Hope you all have been enjoying this holiday season.
It can be a hard time to keep moving forward with our health goals, but a recent Instagram post from proverbs31ministries really brought me back to reality. It had this caption:
"I need to have January thoughts on December days."
Have your goals become the thought of 'tomorrow', or 'Monday', or 'after the holidays'. Why not start today? Are your goals worth waiting for? What can you do right now to make your health a priority?
A few indulgent nights for myself have got me refocusing on what I need to do to reach for my goals today, not in January or on Monday, but right now.
...food for thought...
Anyway,
All that I'm about when it comes to health and lifestyle change surrounds eating REAL FOOD - i.e. food that is in its most natural state like butter vs. margarine, real fruit vs. Trix made with 'real fruit'.
Making changes towards eating real food is a huge step towards improved health, especially if you may be someone who has included quite a bit of processed foods in your diet previously. I can almost guarantee that you'll see fat loss and other improved health markers by this change alone -- at least initially...
However, there are many of us who have made this switch over to real food but are still not where we want to be with fat loss goals. How come? Isn't this enough??
Enter in Macros. What do I mean by 'macros'? Macronutrients include only 3 things: Protein, Fat and Carbohydrates. These 3 categories cover all of the foods out there.
When we turn our focus on how much of each macro we eat we can make adjustments towards specific goals.
So, how do you navigate what macro range you should be eating?
Here are some general guidelines:
Protein: eat protein at every meal - meat sources! This will give you plenty of protein and added good fat to your day. A minimum amount would be around 100 grams per day, although getting more is great, especially for men. We need protein to maintain and gain muscle mass. Muscles are great fat burners, we can't afford to lose those guns!
Fat: include natural fat sources at each meal as well. Butter over your veggies, eggs and bacon for breakfast, heavy cream in your coffee, avocados on your burger. This is what I live for. Mmmm... Eating enough fat is essential, especially if eating low carb is your goal. When you lower calories from carbs you have to replace those calories with fat.
Carbs: this one is a little bit tricky. For fat loss, restricting to <30 net grams of carbs on most days is a great start. A moderate carb intake is around 100-150 grams, great for maintenance. A carb cycle approach is the next best thing - eating low carb for a few days followed by a higher carb day.
Carbs will have to be tweaked a little bit for each person with what works best for them. Eliminating carbs like refined sugars and grains is a must for fat loss! Just because maple syrup or agave nectar are natural, or 'real', doesn't mean they support a fat loss goal.
Watching your macros doesn't necessarily require tracking your food every day for the rest of your life, but it is helpful in the beginning to get an idea of how your macros break down.
My suggestion for everyone, especially those of you with fat loss goals, is to track your food for a few days and look at how your macros break down. Is your protein too low? Carbs too high?
If you would like a little bit more guidance on where to start with macros, feel free to reach out to me! I'd love to help you take your fat loss goals to the next level!
You can look up more info on carb cycling as well. Here are some great resources on this topic:
http://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-carb-cycling
http://heidipowell.net/2713/carb-cycling-101/
http://www.livestrong.com/article/558001-carb-cycling-for-fat-loss/
And just a couple studies pointing out the effectiveness of a low carb diet:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12761365
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12761364
I have only just scratched the surface of this macro talk, but I want to stress the importance of them when continuing your health goals, whatever they may be. I encourage everyone to get educated on macros, what they mean, and what is the right equation for you.
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This is also a great time to mention a new and exciting protocol called Alt Shift by Jason Seib! He has created a plan from his many years of experience of working with clients with fat loss goals that surrounds this idea of cycling macros. You can purchase the ebook here: http://altshiftdiet.com/
His protocol has given so many people great results so far. It involves cycling carbs, fat and calories to achieve long-lasting fat loss. I've been following his work for a few years now, and am seeing for myself how his recommendations are helping me meet my own fitness goals. It would be very much worth your time and money to read his book.
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