You Can't Out-Train a bad Diet.

So here you are.  Clearly, your resolution is to work out consistently, RIGHT??  Awesome.  Glad we agree.  You've done a lot of the work by committing yourself to a work out three times a week, but let's talk about what's either going to be your biggest friend, or your worst enemy: your diet.  You now get to eat what you want "because you work out," right? NOPE! Sorry, a calorie is still a calorie.  This means that you only get to eat what you burned AND still have a deficit. Now would be a good time to mention that I'll be writing this post assuming you're trying to lose weight.  I have spent a lot of time working on this post (actually like an entire month), writing and rewriting trying to decide the best way to approach such a sensitive subject.  I've learned over the years that no matter what decision you make regarding your diet, someone will ALWAYS have a different opinion, and that's ok.  Do what works for YOU.  That being said, I am writing solely based on my own experiences, research and experiences of others.  In my humble opinion, eating whole, unprocessed foods is going to be easiest to pair with working out.  I'm not saying that other food-controlled or pre-portioned package methods of weight loss are wrong, or will not work-they're just hard to combine with working out and some are going to end up inhibiting you from learning how to eat "real food"-let's not get into that though : )

The key to successful work out results is understanding the perfect balance of food your body needs in order to perform and let me tell you: that is hard to discover.  I HIGHLY recommend calorie counting to begin.  Not to say that you will have to count calories for the rest of your life in order to stay slim, but it is an EXCELLENT way to begin to understand how much you're eating (not to mention how balanced). I use the my fitness pal app (or website if you're not a smart phone type person).  I've found it to have the best food data base and overall ease of use.  Oh! You can add your friends (Find me! My username is leahmperkins)-it's like the Facebook of working out : ).  Anyways.  Logging what you eat, as well as what you burn, has many benefits:

• you become aware of how many calories are in what
• you will eat less, simply because you don't want to log it (yes, you log even a "tiny" handful of dark chocolate covered acai berries. sigh...my nemesis)
• you log your glasses of water too-staying hydrated is just as important! The more you drink, the less "water weight" you'll retain.  Side note: Cali tea is my best friend-it DOES make a difference.
• you become aware of the balance of your diet
• you even realize that you may not be eating enough! 
• rids your mind of the "I worked out so I can eat what I want" mentality

Here is what you need to know about counting calories:

• All calories are not created equal.  Although the numbers may add up the same, consuming the WRONG calories will have negative effects later on.  
• Example:  my weakness is sugar.  I'd rather have a pack of sour patch kids than a baked good any day (shock! I know).  5-7 years ago, I would have fed you a line like "yeah, but it doesn't have any fat!" Or, "I still have enough calories allotted!" Wrong.  Whoops!  The principle is really simple: your body relies on a very delicate balance of nutrients.  When you feed it more than it needs, it stores it.  In the case of sugar, you've filled your liver with more glucose than it needs and whatever is not burned off is converted into fatty acids (in case you didn't catch that, it's fat), which are then stored (again-as fat).    
• It is CRUCIAL to try to make your diet as balanced as possible.  You may NOT eat cereal for all 1500 calories.  Again, this is where the app comes in handy! If you're on the "home" screen, and you click on "daily" up there at the top, it will switch the view to the recommended nutritional daily intake.  Here's an example from one of my days last week taken about mid day:

   

• As you can see, I was already over my sugar, due to Christmas treat I had that morning.  Sigh.  But hey, we move on and make sure that it doesn't become a pattern.  
• The recommendations also change based on the amount of calories you have burned that day, as well a couple other variables.  
• Also, keep in mind that these are just "recommendations."  Do your research and one of the beautiful things about tracking your food is it allows you to see how your body reacts to certain foods, especially when certain food groups are consumed in excess. 

Hopefully this gives you a starting place.  To recap, here's the main point:  become aware of WHAT and HOW MUCH you're eating!  Teach yourself how to eat real food and learn the beauty of balanced, whole nutrition.  As a disclaimer: I'm also a believer in *almost* everything in moderation.  The only things I do not eat AT ALL are sodas, and meat. I don't drink cow's milk (just an odd personal choice), and try to stick to dairy in it's purest, whole form.  Beyond that, I do my best to eat whole, unprocessed foods, with the occasional indulgence.  

You CAN do this.  Remember, tracking what you eat is not designed to make your life miserable and too many limitations right out of the gate is setting yourself up for failure!  Set practical goals and take it one day at a time.  Me? I still love sugar-but I'm working on it.  That's how this thing goes: you eat, you learn, you change.  

Remember: you can't out train a bad diet!

<3 Leah