Start Eating Healthy
It’s Simpler than You Think
By Israel (Izzy) Saucedo
Eating healthy is, without question, one of the hardest things for people to figure out. Don’t believe me? Simply check the statistics of how many people are overweight in America and you will see just how much we just do not understand about eating right.
If you really desire to lose weight, if you are just starting a new fitness program or exercise routine and really expect to get the best results from it, than learning how to change your diet is a subject that, sooner or later, you are going to have to reallyfigure out. So, I want to share exactly how to do this.
Now before I begin to show you how to start eating healthy I want to be completely upfront with you. I am not a certified nutritionist. I am not a personal trainer. I am not some fitness guru nor do I ever try to pretend to be one. I am just your average guy who barely got through high school and has been a delivery driver of one form or another for pretty much my whole life.
Now I tend to be pretty lazy at times but I have always worked out and have stayed active for most of my life. If you were to meet me in person you would probably think that I’m a pretty laid-back and carefree type of guy. Well the truth is I am! So much so that I have had friends and family call me the laziest fit guy they have ever met!
Everything I have learned fitness and nutrition I have pretty much learned on my own. I have spent a great deal of time(years to be exact!) studying up the subjects of weight loss and exercise. I have used and experimented with everything I have ever learned in my own life.
As I go through the internet and get asked questions about health and fitness I find that SO MANY people just don’t seem to really grasp the concept of eating right. It almost seems like it is a complete mysteryto them. Maybe people get “information overload” that causes so much confusion. Whatever the reason is, it is the reason I wanted to create this guide.
Here is the way that I see it. If somehow people get the information on how to start eating healthy from just an average guy who lives an average life, perhaps they could relate to it more. Maybe they will be able to understand it more. Maybe they can see that if regular, laid-back, average guy has figured out how to eat healthy than they can see themselves doing it too. So in writing this guide I hope to be able to accomplish this.
Okay, now that I got my little introduction out of the way;let’s get down to business shall we?
Here is the very first thing that you need to do to start eating healthy that willhelp you to losing weight, burn fat, or help get the best possible results from a fitness program.
Are you ready? Here it is.
It is to make a clear DECISION to change the way you eat.
So, what exactly does that mean?
It means exactly that - Simply decide to start!
Sounds so easy don’t it?
Well it may not be as easy as you think. What I’m talking about here is an absolutely serious decision. Not a little “hope tofollow through” decision. Not a “let’s see how it goes” type of decision.
I’m talking about a “set in stone type of decision!”
When was the last time you made a real decision? Really, think about it and be honest with yourself.
When?
What I’m talking about is a real decision. Remember when you made up your mind to go after a certain job? You said to yourself…
“That’s it! I grabbing an application and filling it out. I making my resume and making sure they get it. I am going all the way with this!”
How about when you asked a boyfriend/girlfriend out for the first time? Remember how you ultimately made up your mind…
“I really like this person. I really want to get to know him/her even more. I am going to ask this person out no matter what!”
How about when you made a definite decisionto buy a particular car? Remember how that’s all you would focus on? Remember how you started to actually see more of that particular car out on the highway just from thinking about it?The reason was because you had made up your mind that it was going to get done; you were going to get that car.
Think about that.
I also want you to think about this, and I really hope I don’t hurt your feelings by it.
Aren’t you tired of just hoping to change? Aren’t you tired of settling for what you look like right now? Aren’t you tired of starting something and then failing to follow through on it? Aren’t you tired of looking in the mirror and wishing you could look better?
All of this can all change if you justdecide to start eating healthier?
Look, I have to tell you right here and right now. For every single solitary excuse or reason that you have ever made not start eating right, there is someone out there, right now who has used that very excuse as a reason to start eating right.
So simply DECIDE.
Make a serious decision to make a change. Think about all the reasons you’d like to have a body that you can be proud of. Use all those reason to build up a huge desire to get it done and then just decide.
It really is that basic and yet it’s so hard for so many people to do.
Okay! Now that I’ve got you to decide to start eating right, next up is to show you how you will do it.
