For the longest time, I ate whatever I wanted.
That worked until I was 30 when my alarm clock was going off at 4:30am for work and kids started coming into my life.
What I ate actually made a difference with how I felt.
Not cool. I felt like it was a gut punch (literally).
I could no longer get away with eating like a young teenager who didn’t have a care in the world about ice cream for lunch.
Although I missed getting away with it all, looking back I’m glad I was forced to change my habits.
Nutrition is more environmental than you realize.
What you buy matters. Where you go out to eat matters. Who you hang out with and eat with matters. Weekends do count when it comes to fat loss or weight loss. Friday, Saturday and Sunday is pretty much half the week, unfortunately.
Bringing a basketball to a hockey game doesn’t make sense. In the same way, don’t show up at a family gathering or birthday party thinking it won’t be bombarded with fatty foods. If you want to win, pay attention to weekend eating.
Our environment dictates our habits.
Complicated foods….are well, complicated.
Complicated foods are foods that are high in two or three macronutrients. 2 tablespoons of peanut butter has 16s grams of fat, 8 grams of carbs, and 7 grams of protein, so why do people think it’s a protein source? It’s a source of fat that carries some carbs and protein with it.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with complicated foods (peanut butter, avocados, protein bars), just plan them in your day first.
Here’s my trick…think of nutrition as a one way street.
This means keeping a carb a carb, a protein a protein, and a fat a fat. If you are training for a body composition change try to plan complicated foods first.
If you stay on a one way nutrition street you can be more successful.
Potatoes are a carb. So is rice.
Olive oil is fat. So it is butter.
Lean ground turkey is lean protein, that may carry some fat, but that’s okay when it comes to a majority protein source. Egg whites are another source of 100% protein.
Those are examples of one way nutrition streets.
Plan complicated foods first
This goes to the last point. Foods that are high in 2-3 macronutrients (carbs, fats, and proteins) should be planned first.
If you are going to eat them, work with them and not against them. Typically this is what can boost someone’s caloric intake and they don’t get the results they want.
Simple can be scaled easier.
What do you have to do so that this week is easier for you?
Here’s what helps me.
I bulk food prep, not meal prep. Meal prep is overwhelming and sometimes I don’t feel like eating that meal.
So I bulk prep my protein and carbs. My protein options are sauteing 36 ounces of ground turkey which will take care of 4 8 ounce lunches of protein for me. I’ll sometimes crock pot chicken breast so it comes out pulled chicken. Either of those options work great.
Carbs are easy because it’s either cooking potatoes or Trader Joe’s microwave brown rice which is awesome by the way.
When it comes to fat, I’ll get more of my fat from protein sources I eat. Fat is going to be carried along with the ground turkey. If I saute that ground turkey, I’m going to cook it with olive oil which is a primary fat source (one way street). I’m not typically eating fatty foods, just adding to my protein or carbs to cook it.
Simple can be scaled easier, so find what works best for you.
Your local gym guy,
Tim
