What to Do If I Cheat On My Diet

• Can you be 100% perfect with your diet?  No, no one can.  
• What do you do when you've blown it?  It helps to understand the process.  
• It's not a matter of if you get off track...it's a matter of how quickly you get back on track.  

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What to Do If I Cheat on My Diet, has a short answer and a long answer.

Cheating with a meal or two on your diet has temporary effects like fluid retention which is always caused by excess salt, sugar, and fat intake. In extreme events when you throw caution to the wind and binge massively over an entire weekend you will have actual body fat gain. If this is the case the question of “What to Do If I Cheat on my Diet?” question is out the door. There is nothing you can do about gained fat other than get back to work. The temporary side effects of a meal or two will flush out in 24-48 hours. You have to deal with the effects as you bring them on.

WHAT TO DO IF I CHEAT ON MY DIET

Before we get into the long answer of this question, you need to remember that the scale is really a bad indicator of to whatever damage was caused by a binge weekend. It takes 3,500 excess calories to create a pound of fat. With that said there are also other factors that must be taken into account before you can say that you just are going to put on a pound of fat. Some of those factors include hormonal shifts and gut bacteria levels.

So your weekend binge is really not five pounds of fat when you step on that scale Monday morning, though that doesn’t give you the green light to binge all the time. Bingeing will catch up with you and it’s not good for your health. Our bodies thrive on clean eating. The more clean eating you do, and the less bingeing, the better you will feel.

The majority of the Monday morning scale number is temporary fluid retention due to too much salt, sugar, and fat and a great indication that your muscles are clean fuel-starved.

It is very simple to understand this process. Our bodies like to maintain a certain salinity in our extracellular fluid. If you consume too much salt, the salinity goes up, so your body holds on to more water as it focuses on restoring the balance. Once you stop consuming all the excess salt, your body will restore the balance, and the water will flush out.

Clean fuel-starved muscles are the other factor. Our muscles contain their own internal carb-based fuel source called glycogen. Glycogen brings water into muscle. When you are working on losing weight you are typically creating a calorie deficit, and your muscles tend to run lower in glycogen levels, and therefore the muscle tissue carries less water. So if you suddenly eat at a surplus of calories, sugar, salt, and fat this will stimulate the body to recharge the glycogen stores, which in turn increases the fluid volume in muscle tissue, which will also bring up the number on the scale.

WHAT TO DO IF I CHEAT ON MY DIET

So if you are a person who is consuming 1,200-1,400 calories a day to lose weight but are also add in weight training this will initially cause a weight gain, as the body has to store water as it balances what the muscles need. It will subside after some time. So the scale can go up or down from water during a weight loss, muscle gain regimen.

Having a Cheat Meal every 25-30 days is not necessarily a bad thing. An increase in calories thrown into the middle of a longer period of eating at a calorie deficit can actually benefit your overall goals.

What to Do If I Cheat on My Diet? That is easily answered. You simply get right back on track. Of course you don’t want to go on a pizza binge for days, but to have one meal every 25-30 days where you have some extra calories can actually help.  So dump the guilt trip and jump back in with your workouts and clean eating. Your body will let you know that you cannot do that often. It likes the extra calories now and then, but it wants to be healthy and clean.

Fostering a Healthy Support System

Accountability - we are all accountable to someone - your spouse, your boss, someone.  Do you have an accountability partner for your health?  It may be what's missing to reach your goals.  This article has some tips on how to do that.

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Fostering a Healthy Support System is as important as the decision to improve your health. Fostering a Healthy Support System will keep you on track with your exercise and nutrition. The people in your support system will help you choose health foods and to complete your workout even after a long day at work. They won’t encourage you to hit happy hour with your friends.

FOSTERING A HEALTHY SUPPORT SYSTEM

Here are a few tips to help make sure you are on track with Fostering a Healthy Support System, so you can have a better chance of achieving your fitness and nutrition goals. When you are achieving your goals, and setting new ones to keep you healthy, you are living a healthy lifestyle.

