I talk a lot about nutrition being the key to successful fat loss and how weight training and/or cardio fall a distant second to nutrition when it comes to maximizing your results. I’ve also said many a time that you can’t ‘out exercise’ a bad diet. I think most of us who’ve been in this game long enough share the same sentiments.
Fat loss is all about nutrition.
So if it’s all about nutrition, that basically means it’s all about nutritional compliance, or adherence to your plan. A plan is only as good as the degree to which it is followed. I’ve heard it said that plans don’t fail, people do. I wouldn’t go that far, as poorly designed plans sure can fail, but a well designed plan is only going to be as effective as the person following it allows it to be.
I also have borrowed a page from John Berardi’s book with his dietary adherence grid and the emphasis on the importance of adhering to your plan a minimum of 90% of the time. This is key. Both in terms of meals eaten per week and the size of off-plan meals. When adherence falls below 90% on a regular basis, results tend to be compromised. I’ve seen it time and time again.
Keep it above 90% and you’re going to be doing alright. Now that brings me to my point of this post. I had a client submit a biweekly to me recently with great two-week results. She had mentioned that she took my advice in a response to a recent biweekly to buckle down and give it a little extra effort and it paid off with a better than average biweekly.
So, while I certainly don’t believe one needs to be 100% to get great results, I think striving for close to 100% as opposed to being happy with 90% can make a difference. I have seen this time and time again. Those with the better dietary adherence are those with the best biweekly results.
That little extra focus on your diet for a few weeks could be just the difference needed to take it to the next level. So? Try it for yourself. Dig in and strive for 100%. See what happens.
Getting your nutrition to 100% or as close to 100% as possible is much easier when you have healthy on plan foods to indulge in; take these Popsicles for example. They are jam packed with protein and bound to curb even the worst sweet tooth.
Straw-nana Protein Pops:
Ingredients:
125g banana
100g strawberries
175g fat-free Greek yogurt
1 scoop Vanilla 100% Gold Standard Whey
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
Directions: Combine all ingredients into a blender. Puree until smooth. Pour into a Popsicle mould and freeze until solid.
With love from the Trench Kitchen,
xoxoErika♥
