TL;DR
- Focus on a high-fibre nutritional diet
- Supplement your meals with garlic and onions
- Include fermented foods to add some variety
- Keep up your hydration levels
- Hit the gym 3x's a week and make sure to get adequate rest
1. Plan Your Meals
Does your diet consist primarily of carbs or excessively fatty foods? Are you aware of the nutritional content of your meals?
Keeping track of your food intake, planning your meals and moderating your diet is the most important aspect of weight loss.
There are tons of apps out there to help you track your food intake. It doesn't matter which one you choose, they're all much the same in terms of operation and function.
What your body primarily needs to shed fat is protein. If your diet is carb and fat heavy, swap things out for high protein foods. Protein is also important for rebuilding muscle tissue after exercising.
Additionally, try to eliminate foods which are high in sugar and starch. They're fast and easy sources of energy for the body, but any unused energy will be stored as fat. Junk food is the primary reason why people pack on the pounds. If you're serious about losing weight, you need to ditch the fries and shake. However, trying to give up junk food altogether is a recipe for eventually cracking and binging on everything you deprived yourself of – What we recommend is having one cheat snack a week.
Sample Meal Plan
| 06:30am |
- Lemon Water
- Ginger Honey Tea
|
| 06:45am |
- Oats w/ Berries
- Protein Pancake mix w/ Berries
- Avacado w/ Eggs and Bacon on Brown Bread
|
| 10:00am |
- Berries and Nuts
- Apple
- Banana
|
| 12:00pm |
- Chicken w/ Brown Rice and B
- Chicken Salad
- Chicken Wrap
|
| 03:00pm |
|
| 06:30pm |
- Steamed Fish w/ Boiled/Grilled Vegetables
|
2. Hydrate
Your body heavily relies on water to maintain normal bodily functions. This is especially important, if you keep up your exercise routine through the warmer months. However in terms of weight loss, drinking water helps you feel fuller for longer periods of time and this helps you offset hunger and cravings – The next time you start feeling peckish, grab a glass of water instead.
3. Hit the Gym
Nutrition alone however will not help you get the results you want within a realistic time frame and seeing progressive results will help keep you motivated. What we recommend is a regular workout schedule of at least three gym sessions each week with a mixed focus on:
- 50% cardio
- 25% resistance training
- 25% strength training
Check out our Workout of the Week for some inspiration. It's good to periodically vary your workout so that you develop a well balanced level of fitness.
4. Rest
Studies indicate that when you’ve not had enough rest, the body triggers a hormone that:
- Encourages your appetite
- Increases your rate of energy conversion
- Promotes energy storage
What this means is that, if you’ve not had enough rest, you’re more likely to overeat – Specifically, sugary, high carb foods. The food consumed will in turn be used to quickly restore your energy levels, but because you ate more than required, the excess energy will be stored as fatty tissue.
Rest is also very important for muscle recovery after hitting the gym. You may burn calories at the gym, but you rebuild muscle and grow stronger with rest. Additionally, as you progressively develop more lean muscle mass, you'll be able to broaden your diet as muscle mass takes a lot more energy to maintain than fatty tissue.