I Can Eat Bacon and Eggs and Lose Weight?

As a Performance Coach in an ever growing industry of Fad diets and pills, the one thing my clients struggle with is what the hell to eat...

And I get it, because I was like that myself many moons ago eating the wrong foods, I dodged fat like it was poison, I ate as little as possible thinking it would keep me lean - and eventually, it came back to bite me.

With the wrong diet comes tiredness, stress, illness, bad skin, bad moods....

With the right diet comes more energy, clearer skin, less stress, good moods....

The fact of the matter is, you 100% can lose weight and get lean on good, quality satisfying foods, without turning into a rabbit or, starving yourself - you just need to know how.

Now, that's not to say you can live on a diet of processed crap, because we still need to look at QUALITY whole, real foods. But get this right, and you're onto a winner.

Here are some tips to help you understand how to start improve your diet (by diet I mean your nutritional lifestyle, not fad diet you fall off after 6 weeks because it's too hard to stick to)

Understand how food fuels your body:

The food we eat is broken down into 3 macro nutrients that all play a different role in the body.

Carbohydrates

Give you energy, They are broken down into sugar one digested and they are stored in the cells of the body as glycogen to use as energy in your muscles and organs to function.

Once digested, sugar is sugar whether its come from a mars bar or a potato, the body doesn't know any different in terms of how it stores it. The difference is in the nutritional value of the micro nutrients (aka vitamins and minerals) as this determines whether you are eating quality, or crap food - so opt for whole, real foods, brown rice, potatoes, parsnips, carrots, whole grains etc, not junk.

In its most simplest explanation - Carbs become a problem with a sedentary lifestyle where you are not depleting this stored energy (glycogen) from your muscles with movement and training - Your muscle cells get full up of glycogen - like a nightclub with a big bouncer on the door and they say sorry love, you're not coming in! The body then has to put this queue of glycogen somewhere, so it stores it in your fat cells.

Conclusion - eat your carbohydrates around your physical training, pre and post workout, one to deplete, and one to replenish, just don't OVER replenish.

Protein

Is the building block of everything, you are made from protein, its used in repair and growth. Every meal should contain a decent portion of protein of around 20/25g, Protein keeps you going, it's your friend. Don't OVERDO it though because your body can only utilise so much of it at a time. A good measure is around 1.5g per lb of body weight 2g if you are training heavy.

You can get this from meats, lentils, fish, beans, eggs, whey etc...

Conclusion: You need to make sure you get enough protein in your diet in every meal

Fats

This is the big taboo, do I eat it, don't I? High fat / low fat? what's it all about. Fat is not your enemy. TOO MUCH fat with TOO MUCH carbohydrate becomes a problem because you can very easily push yourself over your calorie intake with fat, whilst over consuming carbs when your nightclub is already full, over time this can create a host of other health problems such as type 2 diabetes or high cholesterol. Fact is, you need good quality fats to be able to absorb vitamins A D E & K, your brain is made of cholesterol which is fat, parts of your nervous system has insulation around it which is made up of fat to protect it (just like the tubing on electrical wires.) Fat keeps you insulated, fat keeps you full, it is satisfying, it makes meals taste good. Its good for your skin, your body needs EFAs (essential fatty acids) to do its job and it cant make them on its own. It is also a major source of energy because the body is clever and can convert fat into glycogen when your nightclub is empty and you need to fill it so you can get back in business - if you are losing weight, this is the ideal that you WANT to see happen, but it wont burn its own fat if you are overeating on carbs....

You do however need to make sure you are eating good sources of fats, olive oils, avocados, animal fats, butter, cheese etc... (they are saturated, but they are natural) stay away from things like margarine or hydrogenated, trans fats - read the labels. If you put butter and margarine out in the garden, the flies will flock to the butter, not the margarine - if they wont eat it, that should tell you something!

Conclusion: Don't dodge fat, make it fit in with your other macros and enjoy a diet of protein and fats, with carbohydrates to supplement your activity...

So yes, when you look at it this way - you absolutely can get lean on bacon and eggs because this is protein and fat and it is coming from natural, whole food sources (ok so bacon is cured, but its bacon and its tasty, you get the point!)

Look at Portion Size:

Portion size is a big one. People don't always want to count calories, so use the following as a guide to keep your weight under control:

a palm sized portion of protein (2 for a man)

a cupped hand of carbohydrates (2 for a man)

a thumb sized (or tablespoon) of fats (2 for a man)

Fill the rest your plate as much as you want with colourful and leafy green vegetables.

Obviously, go off your body, if you are working out, you will need to make sure you are eating enough so that you are not waking up exhausted the next day - this is a big sign you could be under eating if you are exercising and trying to lose weight....

On the other hand, if you are not losing weight, you could be OVER eating, and you could benefit from tracking calories and a more in depth look into your training and nutrition with the help from a Performance Coach.

Hope this sheds some light on nutrition and you can enjoy your bacon and eggs without feeling guilty!