80% Nutrition - It's That Simple!

Did you know that it doesn't matter if you work out 7 days a week and feel like you're killing yourself to get healthy and take the weight off? Have you ever said to someone that the way you are is because other people in your family have a weight problem or that it's genetics because you've been fat your whole life? (I know I have.) It is true that genetics will play a role in your weight loss program, but it’s not the key. 80 percent of your weight loss program should be focused on what you put into your mouth - nutrition. Nutrition is far more responsible for creating your shape and your health than you ever could have imagined.

The healthy, beautiful body equation for lasting fat loss is 10 percent genetics, 10 percent training, and 80 percent nutrition. No, there isn’t a typo in that formula.  80 percent nutrition is correct, and it’s logical if you take a moment, step back, and really think about how nutrition affects your entire system.

This was a bit of a foreign concept to me in the beginning.  I'd always had the understanding that if you wanted to lose weight and get healthy, you needed to eat less and exercise more. I've learned that's not always the case. When I first started on this journey, Jacob told me that for the first 1-2 weeks we were only going to focus on what I was eating and he was not even worried about the exercise part of the puzzle. In fact, the gym was off-limits! Since when does a trainer tell you not to go to the gym? I realized after setting out to make this change, that in order for it to be a lifestyle and something that lasted forever, meaning lasting fat loss and 80% of it was that key component of nutrution, I needed to spend some time focusing just on that and how it would play a key role in my success. The good news is, I lost weight those first couple weeks - 11 pounds to be exact. 

It's amazing how much your thought process changes and the things you put in your mouth change when you're educated just on how the body works and what it likes and needs in order to run like you want it to. It's also been a great comfort along my journey to know that if there is a day when life gets away from me and I don't get that workout in that I was hoping for, as long as my nutrition is on track my body will maintain its progress. When I have those days I remind myself, "It's okay. 80% of this is nutrition Paige." And then I keep going in hopes that the next day will allow me to get back to my routine.

Here are some of the things I've worked on and have learned make a huge difference in my day:

1. Eat within the first hour of waking up in the morning, even if it's something small.  Your body's metabolism needs to get started for the day.

2. Eat every two to three hours throughout the day. (Eat smaller portions or I like to call them Mini Meals.)

3. Eat a small snack (protein) before heading to bed. This way your metabolism doesn't completely slow to a crawl in the night as you sleep. (I know, everybody says don't eat at night but don't panic. This was new to me too but it works!)

4. Enjoy your food! While eating fresh vegetables, lean meats, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products might be close to 

a religion for some people, they may not be the only food products you want to consume while on earth. If you enjoy things like chocolate, cookies, or chips, there are ways to build those treats into a healthy eating plan without feeling like you've committed food sins. The 80-20 rule applies to eating, I believe. If you eat nutritionally dense foods 80 percent of the time, 20 percent of your diet can take a diversion to treats without significant negative consequences.

5. I always try to grocery shop on the outside perimeters of the store. That's where all the good food is. Stay away from the aisles as much as possible. They are full of processed foods that do nothing but haunt you.

**Just think, follow these few helpful hints and you'll have energy like this:

Yes, me playing on a trampoline! Something I never thought I'd be doing. The best part is...it was SO fun!