Before getting into this the first point is the one you HAVE to understand. We’ve all done this & you probably still do.
In my opinion it’s the number 1 factor in why busy guys struggle to shift the pounds so if you take nothing else from this you HAVE to understand this point…
1. Believing that foods are either GOOD or BAD
Like chocolate is bad & fruit is good…. Meaning I won’t eat much chocolate but I can eat unlimited amounts of fruit.
The fact is that eating excessive amounts of ANY food WILL make you gain weight which will include fat. Did you notice that WILL was written in capitals… twice. Thats cos it WILL (3rd time), it’s not a maybe or a might, it’s a fact, it’s been researched & it’s proven.
Eating calories above your ‘baseline’ or ‘maintenance’ WILL cause you to increase your bodyweight. Regardless of whether you’re eating that amount in ice cream, spinach or concrete.
The difference really is simply certain foods will contain more calories for a given amount or weight than others.
That doesn’t make them good or bad.
When you’re exercising or playing sport you’ll need more of the perceived ‘bad’ foods like pasta, breads, chocolate etc. meaning they’re actually good for you at that time.
Understanding the calories in foods & not purely labelling them good or bad is the first step to shifting weight.
It also helps busy guys still enjoy what they eat, be able to make quick effective meals & is definitely the biggest mistake I ever made.
2. Oats/Porridge are the Perfect Breakfast for Everyone & Everything
They’re just oats right? Porridge is a good old solid breakfast that people have been having for years. I don’t add sugar to it & I can make it in no time. So it’s perfect for me & everyone else..!?
That’s what I thought anyway. Until I weighed a bowl of oats out & realised I was eating nearly 3 times what it said on the packet. & of course oats are a high calorie dense food which meant I was eating a SHIT load of calories… & that was before the peanut butter and whatever else.
I should have realised 10 years ago when every bodybuilders nutrition plan in Flex magazine had porridge for breakfast… Key work here being ‘bodybuilder’ i.e. the guys that wanna get fucking massive!
3. I can eat Unlimited amounts of Fruit & Nuts
You should have seen my bag for work… If I had to train that day I’d struggle to get my training kit in it for the amount of bananas, cashews & apples in there….!
Like my fruit & nut mix was something to behold. Of course though fruits are healthy & nuts have good fats in so I can eat unlimited amounts. Big mistake again as I was overlooking how calorie dense fruit & especially nuts can really be.
When I realised I should have been eating 8 almonds & not 3 HUNDRED & 38 I was in for a shock!
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4. Those Frozen Yoghurt Stations are ‘healthy’
Well it’s frozen yoghurt isn’t it. It looks healthy, they’re saying to me it’s healthy, so I’ll have shit loads of it. & of course I’ll throw some bits on top… Like chocolate sprinkles, nuts, jelly beans etc but that doesn’t mater cos it’s FroYo right…!? My thoughts exactly… well for about a week anyway!
I quickly realised this was not the case… & that even applies if you’re having fruit on top.
Yes it’s possibly a slightly less sugar variation of ice cream… But then ice cream is probably one of the most sugar filled foods out there…
Just see it as ice cream which if you’ve set your nutrition up properly you can include in what you eat & still shift some pounds.
5. I’ll just tell them not to eat it for while
No chocolate or beer for 4 weeks… Happy days. That’ll knock some calories off & they’ll lose some fat. Simple!
I actually cringe thinking I’ve asked people to do this…
Cos 4 weeks of torture isn’t teaching them anything. Yeah they’ve reduced their daily calories by 3-600. But have learned nothing about the simple adjustments they could have made to the rest of their nutrition.
Which would have actually allowed them to eat some chocolate or have a few beers & shift some weight.
So after the 4 weeks back in goes the chocolate & beers… & back on goes that fat! Faceplant!
I was basically asking people to do the same as people do on ‘juice diets’ or ‘shake diets’…. & the less said about them the better!
Well there’s my 5… Hopefully you haven’t been making those mistakes yourself but if you have now you know!
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