.png)
Ok…you are doing it…you are really doing it! You are actually going to start eating healthier this year. …but where do you start?
If I had to do it all over again, this is how I would do it, which is actually not that complicated.
Here are the 7 Simple Steps to Eating Healthier
1. Willpower
You know it…that inner voice that tells you to stay on the couch and have another slice of pizza or piece of chocolate, rather than listening to that little voice at the start of the day that was telling you that today we will have a healthy day, full of fruits, veggies and tasty meat, but by the time you are in the kitchen for breakfast you’re already going for the sugary cereal.
I still fight that inner voice each day and try to silence it, until I have my cheat day.
However, I also fall short sometimes and have a bad day, where all I want is a bit of comfort food.
…but let's be honest, you feel far from comfortable after having a massive burger or several slices of pizza.
So what do you do to fight that inner demon…? Truth be told…I haven't a f**king clue!
Everyone is different. You might take to eating healthily super simple, or might be a person who will pull their hair out because you are fighting so hard to stay away from that cupboard full of junk food…
For me it was sheer willpower and determination that made me change how I eat. I was always foody and loved to eat, experiment and cook.
I just managed to fall in love with the right kinda food after finding ways to make Chicken, Rice and Broccoli more interesting.
I tried to find alternatives and experimented in the kitchen with different foods, recipes I found online and adapted them to my taste.
The truth is that if you haven't got the willpower to do this and actually make this change to a healthier diet, nobody is going to be able to help you with that.
You need to pull your big boy pants up, get the finger out and follow through with it.
Make that change happen and show the world, but mostly yourself that you can make that change for the better today! Right now! COME ON!
2. Breakfast
It’s true what they say about breakfast being the most important meal of the day.
Why? Because it doesn’t just refuel your body after you sleep for hopefully 8 hours a night, but it also provides you with an opportunity to start your day in a healthy way.
For example: My morning routine starts at 5:45am. I get up, brush my teeth and have my pre-workout. 10-15 min later I go and workout for about 1 hour and then I have my all important breakfast, which can either be a healthy fruit smoothie. Sometimes it can also be eggs on toast, or just eggs with porridge on the side.
It doesn’t need to be complicated and you can have all of this prepped in advance.
In the past I often made the excuse that I had no time in the morning to do anything but roll out of bed, grab a coffee and have a cigarette on the way to work…
But believe me…it wasn’t time that was against me…it was my mindset and I had no willpower to get up 10-15 min before my usual time to make myself some breakfast….
So don’t give me those excuses as I have made them myself in the past!
If you really want something, you need to get after it and this shit couldn’t be simpler. Just get up earlier.
How many times did I walk out the door with just a coffee and a cigarette when I was younger…?!
3. Macros
When I first started off on my fitness journey, I thought that all I needed to do was eat loads and lift a few weights.
That's what it looked like when I saw these guys in magazines, movies or TV Shows...but the reality is very different.
It all starts with a little thing called a micronutrient or MACRO for short…
When I first heard the name macronutrients or Marcos for short, I thought “...welcome back to biology class…” and “...this is going to be so f**king complicated....I will never understand this...EVER!”
However, I knew from doing my research this time around that if I don’t get my head around this, I am not going to know what I should or shouldn’t buy in the supermarkets, how much protein, carbs and fats I should be eating, etc.
Once I got my head around it though, I was surprised to know that it’s actually a lot simpler than I thought.
So let me start by explaining what macros actually are.
Simply put, a macronutrient is made up out of the three main categories of foods you eat and the calories or energy they provide you with.
These three categories are protein, carbohydrates and fats. These are the three basic building blocks and will be your new best friends when trying to manage your diet.
Micronutrients are also important and are your vitamins and minerals that your body needs. These are not to be ignored and should be given the same amount of importance as your protein, carbs and fats.
So how do you calculate your macros?
Don’t panic... You don’t need to be a maths genius to calculate this either, even though some formulas require a PHD...
So let's use a simple enough version for now.
To calculate your maintenance calories, which will give you your number of calories you need to eat each day to maintain your current weight, simply multiply your bodyweight (lbs) by either 15x for males or 13x for females.
Keep in mind, this is not 100% accurate but will get you started.
To calculate my daily calories/macros for example, I would take my current weight of 200lbs and simply multiply it by 15. So to maintain my weight, I would have to be consuming 3,000 calories per day.
However, it’s important to note that your diet is always going to be evolving with you. You will have to take into consideration if you have an active lifestyle or if you are a couch potato… If you are in the gym twice a week or 6-7 days a week…
So use your calculated macros as a guide for the first few weeks and if you don’t see your desired effects, i.e. weight gain or weight loss, don’t be afraid to change your diet according to your desired result.
Just keep in mind that it won’t happen overnight, so give it at least 2-3 weeks to show any results and don’t get discouraged when you don’t see the results you are after straight away either.
This journey will take time, but if you get your nutrition and workout routine right, you will see some phenomenal results soon.
