Many North Shore Personal Training clients would love it if personal training would allow them to eat whatever they like. Unfortunately, more is needed! Regular fitness training does do amazing things to a body, but losing body fat requires healthy lifestyle changes. Making smarter diet choices each day is key, and your Bodystar personal trainer will help you incorporate the most effective habits to improve your results.
A personal trainer will always ask you about your diet and extra exercise. He or she should keep you focused on progress, on the little steps that lead to your ultimate goals. During the breaks in training, be sure to be honest about all that buttered popcorn you ate, the extra glasses of wine (empty, fat-making calories!), and the ice cream you sneaked in last night.Be honest, and you'll get the positive accountability you need to stick to your guns when the BBQ chips are calling to you. Fitness training aside, you can lose body fat without dieting if you stick to some basic ground rules. If you "wing it" there's no guarantee vs counting calories, but you'll certainly begin to have the healthy habits you need to succeed. If you need a more structured diet, Weight Watchers was recently found to be the most effective diet out there--and you can join online. For those of you who prefer to do it your way, here are a few good tips: 1) Portion Control: Eating Less, More Often Eating smaller meals more often is an old standard method designed to keep your blood sugar even and your body nourished. I often tell my older clients that going hungry to lose weight translates to aging more quickly and ultimate failure. Better to work hard and eat smaller meals every 3 hours or so through the day. Eat a combination of lean proteins, vegetables, grains, fruits and legumes. Make sure you have a protein in each meal, and be sure to focus on good supply and planning. Eat lots of veggies and use smaller plates because smaller plates have been shown to help people eat less. Quality and portion control are key; if you eat more calories than you burn, you’ll gain weight…it’s that simple. 2) Eat A Good Breakfast I’ve had many personal training clients who used to skip breakfast, a major no-no! Your body needs to “break the fast” and fire up your metabolism for the day. If you delay eating for hours after waking it will create a “caloric debt” that will likely compel you to binge eat later! This late night eating, when your metabolism slows, will likely put fat on your body. The best time to eat a big meal is breakfast: “top-loading” calories early with a good protein-based breakfast has been shown to cut the amount of calories you’ll eat later in the evening. Don’t skip breakfast! 3) Eat Paleo with Lots of Plant-based Foods Eating a Paleo-style diet is great for your health. When you eat in this style, you’ll avoid sugars and junk food, and eat food in its most natural state. Think lean meats and fish with primarily plant-based foods like veggies, fruit, nuts, whole grains, legumes, etc. instead use healthy fat oils like olive oil. Have fish and poultry a few times a week each, but limit red meat to a few times a month. It's ok if you have a glass of wine, I won't tell anyone ;) 4) Don’t Buy Processed Food I knew a personal trainer who would go into his clients' kitchen periodically to remove all the bad food! (Good way to get fired, btw :) Processed foods have long lists of strange ingredients that are unnatural and often horrible for you. It’s not a coincidence that the rise in sugar-packed processed foods coincides with the rise in obesity rates! We were made to eat real, whole foods in their most natural state, so it’s important to start cooking simple, clean meals that you like. Every ingredient list should be simple, short, and appetizing. 6) Start Meals with Veggies, Healthy Soup, or Salad When you start each meal with a healthy, fiber-filled starter, you’ll eat fewer calories during your meal. Find a variety of healthy starters that you like and rotate them. They’ll fill your stomach with fiber, making you feel full, and that will keep your portions low and your deserts away. Skip deserts if you can, or eat them alone as a reward once in a while…cheating at the right times will help you keep your sanity. 7) Stop Eating Out So Much Going out often means gaining weight. Restaurants want you to love their food, and since flavor is greatly enhanced by fat, sugar, and sodium, you’ll eat a lot of unknown extra calories. You’ll never see the caloric breakdown of your food, but just assume it’s very high and be careful. First, start with a salad or soup (as above) and try to order a healthy main course with sauces on the side (and use them sparingly). Portions are often extra large in restaurants, so eat half and save half for tomorrow as a general rule. Have a bite or two of someone else’s desert so you won’t have to order (and devour) your own. 8) Stop With The Sugar Already Sugary foods and drinks are a major contributor to today’s obesity rates. Recently, groups have asked that sugar to be listed as a toxic substance (along with alcohol and drugs). Eating or drinking a lot of sugar and highly processed carbohydrates is a sure way to put fat on your body, so it’s best to develop strategies for dumping your sugar sources asap! If you need a little sweetness, try honey, a simple carbohydrate and super food…but be careful, it still has calories! Cut the soft drinks and alcohol, try drinking flavored or infused waters and low calorie drinks you like—do that, and you could cut hundreds of calories a day! Keep at it, and you might see the beautiful abs you’ve been working on… 9) Sleep! Multiple studies have found that consistent sleep is key to regulating your food intake. Shoot for about 7 hours a night. When you don’t sleep enough, you are likely to eat more food due to hormonal changes. Try to go to bed and get up at the same times each night, it will keep your body regular and rested for the fabulous fitness training sessions ahead of you! 10) Talk To Your Trainer About Food Regularly There are plenty more strategies out there to help you eat better and lose that extra body fat. When you start personal training at home with Bodystar Fitness, you’ll get a lot of insights, food coaching, and the positive support and accountability you need to stay on a good diet track. It’s also good to get your family on your plan so you won’t have a ton of tempting junk food in the house. If they need it, tell them to find an out-of-the-way place to hide it. Taking to your personal trainer means you’ll get the support and positive accountability you need to stay on a solid track and win.
Bodystar Fitness is an at home personal training service for Chicago’s North Shore, check us out at bodystarfitness.com or bodystar.fitness (new ending, no .com). We train wonderful clients in Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Northfield, Glenview, Glencoe, Northbrook, Highland Park, Evanston, and the surrounding areas. Contact us today to get in great shape at home.
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