It’s kind of ironic that in the same week that I chose to talk about THE most important factor of any fat loss program I also had a rather lengthy conversation with my female clients about the same topic.

Here’s the problem.

When a woman wants to lose weight or “tone up”, the majority automatically think about exercise. However, you can perform all the resistance training you want and grind out session after session of interval training (if not you should be) …BUT…if you aren’t paying attention to what you are putting into your mouth then YOU are wasting your time!

“You Can’t Out Exercise A Bad Diet”.

I’ll repeat that again just in case you missed it.

There is simply no getting around the FACT that no matter what…

“You Simply Can’t Out Exercise A Bad Diet”.

Let me put that into perspective for you.

If you decided to go to McDonalds on the weekend and order a Big Mac, that would equal 478 calories. If you upgraded to a large Big Mac meal that amounts to 1160 calories, ouch and that’s just one meal! Keep in mind that the average female weighing about 80kgs would need roughly about 1800 calories.

In order to burn off that meal you head off the gym and jump on the treadmill and set the speed to 5km/hr. Unfortunately, that would only burn about 280 calories. If you increased the speed to 8km/hr and started running you would still only burn about 500 calories. All that work and all you did was burn off the Big Mac!

Now ask yourself do you still want fries with that?

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t expect you to be perfect all the time!

As hard as it might be to believe (not naming any one…VANESSA) but I love food!

Some of my favourite dishes include mum’s lentil curry and apple pie, my wife’s waffle pudding, lasagna and risottos I could go on and on and on.

…Oh and I cant forget my grandmother’s prawn curry …and my nonna’s polenta and my mother in laws tempting creative dishes which she never has a recipe for! So much for keeping this short! Anyone else feeling hungry all of a sudden?

As much as I love eating all these foods, I know that if I am looking to reduce my body fat or reach any new fitness goals I need to make a sacrifice. I also know that the bigger the sacrifice, the greater the reward.

In fact, when I am at my leanest and most defined I follow a special meal plan I designed which controls what I eat, how much I eat and when I eat. What stands out even more in my mind is that looking back I realised that I actually exercised less during these four week periods than I normally do (I was really busy designing a brand new exercise and nutritional program). I only exercised consistently about twice a week!

So, even though the amount of exercise I did actually decreased, I was able to get into the best shape of my life because I followed my meal plan religiously.

Yes, it is hard work, very hard. But, you have to work for the body you want.

If it was easy, all women would have a toned body with a flat stomach and look like this.

The next time you go out for dinner/have a drink with the girls/go to the movies or a party with friends, think about the foods you are about to consume, are they going to bring you closer to your goals or take you even further away from the body you want? The choice is all yours.

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