• Seek out a support system. Friends and family should not be your only support. Sometimes friends and family may let you off easy. You want to make sure that you have others to really push you toward your goals and hold you accountable. There are thousands of people on the message boards, and social media who are experiencing a lot of the same things that you are. One of the best ways to find that support, besides amazing workouts and nutrition plans it to join the Beachbody Challenge. With the Beachbody Challenge you get fitness, nutrition, support from a FREE Coach.

• Be sure to explain why you are seeking a healthy lifestyle to those around you and tell them that you would appreciate their support. Explaining your nutrition and fitness goal, the reasons you are working toward them, and your plan to achieve them will help the people around you understand, and get that you are really serious about wanting a healthy lifestyle. Plus, once you have explained this to the important people in your life, you may be surprised that some may want to join you.

• Use your healthy influence for your family meal. Finding new recipes and creating healthy home-cooked meal can be fun and provide better health to your family as well. Get them involved and maybe have them pick a healthy recipe each week as well. You also can encourage picking healthy restaurants or healthy foods at restaurants.

FOSTERING A HEALTHY SUPPORT SYSTEM

• Portion control is a must and a huge part of being healthy and fit. Just switching to healthier foods is not going to help you if you are still eating huge portions. Using portion size containers can really make all the difference. Check out the Portion Fix nutrition plan to help you learn how balanced portion nutrition will help you live a healthier lifestyle. Plus, when you are learning about portion control with your support group or with family and friends you are also inadvertently helping them become healthier.

• Celebrate Successes and Learn from missteps. This is where your support system can really motivate you. When your support system celebrates with you and encourages you to learn and grow, it helps to keep you motivated. So give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back!

Fostering a Healthy Support System is as important as your goals and congratulating yourself. Embrace your Journey and Share it with your friends, family, and group.

P90X Series Workouts and Triathlon Training

You are planning for your event.  In addition to your event specific training, you need to cross train, allow for recovery and peak at the right time.  Better to be 25% undertrained with great cross training and a great periodized schedule, than to be 1% over-trained. What's the best way to do that?  P90X provides the structure for you to set a PR.

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Combining any of the P90X, P90X2, or 90X3 workouts with triathlon training can really be a game changer for many athletes. Yet many triathletes have not considered this marriage of training.

Triathletes are typically notorious for over-training, and training hard doesn’t necessarily mean they are training smart. Research has found that 90% of triathletes over-train, and typically do not do enough cross training in other areas. This cross training would have significant benefits to their sport. This is how the P90X Series Workouts and Triathlon Training came together.

Let’s take a look at how you can improve your triathlons by moving more of our training into your living room or at-home workout space. 

So why the P90X Series Workout and Triathlon Training?

The biggest reason that the P90X Series Workouts and Triathlon Training blend so well together is that the P90X Series offers the best performance-based programming. This performance based programming will increase lean muscle while improving your cardiovascular systems which will increase your ability to swim, bike, and run more efficiently.

P90X SERIES WORKOUTS AND TRIATHLON TRAINING

As I said before most triathletes are over-trained. This means you will get faster by running, riding, and swimming less and by focusing on rest, recovery, and the proper cross training. This is where the P90X Series Workouts come in. When you properly structure your year with proper periodization that includes both performance based workouts, biking, swimming, running, and proper recovery, you will get faster by spending less time swimming, biking, and running.

Creating a schedule with the P90X series workouts and typical triathlon training has to be periodized based on your upcoming events. You should begin your training program soon after your final race of the previous season. Here are a few areas that the P90X Series Workouts can be used.

FOUNDATION PHASE

P90X Series Workouts should be in the foundation phase. You will get the most benefit from it during this phase. When using the programs in this phase you will want to use the lean calendars P90X option. This will give you the lean strong muscles that you need for your sport.

PERIODIZATION PHASES

Triathletes should be familiar with periodization. If you aren’t, you need to be. Periodization is where you are doing speed work, aerobic work, and threshold work in each discipline separately, and then bring them together as you move closer to your big race. The P90X Series Workouts will strengthen your body and improve its capacity in all areas.

