Diet

“Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym”

Diet is responsible for a whopping 70% of your weight management success! For this reason it only makes sense to develop a nutritional plan to complement your hard training. Let me tell you right here and now though, that I am opposed to a super strict regimen that literally takes over your life. My approach is, and always will be, to try and keep my client’s (and my own!) way of eating realistic—meaning that we can still have a life AND make great strides in fitness!

KNOW What You Eat

As a personal trainer my first step in helping a client with their eating habits is to always require them to create a diet log. This is done so that I could get a glimpse into their lives and to see what area of their diet needs the most attention. As it turns out, every person that I ever worked with was astonished by what they “thought” they ate and what they really did!

I know (because I’m a human too) that you are compelled to “get started” and that you are tempted to scroll down…don’t…create a dietary log first!
Simply write down EVERYTHING that goes into your mouth for 48-72 hours; that includes food and drink (even water). Be sure to log the following:

1)      Time that you eat or drink
2)      Amount you eat and drink (more detailed the better)
3)      Preparation cooking (fried,baked,broiled, etc)
4)      Extras include everything added (condiments, dressing, etc)

It is important to log both work days and days off because we all eat differently on these days. The diet log is strictly for your own insight but as I stated before, you will probably be surprised and quite often, just seeing some of your deviations will lead to immediate improvement!

3 Steps That Almost Always Lead To All The Weight Loss You Will EVER Need (pain free!)

If you were to get diet advice from a health professional, whether that is a doctor, nutritionist, or even a personal trainer, though some of what they say may differ slightly, all of them will insist on the key elements that control your blood sugar because each of them lead to unhealthy weight gain or retention. Most people that apply these do not need to take another dietary step to successfully reach their goal body weight; especially when accompanied by a sensible exercise program.

It's really interesting that the following information addresses all of the dietary advice and issues we hear about like to eat or not to eat carbs, how much or how often we should eat, the role of sweets, etc. In fact, you might notice after reading (and especially applying) the following concepts, why some popular diets really do work and why!

Blood Sugar 101

The glucose index (GI) was developed to help those with diabetes control their symptoms through dietary means. Simply put, the GI rates foods affect using a numbering system to indicate how much or how fast, particular foods will raise your blood sugar. For those interested in weight management, understanding and controlling these elements in your diet is critical.

When your blood sugar rises quickly your body reacts by releasing insulin. Insulin’s job is to clean up that excess sugar…and it stores this excess as body fat! So for most people, once they learn how to control their blood sugar, they never have to look back!

In my practice as a personal trainer, I always introduce these elements to a client one at a time, beginning with the most problematic after reviewing their diet log. You will in all likelihood be tempted to attack them all at once. This CAN work depending upon your current eating habits but I suggest that you apply one at a time for two weeks, let it take hold and then move on to the next one. It’s your choice.

#1 Eat 4-6 Smaller Meals

When you go long periods without eating, once you eat again your blood sugar will spike, regardless of the quality of food. Never go more than three hours without eating a small MEAL ( A bag of chips is not a meal).

Start your day with a good breakfast and then mid-morning have a healthy snack such as half of the sandwich you packed for lunch, some yogurt, nuts, and/or fruit, or a quality protein based drink or fruit smoothie. Have a similar type snack mid-afternoon and then a healthy dinner.

If you snack before bed, do so with a couple hours to spare so there is time for digestion (we don’t burn a lot of calories while we sleep...like none!). Also, though this has yet to be proved, from my personal and professional experience, it is wise to omit carb based snacks before bed. Instead, eat protein/fat based foods (nuts, cheese, milk, etc). 

This is logical as carbohydrates are used for energy and our body limits itself to providing glucose to fuel brain activity while we sleep and pretty much nothing else.

#2  Eat Carbs with 3g of Fiber per Serving  (or more)

Carbohydrates with little or no fiber are treated by your body much like table sugar; your blood sugar spikes and in comes the insulin to clean it up (read: fat storage!). You MUST read your labels on pasta, rice, bread, and other carb sources because “they” know the buzz words we are looking for…wheat, whole wheat…once, I nearly bought a loaf of “stone ground, 100% whole wheat” bread without looking but I did look and it had 1g of fiber per serving! I’m not sure how this is possible!!!

Fresh vegetables and fruits that are also carb sources and most (not all) contain plenty of natural fiber and because they are incredibly good for you, don’t worry about them; eat all you want…and more!

#3 Drink ONLY Water or 100% Fruit Juice

You can get away with plain coffee and teas as well but generally speaking, sweet drinks are one of the main culprits of blood sugar spikes. It’s no coincidence that an otherwise skinny person can carry around a “beer” belly and no surprise either that since parents often consider sports drinks as “health” drinks, that there are more than a few sport drink belly’s out there as well.

Water is the number one nutrient we consume and every single part of our body requires it for us to function at our best; right down to how our cells communicate. So base your drinking around water…whether you like it or not!

Drastic Measures!

After you have faithfully applied the above and are still not happy with your results there's still hope. By hope I mean that there is still hope of living a "normal" life without having to become a fanatic. Before applying the following, I suggest reevaluating your current diet first.

Start by dragging out the good 'ol food log again and tracking everything to consume. Analyze your food diary for gaps between meals longer than three hours, carbohydrates that do not have 3g of fiber (you should assume that all carbs at restaurants are "bad" carbs), and of course, that you are consuming mostly or only water. When you are satisfied that you doing everything right, apply the following (one at a time for several weeks)

1) Increase Your Activity. Successful weight management is a question of balance; the ratio of how much energy we take in compared to how much energy we use. You CAN get on the treadmill for endless hours but first, try increasing the little things first.

Find ways to move more: things like parking farther from stores and using the steps instead of the elevator don't burn a whole bunch of calories but by being more active your metabolism increases so that your system works more efficiently.

2) Make Small Cuts in Your Eating (especially regarding fats). Choose reduced calorie condiments or train yourself not to have any. Reduce your portions at meals. An easy (and smart) way to get started is to use smaller plates so that you get less food to begin with. But also consider rearranging your plate so that there is an abundance of veggies or other healthy foods compared fattier foods such as meat. Remember that a healthy serving of meat should fit in your hand.

3) Prepare Most (if not all) of Your Meals. Most restaurants are in business to serve "good" food not necessarily healthy food!  Expect more salt, sugar, fat and other diet no-no's when you eat out. On the other hand, when we go to the trouble of preparing our own meals, we tend to add only healthy ingredients plus, it's cheaper!

4) Count Calories. This is where nutrition hurts! But as stated before, weight loss is a matter of how much we take in compared with how much we use. If your body weight is stable (neither losing or gaining) then you will need to cut out 500 calories per day to lose a healthy one pound per week (please do not try to lose faster...please, it just doesn't last long term!).