Filed under: Eating for Fat Loss, Feeling Good, Nutrition, Outdoor Fitness, Weight Loss
This post was originally written on my blog on FindYourDetour.com, I pulled it out today because I was asked the question this morning at 8:15 am by one of my longtime clients.
A client of mine asked me today, “What should I eat? I am SO hungry after our workouts that I could eat a house!”
I found out that she was not eating prior to our sessions because she is trying to lose weight. I also found out that she is only eating a couple of times a day, which is the wrong way to go about it. “YOUR BODY NEEDS FUEL,” I told her. “Or, you’ll end up famished and eventually out of control (Eating house and home).”
I recommend the following:
Food Combining
To keep your energy up you will want to combine a portion of protein with a portion of carbohydrate at each meal.
How Often Should I Eat?
Five to Six times a day—three main meals and two-three small meals. This creates a metabolic reaction in our body—and stokes the engine.
Ever notice when you don’t eat breakfast, you aren’t hungry until noon or later? However, after that initial meal, you become ravenous and may even end up binging? When we eat breakfast, we start the engine and when we continue to gently feed the engine it burns more efficiently, and you’ll burn more body fat.
Eat every few hours and you will maintain and gain lean muscle mass, burn excess fat, lose the cravings because you will maintain even blood sugar levels, lose the hunger, have more energy, think more clearly and be less grouchy!
Bottom Line…
Exercise and weightloss programs must not include deprivation. It is about creating healthy habits that we can maintain and incorporate into our lifestyle. Remember the four basics here:
1. The right foods—Protein, carbohydrate, fat, nutrients and water
2. The right amount—Protein is a deck of cards, carbohydrate is a cupped hand or a fist
3. The right combination—Protein and carbohydrates with every meal
4. The right times—Six times per day.
To your health and fitness!
Tina
