[HR] No, not at all. Thank you so much for the kind words! The honor of being interviewed is all mine, so thank you.
[JP] As you know, the New Year is here and people are beginning to take care of their resolutions. What are the smartest things people can do to stay true to their New Year's resolution of dieting?
[HR] There are many things people can do to stay true to their New Year's resolution of dieting and achieve their fitness goals:
- Create a limited timeline by which to achieve your goals. This increases your chances of achieving them since, provided that you wholeheartedly commit yourself to the set date, then every workout and every day that you stick to your diet counts; you can no longer procrastinate.
- Set a realistic goal (you can lose up to 2 lbs per week) and make sure you write them down. Writing down your goals is not only a form of making a commitment with yourself to follow through, but also research indicates that doing so increases your chances of success dramatically. So write down your fitness goals in the following manner:
"In the next 12 weeks I will lose _____ lbs of fat and gain _____ of muscle"
- Write down a plan to achieve your goals and follow it! Your plan may look like the following:
• I will eat 5-6 balanced meals a day (1 every two to three hours).
• I will exercise with weights and do cardio three to six times a week.
• I will get 8 hours of sleep (7 minimum) every day.
• I will drink ½ - 1 gallon of water a day.
- Take bi-weekly pictures to track progress: It helps tremendously to take pictures of how you currently look (be sure to also document, current measurements, bodyweight, body fat, etc...). This is a great way to stay motivated as when you look at your pictures from now, and then you look at pictures of yourself every couple of weeks, you will see a difference and get more motivated to keep training harder and also stay with the program when temptations to cheat on the diet or skip a workout come to your mind.
- Having the ‘Mindset of a Successful Bodybuilder’: For any challenge that the successful bodybuilder faces, a solution is researched and executed in order to continue with the bodybuilding lifestyle. There is no room for frustration or thoughts of dropping the bodybuilding plan in the mindset of a successful bodybuilder. They always think damage control, never "falling off the wagon", so to speak, as once off, you run the risk of never getting back on.
- Be Prepared: Remember to prepare all your meals the day before, so that when you are at work, you already have all of the food that you will need for the day with you. That way you limit the amount of times you'll be tempted.
- You Control The Helm!: Remember that only you control what goes in your mouth. Food does not control you!
- Believe in Yourself: As funny as it sounds, there must be no doubt in your mind that you can make this transformation a reality. If not, you won't be able to achieve your desired results. Believing in yourself is really the first step. If you don't believe in yourself, who will?
[JP] Nutrition-wise, what should people be eating before they have an intense cardio workout? How about post workout?
[HR] It depends on what the person is looking to accomplish. If fat burning is the main goal, then cardiovascular exercise is best performed first thing in the morning on an empty stomach with perhaps just a strong cup of black coffee (with around 200 mg of caffeine) perhaps sweetened with Splenda prior to the workout. Of course being well hydrated with Spring water prior to and during the workout is advisable as well. Some research indicates that one can burn up to 300% more body fat when cardiovascular exercise is performed on a fasted state.
If you are looking for performance of the activity, then a meal with lean proteins like chicken, turkey, egg whites, or white fish and complex carbs with 2-3 grams of EFAs will do the trick. (Note: I like to use Labrada’s Lean EFA Gold as a convenient way to get my Essential Fats.)
