Food & Fitness Goals

Here is a pic of me in my late 30's when I competed in natural bodybuilding contests. Please excuse the face... takes a lot to "diet down" for one of these contests!

Anyway, I wanted to take time to talk more about food & your own personal goals. I spoke a bit about this in my "consistency" post on May 15th. I wrote about how you really can't know what your body is "asking for" in terms of change or even what works best for you if you don't stay on a consistent program.

During my bodybuilding years, I, of course, ate differently to support the heavy weights I was lifting at that time. Once I stopped competitive bodybuilding, my goal was to get smaller but still stay lean & muscular. I had to take steps to reduce my calories (since I had been eating more to get bigger & lift heavier) so I could lose some of the size but also keep my muscle. I set out a plan to do this over a course of 6 months to a year. I gradually reduced how much I was eating but was sure to still eat clean & healthy. I also changed up my ratio of carbs, protein & fat to meet my personal goals. By staying consistent, I was able to see how my body reacted to the changes I made & I could adjust accordingly to reach my goals.

This is something you all can do & must do as part of your own personal plan. You need to decide what you want to accomplish, what you want to look like at the end of this journey & the steps to reach that goal. Yours may be different than mine. You may not want to be as muscular. This would probably have you eating less protein than I do & you may also not need to eat as clean as I do because I want to see those defined muscles.

Food is a big part of your ultimate goal. There is no way to get around that. If you want to see the 6 pack or really look lean, then you must eat very clean. If, on the other hand, you just want to lose some weight & there is not the need to see all the muscles & such, you have more wiggle room. Figure out what it is you want to accomplish & then eat for that plan.. but without consistency, it is hard to know what is working & not. Keep that consistency there!

Oxygen Magazine's Tosca Reno has some good books out about Eating Clean. Check out their website. It is listed in my Fav Websites section.