Keep your results from stalling Pt 2

NUTRITION:

Unlike pt 1 of this blog, nutrition on the other hand must actually change more often than we think in order to keep our goals on track. In it’s most simple form, you must eat for A.) Your goals B.) your activity levels. Sounds simple, right? But it’s a bit more complicated for some than you think. So let’s look at point A. What are your goals? Lose weight? Gain muscle? Get Stronger, faster, enhance performance etc…you MUST know your goals and you can’t be constantly changing them every month, otherwise you will never reach your end destination. Also, word of advice, pick 1 goal. Don’t be looking to lose weight, while building muscle while trying to increase performance, while it’s possible it makes you have to think of 3 different things instead of focusing on one and makes your job three times harder. As a coach I know most people want to dramatically change their lives right away but this is process.

Let’s talk about point B. Your activity level. Having a fitness tracker like a fitbit makes one’s life very easy as you have an approximate idea of how many calories your are burning daily on average. If you don’t have a fit bit just google how to calculate your BMR and tons of websites will do that for you. Why is knowing your daily activity level important. Well, if you spend the majority of your day in a desk job you obviously won’t be burning that many calories. On the other hand if you have a very active job then you will be burning more calories throughout your day. This is extremely important because after you know what your goal(s) is and now you know your activity level you can start planning on how many calories to eat to achieve your goals. If on average you burn 2,800 kcal a day with exercise and your daily BMR (basic metabolic rate ; the amount of calories you burn just be living daily) you have a base to start with. If you are trying to gain muscle consuming roughly around 3,200kcal would be a decent start point and if you are trying to lose weight starting at 2,650 kcal is a good starting point too. This is where most people get lost and just randomly jump into a diet without knowing how many calories they should be eating. Don’t make that mistake. With a little homework you can make big changes.

Changing your nutrition then will be simple. Just adjust it weekly to your activity levels. If you know you are not going to be working out at all for an entire week or a few days due to business, personal or any other reason, why would you be eating the same amount of food as if you are going to grind it at the gym? Makes no sense. That’s where that excess fat will eventually come from. So decrease your total intake of food for the days you aren’t actually needed it. Very important thing. Change your nutrition also based on your daily needs. If you know you will be taclking a big leg day and then you have a lot of other activities for the day, it’s fine eat strategically more for that day.

Some tools that might help you. Personally I highly recommend tracking your macros. You don’t need to do it religiously, but take 15 seconds daily after eating to add up your food. This can be done extremely easy with an app such as MyNetDiary or FitnessPal. Secondly if you can, get a fitness tracker. My favorite one is the Fit Bit Charge Hr as it measure my daily heart rate and gives me a good idea where I stand with calories burnt. These two little tools can add up to big results if you stick to your plan.

#nutrition #food #weightloss #weightgain #goals