Food Log Breakdown – My Top 5 Tweaks

Dozens of clients have turned in their food logs as we are in full swing with the Sizzlin’ Summer Slimdown – Well Done!

There are some common themes as Coach Nancy and I have evaluated what our clients have recorded.

Here are my “Top 5 Tweaks” to help skyrocket your progress:

Tweak #1: Eat Breakfast. Coffee is not breakfast. If you are not eating anything, eat something. If you don’t eat until lunch, your body has gone 16-18 hours between feeding, not ideal.

Tweak #2: Eat protein for/with breakfast. It helps keep you full longer, it helps keep your blood sugar stable, and you are probably just not eating enough.  (See “Adequate Protein Intake” in this article)

Tweak #3: Peanut Butter is not an ideal source of protein. Yes peanut butter has protein, but it comes at a high calorie cost. A serving of natural peanut butter (2 Tbsp) has 210 calories, 16 grams of fat, 6 grams of carbohydrate and 8 grams of protein. That translates to about 144 calories from fat, 24 from carbs and 32 from protein. That means there are 4.5 times more calories from fat than protein – once again not ideal. I love peanut butter as much as the next guy, I just need to be careful not to depend on it!

Tweak #4: Where’s The Green?: There is some serious vegetable-phobia out there in food log land. There were many times a 3 day food journal had nothing green on it at all! Less starch/more veggies is a sure way to get that weight loss moving in the right direction.

Tweak #5: Late Calories: If you must eat after dinner, default to more protein/veggies. Your body can use some more protein to repair while sleeping. That bowl of ice cream (or even fruit) will spike your blood sugar/insulin response right before bed – right when you don’t want it. Your body is not going to use that energy while you sleep, so it’s going to store it – ouch!

I bet you there is one simple change you can make this week that will keep on…

Making It Happen!

Coach Dean