We have another special guest post for this month’s Nutrition Challenge from our admin assistant and trainer-in-training Alexa.

Alexa started training with me as a client about four years ago – and while she initially gained fitness, got stronger, improved her cardio health, etc. – it wasn’t until she changed her diet that she really saw the weight loss results she was looking for. I’ll let Alexa take it from here …

– Forest

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The April 2012 Nutrition Challenge

Rid your cabinets of boxed/highly processed/refined carbohydrate foods

Have you looked in your cabinets lately and taken inventory of how many boxes of crackers and sweets you may have accumulated? You may be keeping them around to eat during your cheat day or because you don’t want to waste food … but do you really avoid them throughout the week after those long days at school or work?

I first began to train with Forest four years ago. I had gained a significant amount of weight by disregarding what I was eating and vividly remember stepping on the scale at a friend’s house and realizing I was about twenty pounds overweight. I have always worked out and been involved in sports (even during the period I gained that weight), but I thought by hiring a trainer, it would up the intensity and allow me to shed those pounds. Little did I know at that point how significant nutrition factors into weight loss.

Poor Forest had to deal with my stubborn attitude towards listening to his diet advice and fibbing on the food logs when I had eaten junk food. Because I failed to see results, I stopped training with him and continued with my unhealthy diet behavior.

About a year after that point, I realized I needed to alter my lifestyle and was ready to make a change so I began monitoring what I was eating and how much I was consuming. The one thing that most affected my ability to lose those twenty pounds and maintain my current weight was clearing out my cabinets.

I will admit that whenever I went grocery shopping, I would wander through the cookie and cracker aisle and justify buying the family sized box of goldfish crackers (to portion out into sandwich bags of course) and cookies (for the weekend). Yet come nighttime after a long day at school and stress from studying, I would find myself with those items in bed (embarrassingly enough) watching TV and mindlessly eating.

I took action and rid my cabinets of foods that came in boxes and began to fill my refrigerator with fresh, nutritious foods. I learned that if I didn’t have junk food in my house, I didn’t eat it. Pretty simple concept, but it was (and still is) very difficult to stick with.

By avoiding that aisle, my weight began to drop and I have since surpassed my goal and maintained my weight for two years.

Your challenge this month: rid your cabinets of boxed/highly processed/refined carbohydrate foods so that you don’t eat a cookie after a stressful day, which then can lead to a box of cookies and a box of crackers lying next to you in bed… or was that only me?

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Thanks again to Alexa for sharing her story. While you may have a special love Goldfish crackers … or cookies … or bearclaws … or any other type of boxed/highly processed/refined carbohydrate foods … if you have them around the house, chances are you’ll eat ’em! Get these items out of the house and accelerate your fat loss progress today.

Forest