Six Things I Learned from a Year of Online Training with Bryan Krahn

July marked the one-year anniversary of one of the best decisions I ever made for my physical and mental health. After a lot of research and rumination, I signed up for online training with Bryan Krahn.

As many readers know, I lost over 70 pounds on my own in 2011 and 2012. I had already experienced tremendous success in changing my body, building new habits, and making lasting lifestyle changes. However, I never quite took the process as far as I intended. At my lowest weight I still hovered about 10 pounds above my goal. I was no longer obese or even overweight, but I still felt like I was carrying around more body fat than I wanted. I worked my ass off in the gym and I wanted to look a little more like I lifted. Many factors had conspired to prevent me from building the body I wanted. I decided it was time to fully commit and enlist the help of another coach.

Beyond simply wanting to get leaner, I knew I needed major help with my eating habits. A lifetime of overeating combined with my recent dive into the world of diets and health food had created a perfect storm of disordered eating from which I could not seem to break free. I alternated between periods of healthy, balanced eating and periods where I felt trapped by cycles of bingeing and restricting. I was tired of suffering through this alone and believed a coach could help me learn more about myself and what was causing these cycles.

Bryan appealed to me for two reasons. First, I knew I wanted to follow a plan geared more toward aesthetics (more on this below), and Bryan is a seasoned expert in that type of training. Second, I appreciated his holistic approach to getting lean that places a high value on managing stress, emotions, and other lifestyle factors. My original intent was to stay with Bryan for 3 months and then move on. However, I’ve had such a rewarding experience that I am still a loyal client more than 12 months later.

This article shares some of the most impactful lessons I’ve learned over the last year. Included are insights on building the body you want, creating lasting habits, and the value of coaching.

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A year’s worth of progress

If you are honest about what you want out of training, you will have more fun and get better results.

For years I trained as a competitive powerlifter. I truly loved the sport, but I was getting to a point where I was frustrated with my progress. My lifts were no longer progressing as quickly as they were in my first years of training. This is a normal part of getting stronger, but I was beating myself up if I missed a lift and started dreading my workouts. I was letting my self-worth as a lifter get tied up in my total.

More importantly, I began to realize that what I really wanted was to look better. I wanted to be leaner, with bigger arms and shoulders and more definition across my body. I never spoke this goal aloud because I always felt like it was “too vain” and that training for strength or performance was a more accepted use of my time as a fitness professional and confident woman.

One thing that drew me to Bryan was his insistence that fit pros can and should try to get in good shape. There is absolutely nothing wrong with chasing this goal. Although I will always love powerlifting, I decided to shift gears and fully commit to an extended period of training for aesthetics.

Bryan’s programs initially kicked my ass. I was completely unaccustomed to higher volume training and performing such a wide variety of exercises. After a few months, however, I started to notice all kinds of positive changes in my body. This encouraged me to keep going and excited me for workouts workouts in a way that I had lost. I was motivated to work harder because I felt like I was spending my time in a way that resonated more with my desires.

Figure out what you want out of training and don’t let anyone else dictate what goal you should be pursuing. By being honest with myself about what I really wanted, I found a training style that was more fun and got me closer to my true goals.

If you want bigger arms or shoulders, you need to train them a lot. Like, A LOT.

Confession: I’ve always wanted more muscular arms. Even after losing a lot of weight, getting fairly strong, and generally feeling very confident in my skin, I was never truly happy with how my arms looked. Additionally, I’ve always admired and wanted a pair of big, round shoulders. No matter what I did, however, it seemed that my shoulders were never going to grow. I now realize that I wasn’t doing nearly enough volume for these muscles if I was serious about building some size.

During the past year, I’ve followed many training programs. Almost all of them had me doing tons of volume for the arms and shoulders. I typically trained shoulders 3-4 times per week and arms 2-3 times per week.* This specifically refers to direct isolation work for these muscles and does not include extra exposure from compound chest and back movements. Bryan also had me do a lot of giant cluster sets that included 3-5 exercises for the same body part with no rest in between. I didn’t worry as much about adding lots of weight. Instead, I focused on using good form so I could really feel the target muscle contracting and stretching.

(*Note – most of my shoulder work came from lighter shoulder raise variations. It’s not a good idea for most people to overhead press multiple times in one week.)

After a year Bryan’s workouts, I love the way my arms and shoulders look. They are still very much a work in progress, but I’ve seen noticeable muscle gain. This summer I’ve been rocking sleeveless shirts with every chance I get. But this didn’t happen by accident.

If you want bigger, leaner, or more defined arms and shoulders, you likely need to put in way more time. Don’t be fooled by people who say your arms get all the training they need from compound big lifts. Train your arms and shoulders often and with a variety of exercises for best results.

Arm gains

Following a program for a longer time leads to better results.

One of my favorite things about training with Bryan has been to spend some time digging deep into a training program. Too many people are caught up in the idea that they need to change things up all the time to see progress. In my experience, the latter weeks of a training program was where I started to really see and feel the magic.

Here is what a typical first phase of a training program looked like. The first few weeks were spent adapting to the new workouts, revisiting or learning any exercises that I hadn’t done in the last phase, and establishing a foundation for weights and reps. These weeks often left me feeling pretty sore. The program then built in volume or intensity through 3-5 weeks, after which I usually took a deload week where we cut the volume in half.

The second phase of the program brought back the same basic workouts with a few tweaks to minor exercises and the addition of some intensity techniques. It was in this second phase that I felt I could really push myself, set weight or volume PRs, increase the density of the workout by resting less, and generally get into a deep flow during the workouts. Notice that this didn’t really happen until the second phase. Although I was always trying to improve, I felt the biggest gains the longer I stayed with the program.

If I was in a hurry to get a totally new plan all the time, I would not have gotten as strong or built as much muscle. The takeaway here is to be patient with your training. Don’t be in a hurry to try the latest craze or new exercise all the time. You can see great progress for a long time by pushing yourself on a simple, well-constructed program.

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The diet is the easy part.

When I first started with Bryan, I was super pumped about my goals. I had reached the “fed up” point that I think is extremely valuable in driving motivation for change. I knew that in the next 3 months, I would do whatever it took to achieve my goal of getting lean. Diet, sacrifice, and hard work did not intimidate me as I had gone through similar processes before I knew what was coming.

As expected, the first 3 months of coaching went really well. I was able to fully commit to the new training style, adjust to the increased volume of training, and religiously stick to my calorie and macro guidelines. This led me to impressive results. I dropped over 15 pounds and looked noticeably leaner. I felt great about my accomplishments and loved the way my body was changing.

However, after the diet ended and we started to reintroduce a bit more freedom on the weekends, I fell hard back into old destructive eating habits. I had been so spot-on with my diet that when I finally relaxed the reins, I wasn’t able to maintain control. For a number of months, almost every weekend ended in a binge. Once the genie was out of the bottle, it was extremely difficult for me to get it back in again.

I didn’t realize it at first, but this period is where the real coaching work really began. I needed to confront a lifetime of bad choices and compulsive behavior that my 3 month diet simply masked. When I was losing weight and running a tight ship, I wasn’t really doing the deep work to address my personal demons and build habits to help me when I was at my most vulnerable. These issues came to the surface once I allowed myself more freedom to eat “normally”. Over time, I worked closely with Bryan to identify my triggers and put systems in place to help me deal with the before, during, and after parts of a binge. I also worked to distance myself emotionally from my eating habits. Before, I would freak out and feel tons of self-loathing when I “messed up”. Now, I practice compassion and kindness towards myself. If I fall back into old habits, I practice standing up again in my power without judgement.

