Eat the carbs!

NUTRITION 🌟

If you’re looking to make some changes in the way you eat, whether it’s for fat loss, to help with your exercise training or to generally try and make healthier choices, read on...

There is a lot of confusion around this topic. With all the different ‘diets’ available to follow; weight loss shakes, carb free, fat free, and “fat loss supplements” the list goes on...

In my opinion, and this has been tried and tested personally, the best way to live a happy, healthy life for long term maintenance, is to quite simply follow the 80/20 rule: 

Feed your body with healthy, nutritious, wholesome foods 80% of the time, and 20% of the time you can choose to eat your favourite treat foods (chocolate, alcohol, processed food etc)

The questions I frequently get asked are:

1) What do you have for breakfast?

Porridge, with fruit and some honey

Or weetabix with chopped banana

2) What do you have for lunch?

Omelette / eggs with veg and sometimes a slice of wholemeal toast / Chicken salad and avocado wrap 

3) What do you have for dinner?

Lean meat and veg; as either a stir fry with or without rice/noddles or meat and veg with a few potatoes

4) What do you have for snacks in between meals?

Fruit, nuts, nut butters, Nakd bars, dark chocolate 

5) How many times a week do you exercise?

As much as I can! (Which is normally 4-5 times per week) plus I’m always on my feet, as I stand up all day training clients in my gym

My main answer to these questions is basically, I eat whatever I want that’s wholesome, and not processed. I enjoy eating healthy, with the occasional pizza/burger thrown in there for good measure. But in order to stay a certain “weight” and keep my body the way I like it, I need to eat well the majority of the time. This isn’t a chore for me, I enjoy eating well, as it helps with my mood, my skin, my energy levels, and obviously helps to supplement my training. 

If I want bread one day, I allow myself to have a slice, because you only live once and I don’t agree with giving up carbs, because our bodies need them to function properly.

I train on average 4-5 times a week, so I need carbs for energy, otherwise my workouts would be sh*t. 

Some days I might have a biscuit or a couple squares of dark chocolate or a glass of wine, but I’ve learnt to not get annoyed with myself for this, and just carry on eating well after. (Especially when I’m due on my period! Do you feel me?!)

We put too much pressure on ourselves to eat strict and healthy and cut out sugar, carbs and eat low fat, and it’s just too unacheiveable to do that 100% of the time.

More importantly, you can’t sustain this way of living ALL of the time. There’s always going to be that friends dinner, or that night at the cinema, and you’d be stupid to not treat yourself to something terribly delicious, right?!

It’s better to eat well 80% of time and know that on Saturday night for example, if you choose to, you might have a treat.

What you DON‘T want to do, is eat well all week, train really hard, and then come the weekend, you completely stuff your face like a wild animal (we’ve all been there) and ruin all of your progress throughout the week. 

“Everything in moderation” really is the best phrase to use here!

Basically, eat well 80% of the time, eat Less calories (less food!) than you are currently, (but don’t starve yourself!) drink lots of water, and say no to that packet of crisps if you don’t NEED to eat them.

This is not advice for weight/fat loss, but just purely because our bodies need good, healthy food, so we can give it lots of vitamins, minerals and nutrients, to help our bodies function properly!

A “side affect” to doing all of the above, will naturally result in fat loss and if you’re moving more, and starting to do some body weight/weight training, your body will become more toned and supple as well!

The moral of this story, is, if you slip up and eat a bar of chocolate, that’s ok. Carry on eating healthy afterwards, don’t give up, move more, and you will see results ✨💪🏼