3 Common Nutrition Mistakes

Let me start this off by saying I am neither a Registered Dietitian nor am I a certified nutritionist. As an aside, we have a nutritionist on staff who is continuing to up her level of knowledge and accreditation.

I am not without supervision…

While I cannot dole out specifics with exactly what to eat and when, I can speak to my experience throughout my years of coaching and personal training when someone asks me nutrition-related questions.  I can also say this, ANY nutrition plan will work for a while.  The difference between the good ones and the bad ones is “can you stick with it and is it actually healthy for you?”

1. I have been eating 1,200 calories a day for a month.  I lost weight at first but things are slowing down.  I’m hungry all the time.  What do I do?

While there is something to be said about energy in vs energy out, more commonly known as calories in vs calories out, this is a slippery slope.  The reason you lost weight at first is because you are not giving your body enough energy to function.

When this happens, your body makes an assessment and says something to the effect of…

—

“What daily functions can I stop participating in to slow my metabolism down enough to meet what this person is giving me?

Grow hair?  I don’t need that.

Grow nails?  Nah.

Build muscle?  Not only am I not going to build muscle but I’m going to eat away at the muscle I already have.”

—

When it finally DOES slow down to meet your intake?  Nothing else changes.  And you’re still hungry all the time.

Your body needs fuel.  Don’t starve yourself.

1. Should I do a nutritional challenge?  That’ll get me the results I want, right?

Probably.  As I said earlier, anything will work for a while.

The piece you need to consider is what happens when the nutritional challenge is done?  Do you go back to doing EXACTLY what you were doing before?  Are there habits you built you can take with you?  Do I do 75% of what I was doing before?

I can promise you this, if you go back to doing what you did before…

Well, don’t be surprised if you end up back where you were or worse.

My advice is to pick the generally good habits you learned from this challenge and take them with you:  maybe it’s prepping your own food; maybe it’s increasing your protein/veggie intake; maybe it’s having your coffee without the sugar-ladened creamer; maybe it’s that you can have that burger and you won’t have the fries.

Your goal going into any healthy eating challenge is to take some habits with you when you’re done.  You’re building your own personal nutritional toolbox.

1. I can’t seem to stick to any diet.  What do I do?

Diets are made to fail.

Let me explain before you yell at me through your screen:

• Diets are short-term
  • Healthy nutritional habits are a lifetime
• Diets are quick fixes
  • Healthy nutritional habits create a good relationship with food
• Diets elicit change ONLY as long as you’re on them (which is not forever)
  • Healthy nutritional habits are sustainable
• Diets are a bandaid
  • Healthy nutritional habits fix the actual problem

The Point is This…

Pay attention to what is healthy and, as a result, your body will start to do what you want it to do.

If you want additional guidance, reach out to us HERE, and setup a No-Snack Intro with Andrea (our Nutrition Coach).

Happy Eating!