Getting in shape, made just a little bit easier!

How to get in the best shape of your life….

Simplified.

Before I start, let’s make it very clear: We are all very different, and we live very different lives. Some of us lose weight quickly, and some of us lose it at a slower rate.

However, there are some things that can apply to 99.99% of people, that can absolutely help in regards to changing their body composition, and getting the physique they’ve always dreamed of.

Let’s start.

1. Start tracking your calories.

It’s incredibly hard to make continued progress, if you have no idea how much you’re eating. While you certainly can take steps in the right direction by just eating healthy, whole foods, once you get to a sticking point it’s tough to know what the next step is if you’re not tracking your calories. For example;

John has been eating 3,000 calories per day, and has been losing 1 lb per week. This is great progress. However, in back to back to back weeks John has not lost any weight. While there certainly could be a multitude of factors involved in him staying stagnant with his weight, a likely option is that his body has metabolically adapted to the 3,000 calories he’s eating, and is now using that as his baseline for what he requires in a day to maintain his current body composition. Knowing that, we can now drop John’s calories to 2800, and John will likely see the scale start to move again. Had John not been tracking his calories, it would be difficult to know what steps could be taken to try to continue his weight loss journey.

2. Start weight training, and start weight training frequently.

More muscle = more body mass. More body mass = more calories needed to sustain that mass (or keep it where it’s exactly at currently). More calories being burned throughout the day to sustain that mass = making small caloric drops more significant in your recomposition journey..

I know. That was kind of confusing. But, if you break it down, it actually makes a lot of sense. Have you ever noticed how smaller, less muscular people just tend to need to eat less food? That’s likely because their bodies don’t require as many calories to sustain their current state. Now, contrast that with a bodybuilder who’s 250 lbs, he’s very likely going to be eating a large amount of food, with a pretty big appetite. Those two people can have the exact same body fat %, but one is 100 lbs heavier and eats much more food. Why is this? That’s because the bodybuilder needs the calories, because he literally has more physical mass than his counterpart meaning he needs more calories to fuel himself. So, why does that matter for getting in shape? Well, for one you’re going to be building muscle, which is literally making your body stronger, and will give you a very healthy look. Two, building that muscle is literally adding mass to your body that needs calories to “survive”. Once that mass is built, your daily caloric needs increase, meaning that 2500 calories may go from a baseline amount of calories, to now you are actually in a slight deficit due to your body burning more calories in a day.

3. Do your cardio.

Obviously, it seems like a no brainer, but it’s weird how many people skip this part. Doing cardio 1. not only burns calories, but also 2. helps your body perform and function more efficiently. Having a healthy cardiovascular system will make everything in life just “feel” better and easier. You’lll have better circulation, better brain function, more energy, a higher libido, and your internal organs will be much better at keeping your body moving at an efficient pace. You don’t have to do 15 HIIT cardio workouts a week, but doing 1-2 HIIT sessions and 3-5 steady state cardio sessions can make a world of difference in regards to how you look, feel, and perform in the gym and other areas of life. Do you cardio, please.

4. Increase your NEAT.

NEAT stands for “Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis.” This means doing more throughout the day to burn calories outside of your actual workout and cardio sessions. Some examples are actively getting more steps in, choosing to take stairs instead of elevators, parking farther away from the store, going for walks throughout the day etc. While this area is something that needs to be looked at AFTER you get your nutrition and workout programming dialed in, once you have those ready to rock, increasing your NEAT can certainly make a difference. I realize that going for a walk and burning 80 calories on that walk may not seem like much, but let’s say you do that 3x a day (very manageable for most people), now you’re burning 240 calories extra per day that wouldn’t be being used otherwise. 240 calories would be equivalent to 60 carbs, meaning that burning those extra calories allows for you to keep your food a little bit higher as you go through your body recomposition journey. Remember; doing something that makes your day 5% more beneficial may not seem like much on days 1, 2, and 3. But by Day 50, that 5% really makes a difference.

5. Make sure you have a balanced diet.

It’s REALLY tempting to think that when you’re trying to make drastic changes to your body composition, you need to make a drastic change to the foods you eat and how you structure your meals. While this may be true for some people that have completely horrible diets, most people actually know “what to do”, but the application just isn’t there in real life. So what do I recommend? I would really try to avoid what I consider “Fad diets” for most people. You don’t need to switch to a keto, atkins, paleo, carnivore, or vegan diet to see the body recomposition that you want. You really just need to make sure you’re following 3 key tenets for your meals throughout the day at each meal. 1. Have a healthy source of carbs. 2. Have a lean source of protein. 3. Have veggies + a source of fat at every meal. Do this 3-4 times a day, using moderate portions sizes, and you’re halfway to bettering yourself already.

It’s that simple. Don’t overcomplicate what doesn’t need to be overcomplicated.

Thanks for reading! We'd love to help you get your nutrition back on track. For all nutrition coaching inquiries, please feel to reach out to us at info@harbertshealth.com!