We need to instead realize that it is all about balance and finding something we can do consistently.
Dieting doesn’t have to suck; however, just like everything in life, there will be times we have to do things we don’t fully want to do!
AND I think it is important to recognize that there will be periods where we will be more diligent and times we will…well…”fall off.”
Everything goes in cycles. Here are 5 tips though to help you make dieting suck less!
5 Tips To Make Dieting Suck Less:
1. Find meals you love. Plan those in first.
Dieting has come to mean bland, boring foods. Chicken and broccoli. Bland white fish and asparagus.
But A. These things don’t have to be bland and boring. And B. There has to be a balance which includes foods you enjoy.
If you want to stick with a diet and make it something you actually ENJOY doing, you have to be able to make meals you love.
I always tell people starting my Macro Cycling programs that they should plan in meals with their family or meals they really love first. If you really crave salmon or steak, plan it in. And work your other meals around it.
Really crave chocolate or something sweet at the end of the night? Plan it in first. That way you can work everything else around it!
Remember it is 80/20 not perfection that gets results. Perfection might lead to faster results, but it generally also leads to incredibly short-term results!
2. Stop making it about perfection. Give yourself one focus.
We go in with this all or nothing attitude that often leads to us “falling off” before we really even start.
And if we do get in a routine, at the first sign of life getting in the way, aka work stresses, family pressures, the HOLIDAYS, our goals and diet go completely out the window.
We struggle to stay consistent because we’ve put so much pressure on ourselves to be “perfect.” To only eat whole natural foods. To be within a gram of our goal. To always be under our calories.
Especially during those busy times, don’t worry about the details. Give yourself just ONE THING to focus on to keep you on track.
I always tell clients that if they can do just one thing, make protein your focus. If you make protein your focus, you’ll see results.
Or if they’ve even struggled with that, I’ll tell them to simply start by LOGGING. There is accountability in that AND it can help us then slowly make changes as we feel ready.
It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Those small tweaks, that consistency adds up!
3. Stop cutting out foods you love first.
Ok we all know certain foods are bad for us. But we love them anyway.
Those foods that we love are often also the first things we cut out. And then all we can think about is how much we want those foods.
So what happens?
We end up binging and then struggle to get back on track.
But what if we didn’t first cut out those foods we love the most?
What if instead we first focused on adding in other things? Or making tweaks to those foods we love so they fit our macros better?
What if we got rid of the other fluff so we could even still indulge in those foods we love?
A. Consistency is about balance. It isn’t all or nothing and even unhealthy foods can have a place in our lifestyle!
B. When we make those other changes FIRST, often making the bigger changes. aka sometimes reducing or even eliminating those unhealthy foods we feel we “need,” becomes EASIER because we aren’t then cutting out the things we love first. We don’t feel as DEPRIVED because we’ve made other changes that have created new habits.
So when you’re getting started, start with easy and small tweaks. And even consider how you can make meals more macro friendly!
4. Fuel your body instead. Less isn’t always more.
A big reason why we think diets suck is because we are ALWAYS hungry.
There is legitimately a term for this hunger, and the resulting ANGER from it…HANGER.
So of course feeling hungry and low energy all of the time isn’t going to make us want to stick with our eating plan.
Nope! But it may make you reach for the quickest and most unhealthy thing in sight!
And not only can this constant starvation cause us to fall off our diet, but it can also actually cause our results to stall or plateau. LESS ISN’T ALWAYS MORE!
Yes, a calorie deficit is key. But too little and you can’t workout hard and your body starts to try to conserve energy.
Even though you may want to lose weight quickly, don’t starve yourself. Make sure to fuel your activity and it will not only make eating well more pleasant but help you stay consistent long term!
5. Plan for the worst.
It’s easy to eat well and stick to your goals when you aren’t stressed, have full control of your schedule and are 100% motivated and even getting results.
However, that all happens at the same time like maybe 5% of the time if we’re lucky.
Most of the time we are stressed, or tired, or have family obligations…Or heck…we just want to go out and have fun!
But most often we only PLAN for the times that it is easy. We don’t prepare for the times that we are going to have other things going on that may make it seem impossible to prep or stay on track.
That is why it is key that we consider and plan for the “worst.”
How can we provide ourselves with guidance to stay on track even when things aren’t easy? How can we create consistency and balance so we can keep ourselves moving forward or maintaining even when “dieting” isn’t our main focus?
Often I think this means giving ourselves one thing to focus on. One clear and easy goal that we know will keep us on track enough.