RECOVERY DAYS

Yes, Recovery Days Must Happen. Many triathletes get back out on the bike or do a swim. It is really best to actually take a break from your normal training or exercise and do something different. This is where all the P90X Series Stretching, Yoga, Recovery, Pilates, and other programs are of greatest benefit and also bring greater mobility and efficiency gains.

Let’s Put it all together. Do a full ‘lean’ round of whichever series you choose during the off-season. During your periodized training schedule you will sprinkle in maintenance P90X Series Workouts from the program you chose in the off-season, along with your specific triathlon training. Then use stretching, yoga, Pilates, and recovery programs on all rest days, and when you are in season.

Many find it hard to write a schedule that is specific to their needs and desires since there are hundreds of personal variables to consider. This is why so many athletes hire personal coaches to help them get things really dialed in and peak at the right times throughout the season.

The P90X Series Workouts and Triathlon Training really do go hand in hand, but remember it is better to be 25% undertrained with great cross training and a great periodized schedule, than to be 1% over-trained.

P90X SERIES WORKOUTS AND TRIATHLON TRAINING

So have fun, and take your triathlons to the next level by cross training with the P90X Series Workouts and Programs, not overtraining in your disciplines, and build a great schedule.

Should I Work Out on an Empty Stomach?

How many times have you flip flopped on this question?  If you're going to take the time and energy to workout, how do you get the most out of it?

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Should I Work Out on an Empty Stomach is a question that many people ask. Science has not always agreed. In the past the answer to the questions of Should I Work Out on an Empty Stomach, was Yes. Over the past 5-10 years’ science has shown us something different.

An entire meal before working out is a no-no. Digesting a full meal and exercise simply do not mix. When you work out, you want your blood flow to be focused on your muscles and extremities. When you eat a meal prior to exercise, your body has to focus its blood flow to the digestive system so it can process the food. So if you do eat a full meal it is recommended that you wait for 1 ½ to 2 ½ hours prior to exercising.  

SHOULD I WORK OUT ON AN EMPTY STOMACH

As stated previously you should not workout on an empty stomach, but you also shouldn’t eat a full meal. This means your stomach should not be completely empty. Give yourself enough time to adequately digest the majority of your food if you are working out after a meal, have 100-150 calories of food, or eat, drink, or swallow a high quality Pre-Workout Supplement 30 minutes prior to your workout.

When you have a small amount of food in your stomach or a pre-workout supplement, it will be well into the digestive process 30 minutes later when you start working out and it will have charged up your metabolism. Therefore, you will burn more calories during your exercise versus having a sluggish metabolism.  A study published in the Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, states that when you have a small amount of food or a high quality pre-workout supplement in your system you will burn more calories because it allows you to have a greater output during your exercise and it will have revved up the metabolism. This fuel helps keep the blood sugar levels more even throughout your exercise, which helps keep your metabolism from shifting, which in turn keeps you burning more fat.

SHOULD I WORK OUT ON AN EMPTY STOMACH

The question of Should I Work Out on an Empty Stomach is really a question of the past. Timing your pre-exercise feeding or using a small amount if you are just starting will keep you at your best. The general rule if you have a full meal, is to wait. If you are just getting your day started and want to get that workout done, have 100-150 calories or a pre-workout supplement to get you going. For more information on pre-workout nutritional supplements, click here.

FILED UNDER: HEALTH, NUTRITION, WEIGHT LOSSTAGGED WITH: BEACH BODY PERFORMANCE LINE, BEACHBODY PERFORMANCE LINE, NUTRITION, SHOULD I WORK OUT ON AN EMPTY STOMACH, SHOULD I WORKOUT ON AN EMPTY STOMACH

Tips to Kick the Junk Food Habit

How do you kick a bad habit?  Replace it with a good habit.  You don't have to be perfect, but you can make progress. Here are 5 simple, common-sense tips to get you going in the right direction.  You control what you put into your mouth.  Little things matter.

