Summary
1. Keep Your Home Safe
2. Water
3. Fast
4. Protein
5. Create A Plan
Tip 1: Keep Your Home Safe
Knowing what to eat is absolutely critical - but having the right foods available at the right times is just as critical. If we’re hungry, we’re going to eat, but if we have healthy food available we’ll be much more likely to eat it because nobody likes wasting food or spending more money.
The majority of my clients struggle with late night snacks and ordering food delivery. If you like late night snacks, throw them out. If you want it that badly, make yourself go buy one portion from the store as you want it, but don’t keep any at home once you’re done.
If food delivery is something you’ve been struggling with, delete the apps or blocking them on your computer browser with a password. It may seem silly, but putting up these barriers sends a message to our subconscious minds that we don’t want that behavior and our awareness of what we’re doing will increase greatly.
We want to make things we want to do easy and things we don’t want to do difficult. That’s why the first tip I have is to throw out the junk food, put up barriers to food delivery, and fill your home with nutritious snacks.
Tip 2: Drink More Water
Our bodies are made up of 50-70% water, and our brains and organs are 70-80% water. Have you been dehydrated before? It feels like shit because water is absolutely essential for our well-being. Water is how our bodies control temperature, transport cells and nutrients, and lubricate our systems.
Water is the most important supplement we can take but most people don’t drink enough and this causes fatigue, dry skin, constipation, and an elevated heart rate. If you increase your water intake, you will have more energy, your skin will look clearer, your digestion will work better, and you will more easily lose fat and gain muscle.
Most people should drink half their body weight in ounces of water per day. Just remember to drink at least a ½ gallon (8 cups, 64oz, 2 liters) of water per day. Here is an easy app to track how much water you’ve had.
Tips to drink more water:
Drink 2 cups of water as soon as you wake up
Drink 2 cups of water after you workout
Drink 2 cups of water before every meal
Replace coffee with tea
Replace soft drinks with water
Tip 3: Fast
We eat too damn much. Most people eat as soon as they wake up and they don’t stop until their head hits the pillow. Eating requires a lot of energy and if we’re constantly eating we don’t give time for our bodies to rest.
Fasting helps our bodies to better use fat and build muscle. If you’d like to learn more about fasting, here is a video that will help.
You want to fast for a minimum of 12 hours per day, meaning if you sleep 8 hours you need to not eat at least 4 hours around your sleep. The ideal amount to fast appears to be 16 hours per day. Here is an app to remind you about your daily fast.
Tip 4: Protein
Protein is the most important macronutrient for fat loss. It allows us to preserve our muscle, it is the most filling macronutrient, and it burns the most calories just by eating it, something called the thermic effect of food.
Our hair, skin, nails, hormones, hemoglobin, neurotransmitters, and antibodies are made up of protein. Protein helps replace worn out cells, transports various substances throughout the body, and aids in growth and repair.
As a general rule, eating 1 gram of protein for each pound of bodyweight you have is the right amount to eat. Here is a great article if you’d like to read more about protein.
Tips to eat more protein:
Add 1 protein shake per day
Start your day with a protein meal
End your day with a protein meal
Meal prep your protein each week
Tip 5: Create a Plan
Here’s where most people mess up. We don’t need to plan for early mornings when we are full of energy and motivation. We need to plan for the late nights when we’re tired and hungry and frustrated from our long day because that’s when we need it most.
The first step is to become aware of what you’re currently eating by auditing your nutrition to see areas where you’re making decisions you want to change. Keeping a food journal or by logging your food into the app MyFitnessPal are the two best ways to do this. Most clients I work with think they eat better than they actually do, and this food tracking helps them change food habits right away.
Once we know what we’re doing, we need to align our habits with our goals. If you don’t like eating pizza late at night, buy food to cook or order a meal delivery service. There are really an infinite number of ways to overcome a problem once you’re aware of it.
If you’re having difficulty coming up with a nutrition strategy or if you’d like to have someone to hold you accountable, hiring a coach is a great option. If you’d like to work with a coach, visit https://www.tompfeiffer.com/consultation and I can help you on your fitness journey.