Step 4: Data collection, and cardio!
Nutrition: After you focus on whole foods, protein, fat, and carb balance, now you can collect some data on sugar and fiber. Keeping your sugar intake low and your fiber relatively high can help with digestion and will also help you choose vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts and seeds, and whole grains. Sugar can be inflammatory for some people and can cause digestive discomfort. Sugar will not make you fat. You have to take in more calories than you burn to gain weight. However, sugar can disrupt a happy gut, it can cause you to overeat heavily processed and overly delicious foods, and I found that eating low fat dairy or other low fat foods that replaced the fat with sugar just left me feeling bloated and gross. Here’s a study from Cell Metabolism that shows how processed foods will cause you to overeat, and thus gain weight.
Hall et al. investigated 20 inpatient adults who were exposed to ultra-processed versus unprocessed diets for 14 days each, in random order. The ultraprocessed diet caused increased ad libitum energy intake and weight gain despite being matched to the unprocessed diet for presented calories, sugar, fat, sodium, fiber, and macronutrients.
It may be helpful to track your food if only for a short amount of time to be aware of your sugar and fiber intake. I found it very informative to just see where I was at for certain macronutrients such as sugar, fiber, and daily calories. Tracking is not for everyone. Long term, some people find it very useful and some do not. I love data, I love numbers and for a short period of time I think it can be a valuable practice for everyone to track and be aware of portions and your macronutrient breakdown. It’s hard to make meaningful changes and see progress if you don’t have information about where you are at now. Data can help!
Fitness: Add in some cardio to maintain cardiovascular health, not to maintain weight. Yes, cardio burns calories. Cardio also sends an adaptation signal to your body. If you only hammer your body with cardio, your body gets very good at adapting to that signal. It will slow the metabolism down in order to keep up with all the work you are expecting your body to do, especially if you are not fueling your body properly. Make cardio last on your exercise priority list. Better yet, get your cardio in on walks with family and friends. Hike outside in nature. Fit it in for fun, not to work off your food.
Tips to implement:
Nutrition: High fiber foods: most vegetables, i.e. green leafy’s, carrots, artichokes, peas, fruits i.e. bananas, berries, avocado, apples, legumes and nuts like black beans, almonds, chia seeds, quinoa, oats, sweet potatoes and dark chocolate. Some of those foods are higher in sugar so be mindful of that. You don't need to be perfect everyday with low sugar and high fiber (or with macros) so don't obsess, but it IS beneficial to be knowledgable about what you're eating. There's value in connecting what you eat to how you FEEL. That can be a strong driving force for choosing nutrient rich foods over ones that make you feel gross, or get in the way of a good workout, or cause brain fog. If you wanted to try tracking, I really like MyFitnessPal, or you can use Loseit. They have free versions so you can play around and see where you’re at.
Cardio: There are three basic types of cardio. First there’s low intensity steady state (LISS) cardio, which is walking, easy cycling, or any activity you can do while still carrying on normal conversation. Usually sessions of LISS cardio are longer because of the low intensity but are very beneficial for cardiovascular health, stress, and meeting your step goals. Moderate intensity steady state cardio (MISS) includes running, rowing, spin/cycling, or group ex classes. This is higher intensity, can be anywhere from 20-90 mins and is usually the type of cardio you think of when you talk about doing cardio. The third and highest intensity cardio should be the HIIT workout where you work at maximum intensity for a short interval, rest, and repeat. These sessions should be short because of the intensity.
All three of these types of cardio sessions can be useful for different goals. I think LISS is always a good addition to a workout program because it’s enjoyable, it’s not stressful, and it doesn’t leave you exhausted. In fact you usually feel rejuvenated. HIIT can be great to add in here and there for fat burning. It requires a good amount of recovery so make sure you plan for rest and recovery after an intense HIIT workout. MISS is the more controversial type of cardio because it can be misused, either to “burn off” high calorie foods, or used to solely maintain your weight. Do MISS cardio if you enjoy it, not because you NEED it. I spin because it’s fun for me, I like the music and I’ve scaled way back on my intensity so it’s more enjoyable. I challenge myself but I’m careful to honor my body because I work hard in in the weight room, and strength training is my first priority when it comes to fitness. Use MISS because you like it, for the cardiovascular benefit and/or because you’re in a group class and you like the social aspect, not to punish yourself.
Build muscle to rev the metabolism and burn fat, use cardio to be heart healthy and have fun.
Need help with any of these steps?? Want help strength training? Want accountability? Contact me. I'm so happy to help you on your way!
Comments