vegetables-1584999_1920.jpgIt’s amazing how many times I’ve heard the excuse, “I just don’t have time to eat right.” Sure you do! Most of us can make healthier choices in some way, if we take time for ourselves. An apple here, a few carrots there, and we’re replacing too many carbohydrates or sugary foods with added fibre and nutrients.  If you want to lose body fat and weight, you have got to get a handle on nutrition – period. It  counts for 90% of your results! Even if you train 4-5 times weekly, you can’t train yourself out of bad eating.

I know, you’ve been told “low-fat” and “non-fat” is good for you. Forget it, that’s yesterday’s nonsense. Many people are shocked when I tell them they need more fat in their diet. That’s right, you need healthy fats of the type you find in nuts, olive oil, avocados, natural peanut butter, fish, fish oils, chia seeds, and so on. These actually help your body to become lean!

And if you’re on the low calorie wagon, jump off. Not getting enough calories means you’re eventually going to gain weight again. Your body thinks it’s starving and it starts to burn up muscle as fuel.  That’s not good because it takes a lot of energy to maintain your muscle, which burns more calories at rest than fat.

Here’s another shocker – eat more! That’s right, eat 5-6 small meals per day instead of the well worn three squares.  Lots of healthy, small meals means you are constantly spending calories on digestion and absorption because food has a thermic effect. Protein helps to keep hunger down, which assists you in holding down your calories without losing your mind.

Add lots of vegetables and low sugar fruits to the mix, with smaller amounts of carbs and fats to get great results. Then cut out all refined grains and highly processed foods. They’re filled with empty calories and make your waist look like a jelly roll on steroids.

Aim for 25-30 grams per day of fibre, which makes you feel full and therefore aids in weight loss. Don’t skip meals, either! If you skip the morning breakfast you are asking for your metabolism to slow down to a crawl

In order to be successful, you have to make sacrifices. Everything is achievable, but not necessarily easy, so if you don’t want it bad enough, you’ll never get it. Only those that persevere are rewarded with success. Quitters are always left wondering “what if”, and then head off to buy bigger clothes. That difference between those who lose weight consistently, and those who don’t, is that the former just want it more.