January 1st is just around the corner. As I write this, we are 10 days out from Jan. 1st.

As you already know, I am Strength & Nutrition Lifestyle Coach. I don’t believe in any diets of any kind, quick fixes, wraps, pills, or potions.  I’m here going against the grain, going against the norm => you do not have to suffer thru it when you have body goals. You can lose weight without banning any foods or food groups. You don’t have to cardio yourself to death either.

Cardio -ing yourself to death is not what you want to do. Why? Because muscle, metabolism, and using cardio as your only means of exercise is detrimental to your physique.

Lower calories and lots of exercise (cardio) will cause you to lose weight at first. The weight loss will drastically slow down sooner, rather than later. You will be lighter on the scale, but when you look in the mirror you will look squishy, not toned, and your clothes probably won’t fit any better. This is a result of muscle loss as well as some weight.

Not only did you lose precious muscle, but you also slowed your metabolism down. When we lose muscle, it does more harm than good.

The harder you diet, the harder the body will fight back. The body will fight back by storing the fat you are trying to lose. Ya know that plateau you experienced? That’s your body starting the fight back. It will always win unless you treat it right.

The first thing you did was drop the calories; then you dropped a couple more pounds, right? Then it stopped again. So, you added more cardio, and now you’re up to 7 days a week.

Didn’t lose much weight after that, right? Head down, white-knuckling thru. Eventually, you started to gain the weight back.

Why?

The diet was too extreme, and all the cardio exaggerated the issue. Once the diet ended, you went back to the way you used to eat and backed off the cardio cold turkey.

Was hunger also through the roof? Yes, I know this because I’ve experienced it myself. Your body will force the issue – force you to eat to make up for the deprivation and starvation diet.

What if I told you, there was a better way? This way of losing weight does not require any fancy diet names. Nor does it interrupt your life. Your way of eating to lose fat should enhance your life, not hinder it.

To get you started, I have three anti-diet tools. These tools are easy to implement today. Whatever road you take your health and fitness regime should always enhance your life.

Non-Dieting tools

1. Instead of setting weight loss goals, set STRONG goals. Want to learn how to or get better with push-ups, do that. Want to do get your first chin up or hit a Deadlift PR? Just want to feel strong and do your everyday activities without aches and pains? Setting strong goals could be crucial for you.

Taking the emphasis off of losing weight will directly take the stress off of dropping pounds. Let me let you in on a little secret (not really a secret)….not stressing about weight will make it easier for your body to lose weight and work with you.

2. Quit the scale! Put it away, smash it, get it out of sight. Whatever you need to do, especially if you attach morality to it.

If weighing yourself and seeing the number reading back causes any grief whatsoever, smash the damn thing. It really is just a number that has nothing to do with your self-worth.

The scale is just one teeny tiny measure of progress.

If you are lifting the things, gaining muscle and losing fat, the scale will not reflect this. Ladies don’t fret; this is a good thing.

Look at how your clothes are fitting, your energy levels, your mental well-being, and your PR’s within in your strength training program.

3. Food journal – Keep a log of your eats for a minute. 🙂

I love to have my clients keep a journal for a little bit. You don’t have to do it forever, but it will certainly help you be aware of your food intake. Not only that, but I also encourage you to pay attention to:

Hunger before you’re eating, how full you are getting during and after, and are you satisfied with the meal.

These three simple tools can help you navigate and have control of your nutrition blueprint – we all have our likes and dislikes with food. I believe it’s imperative that we like how we eat for it to be sustainable. I really don’t get the point of banning foods that we love for a short period of time to lose weight. It’s not sustainable, and it doesn’t teach anything but to avoid whatever food you banned until you can take it anymore and binge on it.

You do not have to follow a cookie-cutter diet plan, and you don’t have to do Atkins, or Whole 30. You can build your own meal plan with all foods in moderation.

The only thing, I suggest for my clients to look at is there macro breakdown – protein, carbs, and fats. If this causes too much grief, we can skin the cat another way.

My wish for you this year is not to jump on the diet bandwagon come January 1st. Take a sane and sustainable approach to fat loss. I’m in your corner, need some 1 on 1 customization? Contact me here.

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