Originally posted May 1, 2014.
In order to fix your nutrition, we have to look at what you may need to improve…
Here are the reasons you might not be losing weight at bootcamp:
- You are not exercising at least 5 hours per week
- You are not eating whole/unprocessed foods at regular intervals, while being aware of physical hunger/fullness cues aka you are overeating and eating unhealthy
- You are not sleeping 7-9 hours per night
- You engage in extreme diets like low calorie or no carb or cleanses
- You are not consistent with your habits
- You consume aspartame
* Aspartame was approved for use in 1981, and while this non-caloric sweetener was hypothesized to help control body weight, since 1980, levels of body fat have increased.
You get results when your nutrition/lifestyle includes the following:
- nuts (not too many)
- green tea
- low energy-density foods like vegetables!
- protein – every meal should have protein
- avoiding refined carbohydrates like white bread
- eating complex carbs like rice or quinoa
- adequate hydration
- dietary fiber from vegetables
- fruits and vegetables
- regular exercise
- adequate sleep
- a supportive social network
How I see it, there are 2 groups of people at BEFIT who need to fix their eating.
Group #1
These are the individuals that just eat poorly and make bad nutrition choices. Eating too much sugar, fried, and processed food. You are stuck in your habits and need to work on changing these in order to change you.
If you can’t get 1 meal perfect in 1 day how do you expect to lose any weight? If you are always looking for alternatives or substitutes to satisfy your cravings then you are not getting the point of changing your lifestyle and habits. You know what the alternatives or substitutes are…EAT HEALTHY FOOD. If you do it long enough, it becomes more palatable and a more satisfying choice!
If you are in group #1. The rest of this blog is not for you. You need to start instilling healthy habits and stop lying and cheating yourself.
Group #2
You eat low or no carb around 1200 calories a day. Practically starving your body. You attend the gym regularly at least 4x/week, work hard, and don’t seem to be able to budge the scale, despite working hard and eating healthy. You justify that muscle weighs more than fat, but in reality you are not eating enough food to gain any muscle…. (you’re probably losing it in fact)…
I am going to help you.
See, you most likely started out at BEFIT or another gym or bootcamp and lowered your calories a bit and you lost some weight for awhile. Eventually, you hit a plateau. In order to bust through the plateau, you added more exercise and lowered your calories again. This worked for awhile until you hit another plateau. By now, you are doing 6-7 hours of exercise a week, and eating 1,000 calories/day and now your weight won’t budge. You still aren’t lean, you’ve fried your metabolism, and you can’t possibly lower your calories anymore and still function.
GET THIS.
No matter how clean you eat or how you workout, you will not lose weight, and in some cases, you will start gaining weight. It’s very difficult mentally, and if this sounds like you we need to reset your metabolic set point.
And I have bad news for you…Until you fix this problem, you will not get one step closer to your weight loss goals. Matter of fact, it’s highly likely you will get further away from them. Your damaged metabolism was caused by one thing: prolonged dieting..and don’t kid yourself, if you are doing BEFIT workouts and not losing weight while eating well, you may have a damaged metabolism.
To fix it, you need to add in some clean wholesome carbs. This includes eating brown rice, quinoa, unsweetened oatmeal, and yams, and sweet potatoes.
Start by adding a complex carb such as 1/2 cup or less of COOKED quinoa, brown rice, sweet potatoes, yams, or unsweetned oatmeal to 1 or 2 of your meals.For men I would add 1 cup. IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT A CUP SIZE LOOKS LIKE THEN MAKE SURE YOU MEASURE IT OUT WHEN IT IS COOKED. Here is a picture of half a cup.
We have been implementing this strategy with a few members and they are all dropping weight easily. It’s as if their body was starving for the nutrients it was lacking!!!!
When you increase physical activity and nutritious food intake, your metabolism will increase.
Severe calorie deprivation messes up your thyroid, cortisol, and testosterone levels and inhibits the production of serotonin, a brain chemical needed to control appetite and maintain harmony with food.
Honestly, this isn’t rocket science, although sometimes it may seem like it. Just dont deprive yourself of the good carbs (AND JUST DONT EAT THE BAD ONES!) If you have good portion control you will do great.
I eat complex carbs everyday (potato or rice are my go to complex carbs). And just stay away from the bad carbs. And in the next post, you will be seeing what the training staff eats daily.
Until then, everyone is different. Eat like you know you should. Eat rationally. Eat foods you enjoy. Figure out what feedback your body is providing. If you feel a bit bloated, you probably ate too much or ate a food that is wrong for your body. Use this as a guideline and make adjustments with what you see visually and on the scale. Put yourself in 1 of those 2 groups and start building great habits.
Bon Appetite and Good Eating,
Josh Saunders, BSc, CSCS, PN-1, CF-1, CPT, PTS
BEFIT.
