5 things holding your Diet back!

Have you ever heard the saying;

‘Dieting is easy, it’s like riding a bike.

Except the bike is on fire. And so is the ground. And so are you, because you’re in hell’.

Well a lot of athletes feel this way when they set out to either make weight for a competition or lose a bit of fat to be more competitive on the mats. A lot of diets start out really well with the first few pounds coming off pretty easily, then it slows down or stops.

What happened?

Is it just the nature of diets for them to slow down or are you sabotaging yourself from the start?

The honest truth is it’s a bit of both. It is rare for people to achieve steady fat loss all the way to their goal with zero adjustments. Most of the time you will need to make changes either to your training or your nutrition that will give you the results that you desire.

The problem comes with knowing what to change and when. It’s not the lack of will that hold athletes back as I have yet to meet a serious one that wasn’t dedicated to their goals. It’s not the availability of knowledge either, just type the words ‘fat’ and ‘loss’ into Google and see how many hits you get back (31,600,000 for those who care).

The problem is that the sheer wealth of information is just too much. People have no idea where to start when setting up a plan or what method will work for them best. I’ve lost count of the number of times a persona has come to me either eating like a small bird or thinking that eating junk all day is fine as they need to ‘fuel the machine’. Most people would do best with a sensible plan that is free from fads and crazy products and is based on whole, nutritious food from natural sources.

However even with this approach it is possible to sabotage your diet right from the start. There are certain things that you could be doing, or leaving out of your nutrition that could be costing you from the beginning. Most people see some of these things as ‘healthy’ and others are so simple it’s crazy. However I’ve seen this time and time again with clients and people who come to me for help.

Make sure you address these issues when you are setting up a nutrition plan or run the risk of making your programme much harder than it needs to be!

Make sure you set up the diet correctly.

I know I say this in every article but I cannot stress it enough! Making sure that you get your diet set up correctly from the start will save you many headaches as you go on. Having a good starting point will give you room to make adjustments and make sure that you cover all your bases so that the plan is healthy and supplements your performance goals (smashing people on the mat or in competition).

Make sure that your plan has a wide range of foods from natural sources and processed foods are kept to a minimum. Make sure you have plenty of vegetables and a variety of macro nutrient sources (i.e. not eating just chicken and lettuce).

If all the information out there confuses you, either speak to your coach or talk to a professional. Any Nutritional Coach worth his salt will answer a few questions as long as you are polite and don’t take the piss by asking him for a full plan.

Pay attention to water intake.

Water is insanely important.

Water is used for pretty much all of the processes in the human body including muscle building and fat loss. Many people think that the odd glass of water is enough and as long as they are getting a bit they will be ok.

This isn’t the case.

From my experience I would say that 2 litres per day is the minimum that everyone should shoot for. However based on my experience with clients I would say that the sweet spot is always between 3-5 litres per day. This seems to have the best effect on fat loss and hydration. As BJJ practitioners should never be water cutting (due to same day weigh ins) this is a great place to start for all athletes.

Never guess your water intake either. Always measure it out at the start of the day so you know exactly how much you have to drink each day. This is probably one of the biggest down falls I see with people.

Take care of your digestive system

This is something that everyone over looks, no matter what sport they are in. If you don’t look after your digestive system you are not going to be able to digest food properly. This means that if your body can’t break down the nutrients that you give it effectively, it will not be able to utilise optimally to produce the results that you need.

Make sure that you are not eating foods that cause you any kind of distress such as bloating, constipation, gas, or giving you unpleasant bowel movements (hard to pass, loose etc).

To help aid clients with this I make sure that they have a probiotic every day and take in foods that are rich in fibre. When it comes to dieting you want to try to aim for 12g of fibre for every 1000 calories that you consume. Your bodies ability to pass waste effectively plays a big part in fat loss and being healthy.

Manage your stress.

This is probably the hardest factor to manage in any diet plan. Stress has a massive effect on our bodies ability to function. When we are stressed it makes it ten times harder to lose fat.

While it is impossible to avoid stress completely in the real world thanks to jobs, kids, getting smashed by the brand new white belt in the gym, it is possible to manage it. This means that you take certain steps to reduce your stress and relax.

This includes things like,

·      Mediation

·      Taking naps/getting 8 hours of sleep per night

·      Baths, Jacuzzis and other recovery techniques

·      Yoga and stretching

·      Not looking at a screen of any type 1 hour before bed

·      Participating in exercise that allows you to de stress (like more BJJ training)

·      Letting little things go (like not chasing down the person that cut you up this morning and beating them to death with their own thermos etc)

I personally find BJJ as the biggest stress reliever simply because its impossible to think about anything else while doing it. It puts you completely in the moment and all of lifes other distractions melt away into the now.

Know your limits when it comes to cheats and free meals.

I’ve lost count over the number of times I’ve seen crazy cheats ruin sensible plans.

Let’s get a few things out of the way. Yes cheat meals can help you stay on track psychologically with a diet and used correctly they can even aid in fat loss. I use many different forms of cheat meals with clients as it improves compliance with diet tenfold.

However I know what clients can have and when. 2 weeks out from a competition and you’ve still got a good bit of weight to lose? Sorry that cheat isn’t happening. I’ve seen countless people be unable to stop if given enough free rein. Some people go as far as to rationalise a full weekends worth of binge eating because they have stayed on diet all week. I’m sorry but two full days of eating crap will undo all your hard work.

Cheats are fine as long as they are used correctly. All my client get at least a cheat meal all the way up to their competition or fight and it is only in VERY rare circumstances that I have had to take them out. Again, if you don’t know when to add in cheats to get the maximum results, speak to your coach or a professional.

Make sure that before you start any fat loss plan that you have all of the pieces in place that will allow you to achieve the best possible result. Don’t get caught in paralysis by analysis on the internet. Speak to people who know what they are doing, have either achieved it themselves or have replicated the results on others, and take their advice.

The key to succeeding in any diet is to know what to adjust and when plus staying consistent. I’ve said this a million times before but consistency beats everything in any aspect of life. Working hard towards a goal will even beat natural talent 90% of the time. You have to have a smart plan, adjust it as necessary and follow it all the way through.

Plan smartly. Adjust intelligently. Execute. Achieve.

Stay healthy,

Mike