Nutrition – Page 2

Here’s the Simple Guide That Shows You How to Eat Healthy

Does it ever feel like you spend way more time than you should have to thinking about food? What you should eat and shouldn’t eat; how many meals you should eat; are any foods best for fat loss; what’s best for improving overall health; is there such a thing as an all-you-can-eat peanut butter diet; are total calories or food quality more important.

Eating healthy is complicated.

Not really. Eating healthy seems complicated because of the abundance of information on food, weight loss, disease prevention and what you should and shouldn’t eat to look better naked. It’s no wonder people are frustrated and discouraged because they’ve tried popular diets that promised to be the diet for effortless fat loss: low fat, low carb, vegetarian, intermittent fasting, ketogenic, and all the rest.

The Basics are Not Replaceable

It’s not uncommon for someone to read the information below and scoff that it’s “too simple.” They want more than the basics. They think a diet that emulates their favorite Instagram fit-pro’s habits will yield better results. They think they’re above the basics.

The problem, however, is that most people have not even mastered the basics. Complex, restrictive diets that eliminate foods or food groups don’t produce better, lasting results — they just reduce calorie intake. People falsely think they’re more effective because of their complexity. These unnecessarily obsessive, restrictive diets can lead to things you don’t want like binge eating, negative body image, or incessant yo-yo dieting.

Complex or complicated does not mean better. Don’t delude yourself into thinking you need something more advanced if you don’t apply the information shared here for months at a time.

Do You Want a Diet or a Lifestyle?

Most diets have a timeframe. You follow it for 12-16 weeks (or until your willpower bleeds dry) and then you’re done and go back to eating whatever was normal pre-diet, or worse because you can’t stop eating all the stuff that was banned from the diet. Sound familiar?

Someone who will stand on stage in a bikini to be judged will follow a diet that meticulously tracks calories to reach ultra-low levels of body fat that’s meant to be sustained for a short period of time (people often forget this part and think it’s easy, or healthy, to have very low body fat levels long term). Problems arise when the average person who just wants to feel great and look better naked attempts to mimic those diets.

Most people need to create a sustainable lifestyle built upon simple habits that can be maintained long term. Not for 12-16 weeks, but for 12-16 months and beyond. A major distinction between a diet and lifestyle: quick-fix diets instill a perfection mindset (never missing a meal, hitting the exact calorie target every day, never “cheating,” you go all in); a healthy-eating lifestyle is about consistency, not perfection, so there’s no burden or stress of thinking you need to be perfect day in, day out — it is not an “all or nothing” game.

Rigid diets that create a perfection-obsessed mindset around food can drown you in their monstrous wake of negative body image and disordered eating habits.

You Must Find Pleasure in the Process

You can only force yourself to follow a style of eating you hate, or that dominates your life, for so long. Eventually you’ll say Screw it! and throw your hands in the air as a declaration of frustration and signaling the end of the diet’s lifespan.

Many people mistakenly look at eating healthy as being torturous, bland, boring, difficult. Establishing better eating habits may be difficult in the beginning, depending on your current food habits, but you must focus on the pleasure that accompanies the process. The pleasure of nourishing your body; properly fueling and recovering from workouts; forging new habits that serve you; actively investing in your health; proving to yourself you can establish rewarding, positive habits.

If you get frustrated from trying to find vegetables or lean-protein sources you enjoy, or have trouble hitting the 80% whole-food target discussed below, refocus on the pleasures you should be reaping from this lifestyle change.

Does It Have to be about Fat Loss?

Tips for weight loss are laced throughout this article, because many people want to lose fat. If you’re burned out on constantly thinking about fat loss, watching what you eat, or otherwise being on a never-ending journey of trying to whittle down to a smaller size, don’t think about fat loss.

If your brain is begging for a break from basing every food choice on losing body fat, choose other reasons for changing your eating habits. Choose to adjust your eating choices to:

Improve overall health (physical and mental)
Increase energy levels
Improve sleep quality
Fuel and recover from workouts
Slow down the aging process
Contribute to self-care
Increase physical strength and build muscle

There are, as you can see, lots of reasons to eat well that have nothing to do with fat loss. Depending on your history it may behoove you to say Screw fat loss! and focus on other healthy eating benefits.

How to Eat Healthy

Whatever your why may be for wanting to eat healthy, here are the foods that should make up most of your eating choices.

Eat These Foods Most of The Time

The common thread connecting these foods — they’re minimally processed whole foods. Why have these foods been chosen? Because eating mostly nutrient-dense whole foods, including lots of plant-based foods, has been shown to be most important for improving health and warding off disease.

The following images and examples are not exhaustive, and many could fall in other categories. Eggs, for example, could be listed in the fat and protein groups but appear under fats; corn is a grain when eaten as popcorn but considered a starchy vegetable when consumed as corn on the cob. Don’t get obsessed with minor details but use this as a guide for building meals and snacks.

FATS

These whole-food sources are packed with healthy fats. Other examples not shown include fatty fish like salmon and mackerel; plant sources include flax seeds, olives, chia seeds.

PROTEIN

Notice that lean sources of protein are shown. Fattier cuts of meat and dairy are fine but shouldn’t make up the bulk of your protein choices.

