Hopefully Part 1 of this series addressed some easily glossed-over information (or should I say misinformation) that, when applied, makes some very big changes with very little effort. Part 2 offers some easy advice to take things just a step further.
Myth #1: The ideal American diet: 3 square meals a day
Everyone is familiar with the three daily prescribed meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner. And I have to admit, most of America can probably get by on those. However, if your goal is weight loss, muscle gain, or even just an elevated level of overall health -- you’re going to have to multiply that by two.
The Reality
Six meals a day is what’s optimal for your body, although in smaller portions. Remember earlier about kick starting your metabolism in the morning? Well, keeping it on a regular feeding schedule prevents it from going back to bed throughout the day. Think of your metabolism as a really lazy house pet. The only reason this thing’s getting up is to eat and any downtime will be spent on a fluffy pet bed accomplishing pretty much zilch. Three meals a day (especially large ones) gives this animal a lot of time to do nothing and three big reasons to be exhausted when it finally does. (Which translates to more stored fat.) However, eating six times a day (or approximately every three hours) keeps your precious pet jogging back and forth from the kitchen with a whole lot more vitality. Keep this thing moving if you want to burn some serious calories!
Excuse #2: “Diets are too difficult!”
The word “diet” actually describes the way you eat -- not specifically a way to lose weight. McDonalds three times a day is a “diet.” Just not a good one.
The Reality
You don’t need to deprive yourself of anything to lose weight or simply stay healthy. (Although learning to phase out unhealthy habits would behoove you.) However, this is where most people go wrong and give weight loss diets a bad name. The truth of the matter is that if you’re used to eating pizza five times a week, simply cutting back to three times a week is going to induce some healthy results. You need to START SLOW and remember that consistency is your key to results. Start by training yourself to eat six small meals a day. Then cut back on things that you know are bad for you. Chocoholics -- cut out two candy bars a week. Don’t eat out quite so much. Replace good fats for bad.
Getting to Your Goals
If your goal is to lose body fat, write down everything you eat normally for two weeks and see how many calories a day it comes out to. First things first. Try to eat the same amount of calories consistently. Inconsistency exhausts your lazy house pet and it will work less and store more!! Average calorie consumption for a woman is around 2,000 --although if you’re high above that START SLOW by only cutting a few hundred calories at first. If you’re way below that, do not get below 1,200 calories, ever. If you are below that and you still have excess body fat, it’s because you’ve trained your house pet to never leave its bed at all. Refer to the advice above.
The average caloric intake for males is generally a bit higher (muscle burns calories and men tend to have more of it), however remember that anyone over 30 is going to start having a bit of a decrease in metabolism. My best advice for men is to, again, write your calories down for two weeks and start decreasing them by about 300 at first. (Just enough to lose weight, not enough to create massive cravings.) After a couple weeks, if you feel your results are not enough, decrease by another 300 (same as females), but males should not go below 2,000 calories.
The fourth step, after cutting back on obvious junk food, writing down calories and starting to lightly curb them, is increasing the quality of what you eat. Remember, an ideal diet is 40 percent protein, 30 percent carbohydrates, and 30 percent good fats. Making slight changes will bring about desired results, but if you want to take your fitness, appearance, and health further, you have to provide the accurate fuel for your body to function with. The most beautiful part of dieting using gradual adjustments like this is it sidesteps most of the problems people have with cravings, feeling limited, hungry, or restricted. Furthermore, once you start acclimating to the small changes, you’ll notice your body starts working with you -- actually craving things that are good for it while sweets and junk food start to seem less and less important.
Little Known Fact #2: Some assassins are below the radar.
The Reality
Carbohydrates, for instance, are slightly addictive. Did you know that? Try eating a bowl of cereal every morning for two weeks and then not eating carbs one day until noon. You’ll get a headache. Sometimes massive cravings. Again, this is why gradual adjustments are in order. Only decreasing your calories by about 300 or so and slightly starting to incorporate more proteins and fats while decreasing carbs will keep you from having to pop an Excedrin during the transition weeks.
Other assassins are simply in places you may not think to look. Do you drink black coffee? Or do you put thick, calorie filled creamer in it? Or even worse, do you start every morning off at Starbucks? Fruit juice is a killer too. Unless the bottle says “fruit JUICE” you’re probably drinking 20 percent fruit juice, filler, and tons of sugar. (Bad.) Anything that says “fruit cocktail” or “fruit drink” is not mostly juice. (Look on the bottle. It will tell you.) And even if your juice IS 100 percent juice, it’s still an easy way to gain a lot of calories for very little nutritious content, and you’re certainly not going to feel full afterward. I like fresh fruit on occasion, but I don’t recommend you make it a staple of your diet.
Next time:
Don’t beat yourself up: lessons in consistency)
Why crash diets never work (no matter what people say)
Exercise that suits you
Precocious entrepreneur, workaholic and a rabid perfectionist Crystal Starlight is a pro right down the line. Email her at [email protected]