22 Apr Lose weight week: Put the same effort into meal planning as you do working out

This week I’ll present simple tips to lose weight in my At Home Fitness blogs. Today, here’s a look at how some basic eating tips can help you lose weight.

It takes regular exercise AND a good diet to reach your optimum fitness level.
No matter how hard you work out, if you’re not putting much effort into your diet you’re not going to get as good of results.
Put the same effort into planning and preparing your meals as you do coming up with a workout program and performing it.
Here are some good meal tips to help you stay on a healthy fitness eating program:
What to eat for main meals
* Breakfast ideas – Egg whites, whole-wheat toast or English muffin, orange juice, fruit, whey protein, whole wheat waffle, turkey sausage.
* Lunch ideas: Hard-boiled egg, water-packed tuna, turkey breast, black beans, garden salad (use healthy dressing), mixed vegetables, chicken breast.
* Dinner ideas: 8 ounces main course for items like pork tenderloin, fish, steak; medium sized baked potato; vegetables like broccoli, green beans, black beans, zucchini, asparagus; salad (with healthy dressing).
What to eat for snacks
Snack ideas: Yogurt, fruit, string cheese, cup of edamame, walnuts, cottage cheese, peanut butter, whole-wheat crackers, hummus dip.
Diet guidelines
When planning a healthy diet, try to eat more meals that are smaller and spread throughout the day.
For instance, have breakfast, a morning snack, lunch, pre-workout snack, post-workout snack, dinner and a bedtime snack.
The snacks can be as simple as a scoop of whey protein and an apple before working out and another scoop of protein and a glass of milk after the workout.
For a 185-pound man, the goal should be to consume around 2,550 calories a day.
Some of the biggest ways to trim up your body are to avoid eating white pasta and bread and definitely cut soda from your diet.
And you should really cut out all sodas, just because it says diet doesn’t mean it’s better for you than regular soda. Diet soda still contains lots of sugar and artificial ingredients and can still add weight to your body. Some studies have found that people who drink diet soda are still more likely to gain weight and develop diabetes than those who don’t.
Choose whole grain pasta over white pasta as it will be lower in sugars and carbs.
For some people, following a healthy diet is harder than getting in regular workouts. Plan ahead and put a similar effort into shopping and cooking as you do pumping iron. It will make a world of difference.

At Home Fitness consultant Aaron Dorksen’s blog deals with a variety of fitness topics, ranging from workout tips, motivational ideas and feature stories on how exercise impacts people’s lives. E-mail him with comments, questions or ideas for future blogs at aaron@athomefitness.com