Keeping your diet on track
When it comes to diet and exercise and how to keep them both on track simultaneously, often a lot of us don't seem to get both to run smoothly.
Speaking from experience and the people I have trained over the years, I have found that most people are more successful in building a strong routine for their exercise and can maintain that however when it comes to diet this often proves to be a little more tricky.
We all have different struggles when it comes to finding the right "balance" between diet and exercise. I think the main thing when trying to eat healthier that throws people off is the fact that you have to prepare meals and plan what you're going to eat. It's not like an exercise where you just set the time aside and then do it. If meal planning and preparation isn't set as a priority then it typically isn't going to happen. The other important point to note, and the one that I always tell both my personal training & Bootcamp clients is that there is no one size fits all approach. Losing weight or toning up is all about improving all aspects of your health. This means finding the right ratio between diet and exercise.
If you want to lose weight or tone up or to just simply feel better then changes have to be made to your diet as well, this is just a simple fact that I think most do understand. This also means it has to be a long term change. I think it would be unrealistic to think that you can eat healthy for 4 weeks, see results, then expect that you can go back to your old ways and not gain weight. So how do we find the so-called "balance" and find what works for us as individuals?
Here are some tips that I share with my clients including those that have worked for me when I went through my journey of weight loss:
- Get used to preparing your own meals. Home-cooked meals are the best way to eat better because you know what's going into your food!
- Plan your menu! If you don't plan, you can often get stuck and easily fall to take away or the easy cheesy toasty. When you plan what you're going to eat for a few days or even the week, you can buy what you need in one shop and have it ready to go when you cook.
- Don't overcomplicate food! Healthy food doesn't have to be a fancy meal, and on the flip side, it doesn't have to taste bland! There are so many healthy recipe options out there all you have to do is look!
- Bulk your meals up with a good range of veggies instead of excessive pasta, bread and rice!
- Don't eliminate carbs! Yes, that's right - the key is to just eat what your body needs and what your muscles need to refuel. It's the excess consumption of carbs that causes weight gain. You can still eat pasta and rice & lose weight! It worked for me :)
- Treat yourself wisely! We are only human and we all like to indulge in some naughty foods from time to time. So pick 1 day in the week when you think you'd most enjoy a treat meal and have it! The important thing to remember is that you get back on track the next day.
- Last but not least (and there are so many more!) get your sleeping habits and stress levels on track. When you operate on minimal sleep your body craves energy, and what's the first energy fuel our bodies burn? Carbs! This is when you are most likely to eat more than you need overindulge!
For more tips follow me on socials by clicking the below buttons and subscribe to my Youtube channel which has some great diet and exercise clips that I constantly share:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCALNiNcGKVbZ9ZrTtHxjkbA
Stay healthy!
Frank.