Many people head to the gym with the intention of losing weight, without realising that about 80% of weight loss is controlled by your diet. So before you head to the gym think about cleaning up your diet or you really will be just wasting your time. If you train hard for a long time without fixing a bad diet you will just end up as a fit fat person! But fixing your diet isn’t rocket science; this article will give you the 5 basic steps to fix a bad diet and make sure this does not happen to you.
Weight loss is all about consistently controlling your dietary behaviour until you reach your goal. You’ll be glad to hear you don’t need to know anything about the science of nutrition, or follow a complicated diet plan. You just need to follow a few simple rules and apply some common sense.
Only eat food you prepare.
This cuts out all fast food, ready meals and other junk food produced by people concerned with your money, not your waistline. This food is made to a budget (so they can sell it cheaply), which means low quality ingredients that need extra fat, sugar and salt added to improve its taste. When preparing food yourself the only no-no is deep frying – avoid that and you are on the right track.
Only drink water.
You can drink hundreds of unnecessary calories every day without knowing it. Water has no calories and is the only liquid you can’t live without. Alcohol is one of the things to blame for making people fat so going without it can be the fastest way to make a HUGE difference to your waistline. Soft drinks can also be hidden sources of calories due to the sugar content. Take a look at the nutrition information on the side of a can of regular Coke, or even iced tea, and you’ll immediately see the problem!
Never let yourself feel really hungry.
Your body reacts badly to hunger by slowing your metabolism down to protect your body fat from being used up. It does this because it perceives hunger as the start of a famine and responds by slowing your metabolism protects your fats stores to see you through the famine.
Only snack on raw fruit and vegetables.
Swapping sweets for apples and crisps for carrots almost guarantees weight loss. Fruits and vegetables are energy sparse and nutrient dense, so they won’t make you fat but they will fill you up, and also really improve your health.
Get plenty of sleep.
Fatigue cripples fat loss efforts because it reduces the level of an appetite control substance called leptin. Not enough leptin means means you are more likely to eat excess calories that will be stored as fat. Constant fatigue also makes you less likely to exercise.
Do these 5 things every day and you will clean up your diet dramatically and be in the right place to add exercise and see the pounds tumble. Fitness questions? Drop me an email. Or better yet, why not sign up for one of the training options at Highlander Strength and Fitness!