Its funny but when I coach guys, they never give me a hard time about how many calories they should be eating. They happily take the advice of eating good foods, working out and they lose fat plus gain muscle. Its so easy coaching men. They don't argue that they think it will be too many calories. They don't make faces at me in disgust when told they need to eat 5 or 6 small meals a day. They just do it and it works.
But every single one of the ladies I coach or personal train, or teach a fitness class to always questions this advice. They roll their eyes at me. They make excuses. They will even try to bargain down the calories. I know ladies, that's what makes us different form men. But this good advice really works. You need to eat if you want to get to a healthier weight, lose fat and gain some lean, sexy looking muscle.
If you aren't doing any exercise at all, then you can go a lot lower in calories, but if you're spinning, running, doing
P90X, Zumba,
Turbo Fire,
Insanity, kickboxing, weight training or any other strenuous exercise program at least 3-5 days per week, you need to eat and eat often!
Here's a sample of my day:
Bkfst: 8 oz low fat milk mixed with 1/2 sliced banana, 1 scoop
vanilla whey protein and 1/2 cup of frozen berries blended with ice
OR 1 cup of Greek low fat yogurt, with 1/2 cup of frozen berries and 1 tsp of honey
Snack: 1 small apple with 1/3 cup of almonds
OR 1
P90X Peak Performance Bar
Lunch: 2 cups of salad greens with 3-4 oz chicken and a little dressing
OR 1 scoop of chocolate
Shakeology blended with 8 oz low fat milk and ice, w/ 1 tbs peanut butter
snack: 2 multi grain plain rice cakes with 2 tsp of PB on each
OR 1 scoop of Choc.
Shakeology blended with water and ice (if I didn't have it for lunch)
Dinner: 1-1/2 cups of salad greens, 1 cup of veggies and 3-4 oz of chicken, lean pork or lean beef
Now depending on how much exercise you do, what type, how much you weigh, your age, your height and your goals, your calories are going to go up or down, but the simple fact of the matter is you need to fuel your body with good nutrition if you want it to perform at peak performance. Think of your body as a machine. Put the right fuel into it and its going to run smoothly. Put bad stuff or not enough stuff in and its going to sputter and stall.
Did you also know that the act of chewing, swallowing and digesting your food, burns calories? Did you also know that your body works harder to burn certain foods? Did you also know that if you want to keep your blood sugars regulated, you need to eat often? And did you know that fluctuating blood sugar levels can contribute to weight gain or lack of weight loss?
So ladies, take a look at what the healthy guys you know are doing. They're not starving themselves, or only eating carrots for lunch. Look at what they pack in their coolers and take to work. Granted you don't need to eat the same portions they are, but you should take some lessons from the guys, and listen to me, Coach Jessica:)
Let me know if you need more help with this. I know it is hard to change the way you think or were taught to think. You can email me anytime at
wattersjes@msn.com.
