I’ve been getting quite a few emails about various diets and what I think of them.
Should I do keto? Should I do intermittent fasting? Should I do a detox? Should I do a challenge?
Here’s the answer: all of them work if you’re on the ‘diet’ lifelong! The problem is a ‘diet’ like a detox isn’t realistic long term. It may help ‘kick-start’ your fitness and health journey…
However, we all know what happens once you’re off a ‘diet’. Once you’re off the ‘diet’, you revert to the status quo and sometimes gain even more weight than before you started this ‘diet’. I’m guilty of this! I’ve personally have experienced the heartbreak of gaining more weight than when I first started a ‘diet’.
Do you remember the television series, the Biggest Loser? That show has done far more damage to the fitness industry and North Americans by creating a distorted perspective of fitness and exercise. The Biggest Loser promoted long and hard daily workouts. Is it realistic for those contestants to workout all day once the show is over? What about recovery? Your body needs time to recover in order to make positive changes. I’m so happy that show is off the air. Heartbreakingly, many of the contestants have gained the weight back.
Having gone through my own personal transformation and having trained hundreds of clients over the years, I get it. I get it how frustrating it feels when your clothes don’t fit.
I get the feeling of letting yourself down. We all want it quick and easy…For this reason, detoxes and weight loss challenges are all appealing.
However, I have a problem with extreme diets that are for 14, 21, 28 days, 60 days and so forth. Nutrition does not have a set start date and end date. You’re going to eat for the rest of your life, right? In reality, you’re already on a nutrition plan. You’re currently either on a weight gain, weight loss, or maintenance plan. It may be unintentional what plan you’re currently on. Regardless, your body has already decided for you, based on your activity levels and nutrition habits over the past few weeks and the past several months.
Because nutrition does not have a set start and end date, I have mixed feelings about 21-day, 28-day, 6-week challenges out there. However, I offer weight loss challenges for the client who needs that incentive and motivation to finally make the change. I offer it for the person who understands that being fit and healthy is a lifestyle.
If you ever partake in one of my challenges, you’ll hear me preaching that nutrition does not have a start and end date. For new clients, there’s always an interview and consultation before joining any of my ‘challenges’. I’m more interested in what you do after your 6 week challenge and helping you develop lifelong skills. If you’re hopping from one challenge to another, or from one program to another, come and talk to me. I cast no judgement. My goal is to sort out some of the misconceptions on nutrition and fitness that you have, which the late-night infomercials have mislead you to believe.
I’m going to speak the truth! I want you to learn from my mistakes.
I’m not perfect. I’ve done every diet under the sun. I still struggle with my nutrition, but I have a strategy in place which I’ve developed working with my own nutrition coach.
From my own experience, I’ve put together a list of tips for you to succeed.
- Losing weight isn’t easy. It takes time. If you’re wanting to lose 40 pounds, it may feel like a huge mountain to climb. Instead, focus on losing 5 pounds at a time. You’ll soon lose 10, 20, 30 pounds!
- What’s worked for your friend, won’t necessarily work for you. My meal plan won’t work for you, as it won’t meet you where you need to start. My current meal plan would not have worked for me, when I first started on my journey.
- Changes must be gradual. I would have set myself up to fail if I hadn’t taken such gradual steps. For example, if you’re consuming 3000 calories a day and cut your calories to 1500 a day to start this new diet you found on the internet, your body will hate you! Your body has adapted to consuming 3000 calories a day. Instead, make gradual changes such as creating a caloric deficit of 250 day. Give your body a chance to adapt! The cravings you once had will go away, if you give your body a chance to adapt! It gets easier with time.
- Reevaluate every 2 weeks how your biofeedback is. How’s your mood? Energy? Sleep? Sex Drive? Your body will adjust to the nutrition plan in a couple of weeks. By the way, I’m not advocating a caloric restrictive diet. I’m using calories as just an example. Don’t forget to determine your daily protein, carbohydrate, and fat intake. Your nutrition plan will change, as you continue to see progress.
- Carbs aren’t the enemy! You can have your starchy carbs such as rice, potatoes, and yams. I love rice and yams. I have it daily without it derailing me from my goals. It’s about portion control and pairing your foods correctly with quality protein and fat.
- Nutrition doesn’t have to be boring. Choose foods that you enjoy. It doesn’t have to be oat meal or egg whites if that’s not what you like. I’m not a fan of broccoli, however I enjoy other vegetables such as green beans and asparagus! I also like my Epicure seasoning to give my food some amazing flavour! I like food that tastes good!
- Don’t complicate it. Start each day with a good quality breakfast. Strive to include a high-quality protein, carb, and fat in each meal. Watch your portion sizes. If you don’t like having breakfast, your metabolism may be out of alignment. Hunger response is an indicator of a properly functioning metabolism. It’ll take some time for your body to re-align. Patience is key!
- Nutrition is not about depriving yourself. Why torture yourself! You can still enjoy your ‘cheats’ and treat meals as long as you have some consistency with your nutrition. For example, if you consume 4 meals a day. That’s 28 meals a week. If you cheated 2 times on your nutrition in a week, that’s less than 10% of your meals for the week. It won’t have much of an impact on your goals.
- Yes, we’ve all heard it before. You can’t out exercise your nutrition. Instead, workout because you love your body. Use those cheat meals to fuel your workouts. Workout not to punish your body, but because you love your body!
- Hydrate! Water intake is super important for an optimal metabolism.
Questions? Feel free to reach out! I also have three Nutrition Coaching appointment times available in the next week, if you would like to meet face to face for me to answer of your questions. I don’t bite! https://calendly.com/erf/free-strategy-session-info-session
My desire is to help and make an impact on you. It’s for complimentary as my way of giving back to my amazing community. I don’t like the word free, as it devalues it! =)
Have a great week and stay safe and warm out there!
Talk soon.
-Sammy Noh
P.S Let’s thank the snow plow drivers for their long hours spent to keep our roads safe! 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