Holiday Treat Plan: An Interview With Joel Marion 30
Posted In Fat Loss Training,Featured Post,Muscle Building Diets
I met Joel Marion for the first time in New York City last November, about this time, for my 29th Birthday.
My first impression of Joel: what a goomba.
Joel is very tall,has a slight side-to-side shuffle, and has one of those laughs that make you laugh even if whatever you’re talking about is not funny. When we went to Las Vegas back in April, I believed we laughed for 5 days straight.
Back in NYC, I think he he introduced himself as, “Hey, I’m Joel Marion, 2001 Body-for-Life Grand Champion for ages 18-25.”
Maybe he didn’t say the ages 18-25 part but he did introduce himself as “I know something that you don’t know” energy about him.
My second impression of Joel: this guy is pretty cocky.
Pretty ignorant and shallow of me eh?
Over the course of the next few hours I came to realize that Joel was anything but an “ordinary guy” — and certainly not cocky but still a bit of a goomba. Over the last few months he quickly became one my best friends and respected colleague with whom I’d exchange ideas daily.
In the months that followed, I watched as Joel became a online fitness celebrity, famous for developing a fat loss system that’s been introduced in his book, Cheat Your Way Thin. Joel has tirelessly researched and experimented with various theories in hopes of turning “good” into “optimal” and there’s no better example of this than his dedication to helping you succeed a better way.
Joel is helping me get my book published and more recently has helped me with my diet the past three weeks since visiting him at his home in Tampa, Florida.
Joel and I in Tampa on October 29th
More accurately, Joel has helped me incorporate overfeed days/cheat days/treat days or whatever you want to call them into my diet (every 5 days for my upcoming goals).
The results? I’ve gone from 203 pounds to 197 pounds – three weeks to the day and I’ve gained two pounds of muscle according to my body fat pincher. Overall, I look bigger than three weeks ago.
In my girlfriends words when I revealed the goods, “Holy!” (Jaw dropped at the same time).
What am I training for? A photo I’m doing in the Dominican Republic this Monday November 23rd while at a wedding with my girlfriend. Pictures will be posted soon.
I’ll take pride that I used my own training programs and am one bad ass mo fo when I train but Joel’s helped me crush through the final phase of fat loss using the exact plan you can pick up, half-price, on Tuesday November 24th at 12pm EST.
The pre-sale lasts for 72-hours only so I hope you are ready to go this Tuesday.
You should also know that I’m giving away The Ultimate Cheat Workout I filmed yesterday if you order your copy by clicking on this link:
http://www.treatyourwaythin.com
NOTE: This is ONLY available if you order through the link above.
Joel’s Not Messing Around…
Joel’s passion, and having spent the last six years of his life researching and developing the book is impressive. And I suggest that you get your facts straight before entering a conversation with him on leptin because here is his common response (in person) when I asked him every question you’ve had about the program:
“Dude, (bursts out laughing), I’ve answered that question 1000 times already in every form of print media and during a twenty-city national radio tour. I have over 200 research papers to counter any argument you throw my way. This stuff is for real man and I have the results to prove it.
Even Tom Venuto interviewed me on my program and that was the toughest interview of my life but after the call Tom said, ‘I’m a believer.’”
If you know Tom, that’s impressive! Although I love Tom, just because Tom is a believer does not mean you should believe too.
My advice: Don’t believe ANYONE (not even Joel or I) by reading about it, ultimately you must learn from doing.That’s my motto for life.
You can do that on Tuesday November 24th and today you can learn more about it with the interview I just posted.
Holiday Treat Plan: An Interview With Joel Marion
Vince: People think the name of your book, Cheat Your Way Thin, is “nonsense” and as you know, I’m a no nonsense kind of guy so what would you say to someone who instantly thinks this is just marketing hype?
Joel: “Cheating” to lose fat faster is about as counterintuitive as it gets, but when you understand how the body works, it couldn’t make more sense. On the surface, no sense, or “nonsense”, but when you truly “get it”, it’s like the biggest “Ah ha” moment you’ll ever have. It finally “clicks”.
