This is the second chapter in the Creating a Healthy Lifestyle miniseries. Today is all about food, specifically fueling your body as opposed to dieting. Last week I kicked the series off with Mindset Matters Most, so check that post out if you missed it. As a quick refresher there are 3 primary components to fitness: mindset, nutrition, and exercise. So, I am organizing the content of this mini-series in that order, following the level of importance of each component.
I have said it before and I will say it again, fitness is 100% mindset, 80% food, and 20% exercise. For whatever reason, it seems like many people’s perceptions are that it is 90% exercise 10% food and mindset is hardly mentioned or thought of. I discussed mindset last week, so I will just say when it comes to fitness, you need your motivation (aka your why), your affirmation (how you speak to yourself/about yourself), your direction (intentions and goals), and integrity or commitment. The more you put into this, the further you will get. This is the secret sauce that has kept me showing up for myself for 8 years, not matter how long I get stuck at a certain weight, no matter if my weight goes back up, no matter when I struggle, I am still here and it’s because of all these mindset components.
Alright, once you have your mindset foundations, namely the why, intentions, goals, and commitment, the second area that is going to give you the most bang for buck is nutrition. I am not talking about dieting. “Dieting” sets you up for failure for a few reasons:
- It automatically puts you into a mindset of lack and restriction, punishment. This leads to the forbidden fruit trap, where you restrict so much, so long, you end up binging when you allow yourself to “indulge,” have a cheat day, cheat meal, etc. This turns into going off the rails completely, because the guilt and shame kicks in after this, which leads to the “I’ve blown it, I might as well give up.”
- Most “diets” are overly restrictive, making them unsustainable. There are hundreds of different “diets,” and they all claim to be the best/most effective, and they all have some amount of empirical evidence for them. Examples: low-calorie, low fat, low-carb, fasting, and many others, even more extreme. The con to these is that they require strict adherence and backfire quickly when you slip or slack on them, which is inevitable due to the extreme deficits and restrictions.
- There is often an implied finite timeframe for diets. Many people go into it with a focus on how much they want to lose and they want to lose it quickly. Long-term sustainability is often an afterthought, if it is a thought at all. This is not a short-term thing, though. It is a lifestyle that you must maintain for life.
Over the course of 30 years, I have tried all the things, all the diets. I have experienced everything I just mentioned first-hand. I have also learned the hard way, that with every fad diet, every “quick weight loss” I have gained it back faster and found it harder to lose again. The short answer for this is hormones. These various diets screw them up, and it takes time to correct this.
Two eating approaches stand out to me and have been the most effective and sustainable for me: whole food, intuitive eating, and macro tracking. The reason: 1, both involve a balanced diet, that includes the three macronutrients the body needs to function: protein, fat, and carbohydrates; 2, both are flexible and allow for variety; and 3, you can still enjoy many of the things you love. Over the past 8 years, this has been what has enabled me to stay on track and sustain a healthy lifestyle. So, let’s get into these eating approaches.
First approach is what I recommend to get started with your body transformation efforts. Whole food, intuitive eating. The reason I recommend this approach first, is that, if, like me, you’ve tried numerous diets, you may be out of touch with your body’s signals and you likely have unwittingly created some imbalance in the hormones involved with appetite and metabolism. So, this helps reset that.
Having covered this approach in-depth in previous episodes and in my e-book, Fit Phoenix 6-Week Slim Down, I am not going to go over it in great detail today. In this approach, your diet consists of lean protein sources (think, turkey breast, protein powder, Greek yogurt, chicken, fish), beneficial fats such as avocados, nuts, nut butters, EVOO, and carbohydrates, prioritizing complex over simple (e.g., brown rice, whole grain, high-fiber pasta and breads, potatoes, sweet potatoes, fresh fruits and vegetables). You include a balance of each of these in each meal, eating 3-6 times a day as appetite indicates. A key element of this is learning your body’s hunger and satiation cues; so discerning true hunger from thirst or boredom and eating to satiation or satisfaction. Hydration with primarily water is also critical to this, because thirst is often confused for hunger and water helps metabolize food and detox the body.
The second approach I have found equally sustainable is macro-tracking. I have also done episodes on this approach, so won’t go in-depth today. With macro tracking you determine your maximum daily caloric intake, which there’s a whole formula for, and which takes into account your goal (gain muscle or lose fat) and activity level. From here, your max calories are broken down into target amounts of each of the three macros – protein, fat, and carbohydrates. You can hit these targets however you want, meaning there isn’t anything “off limits” so long as you hit your macros on point.
This approach is much more tedious, as you may have guessed. You must do the initial calculations to get your targets on point and you must hit your daily targets on point (within 5 grams up or down daily) to get results. This approach also requires you to weigh and measure everything; otherwise, you could be way off on your targets. You also must monitor progress closely, because you will need to adjust your macros over time. In my experience, it is helpful to add this approach after following the whole food intuitive eating approach for some time.
So, those are two approaches you can follow and get great results without going insane or being deprived. I will add the secret to really making this work is to prepare your own food, most of the time. I have modified tons of recipes over the years for all my favorite foods that you wouldn’t typically find on many other diet plans; so I have never felt like I can’t still enjoy the foods I love and I don’t feel limited at all. I have also learned how to order when eating out, to stay on track and still enjoy food. There are ways to transform your body, improve your health, and boost your energy without being miserable on a diet. It’s all in my e-book, so grab a copy of it today, you will not regret it!
Alright, friends, that’s it for this chapter. I will continue this series next week, diving into exercise. Follow along with the series to start creating your healthy lifestyle today. If you’re just now catching it, go back to last Monday’s post, follow the steps I’ve laid out there, then come back to this post to start with nutrition. If you follow what I have laid out in the series or my e-book, you will get results. I know this because I live by it and I have helped others get results as well. So, get started today, because you’ll thank yourself in just a few months’ time.
Click here to grab my e-book, it is called Fit Phoenix 6-Week Slim Down. It is designed to kick start your healthy lifestyle and packed with great information, resources, and guidance. It includes all the workbook materials I touched on in last week’s post, so you can clarify your why, set clear intentions and goals, and commit to your healthier lifestyle. It has the intuitive, whole food eating plan and weekly meal plans and recipes, and it has a core workout for the 6-weeks, plus a bonus booty builder workout. Tons of value at a great price, so grab your copy today.
As always, thanks so much for stopping by! Check back Wednesday as I continue the Moving in Faith series.