Diet Traps….Five Ways to Skip Dieting & Start Your Lifestyle Change

As you know, eating the right foods is key to seeing results. Working out is just one part of loosing weight and staying healthy. You can do all the cardio you want but see little to no results if you don’t support your workouts in the kitchen. Whether you are trying to loose weight or gain, calories cannot be ignored. Muscle helps burn fat, and muscle cannot grow without the right foods to help repair your body. Your body can’t, I repeat, CANNOT lose fat unless you are operating at the right deficit of calories. And your body cannot gain muscle mass if you are not replenishing your body.

So, what do you need?

You need balance. You need simple. You need practical. And it all starts with making a decision to talk to your nutritionist or trainer and allowing them to keep you accountable.

The key to losing fat is keeping your body burning more energy than you’re feeding it. But along with that it’s important to know that muscle helps burn fat. So, in my world, lifting weights is important, because lean muscle building helps my body burn more fat at rest. Lifting, and feeding my muscles with protein and nutrition help my muscles repair and rebuild.

Here are five simple rules to help you change your lifestyle, get healthy, and get fit. These rules work when coupled with a committed fitness regimen.

1. MAKE SURE YOU EAT ENOUGH

It is important and essential that you are feeding your body enough of the good foods, not the junk food most people have in their refrigerators. If you underfeed your body, don’t be surprised when you don’t have enough energy to get through your workout. When you feed your body, it’s used as fuel, thus getting better, more efficient workouts.

As a general rule of thumb, if you workout at least three times a week, the following formula will help ensure you’re feeding your body enough to repair itself. **Disclaimer** Every body (or everybody) is different, each person has a different metabolism, and everyone burns calories at a different rate. It’s important to speak with your doctor, nutritionist, or trainer before starting a lifestyle change. Every person has different goals and needs.

Generally, if you exercise at least three times a week and want to maintain your body weight with slow muscle gains this is what your body needs:

-1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day

-1.5 grams of carbs per pound of body weight per day

-1 gram of healthy fats per 4 pounds of body weight per day

If you want to gain muscle and weight you will need to increase your caloric needs, if you are trying to loose fat then you need to decrease your caloric needs by about 20%. To do this, it is most effective to drop your carbohydrate intake.

2. EAT ENOUGH PROTEIN

In order to get the most out of your workouts, you MUST eat enough protein. Exercise causes muscle “damage”. With every rep, you’re causing “micro-tears” in your muscle fibers. You need protein to fully repair this, and you need it throughout the day, everyday, not just after your workout.

Two main sources of protein are: whole food protein and supplement protein. Even if you’re a vegetarian you can get protein from a lot of sources such as eggs, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, tempeh, tofu, quinoa, almonds, beans.

If you’re not a vegetarian, its important to choose LEAN meats, such as chicken, turkey and fish. Eggs are important and an easy way to get a jump start on your protein for the day.

Supplement protein can just be a protein powder or shake that you enjoy. I am picky about protein, because for me, it MUST taste good. Jay Robb protein powder (Whey and Egg White) has been my favorite thus far. It’s good with just water, which is hard to find. :)

3. EAT HEALTHY FATS

Here’s the kicker, for every gram of fat you consume you are taking in 9 calories! That’s more than twice the amount of calories for every gram of protein or carb you consume. Healthy fats are found in olive oil, coconut oil, avocadoes, flax seek oil, many nuts, and other foods. Fats help maintain cell structure and regulate hormone levels. Trans fats are the fats you MUST be careful of and should be consumed rarely. These fats are scientifically modified saturated fats that have been made to give food longer shelf lives. They have no nutritional value and serve your body no purpose. Foods such as cakes, cookies, fries, or anything that contains “hydrogenated oil” are likely to contain trans fats.

Stick to healthy fats for the majority of your diet and allow yourself one cheat meal a week so you don’t go crazy and you have a reward set in place.

4. EAT GOOD CARBS

Too much of anything can be bad for your body, but don’t shun your body of carbohydrates. Your body needs carbs for energy and overall body function. It’s important to know that you need to consume carbs about 30-60 minutes before your workout (especially if you’re lifting heavy), and replenish your body with carbs 30 minutes after your workout. Most of your carb intake for the day should come before and after training, because it is when your body needs them most. A good rule of thumb to sticking with “good carbs” is to eat fruit, vegetables and whole-grain bread. These are great, healthy choices for carbs. While it’s totally okay to find other carb sources, be sure to limit processed sugar, chips, cookies and white bread; yes, they are yummy, but they’re just not good for the body.

5. PLAN, PORTION & PREPARE YOUR MEALS

Ohhhhh this one is tough. Eating right isn’t difficult, the prepping is what sucks. It’s very important to eat small meals throughout the day. This fills your up and helps keep you satisfied. Before you even think about prepping you need to find out your daily caloric needs, as well as your needs for proteins, carbs, and fats. When you get these numbers from your nutritionist or trainer, it is time to start planning, prepping and tracking your meals.

Planning meals keeps us on track.

Portioning meals helps us stay away from over and under eating.

Preparing meals keeps us from snacking.

When planning your meals, it is also important to make sure you are drinking enough water. It is a general rule that women should be consuming 2.2L of water a day and men 3L a day. If you must, put a reminder on your phone. When you increase your daily intake of protein, it’s ultra important that you drink enough water. :)

Lastly, remember that when you give into cravings, it's not the end. It's fine, and you should allow yourself to do so. Losing weight and keeping it off means you have to have BALANCE, not going without treats for the rest of your life.

(Sources Used: "Muscle Meals" from Michael Matthews)