With summer about here I wanted to start this blog with a fitness tip. This tip is going to be on eating and portion sizes. People have many misconceptions about when they eat something healthy, that they can eat as much of it as they want and not worry about the calories. On the other hand people believe that if there something that could potentially gain weight, they think they should cut it out of their diet entirely. I was talking to a student of mine last night and we were having a discussion about eating carbs, they decided it was time for them to diet because of the summer time coming and they made the decision to cut out all carbs from their diet. They upped their cardio to doing it at least 30 minutes, four days a week and some strength training to go along with it. I thought it was great that they were going to increase their cardio and begin working out with weights, I believe that both of those together will be a great combination for them to achieve their body goals. We did have discussions about the type of workouts and the frequency in detail but what I wanted to talk about is something that I see very often and that was that drastic reduction in carbs. I explained to them that carbs is a source of energy, what they were planning on doing with their workouts was going to expend a lot more energy than they were used to. Although in the beginning they might not notice any affect on their energy, eventually they will start to feel fatigued, have less energy from their workouts and in the end see less and less results. If they’re not careful they are going to try to keep up with the workouts that they were doing because of results they were seeing earlier, but because of the lack of energy the results were not going to keep happening like they expected, they would eventually hit a brick wall in their progress. I explain to them that the right way to do this was to portion control and time their carbs. Carbs are not bad if you don’t over eat, you need to make sure that you eat the right amount of carbs at the right time and they will help you in your workouts. They will give you the energy that you need to do your best to work out at your maximum and see results. The most important times to eat carbs is in the morning, before you work out and after your work out. This will start your day off right, give you the energy to get through your work out and replenish afterwards. You have to just be careful not to over engorge in your carbs, you need to eat just a portion of it. Now that portion will depend on your size and your body weight but a good rule of thumb is to eat a portion that is about the size of your palm. I suggest to everybody to have portion control with your carbs, proteins, even your fats. All of it is essential to keep your body running at its maximum potential. There is a formula that I will share with you in future posts about how to figure it out exactly, but right now try to focus on smaller portions that you’re eating and eventually getting them to about the size of your palm. Eat them at the right times of day, do your cardio, get your weight training in and you’ll start seeing results. I am not a certified trainer but I have been working out a good majority of my life and have learned a lot in that time span. You should check with a doctor before attempting any dietary change, good luck to you and we will do what we can to help you reach the goals that you’re looking for! USH!