My Professional Experience
You can get lean while eating more food and you do not have to ditch the carbs. You can achieve your ideal body composition by using the “5-habits” system.
Precision Nutrition created a simple system that helps to educate clients and teach them how to qualify a meal that will help them reach the desired goal. It is an easy system to implement, but most importantly it is sustainable.
Where most people fail when trying to improve their body composition, is not eating enough quality food.
Working with a lot of women over the years has brought us to the conclusion that some women decided 1200 calories per day was enough food.
Macronutrients and the individual’s specific needs determine how many calories are needed. For the most part, 1200 calories per day are about 600 calories too low.
When it comes to weight loss simplicity works best. There is not a real need to count calories, especially when using Precision Nutrition’s “5-habits” and your own 2 hands.
Your hands are your best tools for helping you figure out just how much food you actually need at any given meal. Check out Precision Nutrition‘s calorie control guide to learn what it looks like.
WEIGHT LOSS SYSTEMS – PROBLEM
There are other weight loss systems out there such as Isagenix, Herbalife, Weight Watchers to name a couple, and a lot of them are garbage based on our experience.
Having worked with clients who have previously used said systems, it was found that the “5-habits” is by far one of the best systems for improving health and body composition.
While the other systems did help clients to lose weight, unfortunately, it was short-lived, because they had to continue using the products of the chosen system until the end of days.
Also, some of these systems did not teach clients how to actually make healthy food choices.
In addition, those systems rely heavily on a caloric deficit from food, rather than exercise leaving the individual scrawny, with ZERO tone or definition.
It is weight loss at the expense of building long lean muscle, which is not a good idea because chronically low muscle mass is associated with low bone mass. This may ultimately lead to osteopenia and osteoporosis.
THE ONLY SYSTEM NEEDED – SOLUTION
Clients who incorporate the “5-habits”, as well as receive nutrition coaching as part of their training experience 3 to 4 times the weight loss than without.
In order to reach your optimal body composition, you will need to learn about the importance of nutrition, supplementation, and lifestyle.
You will achieve the most success when nutrition is your main focus and the best place to start is the “5-habits”.
Educating clients and making them part of the process gives our clients control while empowering them with the confidence and the knowledge to achieve their fitness goals.
Achieving optimal body composition doesn’t require rocket science; it just takes a little patience, consistency, and a plan.
The “5-Habits”
Eat slowly.
Check-in with hunger, sit down, relax, and take your time, 15-20 minutes for a meal is about right. Make sure you stop eating when you’re about 80% full.
Where are your proteins coming from?
Are you about to eat at least 1 palm-sized portion of protein-dense food? Women get 1 palm-sized portion and men get 2 palm-sized portions.
Where are your veggies?
Are you about to eat a large portion of veggies? They can be prepared in any way you like. One serving is about 1 fist-sized portion and you should try to at least 2-3 portions per meal.
Where are your carbs coming from?
If you have fat to lose but have not worked out, eat less pasta, bread, rice, and other starchy carbs. Opt for a double serving of veggies instead. If you have worked out, a mix of carb sources is fine.
Where are your fats coming from?
Today you need some fats from various foods, prioritizing whole food sources like eggs, meats, fish, olives, nuts, and seeds. Spread these throughout the day.
Not much that you have to remember and for your convenience, there is a “5-habit” cheat sheet too. It’s a reference guide that can be folded up and put into your purse. You can also stick it to your fridge.
It is a good idea to use the “5-habit” cheat sheet as a reference guide until you know it by heart.
You can download a copy of the “5-habit” cheat sheet at the end of “Weight Loss Strategies Made Easy“.
HOW TO DO IT
At first glance, the “5-habit” system will appear to be simple. Maybe too simple to be effective but it works. When combined with your hands as “portion control” it becomes a real powerhouse.
This system is by no means anything new and you’ve probably seen dozens of photos of “portion plates” that illustrate how you should be eating.
Now, what Precision Nutrition has done is wrap up all those things you may have seen before, simplified it, and made it easy to digest (no pun).
In just a few steps you can create a “5-habit” compliant meal without having to put too much thought into it.
Below is a chart to show you just how simple the “5-habits” system can be.
PROTEIN | CARBOHYDRATES | VEGETABLES | HEALTHY FAT |
---|---|---|---|
1. Choose a portion of lean protein. | 2. Choose a portion of complex carbohydrates. | 3. Add 1-2 portions of vegetables to at least 3 meals each day. | 4. Choose 1 portion of healthy fat or 1 tablespoon of unsaturated oil. |
Chicken breast Ground Turkey Fish Steak |
Small baked potato Sweet potato ½ cup of brown rice 1 slice of rye bread |
Broccoli Asparagus Kale Green beans |
Avocado Almonds Cold-water fish Nut butters |
Booyah! Your 2 hands combined with the “5-habits” creates a sure-fire way to improve your body composition. Those are client photos by the way.
Okay, now you know how to categorize things but are you sure of what will go where?
Sometimes people confuse nuts or cheese as protein or sweet potatoes and yams as their veggies.
Technically yams and sweet potatoes are “root vegetables” but for the interest of weight loss, it will be lumped in with carbs.
So the chart below should help you identify which foods fall under the correct macronutrients; protein, carbs, healthy fats and vegetables as well as some foods to avoid. It’s a bit long but it’s just to give you a big head start.
PROTEIN | COMPLEX CARBS | VEGETABLES | HEALTHY FATS |
---|---|---|---|
Chicken breast Turkey breast Lean ground turkey Swordfish Haddock Salmon Tuna Crab Lobster Shrimp Top round steak Top sirloin steak Lean ground beef Buffalo Lean ham Egg whites Whole eggs Trout Low-fat cottage cheese Wild-game meat Turkey Bacon Veal |
Potato Sweet potato Yams Squash Pumpkin Brown rice Wild rice Lentils Couscous Kashi Bulgur Whole-wheat pasta Oatmeal Barley Beans (black, kidney) Quinoa Whole-wheat bread High-fiber cereal Whole-wheat tortilla Whole-wheat pita Whole grains |
Broccoli Asparagus Lettuce Carrots Cauliflower Green beans Green peppers Mushrooms Spinach Tomato Peas Brussels sprouts Artichoke Cabbage Celery Zucchini Kale Bok choi Cucumber Onion |
Avocado Sunflower seeds Pumpkin seeds Cold-water fish oil Natural peanut butter Low-fat cheese Low-sodium nuts Olives and olive oil Safflower oil Coconut oil Sunflower oil Flax seed oil |
Foods to Avoid
(except on a cheat day… in moderation)
- Pork bacon
- Deep-fried meat
- Fried chicken
- Chicken fingers
- Fish sticks
- Buffalo wings
- Hamburgers
- Fatty cuts of beef
- Hot dogs
- Other processed food
At the End of the Day
When working with clients we don’t have to deviate too far from the “5-habits”, you can get amazing results by applying the system to breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Later we’ll go over what to do for snacks and such in between your meals.
These wonderful ladies followed the advice of Darryl Rose Fitness and our system 80% of the time. They were still able to have a little fun with their friends, enjoy a little cheesecake, or the occasional glass of wine.
Some people may need a coach to hold them accountable and it is recommended that you get one if weight loss is an area that you struggle with.
If you feel that you may benefit from Darryl Rose Fitness services then contact us today.