks post restriction for my “fullness” signal to tell me I am full again, which is directly related to my leptin levels. Explanation for this: “Leptin is a hormone that is tied closely to regulating energy intake and expenditure, including appetite, metabolism and hunger. It is the single most important hormone when it comes to understanding why we feel hungry or full. When present in high levels, it signals to our brain that we’re full and can stop eating. When low, we feel hungry and crave food. It does this by stimulating receptors in our hypothalamus, the part of our brains which regulates the hormone system in our bodies. When leptin binds to receptors in this part of our brains, it stimulates the release of appetite- suppressing chemicals. People with leptin disorders eat uncontrollably. So when you lose a lot of weight quick, via liposuction or serious calorie restriction, your leptin levels plummet. Subsequently, you get hungrier, your thyroid decreases output and your metabolic rate drops. Your body then increases catabolic hormone activity and appetite, making you tend to slip off your regime and gain all that weight right back. That’s why crash diets are often ineffective – your leptin won’t let you eat less, and even if you do, you’re lethargic and your metabolic rate slows way down.” (Source: http://nutritionwonderland.com/2009/06/understanding-our-bodies-leptin-the-fullness- hormone/)

Of course, just because it makes things difficult for dieting, leptin levels are far more sensitive to starvation than overeating. So when you cut calories and start to burn fat, the leptin levels in your body plummet, but when you eat too much they don’t skyrocket at the rate they decreased (which means it will take TIME for my body to feel full again post restriction) To lose weight and keep it off, you have to give your body time to adjust to the new, lowered leptin level, so it sets that as “normal” and you feel full when you’re supposed to.

2) I may have a craving for a food that I am trying to compensate for by eating more of a cleaner food choice (because its “better”), but it is not satisfying that craving the way I am looking for it to be satisfied. Explanation for this: I have created tight dietary boundaries for myself, and I classify foods as “good” or “bad” and instead of chosing to eat something “bad” to satisfy a craving, I think I am better off overeating more of something “good”. At the end of the day though, overeating is overeating- wheather its good or bad- it will lead to weight gain. And I have to remind myself that if calories in, good or bad, are larger than calories out, I will gain weight.

Helpul Tip: If your craving chocolate and you’re eating 3 brownie quest bars to satisfy your craving (because they’re “clean”), try allowing yourself the chocolate your craving- in moderation- and do not feel guilty about it. EVERYTHING IN MODERATION is key.

3) I am hypersensitive to food, food timing, and the way macronutrients affects me and I will be for some time. Interesting study that may help explain this: “In a mouse model of moderate caloric restriction in which a 10-15% weight loss similar to human dieting is produced, we examined physiological and behavioral stress measures. After 3 weeks of restriction, mice showed significant increases in immobile time in a tail suspension test and stress-induced corticosterone levels. Increased stress was associated with brain region-specific alterations of corticotropin-releasing factor expression and promoter methylation, changes that were not normalized with refeeding. Similar outcomes were produced by high-fat diet withdrawal, an additional component of human dieting. In examination of long- term behavioral consequences, previously restricted mice showed a significant increase in binge eating of a palatable high-fat food during stress exposure. Orexigenic hormones, melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) and orexin, were significantly elevated in response to the high-fat diet only in previously restricted mice. These results reveal reprogramming of key central pathways involved in regulating stress responsivity and orexigenic drives by moderate caloric restriction experience. In humans, such changes would be expected to reduce treatment success by promoting behaviors resulting in weight regain, and suggest that management of stress during dieting may be beneficial in long-term maintenance. And if you are like 99% of other competitors and you overeat peanut butter and other nut butters, this may help you understand your actions are NORMAL….”In examination of long-term behavioral consequences, previously restricted mice showed a significant increase in binge eating of a palatable high-fat food during stress exposure” (Source: PubMed- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/21123586/)

My Answer: So after recognizing these factors, I have come to find that my binge type of behavior is drastically lessened through following more of an IIFYM dieting approach. If you are not familiar with IIFYM it stands for If-It-Fits-Your-Macros and it is a way to incorporate more of these taboo “bad” foods into your diet and stay within reasonable dietary guidelines in order to avoid weight gain and binge eating. Through implementing this approach, I have realized how strongly connected our mental perceptions can influence our physical actions. IIFYM works because it changes the way we VIEW food. Like I said before, most competitors automatically know what’s “off limits” and what’s considered “prep” or “clean” food. But these very classifications we create through this mindset also lead to the black and white mentality that once you touch one of these “bad” food sources you have failed. And many times this thought of failure leads to binging because the competitor mind then goes to the “I might as well eat it all now” mindset. The “I might as well eat it all now” perception is something that is created by the idea that this food source will very quickly be off limits again- out of the question for consumption, taboo, “bad”, or will be “taken away”. Once the mind goes to this place of feeling restricted, our actions typically lead to the opposite extreme again- which post restriction and due to the reasons listed above is almost always binge eating.

So what do you do if you are in this place post competition or just tend to be a binge eater? Here are my recommendations:

1) Start today with recognizing the way you view foods, and changing your perception. The mind is the most powerful influence on our everyday actions. It controls more than we sometimes recognize. If you can change the way you think- you can change the way you act.

2) Know that it will TAKE TIME to feel “normal” again. Your leptin levels, hormones, and body need adjusting time. Allow the process to happen.

3) Give IIFYM a try! For more information check these sights out: IIFYM.com

http://www.trimmedandtoned.com/beginners-guide-to-iifym

4) Remember, life is about balance. And moderation is key!