STARCHY VEGETABLES

NON-STARCHY VEGETABLES

Why two vegetable categories? Because some people rely too much on the starchy vegetables and eat nothing but potatoes. Potatoes are healthy and satiating, but don’t neglect non-starchy veggies. A good rule of thumb is to “eat the rainbow” as often as possible so you get tons of nutrients in a fiber-packed package. Non-starchy veggies are a great way to increase satiety because they take up a lot of space in the stomach without packing a lot of calories (i.e., they’re high-volume, low-calorie foods).

Bake them, sauté them, grill them, steam them, eat them raw, turn them into noodles and use in place of traditional pasta, blend them in smoothies. Doesn’t matter how you get them in your belly, just eat them.

BEANS AND LEGUMES

Tasty protein and fiber combined in a cheap package, especially if you buy dried beans and prepare them yourself. If you don’t eat meat, or much of it, this will be one of your main sources of protein. Even if you do eat meat, include these tasty foods.

WHOLE GRAINS

This category also includes foods like whole wheat pasta and breads.

Why is white rice shown instead of brown rice — I thought brown rice was “less processed” and therefore healthier, you may be wondering. There’s not much nutritional difference between white and brown rice beyond fiber (which favors brown rice), so let your taste decide. Some people find white rice easier to digest than brown rice. In the end, choosing between them is a minute detail not worth obsessing over.

HERBS AND SPICES

If you don’t use herbs and spices with your cooking, start. I’ve cooked countless meals that were bland and boring, but the right blend of spices made these meals delightfully craveable. Find recipes that use herbs and spices if you’re not a creative cook. They can make the difference between a meal you feel like you have to choke down and one that creates a symphony of flavors on your tastebuds.

FRUITS

Choose from fresh or frozen. Canned fruits are okay if they’re packed in water and don’t have added sugar. Buy what’s in season or on sale to save money. Keep apples and other easy-to-grab fruits nearby if you tend to snack frequently.

CALORIE-FREE BEVERAGES

Sparkling water is another option and the carbonation can help curb appetite. Calorie-free soft drinks are okay in moderation and can help satisfy your sweet tooth. One of the simplest changes worth making is swapping calorie-laden beverages for their calorie-free or low-calorie equivalent.

If you can only drink coffee with cream and sugar, that’s fine. You don’t have to force yourself to drink black coffee. This can only become something that might need to be kept in check if you use a lot of cream and sugar, or drink multiple cups of coffee throughout the day (then those spoonfuls of sugar and cream add up).

Want a low-calorie way to flavor your coffee? Mix a sugar-free hot cocoa packet (they’re only 25 calories) in your coffee. Makes a tasty low-calorie mocha.

What is “Most of The Time”?

The above food categories fall under the umbrella of foods to eat most of the time, meaning they should make up at least 80% of your food choices; this can be a daily or weekly average. The following image shows the percentage of whole and “fun” foods (covered next) consumed each day over the course of a week — the whole-foods average is 81%.

The tremendous benefit of aiming for at least an 80% average of whole foods is the flexibility it provides. Remember, this is a flexible lifestyle, not a perfection-obsessed diet. You can socialize and enjoy your favorite foods without feeling deprived or like you’re “on a diet.”

Eat These Foods Less Often

You know what to eat at least 80% of the time, so let’s go over the foods that can make up the remaining 0-20% depending on your needs and preferences.

But first, notice what is not being said. These foods are not bad, evil, forbidden, dirty, off limits, or guilty pleasures. Eating them does not make you bad, ugly, shameful, disgusting, a failure or anything else someone who wrote a diet book that bans these foods may have said you’d be if you enjoy them. Nor will eating these foods occasionally in reasonable amounts miraculously cause you to gain body fat. Only eating more than your body uses for a prolonged period causes the accumulation of body fat, and this can come from eating an excess of anything.

The eat less of these foods are typically calorie dense, not nutrient dense like the whole foods above. They’re hyperpalatable by design typically using a combination of sugar, fat, and salt. For a fascinating look at how foods are intentionally and painstakingly designed to keep us eating more and wanting to eat more, read The End of Overeating.

The best guideline for the eat less of these foods: be consciously selective of what you will enjoy. Actively choose. Don’t just eat something because it’s there or someone offers it to you.

Recommended Article: Eating in Moderation: How to Do It Right

Are Processed Foods Evil?

Unless you grow it or hunt it yourself, your food is technically processed.

Plain oats are processed, but they’re considered a whole food.

Pop Tarts are processed, and they are not a whole food.

Food-of-the-gods peanut butter is processed; it’s a good source of fat that delivers some protein and is considered a whole food.

Protein powder is processed, yet it’s a staple in many people’s eating choices because it’s a food source packaged in a convenient form, like a stick of string cheese.

Aim to eat mostly minimally processed foods. There’s a difference between oats and peanut butter and Pop Tarts and fried mozzarella sticks. And, remember, if Pop Tarts and mozzarella sticks happen to be two of your favorite foods, you can, and should, eat them in moderation.

Why is it important to eat your favorite foods, even if they’re heavily processed or deep fried and not so healthy?

How (and Why) to Make Room for Foods You Love

Want to throw yourself into a relentless battle with disordered and obsessive eating habits?

Heck no you don’t.

The best way to avoid that miserable struggle (i.e., the ugly side of health and fitness) is to not have “forbidden” or “off limit” foods, or to attempt to abstain from your favorite foods or food groups because you think they’re “bad” or solely responsible for fat gain. Do not fall into the disordered-eating trap of labeling foods “good” and “bad” or becoming obsessively neurotic with what you eat.

