The Most IMPORTANT Exercise
You already know that it’s your OVERALL nutrition that determines success.
That you have to be CONSISTENT.
Because 1 gallon of premium gas with 12 gallons of the cheap stuff isn’t going to make a big difference in your performance.
Health (and weight-loss) can only come out of consistency…
Repetitively doing what needs to be done is the heart of maintenance and peak performance.
BUT there is still one EXTREMELY IMPORTANT exercise you must do to lose weight.
WRITE DOWN EVERYTHING YOU EAT.
More than sit ups or push ups or running marathons, keeping accountable of what goes in the mouth is the clincher.
Any time a member comes to me about a plateau, I require they keep a detailed food journal.
They often scoff, “I follow the meal plans! What else do you need to know?”
But before long they catch themselves.
They never realized just how many pieces of candy “here and there” they ate (that seem small and inconsequential at the time but quickly add up), or how much mindless munching they do while cooking or socializing… or even how many glasses of wine they had cumulatively over the week.
(Doing this exercise for a month also helps you uncover patterns that need correction.)
Take it from Ron:
The book Mindless Eating has a fascinating study about chicken wings -- and how leaving the bones on the table made diners eat substantially less.
(Those with bussed tables ate 28% more!!!)
Our stomachs can’t count and we don’t remember.
Unless we can actually see what we’re eating (or have eaten), we can very easily overeat.
Wansink’s research reinforces the importance of keeping yourself accountable.
AND HAVING A PLAN IN PLACE.
You have to set yourself up for success. Pre-plan what you’ll eat because...
We’re TERRIBLE at estimating how many calories we’ve eaten.
Even RDs and nutritionists have bombed in studies where they were asked to estimate a portion or an amount of calories.
We default to underestimating calories consumed and overestimate calories burned.
(Not a good combo!!)
Remove the margin of error with this week’s meal plan.
We improve what we measure.
If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.