Attn: Farmingdale, Babylon, and nearby residents:

 Finally…A Plan that Burns Fat, Increases Energy, and is Simple to Follow

How much better would life be if you discovered a diet plan that not only worked but that you could easily stick with?

 

Why is it so difficult to find a nutrition plan that works? With all the information at our finger tips, you’d think the “secret” diet plan would just be one Google away. I guess too much information can be as bad as too little.

The 5 problems with most nutrition plans:

             

1. Overly complex – We live in a busy world. While it will take some work and effort, many diet plans require hours of cooking and planning. They’re just not realistic. Whether it’s weighing the food, excessive nutrient counting, or “carb cycling,” you won’t be able to maintain it. This is a clearly problem if you are on a quest for long term health and fitness.
2. Flawed technology – If I asked you to make ice cubes by boiling water, would you be able to? What if you tried really hard? Of course not. It’s an ineffective technology. Many diets are no different. High carb/low fat diets pose some problems and they don’t work for many people. And this brings me to problem # 3.
3. One Size Fits All – Many “solutions” try to fit you into their box which is backwards. The plan should fit to you. This is especially true when it comes to something as individualized as diet and nutrition. The truth is we all have unique likes and dislikes. What’s more….everyone responds differently to different nutrients. While super low carb might be ideal for one person it might leave another feeling drained and miserable.
4. Too Boring – I’m a firm believer that life is meant to be enjoyed. And this includes the simple pleasure of eating. It’s sad that so many people miss out on this because of the belief that healthy and delicious food are mutually exclusive. This is besides the fact that you’ll never stick with something you don’t enjoy. I mean, c’mon how much grilled chicken can you eat before you feel like you’re gonna grow feathers!?!
5. No Accountability – This is by far the biggest problem with most nutrition plans. Many of us fail to be consistent due to a lack of accountability. Once some solid systems to keep you on track are implemented, magic happens. We all need a little kick in the pants now and again and this is why simply trying to follow a diet from a sheet of paper doesn’t work.

Now that we’ve covered the usual pitfalls of most nutrition plans, it’s time to discuss the qualities of an effective program. Wouldn’t it be great if you could finally get on a program that meets ALL of these criteria?

• Simple – Anyone could follow it. Don’t mistake this for easy. To achieve results that most people don’t you will need to do some things that most people won’t (even though they’re simple).
• Produces Results – Isn’t that what you want after all? To look and feel better? To experience positive physical change?
• Specific to you – You can eat the foods YOU enjoy and do what works for your body type.
• Enjoyable – You’ll actually look forward to your meals. Whether you’re at home, entertaining friends, or dining out, you’ll have a plan that you like.
• Constantly motivated – You’ll have the support you need. Life can get tough and you need a support system to help you through the good and bad times.

Step 1: Get Your Mind Right

I’ve been working with clients as a Long Island personal trainer for almost 20 years helping them lose body fat and get into their ideal shape. If there is one thing that separates the winners from the losers, it’s mindset. The losers are doomed from the beginning. They are setting themselves up for failure with a negative mindset. They aren’t expecting to succeed so they don’t. Controlling our mind is imperative.

Winners on the other hand have a vision. They know where they want to go and it’s simply a matter of taking the right steps.

Don’t look at the wall

Famed race car driver Mario Andretti was asked how he manages to avoid crashing into the wall when turning at such high speeds. His response was eye opening. He said that he didn’t look at the wall. He looked past it. If he focused on the wall itself he would be more likely to crash into it. And crashing into things at 200 mph generally isn’t a good idea.

What a great analogy for life and goals. Andretti discussed two different options. Focus on the wall and stand a greater chance of crashing into it or avoid looking at the wall (as hard as that may be) and wind up past it in the open road. It’s the same with us. We get what we focus on. If we see ourselves as fat, we’ll make the choices of a fat person. But if we can see ourselves in the ideal shape that we want, we’ll make positive choices that will ultimately lead us closer to our goal. The good book says that without vision the people perish. Here are my top 5 mindset tips. Don’t skip the mindset stuff. It’s the most important step.

1. Know Your Why – Nazi concentration camp survivor Viktor Frankl wrote in his classic Man’s Search for Meaning that if we know our why we can endure any, how. What’s going to keep you going when the going gets tough? Because it will.
2. Don’t dwell on the past – Successful people do very little thinking about the past. They wisely realize that what has happened is unchangeable but they can quite literally design their future.
3. Don’t hang out with turkeys – Turkeys will drag you down. Hang out with eagles so you can soar. Be intentional about who you associate with. It has a great impact on your attitude.
4. Be prepared. Life has a way of knocking us down occasionally. There’s no way around this. What we can do is decide the attitude we take regarding the problem. Focus on that.
5. Ask yourself the right questions – The wrong questions start with why and who. They shift responsibility. The right questions start with what or how. For example, “What can I do to help out?” or “How can I help this situation?”