Optimizing physical health is important and is achieved by eating mostly whole foods. Mental health is also important yet is often omitted from a diet discussion, and that’s a mistake. A way to help ensure you don’t develop obsessive, unhealthy habits with food is to have flexibility built into your food choices.

Make room for your favorite foods. If a variety of whole foods make up at least 80% of your daily/weekly food choices, you can enjoy other favorite foods in moderate amounts. You don’t need to have an “all or nothing” mentality that rigid diets create. You needn’t “eat perfectly” all the time.

Do the right things most of the time.

It’s time to stop looking at food subjectively. A cupcake is not a “bad” food that will instantly put fat on your body. A spinach salad with low-calorie dressing is not a “good” food that will instantly remove fat from your body.

Analyzing food like that exacerbates, or leads to, disordered eating habits. If you find yourself looking at food through a good/bad lens, make it a priority to catch yourself and start reversing that mindset. If you typically look at a tasty cupcake and think I shouldn’t eat this, it’s bad, and it’ll cause me to gain fat, become aware of that response and change the conversation. Recall that it’s a piece of food; it’s not bad or evil. You can have it, enjoy it, and then move on.

This is a lifestyle, and your favorite foods belong in your lifestyle.

To get stronger and change the shape of your body you must show up to the gym week after week and put in consistent effort. You can’t go sporadically and expect noticeable results. Building a healthier mindset with food requires the same commitment and consistent practice.

Tailor to Your Needs and Preferences

You know which foods should make up the bulk of your eating choices, and how to work in your other favorite foods. Great! Why do you need to “tailor” those guidelines to your needs and preferences?

Because doing something you enjoy and that fits into your life matters. A lot. An eating style is only as effective as your adherence to it. Take the time, if needed, to see how many meals per day you prefer to eat and any other practices you need to adopt (or avoid, more on this below) to reach your goals.

Maybe you prefer to eat two big meals per day because you love feeling full and eating smaller meals causes you to overeat. Maybe you prefer carb-rich foods, so a low-carb diet would be worse than getting a root canal from a drunk dentist with a shaky hand. Maybe you need to measure your protein intake and loosely track calories to reach your goals.

Recommended Article: Why That Diet Didn’t Work for You

Maybe you don’t know what you prefer because you never took the time to ask yourself, so you have to try a few things to see what works best. That’s fine too. Becoming your own guru and approaching your eating preferences like a scientist can be a good thing. Take a pragmatic, objective approach to your eating choices. Keep emotion out of it. Take note of what works and keep doing it; if something doesn’t work or you absolutely hate it, scratch it off the at-least-I-tried list and move on to the next thing.

Does Every Meal Have to Look Like This?

Nope. Mine certainly don’t.

There’s nothing wrong with having a vegetable, protein, and starch on your plate, but it doesn’t mean every meal has to be made of single ingredient foods, each having its designated spot.

Some people love using that template to design their meals because of its simplicity and the ease it provides for prepping lots of meals at once, but not me. Some of my meals look that way, but it’s certainly not mandatory.

I enjoy cooking and trying new recipes so I routinely make stir-frys, casseroles, slow cooker meals, stews, chilis, curries. My criteria for most recipes is that they use mostly whole-food ingredients. (For a few recipes you can check out my Instagram: chicken salad, banana-oat cookies, sweet potato pumpkin curry.)

Let your preferences determine how your meals look. Make what you enjoy eating.

Total Calories and Food Quality

Do Calories Matter?

Yes. Using an extreme example, you can go on a Snickers diet and lose weight if you stayed in a caloric deficit. Sure, you’d get to eat nothing but Snickers every day and lose weight, but you’d likely be ravenous most of the time since an all-Snickers diet isn’t very satiating. And, not to mention, you wouldn’t consume enough fiber, vitamins, and other nutrients to optimize health.

The point here isn’t to eat nothing but junk — it’s to emphasize the point that no single food or food group causes fat gain on its own.

Does That Mean Food Quality is Less Important?

Not at all. Just because you can lose fat eating nothing but Snickers or McDonald’s doesn’t mean food quality is less important. As stated above, maximizing overall health is the primary objective, and eating mostly whole foods does that. Food quality is also important for energy levels and satiety.

Let’s say your body needs 1,900 calories per day to stay the same (i.e., if you burn 1,900 calories and eat 1,900 calories, your body composition won’t change). You could eat 1,600 calories worth of Snickers bars each day for a month and you’d lose weight from being in a caloric deficit, though you probably wouldn’t feel too great and would likely experience ravenous hunger.

Some people claim you’d instantly pack on fat eating nothing but Snickers bars because of the insulin response, but that’s incorrect. An insulin response won’t lead to fat storage in the absence of a caloric surplus.

Contrast this candy-bar diet with eating 1,600 calories of nutritious whole foods from the eat more of these foods discussed above for a month and weight loss would occur, but unlike the all-Snickers diet you’d experience greater satiety from the higher intake of protein and fiber and higher volume whole foods provide.

Whole foods provide greater satiety than heavily processed calorie-dense foods.

And, bonus, as you can see, Snickers can still be a part of a mostly whole-foods lifestyle. Deprivation has no place in eating healthy. Moderation is a habit worth developing.

This isn’t to suggest the results from both diets, if all else was equal, would be identical. If strength training was part of the regimen you may lose more fat and build more muscle with the whole-food diet from consuming more nutrients and protein than the theoretical all-Snickers diet; no doubt your health would benefit from the former.

