At Method3 Fitness, our San Jose personal trainers consider nutrition to be the base of fitness success. The way you fuel your body has a big impact on your results. As the saying goes, you really can’t out-exercise a bad diet. Frequently, clients come to us frustrated. They are working out then getting here to the studio three, four, maybe even five times a week. They’re sleeping, they’re recovering, they’re doing all of the things we say they should do, and they’re still not getting results. We can usually pinpoint the problem with one simple question: What are you eating? That’s why Sue and Nadia teamed up to bring you their Top tips for weight loss success.
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Transcript: Our Best Nutrition Tips for Weight Loss Success
Sue: You go on the internet and there’s so much advice on what to eat. I personally tried several diets, I’m sure several of you have too. It’s really confusing, nothings seems to work, and Nadia, why don’t those diets work?
Nadia: Well, you know, those diets always tell us, don’t eat this, don’t eat that, you should eat this instead. They tend to be really restrictive and some of them eliminate even entire food groups. Of course, you’re going to get some results for a time because you’re working on your healthy eating. Some people actually see a little bit of weight loss, but it doesn’t stick. Eventually, they’re not able to continue the plan and maybe even they put the weight back on.
Sue: That and little bit more, don’t they?
Nadia: Yeah, and those diets are just way too restrictive. Some foods are good, and some foods are bad, that’s what they tell us, right, but that’s not the way we want you to think about thank you food and that’s not the way we want you to live your life. We want you to feel like healthy eating is accessible to you. We don’t want you to think about nutrition as something that you can’t do; we want you to think about it as something that you can do.
Sue: Exactly, exactly. We’re pretty excited about our five-week program that’s coming to us at the end of April. Getting your fitness, your mindset, and your nutrition all dialed in, getting ready for summer. In our Thrive program, we’re going to give you some really simple family-friend … family-friendly, that was easy to say … family-friendly recipes. For those of you who don’t cook, some simple ideas on how to put things together.
Sue: More importantly, it’s going to be a lot about accountability, so you can get those real results that you’re looking for. Stay tuned, we’ll get you some more information. But today, Nadia and I want to give you some quick tips to simplify this, make it so it’s not so difficult to follow. Nadia, what are some of the suggestions you’d give?
Nadia: Well, one of our biggest tips, and this is something that we tell all of our clients, is to write it down. In this day and age, most of us know what healthy eating looks like, so why don’t we get the results that we need? Three reasons. One is food volume, the second is nutrient intake, and the third is, of course, cravings.
Sue: Oh boy, do they get in the way.
Nadia: So many people don’t know how much to eat, they don’t know what balance of nutrients to have, and they let those cravings get in the way of their ideal progress. They give in sometimes, and that’s unfortunate. The thing is, is that it’s because we don’t have the knowledge or we don’t have the awareness that we need in order to succeed. One of the biggest agents of change actually is to keep a food journal or a food diary, right?
Sue: I agree, I agree, yeah.
Nadia: Studies showed that people who keep a food journal are two to four times more likely to lose weight and four to eight times more likely to keep it off.
Sue: That’s a lot.
Nadia: Can you tell us how food journaling works?
Sue: I think when you start writing down what you eat, you start seeing a couple of things. You see your patters in how you eat. So much of how we eat is more about habit than about hunger. You start recognizing what portions you’re taking in, whether they’re right for you or not, and also what types of food you’re taking in. When you write it all down and put it all on a place where you can see it, you can adjust what you’re eating to help it be more successful, and to recognize when those cravings take control.
Nadia: Yeah, exactly. So much about how … I’m losing my words right here.
Sue: That happens.
Nadia: I know, right. Let me start over.
Sue: I was here, do we need a do over?
Nadia: One of the things that we like to tell our clients is “If you bite it, you must write it.” It sounds a little bit corny, but it’s super effective. Not only does it give you that accountability for yourself, but it helps you recognize those times that you reach for food out of habit. So much of what we eat is governed by habits, right?
