Fall is always one of my favorite times of year. Not only do we start to see a drop in temperature, but it’s also the start of the NFL season.
I enjoy kicking back on Sundays and watching the games. And being from Georgia, I’m always rooting for the Falcons to win.
Before the season began, I came across an interesting article on ESPN on one of Atlanta’s top defensive players, Dontari Poe. Now, the crazy thing about Poe is that his new contract this year includes a “weight bonus”. Meaning, if he hits his target weight he could collect an extra $500,000 at the end of the season. Not bad, right?
That type of money would incentivize anyone to lose weight. But the thing I found intriguing was how he went about doing it.
Poe struggled from overeating, as many of us do. With all the sugar, salt, and fat in food products these days it’s easy to see why.
So Poe begin looking at what the main cause of his overeating was. And you know what he found? That most of his calories came after 8pm.
This makes perfect sense. Think about it. After a long day of work, you just want to come home and relax, right? But this is when things can get out of hand with your nutrition.
For example, you begin watching your new favorite show on Netflix and by the show’s end you realize you ate an entire bag of chips. This happens a lot unfortunately.
Once Poe figured this out, he created a cut-off time for his meals at 8pm. Once 8pm rolled around, he stopped eating for the day. And this strategy worked, really well.
A season ago he weighed 346 pounds. When he reported to training camp this summer, he clocked in at slightly under 330 pounds. Needless to say, his financial incentive to lose weight is paying off.
The reality is overeating has become the norm in our society. Go to any buffet style restaurant and you’ll see this first hand. The options are endless and the portions are plenty.
But overeating is the quickest way for you to put on weight. And increased weight is associated with a host of diseases like diabetes and heart disease, increasing your risk of dying early.
As you can see, though, one simple way to stop overeating is by limiting your food intake in the evening. This is time when we are most likely to fill up on junk. We don’t have work or day-to-day activities to keep us occupied. Not only that but most of us are tempted in the evening.
Have a stressful day at work? It’s easy to stop by your local Mexican restaurant on the way home and load up on chips and salsa and a few drinks. But all this adds up overtime.
That’s what Poe discovered, and one simple switch has made all the difference for him. So, if you are struggling with your weight, take a look at your current diet and determine what time you consume most of your calories.
Is it at night? Then create a cut off point where you stop eating. For myself, I’m usually in bed by 9:30pm so my cut off time is typically 8pm. By doing this, I’m full going into bed and don’t feel the need to endlessly snack.
This simple way to stop overeating could be the trick to help you kickstart your weight loss and finally improve your health. Give it a shot and let me know what you think!
Photo Credit: Skinnychef.com
