The sun is out, the guns are out, and the door is open at Primal Gym. Spring has officially sprung and summer is only a handful of weeks away. It’s time to get excited! It’s time to get jacked and tanned!
If you’re looking to get in shape for Beach Season, your training and nutrition need to be on point. You should be putting in work in the gym with the mindset of an athlete, and you should be committing to a diet that you enjoy and can adhere to as you reach your goal, and stick with after you’ve achieved it.
With adherence being the most crucial aspect of nutrition, here are four simple tips to keep you on track while you diet down to summer shreddedness.
1 – Eat high-volume carb and veggie sources.
When I say “high-volume”, what I mean are food sources that you can eat boatloads of to keep you feeling full, while keeping your calories in control. These food sources are not only low in calories, but tend to be nutrient dense with tonnes of fiber, vitamins, and minerals to help you reach your target micro-nutrient intake. Spinach, lettuce, mushrooms, peppers, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, and zucchini would be my go-to veggie sources. And in terms of starchier high-volume carb sources, I’d suggest foods like oats, cream of rice, any kind of potato, rice, beans, and popcorn.
2 – Eat low fat protein sources.
Increasing your protein intake is crucial during a diet in order to retain lean muscle mass and burn fat. It’s a good strategy to make sure these protein sources are fairly low in fat, not only to keep calories low, but also so that you can eat higher-fat foods like nuts, nut butters, and avocado. I recommend eating protein sources like non-fat Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, chicken, fish, egg whites, protein supplements, and lean cuts of red meat while you diet.
3 – Don’t drink your calories.
When your calories are low, you’ll want to feel as full as possible to avoid overeating and bingeing. Beverages with calories in them don’t do much to keep you full, and therefore are typically a waste of calories. Instead, focus on eating your calories and drinking lots of water. Water will keep you hydrated, feeling good, and will improve your performance in the gym. Knocking back a couple glasses can also suppress your appetite when you’re feeling hungry. If you want a bit of flavour in your water, I’d recommend mixing in a scoop or two of BCAAs, or a low-calorie performance beverage like BioSteel HPSD. #drinkthepink
4 – Eat fun, flavourful food.
Often times, when people think about dieting and eating healthy, they think they have to suffer through eating bland, boring foods. But there are a tonne of delicious recipes out there that you can incorporate into your diet, that won’t even feel like “diet foods”. Cauliflower crust pizza, zucchini noodles, protein pancakes, low-carb cheesecake, and so many more delicious and healthy recipes are out there. You can run a quick google search, or check out a site like Ripped Recipes (that’s where I spent a lot of time while I prepped for my last bodybuilding show) to find these recipes. Get creative, and enjoy eating while getting in shape.
I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that dieting is easy; it takes a lot of will power, hard work, determination, and consistency, but if you incorporate these tips into your nutrition regimen, I can guarantee you’ll begin to find the dieting process a whole lot easier.
Try them out, and keep on track. I’ll see you on the beach in a few months!