A lot of the discussion in our Facebook fitness group lately has been about struggling to stick to a healthy nutrition plan. After all, to lose weight and get fit, exercise and proper nutrition go hand in hand. Often nutrition can be harder to conquer than an hour-long workout. However, there are things you can do to help. One of the best things you can do is journaling.
Tracking what you eat throughout the day can give you great insight to not only the amount of calories you consume, but if you use some of the smart phone apps or online programs available to track your food, you can also be sure you are getting the proper ratios of macronutrients according to your fitness goals. BUT, you have to be honest with yourself and record every thing you eat including that handful of chips or crust of your child's sandwich and even track those bad days where you know you went over your calorie goal or ate something you shouldn't. Keeping track of all days, gives you a great point of reference to go back to when you either lose, gain or stay at the same weight on the scale. You can look back and see what worked or what didn't.
Not only should you track what you eat, you should track how you are feeling each day. It can be as simple as one word. Hungry, tired, energized, happy, moody, proud, stressed and you could also put: great workout, added more weight, two more reps, fewer breaks needed, etc.
Clean your cupboards! Get rid of all of those bad and tempting foods that you shouldn't eat. You are less likely to eat those chips, candy, ice cream, etc. if they are not in your house where you can easily grab and eat.
Plan ahead. You've probably heard the saying: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. This is a harsh fact. Sit down and plan your menu for the week. Write it down. I print out my outlook calendar by week and write my menu on that and then post it on my fridge.
Plan well-balanced meals and stick to it. Remember excess calories even if it's from good food, can often turn into excess weight. We have a ton of plastic food storage containers we use for leftovers and for lunches. Salads are often an easy lunch and you can find some websites that show you how to make the "mason jar" salads that you can prep a week ahead of time and just grab and go. Turkey meatballs, meatloaf and chili are all three easy meals to fix ahead of time and reheat for healthy lunches or dinners. We will purchase large packages of fresh, boneless skinless chicken breasts to cook on the grill for the week too. We just place our food in the storage containers along with a good grain such as cooked brown rice and a veggie and put in the fridge to just grab to take with us each day for lunch.
Limit your amount of caffeine and alcohol. Keep a water bottle with you at all times to drink from often. For something different you can also add lemon, lime, cucumber or even a few berries that don't add a significant amount of calories.
Cooking your meals at home is another great way to help with controlling your nutrition. Portion sizes at restaurants are out of control and there are way too many starchy and fried foods at restaurants. Plus, what sounds "healthy" isn't always healthy. Maybe it's not possible to cook dinner every night but perhaps you can manage to cook at home one more night each week.
When you crave something that is not healthy, think about what you want more, those potato chips or chocolate or that body you've always dreamed of. If you decide that you do want to have that "treat", don't make that occasional unhealthy treat, an unhealthy week or an entire vacation. A treat is possibly once a week.
Above all, remember that we are human. We are not perfect, and we all make mistakes. Don't let one mistake or hiccup in your nutrition turn into an all day bad food fest and buffet.