Deciding to eat right means this:
It means that you can’t be eating potato chips, candy and candy bars, drinking sodas and soft drinks, going out to get fast food for lunch every day, eating slice after slice of pizza at night, eating cookies cakes and cupcakes, and all kinds of sweets. It means no more pounding away beers, hot dogs, hamburgers, greasy and fried foods, and pretty much anything that you know is not good for you.
I know that you have a rough idea, at this stage of your life, of what is good for you and what isn’t. It’s time for you to grow up a little.
I’m sure you have had your fun and enjoyed eating all those wonderfully tasting foods and treats, BUT like all good things, sooner or later they all come to an end. It’s time to say, “I’ve had my fun with these foods, but its time for me to move on.”
So how do you begin to change how you eat?
Well once you’ve decided to change your diet one of the very first things that you’re going to have to do is to figure out how many calories you need to be eating.
“Whoa! What a minute! I have to do what?”
I bet that’s what you’re thinking.
I know… I know this is going to sound kind of weird, especially if you have never done anything like this before.
But here’s the bottom line, learning how many calories your body requires is something that you… absolutely… without question… are going to have to do at some point in your life.
Am I telling you they have to become a calorie counter from now on?
No, not at all!
I too, believed that I could get away with not figuring out my caloric intake. I didn’t believe it was even important. Well to be quite honest with you, I thought it was pretty lame!
But as I went out and learned more about nutrition I discovered that in order for anyone to create significant weight loss it is absolutely essential to learn your caloric need intake.
So now I strongly believe that learning your calorie needs is something that you’re going to have to do at least for a little while.
The reason you need to learn this is to begin to understand how many calories your body uses and this way you know how many calories you need to put into your body.
But first things first, what exactly are calories anyways?
The best way for me to explain this is to talk about calories as units of energy that your body uses. So basically calories are energy. All foods that you eat contain calories or units of energy for you to live, breath, generate skin, grow hair, and pretty much move around.
This is why you need to know how many calories your body needs throughout the day. This way you know if you are eating too much (taking in too many calories or units of energy). This will also tell if you are not eating enough (not taking in enough calories or units of energy) throughout the day.
Let me give you a quick example.
Let’s say a person needs to be eating about 2000 calories a day, based on their weight, height, age, and activity level. If this person on average eats about 2300 calories a day, day in and day out, guess what? That person is going to get fat. You see, that person only needs 2000 calories, or units of energy for their daily needs and activities. If they keep eating 2300 calories a day for a long period of time, their body will see and use those extra 300 calories as excess energy and therefore store it as fat.
Body fat is just stored up energy.
Here is that same example as a math problem:
Actual Calories Consumed = 2300
Actual Calories needed = - 2000
Leftover Calories 300
300 Unused Calories (eventually) = Body Fat
Now this is something doesn’t really happens overnight. It usually happens over a long period of months or years, especially if you were in great shape in your late teens and early 20s. It’s kind of like a slow dripping faucet. It drips and drips but you really don’t notice it until you plug the drain. Once you plug up that drain you can begin to see how all that slow dripping water begins to add up, and before you know it you’ll have water all over the ground.
Now the same thing holds true if you do not eat enough calories.
“How so?” you might be asking.
Here is where a lot of people make a huge mistake…
People start to feel bad about gaining weight. They start really wanting to drop body fat. So what do they do? They begin to eat less food. This why you always hear people say “I need to go on a diet”.
In other words, what they are saying is that they need to stop eating or limit the amount of food they eat.
You don’t ever want to not eat enough calories!
Here is the best possible way for me to explain this to you why this is so.
Now remember… I’m just a regular Joe sitting at my computer writing this thing up so that regular folks just like you can understand this. So I’ll explain it as simple as I can.
The reason you don’t want to under eat is because it slows down your metabolism. You see, when you start eating tiny amounts of foods you are triggering your body to go into starvation mode. You will, at first, start seeing some weight loss take place but it will soon back fire on you!
Let’s go back to the example above. A person needs2000 calories a day just to live (breath, grow hair, grow skin, build bones, pump blood, and all that good stuff). Now let just say this person really wants to drop some weight. So they decide to go on a 1000 calorie diet. HUGE MISTAKE!!!
