Eating healthy does not mean you can’t enjoy your food.
This took me a long time to accomplish for myself and I’ll admit to you, it’s a process at first because when you first start on your journey to lose fat and get lean you are figuring out how much to eat and when to eat your carbs, protein or fat.
I always try to get people to keep it simple. There is no fun in cutting out this, never eating that, feeling deprived and not having a life. I’ve done that. It sucks.
Don’t get me wrong, you have to make some sacrifices when it comes to your health. Eating too much sugar will make you feel crappy, will cause inflammation and will slow your results.
I want to help you bridge the gap between “crazy obsessed plain chicken and salad eating, never going out with friends” and “I eat whatever I want and just get minimal results because I train hard” person.
You CAN have a life and eat healthy at the same time. Here’s how:
- Focus on eating 90% healthy
- If you are eating 4 meals per day, 7 days per week that’s 28 meals. 3 of those meals should give you a little bit of a splurge
- Eat protein with every meal- chicken, turkey, steak, ground beef, seafood, or protein powder or a Quest Bar if you’re in a pinch
- Drink 80-100 ounces of water each day. It sounds like a crap-ton but trust me, it helps your body become more efficient and burn fat
- Focus on proteins and veggies for the majority of your meals. If you strength train in the morning, the night before you want to have protein, veggies and a starch (sweet potato, rice, quinoa or berries) to fuel that training session
- If you train at night, simply have that meal I mentioned above after you train
- When you splurge, splurge on something good. Don’t just eat Skittles because you want sugar
- Learn to cook 2-3 really yummy meals that can become your go-to healthy and delicious foods
- Plan what you’re going to cook on Saturday or Sunday, buy all the food and cook big batches so you can just heat them up for dinner or for a lunch you can take to work
- Work on JUST ONE habit each week. Week 1- water, Week 2- shopping for all your food and cooking it up on Sundays. Just one my friends, trust me.
Here are some awesome resources for you:
- Get this healthy cooking book if you need some simple recipes. Just try one new one each week
- Try these sweet potato pancakes for a healthy and sweet treat on the weekends
- Whip up this avocado dressing for any salad
- Healthy meatballs and sauce– hell yeah!
- More healthy recipes (try one new one each week, that’s it!). I’m not strictly Paleo but some of this stuff is awesome
Here are your homework lessons:
1. Pick 3 habits that you need to work on or change and dedicate yourself to one each week
2. Pick one new recipe each week so you don’t get bored
3. Never think of yourself on a “diet.” All the changes you make are to create a lifestyle
4. If you go out, enjoy yourself, don’t beat yourself up. As long as you are in the 90% range for the week, you are golden.
I’ll be back next week with some more tips on how to have the ultimate healthy lifestyle AND have a life.
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