I won’t sugarcoat this process and say it was easy, enjoyable, or even that it’s completed. I will probably always struggle on some level with my disordered eating. However, working with a coach who had been there and helped others in similar situations has helped me improve my mindset tremendously.

If you are working to change your body, remember that you can’t always be on a diet. You need to spend some time learning about yourself and building habits that will sustain you when you are out in the world living a normal life. If you don’t do this work, you will always be riding the roller coaster of weight loss and regain and the emotional scars that go along with it.

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This is what a year’s worth of almost daily weigh-ins looks like. Notice the initial diet and then the many ups and downs related to binging.

Consistency is key.

One of the most valuable life lessons I have learned this year is the incredible power of consistency. I saw the best results when I got into a consistent rhythm of executing a few simple things every day. It’s one thing to have a few good days; it’s another thing to string together many weeks or months of good days. This is where the magic really happens.

Lots of people (myself included) shoot themselves in the foot by “being good” all week long and then feeling like they earned the right to relax and eat crappy food all weekend. It’s incredibly easy to wipe out a large deficit from the week with a couple meals out at a restaurant and an evening spent drinking.

Building habits was a huge help in maximizing my time and minimizing decision making. I got used to eating my meals at the same time every day and I had some version of the same breakfast and lunch most days. This made it much easier to shop and meal prep. I scheduled my training sessions on the same days every week so I always knew what to expect and how my body would feel before and after. As these habits solidified, I felt like I had to exert way less effort to get the same results. If I could put my head down and just do the work, I didn’t have to think as much about things like shopping, cooking, hunger, and how I felt going into the training sessions. I just did them because it’s what I always did.

If you’re struggling to make progress, first look for the good habits you already have that are moving you forward. Then look for ways to incorporate those habits into areas where you struggle. Try not to see your week vs weekend in black and white terms. If you can make everyday look a little more like the day before, you will start moving in the right direction.

Everyone needs a coach.

Even though I work in the fitness industry, I wasn’t getting the results that I wanted with my own training. After a long day of writing programs for clients, I lacked the desire to write programs for myself. My personal programs were biased and tended to include things I enjoyed and was good at but that weren’t the best tools to get me towards my goals. Additionally, I knew that I didn’t have the most relevant experience for my particular goals.

In the past, I had success following programs I found or purchased on the internet from other fitness pros. However, these programs only take you so far. They don’t provide the level of individual tweaking, support, and accountability that can make the difference between sticking with something and falling off because you got bored or didn’t feel good. I knew that I needed to seek out someone more experienced to take over my own training.

Working with Bryan also showed me that I was really not pushing myself to my full capacity. I would go so far as to say I was being lazy before. I would only do a couple workouts per week, skip cardio, and let myself off the hook with challenging sets. Although I always trained regularly, I also had a host of excuses for why I couldn’t or shouldn’t do more. It’s no wonder that my strength gains had stalled out and I was unhappy with my physique.

The bottom line is that even if you know a lot about health and fitness, there is always someone with more experience and knowledge than you. This is true in many other areas of your life as well. If you are serious about improving yourself, do your research to find someone highly qualified who you respect and hire them to coach you. It may be one of the best investments you’ll ever make.

If you need help figuring out how to make healthy eating and exercise work with your busy lifestyle, please fill out an application for my online coaching program. If you are interested in working with Bryan, you can visit the application for his online training program here (although it’s often full).

July 25, 2017October 14, 2019

You Don’t Need an Extreme Diet or Program

During my initial period of weight loss several years ago, I adopted some pretty extreme nutritional practices.

I ate in certain ways because I believed it was the only way to achieve true health and reach my ultimate weight loss goals. I got these ideas in my head after doing lots of self-guided research and from reading advice from people I thought were nutritional experts. I thought I had discovered the secret key to weight loss and everyone who didn’t eat like me was making a big mistake.

As you might imagine, I became pretty miserable to be around during this time. I’ll never forget going home to visit Omaha and going out for sushi with my family. At the time, I was following a very strict paleo diet and refused to eat grains of any kind. I ordered a sashimi platter and ate it all by myself while I enviously watched my family members enjoy rolls, sushi, and other items with rice. They thought I was crazy while I battled with conflicting anxieties: I felt left out but was terrified of what would happen to me if I succumbed and ate grains.

Because I wasn’t armed with the skills to discern good advice from not-so-good advice, I became a bit of a zealot and fell prey to a kind of “all-or-nothing” mentality. I would fast for extended periods of time and when I did eat, entire food groups were 100% off limits.

Ultimately, this approach fueled my problems with disordered eating. When I couldn’t keep up my extreme eating habits, I fell into epic binges where I would eat as many of the forbidden foods as I could get my hands on. Afterwards, I would return to my long fasts and tell myself that I was going to get back on the wagon. Every few weeks this vicious cycle would repeat itself. The very advice I thought was the key to losing weight and being healthy was taking me farther away from either of those goals.

One of the reasons I got into the fitness industry was to help people experience success while avoiding some of the painful mistakes I made during my own journey. For this reason, I want to give you a few pieces of advice on how to detect and avoid extreme advice on eating and exercise. Adopting a sane approach to exercise and divorcing food from fear will go a long way toward maintaining or developing a healthy relationship with food and your body.

There is no magic bullet.

You know those sidebar advertisements promising “one weird trick to six pack abs?” You may roll your eyes at these ads, but they are powerful marketing tools because they prey on our insecurities and desire for instant gratification.

We are used to getting what we want right away with very little effort on our part. With health and fitness front and center in many people’s minds, it’s not surprising that companies are trying to capitalize. Wouldn’t it be great if you could take a single pill or remove one food group and lose weight without diet or exercise?

Unfortunately, the body doesn’t work this way. It takes a long time and lots of trial and error to make noticeable, lasting changes to your physique or improve your health. The sooner you accept you’re in this for the long haul, the quicker you will move down the path of successful change.

Be cautious of any product, service, or website promising you better results in less time. This is especially true of supplement companies who are allowed to make claims about the effectiveness of their products without clinical trials or government regulation. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

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How to interpret science and studies

One of the methods people use to verify the legitimacy of health information is with scientific studies and references. Unfortunately, simply citing studies is not really enough to guarantee the accuracy of information anymore.

Anyone on the internet can write about science or cite studies without the education, qualifications, or knowledge needed to critically interpret what they are citing. It’s easy to cherry-pick one or two studies to back up just about any claim. When you actually read the studies themselves, you will likely find that some “experts” completely misrepresent the contents or conclusions of a study in order to push their own agenda.

Educate yourself on how legitimate scientific studies are put together and what conclusions you can draw from certain types of evidence. Learn to think critically and ask deep questions about what a study is actually saying and what other factors could be influencing its conclusions. Understand what a peer reviewed study is and how study sponsorship can influence conclusions.

A common logical fallacy is to extrapolate causation from correlation. Just because two items are positively or negatively related on a graph does not necessarily mean one thing causes the other. For example, nutritional studies often ask people to record their food intake and then look for certain health markers. You may then see sensationalist headlines like “Eating an Egg is Equivalent to Smoking 5 Cigarettes” or “Diet Soda Causes Dementia.” In fact, these studies merely indicate that there is a correlation between a certain diet or food and a health issue. These studies in no way prove that eating a certain diet causes the problem. There may be many other factors that influence the outcome.

