Last month I gave some simple and easy-to-implement tips for increasing your activity levels. This month, Iโll do the same for your nutrition. Now most of us have no desire to be stepping onto a stage, all oiled up, showcasing every sinew in our body. Rather, weโd mostly like to feel a little better, perhaps see a little definition in our muscles and a slightly lower number on the scales. The good news is to achieve that, we donโt need to be solely living out of Tupperware boxes. Instead, we can implement certain behaviours which will have a big impact on how we look and feel.
ย
Track your calories
This will always be step 1. What gets measured gets managed. Plus, building your awareness of calorie content for certain foods will have a major impact on your eating and snacking habits. Now, there are two options here: A. Track for a week to gain awareness B. Track ongoing for greater accountability Whichever option you choose, youโll see the benefits. If you choose option A, Iโd recommend doing this semi-regularly as itโs easy to start forgetting the impact of the additional calories.
ย
List your major vices
Alcohol, chocolate, cake, crisps, takeaways. Determine how often you give in to these. Once a day? Three times a day? Three times per week? Reduce it. Set an achievable but ambitious target. If you have each of these as your vice, getting rid of them all will last 2-3 days only. Reduce gradually and ultimately aim to remove.
ย
List your minor vices
Late night snacking, breads, cheese, pasta, coffees, biscuits. Not to say these are all bad, but if you know you overconsume on these, then add them to your list. Same as above, reduce and ultimately if reducing feels fine to you, consider removal.
ย
Increase your water consumption
We often mistake thirst for hunger and then eat when we should be drinking. Ensure you are fully hydrated, and this will prevent this misunderstanding. Plus, when we feel full of water, we naturally consume less food anyway.
ย
Reduce your eating time
The more time we have to do something, the more weโll do it. One of the simplest ways to reduce your consumption is to reduce the period you give yourself to consume. This could mean you either delay your breakfast or you finish eating in the very early evening. Either way, closing your window of eating to around 8 hours ensures fewer calories will be consumed. For some, implementing these simple fixes alone will have a monumental impact on your weight and your body composition. For others, theyโll have a smaller but positive one nonetheless. The one thing that is certain, is that these tips are all sustainable. They arenโt a quick fix. They donโt demand that you sacrifice everything that you enjoy. They create a little more discipline, a little more accountability. They produce results. Try it out.
ย
Download our FREE Nutrition eBook
For a more detailed look at nutrition and implementing regimes which will have a major impact on your body composition, download our recently updated โNutrition in a nutshellโ eBook. ย