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Our nation is exploding with the epidemic of obesity and diabetes. This explosion is coming from the massive consumption of fast food, sugary and fatty junk foods, and other processed foods that Americans continue to consume at increasing rates. We are a nation that has Junk Food Habits that need to be broken.

So how do we make a change? With a few Tips to Kick the Junk Food Habit, and a little effort, you can get those Junk Food Habits back under control.

These Tips to Kick the Junk Food Habit will help adjust the wiring in your brain. Unfortunately, by adulthood, most of us are a hodgepodge of neuroses and psychoses and we have developed habits that may have made junk food a security blanket, and unless we work on making some changes this urge to splurge will never vanish. Yes, we can consciously understand that our body does crave and want healthy food, but your psyche may never stop seeking validation of a junk food style.

TIPS TO KICK THE JUNK FOOD HABIT

Tips to Kick the Junk Food Habit begin with training your body with clean nutrition. Eating correctly goes a long way toward helping a junk food mentality. When you spend significant time eating clean (consistently for 6-12 months), your digestive system will begin to lose its ability to handle the toxic effects of a sugar hit, not to mention preservatives and other synthetic additives.

Step 1 – Clean All Junk Food Out of Your Home

Out of Sight Out of Mind! If the ice cream is not in the freezer, odds are that you won’t go out late at night to buy some.

If you don’t have access to the junk, you’re more likely to grab something healthy, like baby carrots.

Step 2 – Eat Clean 80-85% of the Time

Just because your kitchen cupboard no longer looks like a candy and junk food aisle at the grocery store doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy those things once in a while. If most of your nutrition is super tight, you’re doing great, so cut yourself some slack, and relax 15-20% of the time. The biggest thing to remember is in the beginning it will be to your benefit to be really consistent and tight until you hit some or all of your goals.

Step 3 – Be Prepared with Healthy Foods at All Times

Being prepared is half the battle. Be sure to carry a purse or a backpack wherever you go. Always keep healthy snacks like apples or raw nuts with you. This will keep you from getting too hungry and making bad decisions. When you are prepared you don’t have that excuse.

TIPS TO KICK THE JUNK FOOD HABIT

Great Snack Ideas:

• Fresh fruit (Apples, plums, pears, and stone fruit travel well!)
• Dried fruit
• Raw nuts
• Whole-grain crackers
• A Shakeology packet

Step 4 – Try New Fruits and Veggies

There are plenty of different, healthy foods that many of us have never tried. You don’t always have to go for the same old boring oranges or carrots.  Look for fruits and vegetables that you have never tried, find new things you like, and look for new ways to use them in your meals.

Step 5 – Binge on Healthy Foods

If you just have the urge to use food as a security blanket because you have not quite broken that old habit, hit the fridge and binge on healthy foods, especially raw veggies. At some point you may still want to grab chips or cookies, but if you start with the healthy food, you are more likely to go light on junk food. Bingeing in any form isn’t a great idea, but it’s better if you overdo it with healthy food than with garbage.

Eating right when you have been a junk food junkie for so long can be difficult and won’t change overnight. If you are willing to choose your health, and use these Tips to Kick the Junk Food Habit it will get easier, and the reward is your health!

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Does a Crash Diet Work?

The party's over - all the Holidays through the Super Bowl.  Now what?   A crash diet, right?  For all the extra calories you consumed - cut back a lot, right?  Wrong!  What is a Crash Diet, anyway?  What are the risks?  How can you do it better?  This article will help.

Does a Crash Diet Work?

Crash diets promise quick and efficient weight loss, but the real question is Does a Crash Diet Work.

Crash diets are diet plans that severely reduce calories, are nutritionally restrictive, and are supposed to promote quick weight loss. Often these diets focus on one or two food groups and are not intended for long-term lifestyle changes. Most Crash Diets have a calorie count of less than a 1,000 calories a day. Long-term, this can be dangerous and create issues throughout the body.

