All posts tagged: #dieting

“Life Always Gets In The Way…”

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None of us are exempt from the pressures in life. We all have stress and situations that test us or possibly even push us to the brink of crumbling. All too often, something or someone or some moment, causes us to lose track of our goal and revert back to behaviours that no longer add value to our lives. We’ve all been there right? Of course most of the time we don’t choose our adversity BUT we certainly have the power to choose our response to it. And it’s this response that I call the “IF Factor”. IF we respond positively to challenges and difficulties, then the outcome will be potentially positive. IF we respond negatively to our challenges and difficulties, then the outcome will be potentially negative. IF we respond to challenges and difficulties in the same manner as we always respond to it (i.e. emotional eating, BLTs, etc.), then the outcome will almost certainly be the same. The pain of adversity never leaves us unchanged, but if treated right, can be the catalyst …

Feeling Bloated?

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With today’s typical diet being low in nutrients and high in empty calories coupled with high levels of stress and added medication, it’s no wonder that more and more people are suffering from some kind of bloating. In addition to feeling discomfort bloating can come with every embracing symptoms such as gas or needing to go to the bathroom very quickly. So what are the most common symptoms of a bloated stomach? If your stomach protrudes outwards and you constantly feel uncomfortable because you have built up gas inside of you then this is a sign of bloating. In fact many sufferers from bloating even joke around saying how pregnant they feel because of the need to unbutton their pants when their bloating becomes severe. The great news is a bloated stomach is very different from actually gaining fat mass around your stomach since the bloating is temporary with air simply being stuck around your abdomen causing the tummy to distend outwards. Even better, stomach bloating can be rectified very quickly by simple changes to …

Guilt Free and On Plan Egg Salad

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  Who doesn’t enjoy a delicious serving of egg salad? Too bad most egg salads are loaded with creamy dressings that pack in tons of extra calories and unhealthy fats! Today I’m sharing a healthy version of egg salad with you that will please your taste buds while taking you one step closer to achieving your fitness goals. All of that hard work that you put into your workouts can quickly and easily be lost on unhealthy eating – which is why it’s so important to enjoy light, protein-filled meals like this one. Servings: 2 Here’s what you need… 4 hard-boiled eggs with yolks removed 1 hard-boiled egg 2 tablespoons nonfat mayonnaise 2 stalks celery, finely diced 2 whole wheat English Muffins, toasted 1 teaspoon onion powder 1 pinch celery seeds salt and cracked black pepper to taste 2 small tomatoes, sliced Chop the egg whites and the whole egg and place in a mixing bowl. Stir in the mayonnaise, celery, onion powder, celery seeds, salt and pepper. Cover and chill. Mix well. Place the …

Fat Loss, Digestion, and Eating Slower

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When setting up a good nutrition program, most people are alarmed with the amount of food they are starting off to eat. Of course since the diet is all whole food sources, we are dealing with low calorie/high volume food versus high calorie/low volume junk food. Eating food creates a “demand” on our metabolism in the same manner as lifting weights puts a demand on our muscles to grow, become stronger, and take shape. By eating high quality whole foods, we are putting a demand on our metabolism to grow more powerful and oxidize our food more efficiently. With metabolism rising through eating, we also have increased body temperature which also require more oxygen uptake (just like fire needs oxygen). This is also where we get the old adage “starve a fever” when we’re sick. When we add digestion into the mix, the process of digestion is designed to break down food into microscopic morsels that it can be sent to your cells and combusted with your increased oxygen uptake for energy release (i.e. “oxidized”) which …

10 Tips On Programming Your Fat Loss Diet

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I have the fortunate opportunity to interact with so many women on a daily basis and, obviously, the most common inquiry I receive is “how do I put together a fat loss program?”. In my opinion (and experience), a fat loss plan that yields results and is long lasting (i.e. lifestyle) should be one that is simple to follow, offer plenty of food flexibility, an open mindedness in understanding that it is also going to be a lot of hard work for the purpose of embracing new behaviours, and a strategy that adapts with you. 1) Diet on as many calories as possible so you’re not creating such a large energy and nutrient drop. Your deficit should be reasonable and don’t panic by drastically reducing calories when weight stagnates because, like all diets, it will. Stay the course. 2) Traditional cardio should be used strategically and as a last resort once Diet and Resistance Training is fully optimized. 3) Do not eliminate food groups or even foods you like. Keep flexibility and variety available. Quantity …

