Your Body Needs:
- Proteins
- Carbohydrates
- Fats
Proteins:
We need to eat proteins to repair and build our tissue.
Consuming protein will keep your blood sugar balanced and keep you feeling fuller throughout the day.
Consider shooting for about 1 gram of protein for every pound of body weight.
Sources of Protein:
- Protein powder
- Eggs
- Greek yogurt
- Cottage cheese
- Nuts
- Chicken
- Fish
- Turkey
- Nut butter
Carbohydrates:
The main purpose of carbohydrates is to provide us with energy.
Avoid processed carbs which can cause inflammation and damage to the body.
Sources of Good Carbohydrates:
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Whole grains
- Oats
- Whole grain breads
- Tortillas
Fats:
Fats aid in the absorption of essential nutrients and are a necessary part of our diet.
Good fats will also help you feel fuller.
Sources of Fats:
- Avocados
- Nuts
- Seeds
- Meat
- Cheese
- Oils
- Nut butters
Balancing these essentials:
-Consider these general ratios when putting together a meal:
-
Carbohydrates – [40-50%]
-
Proteins – [30-40%]
-
Fats – [20-30%]
Major success can come from keeping track of your calories.
How many calories?
We’ll use the shortcut method:
Take your body weight, multiply it by 10 and this is your daily calorie intake needed to maintain your current weight.
If you go over, you will gain weight.
If you stay under, you will lose weight.
Calculate your intake and start about 200 calories below that number…or even just start by not going over your calculated intake.
Start there and be consistent. Science says it takes 21 days to form a habit.
EXAMPLE:
Random weighs 180lbs.
This person calculates 180 x 10 = 1800 calories.
If Random eats less than 1600 calories per day, they should begin to see a decrease in unwanted fat.
To ensure the scale is tipping in their favor, it would be a good idea to limit the daily calorie intake to 200-400 calories less than the calorie ceiling.
Try and spread your meals out to 4-6 meals throughout the day.
This should be 4-6 meals that when combined, don’t exceed your daily calorie intake.
Thus allowing your body to efficiently digest food throughout the day and in turn, burn calories in the process.
Spread your calorie limit across your meal schedule to accommodate your meals/snacks.
EXAMPLE:
5:30 a.m. Protein shake
7:30 a.m. Breakfast – egg white with ½ cup oatmeal, fruit and Greek yogurt. Or whole grain toast w/ nut butter.
10:30 a.m. Mid – morning snack – banana
12:00 p.m. Lunch – grilled chicken tacos with pico and avocado
3:00 p.m. Afternoon snack – apple and string cheese. Or orange and almonds.
6:30 p.m. Dinner – Grilled fish, chicken or shrimp, served with steam or sauteed vegetables and side salad.
*Try and stay around satisfied & light
Fruits:
- Apples (95 calories for 1 medium apple)
- Avocados (250 Calories for 1 average avocado)
- Bananas (105 calories for 1 medium banana)
- Berries (strawberry, blueberry, etc.)
- Lemons (20 calories in 1 average lemon)
- Limes (20 calories in 1 average lime)
Vegetables:
- Baby mixed greens (about 25 calories per serving – 1 cup)
- Baby spinach (about 20 calories per serving – 1 cup)
- Beans (varies – check label)
- Broccoli (30 calories for 1 cup of broccoli)
- Carrots (1 medium carrot – 25 calories, ¾ cup baby carrots – 40 calories)
- Cucumbers (1 medium cucumber has 30 calories)
- Garlic (1 clove is 4 calories)
- Herbs (too low to be counted) – use as preferred
- Onion (about 50 calories for 1 average onion)
- Peas (about 60 calories for ½ cup)
- Peppers (bell- 35 calories, jalapeno-5 calories)
- Tomatoes (about 25 calories for a medium tomato)
Nuts & Seeds:
- Almonds (about 160 calories for ¼ cup)
- Flaxseeds (1 tbsp about 35 calories)
- Sesame seed (1 tbsp about 50 calories)
- Walnuts (about 190 calories for ¼ cup)
Meat, Fish & Poultry:
- Boneless lamb loin (1 oz about 60 calories)
- Boneless, skinless chicken breast (1 avg breast about 280 calories)
- Roast turkey breast (1 oz about 30 calories)
- Shellfish (shrimp 3oz is about 85 calories)
- White fish (about 50 calories per ounce)
- Wild salmon (about 45 calories per ounce)
Eggs & Dairy:
- Feta cheese (about 75 calories per ounce)
- Greek yogurt (about 100 calories per container)
- Low–fat milk (110 calories per 8oz)
- Organic eggs (about 70 calories per egg)
Whole Grains:
- Brown rice (1 cup about 220 calories)
- Flax bread (about 100 calories per slice)
- Quinoa (about 55 calories per ¼ cup)
- Rolled oats (150 calories per ½ cup)
- Whole rye (65 calories per slice)
Other:
- Almond butter (98 calories per tbsp)
- Cashew butter (94 calories per tbsp)
- Extra–virgin olive oil (about 120 calories per tbsp)
Drinks:
- Coffee
- Green tea
- Water
Exercise!