Does a Crash Diet Work? Crash diets can be temporarily effective for people who have no personal control and are easily tempted by food (underscore “temporary”).  Temporary means no more than one week. Crash Diets, when set up properly are not really crash diets at all, they are shred diets. Meaning you will shred and drop some weight quickly because it shocks the body. Again this should be very temporary just to get the weight loss process going, to curb cravings, and begin the process of seeing portions for what they should be. This type of plan should not be maintained beyond 7 days.

DOES A CRASH DIET WORK?

Crash diets can have many risks due to their nutrient deficiencies. These diets make it difficult to get a sufficient amount of calcium, vitamin D, or iron and other important nutrients. If this type of plan is followed long-term it can cause permanent damage to the organs by not providing them with their required fuel. If there is too much fluid loss, you can damage your electrolyte level, and become easily dehydrated, and when this happens you may experience cramping, fainting, and even heart failure.

Another issue with a Crash Diet is the slowing of the metabolism. Our bodies are extremely efficient machines and will slow down and lower its resting metabolic rate in order to survive longer if the calories or nutrients are too low. When this happens for long periods of time our bodies begin to cannibalize its own lean muscle tissue for nutrients to maintain itself. Slow metabolism will create a decrease in energy and you will feel sluggish, have ashy skin, and other issues. This will have a negative effect on your home and work life, and your ability to workout will be non-existent.

Another negative factor of a Crash Diet is its effect on your emotional and mental state. When on a crash diet, irritability, depression, and lack of patience begin to set in. Sleep patterns are disrupted and in severe cases it can cause full blown insomnia. Again this will affect your workouts, because it is during rest that the muscles recover.

Does a Crash Diet Work? The answer really is NO. When you return to a rational eating plan, your body will store everything you eat, as it thinks it has been starving for the last few weeks, and as a result support rapid weight gain.

The answer is, as it has been for centuries, a decision to change has to be greater than to stay the same. To lose weight you must make a lifestyle change. You have to have motivation and discipline to stick to a well-rounded clean eating plan. Though you can kick off with a 7-day shred plan that is a well-balanced 900-1200 calories, you must bump that up to me 1,400 to 3,000 calories depending on your needs for long-term success at weight loss, muscle building, or other goals. These calories should be split up over 5 to 6 meals a day and have a proper balance of protein, carbs, and healthy fats.

DOES A CRASH DIET WORK?

If you combine this with 30-45 minutes of intense exercise you will be speeding up your metabolism.

Does a Crash Diet Work? Not if you want your New Year’s resolutions to come to fruition. Stay off the crash diet / fad diet merry-go-round. Commit to choosing your health and making a lifestyle change. 

FILED UNDER: HEALTH, NUTRITION, WEIGHT LOSSTAGGED WITH: BEACHBODY, DIET, DOES A CRASH DIET WORK?, MODERATION,PORTION CONTROL

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Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Super Bowl snack - 5 ingredients, 10 minutes prep, 0 cooking. Quick 'n easy - delicious - healthy!

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Shake up your snacking with Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. You can useRoasted Red Pepper Hummus on sandwiches, with vegetables, or in a salad. Garlicky Roasted Red Pepper Hummus is absolutely delicious, takes but a few minutes to prepare, and requires no cooking. Be the one who shows up at the party with this healthy dip everyone is sure to love.

ROASTED RED PEPPER HUMMUS

Total Time: 10 min.
Prep Time: 10 min.
Cooking Time: None
Yield: 10 servings, each serving approximately 3 Tbsp.

Ingredients:
1 (15-oz.) can Garbanzo Beans drained, rinsed
½ (12-oz.) jar roasted red peppers (not packed in oil), drained
2 fresh rosemary sprigs, leaves removed and coarsely chopped, stems discarded
4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2 Tbsp. olive oil

Preparation:

1. Place beans, peppers, rosemary, and garlic in in blender or food processor; cover. Blend until smooth.

2. Slowly add oil, blending constantly until blended.

ROASTED RED PEPPER HUMMUS

Understanding the Master’s Hammer and Chisel Portion Nutrition

You can eat all the right things and simply over-eat.  You don't need as much as you think you do.  Here's an idiot proof way to manage portions and be satisfied.  It will also improve your nutrition.  It's about Portion Control.

