Where do I draw the line?

A lot of people I know either have no problem exercising regularly, or no problem dieting. Very rarely do most adapt a diet regimen AND exercise. For example, when my mom wants to lose weight she goes on a diet, but she walks everyday and never switches up the exercise routine. She walks because she enjoys it. At the same time, I know a lot of people who LOVE really intense workouts. For these people it's really tough to find that healthy eating balance. What do you say to that person who enjoys running everyday and needs to get enough nutrients, but still wants to either lose, or maintain a healthy weight? I've had a lot of marathon runners/bootcampers/die hard gym goers in this dilemma, and I've had different discussions with different people. The answers are always different, because no two people exercise, eat, and metabolize EXACTLY the same. So if you're one of those people a few things need to happen..

1.) Keep a daily food journal and record WHAT foods you eat, the exact TIME of day you eat it, and exactly how much (quantity). You may be eating super healthy, but notice that your quantities may be a little too much, when you're actually taking note of it. You may be eating healthy meals, but notice that you're snacking a little too often, or on the wrong foods. A lot of you may be leaving too much space in between meals, which causes your metabolism to drop slightly or contribute to a binge on the next meal. Whatever your weakness is, keeping a food journal will help you become conscious and aware of these habits.

2.) Avoid a plateau. You can reach a plateau in your exercise routine very easily. When you do the same exercise too often, without stepping up the intensity level, your body adapts to that exercise routine, and less change occurs. For weight loss, it's essential to have fitness goals, and keep working towards those goals. For example, if you're a runner training for an upcoming race, depending on your fitness level, you want to shoot for a specific time on distance runs. For short runs, you want to increase hill trainings, and also use different sprint intervals. If you're a bootcamp class person, performing intense exercise intervals frequently, you may want to keep a specific # of reps in your interval or circuit training. This way, if you have a minute to perform the max # of push ups, keep track up those numbers, and always try to increase those reps the more classes you take. These goals should be in the back of your mind, so you're always increasing your intensity level and overall fitness level. When you notice after a certain amount of time, you're completely gassed, it's important to keep track of how much time it takes you to recover, and then over time you will need less and less recovery, to the point where you can max out, take a break, and then max out with less of a break needed. The great part about interval training is that you can always increase your intensity level, which increases metabolism. This may increase appetite as well, and THAT'S OKAY. You're burning more, so you'll need more fuel. When you step up your exercise routine, and feel that you're more hungry, more often, listen to your body and give it what it needs. As long as your sources are mainly: fruits, veg, and lean protein, and WATER, you really can't go wrong. Know the difference between hunger, and a craving.

3.) Eating schedule. Once you keep a food journal and track what you're eating at what time of the day, do your best to plan ahead and pack all of your meals/snacks for the week. You want to eat small meals every 3-4 hours consisting of fruits, veg, lean protein. This eating schedule will keep your metabolism up, while avoiding starvation/binging. It looks like this..

7:00am-breakfast-egg white omelet. 3 large egg whites, 1/2cup spinach, tomato, peppers, 1/4 cup feta cheese, one small apple

10.00am-mid morning snack- shake-1/4 frozen mixed berries, 1/2 cup almond milk, 3 ice cubes, 1 scoop whey protein.

1:00PM-lunch 3oz grilled chicken with 1 cup steamed broccoli, cauliflower medley

4:00PM-pm snack-1 medium banana 1 tbsp. natural reduced fat peanut butter

7:00PM-dinner-3oz grilled salmon, 1 cup steamed green beans, 3/4cup brown rice

10:00PM-optional pm snack-1/4 dry unsalted almonds, or 2 tbls reduced fat natural peanut butter

Small meals, frequently throughout the day will prevent you from overeating one or two meals/day (a guaranteed way of gaining weight). Your body can naturally metabolize 300-450cal every 4-5 hours (depending on your age, sex, activity level) just by daily function. The more lean muscle mass you have, the more fat your body is able to burn at rest. Yes, muscle burns fat. This is why men have higher metabolism than women, because they typically have more lean muscle mass. Small, frequent meals=good. Overeating=bad.

This way, when you go to an event on the weekend, or find that you do not have control of certain food choices, you won't feel to guilty about having a slip up. One cheat meal a few times/month will not completely destroy your progress if you're making the right eating choices 95% of the time. The key is to be honest with yourself about your eating choices, and write it down so that you're accountable. You can't look at the scale, act confused, and then go back to your food journal convincing yourself chicken parmesan was a healthy option. Being extremely active, also allows you to feel a little bit better when you do enjoy a cheat meal on occasion. What you can't do is justify frequent cheat meals with exercise. Too often we feel like "well, I worked out today, so I'm going to overindulge." Calories in/calories out.

4. The overeater. If you do tend to overeat at times (let's be honest we're all capable of this), here are some tips to avoid that kind of behavior. Take your time eating. Cut a piece of food, chew it, enjoy it. Converse. Take another bite. I think this is how God intended us to eat anyway. When you scarf up all of your food in three bites, your body literally doesn't have time to signal to your brain WHEN you're full. If you get the hiccups, indigestion, burp way too often, chances are you're eating way too fast and need to slow down. Take smaller bites, chew slower, enjoy! Besides getting all of our nourishment, that's what eating is all about anyway. Drinking more water also helps fill you up. If you think you're still hungry, drink a full glass of water and listen to your body. If you didn't have a plate of food sitting right in front of you, would you still think you're hungry? Your stomach is about the size of your hand, so just keep that in mind.

The bottom line is balance here. When you find that you have a very healthy eating/exercise routine. It's a win-win. You can have cheat meals without destroying progress or fitness level, and you don't need to feel guilty at all either. This is what healthy living is all about, balance. If you're dieting and exercise regime is causing DRAMATIC weight loss, you may need to adjust. If you're exercise is at a plateau and you've been enjoying cheat meals a little bit too often, you need to adjust. Track it all, but mostly enjoy it all. KILL IT at the gym and feel awesome about yourself. But also remember to live life and enjoy a nice Italian dinner twice a year and take a couple days a week off from the gym for Christ's sake. You only get one body, true, but you also only live ONCE :)