The optimal time for weigh loss is 90 minutes.
At Techny Fitness we suggest:
people do an hour session with their personal trainer and then hit cardio for 30 minutes post training.
This is highly recommended!
Regulate your Carbs.
The rule of thumb is to try and stop eating carbs for the day by 2pm…or at least significantly reduce them after 2pm.
Also, its a good idea to keep your carb intake to around 50 grams per day.
Limit your sugar and your sodium.
I’ve seen people lose dramatic amounts of weight just by cutting sugar.
Limiting your sodium intake will rid yourself of excess water retention…and thus, will allow you to be more slimming.
I’ve heard the average American intakes about 5,000mg of sodium a day! We should be having about 2,000mg!
If everyone reduced the amount of sodium in their diet by 1,200 mg per day, up to 99,000 heart attacks and 66,000 strokes could be prevented in the United States every year.1
Don’t sleep on a full stomach.
You should stop eating for the day 2 hours before you go to bed.
If you need something to get you through while your body adapts, eat berries.
Berries are low in sugar, carbs and calories…plus they have nutritional value!
Don’t forget to workout with weights.
Weight training does not only keep you younger and more capable, but it will assist with weight loss.
Muscle needs calories, so the more you have…the more calories you can burn each day.
Also, you burn calories while your body repairs your muscles…so you get your body working for you.
Strength Training: The Benefits
YES! Strength training can give your muscles definition and provide us fit and toned bodies!
But working with weights does so much more!
1. Keep the weight off for good!
Strength training shreds pounds, but it also helps maintain weight loss.
Studies show people training with weights at least 3 times a week increased the amount of calories burned during everyday activity and this helped maintain their current weight. Add calories burned during exercise and weight loss is occurring!
2. Protects bone health and muscle mass.
Muscle strength and bone density diminishes at a rate of roughly 1% each year post puberty.
“One of the best ways to stop, prevent, and even reverse bone and muscle loss is to add strength training to your workouts,” advises Troy Tuttle, MS, an exercise physiologist at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston.”
3. Be stronger and more fit.
Strength training works by contracting your muscles against a resisting force and will strengthen and tone your muscles.
This can also be referred to as resistance training:
There are two types:
–Isometric resistance involves contracting your muscles against a non-moving object, such as against the floor in a push-up.
–Isotonic strength training involves contracting your muscles through a range of motion via weight lifting.
Both of these training methods can make you stronger and get you looking and feeling more fit!
At Techny Fitness, we believe its important to incorporate both styles to our personal training routines.
Warming up and cool down is always recommended before and after strength training.
4. Improve body mechanics.
Strength training has benefits that go well beyond the appearance of nicely toned muscles.
Your balance and coordination will improve, as will your posture.
More importantly, if you have poor flexibility and balance, strength training can reduce your risk of falling by as much as 40 percent, a crucial benefit, especially as you get older.
5. Disease prevention.
Strength training has many well documented wellness benefits.
Arthritis pain can be managed as effectively as medication through strength training.
Weights can help people increase their bone density and reduce the risk of bone fractures.
There are 14 million Americans with type 2 diabetes and along with other positive lifestyle improvements, strength training can help balance glucose control.
Training with weights multiple times a week has shown to help prevent certain cancers as well as many other potential health concerns.
Strength training should definitely be a priority for healthy living!
6. Boost energy levels and improve your mood.
Leave your workouts feeling great as strength training will spike your endorphin levels!
To top it off, strength training can be a great antidepressant, give you better sleep and to improve your overall quality of life.
7. Strength training translates to more calories burned.
You burn calories during strength training workouts and the body continues to burn calories after strength training during the repair process.
More calories are used to make and maintain muscle than fat and can boost your metabolism by 15 percent!
Don’t Forget to Stretch:
Avoid stretching before your workout when you muscles are cold.
Stretching cold is proven to cause injury and provides little to no positive results.
Instead, increase blood flow to your muscles with a light aerobic warm-up…add some walking lunges for extra benefit.
Stretch after a workout when your muscles are heated and more elastic.
Among the many other benefits of post workout stretching, it can help promote muscle growth.
Here’s a few good stretches:
Contact us today!
Brian Adamik- owner/trainer
Techny Fitness
1844 Techny Ct
Northbrook, IL 60062
224-707-3623
Reference:
1.) Bibbins-Domingo K, Chertow GM, Coxson PG, Moran A, Lightwood JM, Pletcher MJ, et al. Projected effect of dietary salt reductions on future cardiovascular disease. N Engl J Med. 2010;362(7):590–9.
Personal Trainer Northbrook 