Do You Need to Count Calories?

I would rather saw off the little toe on my right foot with a rusty pocket knife than count calories. That exercise would send me plunging headfirst back into obsessive, disordered eating habits. That is why I don’t count calories, and why many of my clients with a similar history don’t either. It creates more problems than it solves.

There are plenty of people who like tracking calories. It’s a lifestyle practice they enjoy, or one they find necessary to achieve and maintain their goals, otherwise they get off track quickly.

The option of tracking calories varies from person to person and depends on their goals and needs. Do what works best for you and avoid anything that exacerbates issues with food.

If you’re not sure what you need to do, start by applying the above information for at least six weeks and see what happens. You very well may not need to do anything else. Why make things more complicated than necessary? Try the simplest things first, and tweak only if necessary.

Some people don’t need to count calories (or disdain the mere thought of doing so) yet could benefit from tracking certain foods or macronutrients.

What Should be Tracked?

Maybe something. Maybe nothing.

Let’s say you want to lose weight. You aptly apply the above information for six weeks but don’t feel like you’ve made progress, and you don’t want to resort to counting calories. In other words, what should you do if you’re eating healthy but still can’t lose weight?

Most people don’t overeat lean protein, non-starchy vegetables, or fruits. You can track the two most likely culprits preventing fat loss: fat sources and “fun” foods.

Fat sources are calorically dense, and the calories can add up quickly. For example, one-quarter cup of mixed nuts contains 160 calories. If you eat out of the container instead of putting one serving into a bowl, you may end up eating one cup (I’ve been there and done that). Instead of eating 160 calories, it was 640. If you frequently eat high-fat foods like nuts and nut butters, avocados, cheese, olive oil drizzled on salads, track or measure those fat sources for a week. It may be helpful to measure a serving size of those foods to become aware of what a serving size truly is.

I love carbs. If I had my way a bucket of mashed potatoes would be considered one serving. If you eat more carb sources than fat, track your starchy-vegetable and grain intake. You could try replacing some of the starchy vegetables with non-starchy vegetables (since they’re lower in calories for an equal volume) or simply decrease the serving portions a bit: instead of eating two heaping serving spoons of mashed potatoes, eat one.

“Fun” foods can also be easy to overeat. It’s not hard to eat a few too many tasty cookies or French fries or doughnuts. You may be eating more of those than you realize. Track everything you eat and drink for a week to see what’s going on. You may discover you snacked on a doughnut a few times throughout the week and drank a few sugar-loaded lattes you weren’t accounting for previously. Choose which “fun” foods to enjoy more diligently. Either eat a smaller amount and/or swap them out for lower-calorie whole foods.

If fat loss is the goal and you’re not losing weight, this means, very simply, that you’re consuming too many calories. Find simple ways to consume fewer calories: eat more veggies instead of whole grains, swap out sugar-laden beverages for calorie-free drinks, eat a good source of lean protein with all meals, track fat sources, eat more high-volume, low-calorie foods like non-starchy vegetables and fruits. It really can be that simple.

The How to Eat Healthy Cheat Sheet

The above information could be distilled into this cheat sheet:

Eat whole foods at least 80% of the time
Make room for your favorite foods
Think flexible, sustainable lifestyle — not a soul-sucking diet
Consistency matters most — forget about perfection; this is not an “all or nothing” game
Master the basics — no seriously, do them for months and years

Want to Really Change How Your Body Looks?

Healthy eating and strength training go together like peanut butter and jelly. While proper nutrition can improve your health and is instrumental in losing body fat, an intelligent progressive strength training program is the tool that changes the shape of your body. Eating well can help you lose body fat, but only strength training can help you maintain, and build, muscle.

For maximum results, combine the nutrition guidelines here with a progressive strength training program. Check out the women’s beginner strength training guide or Lift Like a Girl workout template to get started.

Disliking your body a little less

By GrlPwr

“Ugh, I hate my thighs.”

“I hate seeing this flab on my stomach.”

“I need to work out more because I hate how my arms look in tank tops.”

Ask almost any woman if there’s a part of her body she’d like to change or improve and you’ll likely receive an immediate reply. Perhaps you’ve said something similar to the comments above about your body at some point (or even today).

Do you want less fat, more muscle definition, to fit into that favorite pair of jeans?

Start by disliking your body a little bit less. Sounds crazy, I know. But it works.

To build a better-looking body, or one you simply feel great occupying, the magic happens when you change your perspective from what most people do to something that’s actually helpful.

When you transition from thinking things like this: “Ugh, I have to work out more and eat better because I hate how my body looks.”

To thinking like this: “I’m going to work out and eat well to feel incredible, to get stronger, and to invest in my health.”

Transitioning from the former mindset to the latter makes the process of building a healthier, better-looking body enjoyable. Working out and eating well becomes something you get to do and is no longer something you have to do. What you do to feel good instead of what you do because you dislike your body.

Many women dive headfirst into a bottomless pool of body hatred — they think hating the fat on their butt or thighs is useful fuel to transform their body. But it’s not. Trying to “hate your way” to a better body turns exercise into punishment and can lead to an unhealthy relationship with food from trying to avoid “bad foods” and vowing to eat only “diet-friendly,” good foods.

Self-improvement is good. Trying to hate your way there is not.

You’re entitled to feel good about yourself. Reaching a particular body shape, size, appearance you desire isn’t a prerequisite.

Remove all disgust and dislike from the equation. Rephrase the statements you make about your body.

