Due to popular demand, our monthly Nutrition Challenge is back! And to kick things off again, I have a special guest post from one of our great success stories – long-time FVT client and soon-to-be personal trainer(!) – Lisa Estridge.
(Lisa smoked it at the Kettlebells For Fat Loss Workshop last weekend. In fact, she’s our only client – male or female – that can do swings with a kettlebell over half the size of her own body weight! )
Lisa achieved the weight loss goal we initially set for her in a relatively short period of time – and she’ll be the first to tell you that proper nutrition played a huge part in the process.
We had a conversation recently about what the key factors in her success were – and the idea for this guest post was born. I’ll let Lisa take it from here …
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The February 2012 Nutrition Challenge
Measure and/or weigh your portions
Do you know how many calories you consume daily? Do you know what a serving size looks like? Portion control is key when trying to lose weight and keep it off. Measuring and/or weighing portions is an easy way to verify your calorie intake.
Here’s how it worked for me:
When I started working out with Forest about three years ago, I had these goals: get healthy and lose 20 lbs. A few weeks into the program I was feeling great and had found a love of exercise, but I hadn’t really seen a change on the scale. I realized that I needed to change the way I was eating.
I took Forest’s advice to measure and weigh each portion. For two weeks, I measured and weighed everything I ate: grains, fruits, veggies, oils, etc. What an eye opener! I learned that my idea of portion size was very different from actual serving sizes. Most importantly, I learned what proper portion size looked like for various foods.
With this knowledge I was able to adjust my diet to see the change on the scale that I had been working so hard for. I lost 20 lbs in six months and have KEPT IT OFF for three years.
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Thanks again to Lisa for sharing her story. Weighing and measuring your food for a week may not be exciting. And it may take some honest effort. But if you’re in the same situation Lisa was and aren’t seeing the weight loss results you’d like to be, February’s nutrition challenge may be just what you need to kick start your progress.
Good luck and talk soon –
– Forest