Nutrition Rule #1:
The first step to making a change is deciding to do so. Not only in your mind but also on paper. Write down very specifically what your goals are. Map out your long term and short term goals. Getting in better shape or becoming fit isn’t good enough. They are good goals, but will they hold any weight when you are tempted at a barbecue to have the beer everyone else is having or when you are at a family gathering with sweets are the main course? What are the specific reasons that you are here. Ask yourself the tough questions and spend a lot of extra time on this. Those who do not overlook this step are those who succeed
Nutrition Rule #2
Eat five to six small meals throughout the day. This comes to eating every three to three and a half hours. This will spike your metabolism and keep you burning an elevated amount of calories all day. Eating too few meals during the course of the day will cause your body to hold onto excess body fat causing frustrating weight gain.
Nutrition Rule #3
In today’s world, taking a multivitamin is essential in order to maintain good overall health. Multivitamins are your back up plan for not getting the needed nutrients in your daily nutrition plan. Multivitamins plug up the deficient holes allowing your body to run at a high fat burning level, and you avoid nutrient deficiencies. Choose a multivitamin that is made from whole food sources rather than the pharmacy brand options. They will absorb better and will be used more readily. Quality multivitamins can be found at most nutritional stores.
Nutrition Rule #4
Water intake is vital to attaining a lean look. Your muscles are mostly made up of muscle, and water carries nutrients throughout the body in order for it to perform functions. Lack of water causes the body to slowly shut down; muscles don’t work well, metabolism slows down, and the body goes into a shell in order to preserve energy. Look to drink at least half your body weight in ounces per day. More if you are exercising.
Nutrition Rule #5
Create Supportive Menus to optimize fat loss. Creating a supportive menu is vital to maintaining long term fat loss. A supportive menu is eating a lean protein and a fibrous carb with every meal. Fibrous carbs are most of your fruits and veggies (minus the high carbohydrate choices). Eating a lean protein and fibrous carb with every meal will allow you to eat enough protein and get plenty of fruits and vegetables in over the course of the day. Two more very important components to a successful fat loss plan.
Nutrition Rule #6
Consistency, Preparation, and Planning. Planning your exercise and meals ahead of time will determine whether you can be successful consistently or not. Choose two hours out of the week and preplan your meals for the week. It is best to do this event around grocery shopping. Plan your meals, go grocery shopping to get the foods you need, then come home and before putting them away prepare them for the week.
Nutrition Rule #7
Use 90% compliance when trying to lose body fat. 90% compliance means if you eat 35 meals in a week (and you should be if you are following this program- 5 meals a day for 7 days), you can either miss a meal or have an unsupportive choice 3 times in a week. That’s right, a missed meal is an unsupportive food choice. Don’t miss your meals
Nutrition Rule #8
Avoid as many foods as possible that have nutrition labels on them. The more foods that don’t need labels, the better. Foods like fruits and vegetables and lean meats don’t have nutrition labels (or most don’t), that means it is what it is. A few food items is fine but don’t catch yourself spending hours in the grocery store reading food labels, as you are taking too much time looking at unsupportive food choices.
Nutrition Rule #9
Pre and Post Workout Meals get the most out of your workout and recovery. Pre workout meals prepare your body and give you needed energy to put full effort into your workout. With a higher effort comes an increased amount of calories burned. The post workout meal aides in recovery from the workout and provides the body the necessary tools to accelerate recovery and maximize recovery benefits. Your preworkout meal should be an hour to an hour and a half before your workout and should be more carbs than protein and in small amounts (an example would be a piece of fruit and a shot of protein powder OR protein powder with good amount of carbs). Your post workout meal should be eaten within an hour after your workout and should be mostly protein with some carbs to help with transport to the muscles.
Nutrition Rule #10
Late night eating will not increase the amount of fat on your body provided it is the right choices. Make your evening snack mostly protein with a tiny amount of fat or fibrous carbs. Do not have starchy carbs before bed. A good example would be a scoop of protein powder, or some cottage cheese with berries. Having a later night snack will decrease the fast you will experience overnight when you are sleeping.
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