I also think it is about remembering it is about CONSISTENCY and not perfection that truly matters in the long run.
And I think it is important that we come up with ways that allow us to diet with balance. Find easy meals out. Plan around the things you love and enjoy.
Find quick snacks that, while maybe not perfect, are way better than the alternative and will keep you feeling fueled and on track.
Dieting may not always be fun but it shouldn’t detract from your life. There will be periods where you will want to be stricter and others you will do the bare minimum. The key is finding a way to make it “not suck” so you can remain consistent and find balance!
And it is also about remembering EVERYTHING goes in cycles. Don’t feel guilty or beat yourself up. Just make small little tweaks to always be getting better and preparing yourself to make the most out of what you can!
With these 5 tips you can get on track and make dieting…well…suck less!
I get asked all the time about meal timing, and supplements, and micronutrients and this and that latest antioxidant (or whatever craze there is currently) when people are struggling to lose weight or that last little bit of stubborn belly fat.
They STRESS over those little details…little details that honestly don’t matter for 90% of us!
And it made me think about creating my own pyramid for success when it comes to dialing in your nutrition.
So here it is…my nutrition pyramid…And yes…yes it does include exercise.
Because let’s face it…While nutrition is about the foods we eat so we can be healthy…most of the time we are looking to dial in our nutrition for weight loss or body composition changes, which are also dependent on dialing in our workouts.
And I also wanted to emphasis that all that worrying we do about pre-workout nutrition or supplements or antioxidant pills or whatever else, really is the LAST thing we should be worrying about.
The first thing you need to do is focus on your macros. Yup…even over the quality of your calories or your caloric intake.
A little shocking huh?
Want to hear why?
Because if you dial in your macros, guess what follows…EVERYTHING ELSE!
If you focus on the breakdown of the foods you eat, and use my macro ratios, you can’t fit in a ton of crap AKA you basically are forced to dial in the quality of the foods you eat.
AND even if you technically eat over your caloric needs, the high protein can help prevents you from gaining fat. The thermogenic effect means you’ll burn more calories to process protein into energy, making it harder to gain weight on a high protein diet.
Plus, protein keeps you feeling full so you are less likely to overeat.
But these aren’t the only reasons why macronutrients are the first thing to focus on…
It’s because cutting your calories and eating whole, natural foods often isn’t enough to fully get the body composition changes we want.
All too many people have come to me after slashing their calories super low, FRUSTRATED they are still stuck at a plateau….and now super hungry and low energy.
Because we are told that weight loss is about eating less than you expend, right?
Well YES…a caloric deficit is key, BUT m&m calories and chicken and rice and broccoli calories are very different.
So then you may be thinking…”Well that is all about the QUALITY of the calories.”
Well…yes and no.
Have you ever gotten frustrated by your lack of results EVEN while eating only whole, natural foods?
Yea? Well you aren’t alone!
Some of the people that have come to me have too.
Because it is more than the fact that M&M’s are processed crap (the peanut butter ones may be delicious but they are still processed crap)…they are also basically carbs and fat.
That is why a calorie deficit alone may cause you to plateau and that’s why you may not get the results you want even while eating only whole, natural foods.
So Macronutrients are the first thing to dial in.
As you dial in your macros, you can then adjust your calorie intake.
Two things will happen if you focus on macros first THEN adjust your daily calorie amount…
A. You realize you can consume WAY MORE than you are actually eating and by bumping your calories you get better results.
B. You may think you need way more calories than you actually do to feel full BECAUSE focusing on protein keeps you feeling fuller for so much freaking longer! And it doesn’t have the energy spikes and lows of fueling yourself based on just carbs!
So after macros, you need to focus on your caloric intake.
THEN after that, focus on the QUALITY of your calories.
Blah blah blah we all know whole natural foods are better for us.
But I’ve been around the block a few times…And I’ve worked with tens of thousands of clients around the world, and I know the yo-yo dieting cycle all too well.
We like…nah we LOVE…some of that processed crap.
Let’s face it. There is a reason they make it that way.
Cause it tastes F****** DELICIOUS.
So if you’re one of those weirdos who doesn’t like anything processed, I salute you. Huge fist bump.
But to those of us who aren’t that way, trying to only eat whole, natural foods and never get to indulge in the foods we love is just a recipe for disaster. (feel like that’s a pun…recipe…hmm maybe?)
But anyway…When you dial in your macros, you help yourself eliminate enough crap to be healthy AND get results while still leaving in enough crap to make it SUSTAINABLE.
