This week I hosted a conference call for all of my challenge groups. It seems as though exercising is a fairly easy task to accomplish but eating the correct amount of foods and what exactly to eat are the most difficult things for people to master. So in an effort to ensure that everyone in my challenge groups have all the tools they need to succeed I decided to hold this free call to share my advice on what has worked for me.
For those that missed the call here is a re cap of the evenings discussion!
Drink a large glass of warm lemon water when you first wake up before you eat breakfast. Lemon water is a natural detox and it also jump starts your metabolism in the am. I use a lemon squeezer and squeeze an entire lemon into my cup and fill to the top with warm tap water. Then, I do not allow myself to eat breakfast until the entire glass of water is gone.
Carry a refillable bottle with water everywhere you go. You can add lime, lemon, cucumber and strawberries to your water to give it flavor. NO SODA OR JUICE! I’m telling you that it’s full of empty calories and you are not going to lose the weight if you drink soda or juice! Just WATER!
Drink green tea when you are hungry, I noticed that it helps with my cravings especially in the late afternoon or evening!
Are you the type of person that needs something sweet after dinner? I always grew up needing to have dessert following my meal. For dinner I will cut up a bowel of fruit and leave it on the table for something sweet after dinner for the rest of the family. I usually don’t eat it unless I can’t resist.
Buy in bulk, I go to McGinnis and sisters and buy their 10lb bag of chicken and cut it up into palm size pieces and freeze. It is better to buy fresh produce than frozen. Especially in chicken they infuse it with salt water as a preservative. So instead, buy the 10lbs bags when they are on sale and then portion out palm size pieces for your entire family freeze and voila you have no additives chicken for later!
Another thing that I do all the time is cook extra chicken for your lunches on Sunday or whatever day you are going to use as your prep day. That way you can slice it up and put it in a tupperware and pull out for salads or wraps for the rest of the week.
Also, cook extra for dinner and place in containers for lunches throughout the week.
You can replace any foods so long as you replace a complex carb with another complex carb ect. So if you don’t like banana’s replace them with an apple. If you don’t like almonds replace with all natural pb!
1. Eat six small meals a day. Eat every two-and-a-half to three hours. I literally set the timer on my watch to remind me when to eat! Now that I have been doing it for so long my body just tells me that its time to eat! My husband always jokes that I eat non stop all day long! And I DO!!!
2. Eat breakfast everyday, within an hour of rising. So give or take when you exercise. I exercise first thing in the morning and I don’t eat before hand. I workout, drink my results and recovery drink, grab a shower and then make breakfast. I always have a warm glass of lemon water each morning as my wake up and detox! I squeeze 1/2 or a whole lemon into a glass of warm water. I make it a rule that I cannot eat my breakfast until I drink the entire glass of water.
3. Eat a combination of lean protein and complex carbohydrates at each meal. A lean protein would be your plain unsalted nuts, almond butter, all natural peanut butter, white meat such as chicken and fish. A complex carb is your fruits and veggies such as bananas, apples, oranges, cucumbers, carrots, tomoatoes just to name a few.
4. Eat sufficient (two or three servings) of healthy fats every day (evoo, avocado)
5. Drink two to three liters of water each day. I make this a MUST! If you want to lose weight then you must drink a lot of water each and everyday. If you do not drink enough water you body actually holds onto water weight. Drinking water speeds up your metabolism and helps you lose weight.
6. Carry a cooler packed with clean foods. I seriously cannot leave the house without my 31 cooler bag. Even if I am pretty certain that I am going to be home before my next snack or meal I still throw in an apple and a handful of unsalted almonds and a bottle of water. It is super easy to throw in a packet of shakeology and your shaker cup. Then you are never left scrounging for a meal or a drive through to go to. you always have a healthy snack or meal to hold you over!
7. Depend on fresh fruits and vegetables for fiber, vitamins, nutrients and enzymes. Limit your starchy complex carbs to two to four servings each day. I suggest not relying to heavily on juices. I would aim to get your servings of fruits and veggies each day from actulaly eating them. This way you get the added fiber from the skins of the fruits! Juices more often than not have added sugars and additives that our bodies do not need.
8. Adhere to proper portion sizes.
PORTION SIZES