Paleo, Keto, Zone, Atkins, Weight Watchers, South Beach , oh my! Endless fitness apps, websites advising you on counting calories, counting macros, high fat vs high carb, intermittent fasting. Holy cow! Stop the insanity!
Do you want this to happen to you?
This is what fad diets accomplish. Every. Single. Time. Make no mistake, you will be worse off in the end. I can see that for most people it can be very confusing when it comes to what and how much to eat in order to have the body you want. Here’s the thing. It’s actually simple. Very simple.
Eat everything
Seriously, once you start eliminating food groups, you are creating cravings and will be missing out on some important micronutrients. Every food group has it’s own unique health benefit. Please don’t email me that you have allergies and can’t eat certain things. As a side note, question everything they tell you about your allergies. I don’t have any confidence in the accuracy of some of those tests. At one point they had me allergic to a whole bunch of fruit that I’ve been eating my entire life with no adverse effect. I decided that it was all nonsense and continued to eat those foods with great results. How you feel is the best indicator of your nutrition. But I’m not here to tell you what to do. If you can’t eat something, don’t. But for the majority of the population, don’t eliminate anything. Veggies, fruit, meat, fish, eggs, milk, starches, grains, legumes, nuts, etc. EVERYTHING. There are only some hard rules.
No junk food
You can’t fuel on junk and expect good results. Junk food undermines your immune system and makes you more susceptible to getting sick. It makes you feel tired and drained. Not exactly great fueling option. Deep fried anything or processed foods are horrible choices and will only sabotage your goals. Sweet treats should be minimal but can be included. As long as there’s some health benefit like dark chocolate. Why not? Enjoy what you eat.
Don’t be hungry
That’s the worst thing you can do. Eat plenty, eat healthy, eat everything, and listen to your body for signals. Don’t eat mindlessly. The better you eat, the more energy you will have, the better your workouts will be. Say no to energy drinks. Food is energy! Which brings me to another very important and often misunderstood point.
Don’t go to the gym to earn your calories
Go to the gym to build and maintain muscle which will give you the body you want. This is the optimal health cycle. Eat well and you’ll work out better, which will build muscle, which will burn through those calories you ate, which will make you hungry, which will make you eat more, which will result in even better workouts, which build more lean tissue, which will make you even hungrier, which will make you eat even more, which will result in even better workouts, which will build even more muscle, etc.
End result? Your body’s composition will have more muscle and less fat. Get the point? This is how you get the body you want. Seriously people it’s really that simple. Anyone making it more complicated than this is trying to sell you something that you don’t need and will most likely not work long term.