And by focusing first on the ratios, you don’t so much think about the fact that you are “cutting things out.”
NOPE! It almost makes you feel more like you are simply ADDING new things in.
That shift in how you view your diet is key.
And think about it…If you focus on whole, natural foods 80% of the time and 20% of the time you eat crap, you’re still consistently going to get results because you are consistently doing the RIGHT things.
And you are going to ENJOY what you are doing which is going to help you build a lifestyle.
If instead you tried to do 100% clean and then were constantly “falling off your diet,” which let’s face it means basically eating 100% crap, you probably won’t over time even come close to that 80/20 rule.
So that is why after focusing on macros and your caloric intake, I say start to dial in the quality of your calories, remembering you can still keep in some “crap” and ENJOY what you are eating!
Then after that comes exercise.
And I think it is important to keep exercise on the pyramid, even though I’m talking about nutrition, because it matters more than timing or supplements. Far more.
It is also important to keep exercise on this pyramid because all too often we let our “diets” hinder our progress in the gym.
If you can’t push hard during your workouts because you aren’t fueled correctly, you aren’t going to continue to make gains or hit your fitness goals.
If you have specific fitness goals, like setting a new race PR or deadlifting more or achieving that first full pull up, you need to focus on fueling your work toward those!
So you need to remember that part of eating well, part of changing up your nutrition plan, should be about fueling your workouts.
Being able to push hard in the gym will not only help you reach those fitness goals, but it will also be key to you getting better and faster weight loss and fat loss results.
You need to be able to CHALLENGE yourself if you want to build muscle. And you NEED to build muscle (and I don’t mean “bulking up” here ok?) to burn more calories at rest so you can lose weight faster.
Plus, you NEED lean muscle mass IF you want to actually look leaner as you lose weight!
So EXERCISE is an essential piece to consider when dialing in your diet. It not only speeds up your results, but the quality of your workouts is highly influenced by HOW you eat.
AND exercise is also on the pyramid because it play a part in figuring out how many calories you need daily! So do not ignore this important piece!
And then at the top of the pyramid we have meal timing and supplements.
Honestly all I’ll say about supplements is I use them to make things either A. taste good or B. make sure my macros stay in line.
I don’t believe in fat burners or any of that other random fad jazz. Not saying it can’t work or that you should avoid it if you want to experiment with it, BUT the other parts of the pyramid matter WAY MORE and if those aren’t dialed in, no supplement or perfectly timed crap meal will fix it.
Supplements should be just that…supplements to the well laid out plan we’re already sticking to. Those final tweaks we do that get us just those last few percents of improvement that we need.
And meal timing…
If you hit your macro ratios for the day, you’re going to get great results regardless of when you eat. Intermittent fasting can work. Eating 5 small meals a day can work.
As long as you hit your macro ratios and caloric needs for the day, you WILL get results.
HOWEVER, meal timing can be something to consider to make sure you are constantly energized and fueled.
For instance, using intermittent fasting to starve yourself, which will end up with you binging later, is NOT a good idea.
So meal timing is important to consider in terms of YOUR specific needs.
Do YOU feel better when you eat more often? Or do you prefer a 16 hour fast and skipping breakfast?
BUT freaking out over eating every two hours, or exactly what your pre-workout and post-workout snack need to be, should be the last of your thoughts when starting a diet.
It’s that stuff you micromanage and tweak when you’ve already laid a solid foundation.
It’s not the stuff you worry about at the beginning and let stress you out so you don’t even get started. Don’t overcomplicate things!
If you hit your macro ratios for the day and time your meals so they fit your schedule and keep you satisfied…You’re going to get kickass results.
Stop sweating the small stuff.
Start with your macros. Track what you’re doing. Dial those in.
As you make those big changes, you can then slowly, over time, play around with stuff at the top of the pyramid.
But don’t stress at the beginning over things that make very little difference, especially if the foundation of your diet isn’t already 100% dialed in!
Ready to start building your foundation? Want to find out what macro ratios YOU should start with?
But A. These things don’t have to be bland and boring. And B. There has to be a balance which includes foods you enjoy.
But what if we didn’t first cut out those foods we love the most?
A little shocking huh?
Two things will happen if you focus on macros first THEN adjust your daily calorie amount…
And I think it is important to keep exercise on the pyramid, even though I’m talking about nutrition, because it matters more than timing or supplements. Far more.
If you hit your macro ratios for the day, you’re going to get great results regardless of when you eat. Intermittent fasting can work. Eating 5 small meals a day can work.