Go from this: “I’m very weak.” To this: “I’ve got great potential to get a lot stronger.”

From this: “I need to lose a lot of fat.” To this: “There are a couple changes I can make that will lead me in the direction I want to go.”

From this: “My genetics suck and make achieving any results extremely hard.” To this: “I know it’s tougher for me to get the results I want, but knowing that is good so I can take action. With patience and persistence I can make excellent progress.”

Think about the self-talk you engage in. What do you frequently say to yourself about yourself? How can you rephrase those comments into something helpful and productive? If you’re accustomed to the not-so-nice self-talk, meaning, you’ve been saying unkind things about your body for years, or decades, this isn’t a quick fix. Be vigilant in catching these comments, and immediately rephrase them.

If you feel like you’ve been fighting against your body, adjust your perspective so you can more effectively get positive results. Forget about trying to get rid of the fat on your stomach or legs or other parts you may dislike and focus on doing things that are enjoyable, or at the very least, empowering.

Go to the gym to get stronger, not to burn calories.

Eat more of the foods that make you feel great and give you energy and help you recover from workouts; don’t obsess over foods you should eat less of or vow to avoid foods that can be enjoyed in moderate amounts.

Ditch the avoidance mindset that accompanies most diets (“I shouldn’t eat that”) and choose to focus on eating more lean-protein sources, more lower-calorie, high-volume foods like veggies, fruits, and whole grains.

Celebrate all victories along the way instead of glossing over them and obsessing over how far you still feel like you have to go.

You’ve likely discovered how ineffective fighting against your body can be. Why not try something different? Something empowering.

Remarkable “Before & Afters” That Have Nothing to do With Fat Loss

By GrlPwr

What do the majority of women’s fitness before and after photos have in common?

They’re all about weight loss—someone was “bigger” in the before photo, and they’re smaller (or at least leaner) in the after.

Not that there’s anything wrong with people wanting to lose weight to improve their health, feel more confident, or to look a certain way. As I always say, it’s your body, so do what you want with it.

Women, however, are led to believe that fat loss is the only goal they can have. The only reason to eat healthy is to lose weight; the only reason to work out is to burn fat. Their sole purpose for doing these things is to chase a smaller number on the bathroom scale.

Problems arise when women obsess over fat loss year after year, after year. Scrutinizing every food choice based on its ability to help them lose fat becomes exhausting. Making every workout a punishment for eating something “bad” or an attempt to whittle away parts of their body they dislike doesn’t provide lasting motivation.

Fat loss is a fine goal short-term, but if you know what it’s like to revolve every action in the gym and kitchen around losing fat for long stretches of time, you know how mentally exhausting, and defeating, it can be.

Or perhaps you just want to reap benefits from your workout and eating efforts that deliver something more meaningful than a smaller number on the scale–to make fat loss a byproduct of a more enjoyable focus.

This is why I’m not a fan of traditional “before and after” photos. Yes, it’s absolutely wonderful when people drop excess weight and keep it off long term, but there are additional benefits to be gained from changing your eating and workout habits for the better.

Health and fitness shouldn’t just about how you look in your “after”; it should be about how you feel and the lifestyle you’ve created to ensure you maintain the “after” well into the future.

Remarkable Before & Afters

I asked some of my coaching members and other women to share what fitness was to them before they approached training and nutrition the Lift Like a Girl way, and after they did so. What did they discover that was more valuable than losing weight or shrinking down?

Here’s what they had to say, and their experiences reveal incredible results you’d never see in a photo:

My before: Deafening self-doubt, chronic depression, and the never-ending cycle of binge eating and over exercising.

My after: Confident in my body and my choices regarding fitness and nutrition. Seeing exercise as an extra bonus in treating my depression. Now I don’t see “good food” or “bad food”—it’s just food and I can enjoy it!

–Amanda

Before: Convinced I would always be the chubby girl never below 200 pounds.

After: Convinced I will always be the badass, strong girl never above 200.

–Amber

My personal “before” was being too afraid, self-conscious to go exercise in a gym. The mere though brought on anxiety.

My personal “after” is walking into that same gym like I own it…badass style.

–Andriana

Before: Too many different exercises and too many reps. Now: Mostly old school barbell training, fewer reps, focus on strength! Several years ago, at age 48, I could not even hold onto the bar; now at 54 I can do 5-6 dead hang pull-ups, no kipping.

–Helen

Before, I was your typical unsporty kid. I hated most movement, felt it wasn’t for me.

After starting lifting, I’m constantly curious about what my body can accomplish. I genuinely love my body for what it can do, and I’m excited about what I’ll manage in the future. I feel more united with my body than I have just about ever. I feel like this is for me.

–Juliet

Before: I regularly confused quantity with quality. I set my goals vis-à-vis an arbitrary number (the number on the scale). I despaired of ever being truly and properly strong because “I didn’t have that kind of time.”

After: I focus on quality, as measured by the exactitude of my form and the slow progression of my sets. I set my goals based on a concept (strength) and a physical challenge (deadlift 1.5x my weight). I no longer despair of being strong. I am strong.

–Mary

Before: Look at model in fitness magazine, set goal to look just like her, work out two hours a day. I actually felt happy when things were going my way, but the emotional swing when the scale didn’t go the way I needed it to, was unbearable. I felt like if I didn’t look a certain way as a trainer, no one would trust me, and my business would suffer. I felt like I didn’t have value if I didn’t have abs.

