I read this article from the newsletter of Matt Silk, a Personal Trainer I know and see on an irregular basis. He helps to keep me on track with the right program, do fitness tests and discuss ideas. Matt runs Elevate your Life and I could not recommend him more highly.

What I love about the Nutrition Cleansing System we teach is that it is not a diet, but a way of life. Healthy life.

The dirtiest 4 letter word …

This week’s topic is going to explore one of the dirtiest of all 4 letter words. With new years resolutions and changes of seasons (in particular moving from winter into summer) normally comes this word. However it doesn’t have to be new years or a change of season to make a change or changes in your life (but please if you are going to make a change, make it a lifelong choice!!!).

At my training sessions I hear the occasional 4 letter word leave my clients lips. However I have not heard this one uttered towards me in a training session. It starts with D and it has caused a lot of harm to a lot of people all over the world. The dirty four letter word is …… Diet!

Diets have done some people wonders. However for quite a few people it is a horrible spiral of losing body fat and lean muscle when they lose weight. Then when they go back to their normal way of eating they put the weight back on. However this weight they put back on is generally body fat and not lean muscle. So each time they diet this spiral repeats itself, and they get more and more out of shape with less and less lean muscle on their bodies. Remember Lean muscle is King!!!

When it comes to nutrition get away from the diet mindset and work on this simple plan. If you are going to make a change, make it a change that you can do today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year and beyond.

So if you are going to make a change to your nutrition make it something that is going to be a constant. As I have stated previously you still have to live your life! However it is how often we live it that is generally reflected in our body shape and the time it takes us to achieve our goals. For example some people love a drink every night. Alcohol contains 7 calories per gram compared to carbs/proteins are 4 calories and Fats are 9 calories. Also when we drink alcohol our body switches to utilising this energy straight away and generally with alcohol comes savory and sweet things that are generally high in fat (especially saturated fat). Excess calories are converted to body fat, so if you are doing this every day chances are this could be holding you back from working towards your goal. By cutting out alcohol during the week, and only having a couple of drinks on the weekends, I have seen some amazing results from some of my clients. It will be challenging at first breaking the habit. However once you get over the initial weeks, you will actually feel a lot better for it. This is just one example. The same applies to other things/habits that you do on a daily or consistent basis.

At the end of the day to get what you want, what are you willing to give up or cut back on to achieve your goals. Anything is possible however it is best to look at the big picture and fine tune your nutrition to help you achieve what you want. An all or nothing approach will work for a short time (ie. Diets), however it is consistency with your training and nutrition that will give you your best results and see you keep your results once you have achieved them. Remember, Do today, what you can do tomorrow, next week, next month, next year and beyond! And enjoy the results of your choices and changes for the rest of your life!!!