Good morning! The following was an email I sent to my clients awhile back. If you’re interested in what you’re learning and want to get updates faster, contact me and I’ll put you on my email list!
Coming up with your own strategy for success
With summer just around the corner, I’ve been fielding more and more questions regarding nutrition and I figured I’d share some thoughts.
Building muscle and losing fat are common goals and both are principle based: lifting weights increases muscle strength and size for everyone who lifts them in much the same way. Genetics and gender play a role, but putting in the work pays off for everyone.
Similarly, many nutrition principles work much the same for most people. Reducing caloric intake below one’s needs will result in weight loss. Increasing caloric intake above one’s needs will result in weight gain. Regardless of your goals, eating more fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, and reducing alcohol intake are some small hinges that swing big doors.
Principles are few; strategies are many.
For some people, skipping breakfast (intermittent fasting) works wonders. For others, eliminating foods that otherwise don’t sit well with their belly helps. Even replacing a fully loaded soda with a diet one reduces some unnecessary calories in one’s daily intake. Whole 30; Keto; Mediteranean…there are many strategies out there.
Which one will work for you? Let’s figure it out. But I want to approach this not from an “I’m on a diet” perspective and instead a “this is my lifestyle” perspective. Here’s how that plays out for me, specifically:
Disclaimer: this strategy works for me. It’s intended for demonstration purposes only and not at all a recommendation – only a snapshot to help generate ideas. Also, I have one small child under 2, and I work in a gym. At the risk of otherwise sounding tone deaf I understand that my current lifestyle may not be similar to yours.
Currently, I’m trying to lose body fat. “Comfortably lean” for me is about 170-ish lbs, give or take a few. I’m currently sitting at 178 after taking a year to add some mass.
First: give yourself some grace. I spent a month tweaking my strategy before things started to click. I didn’t lose more than maybe a pound or two in the first month as I worked on things. Even when the scale doesn’t budge, it’s feedback we can use to retool the strategy. Don’t give up! Keep at it, tweak some things as you go, and breathe some grace into the process.
Next, it’s a good to get an idea of just how many calories your body needs. You can use a simple calculator to help establish a baseline, and from there, develop a plan based on your needs and goals.
My weekly meal plan (ish):
After calculating my calorie needs, I play around with different quantities of foods measured on a scale to get an idea of just how calorie dense my meals are, and how those all fit together daily and weekly.
Breakfast: one half cup of oatmeal, a handful of blueberries, a scoop of whey protein, and a splash of almond milk. Enjoy with a cup of coffee with cream or almond milk.
Snack: a banana and a protein shake with water.
Lunch: grilled chicken, roasted veggies, and about a cup of white rice. I prep this stuff on Sunday by grilling a bunch of chicken and roasting a bunch of veggies and dividing it up 4-5 ways.
Dinner: I love to cook and try new recipes, so this is a wild card. I have fun with it and don’t overthink it too much.
Alcohol: as much as I love it, it’s incredible how easy the pounds come off when I reduce my intake
How does it work?
What I’ve done is a couple things: every meal before dinner is on my own, making portion control much easier. The meals are boring and predictable, something that I enjoy because it frees up head space to focus on my clients, the gym, my workouts, and anything else going on in my life. They’re also low calorie, which gives me more flexibility and freedom with new recipes that I make for dinner.
The result? After establishing parameters and tweaking things over time, I’m comfortably and relatively easily losing some body fat. I’ve assessed my work/life lifestyle and applied some strategies to help me keep my muscle and burn some fat off. I’m not starving, and I feel fueled for workouts.
If fat loss is a goal, I encourage you to first give yourself grace and patience – I promise things can improve once we find a strategy that works for you and your lifestyle. Next, think about your typical weekday: what are some common themes?
Do you eat breakfast or skip it? Either way, let’s make it work for your goals.
Is going to lunch with colleagues a much-needed break from the office and social time? Great! No need to skip that, let’s look to alter the nutrient profile OR tweak elsewhere.
Have a finicky spouse that loves certain meals for dinner? No need to break that up or work uphill, we have other ways to accomplish the goal without creating drama.
For reference, my wife hates meal prep. She loves lunch out with her friends. We work around those different needs in other ways so that we each eat well and feel good.
Remember, the principles are largely the same for all of us, while the strategies can be unique. Think about your lifestyle and your goals, and let’s start putting the pieces together to make all this effort pay off. Take your time, record some feedback in whatever metrics are meaningful to you (scale weight; how your clothes fit; how you feel after meals; body circumference measurements; etc.), and over time, tweak here and there to make the strategy work for you.
Water flows downhill. Let’s be like water.
Think it over and let’s chat! Holler back at me or hit me up with questions in the gym – I’m happy to help!
Andy Van Strength and Conditioning 