Run Luau Run

All right!
Stop whatcha doin’
’cause I’m about to ruin
the image and the style that ya used to.

~”The Humpty Dance” by Digital Undergound

You’re exercising regularly.

You’re eating what you’re supposed to.

You’re body composition hasn’t changed a bit.

You’re thinking, why the Hell am I doing this?

You’re wondering, why am I putting myself through all the pain and sweat and smelly socks?

You’re asking yourself, why in the world am I eating like a rabbit?

You’re getting to the point where you want to say, that’s it.  I’m done!  No more of this pointless exercise crap! No more of this diet nonsense.

You know what?

You’re right.

Whatever it is you are doing to improve your health, body composition and performance, if it isn’t working, stop.

But Matt, it works so well for my friend/neighbor/co-worker.

Yes, I get that, but you are not your friend/neighbor/co-worker.  You…

You can quit smoking.

You can quit pharmaceuticals.

You can quit drinking alcohol.

You can quit being a couch potato.

You can quit not running.

You can quit not exercising.

***

Wanna know what you can’t quit?

Eating.

You can’t quit food.

All of the unhealthful habits above, you can quit.  In fact, you can quit them cold turkey.  Sure, there will be withdrawals and aches and pains, but stay the course and you come out on the other side.

What happens if you quit eating?

You die.

This is one of the reasons so many people have a hard time with their weight.  Their addiction is not something that they can just quit, cold turkey or otherwise.  Unfortunately, through a chain of events that may or may not be of their own making, poor eating habits have developed and the physiology, chemistry and physical make up of their bodies…

This week we’ve covered four eating habits that can and should provide you with some very powerful tools towards achieving fat loss in a steady, methodical manner.  Eating more slowly, adding protein dense foods and vegetables with every meal and saving starchy carbs for post workout meals are likely to have a positive impact on your health and body composition.

There is one final habit I would like to add to this series.

Healthy Habit Five:

EAT HEALTHY FATS DAILY

For years we have been told fat is the enemy.  If you want to get skinny, you must go on a low fat/no fat diet.  Grocery stores are packed with low fat versions of everything.  I am sure that there are people out there that are thriving on this type of diet.  I would not be one of them.  Besides, that stuff tastes so…so…so tasteless.

I am here to…

Eat more slowly and stop when you are 80% full (Habit 1).

Check.

Eat protein dense foods with every meal (Habit 2).

Check.

Eat at least 2 servings of vegetables and fruits with every meal (Habit 3).

Check.

Three days and three habits in and we are off to a good start.  But you may be asking yourself, when the heck do I get to eat pasta and bread and mashed potatoes and rice???

That brings us to habit number four:

FOR FAT LOSS, EAT A MAJORITY OF OTHER CARBOHYDRATES AFTER EXERCISE

I know.  That’s not necessarily what you want to hear, but if your goal is to drop weight by losing fat, then you’ve got to earn those higher-carbohydrate meals by exercising first.  You want to eat bread, pasta, rice, sugary foods, etc?  You can, but you have to do two things.

1. Focus more on unprocessed varieties.
2. Save most…

We now know to eat slowly during our meals, stopping when we are 80% full and to include protein dense food with each meal.  This brings me to something most of us can remember our parents saying at the dinner table from the time we could feed ourselves, except they only had it half right.

Habit number three:

EAT VEGETABLES WITH EVERY MEAL

That’s right.  I’m sure each and every one of you can remember some point from your youth when your mother or father is reminding you to eat your veggies, even as he or she is clearing the table.  Maybe you were a non-picky eater, maybe you pushed the vegetables around your plate hoping somehow they would just disappear.

Apparently, our parents were on to something.  Not only are vegetable packed with vitamins and minerals, they also contain phytochemicals, which are essential for optimal physiological function.

Protein…

Yesterday I wrote about how to eat your meals.  Today we start with what you should eat.  Which brings us to habit number two:

EAT PROTEIN DENSE FOODS WITH EACH MEAL

Now there may be some of you out there who think Whoa!  Matt, what are you saying?  The body can only handle a certain amount of protein on a daily basis and that the additional protein is either harmful or unnecessary.

The truth is, if you are a healthy individual (check with your doctors please), a higher protein diet is not only considered safe, but may be important in achieving the best health, body composition and performance – all three being very difficult to achieve with sub-optimal protein intake (Precision Nutrition).

The problem is if you don’t eat protein dense foods with every meal, you will have a hard time achieving your optimal intake during the meals you

There are so many “diets” out there.  Go to the bookstore, the library; troll the internet and late night TV and you can be constantly bombarded with information overload about this diet or that, each promising rapid weight loss, while allowing you to eat whatever you want.

“Eat all the fat you want!”

“Follow the pineapple diet and lose, lose, LOSE the fat!!!”

“Do this exercise on this piece of equipment for just 3 minutes a day and you will look like Jennifer Aniston!”

“Take this pill!”

“Drink this juice!!!”

***

There are no true shortcuts.  In my humble opinion, even those shortcuts that seem to initially work (crash dieting, radical surgery) ultimately end in failure because no work was truly invested from the start – and nothing screams “personal investment” more than your sweaty, soaked t-shirt hitting the floor five days a week.

However, not everyone has the 5…