Breakfast - the dirty secret

Morning! Happy Monday...or happy whatever day you are checking in with us.

I hear so many myths and contradictions about breakfast that I thought it was about time to share beFITbeFAB's dirty secrets.

There are a few hard truths about BREAKFAST: yes it IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY. And I can't stress enough on this and here is why.

As part of beFITbeFAB's services comes an app, this app is a great tool for both me as a coach and for my clients. I can update all the info for my clients and they can access their progress, workouts and log in their activity. Great right? well it goes further. The app enables you (and me!) to track out nutrition: throughout the day you can log in your various meals and this will give you a quick snapshot of how you are tracking in regards to calories and your macros. 

Like most women so many of my female clients when they first kick off their training are OBSESSED with the calorie count. So much so that I will refer them to a registered dietitian & nutritionist so that they can get the diet they are looking for, much like I design the workout my RD & RN colleagues will design a custom diet plan for them. A point I do address is raising awareness and educating on their overall nutrition. We use the nutrition part of the app as a good way to observe the client's eating behavior and habits, as well as to showcase certain dysfunctions as well as discrepancies between the training program and the nutrition. So a lot of the time during that observation phase I see my clients gradually reducing their calories, BUT what I do observe is that more than 50% of the calorie intake happens at night. 

Ladies, gents, I've said this before and I'll say it again: ABS ARE MADE IN THE KITCHEN! Exercising is not a license to eat. Does exercise help burning calories? Sure does. Will exercise only enable you to achieve or connect with your health & fitness targets? Certainly not. Fitness and nutrition go together like a horse and carriage. You want results? It's down to what you do, when you do it, how you do it, when you eat it. It's a science, it's a lifestyle but it sure is so worth it to see yourself fit and healthy and happy as!

How does the light breakie and bigger dinner translate? Well if you have a small breakfast you're not putting a lot of fuel in your body, so the body goes in to
"energy saving mode " = the metabolism slows down = you stop burning as many calories = no weightloss
and then you have a huge dinner at night so the body goes into
"energy storing mode" = the metabolism slows even more = the body stores the fat = weightgain

Yup you got it, you could be eating very little calories, exercising all the time and not seeing a slight difference on your body. [gasp!]

The secret? 

• Eat breakfast like a King - to power your day
• Lunch like a Prince - to fuel your afternoon
• Dinner like a Monk - just a light meal, a bowl of steamed veggies or a soup are a great evening meal

Depending on how long your day is and how you like to spread your food consider light snacks such as nuts, fruit, rice crackers.

Now I can hear a lot of you say "oh but I can't really eat so much as soon as I get up, I just like to grab and go". Ok that's fine because he is another secret: when you wake up there is a 4 hour window during which you want to have your breakfast. So why not switch round your morning snack & your breakfast? You could have a piece of fruit & coffee when you get up, then once you reach your office take a moment to actually enjoy your breakfast. That way you will have built an appetite, you won't be too hungry either, and you will feel fuller, stronger more energized for longer. 

And my final secret? 
Have your proteins and some carbs for breakfast. Those will keep you full longer. 

Here below a quick and easy breakfast recipe. You can have with 1/2 bagel or rice cracker, piece of fruit or 1/2 banana, coffee with a dash of plant based milk and you're rolling high on nutrient dense quality food to keep you fit strong and healthy throughout the day.

So let's summarise:

• eat your breakfast within 4 hours of waking up
• make your breakie your main meal of the day
• make dinner your lightest meal of the day
• be sure to eat enough calories: the body needs 1200 calories minimum just to survive then on top of this it needs more calories to give you energy to achieve your daily activities, so make sure you fuel your body appropriately

Got it? FAB!

And as always, remember I am here to help, to raise awareness and educate you about a healthy lifestyle in the gym and in the kitchen BUT please please please make sure you check in with your physician and a registered dietitian for more detailed nutrition plans for you. If I need a tooth fixing I don't call the plumber ;) So with that said if you want to start a training program be it virtually online wherever you are in the world, or in person in NYC then just drop me a line on [email protected] because I just have so many more secrets and tips to share and I'd love for you to hear about them all.

You have a beautiful day.

Laugh Everyday, Sweat Everyday!
If you believe it you become FIT.

With love,
Coach Steph B