Getting Fit and Losing Weight in 08: Cut Out the Junky Carbs
Welcome back from the holidays! How do you feel? Bloated, tired, out of sorts...do these words jump out at you? Well, it's time to shake it off and get back to business; it's time to talk about junky carbs. You know, all that stuff our families were trying to ram down our throats the last few days. That's the crud we need to avoid like the plague the next week so that we can reverse any weight gains we experienced due to the bloating and yuck of being off our schedule.
When people join Phit-N-Phat they are excited to do new exercises and training schedules, but they are almost always concerned about how they eat. We talk a lot about how to eat to best lose FAT (not weight) and to fuel our bodies for the intense physique changing workouts we recommend. To do this we start looking at their food journals and almost always it's loaded with carbs and I ain't talking whole grain wheat bread. It's the kind of carbs that make it hard to get out of bed in the morning, bloat your belly after a meal, and make you feel sluggish and miserable when you eat too many of them.
This is my quick and dirty list of No-N0 Junk Carbs and Dieting Mistakes:
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100 calorie snack packs: this is the big marketing machines way of selling you JUNK FOOD. Granted it's portion control of foods you might not be ready to give up, but I look to see how often you have it. One a day - OK for the first month or two. Two or more a day and you are kidding yourself as to results you can expect. Might as well just buy the big bag and go for it because you are loading up your daily diet with crap.
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Starbucks: I can't believe how often I have people drinking their breakfast at Starbucks. Now, they have something you can order - a sugarfree, non-fat grande latte but this isn't even the best choice. It's an OK choice when you want a treat or need a quick snack and don't have one. You get protein without all the junk. Most people are not doing sugarfree syrups which chalks up to about 150 calories of sugar, they "forget" to say no whip, must have the venti, and have a sidecar of a reduced fat muffin. Congratulations, you have now blown through at least half of your daily calories and you are full of fat building sugar.
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Cereal Bars: Fiber One, Nutri Grain and the like are not a good choice. For the times you need to rely on a snack bar you need to find a good protein bar to use as a replacement. I like Pure Protein, South Beach Diet (210 calorie version), and Snicker Low Carb Marathon bars. While bars shouldn't be a staple in your diet they can help you with snacks in a busy job and they can help with cravings for junk food. What makes these bars a better choice is the protein and lower sugar content than your other bars.
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Zero to little fruits and veggies: I get upset when someone is complaining how hungry they are all the time, can't seem to get full, and then have a daily diet of almost no fresh foods. You have to eat the green stuff if you want to be full and you need some fruit each day for regularity and long-term health. Don't complain about your diet if you aren't willing to eat the things God always intended us to have. Why do you think Skinny Cows don't grow on trees? We weren't meant to eat them three times a day even if they are low calorie!
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No protein: I'm shocked at this day and age that we still have women who think that meat makes them fat and they'll sit down to a big bowl of white pasta with cheese and sauce. Ladies, sausage and balogna make you fat - chicken ***, turkey, seafood, and lean red meat help you build lean muscle tissue.
These aren't all the things you need to remove/add to/from your diet but this is where a good bit of you can start. I have a great page called Eat Strategies 101 that will help you with the absolute basics of changing your diet. If you become a client of PNP you get all of our advice in the forums along with my own expanded book Getting Phat the Healthy Way.