You are always in control of your diet but you can’t always control your exercise. You are your own boss in terms of deciding what gets put into your mouth. Conditions beyond your control can limit what you can do in the gym (if there is one available should you be out of town) which is why I firmly believe that diet is 95% responsible for weight loss. Obviously if you are a world-class athlete, diet won’t be as strong a factor but 99.99% of us aren’t world-class athletes. World-class athletes have a joint 50-50 weight (excuse the pun) of importance when it comes to diet and exercise.

I’m sure you’ve heard this a thousand times but to lose weight, calories in needs to be less than calories out. It’s really that simple in terms of what needs to be done. Getting the job done is a different story.

Obesity is getting out of control these days:

Have 6 – 8 meals in the day

Like most people, I used to eat the typical breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals with heavy snacks in between if I couldn’t wait until feeding time. Your body is like finely tuned engine, it needs a constant fuel supply to function properly. You can’t choke off the supply for a long time, throw in massive amounts of fuel anytime and expect it to run without any hiccups. The body does not work on the law of averages!
Everyone says that breakfast is the most important meal of the day but I beg to differ. Every one of the small 6-8 meals that you eat throughout the day is just as important because it will maintain a flat-line sugar level which is optimal for fat burning mode.
I usually try to eat something every 2 to 3 hours which is good practice. After a while, it will be automatic because your body will remind you with hunger pains if you don’t eat in that 2-3 hour time frame. Aim for a balanced meal that is 200-300 calories.

What is a balanced meal?

I wouldn’t recommend consuming no carbs like the Atkins diet. The only good thing out of the Atkins diet is it killed Krispy Kreme donuts and their stock price. Carbohydrates are the energy fuel that your body needs to burn fat. Like everything though, moderation is key so the meals that you consume should have a balance of carbs, protein, and even fat.

Balanced meals with carbs, proteins, and fat is necessary for an optimal fat-burning body:

Results that come slow will last much longer

I know people who have drastic and extreme diet programs that do get fast results but often than not, they gain all the weight back plus more! There are also people who do crazy cleansing programs to before their actual diet. This involves pretty much starving themselves and only eating almonds and protein shakes for a few weeks. I highly do not condone these outrageous actions because they do not work for the long term. If you only eat almonds and shakes for 2 weeks, logic will tell you that you better lose some weight. Duh! Results will come if you eat sensibly and hit the gym. The bigger picture to keep in mind is it’s a lifestyle change that is required and not a quick fix to achieve the looks and results that you desire.
In the famous words of Tony Little: “YOU CAN DO IT!”