I
need to bring up this point because of the many emails people send me
about their nutrition. From what I read, most people’s nutrition plans
are far too poor to allow them to lose fat. And yet they are working
harder than ever in the gym and wondering why they aren’t losing fat.
No workout will help you build muscle and lose fat if you keep eating
at fast-food restaurants, drinking sugary sodas, and raiding bags of
leftover mini-candy bars.

And it’s
frustrating because the secrets to fat loss nutrition are so simple.
The best approach is eating several small meals per day, with each meal
containing lean protein, vegetables, and other whole foods. You must
eliminate unnecessary calories such as soda and high-fat, high-sugar
snacks (like that mini-Snickers bar that’s on your desk right now). If
you’re trying to lose fat, you can’t have treats every day. If fat loss
is the goal, then cookies, apple pie, ice cream, nachos, fried foods,
etc. just don't make the cut, as unfortunate as it is.

Research
shows that an increased intake of fruits and vegetables is associated
with fat loss (nutritionists never put a limit on the number of
vegetables that people should eat - provided they are not fried or
covered in fat or sauces). Other research suggests that replacing
carbohydrates with almonds (a source of fiber, protein, and
monounsaturated fats) leads to greater weight loss. Almonds are a very
healthy snack and help curb hunger. A typical serving is 1 ounce of
almonds (about 22 pieces) and can replace chips, chocolate bars, and
cookies in your diet.

Make sure you are
logging your food intake and making notes about your energy levels when
you eat certain foods. Soon you will identify the nutritional reasons
for your fatigue or for your consistent energy levels. You will quickly
associate sugar and fried foods with poor mental performance, while
noticing that small, whole, natural food-based meals and snacks help
keep you alert and full of energy.

If you
are overweight and just starting to improve your nutrition, I have some
good news for you. You should begin losing at least 1 pound per week
(probably 2 or more) simply from the nutritional changes.

Nutrition
is that powerful. Don’t expect to start eating perfectly tomorrow, but
you should slowly build up to eating much better and healthier than you
were yesterday. Try to improve your nutrition plan everyday. Stay
consistent and focused with your nutritional approach. You can do it.
Here are three nutrition changes that would pay huge dividends for a
fat-loss beginner:

1) Eat several small, whole food meals per day.

2)
Don't consume any unnecessary liquid calories (i.e. no soda, alcohol,
or sweetened beverages). Drink more water – nutrition experts recommend
3 liters per day.

3) Eliminate processed
carbohydrates and sugar from your nutrition plan (no soda, cake, chips,
white bread, or chocolate bars).

If you’re
fed up with the body fat and spare tire around your middle, then it’s
time to take a structured approach to fat loss.

If
your current nutritional plan is preventing you from losing fat, then
it’s time for you to start working on building better eating habits.
This can be as simple as committing to one small nutritional
improvement per day (such as replacing your lunchtime soda with water)
and one large nutritional change per week (such as setting aside time
on a Sunday to prepare a weekly menu and all of your meals).

But
you need to have a plan to make this work, just like how you have a
plan for your workouts. Your nutrition plan should include the contents
of every meal, as well as your grocery list for the week. This will
enable you to have meal alternatives for nights when you might need to
be running from one event to the other with no time or healthy snack
alternatives when you are on the road between meetings.

It’s
important that you make your plan something you can follow. If you are
currently eating 7 meals per week at the golden arches, it wouldn’t be
realistic to plan to replace those meals with carrot sticks and tofu
this week. A better plan would be to substitute a couple of those meals
with healthier sandwich options and then work on improving things even
more in the following weeks.

So here’s a three-step guideline on building a better nutrition plan:

1)
Prepare a weekly menu. Outline each meal and snack for every day of the
upcoming week. Take into account the possibilities that you might work
late or get invited out to lunch. The more options you have and
preparations you make, the better you will be able to stick to your fat
loss plan.

2) From your menu plan, you’ll
now know what foods and ingredients you need to make it through the
week. Make your grocery list and stick to it (see mine below). Grocery
shopping is your first opportunity to break some bad nutritional
habits. You can’t eat chips, cookies, or cakes if you don’t have them
in the house – so don’t buy them and you’ll avoid any future temptation.

3)
Prepare the meals or prepare the ingredients so that making the actual
meal doesn’t take a lot of time. Like shopping, it’s best to do all of
these preparations at one time (such as on a Sunday or another day off).

My shopping list includes:

Fruits · Apples · Oranges · Blueberries · Melon · Peaches · Grapefruit · Raspberries

Vegetables
· Peppers (red, yellow, green, & orange), · Spinach · Asparagus ·
Broccoli · Snow Peas · Mushrooms · Frozen mixed vegetables · Tomato
sauce

Protein Sources · Chicken breasts · Turkey breasts · Salmon fillets · Lean beef · Skim milk & low-fat, low-sugar yogurt

Carbohydrates · Oat bread · Oatmeal (no sugar added) · Whole-wheat pasta

Other · Green tea · Unsalted, not roasted, Almonds

You’ll
notice that most of these foods come without a food label. Most of the
foods that you should avoid come in a bag or a box. Building a shopping
list that contains very few bagged or boxed items is something to aim
for. But when you do purchase something with a label, make sure to
avoid two of the unhealthiest ingredients created by man:

1) High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) 2) Hydrogenated or partially-hydrogenated vegetable oil (the sources of trans-fatty acids)

You
might have heard of these two ingredients. They are strongly associated
with obesity and other lifestyle-diseases (such as diabetes).

Sincerely,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training