I once ate 10,000 calories in 16 hours. Five days worth of food in one.

Why?

Because before this binge-of-a-lifetime, I was starving myself.

I eliminated the high-calorie foods like ice cream and cookies, but even healthy foods like egg yolks, bananas, and sweet potatoes.

My sad, restrictive day of eating looked like this:

For the first two weeks, I was feeling great. Down 6lbs and looking good for…who knows who. But week three? Everything fell apart.

The scale stopped moving, I had zero energy, and my cravings were so crazy I started dreaming about McFlurry’s…I don’t even like those!

It was bad…but little did I know it was about to get way worse.

And that’s when the binge happened.

At one point during this 16-hour free-for-all, my stomach was so distended I was convinced I'd wake up with stretch marks.

Now why am I divulging my binge-eating secret with you?

Because if you’ve followed any diet for a period of time, you’ve binged too.

And binging is no fun. You wake up heavier, you feel bloated for days, and you feel guilty that you’d let yourself do that.

But here’s what’s even worse than the binge itself…

In a weird way, the binge can often act as a reset. New motivation, a fresh start.

So what do you do?

Start a new diet on Monday with renewed determination.

But here’s the problem: diets are restrictive in nature. They tell you not to have this food or that food.

And from experience, you know what happens next…

You crave the exact foods you cut out. (hello craving carbs on a low-carb diet)

Eventually you binge again, fall off track, and search for the next diet.

To be clear, you’re not the problem.

But today’s the day you break that cycle once and for all.

And it starts with not restricting anything at all.

In 10 years of working with 500+ women over 40, I've seen this diet, binge, repeat cycle destroy progress over and over.

After recognizing this pattern, I had two choices:

I chose a new way of doing things but I wasn’t sure exactly what it would look like at first…

Until one day while gardening.

In 2020, Maria and I planted our first garden. We had zero idea what we were doing and were quickly over run by pests and weeds.

The following year we found out about “plant crowding”. Where you densely plant vegetables, weeds can't compete for space and naturally die off.

And it hit me: - What if instead of cutting out "bad" foods, my members crowded them out with better ones?

So I decided to test it with 18 women to see what would happen…

They lost over 90lbs and 92 inches between the group.

That’s without telling them they had to stop eating ice cream, cookies, and cake…

Or cutting out all carbs or fats.

I couldn’t believe it and from then on, the “crowd-out” strategy was proven.

The idea is simple - don’t cut out any foods because you’ve learned time and time again that doesn’t work long-term.

Instead, crowd-out those foods by filling your day with the right ones to nourish your body.

Best of all, this doesn’t have to mean you only eat boring, bland food.

It’s quite the opposite…the 18 women who lost 90lbs and 92 inches over 4 weeks kept following the plan because they enjoyed the food so much.

Now - this whole idea of “lose weight without cutting out or restricting” might seem too good to be true. Especially when you’ve been told the opposite for your whole life.

So rather than blindly believing me, I want you to test this for one day and tell me what you think.

To make it easy, I’m sharing two sample recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that you can take and use.

You’ll notice something about these meals…They're packed with protein, fiber, and nutrients that actually satisfy you.

No boring salads.

No sad chicken breast.

Just real food that crowds out cravings naturally.

Here’s your sample Crowd-Out Day of Eating:

Option 1: Chocolate Covered Blueberry:

1 cup fairlife milk, 2 cups spinach, ½ cup frozen blueberries, 1 scoop chocolate protein powder

Option 2: Easy Breakfast Casserole (4 Servings):

Preheat oven to 400°F. Brown onion and sausage in a pan. Beat eggs, pour into greased baking dish, add remaining ingredients. Bake 18-22 minutes. Cut into squares, freeze individually.

Option 1: ONE PAN BALSAMIC CHICKEN & VEGGIES:

Directions: Preheat oven to 350℉.  Combine all of the ingredients and gently mix. If needed, add a little more dressing.  Place mixture on a foil lined rimmed pan.  Cover with aluminum foil, and bake for 25 mins. Uncover and continue to cook for 8-15 more minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. 

Option 2: Creamy Vegetable Soup (2 Servings):

Directions: In a large pot bring stock to a boil.  Add all of the ingredients and cook for 10 minutes until vegetables are tender.  Check for seasoning.

In small batches, add soup to blender and process until smooth and creamy.  Serve and enjoy!

Option 1: Turkey Burgers (Makes 6-8 burgers):

Directions: Over med heat, sauté onion in coconut oil until translucent. Add red pepper, cumin, garlic powder, parsley, cayenne pepper, and salt and pepper. Sauté for 5 minutes more, and remove from heat. Once cool, add ground turkey to the mix, and form 4 oz. patties. 

Heat up large skillet under med heat and add burgers. (1 tsp. coconut oil optional for cooking burgers) Flip after 4-6 minutes and cook through on the other side until done. 

***Burgers freeze very well.

Option 2: Paprika Salmon (3 Servings):

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees ℉. 
In a small bowl, blend olive oil, honey, mustard, ginger, and paprika. 
Brush salmon fillets evenly with the olive oil mixture. Place in a medium baking dish. Bake 15 to 20 minutes until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

There you have it—your full day following the Crowd-Out strategy.

Nourish your body with the right foods, and you won't crave the wrong ones. Lose weight without ever telling yourself "I can't have that.

Wanna try it?

If so, reply back with “I’m in”, let me know the day you’re testing it, and I’ll be checking in to see what you noticed.

Your friend and coach,

Ben Miknis