Here is why.
As soon as that person starts doing that, though at first it may work, in the long run it won’t. Your body will begin to “think” that there is a shortage of food, even though your fridge may be full of food!
Your body, to help itself and for survival will begin to slow down how fast it breaks food down the foods you eat (Your Metabolism!). It will store away calories instead of burning them because it will feel like there might not be more calories coming in tomorrow!
Believe it or not but your body has a mind of its own!
Do you see why this never works? So many people try this method and just sit there scratching their head wondering why they don’t drop any weight. For some people it makes things even worse! They’ll put on even more weight or body fat than before when they go back to their regular eating habits!
So never just drastically reduce your calorie intake! It never works! (Well, yea it could work if you drop down to 0 calories a day. But then you will lose more than weight. You’ll lose things like muscle, bone density, hair, and your health!)
Besides trying to lose weight this way will always leave you hungry. Why would you want to do that when you can lose weight and body fat while eating instead?
So whatever you do NEVER start eating a low calorie diet thinking it’s the way to fat loss because it simply isn’t true!
So how do you figure out how many calories you need throughout the day?
Well let me tell you, this is easy to figure out. Just head on over Google and punch in”calorie calculators”. You should see tons and tons of free calorie calculators to figure out exactly how many calories you need throughout the day.
They should all have a way for you to input your weight, your height, your age, and your current activity level.This is a must!
Here are a few that I likeand would recommend –
Experiment and fiddle around a bit with some of these calculators to see what type of numbers they give you.
Those calculators should give you 3 options or calorie needs for your body.
A number of calories to maintain your weight
A number of calories to lose weight
A number of calories to gain weight
See if all those calculators give you “roughly” the same numbers. From that point you should have a rough estimate of your calorie intake.
When I first started to do this I used to use a bunch of different formulas and calculation that were like algebra problems! I’d write it out on paper to calculate and subtract this and that…it was very confusing! Now thanks to the Internet, you don’t have to go through all of that!
So how exactly do I eat and what do I eat?
Okay, now that you have figured out how many calories you need to eat throughout the day the next thing you need to do is to start training yourself to eat 4 to 6 small meals a day.
I know that you have probably heard of this before. You’ve heard it from fitness gurus, fitness trainers, and nutritionists talk about this time and time again. Well here’s the truth to all of this, they are all right! This is the way that you have to start eating.
What this means is that you can’t be skipping breakfast. You can’t be blowing off lunch. You can’t be coming home and gorging out on a giant dinner.
It takes some practice and some patience, but with time you can start to build a routine of it.
So let’s say that you have done your calculations for your calorie intake and you have come up showing that you need to be eating about 2000 calories a day. All you have to do is to divide up 2000 calories by 5. This will leave you with about 400 calories. What this means is that for every meal you eat throughout the day, each one of those meals has to consist of roughly400 calories.
Simple enough don’t you think?
You can divide that up into a regular breakfast, lunch, and dinner routine and simply add snacks in between those three meals.
You can also have the option of making each one of those“regular breakfast, lunch, and dinner” meals around 500 calories and two snacks in between at about 250 calories a piece which also adds up to around 2000 calories.
Either way you want to do it will work.
The main thing here is to keep putting in a steady supply of healthy food into your body to start revving up your metabolism. Eating small meals throughout the day is the best way to make that happen.
Like I mentioned earlier though, remembering and keeping track of this isn’t something that you are going to have to keep doing for the rest of your life. This is something that you should really try to focus on and do very consistently for about 2 to 3 months. The main reason I want you to do this is that you will begin to understand how this whole calorie intake, calorie burning, and eating small meals throughout the day really changes your metabolism and your energy levels. After a while, and some practice, it will become a routine and habit.
Some people often confuse me with being a pretty smart guy. Look, I’ll be honest with you. I’m not that smart of a guy. Like I said before I barely got through high school. English, reading, and reading comprehension were never really my strong points. What I do have is a great deal of patience and the ability to focus on a DECISION that I make for a period of time until I learn it. That’s pretty much it.