Can I start off by saying that I ABSOLUTELY ABSOLUTELY HATE DIETS! And here’s why!

As a personal trainer, I find that I get clients or people in general rather, who are inquiring about diets. I immediately try to suppress the idea of diet.

Look at dieting as a vacation. Weird analogy, but listen to me on this one.You go on vacation, you live it up. You come back home and you proceed to carry out the same life prior. Vacations like all good things come to an end, well diets eventually come to an end too. For example, you go on a no carb/no starch diet. You finally incorporate bread, rice, pasta, etc. back into your diet. Your body was so deprived it’s holding onto that very thing it didn’t get and you gain all that weight back. Just to be back where you started, just like vacation; back home, back to work, back to being “insert pounds here”. This is also a result of us who get a taste of something we haven’t had in so long, and over do it. For instance intake an abundance of bread because I missed it. Rather than continue to eat minimum to none.

So yeah, diets to me are a no no. However if you’re considering weight loss, weight maintenance, weight gain, muscle gains, whatever it may be… what you eat does MATTER! But don’t make yourself go crazy over it. Don’t become miserable trying to keep up. Eat and be happy!

Remember we’re trying to create healthy eating habits in the long run. We want these habits to stick with us for life. So in order to help I have come up with a list of things to consider when you’re on your transformation journey, whatever it may be. Hopefully this helps.

• Don’t give anything up. Just focus on portioning. In fact some people say 80percent diet, 20percent working out. Apply that to your eating habits. 80percent eat healthy, 20percent splurge!!
• It is okay to snack. Snacks help us from running out and turning that ziplock bag of walnuts to a bag of potato chips.
• Prep your food ahead of time and store it. This helps with eating out and random splurging. Planning ahead is beneficial. So yes I’m all for meal prepping!
• Switch breakfast and lunch. Instead of eating a big meal for breakfast, eat a big lunch. Sometimes we over eat in the morning and aren’t as hungry as we think we are. Also you want to eat light at night, which only leaves room for one big meal. So go ahead and eat LUNCH like a king!
• Eat your colors. Vegetables and fruits are good for us. Try to add color to your meals whenever you can. Taste the rainbow just like skittles.
• Watch your portions. Try to follow portion guidelines. (Refer to my blog on portions for guidelines)
• Drink Water!!!!
• Switch to healthy whole grains. Go for actual fruits to replace fruit juices. And if you want a healthy way to lose fat incorporate leafy greens in all your meals.
• Don’t eat when your bored. Actually don’t eat on emotions. Like you shouldn’t Drake and drive. Don’t Drake and eat!
• Don’t drive yourself crazy counting calories. Some people go bonkers trying to keep up.
• Don’t guilt trip. It’s okay. We’re human! Don’t cut out, just incorporate healthy habits and think about how good your body will feel when you feed your body good stuff.