Yesterday I talked about the T.V. show, My 600-lb Life, and the things you and I have in common with the contestants. I messed up on the link, however, so many of you were unable to view the 5-minute video. I hyperlinked it here to our blog; just scroll to the bottom and you can view the video.

I mentioned how excuses stand in the way of us losing weight. To just name a few, do you ever find yourself using any of these?

“I eat really clean during the week and then I allow myself a treat over the weekends.”

“There must be something wrong with my body.”

“I have thyroid issues that prevent me from losing body fat.”

“I don’t want to do something unsustainable.”

“Occasionally I’ll eat the leftovers out of my kid’s lunchbox, but that’s it.”

“My spouse’s birthday is coming up, so I’ll start my diet the day after because I don’t want to fail at the beginning.”

Losing weight starts with recognizing that you have been excusing the seriousness of your eating problem. If you don’t think you have a problem, but you are a male over 25% body fat or a female over 30% body fat, you have a problem.

And RxFIT can help.

We usually will start working on your nutrition the same way we work on your weight lifting:

Mechanics -> Consistency -> Intensity.

Mechanics

I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again — clean eating can be broken up into our three-part prescription at RxFIT: Eat real food, not too much, mostly plants.

Real Food

A lot of the stuff we eat isn’t food. To steal a phrase from Michael Pollan, most of the stuff we eat are “edible food-like substances.” Which is which below?

GoGurt vs. Yogurt

Margarine vs. Butter

Uncrustable vs. PB&J

Just ask yourself who made it and where did it come from. If scientists made it in a factory and then sold it to the grocery store, it’s an “edible food-like substance.” If the grocery store purchased it from a farmer, it’s real food.

Not Too Much

To steal another phrase from someone a lot smarter than me, “Keep intake to levels that support exercise, but not body fat” (Greg Glassman). But how do I figure out how many calories I should be eating in order to support exercise, but not body fat?

It’s really simple. Start off with 1,700 calories if you’re a girl and 2,000 calories if you’re a guy (assuming you are exercising 5x week). At the end of the week, if you gained weight or didn’t lose any body fat percentage, you’re eating too much. Lower your caloric intake by 200 calories/day. 

Retest at the end of every week (every day is too frequent). Continue to decrease caloric intake until you see results.

Mostly Plants

The last piece is eating vegetables. Once you successfully substitute out the fake food and bring in the real stuff, and your caloric intake is where it needs to be, start eating a vegetable at every meal.

Yes, eat a vegetable (in whatever quantity you choose) at every meal. Sometimes if I forget to eat one during lunch, I’ll literally grab one carrot from the fridge. Do it — we’re in search of developing healthy habits.

You’ll find that by doing this, you’ll start eating a lot more vegetables. And one of the advantages to eating a lot of vegetables is that you feel satiated sooner.

Consistency

Once you have the fundamentals down to clean eating, it’s time to start competing against yourself. We want a streak of at least 100 days. Challenge yourself to accomplish these three things… Can you imagine how much body fat you will lose?

First, 100 days in-a-row of no processed foods.

Then, 100 days in-a-row under your calorie goal.

And finally, 100 days in-a-row of a vegetable at every meal.

I very rarely talk about myself, but I hope this can give you some motivation. I just completed day 50 of this challenge and here are the results so far.

I started at 205-lbs and 14% body fat. 50 days later, I’m now 190-lbs and 10% body fat. I’m down 15-lbs and 4% body fat in 7-weeks.

Now it’s your turn.

Intensity

Unless you are below 10% body fat (males) and 16% (females), this piece is unnecessary. Maybe I’ll write about nutrient timing and supplements in a future post, but I’ll simply say this:

No shake before a workout, pill before you go to bed, or green supplement in the morning is going to help you lose body fat.

Eating real food, and not too much of it, will.

Takeaway

Eat real food, not too much, and mostly plants. Then challenge yourself to do this 100 days in-a-row. Continue this well beyond 100 days until you are at 10% (males) and 16% (females) body fat.

Then, email me and we can geek-out about nutrient-timing and supplements.

Good luck.

Tyler