The Guidelines

Study after study shows that giving someone an exact diet plan doesn’t work. There’s a couple of reasons for this. For starters, these one-size-fits-all programs generally leaves people more confused than ever.  Our lives are dynamic and our diet plan needs to reflect that. Secondly, it doesn’t address the larger issue of why people fail on nutrition programs. While head knowledge is important, 80% of your results will come from behavior change, not new information. I’m gonna share an inside secret that may damage some egos of personal trainers and nutritionists everywhere. This stuff isn’t rocket science. The reality is if the average person followed the diet plan from a fitness magazine to the tee, they would probably get better results. Nobody does though.

I’m going to share with you the five Nutrition Success Principles we teach our personal training and nutrition clients. Are these the “be all end all?” Not necessarily, but let me illustrate how well they work. We recently started a nutrition accountability program we run called Answers where we coach our members to follow the guidelines. Here were the results.

*These are the actual #s in 5 short weeks! Nothing is changed to bloat the numbers .

Total participants – 11

Weight lost – 71 pounds

Inches lost – 15.75

Body fat lost – 19.08 lost

Wow! And these are regular folks just like you. Kids. Jobs. Mortgages. All the same stuff we all deal with.

There are no “secrets.” It’s really about just doing a little better each day. Which one of these guidelines do you think will make the biggest difference for you?

1. Eat three regular sized meals or eat a smaller meal every 3-4 hours – We find that most     people do better by eating smaller more frequent meals. It helps keep the metabolism stoked and prevents overeating. As long as the rest of the “rules” are adhered to, go nuts and eat every couple of hours. With that said, we are all different and if the traditional “3 squares” works for you then go for it.

2. Consume some high quality protein with each meal – Some of our favorites are egg whites, lean beef, chicken breast, and a high quality protein shake. If you think this list is boooooring, don’t fret. There are plenty of options. How about shrimp, salmon, mahi-mahi, or tuna? If you’re a vegetarian, the rule still applies. You’ll just need to get “complimentary” proteins, which you can do by mixing certain non-animal sources.

3. Consume fibrous veggies with each meal – In addition to protein you’ll need some veggies on your plate. Instead of providing a list, just think anything you’d put in a salad (Not croutons!).

 

4. Eat according to what you’re doing – Think of carbohydrates like fuel to your car. Recent research shows that refined carbohydrates are the main culprits of some terrible systemic issues like diabetes and heart disease. This is an individual thing and figuring out your carb tolerance is like finding the right key to a unique lock. Generally carbs are tolerated well after exercise so this might be a good time to enjoy some non-fruit/veggie carbohydrates. See list below.

                                                           

5. Maintain a balance of healthy fat in your nutrition plan – Fat has been the most misunderstood nutrient in recent years. It’s even surpassed carbohydrates in that category. There are 3 types of fat and you should eat a balance of them – Saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated. Saturated fat generally comes from animal products. Monounsaturated fat comes from foods such as nuts and olives. For polyunsaturated fat, think flaxseed and fish oil. Believe it or not consuming healthy fat can help you lose fat.

 

Now judging by these guidelines you can easily tell if your meal is an effective one or not. No protein in your meal? Doesn’t qualify It violates Success Principle 1. No veggies? As you can see that defies Success Principle 3.

Follow the lists

Once you learn more you can get fancy but for now stick to consuming foods on the recommended lists. For your convenience, here are the lists. Feel free to print them before you go to the grocery store.

Protein

• Chicken breast (the real bird, not fast food meat!)
• Turkey breast (the real bird, not sliced lunch meat!)
• Game meats (venison, elk, etc.)
• Bison/buffalo (is often leaner than regular beef)
• Very lean red meat such as top round and lean sirloin (grass fed is especially nutritious)
• Almost all types of fish
• Salmon Shellfish and other seafood
• Eggs
• Dairy products

Fibrous veggies

• broccoli
• Asparagus
• Spinach
• Brussel Sprouts
• Green Beans
• Bell Peppers (green or red)
• Zucchini (summer squash)
• Lettuce and other salad greens (darker the better)
• Kale
• Cauliflower
• Cabbage
• Onions
• ALL other green and fibrous carbs

Starchy Carbs – Again these are only if you can tolerate the carbs/calories

• Sweet potatoes (or yams)
• White potatoes
• Brown rice
• Oatmeal (the natural, unsweetened kind!)
• Black eye peas
• lentils
• Squash
• Peas
• chick peas
• beans all kinds: black, pinto, navy, kidney, etc.
• Quinoa (a natural whole grain)
• 100% whole grain bread and pasta products (use in moderation – even though they are made with the whole grain, they are lightly processed and calorie dense)

Healthy fats

• Fatty fish (Wild Alaskan salmon, sardines, mackerel, trout
• Fish oil supplements
• flaxseeds (ground)
• flaxseed oil (as a supplement, not for cooking)
• extra virgin olive oil
• extra virgin coconut oil (for cooking; NOT hydrogenated varieties)
• walnuts
• Almonds
• other nuts
• seeds
• Avocados
• Olives
• Coconut oil
• Natural peanut butter or nut butters (NOT the sugar-sweetened kind)

What gets measured gets done

One of the reasons our Long Island boot camp members mentioned above did so well was because there was some built in accountability. . I love the quote, “What gets written down gets done.” It’s so true. If you want to make improvements in an area you must put your attention there. You have to track what you want to improve. Here are two phenomenal ways to track your-self in regards to nutrition.

