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1-DON’T TRY TO BE PERFECT.

I think this is the biggest mistake I see, people come into health and fitness thinking they need to be perfect to achieve results.

Progress is enough to achieve results, we can leave perfect nutrition to the professional athletes and understand that the catalyst to any kind of adaptation is improvement.

Trying to be perfect is setting you up for either failure or a pretty miserable, un-balanced period.

Set small achievable targets and I can guarantee that will be enough for you to see results.

2-MAKE THE PROCESS ENJOYABLE.

Dieting can be hard as it is, you’re not giving your body the amount of ‘energy’ that it needs and although there has to be an element of discomfort for change to occur we don’t need that level of discomfort to be excessive.

You can still be in a calorie deficit and include your favourite foods.

Either incorporate some of your favourite foods into your plan or allocate a number of meals per week that you want to get pleasure from.

Weight management should never be the result of suffering and sacrifice, it should be the result of an enjoyable nutritional system.

3-INTRODUCE OR INCREASE TRAINING OUTPUT.

The main goal when dieting is fat loss, so when a caloric deficit is created your body will be looking to replenish that deficit from stored energy (fat or muscle).
To ensure we’re achieving FAT LOSS and not just WEIGHT LOSS we want to make sure we’re creating training stimulus so our body hold on to that muscle tissue as much as possible.

4- MAINTAIN ‘TOTAL DAILY ENERGY EXPENDITURE’ (TDEE)

The objective is to create an energy deficit so the body has to replenish the short fall through stored energy (fat stores, as mentioned above).

Example:

Daily maintenance cals = 3,000
Diet cals = 2700

Deficit = 300 (hopefully taken from fat stores)

What happens when dieting:

You feel tired so leave the washing up to your partner, slump in your chair, do a little less at work, miss that social occasion to sit on the sofa.

Result:

Daily maintenance cals now = 2700

Diet cals = 2700

Deficit = 0

5- INCLUDE WHOLESOME, NUTRITIOUS, HIGH VOLUME FOODS.

The process has to be enjoyable but when cals are low you have less opportunity to utilise nutrient poor protein bars, protein oats, ice cream, waffles etc, even though they might fit you macros if you’re utilising these on a daily basis you’re really risking being sub-optimal in vital micro nutrients contained in whole foods, fruit and veg.

You can still use these foods but if the majority of your nutritional strategy is made up of these foods, you may be hitting your daily calorie and macro goals but your results will be affected as a result of compromised health.

Use foods like pumpkin, cauliflour, green leaves, zucchini, beetroot, mixed berries and pears to bulk up your meals and make you feel full as well as provide you loads of important micro nutrients.

6-SLEEP, STRESS, DIGESTION

The healthier you are, the faster a calorie deficit will take effect on your physiology.

I think this point gets overlooked so often, we don’t need to be lean to be healthy, we need to be healthy to be lean.

If Usain Bolt runs a race and finishes 2^nd, 3^rd or last, we know there’s a problem, we don’t just shout at him to run faster, we know there’s a problem, something isn’t working properly.

It’s the same with weight management, if results are slow, don’t keep shouting at yourself, look at your health and see what’s underperforming.

Manage your sleep, stress and digestion with equal attention and care as you manage your training and nutrition.

As always, if you want support with your weight management, reach out to us on either facebook or email.
https://www.facebook.com/stephen.arnold.9279
teambodyproof@hotmail.com