As a fitness coach and wellness enthusiast, I understand the importance of nutrition when it comes to health, fitness, and getting ‘see-in-the-mirror’ results. For many people, however, making choosing the right food is much more challenging than fitting in a daily workout.
There are many myths that surround nutrition.  Some myths just won’t die… kind of like a vampire!
Brian, one of our many successful clients, is a great example of what happens when you learn, and apply simple principles of nutrition. When Brian started training with us, he carried three belief systems. He believed that if something tastes good you should spit it out, if you exercise, you don’t have to worry about what you eat, and that you have to go hungry to lose weight. Last January, Brian joined for ‘The TakeDown^TM Challenge’; a 28-day nutrition program and weigh loss challenge focusing on balanced nutrition and portion control using real foods. The 4-week program disproved Brian’s three beliefs, and catapulted his weight loss.
If it tastes good spit it out.
Most unhealthy food tastes good.   Food companies spend millions of dollars on designing the perfect combination of fat, salt and sugar to trigger out dopamine response system and make us want more. But, this doesn’t mean that healthy food tastes bad. Many people carry the belief that losing weight means being condemned to a life of chicken breast and salad with dressing on the side (hold the cheese and bacon). Not true! During the TakeDown^TM Challenge, Brian learned many simple, tasty and healthy recipes. There are countless websites, recipe books and blogs dedicated to the marriage of health and flavor. With a few simple swaps, almost any recipe can meet a health nut’s criteria.
If you work out you don’t need to think about what you eat.
They say that ‘abs are made in the kitchen’ or that you cannot out-train poor eating. “They” are right. During the first few months of training, Brian got stronger. His flexibility and cardiovascular fitness improved, he even lost a few pounds. During the TakeDown^TM Challenge, however, his body dramatically changed. He lost just over 20 pounds in the 28-day Challenge, simply by following a sound nutrition program and paying attention to what he put in his mouth. The lessons from the TakeDown^TM Challenge stuck, and Brian has now maintained a 55-pound weight loss for nearly a full year.
In order to lose weight you have to go hungry.
While hunger is a natural process, going hungry for long periods of time it not conducive to long-term weight loss. Many weight loss programs dramatically reduce caloric intake.   While this causes a drastic weight loss at the beginning, it also causes the body’s metabolism to slow down and to start breaking down muscle mass for self-preservation. This ‘starvation mode’ makes you very vulnerable to weight gain, as the body is now burning very few calories. These low calorie diets are also very restrictive, and very challenging to stick to. Our bodies need food- we cannot fight biology!
During the TakeDown^TM Challenge, Brian was actually quite pleasantly surprised at how much food he was able to eat. When you eat the right foods, and more importantly the right amount of foods, and the right time, you can successfully lose weight, and keep if off, without being hungry.