Look for authors who rely on meta-studies, rather than individual studies. A meta-study is an analysis of many different studies on the same topic. Meta-studies are much more reliable than individual studies as they draw from multiple experiences and have more data and trends to back up any conclusions. You can make a stronger scientific argument when you compare multiple studies examining the same basic question.

Seek the middle ground.

I learned the hard way that following a restrictive approach to eating and exercise rarely works in the long term. With the exception of elite athletes or people pursuing challenging performance or physique goals, the average person does not need to follow an extreme eating or training approach to look, feel, and perform at their best.

Beware of blanket statements, especially from people who claim their way is the only way to achieve a particular goal. For example, many diets claim removing certain foods, food groups, or macronutrients is essential for weight loss and optimal health. There are also numerous examples of blanket statements in regards to exercise. Some people claim cardio will kill your gains and should be avoided at all costs. Others claim any exercise that isn’t “functional” (whatever that means) is a waste of your time.

While these claims may work for many people, they are unnecessarily restrictive. You can lose weight and be healthy eating a wide variety of foods. You can get strong, lean, and powerful by consistently following a basic training program without running yourself into the ground or relying on circus tricks. The dark side to following these approaches includes anxiety, burnout, eating disorders, and injuries. Restrictive approaches are usually not sustainable long-term.

Moderation and simplicity aren’t sexy, but they are the key to establishing lasting healthy eating and exercise habits. It is much more valuable to learn how to eat well and exercise while still living a normal life than it is to force yourself to give up things you love or completely overhaul your life. Seek out experts and resources that promote moderation, consistency, and balance in your quest to look great and live a healthy life. Experiment to find approach what works best for your environment, body, and values, or hire a qualified coach to help guide you through the process.

(Note: Some fitness pros that are especially awesome at promoting a sane, moderation centric-approach to food and exercise are Jill Coleman, Nia Shanks, and Precision Nutrition)

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Getting in shape is simple, but not easy.

Just to be clear – I don’t claim that getting in shape is an easy or relaxing process. Just the opposite. Many people need to make big sacrifices or change a great deal about their lives to look and feel better. However, this does not mean you need to follow an extreme eating or exercise regimen that leaves you miserable, anxious, and in no way fits in with your current lifestyle.

Success comes from mastering the following things:

The right calorie balance needed to achieve your goal
Eating a diet rich in nutrient-dense whole foods that you enjoy, with some leeway to enjoy occasional treats
Following a safe, smart, and progressive training plan tailored to your goals
Managing stress and prioritizing sleep
Having fun and building a lifelong love of exercise and healthy eating

If you can do these things consistently, you will never need to follow an extreme diet or fork over hundreds of dollars on crazy supplements. You can make better choices while still enjoying your life and avoid my path into disordered eating and misery.

If you need some help sorting out the good information from the noise or want a specific plan catered to your needs and goals, please fill out an application for my online training program.

July 5, 2017October 14, 2019

Beat Emotional Eating

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Do any of these situations sound familiar?

You’re having a rough day at work and finally find a few minutes to step away from your desk. Once you get to the break room, you struggle to resist the temptation of all the snacks sitting out on the counter. You grab a few fun-sized chocolate bars and half a donut.
You didn’t get an expected promotion at work, so that night you tell yourself you deserve to treat yourself to half a pizza and a pint of ice cream (or an entire bottle of wine).
It’s 10:30 at night, and you’re watching a boring episode of your partner’s favorite tv show. You mindlessly reach for some chips and before you know it, the entire bag is gone.

Emotional eating is insidious. It comes in many forms and usually happens without our conscious knowledge or consent. Frequent emotional eating episodes can derail your efforts to lose weight or build healthier habits, even if you do everything else well.

I have personally struggled with emotional eating and binge eating for many years. Through a combination of mindfulness, slowing down, learning more about myself, and going to therapy, I’ve made great strides in combatting this challenging problem.

Many of our struggles around food aren’t actually about food at all. If you need some help managing your emotions, or if you suspect you may be suffering from an eating disorder, I strongly encourage you to seek professional help and speak with a therapist.

If you just want to cultivate more awareness and learn some strategies to stop emotional eating, read on for the tools that are most helpful for me and my clients.

Notice, name, and respond to emotions.

Cravings are often triggered by emotions that have nothing to do with hunger. Some of the most common culprits are boredom, anxiety, stress, and loneliness. Many of us learned to use food to cope with these uncomfortable emotions at a young age, which makes emotional eating a difficult habit to unlearn.

First, you must learn to accurately identify your emotions. The next time you feel a craving, stop and ask yourself “what’s really going on here?” Precision Nutrition calls this practice “notice and name”. Practice labeling different emotions based on how they feel in your body or brain. Write them down if necessary (more on this below).

Next, determine how you can respond to this emotion in a way that doesn’t involve food. Many of the best responses are physically active, mentally stimulating, or promote relaxation or connection. Engaging in a fun activity, calling a friend, tackling an important work task, going for a walk, or meditating are all possible options to address boredom, anxiety, stress, and loneliness. These actions not only prevent emotional eating, they can also help you become a happier person.

Distinguish between true hunger and cravings

There is a difference between craving a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and being genuinely hungry for dinner. In order to combat your emotional eating habits, you need to learn the difference between these two sensations.

One of the best ways to identify true hunger is to set a timer for 20 minutes when you notice a craving. During this time, if possible, remove yourself from food and find something else to do. Oftentimes, once you get back to work or start doing something fun the craving will pass completely and you will realize that you aren’t actually hungry. If after the timer rings you are still hungry (or even hungrier than before), then you can decide whether to satisfy the craving, grab a healthy snack, or eat a full meal.

Another useful mind trick is to consider what types of food you are craving. If a plate of chicken and broccoli (or one of your go-to healthy meals) sounds appetizing, you are probably actually hungry. If you are only hungry for sweets or a greasy burger, you are probably experiencing a craving.

Keep a journal.

Keeping a food journal is a great way to get more in touch with your natural hunger cues. I don’t mean logging your caloric intake, although that can be helpful. This kind of food journal tracks hunger and craving levels throughout the day and around meals.

Rate your hunger and cravings levels on a scale of 1-10 (10 = totally stuffed/not at all hungry or no cravings, 1 = extremely hungry and craving everything in sight). Record these numbers when you wake up, before and after meals, and before you go to bed. For most people, allowing yourself to get to peak hunger between meals is a recipe for overeating. Aim to keep your hunger levels between 3-6 before meals and no more than 8 after meals.

Those of you who struggle to get in touch with your emotions may benefit from keeping a different kind of journal. At the end of every day, write down a short account of your day. Describe the various emotions you felt, how they affected you, and how well you handled them. Practice giving names to these emotions and, where applicable, make special note of how they affected your hunger and craving levels.

Journaling is also useful to help you figure out what went wrong after you binge or succumb to emotional eating. Think back to the sequence of events leading up to the binge and try to identify as many triggers are you can. These could be anything from being extremely hungry, to walking by a particular restaurant, to getting in a fight with your partner. Write as many details as you can remember so you can try to handle the situation better next time it comes up. When we commit to writing these things down, we start to see unhelpful patterns in our thoughts and behaviors.

Change your environment so it supports your goals.

In Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, Chip and Dan Heath explain that when trying to make changes, what seems like a people problem is often a situation problem. People are highly susceptible to certain behaviors based on environmental triggers. Therefore, you can work to tweak your environment so emotional eating is more difficult.

If you are prone to emotional eating, stress eating, or binge eating, you should not keep any junk food in your house. It doesn’t matter if the food is yours or belongs to your partner or kids: if it is in the house, you are at risk for eating it at any time. Sometimes trigger foods are not overtly junky. Things like peanut butter, protein bars, dried fruit, and nuts are common “healthy” foods many people still overeat. If you have a problem with a particular food, healthy or not, remove it from your house or workspace and don’t buy it again.

Slow, mindful eating is an incredibly powerful tool to increase your enjoyment of meals and help you combat emotional eating. Make a habit of devoting your full attention to meals. This means when it’s time for dinner, you set the table, eat a full meal, and avoid electronic distractions. When the meal is over you “close” your kitchen and nobody gets to grab anymore food for the rest of the night. This is especially helpful if you have a bad habit of mindlessly snacking in front of the tv after work or late at night. Train yourself to eat only at meals and spend the rest of your day working, playing, or relaxing without constant snacking.

Finally, whenever possible avoid situations that trigger overeating. If you know you are prone to binging when you allow yourself to go too long between meals, keep a healthy snack with you at all times. When you have to face your triggers, come armed with a plan to help you deal with the situation. A journaling practice can help you better understand emotions or situations that trigger unwanted eating.

Practice self-compassion.

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned in my fitness journey is to be nicer to myself when I mess up and succumb to emotional or binge eating.

Although it is useful to analyze your behavior to find ways to better handle difficult situations in the future, it is not helpful to wallow in guilt or punish yourself with negative self-talk and over restriction.

Precision Nutrition has a practice called the “clean slate”: when you have a bad day of eating, you start fresh the next day without any baggage or guilt about your actions. Building a healthy lifestyle is a process with many ups and downs. Learn from your mistakes, treat yourself with love and respect, and continue taking steps towards a happier and healthier future.

If you want help taking charge of your eating habits, please fill out the application for my online coaching program.

May 22, 2017October 26, 2018

Essential Kitchen Tools for Easy Home Cooking

When I was in college and first learning how to cook for myself, it always seemed to take forever to prepare meals. Over time, I learned the importance of having the right kitchen tool for the job. For example, it took me way less time to chop vegetables for scrambled eggs with a nice chef’s knife instead of trying to cut everything with tiny steak knives. This also carried over to the quality of the food I prepared. I didn’t have to suffer dried oven-baked chicken breast anymore once I discovered the wonderful power of the George Foreman grill and the slow cooker. Stocking my kitchen with the appropriate tools made it much quicker and less daunting to prepare healthy, tasty food at home.

Failure to cook most of your own meals is one of the biggest obstacles to healthy eating. For many people, cooking and preparing food is a cumbersome and frustrating process. Even with decent cooking skills, a poorly-stocked kitchen makes meal preparation much more challenging. If you want to make it easier to prepare healthy, home-cooked meals, invest in a few key pieces of equipment. This article gives you my go-to kitchen tools for easier home cooking.

Pots, Pans, and Cooking Utensils

There are three essential pots and pans you can use for all your cooking. The first is a frying pan. This is my go-to pan for day-to-day cooking. Frying pans can be used to scramble eggs, sautée veggies, and make one-pot meals, including stir-frys and curries. You can also use them to cook certain cuts of protein including steaks, seafood, and pork chops. A cast iron pan is especially versatile since you can use it in the oven as well.

Second, you need a large pot and a small pot. Both can be used to steam, boil, or blanch vegetables. I use my small pot to cook grains such as rice, oats, quinoa, and couscous. The larger pot is more versatile, allowing you to make homemade soups or chilis, boil a dozen eggs at once, poach chicken breasts, and more.

Although you can purchase these three items separately, it often makes more financial sense to purchase a pots and pans set. Any store selling housewares (Target, Walmart, Kohls, Amazon, etc.) will carry these. Look at several brands, read reviews online, and choose an option that works best for your budget. Smaller sets are best for those just starting out with cooking or who have limited kitchen space.

You should also purchase one silicon spatula, one silicon ladle, one silicon slotted ladle, and one wooden spoon. These may come with your set of pots and pans or can be purchased in a separate set. These four tools will cover all basic cooking needs.

Sharp Knife and Cutting Boards

A single, high quality chef’s knife is all you need for most basic kitchen tasks. It is safer and less time-consuming to cut meat and produce with a chef’s knife than a steak knife or another small knife. Chef’s knives can be pricey, so read reviews and find an option that works best for your budget. If you have a larger budget or are a more advanced cook, you can purchase an entire knife set. Just remember that this isn’t necessary for people who just want to make basic, healthy meals.

To keep your preparation space sanitary, you should purchase one cutting board for raw meat and a second cutting board for everything else. Choose the largest cutting boards that fit on your counter so you are not cramped. There is no real advantage to different materials for the beginner cook, so pick the option that works best for your budget.

Slow cooker

The slow cooker is the ultimate appliance for people who want great tasting, healthy food but don’t want to put much effort into cooking. For a delicious dump-and-go meal, add a big hunk of protein, a bit of salt and other spices, some heartier vegetables or legumes such as carrots, onions, potatoes, and beans, and set to low for 8 hours. The long cook time brings out tons of flavor from even the toughest cuts of meat and requires little hands-on time.

If you don’t already own a slow cooker, I recommend splurging for a large size (6 quarts is ideal) that is programmable. Larger sizes allow you to double or triple your recipes, leaving you with plenty of food for leftovers. A programmable slow cooker allows you to put in the ingredients and then leave for a long period of time with peace of mind that your meal won’t be overcooked. This is also a great option for cooking meals overnight.

Grill pan or George Foreman Grill

Indoor grilling is another great way to prepare fast, delicious meals. A grill pan or a George Foreman grill allow you to capture some of the delicious flavor and texture of grilled meat indoors, all year round.

Grill pans are generally made of cast iron and sit on top of your stove. The George Foreman grill is a plug-in countertop appliance that uses a lid to cook both sides of the meat at once. The grill pan has a longer cook time and works better for thick cuts of meat such as steaks and bone-in chops. The George Foreman is a bit faster and is ideal for boneless cuts of meat and burgers. You can use either of these tools to quickly cook large batches of protein. Simply preheat the grill, season the meat, and cook until it hits the desired level of doneness.

There are many different sizes and costs for both grilling options. Be realistic about how much meat you want to cook at once and purchase an appropriate size so you don’t end up extending your prep time because your grill is too small.

Blender

My final appliance recommendation to round out your well-stocked kitchen is a blender. Blenders combine multiple ingredients into smoothies, shakes, sauces, spreads, and soups. Smoothies and protein shakes are an especially valuable time saver for people with hectic mornings. If possible, I recommend investing in a high-end blender as cheap blenders tend to break down with frequent use and end up costing you more in the long run.

Tupperware and Freezer Bags

If you prep large amounts of food, you need a way to store the leftovers or take food on the go. Invest in a high quality food storage set (such as Tupperware or Rubbermaid) for effortless storage and more portable meals. Choose a set with various container sizes that are BPA free and microwave-safe. In addition, quart and gallon freezer bags are great to freeze leftover meals or raw ingredients to ensure you always have healthy meals available if you can’t make it to the grocery store.

