Every year I get the opportunity to meet thousands of ladies either at my professional beach volleyball events, speaking engagements, or via my blog and challenge groups.  Often I’m asked if this diet or that diet is a good one? Or, they’ll ask me if I’ve heard of a certain type of diet and what I think about it. I think the last one someone asked me about was called the potato diet? Really? The potato diet???

If you want to lose weight, or just get healthier, I have a great diet to tell you about today. It’s called the No Diet, Diet Plan.  It’s worked for me! In fact I lost over 40lbs on it!

Many of the diet plans people ask me about I have never heard of, nor have I ever tried.  To be honest with you I will never try any of these plans because I have an issue with diets, as we know them.

When ladies ask me about diets, they are usually describing some trendy plan that they heard some Oscar winner was on.  Most of these diets tend to go like this…stop eating this entire food group, or mostly eat this food group, and you’ll lose lots of weight. What? Woman cannot live on bread alone, nor meat, lemonade, grapefruit, nor cookies alone, you get the point.

To me a diet is anything you put in your mouth. If you consume burgers and pizza most of the time, you are on a burger and pizza diet. Eat whites and sugar a lot?  You’re on a white and sugar diet.  Eat veggies and no meat you are on a vegetarian diet. You see what I mean.  Whatever you decide to eat, that is your diet. Not these once a month trends people may follow.

What is the No Diet, Diet Plan? 

It’s giving up on what the world traditionally calls a diet, you know those trendy things you see on those entertainment shows and the local news.  Deciding NOT to accept or try those things, and instead realizing that your daily diet (whatever you put in your mouth daily) should actually be your diet plan for life.

What’s the best diet on earth? Like with marriages, a successful diet is not just built on one thing or another. It’s built on a wide variety, of foods that is.  Sure you eliminate things that are bad for you, like whites or overly processed foods.  But, it also means including things like veggies and greens that you may have traditionally left out.  Consistency and balance is the key.  Try a 40% carb, 30% protein, and 30% fat diet for good healthy balance.  Not potato chip carbs.  If you have a lifestyle diet that includes fruit and veggies, healthy fat and lean protein you will be successful at reaching your goals for life.  No trends here.  This is something you can do for a lifetime and enjoy the benefits of a healthy lifestyle no “diet plan” required.

When Fawn Weaver, founder of the Happy Wives Club, asked me to become a contributor I thought to myself, did she just email the right person? You see, not too many years ago, even though I was an Olympian, and a professional athlete I was not healthy. In fact, I hated to exercise, and I loved all things that were fried, processed, and could be handed to me through a drive through window. Besides that I was a sugar addict.  It took a tragedy, a long deep look into my soul, and a hard choice to honor my temple (my body) before I decided to change and to march into fitness for life.

I must be honest with you. I am NOT perfect (I hope you didn’t expect me to be).  I am a woman in process.  My goal is not perfection, but instead it’s progress.  I am moving forward, learning more about healthy eating, exercise and disease prevention.  What I learn I promise to share with you, because I truly believe that we are sisters and we must all help one another. I also believe that when we know better we should do better.  My hope is that you will not just read what I write and be done with it. Instead I hope that whatever you read, you’ll dig deeper, you’ll research more for yourself, and come to your own conclusions. Ultimately, I hope that whenever you find something that is better for you that you will decide that now that you know better you too will DO better.

Deal?

It works out that the new Happy Wives Club is launching in the month of March.  As an athlete you better bet I love a challenge. Not only do I like participating in a challenge, I love to give them.  I hope you are up for one today.  I want to challenge you to take a survey of your life. Take a sober look at the good, the bad, and the ugly. On a notepad jot down what’s going great.  What you can improve on? What’s been holding you back, and why you think these things are happening?  Next, I’d like you to write down where you want to be health wise by the end of this year.  Is it to fit in your skinny jeans? Maybe your goal is to get off some of your medications, eating more veggies or cooking more real foods? Exercising more often? Whatever it is write it down, and be very specific.

We are going to use this month to start making waves, to start marching into fitness!  Most of us have more control than we think when it comes to our health and fitness. Let’s see what we are responsible for and what we can do to make our health better.

Who’s going to join me, and march into fitness for life?  In the comment section, let us know what you are going to start marching towards this year.

Years ago I was training for a chance to make the Olympic team to represent the USA in beach volleyball.  You would think that a professional athlete would have it all together in the area of health and fitness wouldn’t you? Well think again.

My husband has a phrase that he likes to say quite often, “Change your choices, Change Your Life.”  This phrase is cemented in my brain. It’s so simple, yet extremely powerful.  When it comes to the area of health and fitness, embracing this simple phrase could possibly change your life.

I grew up in a home where soul food was prepared extremely well, and very often.  We also went out to eat a lot.  Due to the lack of exercise, and the abundance of unhealthy foods my father (a former NBA player) died of his third heart attack 6 years ago.  This lifestyle of unhealthy eating followed me into my own marriage as I cooked lots of fast and easy meals, usually from boxes or cans.

Fast forward to training for the Olympics.  I would eat fast food 4-5 times a week, sometimes on the way to workout! After my father died I was extremely upset with him because I realized that his death was preventable if only he had eaten right and continued to exercise. Then it hit me like a brick. I was living my life just like him and if I didn’t change things my life would mirror his.

I started a Fit Moms Fit Kids Club to keep myself accountable about learning about living a healthy lifestyle, and sharing what I learn with others.  I realized that I had a choice to continue or break the cycle of eating unhealthy foods, and instead wanted to educate myself to eat life-giving foods.  It was tough for my kids at first, who were used to fast food, but I wouldn’t change my choice for the world. Now I know I am giving them, and myself, the opportunity to live happier, healthier lives.

