Nutrition Myth #4: We Have to Eat Perfectly to Lose Weight

We Must Only Eat the Healthiest Foods to Lose Weight.

We have all seen the broccoli and chicken diets, or have even participated in them.  They aren’t very fun or taste very good at all.  This specific diet was popularized by the body builders of the 70s; think Venice beach and Arnold. Many of these folks had very specific goals that involved some special supplements and the desire to become mass monsters - which isn’t exactly realistic or relatable for most people.

For the normal, everyday person these aren’t the goals. Most of us just want to look like we work out and feel healthy.  Meeting these goals doesn’t need to involve the strictness of a sport that is judged solely on how we look. And even if they look good, trust me, those people feel terrible which isn’t necessary either.

Now the idea of eating healthy is different for everyone, but it mostly looks like a balanced diet of greens, some fruit and lean protein.  Not considering particular dietary restrictions an individual has, this would be a great place to start nutritionally. But adding some savory and sweet things to your meals is okay too. Perfection or restriction is not necessary or very rewarding so even if our food choices aren’t the “healthiest” 100% of the time, we can still achieve our body composition & health goals.

We really just need to be consistent to lose weight, not perfect. Just like gaining weight; we have to establish habits that make is easier to put on those extra pounds, conversely we need to build habits that will get us to a certain amount of weight loss. These habits can be eating lower calorie/balanced food, walking a certain amount of steps per day, or starting a sport that involves burning some calories.

Food is just one part of process to finding the right balance.  Nutrition, daily habits, and fitness all have their own roll to play. Knowing where to start and build upon where we are at is important. Start small and make things routine. That will build the consistency we all strive for and the occasional pizza and donut.