Cleanses and detoxes are so ‘in’ right now…

They tend to last anywhere from 5-7 days more or less and they typically consist of some super expensive supplements, green juices, teas and shit like that. They can absolutely result in weight loss because they’re typically very low in calories and if you’ve been following me for a while you know that calories in vs. calories out is the bottom line when it comes to fat loss.

Meaning if you go on a cleanse and you’re drinking nothing but green juices or teas for 5-7 days, you’re going to lose weight because of a huge reduction in calorie intake.

Also you’re likely going to lose a bunch of what’s called ‘muscle and liver glycogen’ which is just a fancy way of saying carbohydrates that are stored in your muscles and liver. Now the weight lost via muscle and liver glycogen is NOT fat, it’s literally stored carbs and this is why low carb diets typically result in a large initial weight drop in say the first 3-5 days.

Whereas if you followed a higher carb diet but equated for calories, you wouldn’t get that big initial drop out of the gate with the higher carb approach because you’re not getting rid of that muscle and liver glycogen, however fat loss would equal out over say the first 2-3 weeks and so on…essentially in the big scheme of things it’s the same thing.

Now the primary issue that I have with quote on quote cleanses and detox diets isn’t that folks have these crazy un-scientific claims about the detoxification process, or about how you need to detox because your body is full of chemicals and it’s stopping you from losing fat…or how the individuals are making ridiculous amounts of money off of the products they often sell alongside these cleanses and detoxes.

It’s actually the sustainability piece because the number one question I ask when someone recommends a cleanse or a detox is…and then what. So in other words you do this juice cleanse for 7 days and then what do you do after because at some point you’re going to need to eat regular food…

Now someone might say well I need a kickstart or I just want to get the fat loss process going and while I understand that point of view, I just don’t see how that’s better than implementing a strategy with actual food that’s a lot more doable and practical in your everyday life.

It’s sort of like saying, I want to get as good at basketball as fast as possible because that’s my ultimate goal long term is to play ball, but I’m going to start by playing with a tennis ball instead of a basketball for a bit first…

Why mess around with the tennis ball?

How is playing with an entirely different ball going to get you to your goal faster? It might actually slow you down because you’re going to get used to playing with a tennis ball at first and then you’re going to have to switch and get used to the change in weight, size and texture of a proper basketball vs. using the proper implement right away.

Now having said that if your goal is just to lose as much weight as possible in a 7 day period (which I obviously wouldn’t recommend) you’d actually be better off just not eating at all, so no juices, no calories, no nothing…0 calories will result in faster fat loss than some calories. Again I wouldn’t recommend this, but that hypothetically would be a more effective strategy.

Now secondarily there’s also the issue of monetary incentive for the folks that are pushing these approaches…I’d say 99% of the time the people who are recommending these cleanses and detoxes have products to sell that go along with them that claim to ‘enhance the detox process’ or they may throw in a few big words to make it sound legit.

First of all the financial benefit to these people likely bias’ them and you might be thinking, well Marcus you sell coaching isn’t that hypocritical…and yes I do provide coaching services, but I’m not profiting off of products or supplements, I’m sending you to the grocery store to buy food ;)

Also your body has been evolving for millions of years and to think that you need some special teas, juices or supps to detox is kind of odd isn’t it…I mean how did we make this far as a species if your body didn’t know how to repair itself?

So…you might be able to tell that I’m not a big fan of cleanses or detoxes, it just makes a whole bunch more sense to me to implement something that you can sustain long term and will give you lasting results vs. getting into this potential binge/purge cycle of going on a cleanse every time you feel like you need to lose weight.

This is a whole separate can of worms around how cyclical cleanses or detoxes could potentially set folks up for an eating disorder or something like it, but I’m not even going to touch that for now however it’s definitely something to keep in mind!

So, in closing skip the cleanse, ya don’t need a detox or any fancy products…you need a solid sustainable strategy that’s going to give you lasting results that’ll have you looking, feeling and performing well over the course of time :)