Best nutrition approach for optimum health

Nutrition made easy

I am going to keep this article short and sweet.

I am still quite amazed as to why some people still question what is the best approach to take for optimum health,longevity and improved fitness.

Any client I have worked with that has lost significant amount of weight,dropped body fat and overall just changed and bettered their lifestyle has come down to a couple of basic things.

• They accepted enough was enough and wanted to make the change to a whole new lifestyle approach.
• They have adopted a healthy,long term (patient) yet sustainable and realistic 80/20 approach when comes to their nutrition end of things.
• They very much no longer treat exercise as a chore and have found a plan that they start to enjoy,keeping it consistent and do exercises that are relative to their goal.
• They have started to focus more on the quality of their sleep,drinking more water and generally just trying to keep active that little bit more.

Ciaran Burns a client that I worked with for 1 full year ticked all the boxes above and went from 148kg down to 85kg which equaled a whopping 10 stone.

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Step 1

Cals in V Cals out 

You’re looking to drop weight and body fat then firstly you need to consume less calories but how may calories do you actually need?

Go calculate your own calories you need HERE that is all relative to your goal,age,activity level etc.Remember just because a certain plan worked for Mary doesn't necessarily mean the exact path will work for you.It is worth noting anybody looking to loose large amounts of weight can drop numbers on the scale in the early days by just starting to moving more and cutting out the crap in their diet but there soon comes a point where you need to start plugging in numbers.You need to stay patient.You didn't gain weight overnight so it ain't going to shift fast within 2 weeks.You need to be consistent for weeks and months not how many workouts you've done or how many days you've been starving yourself.

Step 2

Macronutritents

Then go look and measure your Macros breakdown.

That's the number of grams of proteins,carbohydrates and fats your going to need.Again this may all seem quite confusing but really is all very easy when you have a calculator HERE that can do the work for you.

From here you dial in your daily recommend calories going by you age,goal,activity level then you get 3-4 % presets of a breakdown of Carb/Protein/Fat

Normally I think 40/30/30 is the best approach but this really is going to depend on the individual from their body type,activity level and overall goal.

Step 3

Monitor

Tracking,recording and logging is eventually going to have to come into play.

• Body fat test every 6 weeks I generally work off 4 sites with all my clients and generally would test and retest this every 6 weeks using a calipers.Every now and then we get the scales out but don't feel its necessary to be focusing looking down on a number that actually sometimes may go up and down throughout your weightloss phase.What is really important in your early stages is that your showing up putting in the effort and making the small,smart,steady changes to your food outside of the gym.What you do outside of the gym is far more important than on the gym floor.
• Measure food/My fitness pal Get to know portion sizes,weigh your food and then look at plugging in your food into the My Fitness pal app that will shoot up your calorie and macronutrient breakdown.A good rule of thumb I would say is get at least 3-4 lites of water in a day,have 3-4 main meals a day,eat at least 20-30g of protein in every meal and bring in some green leafy  vegetables into your day.

Step 4

Fundamentals 

Perhaps this should be mentioned first as Step 1 before you start plugging in numbers and looking at macros to even buying the odd supplement.Basics need to apply first.

Amazingly enough some people think paleo,weight watchers,slimming world,juicing,detoxes,quick fixes and fat loss pills are the way forward.

All of these may work short term but will only leave you at a dead end over time and back to square one.

Lets start by eating real food,getting rid of the junk food,drink more water,focus on your sleep and generally just start to exercise and move that little bit more.Get all of these dialed in then go looking at calories coming in,macro breakdown and monitoring.

David Last is a personal trainer based in Dublin. For more information you can follow him on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

You need help with your training then call me 086-1927014