How much should you be eating?

One of the first things I learned as I started picking up a healthier lifestyle was that LESS food doesn't necessarily mean HEALTHIER body. My husband was eating all day non-stop and was losing fat and gaining muscle. It literally blew my mind. I started to realize though that is wasn't all about how much to eat but more about the WHAT, and how much of that what.

Before I was forced to give up gluten I would say that 70% of my diet was carbs. Carbs encompass fruits, veggies and of course BREADS. I would snack on carbs, have 90% carb meals (spaghetti, with bread) and I would turn to carbs for days when things didn't go as planned. I ate what I liked to eat, even though I didn't always feel so good afterwords.

There are 3 macro-nutrient groups: Carbs, Proteins and Fats. A healthy diet consist of a balance of the 3, fat being the least consumed. My husband's eating habits were a lot different than mine, and he rarely seemed to have the upset stomach and low energy levels I did.

I started to look up what a healthy balance of macros looks like, and tried to incorporate it into my life. I recommend looking at a tool like Macro Calculator if you want to get an idea of your diet needs based on your weight and activity level. Below is a picture of what mine is:

This is based on MY weight and MY activity levels. Although this is super useful, what is difficult is ACTUALLY counting my macros. I work 40-50 hours a week and eat all day long. I tried to use various apps on my phone to track how much of what I am eating has so many macros, but it was just too time consuming for me. If this is something you are capable of doing, then I think this is a great place to start!

This at least made me re-evaluate my diet and showed me I wasn't consuming enough protein, which many people are guilty of. What I did find helpful was using the 21dayfix meal planning containers! The booklet comes with instruction on figuring out how much each food group you should be eating and instead of counting macros the containers measure out your food for you and you simply check a box each day to see if you are eating the correct portions. I find it so helpful and I think this is a great way for people to start off when considering changing up your eating lifestyle to something more balanced. A balanced diet between the 3 macro groups will help ensure your body is getting the proper nutrients. Buy these containers - Go to shop beach body then nutrition and supplements

I would NOT recommend counting calories for this reason: just because something is low calorie doesn't mean it adds ANY benefit to your diet. You could drink wine all day and meet your calorie intake WITHOUT providing anything beneficial to your body. 

The picture above demonstrates that 200 calories of different types of food means different things! 200 calories of something healthy is better for your body as opposed to 100 calories because you ate half a doughnut. 

I think that finding a balanced meal plan that suits YOUR body's need is extremely important for hormonal balance, digestion health, and overall bodily function.

I hope this helps and of course feel free to reach out to me about any questions of concerns you may have!

Enjoy!

xoxo