As I’ve shared in my past few updates and in the articles that you’ve posted on your blog, it’s really all about keeping your body happy. Typical dieting works against your body. When you restrict calories 7 days a week, week after week, month after month, your body “retreats” and makes it more difficult for you to lose fat as a starvation protection mechanism. Fat burning hormones plummet, metabolism slows, and losing fat becomes extremely difficult and slow. Simply put, your body doesn’t know you’re “on a diet” trying to shed body fat. The only thing it knows is that you aren’t eating enough calories, and to your body, that’s a big, red flag.
Fortunately, you can override this “starvation” response by periodically, strategically eating high carb/high fat/high calorie foods (and yes, that means pizza and ice cream). While it takes about a week of dieting for your body to “catch on”, it only takes one day of overfeeding or “cheating” to reset metabolism and keep the fat coming off. The rest of the diet is extremely strategic surrounding each cheat day, but that’s the major premise. Keep your body happy, and fat melts off. “Deprive” it, and your own body becomes your worst fat loss nightmare.
Vince: So the book has been out for 6 months, but I know you’ve been working with this approach for well over 6 YEARS. What has been the biggest feedback from fans?
Joel: People love the fact this is a program that focuses on what they CAN eat, instead of every other restrictive approach that simply tells people over and over again what they CAN’T eat. It’s DOABLE. And the fact that they use pizza to strip away fat faster than they ever could with restrictive dieting certainly hasn’t brought in any complaints. 
Vince: What has been the most popular email and concern you have received from prospects of your program and what was your reply?
Joel: There is always a select group of “hardcore” people or “naturalists” that are against eating anything that would be considered “unhealthy” and are looking for ways to manipulate the anti-starvation hormone “leptin” without eating cookies, french fries, etc. For them, we teach them why these foods work, and then have them mimic those qualities with other foods.
Foods like pizza, ice cream, and french fries work extremely well because they combine very high glycemic carbohydrates with fat. That combination right there breeds a massive surge of insulin, which believe it or not is exactly what we want to achieve on cheat days to reverse the negative physiological adaptations of dieting. Truth is, you don’t need to eat cookies if you prefer not to (personally, Double Stuff Oreos are a staple food on my cheat days, but to each his own. I actually “unscrew” two Double Stuff Oreos and then put them back together to make Quadruple Stuff, but hey, maybe that’s just me). Anyway, you can achieve the same effect with “cleaner” foods like a huge plate of pasta with meatballs, bread & butter, lasagna, etc. The key is following the rules of high carb/high fat/high calories.
Vince: You get any hate mail yet?
Joel: Yet? I started getting hate mail before I even wrote my first article on the subject back in 2003. With success, it just gets worse. But you know what, I get A LOT more “love” mail from people who actually put their faith in the program, acted, and saw amazing results. The haters hate (without ever giving it a try), and the action takers get results.
Vince: LOL. No kidding eh – I find that foolish. I think people are scared of the specific foods we use to capture their attention (like pizza, ice cream, french fries, etc) and that raises instant fear and disbelief. What is your response to folks who claim that your approach is unhealthy?
Joel: You know, I get this concern from a select group quite a bit actually, but let’s think about this logically. The end result of using my program is significantly lower levels of body fat. So, let’s say someone uses it to lose 20 lbs. The health benefits of having 20 lbs less fat are immense. Cholesterol levels improve, blood pressure, and a bunch of other markers.
On top of that, we use strategic exercise. Because of this, cholesterol levels , blood pressure, and other markers improve.
Further, we are eating “clean” 85% of the time. To have a single day of induglence, even if you eat the worst stuff (which as I’ve mentioned previously, you can easily mimic the effects with “cleaner” foods so long as you combine carbs and fat), it’s not going to negate doing EVERYTHING right the 6 other days.