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Cooking at home doesn’t have to be a daunting process. With the right tools and a bit of practice, you’ll have a much easier time navigating your kitchen. You don’t need to spend a ton of money or buy the fanciest model of an appliance. Think about how much space you have, how much you want to spend, and then use online reviews to determine the best option for you.

Appliances are an important piece of the puzzle, but how do you know what food to make? If you’re struggling to come up with easy, healthy, homemade meals, I’ve created a solution I’ll think you’ll love. Eleven Easy Meal Templates is a totally free PDF guide to my go-to meals for busy people. Grab your free copy using the box below.

May 15, 2017May 14, 2019

Traveling for work? Here’s how to stay on track with eating and exercise.

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Over the years, I’ve worked with dozens of clients who regularly travel for work. Some take short trips once every few months; others find themselves pulled away for weeks at a time. In any situation, regular travel can be disruptive to a healthy lifestyle. Planning ahead can make all the difference to help you exercise and eat well on the road. Here are some strategies my clients have used to successfully stay on track even with demanding and unpredictable travel schedules.

Before you leave

Learn about where you will be staying before you pack for your trip. Ask if the hotel has a gym and if so, what kind of equipment it contains. Some hotel gyms will only have a broken-down treadmill while others contain cardio equipment, dumbbells, and cable machines. Get this information before your trip so you can pack and plan accordingly. Don’t forget to bring workout clothes and shoes.

If you travel regularly, invest in a couple small pieces of exercise equipment to enhance your hotel workouts. A small band or two and a jump rope (if you tolerate jumping) take up little room in a suitcase and can greatly increase the intensity of a hotel workout.

Always bring some healthy snacks to keep you satisfied when you don’t have good food options available. Protein bars, raw vegetables, fruit, 100-calorie packs of nuts, and jerky work well as snacks.

Call the hotel and see if your room has a fridge and a microwave you can use. If you’re taking a longer trip, use google maps to scope out grocery stores and pharmacies near your hotel. Visit these places when you arrive to fill up your mini-fridge with pre-cut vegetables and fruits, deli meats, and hard boiled eggs for quick. healthy meals and snacks.

Make good choices at the airport

Finding healthy food at the airport is not as challenging as you may think. Restaurants and booths in many airport terminals offer numerous pre-packaged and made-to-order salads, fresh fruit, and pre-cut vegetables. In the morning, coffee shops such as Starbucks usually offer oatmeal and breakfast sandwich options. Even fast food places such as McDonalds offer lower-calorie options such as grilled chicken sandwiches and salads.

Ask for water, coffee, tea, or diet soda when the complimentary beverage cart rolls down the aisle of the plane. Keep some healthy snacks in your carry-on luggage in case you get hungry during the flight.

How to work out at a hotel

Exercising on the road keeps you on track with your health and fitness goals and helps you let off steam during stressful work trips. Win win! If your hotel has a gym with weights, you may be able to complete a variation of your normal workout. I like to use intensity techniques like drop sets, 1.5 reps, and giant sets to make the most of limited weights and equipment.

If your hotel doesn’t have a gym or only has minimal equipment, you can still complete a workout in your hotel room. Try to do this first thing in the morning when you are unlikely to have conflicting work or social obligations.

Fast-paced circuits make the best hotel room workouts. To create your own circuits, first make a list of all the bodyweight (or band if you have one) exercises you know and group them into lower body, upper body, and core categories. Keep this exercise list on your phone so you will always have it with you.

For each circuit, pick 1-3 exercises from each category and complete 2 – 6 sets of each exercise. Most of these exercises will work best in the 10 – 20 rep range. Try to move through the circuit with as little rest as possible. Get creative with your circuits and make them as short or long as needed according to your schedule.

Example circuit, complete 2-6 rounds:

Bodyweight squat x 15

Push-up x 15

Alternating reverse lunges x 15 each side

Band pull apart x 20

Dead bug x 15 each side

Jump rope x 100 turns

Healthy eating on the road

Eating out is one of the biggest challenges of travel. It’s one thing to go on vacation and enjoy the local food with friends and family. It’s another thing to try to make the best possible decisions during regular work trips. If every trip becomes a special occasion, it’s tough to stay on track with your health and fitness goals.

Whenever possible, be the person who decides where to eat. Choose restaurants with plenty of healthy menu options including grilled or broiled proteins, salads, and healthy vegetable sides. Most chain restaurants include nutrition information on their websites, so you can make informed decisions that fit your plan.

If you do not have control over where you eat or find yourself surrounded by unhealthy food, there are a few tricks you can use to stay on track. Eating slowly is one of the best ways to avoid overeating. Take time to chew and swallow each bite before you move to the next one. Limit your meals to one plate of food and make sure that you are not eating more than 1-2 fist-sized servings of any one food. When the server brings out your meal, immediately ask for a box and set aside half of the food for later. Restaurants are notorious for serving extra-large portions, so this prevents you from consuming too many calories in one sitting. It also helps you stretch your food dollar and gives you another meal to enjoy later.

What to do about alcohol

One of the most challenging situations on business trips is dealing with alcohol. Drinking is a huge part of corporate culture and many of my clients struggle to balance their desire to limit alcohol consumption with the pressures placed on them by peers and colleagues in social situations.

If you do want to drink, practice moderation and make smart choices. Set a drink limit for yourself before you get to the bar or restaurant and stick to that number. If necessary, you can pretend to drink more by ordering virgin beverages such as plain diet pop or seltzer with lime.

The best drink selections are dry wines and clear liquor with a calorie-free mixer such as soda or diet pop. Dark liquor, also with a calorie-free mixer, is the next-best choice. Beer should be consumed sparingly if you’re trying to lose weight or improve their body composition (I know, this makes me sad too). Avoid sugary mixed drinks such as frozen margaritas or tropical cocktails.

Fill in the gaps with supplements

Travel can put lots of stress on the body, especially if you don’t get enough sleep or eat poorly. Regular travelers can use supplements to fill in any gaps from their diet:

A greens powder or whole foods supplement can provide many of the micronutrients found in vegetables and fruits.
Drinking a scoop or two of protein powder daily will help ensure that you are hitting your protein target.
Many people benefit from taking a high quality multivitamin and fish oil supplement both at home and while traveling.
If you have a hard time sleeping in a strange bed, you may experiment with taking melatonin or a zinc-magnesium supplement before bedtime.

Remember, all of these products are only supplements to your diet and aren’t substitutes for making the healthiest possible choices. Always purchase supplements from a respected company that uses third-party testing to verify the quality of their products.

With a bit of planning and flexibility, you can maintain a healthy lifestyle even with a grueling travel schedule:

Learn about the facilities at your hotel.
Seek out restaurants with healthier options.
Pack workout clothes and equipment, snacks, and supplements.
Create a few go-to hotel workouts that you can easily complete no matter where you are.

Most importantly, get to know yourself and your struggles so you can formulate plans and build habits that will help you thrive in spite of lots of traveling.

Looking for some additional support to help you nail your fitness goals despite a crazy travel schedule? Online training is a great option for people who frequently find themselves on the road. Learn more and fill out an application for my program here.

May 8, 2017October 23, 2018

How to Pack Your Lunch

Most of my clients are busy professionals. The biggest nutrition downfall for this group is constantly eating out for lunch. My clients repeatedly tell me about their struggles to find time or inspiration to pack lunches from home and the huge temptation of hundreds of restaurants right outside their office. This often leads them to consume excessive calories, ultimately preventing them from losing weight or feeling their best.

