Week 1 – It isn’t a diet, it’s a LIFESTYLE CHANGE!

During the last week I spent a lot of my time readjusting my diet because once you let it go, it can get out of control. Losing weight and being healthy are probably 80% nutrition and 20% physical. A person can pretty much do any amount of working out they can or want to, then turn around and “out-eat” it. You can’t walk for 20 minutes (that’s roughly a mile, depending on your pace) and then eat 4 cupcakes and consider the day a success.

When I use the word “diet,” I am going to be referring to the definition “foods eaten by a particular person or group” – not the more popular idea of diet, “eating to lose weight.” A diet is what you consume for nutrients and sustenance. Throw the negative “I can’t have this because I am on a diet” out the window. There is no room for negative in weight loss unless it is referring to numbers on a scale or tape measure.

The biggest problem with nutrition is, there is far too much conflicting information regarding nutrition all over the internet. Many yogis are vegetarians. Many crossfitters follow a Paleo diet. The American government recommends an almost balanced diet of carbs, grains, fruits, protein, and dairy. And the list of diets goes on.

The one thing all of these diets agree on is that vegetables and fruits are your best friend in the nutrition world. They are generally low calorie and are full of great things your body needs on a daily basis.

So.. last week I started adding vegetables or fresh fruit to practically every meal. French fries are not vegetables, by the way. They are a nutritionally disgusting but taste oh-so-good staple of the American diet. I avoid them like the plague. You can’t just eat one.

Another good baby step toward a healthier lifestyle change is to make better choices in places of the ones you make. It’s hard to change your entire lifestyle overnight, so make a few “easy” changes: drink water and kick the soda habit, eat breakfast everyday and ditch the candy, chips and cakes.

I could write a book about all that I know about nutrition and barely scratch the surface. And what I know is pretty limited. There is SO much information. So after this post, I will just include tidbits of information every week.

This past week I did some home practice yoga, light walking and weight training. This coming week I’ll be hitting the gym, running, and, hopefully, hitting the physical training pretty hard. You can read all about it next week.