People can expect every health marker to improve, and that’s in addition to looking better than they ever had (not to mention actually being able to stick to a diet, the diet being liveable and doable, and enjoying the process).
Vince: Am I eating bird food on the other days when I’m not cheating?
Joel: If by “bird food” you mean tender steak, fish, shrimp cocktail, rotissiere chicken, pork chops, loads of sweet, juicy fruit, huge salads, pasta, potatoes, sandwiches, and about a hundred other flavorful choices, then yes, it’s very much like “bird food”.
Vince: That’s what I’m talking about home boy! How is the Holiday Edition different than the version you released last year?
Joel: It includes the original program, but it has several “holiday” related bonuses, such as the Holiday Cheat Calendar which gives people a day by day blueprint for how to approach this holiday season while having every single day as a Cheat Day, never missing a holiday meal, party or dessert, and LOSING fat over the course of the next six weeks. Beyond that, it contains all the specs of the regular program as well, so you can always reference it again at a later date and be good to go, even if it’s July of next year.
Vince: Anybody this program definitely not for?
Joel: If you’re stuck in the mentality that you have to sacrifice and deprive yourself to lose weight and just can’t “believe” that you can use your favorite foods to lose weight faster (despite the overwhelming amount of science I’ve shared to support my approach), then this program isn’t for you. If you’re looking to get crazy fast results while eating your favorite foods, then this program will be a godsend.
Lastly, if you have pre-existing medical conditions, of course, you should listen to your doctor and go with his or her advice.
Vince: Last one browksy. What kind of results should action takers expect? You have 100x more fans than skeptics… lets focus on the positive people who are actually going to take action, follow the system and get killer results.
Joel: It really is dependant on your starting point. As you know, those with a lot to lose tend to lose faster at first, while those who are losing the “last 10″ a bit slower. Bottom line, I’ve had people use this approach to get ridiculously lean for a photo shoot (like you’re doing now), and other people who have lost 40, 50, and even 100+ lbs on the program. For the average person with about 20 lbs of fat to lose, I would expect they’d easily be able to lose the vast majority of that DURING this holiday season (while everyone else is out there stuck gaining weight, wondering how you’re chowing down at every holiday party and actually LOSING weight).
END OF INTERVIEW
I did my best the last few days to address as many of your concerns for a number of reasons:
1. I understand you’ve heard me say, “Eat healthy and avoid junk…” and this appears that I have abandoned my beliefs and have betrayed you. I have not – I am learning just like you and with new experiences, reading and testing, I have discovered new things and am sharing them with you. Cut a brother some slack – I’m 29 years old. Did you know everything when you were 29? Do you know everything right now? I respect a saying that says, You don’t know what you don’t know. Right?
2. This program is bad ass. It works if you work the plan. Read that last sentence ten times.
3. Here is my formula for overcoming fear: Knowledge + Action = Overcoming Fear. Ultimately you will not know if this is the real deal unless you try it. That’s for YOU to decide. I’m not twisting any arms. I’ve got a six pack and my girlfriend loves it so I’m not losing sleep at night if you don’t have yours. I’m not interested in helping people who don’t want to help themselves. Makes sense, right?
4. I think 3 reasons are good enough. I’m off to the Dominican Saturday at 5am and have a killer video of me eating a cheat meal so stay tuned for that and remember to pick up my program by clicking on this link:
http://www.treatyourwaythin.com and forward me your receipt with the subject line, “Send Me The Ultimate Cheat Day Workout Bonus Video” to vincedelmontefitness@yahoo.ca and I’ll hook you up with a video I shot yesterday of my cheat day workout.
I know you’re going to want it.
Have an amazing weekend. Onward and upward!
Vince
P.S. Post questions below if you have them.
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Vince
Please be a man and stop misleading your readers in order to sell products. We both know its biologically impossible to gain 6.2 lbs of muscle in 48 hours (let alone while losing fat).
