This is better….than that!

“You will never master your craft in 30 days so why expect your body to rapidly change in this time frame?”

Upon talking to a friend of mine who has recently decided to cut calories we started discussing his future meal plans, his weight as it currently stands, how many pounds he plans on losing and overall physically what changes he wants to make in his life.  I can tell you that the individual is a determined human being, I have no doubt that he will be successful but he made a statement that I have heard throughout the 12 years of me being a Personal Trainer;

This is better than that!

I can assure you, both choices he was about to make were almost nutritionally void.  It was at this point that I wanted to educate him and teach him to start studying nutrition instead of what he believes is a “diet”.

First point: Ditch the word “diet” from your vocabulary! If you eat a majority of fast food, miss meals, eat large portions or even the other direction which is putting the correct calories in your body from nutritional sources such as Protein, Carbohydrates and Fats.  It is all the tragic word, DIET.  Replace the program with a “Nutritional Plan” and see the results immediately, learn what protein does for muscular growth, development and recovery instead of blanketing yourself with ‘it has protein in it, so it must be good’.  Learn the difference between a complex carbohydrate and a simple sugar and learn the difference between a healthy fat and saturated fat, the tools are simple and accessible! Read, buy books, look online, find a forum and ask questions there, ask questions and accept the answer, knowledge is always the right key to success.

I do not eat fast food but I eat food made fast! 

  • Grilled and baked chicken takes 30 minutes, if you make 6 at a time then you have enough left over for days, depending on how much you eat. 
  • Tuna literally comes in packets, its faster than any fast food chain to start eating! 
  • Red Potatoes take 5 minutes in a microwave to prepare!
  • Asparagus, green beans, broccoli all take less than 5 minutes to prepare, they even come in handy microwave ready bags.
  • Rice will take 20 minutes to cook and will last you for days, minute rice is void of nutrition, guess what? It only takes a minute to heat up your left over rice!
  • Ground turkey takes less than 10 minutes to brown! Cook a pound and you have several meals!
  • Egg whites come in cartons now, so you dont have to take all that time separating them! You will be eating in 10 minutes! 



Second point:  Dont make excuses like the statement that started this blog, if you eat ice cream every night, start with only the weekend, half your portions, use an alternate source-frozen cool whip works great! If you eat fast food everyday, start preparing your meals with choices that mirror what you are eating as a start and continually push yourself daily to take these bad habits out of your life.

Third point: NEVER ASSUME! Google takes a minute to find out the answers as far as calories, macros and how it fits into your nutritional plan, in the era of smart phones there’s almost no excuses, don’t set yourself up for failure when you can succeed! There is no way that you know what food item is better for you if you have no knowledge of what is in it!

My friend had made a choice to go with a chicken salad over a sausage biscuit from McDonald’s.

Southwest Salad with crispy chicken

Calories 450 Sodium 820 mg
Total Fat 21 g Potassium 0 mg
Saturated 5 g Total Carbs 42 g
Polyunsaturated 0 g Dietary Fiber 7 g
Monounsaturated 0 g Sugars 13 g
Trans 0 g Protein 23 g
Cholesterol 50 mg    
Vitamin A 160% Calcium 15%
Vitamin C 30% Iron 15%

Sausage Biscuit

Calories 430
Calories from Fat 243
Total Fat 27.0g42%
Saturated Fat 12.0g60%
Cholesterol 30mg10%
Sodium 1080mg45%
Carbohydrates 34.0g11%
Dietary Fiber 2.0g8%
Sugars 2.0g
Protein 11.0g
Calcium 1% · Iron 83%


As you can see, the choice was actually worse for him nutritionally! 
Forth point: Don’t be a consumer! Be nutritionally conscious! Read the back of the product and not the front, the front will get you to BUY the product, the back will tell you what you are about to put in your body! Ever heard of ‘carb conscious? Fat free?’ Makes you want to buy it huh?  This information is on all products that you will buy from a store, the nutrition facts are found on websites and if asked you can get the information from any restaurant.  You can also ask for a more nutritionally sound meal or modify it depending on what goals you have in mind.



/by

Goals

 When it comes to meeting a new client, I always ask them what goals they have in mind on what they are going for, usually it sums itself up to 2 different goals

  • Weight loss 
  • Weight gain

There are always the exceptions; tone, build strength, endurance, sport specific, health and wellness, energy and building muscle, overall the many reasons that clients come to me there is a specific goal in their mind on where they want to be.

After a short assessment and conversation about daily lifestyle and fitness experience I begin to dig deep into what they believe is an acceptable goal, then talk a little about exceeding those goals.  Of course I do not want to overwhelm the client or give them a false sense of accomplishment so I take it back a step while still encouraging the person.  For example; If a clients goals are to lose 15 pounds, I talk a little about the ability to lose a little more, 20-25 pounds, in a time frame that that is no more than 1-2 pounds per week, so we are looking at 7-10 weeks for the initial goal and 10-14 weeks for the accelerated goal.

I then go into body fat, I prefer a biometric impedance as its a little less intrusive. I talk about the body and what percentage of body fat is considered healthy and what we need to do to get there, I then calculate roughly how many pounds the body will weigh at a certain percent of body fat, how many pounds the body is holding in fat and a good time frame to lose the percentage.

Its usually at this point that the original goals have changed in the clients mind! 

I have 2 time frames when it comes to personal training;

  • 2 weeks
  • 6 months

Every 2 weeks we reassess your nutrition, what you are taking in, what you are utilizing, what carbohydrates work the best for you, what amount of protein works best, new ideas and overall how the client is feeling about the calories, the macros and the micros.  Every 2 weeks we reassess your body fat and weight, small goals lead to bigger goals!

To truly make a change in your physique you HAVE to give it 6 months, at least, as the body needs to transition in steps, with all of my clients I really dig deep to find out emotionally why they want to change their physique, what got them to the position of wanting to change and what made them fall behind in the first place.  Clients constantly face objection, from small to large, often created by themselves.  It is important to recognize the fears, encourage through valleys and overcome together as a team, all clients have the ability but need to be reminded every now and then.  6 months seems like a long time to someone who is just starting, by week 4 they have a different attitude provided the correct steps have been put in place and the trainer has a deep dedication to the clients success.

Success is the overall goal as success is in the eye of the beholder, perfection is impossible, improvement is the hardest thing you’ll have to do, being lazy is only the option after hard work has been planted.

Luke Fleming
The Force by Luke

/by