4. Structure
Nothing is going to go your way if you don’t put a new structure in place that will help you stay on track of your meals and workout routine.
Sit down and write down what you want to achieve, i.e. lose weight, gain muscle, look a certain way in 6 months, etc. Now break that goal down…
If you want to gain muscle and you are a skinny guy, you know you have to start eating regularly and lift some weights.
So your structure should have 4-5 meals, increase your macros each week a little to help gain lean weight.
Schedule your day around school/work etc, your workout routine and figure out where to place those meals throughout your day to get 4-5 meals in consistently every day.
Same goes for someone who wants to lose weight. Figure out your marcos, but reduce your marcos a little each week and focus on 5-6 meals, with protein and loads of vegetables, fruits and greens.
Schedule your day the same way like the skinny guy and figure out where to place those meals throughout your day too.
My favorite quote from Arnold is this one:
"It is so important that you work your butt off. Don’t ever look for shortcuts. There are 24 hours in a day. If you sleep 6 hours a day, then you have 18 hours left. Most people work 8 or 10 hours. So now you still have 8 hours left. What do we do with these eight hours, is really the questions!"- Arnold Schwarzenegger
So schedule your 8 hours around your new goal and take at least 2 of those hours out of your day to workout and prep your meals for the following day.
Speaking of…
5. Meal Prepping
If you take away anything from this, starting to prep your meals should be one of them.
It’s an amazing way to help you stay on track, as all you need to do is go into your fridge and take out a meal you have prepared earlier in the day or the week, etc.
Once I got onto the mela prep train I was set for success.
When I first started prepping my meals, I spent about an hour straight each Sunday after coming back from a walk with my dog.
Now my wife and I prep our meals each Sat/Sun together for the week and ove the freedom it gives us during the week to simply go to the freezer, fridge or pantry and have all our meals ready to go.
Start by knowing what your meals are going to be for the week and make a grocery list.
Once you have bought all your bits, make sure you have enough tupperware to store all of your cooked and prepped food.
Get a small weighing scale if you are counting macros by weight and off you go.
Don’t be fooled…the first few times will be messy, difficult and could even be very stressful…but trust me when I say that it will get better soon, once you have managed to work out a system that works for you when prepping.
Top tip… clean as you go along, because if you wait until everything is cooked, you will have a mountain of stuff to clean and it will be less hassle doing it as you wait for the rice to cook then when you wait till everything is packed away…
6. Sleep
Sleep is so important to your body and will help you build muscle!
Yes… you will be able to build muscle while you sleep… amazing right!
While you sleep, your body releases growth hormones, protein-building amino acids, into the bloodstream. This happens much faster than during the time you are awake and helps your muscle to grow.
While you sleep your muscles also repair themself, which is what you want after a workout, during which you tore some muscle fibers that now need to be repaired, which makes them grow and will result in your muscle looking bigger!
Sleep is vital for our body to help with our weight loss journey too, as it has been shown that a diet is less effective if we don’t have adequate amounts of sleep and we end up overeating as well.
So help yourself and get your sleep in.
Your body needs that time. It will help with your body, diet and even your mood will vastly improve.
7. Junk Food
Surprise…Junk Food is on the list of my 7 Simple Steps To Start Eating Healthier…
Why? How? What…?
No it’s not a trick and I truly believe that it has a place here as with every healthy diet, it has to be balanced.
Yes, it has to be balanced more towards the healthier side for 99% of the time, but if you are strict with your diet plan and you follow it to the letter each day, you are allowed to at least have one crazy meal a week.
It will not only replenish some of those glycogen stores you have depleted if you are on a fat loss diet, but it will also help your mood and give you something to look forward to each week, as you follow that grind of eating healthy meals each day, no matter how tasty they might be.
However…
Do not use this as an excuse to fall completely off the wagon and have a massive portion, or 10 scoops of ice cream…
Neither would I suggest that you do this in the first couple of weeks. Wait at least until week 3 to ensure that your body and mind are on the way to a healthier you, before having a bite of something sweet for example.
Stick with your diet and earn your treat each week.
That’s the key to a healthy balanced diet.
Summary
Everyone has a slightly different approach to this and I certainly don't claim to be a nutritionist…However, with my regular exercise and following my approach, it certainly has worked for me and if asked, these are the 7 steps I always tell them.
Use these 7 simple steps as a guide and find your own way eventually and most importantly, don’t jump from one unhealthy diet to the next.
It’s easy to get obsessed with food, diets, etc.
It’s not healthy to be completely absorbed by it all day every day and you should certainly seek professional help from a dietitian or medical professional, if you have an unhealthy relationship with food.
Disclosure: Some of the links in this article may be affiliate links, which can provide compensation to me at no cost to you if you decide to purchase any product or service from our affiliate partners. These are products I’ve personally used, tested and can stand behind. This site is for entertainment only. You can read our affiliate disclosure in our privacy policy.
留言