I recently read an article about this while I agreed with 80% of it, I wanted share with you my thoughts about fat loss. I hear this so many times, Kim, “What’s the best way to lose fat'” I know most of you know diet and exercise. There are no real ways around it. You must move your body and you must watch what you eat consistently.
- You aren’t eating enough. For years I was one of those you must eat 5-6 meals or you’ll never lose weight. Well. I’ve softened over the years I’ve found that depending on your workouts you can get by on 3-6 meals it really depends. [Tweet “Now I know that the entire diet industry will have you think that to lose weight you must reduce the calories and then increase your exercise. For those of you who have done that, how has the worked for you'”] Yeah, I’m sure you were starving and tired. [Tweet “The tipping point comes when you determine what is the food intake level that will fuel your workouts, but not leave you starving and too full. “] Here is where a food journal comes in handy. I will touch on that later.
- You aren’t planning. I was a card caring winger for for years!! I was like I just fill my house with the good stuff and I’ll be all set. Not so much. I didn’t plan for when I was going out or didn’t have food cooked and then wouldn’t feel like cooking it. So now to make sure that this happens, I’m not one of those crazy food preppers like I was in the past, but now I do one simple thing that takes the edge of my week. I cook three pounds of protein/week — I will crock something or put something on the grill. This way I have something for lunch.My lunch is typically a big ass salad #bas so I’ll have lettuces and veggies on hand to make a salad. I also by pre-chopped veggies so I don’t have to do it. You can also grab stuff from the salad bar. Now if I know that I will be running around I’ll also plan on making some protein for dinner so that I can just heat and eat. [Tweet “I am a big proponent of real food, BUT I do rely on having protein shakes and bars for times I’m on the go or I’ m traveling. How about you'”]My favorite brand is Isagenix.
- You are too restrictive. Most of you know that I was a former fitness competitor and I now coach girls to compete. One of the biggest things in that sport is deprivation. I mean seriously it’s all about how LITTLE can I eat. My biggest joke is when they want deprivation I tell them all they can have are Tic Tacs and Diet Coke. They look at me like really. No.. I just messing with you, it’s my way to telling you don’t ask me that kind of question again. No diet, meal plan, menu whatever should make you feel deprived. If you feel deprived something is missing. I’ve also found when you felt that way, you are no fun to be around and when you finally do “allow” yourself to open up your diet — you lose your sh*t. [Tweet “Willpower only take you so far. You diet should include all food groups, unless you’ve been told by a medical doctor you should remove them. “]Don’t just go dairy free or gluten or for the love of God carb free for the sake of it. Yes, you may have sensitivities but do it in a structured way and be sure you are informing a medical professional.
- You aren’t tracking your food. When you tell me about your struggles, one of my first things I ask is how is your food. Most reply — fine. I ask can you give me an overview of a typical day or I ask them to give me a 3 day food journal. Now this doesn’t need to be fancy in some computer program it can be on a piece of paper. I’m looking for what does your overall meal consistent of, how long do you wait between meals, is there any mindless snacking, habits, emotional/stress eating. Once I look at this I can see patterns. I use to hate journal, but when I get stuck I go back to journaling and it opens my eyes to what things I may need to tweak to get the results that I want. Are you picking up with I’m putting down”
- You aren’t changing up your workouts. Your body is so smart!! It learns stuff fairly quickly. So.. if you’ve been doing the same workout for years, your body doesn’t have to work to complete it. It knows it by heart and will only give you enough to get you through the workout. You workout should change every 4-6 weeks. For those of you not competing it should be a full body exercise plan that includes a pushing, pulling, squat and core exercise. The same goes for your cardio — you need to go in and mix that up. If you are using machines change up the programs you use on it, change the level, hell try a new cardio machine. Classes are great for this as well.
I hope this was helpful for you. Please leave me a comment below to let me know which of the 5 seem like something you can start to implement.