You may have gained 6.2lbs of LBM- not the same thing. I will see whether you have the integrity to either debate this with me (if for some reason you disagree) or not censor this comment.
Ed Marriott
I haven’t figured out why it says “women click here”, it seems that both videos are the same. I love the information you provide, but I’m a woman, and even though I want to build muscle and lose fat, the video doesn’t tell me what your program can do for me. I’m 49 and weigh 170. I’ve tried to lose weight for fifteen years. I have weighed 160 to 170 for most of my life. I need to lose 40 pounds, and the techniques I used in my youth do not work for me any more. I used to be able to drop 5 pounds per week with no problem. I got hit by a truck in 2007 and was a size 8 at the time, now I am a size 14. My weight when I got hit was 150, but it was all muscle. I still have my strength, but not the same muscle mass. What can your program do for a woman?
Salmon, Tuna, Sardines
Secret Ingredient: Omega-3 fatty acids
How they work: By altering levels of a hormone called leptin in your body. Several recent studies suggest that leptin directly influences your metabolism, determining whether you burn calories or store them as fat.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin found that mice with low leptin levels have faster metabolisms and are able to burn fat more quickly than animals with higher leptin levels. The best way to lower your leptin? Eat fish.
Mayo Clinic researchers studying the diets of two African tribes-one of which frequently ate fish and one of which didn’t-found that fish eaters had leptin levels nearly five times lower than the levels found in tribes that primarily ate vegetables.
The good news, if you don’t like fish: Fish-oil supplements may work just as well as the stuff with scales. French researchers found that men who replaced 6 grams of fat in their diets with 6 grams of fish oil were able to boost their metabolisms and lose an average of 2 pounds in just 12 weeks.
Read more: http://menshealth.com/mhlists/abs_diet_foods/Salmon_Tuna_Sardines.php#ixzz0ZmeYwkGF
[...] Holiday Treat Plan: An Interview With Joel Marion | Vince … [...]
Hey Vinny,
I have been an avid follower of your emails and videos for 1.5 years now. Seeing your approach change from no carbs ever (“the secret to weightloss is that it’s not easy”) to carb-overload after 5 low-carb days shows me that you must really have found a breakthrough. I remember you also used to say that eating every 3 hours optimizes one’s metabolism. Does this every-3-hour strategy still hold true on the low-carb days with CYWT? Does it hold for the cheat days?
Hi,
be very careful when buying this.i brought and am struggling to understand my daily intake and everything else.Its not as easy to understand or planned out.I’ve emailed several times and nobody seems to want to help or answer some queries i have about the program.
Im currently looking to do a 4 day split -
Sun – Chest/biceps
Mon – Shoulder/ triceps
Tue – Off
Wed – Back
Thu – Legs
Fri – Off
Sat – Cheat Day …
Also HIIT will be done 3-4 times a week in the morning …
Even a simple yes or no from your side would be good enough!
Thankyou.
Hi Vince/Joel,
I just purchased the CYWT program yesterday but wanted to know what sort of a weight training routine i should be following to make the best use of CYWT. Im looking to go from 12.5 % bf to about 9% in a about 4 weeks without losing muscle or possibly gaining muscle… is it possible ?! please help id really appreciate it ! thanks!
Hey vince, how much % of calories above maintenance did you eat on your “re-feed” days in your last cycle to reach that very low BF% ?
And how much of that amount of calories were coming from “junk food”… for me pizza and brownies are not junk food, but some people goes to the extremes..
Man i’am feeling a lil bit “quick-tempered” because i am doing everything that i’m supossed to do to achieve a 5 or 6 BF %, but i remain in 9%, i am doing HIIT, weight training, sometimes cardio or HIIT twice a day, eating 20 or 30% less calories than maintenance for 3 days, and 10% above for one day(re-feed day), 5 or 6 meals a day, etc… everything i’ve learnt
The strange thing here is that on some re-feed days i ate 30% more calories than maintenance, and the next day i looked the same!..(and weighted sometimes less(i know this kind of measurement is not exact even dough))
Maybe i really need to “shock” my hormones the re-feed day by eating a 30, 40, 50% more calories ??
