Yeah I eat pretty well – the most repeated phrase in nutrition consults.
The reality
The reality of the situation according to this study, is that about 70% of Americans are overweight or obese. That means three out of the four people you know are probably overweight. One out of those three is probably obese(30%). If the US continues on this trend nearly half of all American men and women will be obese. Overweight is concerned to have a Body mass index of 25 -30 and obesity 30+.
Nutrition
You can’t out train a bad diet. As you age, and your stress levels increase with work, family, life changes etc it becomes even more apparent that you can’t train enough to outrace your poor nutrition habits.
Lots of people say that the abs are made in the kitchen. Or that 30% of your health is about the gym and the 70% is in the kitchen. No matter what the truth is almost everyone is not eating well. They can’t be.
Building consistent habits
- Limit alcohol – alcohol makes it harder to burn fat. Slows down muscle growth. Disrupts your sleep. Delays your recovery process. Alcohol is a depressant. Makes it difficult to train the next day.
- Eat more protein – A protein heavy diet leaves you less room for junk. Chicken, turkey, steak and eggs are some of the best foods with high protein content. Eat 1g of protein for your goal body weight every day.
- Drink more water – skip drinks that have empty calories or added sugar. Skip diet drinks. Try to get your goal body weight in ounces of water a day.
- Pack a lunch – lots of people come to us and say they cook breakfast and dinner but don’t plan for lunch. Save money and pack a lunch. Base your lunch around protein.
- Lift weights. Workout 3-5x a week. Limit high intensity workouts to 2-3 a week. Complete at least one workout that is 30 minutes plus of lower intensity, such as aerobic work.
- Spend 15 minutes a day, every day walking. Bonus points if it is after a meal. Utilize these walks to clear your head. Leave your phone at home or in the car.
Nutrition Coaching
Most people have an idea of what eating well would look like. They fail because they don’t have a coach or the accountability. Successful people with life long nutrition have periods of time with increased accountability. At OC that can be nutrition coaching for three months. After 90 days of nutrition coaching, we see peoples habits have changed. That the coaching helped bring back successful habits that were utilized in the past.
Nutrition is life long challenge
Cutting out things you enjoy isn’t going to work for your life. If you love pie – being told to never have a slice of pie again is not going to work. What will work is being consistent 90% of the time. The 10% of time when you want to have a slice of pie – go ahead. Guilt free.
If we stop and consider what we are attempting to do with our nutrition programs, it should go back to the life long challenge. Building habits that you can utilize for life will make you more successful than the challenges. 30 days is not long enough to build habits or change behavior.
Utilize coaching to help you eat well. Start reversing the trend of Americans being overweight and obese. Build healthy habits, help your family build healthy habits and be healthier and happier!
Thanks for checking out OC in Bend, Oregon. OC is Central Oregon’s premier CrossFit, Personal Training and Sports Performance gym in Bend, Oregon.
Schedule a Nutrition Consult and eat well!