Like all changes to your eating or exercise routine, bringing lunch from home is a habit that requires planning, practice, and consistent execution to master. This article summarizes the benefits of bringing lunch from home and outlines my two favorite approaches to building this habit.

Packing your lunch has several benefits. First, preparing your own food gives you more control over what you eat. You can pack appropriate portions and ensure all of the ingredients in your meal work for your body and your eating plan. This makes it much easier to make healthy choices and avoid temptation. Second, bringing your own lunch can help you save hundreds of dollars over the course of a month. You may be surprised at how quickly the cost of restaurant lunches adds up, especially if you are eating out everyday of the week. Grocery shopping gets you much more bang for your buck.

Meal Templates

Many people want to bring lunches, but struggle to develop the habit of preparing food day after day. There are two ways to make this process easier. The first is to use meal templates to eat similar meals every day.

A meal template provides the basic construction of a meal while allowing some flexibility with individual ingredients. Templates can be based on anything. Some popular ideas center around a type of dish (salad, soup, chili), ethnic cuisines (taco Tuesday, Indian food, Mediterranean food), a particular protein (steak, fish, pork), or a certain method of cooking (slow cooker, Instant pot, sheet pan dinner). Meal templates help you avoid decision fatigue while still providing diversity to avoid food boredom. The preparation and primary ingredients remain the same as you rotate seasonings, sides, added vegetables, cooking fats, or other minor components of the meal to change up the flavor or character of the dish.

My Favorite Templates

Rather than coming up with a complicated meal plan consisting of different lunches every day, choose one or two meal templates that you enjoy and are easy to put together. I have used two simple meal templates to successfully pack my lunches for years.

The first is a salad. Every salad consists of some kind of chopped lettuce or greens, protein (usually canned chicken, tuna, or salmon or leftover protein from dinners), a variety of chopped vegetables, and a homemade dressing made from an oil, an acid (lemon or lime juice, vinegar, etc.) and seasonings.

The second template I use regularly is grilled protein with steamed vegetables. I use my George Foreman Grill to rapidly cook beef, turkey, or chicken burgers; chicken breasts or thighs; or lean pork chops. I always have a few spice blends in my pantry for easy and delicious seasoning. My vegetable side alternates between steamed broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, asparagus, and carrots.

Both of these meals take minimal time to put together and allow enough variety that I don’t get bored. For example, my favorite salad is inspired by southwestern flavor and includes lime juice, avocado oil, cilantro, red onion, tomatoes, bell pepper, and chicken. Another salad is much sweeter, using spinach, strawberries, mushrooms, red onion, tomatoes, salmon, olive oil, and apple cider vinegar. The preparation time and method for these meals is exactly the same, but they taste very different.

Leftovers

Another way to easily pack lunches without a lot of extra effort is to take advantage of leftovers. Instead of cooking just enough food for one dinner, try doubling or tripling the recipe so you have enough food to take for lunch the next day. To maximize your cooking time, consider setting aside an hour or two on the weekend to cook a large dish that you can portion into daily lunches. This works especially well with one-pot dishes like soups, chilis, stews, roasted vegetables, and baked dishes. Grains like rice, oats, and quinoa are also much easier to prepare in large batches.

If you get food boredom easily, repurpose your leftovers into different meals for some variety. I like to use leftover protein in salads and scrambled eggs. You can also add cooked ingredients to sandwiches, soups, pasta, or grain bowls. The possibilities are truly endless if you are creative and open to new food combinations. You may be surprised at what foods work well together as you stumble upon some new favorite lunches.

Lose weight, Save Money, Feel Better

Packing your own lunch is one of the best ways to improve your eating habits and general health. You will also save money so you can spend more on truly meaningful meals and social outings or enjoy other things in your life.

If you struggle to bring lunch, start by cooking more at one or two dinners each week so you have a couple of leftover lunches. Once you succeed with that, pick a meal template to use for the remainder of the week’s lunches. Don’t be afraid to eat the same things every week or to experiment with totally new dishes and combinations of food. Remember, success with healthy eating requires you to adopt habits you can realistically sustain over the long term.

If you want more practical advice, check out Eleven Easy Meal Templates. I compiled my personal favorite meals into this totally free PDF guide. Sign up using the box below.

May 1, 2017October 14, 2019

Eating Out on a Diet

Eating out on a Dit

For many people, eating out at restaurants is one of life’s greatest joys. Even though I love to cook, restaurants offer a break from planning, prepping, and cleaning and allow me to try dishes I would never make for myself at home.

However, as I’ve recently embarked on a fat loss diet, I’ve had to adjust how I dine out. Dealing with restaurants is one of the number-one battles for my fat loss clients. Many of them struggle to make healthy choices at lunchtime meetings with clients or coworkers and at weekend social outings with friends and family. Others simply don’t like to cook and find that restaurants are more convenient after a long day or on business trips. With so much variety and temptation, it can be a challenge to know what to order and how to keep portions in check.

Below, I have provided some of my favorite strategies for making healthy choices at restaurants. Although this article is specifically geared towards those trying to lose fat, it can be valuable for anyone trying to maintain their weight or simply eat healthier.

Be Honest

Before discussing how to manage your restaurant experience, it’s important to be honest with yourself about how often and why you are eating out. For best results when dieting, you need to be cooking most of your meals at home. Even with the best intentions, you can’t totally control what a restaurant puts in your meal or how your food is prepared. You may be surprised at all the ways sugar, fats, and other flavor enhancers can be hidden in your order.

Limit yourself to eating out only once or twice a week. If you know you need to eat out more than twice for work, try to be especially disciplined with your ordering and make sure you are not splurging with too many additional social dinners and brunches over the weekend.

Plan Ahead

If you have control over where you eat, shop around for healthier options. Look at menus online and make sure you have several meal possibilities before you chose a restaurant. Certain kinds of restaurants tend to have healthier food than others. Fast casual (think Chipotle, Roti, Sweet Greens, etc.), grab-and-go (Freshii, Snap Kitchen, Pret a Manger), Mediterranean, seafood, steakhouses, and even traditional taquerias can all provide decent selections of grilled proteins, vegetables, and healthier carbs.

Many chain restaurants provide detailed nutrition information for their dishes, which is helpful if you count calories or macros. If you don’t get to choose where you eat, you can still look at the menu beforehand to figure out what you will order. Wherever possible, pick out your meal ahead of time so you won’t be tempted by things you see other people eating at the restaurant. Planning ahead sets you up for success.

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What to Order (and not to order)

Salads can be your best friend when eating out at restaurants. A good restaurant salad provides tons of vegetables, protein, and healthy fats. Restaurant salads are often way tastier than salads you make at home because they add variety that you might not have the time or resources to prepare yourself. I recommend asking for the dressing on the side, as restaurants often add much more than is necessary. Some restaurants will also bring out some olive oil and vinegar if you ask, allowing you to make your own healthier dressing. In general, choose salads that are heavy on lean proteins and fresh fruits and vegetables and are lighter on more calorie-dense foods like dried fruits and nuts, tortilla strips, bacon, and cheese.

Another great alternative is to order some kind of lean grilled or broiled protein. Lean steak, chicken, fish, eggs, and pork are all great options. Avoid entrees that are breaded, fried, or smothered in tons of sauce. Choose a side salad, vegetables, or a healthier carb such as rice or potatoes (keeping an eye on portion sizes) as your side dish for a well-balanced meal.

