I had an interesting conversation with a lady on the train from London to Manchester recently…
She saw me eating my porridge, blueberries etc out of Tupperware and said “Ooh aren’t you organised”…
And then followed that up with the fact she’d just finished the Cambridge diet (which hadn’t worked) and was currently considering mixing a ketogenic diet with intermittent fasting.
“What’s the goal?” I asked…
“Oh, I need to lose a bit of fat so I can start to feel good about myself again – so I’ll do this for a few months until I reach my target weight”.
“What will you do then?” I questioned…
“Oh I don’t know… I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it!” She replied.
And therein lies her problem.
She’s unwittingly created a finish line – with no thought for longevity, sustainability or practicality.
Food should not be feared…
Food should be your friend!
Your dietary intake should consist of a high percentage of what you NEED, with a small percentage of what you WANT.
Your total daily intake needs to be enough to fuel your day to day activity, providing energy for training, work and everything else you do – but to still keep you in a slight calorie deficit so that you drop body fat slowly, and in a sustainable manner.
“Can I ask you a question?” I said to the lady…
“If you had a dog and you noticed it was getting fat – would you put it on a ketogenic diet combined with intermittent fasting – or would you just feed it less and walk it more?”
She laughed, and looked out of the window… I could hear the cogs spinning in her head as she watched the rolling landscape pass by.
“Good point!” She said.
We then spent the next 30 mins listing foods that she liked…
I designed her a meal plan with various options – and taught her what to do if she wanted to build in flexibility – and after thanking me, she went on her way.
If you’re a bit lost with your current nutritional approach, or just need some pointers to get you back on track, feel free to book a call to determine whether my coaching might work for you.
Steve