Originally posted January 15, 2014.

Your results are a result of the energy status in your body. Energy status is the relationship between the food you eat (energy intake) and the exercise you do (energy expenditure).

• If energy (food) intake is greater than expenditure (exercise), weight is gained
• If food intake is less than exercise, weight is lost = NEGATIVE ENERGY BALANCE
• If food intake is equal to exercise expenditure weight is maintained.

While nutrient timing and food type are also important, the fat loss formula is the most important factor when it comes to your progress.

There are many ways to establish a negative energy balance…The best habit to start with is to increase your exercise amount to 5-7 hours per week. Make this your first habit! You are more than welcome to come to the gym for an extra hour and ride the bike or do a cardio workout 2x/day. This allows you to just make smarter nutrition choices outlined below, which will create a negative energy balance set for success.

To ensure that you reach your goal, you should follow these habits:

Habit 1 – Eat slowly and stop eating at 80% full

• Increases appetiite awareness
• Teaches you to listen to hunger cues and body sensations
• Reduces total calorie intake
• Read more here: https://thebootcampeffect.com/habit-1-the-tortoise-won-the-race

Habit 2 – Eat protein dense foods with each meal

• Easiest way to achieve your daily protein needs
• Protein intake improves metabolism, body composition, and performance
• Read more here: https://thebootcampeffect.com/the-1-reason-you-cant-lose-weight

Habit 3 – Eat vegetables with each meal

• Easiest way to achieve daily vegetable needs
• Improves vitamin and mineral intake
• Helps control overall food intake

Habit 4 – Save high starch meals until after exercise

• Easiest way to control carb intake
• Helps with nutrient timing
• Read more here: https://thebootcampeffect.com/langley-bootcamp-2-plate-rule
• NOTE**** If you are stuck losing weight and are following all these habits, you will want to increase your complex carb intake to 2 meals per day. (1 serving in your post workout meal and 1 serving at another meal). This will ensure you are not going into starvation mode. Unfortunately with nutrition, the most appropriate answer to most questions is “it depends”. Be aware of the changes in your body and make slight adjustments with this information and your experiences.

Habit 5 – Eat good fats daily

• Easiest way to balance fat intake
• Improved inflammation control, hormonal profile, and metabolism

2 great references on the type of foods to eat:

• Protein Carb and Fat Choices Made Simple:http://www.precisionnutrition.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Protein-Fat-and-Carbohydrate-Chart.pdf
• 21 Superfoods: http://www.precisionnutrition.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/21-Superfoods-Reference.pdf

It may seem intimidating looking at all these habits at once. So read this post on adopting 1 habit at a time. This should be your first action step:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/LitFitnessReports/5-daily-habits-for-fat-loss.pdf

Great nutrition is honest and outcome based. It does not lie. If you are eating good you get results.

Those successful in body transformation typically have established the right lifestyle habits and therefore should be modelled. Not only should their diet and gym intensity be copied but so should their activities.

Feel free to ask questions to members of our bootcamp family who have found success.

Stop listening to what “everyone” else says… What “everyone” else tells you to do… If you want to be the best at something, if you want to create the best version of yourself, then you need to ignore “everyone”, you need to turn a blind eye to the masses, because the masses are the normal people sitting at the base of the mountain glaring up at the summit, envious of the people who had the guts to defy normality and have rightfully claimed their spot atop the path of success. This system has worked for thousands of others. If you want this. There’s no room to be afraid of failure. There’s no room not to believe in yourself.

BE Change,
Josh Saunders, BSc, CSCS, PN-1
BEFIT.