Skipping breakfast
One of the biggest mistakes you can make in any weight loss program is to skip breakfast, like sumo wrestlers do. When you skip a meal, your body perceives it as starvation, even though we know you’re probably not literally starving, but your metabolism responds by SLOWING Down.
In fear that you might not get another meal for a while – your body’s naturally physiology takes over and starts slowing down your metabolism, which isn’t a good thing if you are trying to drop that unwanted fat around your tummy and rear-end.
The typical diet of a Sumo wrestler is to skip breakfast, which is not the common practice of most of the fit looking athletes we admire. So when you look at your dieting practices are you following the fit athletes or sumo wrestler’s protocol?
Eating only two meals a day
The next big mistake people make is to only eat two meals a day, which is what sumo wrestlers do. They only have two meals a day and consume about 10,000 calories at each meal. Now, I know we just finished the Olympics and heard all about the 10,000 calories a day Michael Phelps ate, which is fine if you are burning that many calories a day.
Unfortunately most people don’t train like Phelps! I’d estimate it at less than one percent of the population exercise that rigorously. So unless you are in that 1% category it would probably be smart to keep your calories to about two to three thousand a day. The point I want to make is that a lot of people who skip breakfast have a tendency to eat larger than normal meals when they eat.
In other words, you are consuming a lot more calories than you probably suspect when you sit down to eat. The fact that your metabolism is a little slower than it should be because you skipped breakfast is going to help convert those calories into fat.
Sleeping after eating
The last dieting strategy that follows the sumo diet is to sleep right after you eat. Sumo wrestlers take about a four hour nap after their first meal which is around noon and than go right to sleep after their second meal. I don’t know many ‘working’ people who can take a ‘siesta’ in the middle of the day, although many of them would love to have an IV of caffeine to stay awake after a meal.
The point is if you are having these late night meals after 8 or 9 pm and sitting around doing nothing and going to bed within a couple hours – there is a good chance all those calories are going to do the same thing that the sumo wants them to do. That is to make you bigger and fatter.
The Takeaway is you don’t want to be following the same dieting principles that sumo wrestlers follow, unless of course that is your goal. But you need to have a good breakfast. Protein is good because it stimulates your metabolism 3 to 4 times more than carbs or fats.
You don’t necessarily need to eat 5 or 6 meals a day to lose weight – you simply need to keep your blood sugar stable. Otherwise your blood sugar drops and you fall out of your ‘fat-burning’ zone. Protein and good fats at each meal will keep your blood sugar stable and eliminate those cravings. It’s those empty calories from most processed, refined foods and sugary drinks that throw your blood sugar up and down all day that you need to stay away from.
Remember it’s not about training harder or longer – it’s about training and dieting smarter!