Fit For Life: 7 Step Plan For Weight Loss…

Saturday, January 09, 2016

Matt Espeut, GoLocalPDX Health +Lifestyle Contributor

Do you train hard, train regularly, and still can't figure out why your results are minimal? Even non-existent? Here’s why: It's not your lack of effort, or amount of exercise you are doing. It's not the type of training you are doing, unless it's bouts of lethargic, redundant cardio on some machine for an hour.

And it's not the intensity of exercise you are doing - it's your nutrition program. Period. Because if you live by a sound nutrition program, all types of exercise will net you results. And if losing weight is the goal, you could do it without ANY EXERCISE. But I am still a big advocate of exercise regardless of anyone's goal, so you didn't hear that from me. But it is true. Master your nutrition and you will be a winner!

Have a plan.
Creating a nutrition plan doesn't have to be difficult. You would never know it due to the various hundreds of books written in the subject, but you can toss all those books away, because I am going to give you the “Cliff Notes” right now, and leave you with an easy map to follow.

1. Remove processed food from your diet, and if you can't totally eliminate all of it, choose gluten free, and organic. Wheat, GMOs, sugars, and other various cheap fillers and chemicals are lurking in commercial processed foods, sure to derail results, and add inches to your waist. And they’re also seen as responsible for skin, digestive, neurological and cognitive problems.

2. Eat fresh fruit and vegetables, and try to eat varieties of both. These foods supply you with valuable nutrients and vitamins responsible for building a strong immune system, cellular repair, and helps to eliminate free radicals in the body that damage cells that cause disease, and promote premature aging. I recommend vegetables with every meal, but no more than two servings of fruit daily.

3. Eat breakfast. A healthy one full of protein and unprocessed carbs such as steel cut oats, and raw nuts and granolas. Add eggs and you have a great way to jump start your day and your metabolism.

4. Eat frequently. The best way to stoke a fire is to add wood that combusts easily and burns clean. The same goes for your metabolism. If you throw a big log on the fire it will smolder and raise a lot of toxic smoke, which is what happens when you only eat one or two big meals a day. They just sit there until you need energy, and what's left gets put into fat storage. I suggest grazing on small healthy snacks like hummus, carrots, apples, peanut butter, almonds, etc, throughout the day to stoke that fire.

5. Stop drinking your calories. Consuming diet drinks, smart waters, sports drinks, most smoothies, and protein drinks, and adding cream and sugar to your tea and coffee adds extra calories, or artificial chemicals that you do not need, and should avoid. Unless you are juicing organic vegetables, or know exactly what and how many calories you are consuming, eat your calories so your body works to digest.

6. Get your fiber, and calcium from dark leafy vegetables, grains such as quinoa, brown rice, root vegetables, and forms of raw dairy rather than boxed cereal and highly processed low-fat dairy. Many people feel they lack these nutrients, so they fall for marketing gimmicks and try to get extra, by eating all the wrong things. Stick to the plan and you won't be deficient in these nutrients.

7. Eat quality. It is better to spend a little more and consume quality products when it comes to your health. Shop more frequently, and don't buy in bulk. Many times things expire or go bad and the cost ends up averaging out anyway, so put in a little extra work when it comes to nutrition and health. You will achieve your goals faster and feel better doing it!!

Matt Espeut, GoLocal's Health & Lifestyle Contributor has been a personal trainer and health & fitnesss consultant for over 25 years. He is the owner of two fitness centers on the East Coast. You can reach Matt at (401) 453-3200; on Facebook at "Matt Espeut", and on Twitter at @MattEspeut. "We’re all in this life together – let’s make it a healthy one!"

Related Slideshow: The 7 Best Health and Fitness Apps

Here is a list of some of the most obsession worthy health apps.

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MapMyRun

MapMyRun is the number one selling running app for a reason: it is easy to use, offers community support if you want it, and tracks and stores your exact routes for you. If you are training for a race or a serious runner, users say that the extra perks in the upgraded paid version are well worth it.

Made for iPhone, Android and Blackberry

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MyFitnessPal

MyFitnessPal seems to be the clear favorite amongst everyone polled. It is helpful not only for the fitness tracking aspect, but everyone polled mentioned how much they loved the food/diet aspect as well. From carb counting for diabetics to recipe ideas to complement your fitness goals, users love this app.

Made for iPhone and Android

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JeFit

JeFit is another fitness app that has rave reviews. It not only tracks progress for you, but offers a huge database of workouts. While many apps offer community support, JeFit allows you to sync workouts with friends who use the app, offering a (real) virtual buddy system.

Made for iPhone and Android

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Strava

Strava gets the highest mark of all the cycling apps. While it is also great for runners, the cyclers seem particularly inclined towards the fierce competition that can be ignited by this app. You can track all of your rides via GPS, then you can compare your efforts to those logged by others in the community on the same stretch of road. You can also join ongoing challenges that can net you great prizes (in addition to bragging rights).

Made for iPhone and Android

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YogaStudio

YogaStudio gets the top vote for Yoga apps. It has a lengthy collection of full class-length videos available at your fingertips. Unlike many other apps, this one also allows you to customize your own video yoga class. All of the poses are done by qualified yoga instructors, and you can find classes suitable for all levels of yogis.

Made for iPhone only

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SimplyBeing

SimplyBeing meditation app offers the best of both worlds. You can choose to run this app as a background for your meditation with soothing music or natural sounds that run for a set amount of time. Conversely, for those of you who have trouble focusing during meditation, you can choose a soothing voice-guided meditation.

Made for iPhone and Android

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Fooducate

Fooducate is an app all about educating people so that they make healthier food choices. Although not perfect, this app is easy to use (you can even take pictures of bar codes to instantly find foods in their database). It gives food a letter grade, tells you the pluses and minuses, and gives you better ranked alternatives. You can also use it as a weight loss tool by tracking your daily calories.

Made for iPhone and Android