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1. Eat 4-6 small meals day a day
instead of the usual 2-3 large meals. Eating frequently will help
regulate and boost your metabolism to burn more calories.
2. Consume whole foods that
are high in fiber and low in sugar such as lean protein (lean beef,
chicken, fish, and whey protein), fruits & vegetables (oranges,
apples, strawberries, blueberries, broccoli, peppers, asparagus,
carrots, nuts (almonds, cashews, & walnuts), and whole grains.
3. Eat low-glycemic
carbohydrates such as vegetables, whole-wheat products and oatmeal
instead of refined processed carbohydrates which usually come in a
box or a bag.
4. Recommend consuming 25-35
grams of fiber per day. Since the average diet contains only 14
grams we could all use more fiber. Fiber will help satisfy hunger
pangs as well as control insulin and blood sugar levels which tend
to promote fat storage when they are elevated.
5. Eat some type of lean
protein at each meal. Protein helps to satisfy hunger and provide
the necessary building blocks to maintain lean body mass while
losing body fat.
6. Consume adequate amounts of
healthy fat foods such as olive oil, walnuts, almonds, Omega-3
fortified eggs or other Omega-3 products. Healthy fats are great
antioxidants as well as help with brain function and many other
essentials processes that take place in the body on a daily basis.
Essential Fatty acids also help prevent certain diseases.
7. Recommend eating 5-10
servings of fruit and vegetables a day to meet your micronutrient
needs. Vegetables also contain a good amount of fiber and help to
control appetites and curb hunger.
8. Consume Green Tea or Water
instead of calorie filled drinks such as soft drinks. Green Tea has
many health benefits and should be drinking 1ml of non-caffeinated
fluid for every calorie that you consume. This works out between
(8-12) 8oz glasses of Green Tea or Water a day.
9. Balance your fat intake for
the day. 1/3 should come from saturated fats, 1/3 from
monounsaturated fats, and 1/3 from polyunsaturated fats.
10. If you want to start
building habits then you need to follow a plan. Habits are formed by
repetitively following a prescribed plan. Therefore map out your
meals every day and follow them. If you follow your plan everyday
for 2-3 weeks you will form habits that become part of your daily
routine and you won’t even notice it. How do you think bad habits
are formed? By repetitively doing something over and over again.
11. Include what I call “Superfoods”
into your meal plan on a daily basis. These include but not entirely
lean meat, salmon, low fat plain yogurt, tomatoes, spinach, mixed
berries, whole oats, mixed nuts, olive oil, flax seeds(or flax
meal), green tea, and various beans. These are just some of the “Superfoods”
who should be incorporating into your daily meal plans.
12. Keep total fat intake
under 30% for the day. This can be accomplished by not adding too
many extra fats such as butter, sour cream, mayonnaise, etc. This
doesn’t mean you have to completely eliminate these items, but do
not eat them as a regular food item every day.
13. EXERCISE!! You can lose
weight by just following a nutrition plan on its own but very few
succeed at it and it takes much longer than when you eat properly as
well as exercise. I am not talking about just getting on a treadmill
for 30 minutes every other day. Though you can lose weight this way
it is not the most efficient use of your time nor maximizing the
ability to burn calories. The most effective way to lose fat is by
strength training or some type of interval training utilizing
strength training and cardiovascular exercises. A properly designed
program can burn more overall calories in 20 minutes than 20 minutes
on a treadmill. Also, the X factor in all this is that you will burn
more calories per minute hours after you finished strength training
because of the EPOC effect. Static exercise on a treadmill doesn’t
produce this X factor.
14. Record what you eat and
drink. You will be amazed at what you consume and not even realize
you did it until you right it down and reflect back on the day.
Keeping a food log is critical to your success because if
modifications need to be made you need something to be able to
evaluate and analyze. If changes aren’t happening like you had
hoped the answer can usually be found in the food and or exercise
journal.
15. Follow the 90% rule. If you can follow your plan 90% of
the time then that is enough to have success with weight loss. If
you find yourself breaking the rules more than 90% of the time then
the chance of being successful with weight loss is not as likely.
Your chances of failing increase significantly. Lose the all or
nothing attitude and just take one day at a time. Reflect on your
day before you go to bed at night and instead of getting down on
yourself because you weren’t perfect just set goals to accomplish
next day that would eliminate those errors.
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Jayson Hunter RD, CSCS is the
author of the Carb Rotation Diet. To discover the 5 absolute truths
Every Serial Dieter Who Seeks Rapid-Weight loss MUST come to grips
with visit The
Carb Rotation Diet.
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