Changing Body Composition:
The Right Way
by Eve Pearson, RD, CSSD, LD, CPT
So you’ve
gotten through the holidays…and chances are if you didn’t get a chance to read
Nutriworks’ Fall Newsletter’s holiday tips, you may have put on a few pounds. There’s
even a
better chance that those few added pounds are not lean body
mass, but rather some extra fat
from the more hefty portions sizes
that Thanksgiving and Christmas brought.
Going forward into your season, it’s likely that you’ll
want to get back to where you were prior to
the holidays or even
back to where you were a few months (or years) ago. Unless you’re a couch
potato and haven’t been active in a while, exercise isn’t going to be the best way to reach that
goal. Nutrition is.
A few things to keep in mind when you’re trying to decrease
body fat and you’re already in
training mode:
1) You can’t restrict calories too much or your workouts and/or workday will
suffer
2) It takes several weeks of doing something consistently
before your body will respond (i.e.
4 days “on” during
the week, but taking the weekends as “cheat days” won’t cut it)
3) Know your limits. Your body fat percentage goal is okay, but chances are it’s not realistic
on a long term basis.
When you set out to change body composition (for purposes of this
article…decrease body fat),
you’ve got to put some
thought into it. You can’t just think, “I want to get my body fat down to
14%,” and start trying to reach that goal. There are several factors that will dictate whether
or not
this “dream” goal is even attainable. The first
major factor is age. A person will automatically lose
lean body
mass each decade he or she ages. It actually becomes more difficult to maintain
and/or decrease body fat percentage. Secondly, you should look at your eating patterns. How
many times do you eat in a day? How much do you eat at one sitting? How much do you eat out?
These are the more important nutrition concepts that will need to be altered
to reach that goal.
Are these things that you’re even willing
to change to get there? Finally, are you including
resistance training
and cardio in your exercise regimen? Both are vital to decreasing body fat.
Once you’ve
thought through some of the answers to these questions, it is then that you can
begin striving to reach your goal. Make sure your mealtimes are balanced and frequent in order to
cut down on overeating. There are times you may need to focus on how you’re
eating around
your workouts. Timing can be everything for some
people. These are just a few easy ways to
start working towards
your goal of decreasing body fat.