Avoid eating free appetizers such as bread or chips and salsa. If you know a restaurant brings these things out, ask the waiter to skip your table. Munching on these items can add hundreds of empty calories to an otherwise healthy meal.

Additionally, go easy when adding condiments, sauces, and dressings to your meal. These are often loaded with extra calories, sugar, and fats and can dramatically bump up the calorie count of your meal.

Portion Control

Even if you make a smart choice when ordering, restaurants often serve way more food than you need at one sitting. As soon as you get your food, ask for a to-go box and pack away half of your meal for later. This is especially important when ordering carbs such as rice or potatoes because restaurants often serve two to three servings or more of these items.

As a rule of thumb, men can consume two palm-sized servings of protein, two cupped-hand-sized servings of vegetables, two thumb-sized servings of fats, and two fist-sized servings of carbs with each meal. Women should typically limit consumption to one serving of each. Eating slowly and savoring every bite can help prevent overeating. Remember that you don’t always have to eat everything on your plate!

Indulging Intelligently

Sometimes you just want to cut loose and indulge, even when you are trying to lose fat. In this situation, I recommend that you observe the following rule to avoid going overboard: pick either alcohol (1-2 drinks), a starchy or fatty side or appetizer (fries, mac and cheese, anything breaded or fried, etc.), or a dessert to share. For example, have a steak with grilled vegetables and share a brownie sundae for dessert. Or order a burger and fries but skip the drinks and sweets.

Avoid falling into the all-or-nothing trap by understanding that a small indulgence won’t wreck your progress. However, if you choose to dive head first into cheat meals week after week, you risk eliminating your hard-earned calorie deficit and thus frustrating your long-term fat loss progress.

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Enjoying Restaurants While Dieting Isn’t impossible

It is absolutely possible to enjoy eating out and still lose fat. However, you do need to be honest with yourself, plan ahead, and exert a bit of self-control. For best results, limit dining out to once or twice a week. Choose restaurants where you can order healthy, delicious meals such as salads, lean proteins, and vegetables. Box up half of your meal, eyeball portion sizes using your hand, and eat slowly to avoid consuming too much food at once. When you do indulge, make sure to keep things in check instead of diving off the deep end and ordering all the alcoholic, fried, and sweet things on the menu at once.

If you want more information like this, sign up for my email list. I send out weekly tools, tips, and strategies to help busy professionals get in great shape without losing their minds.

April 24, 2017October 14, 2019

Master Meal Prep

One of the biggest secrets to successfully losing weight or improving your health is learning to cook your own food.

Constantly eating out at restaurants gives you little control over what and how much food you consume. Restaurants want to make your meal as tasty as possible and often add in a great deal of sugar, fat, and salt, creating dishes that are deceptively high in calories. The official nutritional information published by chain restaurants is helpful, but even these numbers can be inaccurate depending on the individual meal. Eating out every day also rapidly adds up to hundreds of dollars or more spent on food every month.

Cooking more of your food at home can save you both dollars and inches off your waistline. You can spend less money, eat a larger volume of food, prioritize protein and vegetables, and ensure that your food isn’t loaded up with extra sugar and fat. All of these things will help you feel more satisfied, avoid cravings, and make faster progress towards your goals.

Cooking more of your meals can be a difficult habit to form, which is why it’s important to use a system to formulate a plan of attack. In this article, I will outline my step-by-step approach to mastering meal prep. This includes drawing up a weekly meal plan, obtaining fresh ingredients by visiting the grocery store or setting up a delivery service, and then cooking your food in the most efficient manner possible.

Make a plan

The first step to successful meal prep is coming up with a plan. There is simply no way around this, especially if you are new to healthy eating or cooking. You need to spend some time figuring out what you want to eat for all of your meals before you go to the store. This will become easier with practice as you fall into a regular routine and develop a mental library of easy, healthy meals you enjoy.

I recommend repeating meals often for the sake of simplicity. Eating the same meals every day is a great way to keep control of your calories without much extra effort. It also helps reduce your food prep time since you will eventually become very efficient at making these repeat meals. I have personally found a lot of success eating the same breakfast and lunch every day and rotating through 5-10 regular dinner options. This allows me to to minimize daily prep time while still enjoying a variety of healthy, delicious meals in the evening.

If you are the kind of person who gets food boredom easily, you can use templates to add a bit of variety without changing the entire meal. For example, I make a big salad for lunch every day. The salad always contains chicken, salmon, or tuna along with plenty of vegetables and a simple homemade dressing. I can change up the protein, vegetable selections, and dressing for just enough variety from day to day without adding any time to my preparation.

If you are relatively new to cooking or simply want to expand your arsenal of regular meals, try out one new recipe each week. Look for recipes that are simple and predominantly feature proteins and vegetables. If you aren’t up for following an entire recipe but still want to diversify your cooking, try purchasing one new vegetable or protein source each week. Look up an easy preparation method, such as steaming vegetables or grilling proteins, or add the new food to a dish you are already familiar with such as roasted vegetables, stir fry, or salad. If you like the way the food tastes and it is easy for you to prepare, add it into your regular rotation.

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Once you have created your meal plan, write down all the ingredients you need to purchase. Be specific about the amount of each item you need to avoid food waste. Do a quick mental inventory of your pantry and write down any items that are running low and may need to be replaced. These items could include oils, vinegar, spices, canned goods, rice, and other dry goods. If you are new to cooking and have a very limited pantry, try buying one new spice or other item each week.

The last step in meal planning is to decide when to eat what. Proteins such as steak and fish should be eaten earlier in the week, whereas pork and chicken typically last longer in your fridge. Certain vegetables and fruits are heartier and will last longer than others. If you know one of your meals takes more time to prepare, be sure to schedule it for a day when your schedule is more relaxed. I recommend purchasing certain items from the frozen aisle to ensure that you will have good food available whenever you need it. Keep a bag of frozen chicken or shrimp and some frozen vegetables in your freezer in case you run out of food and can’t make it to the store. Consider all of these details to ensure your weekly cooking goes as smoothly as possible.

Navigating the grocery store

Now that you have your meal plan, it’s time to hit the grocery store. If you have done the first part of planning well, this step should be relatively easy. However, I find that people often skip the planning stage and head right to the store. This is a huge mistake, especially if you are new to meal prep, prone to impulse junk food purchases, or tend to waste a lot of what you buy. You should always come armed with a list until you are very experienced with meal prep and shopping. A list ensures that you will get the best value for your dollar and gives you a buffer against cravings.

Go through the store, buying everything on your list and nothing more. Most of your purchases should be made from the perimeter of the grocery store where you will find the fresh produce, meat, seafood, eggs, and dairy items. Only venture into the aisles to purchase items you have specifically put on your shopping list. Take special care to avoid aisles that house problem foods for you including chips, candy, soda, and baked goods.

Whenever possible, don’t go to the grocery store on an empty stomach. Your hunger may fuel impulse purchases of junk food or cause you to buy more food than you actually need.

If you absolutely detest shopping or don’t have the time to go to the store, I recommend investing in a grocery delivery service such as Instacart or Peapod. These services allow you to submit grocery lists which are then delivered directly to your house. In addition to saving you time, these services make it more difficult for you to grab that bag of chips or candy bar at checkout.

