Perfect Fit For Life Personal Training, Yoga & Nutrition Coaching Presents:
THE S.I.M.P.L.E. NUTRITION GUIDE
One of the most important parts of a training programme is, in fact, nutrition. This applies for fat loss as well as improved performance, energy and wellbeing. BUT I DO NOT RECOMMEND DIETING!
The word ‘DIET’ is doomed to failure before you even start - it starts with the word ‘DIE’ for one! The idea of a temporary eating strategy that will get you to your goals means you may get there (still that comes with its own set of complications) but you will certainly not maintain your results if you go back to your old habits.
Instead, you want to gradually work new and improved habits into your life, that you absolutely enjoy and actually want to keep up with for life!
Filling your body with delicious, nutritious, satisfying foods is no hardship - make sure you complete the ‘Pleasure-Pain Matrix’ exercise in the Monthly Focus Worksheets, this will help you realise that we often give more weight to a small part of the argument - when you write it all out it is usually clear that there is way more pleasure in your new, healthy habits!
When your aim is to lose fat, you will need to be stricter in terms of total amounts and overall ‘compliance’ than when you are maintaining your weight, or just focussing on improving fitness levels but the principles of sound nutrition apply regardless. Making these lifestyle changes new habits, you will achieve your goals and be sure to maintain your great results for good. This is about HEALTH not just fat loss - the two go hand in hand.
Calories do count but you can avoid counting calories if you follow these guidelines! You can eat MORE calories when you choose the right foods in the right ratios as it is not only the calories that go in that counts, but how the body processes those calories. If your fat burning and energy releasing hormones are all working properly then you will burn more than if they are not working properly - our bodies are complex hormonal machines, not a bomb calorimeter, so all calories are not processed equally. A fibre, protein, vegetable meal is a whole different thing to a processed, high carb & fat meal. The latter will make you fatter - the former will not!
You can directly influence your hormone levels (insulin to regulate blood sugar, leptin to ward off hunger, growth hormone to promote lean muscle and fat loss, reducing cortisol to improve health and reduce belly fat for example) by eating according to these guidelines.
Think fibre, not carbs & think ‘nutrients’ not calories- we have energy as calories we need stored as body fat - the goal is to release this stored energy. What we really need is to activate our energy (prana / life force / chi / qi) which we can do by ensuring we have the nutrients our bodies need to ensure our hormones are working optimally so we can release the stored energy we have!
Eating well will give you more energy than eating lots of energy in terms of calories - we all kind of know this but media and marketing have us confused about what is healthy.
Nutrition is a vital part of the equation and you will only get the results you are after if you make some changes and tweaks to what you are currently doing.
Correct nutrition will give you more energy for training, help you recover faster so you get more out of your training, so actually boosts your results on both sides of the equation.
DON’T FORGET: YOU CAN’T OUT-TRAIN A BAD DIET!
The S.I.M.P.L.E. Nutrition System:
S. is for SELECT THE GOOD STUFF
I. is for IGNORE THE DODGY STUFF
M. is for MAKE EVERY CALORIE COUNT
P. is for PLAN & PREPARE
L. is for LIFESTYLE CHANGES
E. is for EAT & ENJOY!
(See the MIRACLES Handout for more detail on all these aspects!)
THE BEST FOODS?
The best foods for fat loss are ones that give you maximum nutrition and satisfaction for minimum calories, therefore unprocessed, ‘clean’ foods are king! But you can eat all pure, healthy foods and still not lose fat if you are eating far too much of them, this is possible if you over-do calorie dense foods, such as nuts, olive oil, avocado and even oily fish.
When you focus on reducing calories you may end up taking out all the good fats though - and this is not good as these fats are vital to ensuring your hormones operate optimally which enable fat burning. You need to ensure you are getting enough, whilst also being aware that they are easy to overdo.
The best way to adjust total amount is to follow a plan, track your results and if you hit a plateau make a few tweaks - usually there are a few extra ‘low grade’ foods sneaking in so deal with these first, but if there are none it is simply a case of slightly reducing portion sizes of certain foods.
This is why submitting food diaries to me is so important, as I can help you see what to tweak - people often tweak the wrong things!
Focussing on balance is better - balance reduces cravings and gets you into fat burning mode with everything working the way it should to get you lean and full of energy!
This is not an ‘all or nothing’ plan, it is designed to empower you and educate you to make better choices, most of the time, and create better and better habits, so you can maintain your results for the long term.
Habits are what help it all become autopilot, and you can build new habits over time.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Foods are graded from A* to F.
The aim is to select a balance of foods from the A* & A foods (ideally 80%, 50% A* and 30% A), with a smaller focus on the B & C foods (as these are the ones that may cause problems if you over do them, but in moderation are fine).
For maximum fat loss for most people you will need to limit starchier foods to post workout only. Some people will only get best fat loss results by completely avoiding the starchier foods until their target has been reached.
Lower grade foods are for very occasional use only! But these are also the foods for which outright ‘banning’ can be counterproductive as it will just make you focus on them more and feel deprived (although some of the foods are so highly processed and terrible for you you may well decide never to indulge, especially as your taste buds and standards change!)
The key with lower grade foods is to identify times where they may be an option or temptation and decide what to do in advance - either have a healthier alternative planned and with you to have instead, or you decide that you will use this as a planned ‘low grade’ meal or snack.
