The Most Effective Diet For Busy, High Performing People Looking To Get In Shape Without Eliminating All Foods You Enjoy
During the 14 years I've been working in the health and fitness industry I've tried endless diets.
I've almost felt a kind of professional responsibility to experiment with different diets myself before expecting clients to follow them.
Last week I described one of the most ridiculous of those – but there have been plenty others that were pretty terrible too.
The big positive to come from all the failed attempts is that I've learned what does work when it comes to dieting.
In my view a successful diet needs to tick three boxes:
1️⃣ Create the physical change you are looking to achieve. 2️⃣ Be sustainable enough that you reach your goal and maintain the results. 3️⃣ Provides the energy required to perform as you need to at work, at home and in all aspects of your daily life.
The diet I favour now is what I call the Happy Balanced Life (HBL) Diet.
It's generally based on a calorie deficit of 300-500 calories. (A calorie deficit is what's required to facilitate fat loss and involves giving the body less calories than it burns.)
This sensible deficit of 300-500 calories ensures you can lose weight and still have adequate energy to work, train and perform as you need to in
everyday life.
Then 80% of your diet is made up of wholesome, nutritious foods. Allowing 20% for foods you enjoy.
No foods are banned or eliminated, simply enjoyed in moderation. This helps limit food cravings because you know you can include foods you enjoy. You just need to factor them into your calories.
By definition there's always an element of restriction when dieting to create a calorie deficit, but this is the least restrictive diet I've found.
What I really like about The HBL approach is that it creates good habits and ensures you're getting a healthy, balanced intake of macronutrients.
It also allows flexibility to tailor to your own preferences.
And it's a framework
that can be adapted to allow for personal preference. Whether that be Intermittent Fasting, a higher or lower carb intake, vegetarian or vegan diets and so on.
There's no one-way diet, it's very much about finding what works for you.
But from my own experience and the hundreds of clients I've coached successfully using this approach – the HBL Diet ticks all the boxes.