After: IDGAF. And I feel strong enough that I don’t have to. I have freedom from the bondage of trying to “live up” to others’ unreasonable, unrealistic, and unnecessary expectations. I have peace and joy even while eating a cooking or pumpkin-flavored treats this time of year. I no longer feel the need to apologize.

–Megan

My personal before was thinking I had to be completely exhausted, lying on the floor, in a puddle of sweat after exercising, to have a good workout. I’m much kinder to myself now, with better results!

–Debby

Before:

Weighed and measured all my food to the gram
Weighed myself daily, on two scales
Watched my family eat while I abstained so that I could eat my food at home
Compulsive exercise and undervalued recovery

After:

Food no longer controls me
I have so much more time to enjoy life away from obsessive weighing and measuring
I exercise to feel well and respect my limitations
I work with my body, instead of against it
I eat with my family
Overall, I am so much more relaxed!
I take many more rest days
I sleep better

–Rachel

Before: Got winded walking up the hill to my home, struggled to get up off the floor, and high cholesterol.

After: More energy, confidence, and a much higher sense of self!

–Mona

As I dove deeper into my own health, I found a woman I was really freaking proud to be. I learned how to communicate with, rather than dictate to, my body and started treating my health as an expansion rather than a never-ending (maddening) exercise in shrinking.

–Courtney

I guess I’m an inbetweener.

Before: Compulsive eating, no exercise, morbidly obese and unhappy.

Later: Compulsive dieting, excessive exercise, significant weight loss and unhappy.

Now: Balancing the art of eating and exercising for enjoyment without it tripping over into compulsion. Learning to look at my body for the amazing things it can do while living in a world where we are judged on the external.

I can’t say I’m “after” yet. After years I’m still battling to get relaxed around food, exercise and my body, but at least I now know what “healthy” actually looks like in terms of physical and mental goals.

–Claire

My before is yo-yo dieting and struggling with boring exercises not sure if they did any good, and eventually gave up. My after is FINALLY finding something I LOVE doing (weight lifting/cycling) and counting calories only as a guide. Not a “good girl/bad girl” mind trap for me.

–Julie

I dropped in to comment after re-reading the intro to the Beautiful Badass Mini Course, “the journey is the destination.” It hit me like a ton of bricks in reference to my other-than-health-fitness life. This isn’t something to get over, or finish, or wait out. No “after” for me. THIS IS IT! I embrace it NOW! I’m learning and growing and becoming. I’m not going to short change today rushing past it toward tomorrow. Thank you, Nia, every day, for perspective.

–Mary

If you’re tired of always focusing on fat loss, then demand more. Choose other goals to focus on, and other great reasons for eating well and moving your body. See for yourself what can happen to your body, and mind, when you make getting strong a priority. Make health and fitness a process that enhances and fits into your life, not something that dominates it.

Want guidance creating your own remarkable before and after? Grab the new book Lift Like a Girl on Amazon.

Click here for the Kindle version.

Click here for the paperback.

Break Free from the Ugly Side of Health and Fitness

By GrlPwr

The health and fitness industry has done a fantastic job of making women dislike their bodies, and themselves.

Browse the health section at your local bookstore, scroll through social media feeds of fitness professionals, glance at fitness magazines in the checkout aisle of the grocery store. It’s abundantly clear what modern health and fitness is about: losing fat, getting into a smaller clothing size, fixing flaws, and building “perfect” body parts. Physical endowments like a defined midsection and sculpted butt are highlighted, while tips to reduce cellulite and the newest fat-scorching workout are plastered on magazine covers and littered across social media.

You can finally love your body and be happy once you attain these goals, or so we’re led to believe. Happiness, it seems, is just a couple of smaller pant sizes or one perfectly sculpted body part away.

Look around much of the health and fitness world, and the underlying themes become abundantly clear. The effectiveness of a workout is determined by how exhausted you were at the end or how sore you felt the next day. And when it comes to food, you need to be on a rigid, restrictive diet, and you must follow it perfectly, without deviation.

Behind these messages is a fundamental principle that saturates the health and fitness industry: your priority, as a woman, is to build a leaner, more attractive body free from flaws, at any cost necessary. Once you achieve a goal, it’s time to move on to the next thing on your body that you can improve.

Is it any wonder so many women dislike not just their bodies, but themselves?

Health and fitness has been relegated to the lowest possible denominator: the superficial has replaced the substantive. “Health” and “fitness” nowadays really aren’t so much about health or fitness as they are about achieving superficial standards, at any cost necessary, and with a blatant disregard for other more important components of what truly defines health and fitness.

In other words, it’s not about how healthy or fit you are; it’s about how healthy and fit you look.

The superficial focus has ushered in obsessive eating habits, negative self-image, frustration, guilt, dissatisfaction, determining self-worth by numbers (e.g., the scale, pant size, etc.), and a surplus of costly gimmicks and worthless supplements.

And it’s nonsense.

Health and fitness is a multibillion-dollar industry—per year. It will incessantly poke your insecurities and gladly create new ones just to sell you a “solution.” Intelligent marketers know how impatient humans are, and they’re happy to play to our innate desire for instant gratification. They point out a “flaw” (You have unsightly cellulite!) that makes us self-conscious and present us with tantalizing products and programs that promise to deliver quick results (You can be more beautiful within a short time with our revolutionary product.). They know which buttons to push so we reach right over our common sense to whip out the credit card if we believe their solution just might work.