I have a good question to you… How much % of calories(above maint.) do you think you can eat, divided in 6 meals, on your muscle building cycle without storing fat?(not cardio, just hard weight traning)
I read you can eat a 50%! more calories without storing any fat if you eat 6 meals a day.
Thank you vince, hope you answer me
PD: I went from 15% to 9 % BF in the last 2 months, but this it’s not the first time i reach a 9%, I sabotaged my own diet several times after trowing the towell and going back to a 15%(suffering junk food craving…because i removed them entirely)
Maybe eating some junk food once a while can keep you lean… how ironic
All that talk about oreos gives me the heebie-jeebies. Lets have equal time for bananas, potatoes, raisins and honey. Potatoes and cheese, peanut butter and raisins, (whole) milk and honey (Stir it in.) sound like good combinations based on what I read here.
I wash my hair in baking soda solution(1 teaspoon per cup) and brush my teeth with baking soda powder to avoid the brain toxic chemicals found in toothpaste and shampoo(even the ‘health food store’ brands). Also, baking soda works better, aside from being a whole lot cheaper. Those chemicals I’m avoiding are fluoride, stannous fluoride (“fluoristan”), sodium laurel silicate, sodium laureth sulfate, and probably a whole bunch more. They’re put there to make you stupid and docile so you won’t become a “conspiracy theorist”. As a bonus, fluorides also lead to osteoporosis (like soda pop) and in really high doses, brown speckled teeth. It has no benefit whatever, but is classified as toxic industrial waste and very expensive to dispose of. Persons doubting the foul (genocidal) intent of the medical mafia should check out the content of vaccines.
Beer was safer than water for the millenia before modern hygiene came into being. What’s the verdict on alcohol with this cheat thing? I suspect there’s some reason why it’s still not good.
Thanks for the great info Vinny! Your generosity is truly inspiring.
i really want to drop my body fat % and i was planning to get “Your 6 pack quest” but is it compatible with CYWT?
To your post on facebook… wasn’t uploading there:
Yes, you’re pretty close to understanding it “on paper.”
You won’t FULLY understand it until you LIVE it Roman. For example, despite being at my lowest weight in over a year, I ran the most powerful anaerobic stair workout – TODAY – on a fast day.
Never in a million years would I have even considered it “smart” to train in a fasted state but considering the overfeed day coming off low cals before the overfeed day, my topped my stores, didn’t gain fat, super compensated in fitness and smoked the stairs… felt like a machine.
I would never known how powerful the program was if I didn’t try it myself and compare the RESULTS I’m getting now with results from the past.
Opinions, text books, academic studies etc don’t matter, ONLY RESULTS matter in the end.
I love emails like this… guys have results to back it up and they don’t know anything about the science… LOVE IT man. You learned from doing, not talking about it. We’re very a like.
http://www.HolidayTreatPlan.com It’s not available until Tuesday November 4th.
Yes. do 3days on and 1 day off with the six pack program. do the cardio in the am or pm at least 6 days a week. get ready for some SERIOUS training.
Howie…. you can email me your plan or post it hear and I’ll tweak it for you. Basically you should be low carb for at least 4-5 days before your cheat day. Some guys can do it every 3, I do it every 5… depends how hard you re training, your mental toughness and focus.
Do what i’m doing. 1 cheat day every 5 days. i think that will set you up perfectly. 9% fat in 4 weeks is a lot of fat though…. it’ll be tight but you should be able to do it with double day training sessions.
BTW, my email is nassim.h@btinternet.com
Also Joel, Vince or anyone who has used this program, do you think this program will change the way we see dieting in a mainstream way? What I mean is, thier has never been a thoery like this that has actually worked before which combines the enjoyment of eating junk food but also 1000000000x better results so if everone knew about the leptin hormone and how to control it, then surely every fat loss program would have to include the cheat days etc just to compete?