I  would like to add I have currently been working with Maria Adelus who has started a very exciting and necessary movement for community action focused on eating disorder awareness. Maria and I invite you to please join the group page on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/687431751326181/

You can also follow Maria on her personal journey in community action through her social media pages and YouTube Video Logs:

Instagram: @madelus

Twitter: @mariaadelus

Youtube: The Eating Disorder Epidemic

BREAKING ALL THE RULES

Lately I have been thinking about how many bullshit theories I have been told along the way in my fitness career. I had a coach who decided in 2011 I “didnt do well on grains” and implant the idea that oatmeal (one of my all time favorite healthy foods) and other healthy grains would not help me get lean. So I believed this theory and cut them from my diet, basically implementing a paleo approach- using sweet potato as my only starchy carb source. From there I was also told fake sugars would make me soft, so I avoided them at all costs. I was told that if I missed meals or didnt eat every three hours I would lose muscle mass and therefor it was absolutely imparative to eat all my meals at specific hours of the day. I was also told that I needed to eat within 30 minutes of a workout to fully benefit from the workout with muscle development. This coach made me fear peanut butter as a fat source as they would NEVER put it in my plan and said not even to keep it in the house (some of this may have been for my own good though as I did/do have a tendency of overeating it). I was told NEVER to eat a meal that contained fats and carbs together as my body would always only burn through the carb source leaving the fat source to be turned into fat. I was told to ALWAYS eat a protein source with a carb source in order to balance insulin spikes. I was told many things along my fitness journey by many people and over time I truthfully believed a lot of these “Bro-theories”

Now is there some truth to what I have written above? Yeah a bit. It is true that your body will burn through a carb source quicker than a fat source when pairing a meal high in both macronutrients. However, does this mean that you will absolutely store the fat as fat? No, not necessarily. And eating protein with a carb does help with the affect of carbohydrates on insulin, however does this mean you are doomed if you eat a carbohydrate solo? Absolutely not. All of these facts are based on a moment in time and dont take into account a persons individuality, lifestyle, metabolic efficiency, etc. All these theories do is mentally mess with an individuals head. And it definitely did so with me.

I work with a lot of girls in the competition world. Many of them who work with other coaches but contact me for advice, posing, etc. Just last week I heard horror stories from a few girls I met for posing about the things there coach was telling them. It made me realize how many people are willing to mess others up both mentally and physically to make a dollar. And the sad thing is, its a form of brainwashing when these young people actually believe these theories and ideas.

I have written many posts regarding balance and the mentality I have dealt with post competition/prep. Many of my struggles come from the fact that I had so many “rules” implanted in my head. As I mentioned in my most popular article to date “Pre Vs. Post Show: Finding Balance ( http://www.cutandjacked.com/Competition-pre-vs-post-show-finding-balance ) I always struggled with my mindset revolving around food. The idea of eating all the time or losing muscle mass was so implanted in my head, that I was overeating every three hours even when I wasnt hungry. I was so caught up on the idea that I HAD to have protein with my carbs that even if I had eaten 500 calories of various carb sources and was full I made sure to eat some additional protein, you know.. to stop that insulin spike (lol, wow was I messed up!).

So here is what I have done recently to find balance. I broke every rule I was ever told. Every single one. The first step was finding IIFYM and tracking my intake. This helped because it gave me a basis to work within but also allowed me flexibility. It took away the feelings of failure when I ate something outside of what I was used to, because hey.. if it fit my macros- it was okay! I mentioned to my husband when I first started tracking that i felt “controlled freedom”. Now those two words may contridict one another but lets face it, most people in this industry are in some way, shape, or form control freaks. You have to be to do what we do. IIFYM gave me the ability to be in control of my intake but the flexibility to work outside of the food sources I felt limited to.

I started eating carbs I enjoyed because nobody knows my body like me and if I had gotten lean on oatmeal and peanut butter previous to these rules, than realistically I knew this was not going to stop me from losing fat mass. And hey.. I made it fit my macros. I started fasting, oh but I was going to lose all my muscle gains right?! I fast because again it took back the control aspect from the theory that I had to eat every three hours. No you dont have to eat every three hours, you dont have to eat within 30 minutes of your workout, you dont have to eat breakfast. WHAT DID I JUST SAY? Yes thats right.. you dont have to eat breakfast. Thats another thing I was programmed for years to believe.. that I should eat immidately apon waking. So post show… I was shoving my face as soon as I got up.. and if I didnt get to eat I was cranky and anxious.

Now I want to address a few things. Specifically because I have clients out there that may be reading this, thinking.. “But you told me I should be eating breakfast and I should be eating my post workout shake and snack following my workouts?”. Most of you who dont understand or follow IIFYM may be following a specific meal plan with a total macronutrient breakdown that fits your goals. If you dont understand how to implement IIFYM, then yes- it is important to eat the way your specific plan is set up in order to reap the benefits. While in a deficit in particular (while cutting or trying to lose body fat mass) one should be eating more often especially considering an increase in excercise and the need to replenish nutrients through food sources. Now does this mean everyone HAS to follow these rules? Absolutely not. But if you dont have the education to implement another way based off your desired goals, then it is important to follow a specific plan.

For me in particular, the balance I have found in everyday life has come from breaking all the rules. Balance has come from figuring me out. My body. My mind. My happiness. I needed to break these rules in order to prove to myself that goals can be reached in many different ways. Nobody should tell you what you should do for you. Yes it is true there are some guidlines that benefit MOST individuals, but everyone is different and different methods work for different people. Be open minded. Dont believe everything you hear. Figure things out for yourself. If you bring an idea up to your coach who immidately shuts it down and tells you no- fire them. Remember balance is about long term sustainability. There is no one way or best way, find YOUR way.