diet

Erik's Weekly Fitness Tip | When Adversity Strikes

 

Not If, But When

It’s never a matter of if, but when, we will face adversity.  Our health, family, work, and our fitness can ultimately succumb to some major bumps in the road. 

Let’s keep this simple and just focus on health and fitness since this is the area that I live in.  We can face injuries, coming up short with hitting our goals, or even worse a health diagnosis that could affect us both short or long term.  Rarely does adversity let us know it’s coming to visit. Like any great war general will tell you, the element of surprise can bring people to their knees. 

How To Deal

So how can you prevent adversity with your health and fitness?  You can’t, but that doesn’t mean you cannot be prepared.  For me it comes down to two very simple things that you have to execute every single day.

1. Attitude! 

I know it is a bit cliché, but your attitude is something that you have control over so it makes sense that we would start here.  Poor me, complaining, and being mad at the world will not and will never get you past the current issue that you are facing.  Let your attitude be your ally not your foe. 

2. Diet and Exercise

Eating right and working out will not stop all disease, illness, or injuries but they can help you reduce the risk of all these issues.  Eating right and your weekly workouts are also something you have control over.  It’s okay if you have a bad weekend of eating or a string of bad workouts, it’s going to happen.  Just get back on the horse and keep moving forward.

Strike Back

Life can be tough and throw all kinds of s*@t your way, you have the choice to eat it or hit back. 

Image Credit: Fabian Blank via Unsplash

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Erik's Weekly Fitness Tip | If It Fits Your Macros

 

If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM)

IIFYM is an approach you can take when it comes to losing or gaining weight.  IIFYM might be a different approach than what you are used to hearing. Read more about macros here.

Most people associate dieting with clean eating and exercise. It has been proven many times that you do not have to exercise and eat healthy to lose weight.   IIFYM gives you freedom to eat the food you love.  

Say What?

You heard me right, wine, pizza, or ice cream = no problem.  Here’s the caveat… you can eat whatever you want but you cannot overeat.  Put yourself in a safe calorie deficit of 10-15% and make sure that you do not go over the amount of calories you are allowed to eat.  So if your calorie deficit number is 1800 calories per day you can not go over this number.  

Now I know what you are thinking, come on Erik, chicken, broccoli, and oatmeal should be the staple of anyone’s diet, especially if you are trying to lose weight.  Not that this isn’t true, but for many people it is very difficult to sustain this type of eating regimen for the long run without having foods that they enjoy.   And to be perfectly clear and honest, I would prefer people eat a fairly clean and balanced diet!

How IIFYM Works

So how does IIFYM work?  If your goal is weight loss, you first need to figure out how many calories you have been eating each day. Track your calories for 3-4 days so you can see how many calories you average per day.  Let’s say you average 2500 a day, take 10-15% off of 2500. This is the number you are going to subtract from 2500.  2250 or 2125 will be your new daily allowance in calories.  

Now keep in mind this is the simplest form of cutting calories, there are many other factors that can be included in this:

  • workouts
  • activity level
  • basal metabolic rate

But if you are having issues losing weight, IIFYM is a great place to start without the hassle of changing what you eat. If you don’t believe me that you can lose weight with eating whatever you want, read about the Twinkie diet here.  

Call me if you'd like help with your very own personalized nutrition plan 310.251.7420

Image Credit: Robert Huffstutter via Flickr

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