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| Image Credit: thedailygreen.com |
Here's the quick down and dirty of my philosophy...
1. How Much- Determine how much you need to eat to reach your goals. There are calculators online that help you determine your daily caloric needs. I like the one on my website at www.beachbodycoach.com/jeffadams. Your caloric needs vary by height, weight, activity level, age, activity level, goal, etc.
2. Divide by 5- You want to start heating up your metabolism by eating 5 times per day. This starts to communicate to your body that more food is coming, burn the fuel you have! Oddly, if you starve the body, it will get more efficient with it's fuel. The goal here is to be LESS efficient.
3. Decide your macros- If your goal is to trim fat, stop eating fat! You may have plenty to last you a while. Now there are still good fats you need for brain function and other vital things, but I suggest limiting to 20% of intake. Protein takes a long time to break down in your system so it makes you feel full for longer and your body can't store it so you purge what you don't need. Carbs are a killer of modern man. If the body can't use them right now, carbs are stored as fat before they can be used. This is done by way of insulin which is created to keep from frying the brain due to excess blood sugar. Basically, you can eventually run out of insulin. This is the onset of diabetes. So keep the carbs down and from good sources like fruits and veggies. Call it 40% carbs, 40% protein if you are looking to drop a lot of fat.
4. Eat living foods- this is the hardest part for many busy people as it may require visiting the grocery store twice per week instead of twice per month. Keeping super-fresh fruits and veggies in the fridge is tough to do on accident; it must be done on purpose. But you can snack all day on carrots and cauliflower and hardly take in any calories. Meanwhile you're getting a ton of nutrients. There is also something in living enzymes that help the body heal itself. I can't even begin to get into that here, just stock up on apples, carrots, cauli, cucumbers, celery, fresh living stuff that you like to eat. Try to stay with lower sugar fruits. Veggies are wide open.
5. Lean Protein- comes from white meat, chicken, fish, egg white, whey or fat free dairy. Try some extra lean turkey burgers or or grilled chicken. Otherwise, I like Fat Free cottage cheese and a dole fruit cup, hard boiled eggs (toss every other yoke), greek yogurt, Shakeology with an extra shot of whey protein powder, deli turkey, tuna and vinaigrette dressing with a few crackers... just to name a few options.
6. Limit the carbs- it is hard to keep it down to 40%. Skip as much refined grain as you can- no pasta, few potatoes, whole grain bread only, no tortillas. Limiting fats is pretty easy, you know what's bad there. Limiting carbs is the next easiest thing you can do to limit your calorie intake. Stick with fruits and vegetables for your carbs and you hardly have to track anything! Cauliflower can be used as mashed potatoes, rice, great substitute for pasta by steaming it and pouring marinara on it... I even use it for Shephard's Pie!
7.
Log it! I went there. If you want results, you need metrics to know
what's working and what isn't. That online calculator is great but every
physical body is just a little different. Having a log book allows you
to look back and check for bad habits. I like to keep it simple. Here's
how I do it, when I do it:
http://jagfitness.blogspot.com/2010/02/journal-it-nutrition-edition.html
8. Plan your food in advance- as best you can. Here's how I do that also:
http://jagfitness.blogspot.com/2011/02/shopping-list-magic.html
9. And for God's sake start taking a multi-vitamin! Your body will tell you that you're hungry when you really just need more of some nutrient or other. It's a lot easier to control cravings when your body has the building blocks it needs to keep you running smoothly.
Does that help get you on the right path?Related Links:
How Diet Soda Causes Weight Gain
Watch Your Diet, Get Results!
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