If you make the conscious choice to have the lower grade food make sure you savour and enjoy it! Guilt is no good for anyone. If you don’t enjoy it as much as you thought you would, make sure you remember this - note it in your food diary! Often the idea of something is way better than the reality - the more aware you are (via the diary as well as generally increasing awareness around eating) the less likely you will repeat it. This means over time your indulgences will be purely indulgent, there is nothing worse than wasting a low grade food on something that is rubbish - the feeling that you wish you had had your healthier alternative because you would have preferred it!
To boost your results you will definitely want to keep low grade foods to the bare minimum, so there are several options outlined below. Choose how quickly you want to achieve your ultimate goals and choose a plan accordingly.
Another benefit of keeping the low grade foods to a bare minimum is that they actually tend to sap your energy, give you cravings or make you hungrier and also will bring back any other negative effects your old eating habits may have been contributing to, such as allergies, poor digestion, tiredness. You may well decide after a while that these side effects of the SAD (Standard American-European Diet) are really not worth it (again, the Pleasure-Pain Matrix exercise is powerful here), but it must be about positive choice not guilt, deprivation and denial.
On that note, remember that it is VITAL to complete the exercises in the Monthly Focus Worksheets, ideally each month, in order to remind yourself why you are choosing the higher grade foods and what the benefits are.
Phase 1:
The best way to start to reduce cravings quickly and get great results when your motivation and focus is highest!
For 12 consecutive days minimum stick to only A* to C foods, in the proportions listed (so 80% A* and A foods, 20% B & C).
For even better results, skip C foods too and / or go the full 4 weeks on the high-grade foods: WARNING - only do this if you are prepared for absolutely incredible results!
Have 1 ‘low grade’ meal (Friday or Saturday night is usually best), where you can include foods (and beverages) from D-F.
This is just one meal - not a whole day or weekend! Jump immediately back to Phase 1.
Again, for best results repeat the cycle for at least the first month, so another 12 days before a low-grade meal. Then you can continue this cycle if you want to, until you reach your goals, or move to Phase 2 and have one ‘low grade’ meal each week.
The ‘Low Grade’ or ‘Planned Off-Plan’ meal:
* Pick the foods you really want, enjoy & savour every mouthful!
* Limit yourself to 45-60 mins for the meal (or it can become a day!).
* Drink lots of water beforehand, have a fish oil supplement with it, and have a protein-based snack a few hours before so you are not ravenous.
An even better way to work the plan, especially as your tastebuds and standards change and you begin to lose the taste for processed foods, is to stick to mostly A* to C foods in your weekly ‘off plan’ meal, instead shifting it so you have more of the B & C foods than you would usually have.
You can make delicious, indulgent meals without ever needing to use the D,E & F foods - such as the indulgent chocolate mousse (see recipes in the member section!)
I do this on a regular basis, if eating at home I will still make my regular foods as I love them, but make more of an effort and make a dessert I wouldn’t have during the week that is still indulgent, just from high quality ingredients!
The key is to remember that if you are really craving something, you can have it at some point. This will really help you stick to the plan and is a great psychological help. You are in control and you have the power to make choices - and you are building up desire to make positive choices out of preference!
Phase 2:
Once you have completed a full month at Phase 1 you may want to drop to Phase 2. You still stick to A* to B/C foods according to the guidelines but can have one ‘low grade’ meal each week until you hit your goals. If results stall or if you have a lot to lose, stay on Phase 1 for longer, with a fortnightly or monthly ‘low grade’ meal rather than a weekly one.
Phase 3 / Maintenance:
As one of my favourite Hollywood trainers says ‘there is no such thing as maintenance’. Depressing as that might seem at first, it is a good mantra, as we need systems and tools for life to be in great shape - modern life does not support our goals! We can never indiscriminately eat anything and everything and also be in fantastic shape, but the way we are approaching this means we are developing new, healthy habits for life.
When you reach your goals it can actually become harder - as the reasoning behind your choices, especially when faced with temptation, are less clear as you are not pursuing a huge goal, but you just want to stay as you are.
Keeping track of measurements, at least monthly if not weekly, is key, so you can stop any backsliding in its tracks. The less you have to tweak or deal with the easier it is!
In general, once you have achieved your goals, you can include a higher proportion of B, C (& D) foods, if you want to. This depends on your personal metabolism (so you need to keep track of how you respond and adjust accordingly). You still need to emphasise high grade foods for health & optimising hormones, but you may be able to move up to 2 ‘low grade’ meals / snacks each week, although you probably prefer high grade foods now anyway!
Ultimately, maintaining your goal IS the goal... Flip back to Phase 1 and 2 as you need them - this is all part of maintenance. Life will throw things at you, now you have the tools to get right back on track straight away!
This is also why quick fix plans and meal replacement diets are NOT the way forward! The results you might see are not long term results.
Look at the long term results and you see very miserable people who have lost a good relationship with food and are usually bigger than before they started... Be warned!
Changing your habits and lifestyle is the only way to get long lasting, healthy results! You will be stricter / tighter when you are losing vs maintaining, although flipping between the two is how actual maintenance works as we all have holidays / lapses here and there (and that’s all good!).
YOUR FOOD GUIDE
(Print & Refer to This Regularly!)
For recipes, see the Recipe Book and visit the group daily! https://www.facebook.com/groups/550918374965993/
For buying ingredients, tools & more recipe books, check out the ‘links’ page:
http://www.perfectfitforlife.com/nutrition-guide-links-and-downloads/
ROCKSTAR FOODS!
(Target 50% daily intake - hard to eat too much of these!) / A Foods
(Approx 30% daily, not unlimited but important foods) / B Foods*
(In Moderation) / C Foods*
(Even more moderation!) /
Green and multi-coloured, non-starchy veggies & salad: