The Right Fitness and Nutrition Plan

A confusing area for many individuals embarking on a journey to a new body is; what is the right fitness and nutrition plan for me? This question does not need to be as daunting as it may seem. There may be only one fitness or nutrition plan that works for you, or there may be several. When it doubt, try a new one out. Just about all fitness and nutrition plans will get you results, that is to say, if you follow them the way they were meant to be followed.

First off, you have to forget about the word “diet”. Your diet will not work. Period. Why? Because a diet is a temporary fix to a major nutrition problem. All too often I have heard individuals say they lost a great deal of weight following a low-carb diet (or whatever type of diet they followed), only to gain the weight back (plus more) once they started to “eat normal” again. Well, how do you think all that excess body fat happened in the first place? It was their “normal” eating habits. If fast food, cookies and sweets are a part of your everyday eating habits, then you cut them out to lose some pounds, then bring them back again once the weight has come off, that weight is going to come back on very fast. Those types of non-nutritive foods must be cut out completely if you want the weight to stay off, and that means a complete change of lifestyle.

As I said, diets do not work. Lifestyles do. You have to think in terms of, “I’m completely changing my lifestyle.” This does not have to happen in one fell swoop. If you go from your not-so-great eating habits one day, to a completely different type of eating the next day and try to stick with it, you’re setting yourself up for failure. I hate to sound negative, but it’s the truth. A complete overhaul of your nutrition plan that suddenly will be too much of a shock to you. How many times have you told yourself, “I’m starting my diet tomorrow,” only to be sneaking a cupcake by 3PM the next day because you were having a sugar craving? You need to gradually change your eating habits. This will provide you ample time to adapt to your new eating habits, thus dramatically increasing your chances of success. If you normally eat 2 or 3 meals per day, try adding a protein shake in there at some point. Instead of grabbing a bag of potato chips, go for a bowl of grapes. Making small changes like these over time will help you to ease through the transition. Eventually, you will notice you have done a complete 180 on your eating habits.

Next, focus on losing body fat, not just on losing weight. Guess what? If you chop your arm off, you lost weight, but that didn’t do anything to get rid of that spare tire or jiggly arms you’ve been so worried about. I don’t want to get caught up in playing a numbers game, but a woman who is 120 pounds and has 20% body fat is going to look a lot different than if that same woman were 120 pounds at 30% body fat. If you incorporate weight lifting or any other type of resistance training into your fitness routine (and I believe you should) your weight may not change much, but that does not mean you are not progressing. As you gain muscle and lose fat simultaneously, your body will look different, but your weight may not go down.

Most importantly, be patient. Transforming your body does not happen overnight. If you want to lose 50 pounds by September and it’s already July, that’s going to be a tough goal to reach. The unwanted body fat you have did not appear overnight and you should not expect it to be gone so quickly either. Give yourself a reasonable timeline to accomplish your goals, and write them down. Look at them every day. Remind yourself why you have started this journey. Do you want to be able to fit into your favorite pair of jeans again? Do you want to feel sexy for your husband again? Do you want to be able to play with your children without getting winded after 5 minutes? Any reason is good enough. You are doing this for you, no one else.

This is just a starting point for your right fitness and nutrition plan. We will go into more depth on various other topics in the future. For now, set your goals, start making those little daily changes, and soon you will see that a new you is much closer than you thought.