Meal replacements?

I’ve seen a lot of people hitting the meal replacement trail in the last few weeks. It's that time of year I guess and we live in a world where we all want everything done for us with a minimum of fuss and dare I say it input on our part. The fitness industry is awash with images of men and women that don't look like anyone we know and we are made to feel inferior because we don't look like the imagery that we see at every turn. Sound familiar?

Personally I don’t think I need to really explain the health issues surrounding meal replacement or juice based fasting as if you know me you'll know enough about my views on all that and frankly we will be here all year. If you don't know the health issues why are you doing it? Don't say because a famous person does it. They are being paid to endorse a product. End of story.

So I'm going to give you a hand. One final push to try to get you to see that you don't need diet rules, you just need food and fitness for life rules.

Diets have rules you see and that in itself make them unsustainable and restrictive. When you then fall off your diet you feel and are maybe told that unfortunately you've failed, you are a failure. Fall off and fail enough times and you'll stop doing something. For me this shows you right there that this whole thing you’re doing is unsustainable, not that you are a failure, it just doesn’t fit your life. So therefore we can see right there that it is the approach that’s wrong, not you.

Alternatively you don’t fall off and you reach your target. Then what? You keep buying the powders and replacement systems for life? Believe me you won’t. That in itself shows that again it is unsustainable.

So what is the solution then?

It is very simple. In order to lose any weight, you simply need to create a calorie deficit. If you want help understanding how you do that sustainably get in touch.

But that is only half of it. In order to improve the whole package, and we are talking things like your mood, skin quality, hair, nails, energy, performance when you exercise, recovery time after you exercise, (I could go on and on) you also need to improve your nutritional intake as well. If you want help understanding how you do that get in touch.

So it isn’t just about eating less. It’s about that yes but it is also about improving your nutritional intake day in day out as well with real food, not powders and potions. Yes you may need supplements but not substitutes.

So do yourself a favour and take back control of your own destiny. Hey, if you've got young children use it as an opportunity to educate them in good food choices and do some quality cooking. It is all about choices at the end of the day.

Look after your body.