This brings up another problem with fad diets, fitness programs, and “hacks” that promise drastic results in a few short weeks. We’re told if we “go all in” and do the program or diet perfectly, we’ll achieve results that provide overwhelming happiness. Not only is “perfectly” following such a thing an extreme challenge, but we never stop and ask, “What will I do once this is over?”

Instead of yet another extreme, strict regimen, why not try something different? Something that truly works so you not only achieve great results, but you can maintain them without a tremendous amount of effort—and you can do it for the rest of your life.

I want to make sure that, come next year, you don’t find yourself saying, “I gained a bunch of weight. Help me get my body back.” I love training people, but I do not love helping people get their bodies “back” year in and year out. Rather, my goal is to help you develop a sustainable lifestyle so you can maintain the results you achieve into the next year, and the year after.

That’s only possible if you enjoy the process (at least most of the time) and it fits into your life (instead of dominating it).

If you hate the process or feel like your life must revolve around it, you know you won’t keep doing it.

Health and fitness should be about gaining strength that makes your life easier, less stressful, and more enjoyable. It’s about eating well, not just for the goal of looking better, but to nourish yourself so you can grow stronger and more resilient. It’s about building a body that serves you and allows you to live your life to the fullest.

It’s about creating a sustainable lifestyle. All the things you do for your health—strength training, eating well, harnessing an empowered mindset—become things you do because they’re part of who you are.

This article is an excerpt from Lift Like a Girl: Be More, Not Less. This book is for women who want a simple, no nonsense plan free from obsessive eating habits and exhausting workout programs. Get strong, get results, and get on with the rest of your life. Get your copy of the book here.

Eating in Moderation: How to Do It Right

By GrlPwr

Eating in moderation is a noble goal. Too bad most people suck at it.

What does it mean to “eat in moderation”? We must define it if we’re to practice it properly. The definition varies widely depending on what beliefs someone has about nutrition, but here’s a simplified answer that’s void of stupid nonsense (calling any food group “evil” or “forbidden” or claiming one macronutrient is solely responsible for fat gain) and harmful dichotomous thinking (labeling foods good/bad):

Primarily eat a variety of whole foods most of the time — fruits and veggies, lean meats, fish, beans and legumes, nuts and seeds, herbs and spices, dairy, eggs, whole grains; don’t have “forbidden” or “off-limit” foods; enjoy your other favorite foods (alcohol, doughnuts, cookies, fried foods) occasionally, in reasonable quantities.

Eating in moderation is a logical approach and can eliminate a lot of unnecessary stress and frustration that often accompanies nutrition. However, many people either (a) understand what eat in moderation means, but falter in the execution or (b) have a distorted understanding of what eat in moderation means.

Thanks to our diet-obsessed culture, here is what many people have unfortunately come to believe it means to eat in moderation.

Being “good” during the week and eating the “bad” things over the weekend they successfully abstained from during the week is what some people consider eating in moderation. When you look at the quantity of not-super-healthy foods consumed on the weekend, it’s clear that they constitute a large amount of the weekly average food choices; not so moderate after all.

Here’s a proper example of what eating in moderation could look like.

This is one possible example of how to work in reasonable quantities of treats/refined foods into daily eating choices to successfully practice eating in moderation. This isn’t the only option, however, as some people may prefer to have a larger meal less frequently.

The above images are mere examples. I’m not suggesting you must eat the same foods every day or those foods specifically — the images are examples of whole-food meals that include a good source of protein. The number of daily meals and food choices should be tailored to your eating preferences.

Eating in Moderation Gone Wrong

Eating mostly whole foods and including your other favorite foods in reasonable amounts is not only effective for improving health while allowing you to reach your physique and performance goals, but it’s great for your sanity; you needn’t avoid your favorite foods to reach your goals.

Perception is critical when discussing how to eat in moderation; you need to objectively see what’s happening. Here are three common categories people can fall into when having problems eating in moderation, and the solution for each one.

Example 1: Too Much, Doesn’t Realize It

“I eat sweets and other not-so-healthy foods in moderation, but I still can’t lose weight. Help!”

This category is the most common and the problem isn’t moderation; it’s the execution and perception of what eating in moderation looks like. Many people claim to eat not-super-healthy foods moderately, saying:

“Yesterday I had coffee and oatmeal with a piece of fruit for breakfast, a chicken salad for lunch, a protein shake in the afternoon, and I eat lean meat and vegetables for dinner.”

They say that’s what they’re eating, but the reality, oftentimes, is different. This can be proven by keeping a food journal. Yesterday’s food choices actually looks like this: A large latte made with whole milk and sugar, an instant oatmeal packet that was loaded with sugar, and a banana for breakfast; chicken salad topped with a pile of cheese and bacon and full-fat ranch dressing with a couple breadsticks on the side, and a sugary soft drink for lunch; a meal-replacement shake in the afternoon; a late afternoon doughnut in the breakroom at work; grilled fish with steamed vegetables for dinner, followed by half a dozen cookies and a large glass of milk.

This person claims they’re eating not-super-healthy foods moderately, when they actually make up a large portion of their eating choices. The reason they can’t lose weight is simple math; they’re eating too many calories. Many of their eating choices are calorie dense: full-fat dressing, lattes made with whole milk and sugar, soda, doughnuts, cookies. Those foods aren’t satiating, so they’re easy to overeat.