Sue: Right, right.
Nadia: Sometimes we’re not even hungry, so we do it without even thinking, like if you walk through the break room and there are donuts there …
Sue: Ooh, my favorite.
Nadia: You might automatically reach for it. I remember when I went to school, there was a candy jar of top of the front desk at the library. Automatically, and as soon as I walked by the candy, and I worked at the library, so …
Sue: You were always there!
Nadia: Yes! Whenever I walked by, I grabbed a piece of candy whether or not I was craving it. The thing is that once you start writing down what you eat, you start to gain that awareness of when you do those things and why you do those things.
Sue: I know a big thing for me is when my children were little. I ate a really healthy diet. But when I started writing it down, I realized that while I was fixing their meal, I was sampling everything that I was making. When I cleaned up their plate, I was throwing that last little bit chicken nugget or maybe that little bit of mac and cheese in my mouth and then I’d sit down and have my really healthy diet.
Nadia: It’s writing it down that makes it a little less tempting. When you’re … again, with young children, you a lot of times have snacks around, that you’re giving them a snack and a bite’s going in your mouth, or a spouse that really loves the sugary treats. It can be hard to resist, but when you start writing it down, it becomes less tempting. A chocolate chip may not be quite so appealing?
Sue: Exactly. Usually when we experience a craving, you’re not actually hungry, right? Sometimes it’s something emotional or psychological that’s going on. It could be stress at work, it could be having a fight with a spouse …
Nadia: Or your boss, or sometimes you’re just bored. When you’re food journaling, you’re actually able to keep a record of what was going on in that moment that I had that craving.
Sue: Exactly. Not only that, you can see how much you’re eating. Like Nadia said earlier, I think most people know what to eat, but for the most part, people eat too much of even a good thing or just as badly, too little.
Nadia: Yeah. I mean, how do you know what the right amount is? It’s different for everyone, right?
Sue: Absolutely, absolutely. In the Thrive program, that’s one of the things we do. We take the individual and consider a lot of factors. How old is the person? Are they male or female? How tall? What are their weighing currently? What’s their activity level? With that information, we can give them individualized portions for their daily intake, and then we break it down into meals, four meals a day, spread throughout the day so they get that ice distribution of food coming in.
Sue: Although a scale is best, and we know that people weigh and measure their food do get the best results because they are accurately getting the amount they need … my three ounces grows considerably over the course of a week if I’m not careful.
Nadia: Yeah, I’m the same way.
Sue: Okay, three ounces, there it goes. But sometimes it’s not really practical. This doesn’t really fit in my handbag when I’m going out to dinner.
Nadia: It will be a little bit weird, to be honest, if you put that out.
Sue: Exactly, exactly. So one of the things that I help our clients understand is one of the best tools to estimate your portion is right here in front of you. You’re carrying them with you all day long. Show two hands. Now for most people, the amount of protein that should have in a meal should fit in the palm of your hand, above the depth of a deck of cards. Okay? Vegetables and salad, make two fists, double them up, put them side by side. Yeah, love it. You start your carbs, your bread, your rice, you really pasta. Should fit in a cupped hand. No, no, that’s not what the Italian restaurant serves you, isn’t it?
Nadia: No, and see, I think our hands are different sizes.
Sue: That’s right, because we get to have different amounts. Everybody gets a different amount. The hand is really portioned to what you should get.
Nadia: Okay.
Sue: There’s a lot of men who have these hands that hold three times what mine does.
Nadia: Oh that’s so true.
Sue: You know what, they get to have that.
Nadia: That’s so unfair.
Sue: That is so unfair, it’s incredibly unfair. The last thing to think about it we do need to add fat to our diet. For so many years, I was told fat’s bad. No, we need healthy fats, but in the right portion — the end of your thumb. Really a simple way, they’re with you wherever you are. Not perfect, not as good as that scale, but a nice, simple way to kind of estimate where you need to be.
