What diet of “lifestyle” change have you tried? I’ve done a handful. Some have served me well and some not so much. Like the time I did a “cleanse” (btw – I have perfectly good kidneys for that) that required me to only eat about 6 bananas a day for several days.

Paleo soon followed, and now saturated fat was not only okay but encouraged! Hooray! But no dairy, grains, beans, or legumes…along with anything else a caveman couldn’t source. Now, the tide has changed yet again, and the IIFYM (If It Fits Your Macros) approach is here. A quick scroll through Instagram will show many IIFYM fans posting pictures of foods that fly directly in the face of what we all believed “dieting” meant, along with some impressive fat-loss progress pictures. I once gave IIFYM a try. The promise of pop-tarts and a six pack was too tempting.

As we move through life things change, and our activity levels and lifestyle fluctuate so we alter our food intake to compensate. When trying to figure out how to formulate a nutrition plan and the amount of food that is best for you, you’ll need ask yourself a few things:

• How does it make you feel? Analyze your energy levels, digestion, hunger, satiety, and cravings.
• If your goals are aesthetic, how does it make you look? Are you tight, bloated, flat, retaining water, gaining fat, losing fat, etc.
• How does it make you perform? Whether you lift at the gym or participate in a sport, your nutrition should have you well fueled and performing to the best of your ability.

My ideal nutrition setup is a combination of all the approaches mentioned above. The overwhelming majority of my foods should come from whole, nutrient-dense sources, but I have room for birthday cake in my world. Calories and macronutrients do matter when it comes to dialing things in even tighter. However, figuring out which foods make me feel good and perform well is important. I believe that carbohydrates should fluctuate a bit depending on that day’s activity level and fat loss goals.

Many of you have heard me talk about my nutrition approach being RP Strength. I like RP because it takes all the above concepts and puts them in a spreadsheet and makes it simple. When I ask myself the questions listed above, my experience with RP has been what I’m practicing when I get the best answers. If you’ve tried all the approaches but need to dial things in, stay tuned. We’ve got your back!

Jessie will be hosting a Nutrition Workshop at CFSTC. She will be talking specifically about the RP diet but will be able to answer any questions you may have about other diets you may have tried or heard about.
The workshop is open to the public.
$20
$5 at the door for CFSTC members
Follow this link to register
Nutrition Workshop