Eat Smarter
Oftentimes we hear stories like this: “Becky lost 50lbs in less than 5 months!! She did it by only eating soup every single day”! Or, “Ben only ate raw fruit and ran a mile every morning, and it completely changed his life”! We hear the stories of extremes, and we listen fascinated and in awe of that persons strength and discipline. Most of us tend to think that if you’re not going balls to the wall to hit your goal, then it’s not worth doing at all. We’re impatient and constantly looking for the fastest route possible, without thinking of the long term implications of our extreme behavior.
Exerting short term bouts of motivation to do a crash diet, sounds amazing and like the way to go at first; until as the name suggest - you crash and burn. Beating your body into submission and forcing yourself to eat in a very specific way, can only last so long. It’s much easier to have a short lived crash diet and a few months of consistency, than it is to build a life of moderation and consistency.
Isn’t it preferable to not have to deal with yo-yo diets and massive weight fluctuations all the time?
Wouldn’t it be nice for nutrition to feel effortless?
One of the main issues we commonly see in people trying to get in shape is that they try to go too hard too fast and expect change to happen overnight. You don’t have to resort to crazy fad diets, and exhaustive efforts to accomplish a fitness goal. You don’t have to start off fast and hard, it’s much smarter to go slow and steady. I used to be in a rush to lose weight, I would read that I should be aiming for 1-2 pounds of weight loss a week, and I thought, “I don’t have time for that!”, so I’d resort to the crash diets. Sure, I’d lose some weight, but I always gained it back, and I realized that I had wasted more time with the constant yo-yo-ing, and going back and forth. But if I just tried the slow and steady approach, I probably would have hit my goal even sooner (and learned how to keep it off for life!).
Change is never easy, and implementing long term lasting change is even harder. So be ok with giving yourself time to change your eating habits, give yourself time to find the type of fitness and movement that you enjoy. You have to like what you’re doing to keep it up consistently. You have to like what you eat, and you have to like how you train. The best fitness program for you is one that you can stick to, and the best diet plan, is an eating strategy that you can keep up for years to come.
Work on changing your mindset. Change the way you think about fitness and nutrition. Take this time to try different foods, learn how to prepare new meals, stay open minded and give your body time to acclimate to the changes.
Below are 3 charts that I’d like you to take a look at
This list contains foods that are highly satiating, meaning they keep us fuller for longer. Try adding more of these into your diet if you struggle with feeling hungry.
This is a visual description of varying levels of hunger. If you’re someone who is used to eating till you’re full, or if you struggle with knowing what true hunger feels like'; take a look at this list. As you eat your meals, try to notice how your’e feeling. Many of us that struggle with weight are used to sitting at levels 7-10, and when we get to levels 4,5 and 6 we think we are experiencing hunger - when in fact we are not. Having room to eat, and being hungry are not the same things. Try to be more mindful of your hunger levels. Get comfortable sitting lower on the hunger scale on a daily basis. When you eat, you should be aiming for a 5-6, the feeling of satisfaction. Not aiming for a 8, 9 or 10.
I’m using this chart to introduce you to the idea of Volume Eating.
Volume eating is about eating foods that are high in volume (size/quantity/amount) relative to how many calories they have. If you eat high volume foods, you can stay within your daily calories and still eat larger plates of food. Helping you to feel fuller, and making it more likely that you will stick to your diet and thus hit your goal.
Scroll down to get your week 2 assignment.
Assignment #3
This week I want you to continue focusing on staying in your calorie range, but to also utlize one of the charts from above. Maybe you want to try adding in more high volume foods? Or eating some of the higher satiety foods? Or get some practice using the Hunger scale? Read though each one and choose what you think would work best for you and your lifestyle. Which is the easiest one to implement? Try it out this week and stay mindful of how you feel. Keep using the day to day accountability reports and during the upcoming weekly check in, be sure to tell me which chart you decided to try using.
Schedule your weekly check-in
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