You want help leaning out. How do you do it?
With most things in life there seems to be a quick way of making a change or a less rapid, but more sophisticated and often better way. There is a long term solution and then there is the quick fix. Diet or nutrition, are great examples of these types of choices, especially when looking at leaning out
Most people assume that the quickest and easiest way to lean out is to go into a caloric deficit, exercise more than they have and then hope. They hope that their body readily accepts the deficit in calories and burns their stored fat. In my experience as a coach this works one time in your life. One time in most people’s life they can “crash diet” lose some quick pounds and hit their target weight. It helps if a crash diet happens in your early 20’s and you are super active going into the “crash diet”.
As you age, the “crash diet” isn’t going to work as well or work at all.
You might lose some weight but you are losing muscle ending up skinny fat. The “crash diet” is the quick and easy way to a solution – but as I mentioned it works once.
The long term approach to leaning out takes more time, takes more effort and most importantly consistentiency
What I mean by this is if you have had a poor nutrition plan or no plan for 5 years to expect to be your best weight, and best shape in 30 days is dreaming. It won’t happen. But what can happen is in 3 months you start feeling better. In 6 months you are really making changes. And in 9 to 12 months you are on a path to being the strongest, leanest person you can be.
Why is the long term approach the better approach?
Much like compounding interest, the results get better the longer you go. With the long term approach you are adjusting and making behavioral changes that help you make better choices day by day. These choices then compound and your investment grows more rapidly. It takes time, but the investment, your health, is worth the tempered and methodical approach.
When you are 12 months into a nutrition program it has become part of your lifestyle, you no longer have sugar cravings, you no longer feel peer pressure from your friends and family, you have built a stable base. The choices you make are your own and they won’t be catastrophic if you really want to have that beer on a hot Sunday afternoon. Or if you want to have an extra serving of your mom’s lasagna you know that it won’t make you gain weight, as it’s a small bump on an otherwise smooth road.
The problem that we see over and over and over again is that people aren’t putting in enough time to earn the treats
They come and talk about nutrition with me, and they want to have their beers on Sunday watching football but then want to complain about them not leaning out. Every decision you get presented with either helps you get closer to a goal or further away. So can you decide if the beers help me physically? No! Do the beers help me mentally, maybe they do; maybe they help you relax and you had a tough week, or the friend and family peer pressure is intense, so you have a beer. No biggie! Just realize that the beer, or those beers didn’t help you get closer to your goal and should be offset by a majority of your weekly, or daily actions.
Interested in taking the long term approach to your nutrition?
Need help in making the right decisions in regards to food, nutrition and recovery? Want helping in leaning out? Book a nutrition consult today and let us help you on the journey to be informed and in control, allowing you to be happier and healthier!
OC is Central Oregon’s premier Nutrition, Personal Training and Sports Performance facility.