POOR PLANNING VERSUS PLANNING

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A couple of years ago, my hubby and I had the blessed opportunity to visit Japan as part of our honeymoon. This, of course, was a surprise to me because my husband likes to live by the seat of his pants and take me along on his adventures (part of why I love him and also how he drives me crazy lol) so he completely rerouted our trip home from Hawaii to the opposite direction (who does this??? LOL!) all because he wanted to eat sushi at a particular restaurant that required booking a few months in advance. I’m a planner. So after our very organized trip to Hawaii, I had some anxiety leaving the planning to my hubby going to Japan but because this was his idea I left it to him to research what we we were going to do and see. Because life with my hubby is always an adventure, I just sat back and let everything unfold because he is oodles of fun. Of course he barely did any planning beginning …

Looking for faster weight loss? Read how water can help!

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Client – “Jenny my diet is on point but I’m starting to feel low energy, my weight is fluctuating, and my strength is waning. I’m not sure what’s going on?” Jenny – “Are you drinking all of your assigned water?” Client – “Not really. I tend to forget.” Jenny – “Drink your 3-4 Litres daily please” New clients always start off talking to me about weight loss and I always move the conversation to metabolism (because of my commitment to long term fat loss) but what does metabolism exactly mean? In a nutshell metabolism is the sum total of all the chemical reactions in the body but more specifically when it comes to calorie burning metabolism, I am referring to thermic efficiency. So naturally an increased thermic rate within our bodies increases the requirement for water. Since consistent exercise is a big component of my fat loss strategy with my clients and (thermic rate is higher), the energy substrates that are in our muscles (such as ATP, CP, and glycogen) requires more intracellular water to …

Weight Loss in a nutshell…

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One of the biggest reasons people fail or give up on their diet is because they’ve never truly understood the process or been given realistic expectations for true fat loss. When it comes to weight loss, there will be good weeks and slow weeks. But if you’re fully compliant there are never, ever bad weeks or even reasons to be discouraged. Most of us have tried fad diets in the past and may have lost some weight off right off the bat and this is usually followed by the weight being put back on because the methods were too extreme. I’ll repeat over and over again that this is NOT a good dieting strategy. This would be like getting your hair done and having it look fantastic after the salon only to have it all fall off the next week. A great dieting strategy is one that is long lasting, sustainable and maintainable. This process takes time and does not happen overnight just like gaining body fat doesn’t happen after consuming one off plan meal. …

Dieting and Food, Food and Dieting

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“How many calories am I eating?”, “Am I eating at a deficit?”, “Should I carb load?”, “What are my macros?”, “Should I eat at a surplus?”, “Is this food bad?”, etc, etc, etc. Ai yai yai. When a client starts with me, I rarely share numbers (as in never) and am unlikely to strategize a diet with a Contest Prep-like approach because when it comes to weight loss for the masses (i.e. if you’re NOT an athlete), keep it simple. Embrace eating whole foods portioned for one’s goals is usually my first “go to” strategy. I also certainly arrange marcos strategically. Along the way, I will troubleshoot the program based on my client’s progress with adjustments, tweaks, or simply riding it out. I just don’t feel this information is necessary to share so early into a program for someone so new on their fitness journey because too much information can be overwhelming (“paralysis by analysis”). My most successful clients that truly understand the process do so because they are eventually connected with their body, the …

The Importance of Patience with Dieting and Fat Loss

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I wanted to share this analogy which emphasizes the importance of being patient when it comes to dieting and fat loss. This was written originally by Alywn Cosgrove who’s work I adore and adapted for my female client base. ========================= Let’s assume you go out and buy two rolls of paper towels, each with 112 paper towels on it. You put one aside and keep it for future reference (which will be your “before” picture). The other one represents you (which I’ll call your paper towel “Sally”). The core of the paper towel roll represents the lean version of Sally. The towels wrapped around the core represent the body fat that is covering the “lean Sally”. For sake of argument, let’s say that Sally wants to lose 28 pounds of fat, so (112/28) each sheet represents a quarter-pound of fat lost. Let’s also assume that Sally loses her fat equally during each day of the program for the sake of the post. Each day during the first week, you tear a sheet off of Sally representing …