Solution: Keep a food journal for a week and record everything you eat and drink. This way you see what you are, and are not, eating. Afterward, aim to eat whole foods at least 80% of the time and track again for a week or two.

Example 2: Not Much, Doesn’t Realize It

“I eat sweets and other not-so-healthy foods too often and then feel extremely guilty. Help!”

Thanks to diets with obsessive, non-negotiable rules that come complete with a list of forbidden foods and food groups, this category is growing rapidly. The diet mentality has made people think they have to follow an eating plan perfectly, without deviation, or they screwed up and sacrificed all their hard-fought results.

This individual eats plenty of protein and whole foods at least 90% of the time, but if she enjoys a food in moderation, like a bowl of her favorite ice cream or a couple pieces of pizza, she thinks she over indulged and failed to eat moderately, even though those foods were 10% or less of her weekly average food choices.

This person is struck with guilt, shame, and concern that she screwed up her diet and instantly erased the previous week of work and effort. The problem here isn’t eating in moderation; it’s her mindset and the language she uses about food, and herself. (If I eat this I’m “good”; if I eat this I’m “bad.”)

Recommended Article: The Huge Problem with Guilty-Pleasure Foods

Solution: Vigilant, patient mental training and an abundance of self-compassion. Begin by erasing good/bad food labels. Tracking what you eat and drink for a week may help, so you can see what you’re actually eating, and what you’re not. For instance, someone who eats a scoop of ice cream and two pieces of pizza spread throughout the week will be able to see those foods are a very small portion of her eating choices and not some drastic over indulgence.

Example 3: The Domino Effect

Someone eats something “sweet” or “bad” and continues digging the hole deeper. They rationalize I screwed up so I might as well eat whatever I want then I’ll get back on track tomorrow. Certain foods trigger them into a downward spiral of less-than-ideal food choices for an entire day or two. This individual struggles to enjoy treats and certain foods in moderation; like a row of dominos, eating a treat builds inertia that leads to her making a string of less-than-ideal food choices.

Recommended Article: One Simple Hack to Stop Screwing Yourself Over

Solution: This isn’t one size fits all, but it can be helpful to first become aware of the situation and identify the trigger foods, then decide how to handle them. If eating peanut butter causes you to keep eating the peanut butter, how can you handle it? One solution for trigger foods is to portion them into individual-sized servings. This way when you want that food, you grab the container with the appropriate serving size without being tempted to keep digging in for more.

For other foods, it could be best to keep them out of the house and buy a serving when you want it. If you can’t keep a carton of ice cream in the freezer without dipping into it every day, and dividing it into individual servings just doesn’t work, don’t keep it in the house. When you want ice cream, go to your favorite place and buy a couple scoops. (Speaking of ice cream, you need to try this recipe: The Chocolate Protein Shake That Actually Tastes Like a Milkshake.)

How to Make Eating in Moderation Work for You

Eating in moderation won’t look identical for everyone. The challenge is finding the balance that allows you to reach your physique, health, and performance goals while allowing you to enjoy the lifestyle you’re building and to socialize with ease.

Take emotion out of it. Guilt, shame, pride and other emotions have no place when it comes to responding to what we put in our mouths. Responding emotionally is not the answer to overindulging; it helps absolutely nothing. If you tend to value yourself, positively or negatively, by what you eat, become aware of it and work on changing it.

Recommended Article: Don’t Respond Emotionally to Health and Fitness Slip-Ups

Avoid good/bad food labels. There is just food. Some foods are wholesome and nutritious: eat these most of the time. Some foods are heavily processed and not so nutritious: eat these less often, without a smidge of guilt.

Actively choose what you will enjoy. Plan ahead. If you’d typically have a couple drinks, a few fried appetizers, and an entree that wasn’t exactly healthy when going out on Friday night, have a plan for what you will do so you can enjoy yourself while staying on track. Have a drink; skip the apps; get your favorite entree with a side order of veggies instead of fries. This isn’t deprivation, nor is it overindulgence. It’s balance. It’s moderation.

Don’t have a scarcity mindset. The diet mentality has fueled the perception that we’ll miss out on something if we don’t eat what’s offered to us. This can occur if you work in a setting where food is readily available and people routinely bringing doughnuts, cookies, and desserts. This can cause us to think I have to eat this now because I don’t know when I’ll get something else. We need to realize we don’t have to partake in every eating opportunity, and we’re not missing out by not eating.

Keep a food journal for one week. This simple exercise already mentioned will give you concrete data to analyze. Look at the journal objectively (i.e., free from emotion and judgement) and see where progress can be made. Perhaps you’ll realize that your perception of eating in moderation is skewed. Maybe you’ll see where you can swap out common foods for whole-food options. Or maybe you’ll see you do eat in moderation and need to stop stressing unnecessarily.

Know your personality, and work with it. Some people do better enjoying a treat or favorite not-super-healthy food daily, like a couple pieces of a favorite chocolate or one piece of pizza as shown in the eating in moderation graphic above. Others do better having one larger meal/treat less frequently, like an ice cream sundae or a burger and fries with a favorite beer.

Recommended Article: Why That Diet Didn’t Work for You

Do what works best for you. Eat larger meals of your favorite not-super-healthy foods less frequently (burger, fries, and a beer) or have something smaller most days so you can enjoy your favorite foods more frequently (a cookie each day, one glass of wine in the evening).

Eating in moderation can work for you. Take the time to learn how to practice it properly, in a way that best fits your lifestyle and preferences.

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