Are eating healthy and eating to lose body fat the same?
What’s the best way of eating?
There is still a lot of misconception in what a good nutritional plan is. The food market and so many brands still label or classify foods as good or bad, healthy or unhealthy.
This labeling could confuse you when it comes to building your nutritional plan that matches your fitness goals. Either losing fat or building muscle.
Today we discuss: is it the same eating healthy than eating to lose body fat?
What do we consider as healthy
Every single food in the market has a composition of protein, carbs, fats, vitamins, and minerals. Some foods could have more protein than others (meat), some foods could have more carbs than others (rice) or they’re higher in micronutrients (vitamins and minerals).
When it comes to “eating healthy”, some people tend to assume we are talking about low fat, low carbs, high protein.
Some other people think it is the process of making that food that makes it healthy or not: No palm oil, no sugars added, “high” protein content, etc.
BUT, you are not considering the biggest factor that will determine if you change your body composition or not: how many calories has that food? How many calories are you consuming every single day? Every week?
Can you eat “healthy” and still struggle to lose weight?
YES.
So many times, you are trying to really make a change. You’re fed up with your current physique and you’re ready to really commit to your new diet plan.
You’re gonna quit chocolate, beer, takeaways, you’re gonna buy some protein powder, you’ll increase your protein intake, you’ll incorporate those yummy smoothies first thing in the morning, etc.
After a couple of weeks you’ve noticed that nothing has changed and you’re frustrated: “ What am I doing wrong!?”
You’re still not on a calorie deficit. You’re eating cleaner than before but the overall amount of food that you’re eating, still exceeds what your body needs to start using fat as energy and decrease your body and visceral fat. So, what can you do?
Eat good quality foods but have a realistic plan.
When you’re being so strict with your nutrition, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Why? It is NOT realistic in the long run to quit chocolate, takeaways, beer, EVERYTHING that you really fancy.
Having an approach of 80% clean 20% dirt allows you to stay committed for longer and really see the results you want to see.
Once you’ve educated enough about your foods, you’ll know that walnuts are a very good source of fats and omegas, but they’re a calorific bomb that could shoot up your calorie intake of the day. So what do you do? You just have a few.
You know that smoothies are really rich in nutrients and everything the body needs, but you know that adding just a little bit of coconut oil or peanut butter is enough if you want to stay in a caloric deficit.
Also, you know that you don’t really want to quit Friday pizza with the family. Is a night for everyone to enjoy each other and you don’t want to make it awkward. So what do you do? You chip away some calories every day Monday to Friday to create that calorific “space” that pizza will fill up.
That way, you’ll still enjoy your food,you’ll still make progress, you’re enjoying the process and you’re building an even better relationship with food: BYE BYE LABELS!
Being honest with yourself
When you’re eating healthy to get in the best shape as possible and also feel your best, you want to keep checking that you’re being honest with yourself.
This means that you can evaluate that everything you’re doing, is in line with who you are and where you really want to get to.
You know that if you have a few pounds to lose, you’ll have to stay committed for a long period of time and you’ll have to sacrifice till you make it there.
Once you get there, you can’t relax and forget about everything you’ve learned. It will take you back to square one really, really quickly.
If you’re being honest, you can identify the days you’re not being very good with your food but that’s okay! You still have all week to adjust it and make sure you’re progressing.
Would you like to create your perfect nutritional plan? Decreasing your bloating, sorting out any digestive issues and many more?