You might also consider signing up for a meal delivery service for some or all of your weekly meals. These services range from delivering meals that are precooked and just need to be reheated to sending you boxes of ingredients with instructions on how to prepare the meal yourself. Many of my clients use these services with great success. There are many options available, so talk to your friends and do some research to determine which one might be a good fit for you.

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Get cooking

After you have finished shopping, it’s time to prepare your food for the week. There are two approaches to this process: (1) cook all of your food for the week in one sitting; or (2) prepare one day of food at a time.

If you know your weeks are hectic and you would rather get everything done at once, I recommend setting aside a couple of hours to do all of your planning, shopping, and cooking on the weekend. If your weekends tend to be busier than your weeknights, or if you have a small refrigerator and can’t store a ton of food, prep one day at a time. Either approach can work as long as it fits into your schedule and lifestyle.

There are many tricks you can use to reduce cooking time. Batch cooking is an easy way to prepare many meals at once; it works especially well with dry grains, beans, legumes, and proteins. For example, you can bake several pounds of chicken at once and then divvy it up for individual meals.

If you are making a one-pot dish such as a chili, soup, or stew, try doubling the recipe to leave you with twice the food for the same amount of time and effort. You can also freeze some of these leftovers for quick and easy meals in the future.

The slow cooker is another one of my favorite tools for easy meal prep because it allows you to make a large amount of food with minimal effort. Simply drop in some protein, hearty vegetables, and spices and return several hours later to a delicious and balanced meal. You can also use the slow cooker to batch cook large amounts of protein, grains, and vegetables to eat at various meals throughout the week.

If you are prepping day by day, you can still do some work on the weekend to make each day easier. Try chopping vegetables and storing them in the fridge for easy access for salads, stir frys, and scrambled eggs. Hard boil a dozen eggs for quick breakfasts or snacks. Set aside time every night or morning to do your main cooking for the day. If you can’t find time, consider switching to a weekend prep.

Meal prep your way to better results

Cooking more of your food at home is one of the best ways to take control of your health and weight.

Set up a weekly meal prep ritual that helps you get into a routine of planning, shopping, and cooking more of your meals, and stick with it diligently for several months. It takes time to establish habits and you need to get used to the numerous steps that go into this process. Once you’ve been consistent for a while, you can tweak your process to make it work better for your life. Long-term success depends on these processes becoming automatic so you can eat healthy while devoting your energy and effort to living your fullest life.

If you want some help with meal prep, sign up in the box below to receive Eleven Easy Meal Templates, a totally free guide to my favorite quick, healthy, homemade meals.

April 17, 2017April 5, 2018

How to Make Time for Exercise

Although everyone knows that exercise has innumerable benefits and is an important part of a healthy lifestyle, many people still struggle to fit exercise into their busy schedules or develop a regular exercise routine. This leads to frustration, lack of progress, and the feeling that a healthy lifestyle is an unattainable goal. However, I believe that even the busiest people can establish a sustainable exercise regimen and make progress towards their health and fitness goals. This article provides five key steps to help you successfully make time to exercise.

Be realistic

One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to develop an exercise routine is committing to too much too soon. While it would be great to be able to work out 5-6 times per week, this simply isn’t realistic for many people, especially if you haven’t been able to exercise regularly for the past few months. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve met with a new client who hasn’t been working out consistently but tells me they now intend to hit the gym everyday after work. How do they expect to complete that many workouts when they have been struggling to do any workouts any at all?

Sit down with your schedule and figure out exactly how much time you have to spare for exercise each week. I recommend a minimum of three hours per week to get started. This can be broken up into 20 or 30 minute sessions if you simply can’t set aside an uninterrupted hour (more on this below). Next, stick to this plan consistently for at least a month. Once you have accomplished this, evaluate whether you have time for more exercise. If you cannot stick to your plan for a full month, scale back in the next month. The goal is to get into a regular routine that you can successfully sustain from week to week. You will make more progress by completing three 30-minute workouts every week for a month than by doing four 1-hour workouts one week but then only exercising twice over the next three weeks.

Be flexible

Many people believe that unless they can get to a gym and workout for a solid hour, they don’t have time to exercise. This couldn’t be further from the truth! You can get a great workout in as little as 15-30 minutes if you keep moving and keep the intensity high. Instead of wasting time on your phone or wandering around aimlessly, make a plan and execute it.

You can also train even if you don’t have access to a gym. Many of my clients travel a lot and can only make it into the gym once a week or even less. I advise these clients to do short workouts in their hotel room first thing in the morning before they run off to meetings or other obligations. Circuits using bodyweight exercises or small pieces of equipment such as bands or a jump rope work perfectly for hotel workouts. Pick 3-5 exercises and complete 2-6 sets of each, keeping the rest intervals short for a quick metabolic burst.

Schedule workouts like meetings

Once you have determined how long and where you will exercise, schedule your workouts in your calendar the same way you schedule meetings, conference calls, appointments, and other activities. Prioritizing your training sessions helps you take ownership of your time and makes it easier to resist distractions and say “no”. If you have established a realistic plan, you will know what time of day works best to train and how long you can actually spare before you are missed by work or family. Emergencies and last-minute obligations may pop up, but more often than not you should stick to those scheduled gym sessions. I generally encourage clients to train as early in the day as possible to avoid last-minute pile-ups or the fatigue that often comes at the end of a busy day.

Go To The Gym Reminder For Today Pinned On Cork

Seek accountability

Making change and building habits are tough, and having other people help you can make the process much more manageable. There are many ways to add extra accountability to your workouts. Hiring a trainer is a great step for many, especially those who are unfamiliar with exercise, dealing with injuries or chronic pain, or who aren’t sure of the best way to get to their goals. Find a workout buddy for some or all of your sessions; partnership makes workouts more fun and will make you think twice about missing a session since you know that someone else is counting on you to show up. Making a public commitment to your partner, friends, family, or social networks can help you find support, resources, and accountability. Join an online group or forum, sign up for a race, or enter a fitness competition. There are even programs where you are charged a certain amount of money as a penalty every time you miss a workout. Figure out what motivates you and then reach out to others with similar goals or lifestyles to help you stay honest and consistent when your desire to train is low.

Learn to love exercise

Ultimately, you will not be able to stick to an exercise regimen that you don’t enjoy on some level. It saddens me to see how many people still view exercise as a punishment to be endured rather than an activity to challenge yourself, have fun, and celebrate your body and health. Unless you are training for a specific event, do not feel like you are forced to do any one kind of exercise that you hate. Experiment with different modalities and training styles to find something you enjoy. People who hate running may enjoy swimming, biking, or hiking instead. Try taking a dance class, going rock climbing, or enrolling in a circus acrobatics or pole dancing workshop. If you lift weights but are feeling burnt out from always using heavy weights on barbell lifts, try embracing bodybuilding-style training using lighter weights, more volume, and challenging intensity techniques. The possibilities are truly endless if you are creative and open to new things. Above all else, your workouts should be fun!

Young woman training in climbing gym

A plan that works for you

Regular exercise should be a part of everyone’s life. If you haven’t been working out as much as you would like, take a step back and create a routine that works for your schedule. Set up a realistic and flexible plan, make a commitment, and seek help when needed. Try out different activities to determine what best advances you towards your goals and is enjoyable enough to keep you coming back for more. Remember that your ultimate goal is to make movement a cherished part of your life so you can enjoy good health and independence for many years to come.