Nadia: That’s actually really helpful because I’m a visual person and sometimes just hearing the numbers is not enough for me, so thanks for sharing that.
Sue: Perfect, perfect.
Nadia: I guess all that’s left is to share a little bit about macronutrient balance. That’s how much of each type of food you should eat. A lot of you who already went through the Thrive program know that there are three main macronutrients that we focus on, and that’s proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Each person has a different amount that they should have for their own weight loss goals.
Sue: Absolutely, absolutely. Kevin, I see a question from you. It says, “In a challenge, can I still get results even if I’m only working out three times a week?” Absolutely. We will encourage you to move a little bit more than you’re maybe moving now, but again, like I said earlier, it’s that bottom of the triangle that supports your … exercise and your mindset, that’s what’s going to get you the results you need, so yeah, please come join us.
Nadia: Exactly.
Sue: Sorry, Nadia.
Nadia: Oh, no problem. I think we were talking about macronutrient balance, and I just talked about proteins, carbohydrates, and fats, right.
Sue: Absolutely, yup.
Nadia: Sue gave you the hand, the hand sizes that you can, when you’re out eating, but an easy way to look that up is to actually download an app like My Fitness Pal. Of course, they give you kind of the generic portions. We actually individualize that for clients, right?
Sue: Absolutely, absolutely. I think when clients start focusing on their balance of foods, they suddenly discover that they’re eating too much of one. That Italian plate, pasta, the starchy carbs … and for a lot of our clients, not getting enough protein is another big one.
Nadia: I have a problem with that.
Sue: Yeah, and when you start focusing in on that, it can truly be a game changer in your success. Can you get there? Yes you can. We believe you can and we know you can. In our upcoming Thrive, we’re going to tell you not only what to eat, how much to eat, when to eat. In addition, support your exercise and your mindset so that you can create that sustainable success. I want to encourage you to stop dieting. I want you to eat. That’s the biggest thing about this program. It’s real food put together in a way that you can easily do for the rest of your life, and that’s what’s going to be successful.
Nadia: I guess, that’s pretty much it. Let me just tell you, there’s so much to learn.
Sue: We could talk for days.
Nadia: There’s so much in the field of nutrition and healthy eating that we could talk about. We can only share so much with you today, and one thing is that we hope you’d been able to take away some of the key points today, esp to write it down, to start tracking your food intake and really to focus on eliminating those cravings and keeping your portion sized balanced.
Sue: Absolutely. We want to ask if you guys have any questions. Anything out there?
Nadia: While we’re waiting, just looking at the comments here. Thanks Colleen for commenting. I know I have a hard time sometimes writing down my food intake as well but I know that when I write down, I am on track.
Sue: Oh gosh, it is so much more, so much more realistic, yeah. It really keeps you dialed in.
Nadia: Exactly.
Sue: Yeah, yeah.
Nadia: Let’s see. Kim is asking, “Can you alter for those on a special diet?”
Sue: Absolutely. Absolutely, Kim. This is all about how it can fit in to your diet. We have gluten free, my friend Nadia here is gluten free. We’ll work with that. We have vegetarians, we have people who are dairy free, egg free, whatever it is. This is all about the foods you can eat, and how do we put them together in a way that’s is the proper portion for you to get you that success. There is absolutely nothing that you have to eat, and just as importantly, there’s nothing that you can’t eat in the right portions.
Nadia: Exactly, and you mentioned raw vegetables. There is so much you can do with vegetables to cook them, to make them taste delicious. So don’t worry Kim, we got you covered. Let’s see. Kevin says that that hand portion tips are super helpful.
Sue: Like I said, Kev, they’re with you all the time, take them with you when you go.
Nadia: Exactly.
Sue: We want to thank you guys for joining us. This was really awesome. Continue to post questions, we will be checking back. We want to keep those questions coming and we want you to get ready to thrive. Thanks so much for being with us, and have a great day.
Nadia: Adios.
Sue: Adios.
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