STOP RESTRICTING & LEARN TO PLAY THE GAME !!!
Following on from our last nutrition post ( https://www.nikafitstudios.ie/single-post/2018/03/27/Nutrition-101---Fat-Loss ), we all should know that good nutrition needs to be the foundation of our health and fitness goals if we want to achieve the long-term results we desire.
I know you guys want to know about what to eat and how to structure meals, but for now, we need to address why your approach has been flawed to this point & how you can get out of the "DIET CYCLE" by learning to play the game.
So, let's kick things off with some "Diet" facts;
On average we gain 1 pound every year from the age of 25 on
The average person attempts 3 Major diets per year
The average person typically "cheats" on their diet by day 6 (the weekend, something we will address in a later post)
The average diets last a total of 5 weeks !!!!
So before we even go into specifics about what and when to eat, we need to be aware of why most diets FAIL.
Then we need to get to grips and understand some physiological, psychological and emotional behaviours associated with dieting and food.
The picture accurately depicts the struggle most associated with dieting.
We get motivated; we hit the gym, we munch on salads every day, cut out "CARBS" sweets chocolate, drink and all the foods that we enjoy, do mountains of work in the gym week to week & things are "FEELING" good.......but the number on the scale never seems to reflect your perceived efforts in the gym!
We see this all the time in the gym and it's an all too familiar issue for most.
Frustration sets in and like I mentioned previously it's hard to get out of that negative mindset, some struggle on and "RESTRICT MORE, but most give up.........until the next period of motivation sets in.
This cycle is what we call YOYO dieting and is what the majority of people unintentionally take part in when they start dieting without first learning the rules of engagement.
What if I told you-you never had to go on a diet again, that you could take control, you could tip the odds in your favour at any time you wanted?
If you have been on and off a DIET for years, START NOW and LEARN TO PLAY THE GAME.
All of you reading this are successful in your own right, worked hard in school, received good grades, maybe some went on to college and even if you didn't you are NOW in the position you are in because you are valued for what you know.
YOU have spent time LEARNING to get where you are now. Nobody (at least no one I know) has ever got there on a wing and a prayer.
School as a kid for me was no fun, I retained information quickly, but I never wanted to learn anything that school provided me with.
But at school, we have to do what we have to do !! If we failed a test, we have to take the time to STUDY AND LEARN said topic and then resit that test.
When it comes to "dieting", most people are just continually retaking the test in the hope for better grades without doing any of the extra work!
The definition of insanity is "repeating the same process and expecting a different result."
All diets work but not the way you think they do:
These are a list of some of the most popular diets that people tend to follow to attain the body composition they desire.
The point here is that regardless of the whichever approach you choose, they ALL, and I mean ALL, are based on ONE KEY DRIVER behind weight loss:
YOU HAVE TO BE IN A CALORIE DEFICIT! (consume less fuel than your body needs!)
THIS is how FAT loss works people! It's not because you simply ate healthier foods or you stopped eating sugar, cut out carbs or whatever else - you just stopped consuming more calories than your body needed!
My issues as a practitioner are not the dietary choice in isolation but the fact that most diets are extremely over restrictive, which leads to psychological stress and creates a terrible mindset that you have to deprive yourself to get the results you want.
It doesn't have to be like that!
Fat loss IS A GAME OF NUMBERS; you can continually hop from one diet to the another for the rest of your life or begin to learn the rules.
How many of you downloaded My fitness pal on the back of our last nutrition post and have started to track their food.........?
If you have, you should be starting to get an average of how many calories you consume in a day and therefore judging whether you are in a surplus or in a deficit ,which will ultimately determine whether you gain or lose weight!
If you haven't started yet then WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!
If you are not tracking your food intake then you are leaving your weight loss goals to chance.
Would you rather do something that might get you results or do something that research has proven will get you guaranteed results!?!
We already know what our decision is but the choice is yours!
