Moderation is the Key

With a new year comes new resolutions. Most people look to change their health and fitness habits when January and February come around, but don’t know where to start. There’s a lot of diets and routines to sift through and it’s hard to find the right ones for yourself. The most important thing is to find something you can stick with in the long run.

Choosing the Right Plan For You

Including five servings of fruits and vegetables per day and 50 - 100 oz of water is a good place to start. Making sure to include a variety of foods is important to ensure that you are not missing out on essential nutrients. In addition, engage in a moderate amount of exercise each week and make sure to choose something that you enjoy doing. 

Include foods that you enjoy eating and remember that it is okay to have a cheat meal or cheat day. The goal is to increase your overall health and wellness. Create a healthy plan that is right for your lifestyle. Ask yourself if you can continue this plan forever. If the answer is yes, you have found the right balance.

If you need help creating a plan or healthy lifestyle that will help you achieve your goals, I offer 1 on 1 nutrition counseling. During our sessions, we will discuss eating for performance, optimizing macro- and micro-nutrient intake, weight loss, eating for long term health, and managing gastrointestinal issues. My goal is to help you find what is right for you and your body while helping you reach your goals.

What To Avoid

Now that we know what to look for when searching for a wellness plan, it’s time to dive into what to avoid. Restrictive diets such as Keto, Paleo, and Intermittent Fasting can be extremely hard to stick with in the long run. Any plan that eliminates one or more food groups should be avoided. Although these diets can help with short-term weight loss, they often do more harm than good.

Keto is a high fat, medium protein, and low carb diet, Paleo eliminates dairy products, legumes, and grains, and Intermittent Fasting restricts the timeframe of when you are allowed to eat. By restricting yourself with these types of diets, you will have a much harder time sticking with them as time goes on.

Choosing an exercise routine that is excessive and overly rigorous can be harmful and hard to stick to as well. Most people start the new year off very strong with their workouts, but then fall off as the year goes on. A major reason for this is setting unrealistic expectations. If you try to stick to a plan that requires you to workout every single day with only 0-1 days off per week, you’ll most likely burn out. Working out everyday can also increase your risk for injury. Avoid these everyday workout routines and stick to an exercise plan that you’ll be able to keep up with in the long run.

The Bottom Line

Choose a plan that is balanced and realistic. If you need help with choosing the right plan for you, contact me for 1 on 1 nutrition counseling!