Would love to hear peoples thoughts?
The link hasnt worked for me either! Is there any way Vince can send me an email for the pre sale link also? Please reply asap as I would love to get my hands on this book?
Hi Vince and Joel,
Joel, your program is interesting me. I’m fourteen years old, I’m very lean (Yes I know Vince, I very skinny with a 6-8 pack at least, but my sport is Triathlon so, I have type 2 muscles. I have a very good cardio: I ran a marathon at 13.) and probably you know, I’m VERY carrying about my health and my nutrition ( I’m trying to stick with Isabella De Los Rios and Mike Geary’s program while including sometime bagel, pasta and other carbohydrates when I have competition and hard training).
So I’m interested because holidays are coming soon, and I never get a single pound during holyday even if I eat junk, I don’t have problem with that but… my question are: Is that healthy for an athlete who train 2 times a day like me to put junk in his body even with your program? I mean what about all the bad oil, bad cholesterol, Trans fat, sugar and all the other modified ingredients which Isabella and Mike say we should never put in our body.
My second question is Will the junk have an impact on my energy during my training or on the next day? I remember when I ate junk food for the last time I had no energy the day after and I wasn’t performing very well.
Thank you
Ps: sorry if you already have answered the same questions.
I’m allowing Vince to send you an email w/ the pre-sale link even if you missed the registration earlier.
I too had a problem, ASAP i tried to registered when the offer was made.
Vince, can you please ask them to open the pre -sale offer.
Have you ever heard of leptin? It’s a hormone that plays a key role in decreasing appetite; this makes sense given the word is derived from leptos, the Greek word for thin. Since leptin concentrations are higher in people who are overweight, researchers decided to expose colon cancer cells to leptin in a laboratory setting to see what would happen.
Turns out, colon cancer cells love the stuff. They thrive on it. The researchers concluded that leptin’s apparent ability to encourage colon cancer cells to reproduce may help explain why obesity is a risk factor for colon cancer
I followed the link. Page days ‘registration closed’
The pre-sale will open up on Nov 24th, Heather. The page that says registration closed, will be replaced so you can access the pre-sale.
Vince will email you a link, so watch your email close on the 24th.
In the meantime, we are giving away 5 free copies today over at my blog. Super easy to enter.
Check it out:
http://tinyurl.com/holiday-free-copy
Have a great day!
Joel
When I follow your link (http://www.HolidayTreatPlan.com), the page says that registration is closed for the pre-sale. Are any other readers having that problem?
Hey Vince! Great stuff Goomba! Although I have pretty good genetics, I guess I have been following that type of nutrition plan for a while now and have had great results, and didn’t really know the exact science behind it. I am a believer in that system and plan on doing a bodybuilding show next year and using those tactics to be bigger and better on stage than I was in last year.
“Think. Look and Be Strong!”
Hi Vince,
For some reason I feel that this is the most up front and honest post yet – you’re being upfront about what you have said in the past, and you’re being upfront on why you have decided to give this program a try.
Have you made me more curious to check out the program – we will see hey (-: (there may be a chance).
Will I be eating donuts though – ummmmm – no chance!
Thanks again for being open to feed back and other people’s opinions and for never coming across as if you think you are perfect – although striving to better oneself (through which ever route one decides to take) is always admirable!
PS – I am actually moving to Grand Rapids Michigan in January next year – not too far from where you are – maybe we will meet someday!
Cheers
oh. and for the workout section, I will be using your No Nonsense 6 Pack program 4 day metabolic extreme and the razor sharp cardio. Will dropping 9% by then be possible?
Hi Vince, I really need to know this. I have to drop 9% bodyfat for a photoshoot by 30th december and I followed your advice to buy the CYWT program. Should I just start of with the core phase(because of the limited time) or do the priming phase first? Will my bodyfat % drop during the priming phase? Please answer this, it will be greatly appreciated. Thankyou.