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One of the most frequent questions when people start a new nutrition program is how to handle portion control. That is why the new Master’s Hammer and Chisel Program uses a color-coded container system that makes portioning nutrition a breeze. Understanding the Master’s Hammer and Chisel Portion Nutrition makes nutrition balance and portion control easy and intuitive. No hassle of calorie counting, and you always know you are getting the right nutrition for the results you desire. If it fits in the container and is on the approved nutritious food list, you get to eat it!

UNDERSTANDING THE MASTER’S HAMMER AND CHISEL PORTION NUTRITION

The plan comes with six colored containers that represent six groups of foods that our bodies need for balanced nutrition. When you see how simple this nutrition plan is, you will see why it is changing people’s nutritional lifestyle, and doing it with ease.

The Green Container is for Vegetables. The vegetables can be cooked or raw, sliced or chopped. Examples of foods from the approved food list are lettuces, kale, squash, peppers, mushrooms, and onions. Remember it is what fits in the container, so you can really squish the lettuce into the container and create one awesome salad!

The Purple Container is for Fruit. Obviously fruit like berries, grapes, and cherries can easily fit into the container, but larger fruits like watermelon, apples, oranges, and fruits with pits, like peaches, will need to be cut up so you can put them into the container to make sure you are getting the right amounts.

The Red Container is for Protein. This container is used for any meat protein, but also for yogurt, eggs, tofu, or shellfish. Some proteins have specific instructions in the food list guide.

The Yellow Container is for Starch and Grain Carbohydrates. This container is for rice, beans, sweet potatoes, and whole-grain pastas. When it comes to foods like sprouted grain bread, waffles or tortillas that won’t fit well into a container, the allowed amounts are in the food guide.

The Blue Container is for Healthy Fats. Healthy fats include avocados, nuts, cheese, and hummus, to name a few. Again, what you can fit in the container, you get to eat.

The Orange Container is for Seeds and Dressings. The orange container is the smallest, which is why it is used for most calorie-dense foods like seeds, olives, coconut, and approved dressing recipes.

Teaspoons. Teaspoons are also a measurement of use in the nutrition program. Teaspoons are used for oils and butters. A teaspoon is not provided with the system, as most people have one in their kitchens.

Understanding the Master’s Hammer and Chisel Portion Nutrition and how to use the containers will create greater results in your fitness and health program since 80-85% of the results come from the kitchen. The best part of this plan is you will not have to count calories or worry about macronutrient percentages, because the easy to use portion control system does it for you. The first step is to use the nutritional guide’s caloric equation formula to figure out approximately how many calories will need each day based on your goals. Once you figure out your daily calorie need, use the calorie chart to see how many containers of each color you get to eat each day.

UNDERSTANDING THE MASTER’S HAMMER AND CHISEL PORTION NUTRITION

Another great feature of this nutrition plan is you can mix and match foods of the same category to fill a single container, allowing you to create a greater variety. For example, if you don’t want to use a whole green container for spinach, you can fill it halfway with spinach and half with carrots. Two foods, one green container.

As convenient and transportable as the containers are, remember that you don’t have to eat out of them. Actually it is recommended that you really use them to measure your food and then empty them onto a plate or into a bowl so you can have a great presentation of your food. The better the presentation of food, the more satisfied you will feel when you have finished eating.

Understanding the Master’s Hammer and Chisel Portion Nutrition makes it easier to stay on track and focused on your nutritional goals. Often when people begin this program, they find that they’re full even before they’ve finished their portions for the day. The reason is healthy food has more volume than low nutritional foods and junk food. If you find this is the case for you, only eat what you can, but make sure to eat from all the containers instead of just filling up on your favorite kind and avoiding what you like the least. You still want to be balanced with all your food groups.

This system truly creates moderation and a sense of awareness about what you are eating. After you’ve completed this program, you’ll have a good idea of how many fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats you should be eating every day.