The Best Diet and Exercise Advice I Can Give you
This is the time of year you are hearing all these diet buzzwords such as Paleo, Keto, Whole 30, and some ones I’ve never even heard of before. You probably will not like this when I say, consistency is the best diet and best exercise advice I can give you. I know, it’s boring but it works so stop cheating on it with juice cleanses and detox challenges.
I have tried it all. Believe it or not, I remember doing Weight Watchers when I was in sixth grade. SIXTH GRADE? I can’t even wrap my head around that right now. I think about my mom in this whole situation and wonder why she let me do it but knowing me I probably begged and cried to her until she had to say yes. From that point on until about 2-3 years ago I went through a lifetime of fad diets and weird eating protocols I would find online. Does anyone else remember the cabbage soup diet? SO gross.
Anyways, over the years I’ve come to my senses a bit. One decent piece of advice I am constantly preaching is staying consistent with anything that makes sense to YOUR life. Not the person you see on instagram with the perfectly curated “Power Bowls” of grains, veggies and 3 oz of chicken. I have been in and out of the diet game for years and the one thing that has kept me from ballooning up is committing to myself to lift 3-4 days a week and eating roughly the same type of foods all week long (including weekends) Am I perfect? NO. I want to lose some weight. I want to be comfortable and I want to look strong. But I will not do anything super extreme to get there. The end results of extreme dieting and exercising is an extreme weight gain when you stop these things.
Do yourself a favor. Find foods that are nutrient dense and healthy that you enjoy most of the day and sprinkle in foods not as nutritious but that will keep you from going HARD on nights and weekends with food and booze. Could we always clean up our diet? I think so. But we are also social human beings with travel, business events, the Holidays, birthdays, weddings and so much more. It’s too hard to start after these life events when they are constantly coming up. So, why not try the anti all or nothing approach so you won’t dread the big bloated Monday morning feels.
With exercise, as I mentioned before 3-4 times of a week something YOU like. Do you like yoga? Do you like taking classes at the gym? What about Olympic weightlifting? Find something you don’t dread doing. If you hate it, it is 100% not worth your time and energy. Ask yourself if what you are currently doing feels like a job or a release. If you are short on time due to kids, work, travel or all 3 maybe try something that’s quick and easy but still leaves you feeling satisfied. I have a ton of 20-30 minute workouts on my Instagram highlights under “Quick Workouts!” if you think something like that would help you get in track.
With all this said finding a balance of what you like to do that will yield results is trial and error. I wish this was something that was perfect for everyone. But that’s just not the case. Don’t try to cheat hard work and consistency for fast fixes. Work with your body not against it.