Basic journaling – Basic journaling is great if you’re the type of person that gets all wound up about the numbers. Simply write down the following each day…..Time of day, what you consumed, how much, and one sentence regarding how you did overall. For example, a meal entry might look like this…”7AM – 3 eggs, 1 mini bagel, and banana.” With this method you can use a paper and pen (which is what I do) or just type it into your phone.

MyFItnessPal – Get the app and just track your total calories. Don’t worry about the exercise stuff,. . Just the total calories here. Here is the trick to losing weight.  Take a week or two and find out your baseline amount of calories per day. Get the average by dividing the total number of days (e.g. 7 or 14 days)into the total calories (e.g. 14,000 or 28,000). If you lost weight or body fat, you are probably on the right track. If you stayed the same then this is the amount you need to maintain your weight. If you gained then you know what that means! Keep in mind the calorie deficit only needs to be slight. For example, 10% should do the tick. So if you are eating 2000 calories you’ll drop down to 1800.

Get Accountability – We find accountability to be one of the most overlooked component to a fitness program. We all need a little kick in the pants every now and again. We can’t always do it on our own. Here are some ideas on getting accountability.

• Hire a coach
• Tell people you trust about your goals and ask them to hold you accountable
• Share your goals on social media so you will be more likely to follow through

Are carbs bad?

I’m glad you asked. Carbs are a very misunderstood nutrient. In fact, they fight with fat for being the most misunderstood.

I learned more about carbohydrates in this last year than I have in my entire 20 year (almost) career.

To make a long story short, I was away on a business trip when my doctor’s office called to notify me that I had diabetes. WHAT! How could this be? I’ve always been so healthy.

Well after going through the typical stages of emotion, I finally accepted this “reality” and began reading books and consulting with experts on low carbohydrate living as well as diabetes .

The good news is that I ultimately learned that my diagnosis was a mistake. They mixed up my lab report with someone else’s.

I now consider it a blessing in disguise because I gained a new perspective. It also allowed me to help our clients lose hundreds of pounds as well as help some folks get off of their meds. That’s what it’s all about for me, helping others experience a positive change.

Here is the long and short of it.

• We are all different and need a unique program
• Stabilizing your blood sugar by limiting intake of refined carbohydrates will assist you in fat burning
• While certain carbohydrates should probably be avoided, these veggies contain phytochemicals and help prevent cancer…. kale, broc, and cauliflower.
• If you tend to gain fat in the stomach area you may be more sensitive to carbohydrates. If you gain more in the hips then you may be able to tolerate them better.
• As a general rule, move more and eat according to what you’re doing and you can’t go wrong.

Since one of our values at our Long Island Boot Camp is Going the Extra Mile, here some extra tips!

• Sometimes the best way to assess yourself is with the mirror
• Eating the right foods will boost your metabolism
• Increasing muscle will result in additional fat loss
• Eat slowly
• Here are no magic pills or surgeries or injections
• You need to eat plenty of real whole food
• Slimming spices – cinnamon stabilizes blood sugar levels, cayenne (hot sauces) boosts metabolic rate
• Green tea increases metabolic rate
• Keep these out – They have obesogens – pesticides on produce, BPA in cans, non-stick pans
• Poop once per day ( I know that’s grossJ)
• Drink plenty of water
• Get plenty of fiber
• LOVE your body!

 

To sum things up, here is your checklist of things you need to do.

 

• – Decide you are ready for a change and act on that. Do NOT wait. If you wait you may be setting yourself back 6 months or longer! There is never a perfect time. Act now!
• – Get some initial data to you know where you’re starting from. This could be as simple as body weight or you can also get a baseline for calorie consumption as mentioned above.
• – Start tracking yourself by recording daily. Do NOT become obsessed with the scale weight. You just want to use it as a guide. Do the right things and the right things will happen.
• – Shop for the heathy food on the lists provided so you can prepare some healthy meals.
• – Get an accountability plan in place on your own or hire a coach.

It might be hard to believe that this simple plan is all it takes to lose weight. I’m telling you it is. There is so much info out there that we tend to overcomplicate things. Commit to these steps, follow through, and you will succeed.

 

Yours in health, fitness, and awesomeness,

 

Billy Hofacker, BS, CSCS (plus some other cool letters)

Click here to learn more about Billy Hofacker

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