Most people absolutely crush it when they're at the gym. Pushing themselves as hard as they can, sweat dripping and feeling exhausted afterwards. So why aren't you getting stronger or losing weight week to week or month to month?
The primary reason you aren't getting stronger isn't your workouts... it's your diet. Have you ever tracked how many calories you are burning and consuming on a daily basis? Legitimately tracking everything that you eat and every type of exercise you do?
If the answer to this is no, then you cannot honestly tell me you are completely committed to your fitness. It's a hard truth, but diet is a HUGE part of your success or failure in fitness! It's definitely not easy. For me, it's without a doubt the hardest part of my fitness journey...but you're truly committed, you must do this.
Here's our tips for taking over your diet and seeing those strength gains:
1. Track your calories and make sure they line up with your goals daily. A great free resource to figure out how much you should be eating is found here: https://fitlabs.ru/calc/
- Once you do figure out how many calories, fats, carbs and proteins you should be eating today you can tailor your diet to fit these goals. You should be getting at least 1g protein per pound of body weight!
- There are advocates you claim you can eat whatever you want as long as you meet your nutrient goals and there are those that advocate for a "cleaner" diet consisting of a leaner diet. Our biggest tip here is to make sure your diet is something you'll be able to enjoy and sustain. With all of the different fad diets out there, make sure whatever you choose is something that won't damage your well-being.
2. Download a calorie and fitness tracker on your phone. Our favorite to use is MyFitnessPal as it has a HUGE database of foods already. If you are eating something at home you can literally scan the barcode with your phone and it pulls up the nutrition info for you!
3. Try to stay within 100 calories of your daily goals - whether you are above or below doesn't matter too much - just be consistent.
4.. Allow yourself some cheat meals and cheat days. 1 cheat day a week is actually beneficial for your diet - just don't cheat every day!
Always remind yourself of how you may feel tomorrow, a week from now and a month from now based on your dieting decisions. If it were easy, everyone would do it.