The moment I decided to change my choices I indeed changed my life. My future has changed.  The future of my children has opened up and hopefully will be extended (which was important to me since this current generation is not expected to outlive ours because of our food/exercise issues).  By dumping the junk, and embracing the fact that exercise is not a bad word, but instead gives life, I have a new outlook on life.

The truth is the truth whether you decide to believe it or not.  The truth is that eating a healthy diet full of veggies, fruit, certain grains/legumes and lean protein is the type of diet we should be eating for good health. Most Americans are obese and overweight because they ignore the truth. Each one of us has to decide what to do with the truth. I’m here to challenge you to always choose the better path sister. Just like me you can change your choices, and change your life. What will you choose to do?

Annett

This is part 2 of How to Lose Weight the Healthy Way. You can find part 1 here.

Inquiring minds would like to know if there are secrets to losing weight? Is there a way to lose weight fast? If you skip a meal will you lose weight more rapidly?  What about if you drink shakes and then just eat a sensible meal will that help you lose weight?

Last time I shared some of my tips for losing weight the healthy way.  There were so many tips for me to share that I had to break it up into another post. I hope these help you to be consistent and reach your goals.

Don’t Skip Meals

When a woman decides she wants to lose weight often times the first thing she does is stop eating. Usually, she’ll start by skipping meals.  In fact, you could be a pretty healthy eater and can’t figure out why you can’t lose your last 10lbs. It could be because you inadvertently skip meals.  To put it simply, your body, when it doesn’t have consistency doesn’t know when its next meal is coming.  It starts to hoard and hold onto the fat just in case it doesn’t get fed any more.  It thinks you are still in the hunter and gatherer days, and that there isn’t a consistent supply of food. You are training your body to keep the fat instead of training it to go ahead and use up what’s stored because more is coming soon.  Consistent eating is key for weight loss success.

You also don’t want to skip meals because it lowers your blood sugar, which brings on cravings for high carbohydrate, high calorie foods. I bet you know this feeling, I know I do. When I let myself get hungry I crave things that aren’t good for me. If your body has consistent blood sugar levels you will not crave those things, which will lend to weight loss success.

Eat 5-6 Meals A Day

Say, WHAT??? I know what you are thinking. If I eat 5-6 meals a day, won’t I put on weight? NO, not if you do it right.  When I tell my ladies to eat more times a day they immediately think of themselves as eating more junky food more times a day.  What you will be doing is eating more healthy foods 5-6 times a day. I think of it as eating 3 small meals and 2-3 low calorie snacks.

Your metabolism helps your body to break down your food at a certain rate. When you skip meals it slows down because it has no work to do. When you eat again it’s already moving slow from inconsistency. Because it can’t break down your food fast any more, the result is food stored as fat.  This is why it’s important to eat consistently to help speed up your metabolism.

Let’s recap how you can lose weight the healthy way. Be consistent by eating healthy balanced meals. No more fad diets, promise? You will also take your time, there is no rush, do it safe and slow.  Maintain a calorie deficit to reach your goal weight. Don’t skip meals.  Plan to eat 5-6 small meals a day.  If you do these things you will see results, and you will lose weight the healthy way.

In my job as a body transformation coach, the number one thing my clients want to do is lose weight.  Most times they’ve tried every diet and nothing has worked.  They lose 10lbs on a low carb diet, and then put it back on. Then they try the grapefruit diet and lose the 10 they just put back on, only to gain it back with another 5lbs to boot. This trend of yo-yo dieting just doesn’t work. It leaves you discouraged, unconfident, ashamed, and still with unwanted weight.

What’s the solution? How do you lose weight the healthy way?

Consistency 

As an athlete, I’ve learned that you can’t switch every few months to a new method of doing something.  It takes time to get into a routine, and for your body to learn new tricks.  When losing weight you need to stick to a predictable routine and regimen. You can’t jump on every weight loss bandwagon that you see on the news or in a magazine. Eat a healthy balanced diet and stick to it for life.

Take Your Time

I remind my clients that it didn’t take them two months to put on the extra 20lbs, so they shouldn’t expect to take it off in 2 months either. In our microwave society we want things to happen yesterday, and we don’t want to work for it either.  Losing weight the healthy way takes time and dedication. It takes you being sold out to the process, and putting in the time. Half a pound to 2lbs a week is a good healthy weight loss rate. I have had people lose 12lbs in 2 weeks, but that’s not the norm.  Even a 1lb loss is a victory. Learn to celebrate it. You aren’t on the Biggest Loser working out 6 hours a day. Take your time, you are in this for the long run, it’s not a sprint, but a life change.

You Must Have A Deficit 

The basic formula for your weight loss success is to have a net calorie deficit. What this simply means is that you need to take in less calories (fuel) than you put out (energy expended).  This is the point where your body will start to use the fat you have stored to keep your body operating.  If you want to learn more about the “Science of Getting Fat”, this article helped me understand the basics.  A general rule is if you burn (or have a deficit) of 500 calories a day for a week you can lose 1 pound in a week.  Do NOT decrease your food intake by more than 500-800 calories a day, as this may cause your metabolism to slow. Instead we want it to gradually get faster. I’ll discuss this in a future post.  You need a deficit of about 3,500 calories per week to lose 1lb.

Here’s an example: Say you normally eat 2,500 calories per day, and want to lose weight. To lose one pound in a week, you would need to eat 3,500 calories less this week. Do this by reducing your caloric intake to 2,000 calories per day for the week. 2,500-2,000 = 500 (deficit) and 500 calories x 7 days = 3,500 calories. You would lose 1 pound this week.

I had so many tips that I had to divide this into two posts so look out for part two. Until then, have you experienced any of the above? Are you guilty of expecting results yesterday?  What will you do now?