The New Year is here and for many that means New Year’s Resolutions. One in three people will set out to lose weight or improve their diet in 2024. A good many may set the goal of putting on more muscle, or getting a beach body. But, with so many option available (intermittent fasting, low carb, keto, Whole 30, and on and on and on and on), how do you select something that is the best for you?
Set Your Goals – Then Find a Plan That Supports Them
Here at Max Value Nutrition, the focus on is on performance based nutrition. We believe that the food that you eat should match the activities that you want to perform. But most people also have other goals. Whether you want to gain weight, lose fat, or pack on more muscle, your nutrition plan should support your goal. Make sure that the plan will provide you with enough energy and nutrients to fuel goals outside of the kitchen. I once tried intermittent fasting. But at the time I was also working out twice a day. Lifting in the morning and running in the evening. So I was under-fueled for gym sessions and then bloated and sluggish when it was time to run in the evenings. Had I switched the feeding window to the morning, then I would have had the opposite problem. No matter what, performance would have suffered. That’s not to say that intermittent fasting won’t work for you – but it did not match my goals, though I am confident that I would have lost weight if I could have stuck with it.
Do Not Deviate Too Much From How You Eat Now
For many of us, food is much more than just fuel. Food is a social and cultural. A nutrition plan that significantly shifts the way that you eat, even for a short span of time, could be unsustainable. You may see short term results, but if you are drawn back to your old eating habits, those results can evaporate as quickly as they come. Aim for a nutrition plan that allows you to start with how you currently eat, and makes small manageable modifications. Those small habits will add up quickly and will be easier to maintain.
Maintain Slow and Steady Progress
“If I am losing 1 pound per week on 1900 calories, how much can I lose with 1400 calories?”
“Extra cheese and double sausage on my pizza – it’s bulking season”
When you are trying to gain or lose weight, it can be tempting to jump into the deep end. Extreme nutrition leads to yo-yo success as best and eating disorders in the worst cases. Mark Bell says that losing weight should be like taking a bucket of sand from the beach. A slight increase in NEAT coupled with a slight decrease in calories leads to a reasonable calorie deficit that allows for maintainable weight loss. It will be slow, but it will not come with the diet fatigue and rebound that you’ll get from weeks and weeks of extreme eating followed by a refractory binge. For those on the bulk train – you want a majority of your gains to be muscle. While it is nearly impossible to eat a calorie surplus and not gain some fat, turning into Kirby can add a layer of fat that is difficult to lose when the time comes to trim down and show off the gains.
Know What To Do When You Reach Your Goal
So, you’ve been eating the Mediterranean Diet for 12 weeks, and you are down 10 lbs and feeling great. Now what? Do you go back to eating McDonald’s and gas station pizza? Are you prepared to eat fish and hummus for the rest of your days? You should look for a diet that has a plan for when you’ve reached your goal. When you lose or gain weight your Basal Metabolic Rate will change. So to maintain that weight, you will have to eat fewer calories than you were eating before. A good plan will have a reverse diet phase to help you figure out your maintenance levels and give you a strategy for maintaining it.
With a little planning and a little research, you are sure to find something that can provide you with lasting success. If you want to get started on your own journey today, check out our Nutrition Basics page, and check your own calorie and macro requirements on our Calculators Page. Utilize free resources like LoseIt! to help with calorie and macro management. Happy New Year and good luck! Check back next week for some tips on choosing an exercise plan.
Maximum Value Nutrition 
Excellent and detailed information. We all need to choose our diet plan carefully and one that suits our lifestyle. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
LikeLike