Let me preface this page by saying the word diet is a horrible word. Let’s face it remove the t and the word die is spelled and this is what most diets make you feel like doing. So with that said I want you to think different, we will not diet, instead we will begin a lifestyle change that allows us to eat when we are hungry and even cheat with all the things diets lash out against.

You see life style is a commitment to an everyday change. It’s a promise you make to yourself to eat healthier, read labels, record what you eat, exercise to include a walk with your family and pet’s everyday and a realization that you really want to change.

As a former bodybuilder I know the feeling of long drawn out diets. I know the most important thing is mental toughness. Read the last two words again “mental toughness”. What is mental toughness? It’s saying I will change my life and go through some pain to get to the glory of the change.

What is that glory? It’s people walking up to you and saying wow you look great, its your family and friends giving compliment after compliment of how hard you have worked and your looking the best you have in years, and most important its you seeing change, being excited, and pushing even harder to make this lifestyle stick.

Life style food is very simple, you will eat and you will eat frequently. Let me preface it as follows. Go to any fast food restaurant and eat a " combo meal." Now do a test and see how long it is before you are hungry again. Chances are it will be hours. Why is this? Simply your body takes a longer time to digest food that is not good for you. Food heavy in fats and carbohydrates sit in your system and is a major cause of unwanted fat and weight increase.

 Now hear me out, eat a hand size portion of turkey, steamed green vegetables, and say ½ cup of steamed white or brown rice. Notice within two hours you are starving? Why, simply your body has received clean foods and you body will become a furnace and increase your metabolism to speed up how you burn that food and also this is what makes the lifestyle change work.

You will eat hand size portions of clean foods six times a day almost every two hours like clock work. You may even drink a meal which simply stated is to buy a protein shake mixture that has 30-40 grams of whey protein and sub that for one or two meals. During your life style change Sunday will be your glory day, the day you can go crazy and eat whatever you like whenever you would like to eat it. Go crazy enjoy this one day a week that is yours to do as you please.

The remainder of the week you will learn to grill and broil not use any oils, consume any dairy, sugar, and soda or juices. You will consume water like its going out of style. A gallon a day is great, two gallons is better. This trust me will clean your system out and help shred the pounds. I love espresso as well with no sugar as this is a natural diuretic and will help flush water out. The first week alone you will lose 8-10 pounds in water weight.

Before I go into life style ideas let me tell you a story about the mental part of this. You can make a million excuses of why this won’t work but let’s be honest up front. If you chose to stop the lifestyle change it’s because you choose to be overweight and out of shape. Don’t blame thelife style change, don’t blame the exercise, don’t say I was meant to be fat face the facts you don’t want it bad enough.

The above statement maybe taken as downright mean, but I will not candy coat this if you give up you have made that choice and that is fine ,it’s your life just don’t fool yourself by thinking anything other then you let yourself down. I had one client on day 3 of this life style change say I cant do it. The change is killing me I don’t have enough food. After 3 days she made the choice to quit and blamed everyone but herself.

 Sorry to say, I did not feel sorry for her, told her this was her choice and since then she has put on well over 100 pounds more. It was easier to eat, feel comfortable, and blame the process then to see what the end result would be and do the hard work. If this is you that is fine your life belongs to you. If you truly want to make a change, continue to read below.

First check with your doctor and get a checkup. Tell them you are making a lifestyle change and this is what you will be doing. You will ease into this; your goal will simply be 2-3 pounds per week of weight loss. You will as noted above see more as the water weight goes away but do not loose site of the goal. Second you will hide your scales after your first day of weighing in. Then once a month you will weigh yourself and record your results. Trust me scales can hurt more then they can help. As you lose weight simply watch your clothes, your pants will be loser, your shirts will fall more and you will know its working trust me.

Within the first month you will see results and you will hear a passing comment or two. Congratulations you are well on your way and the more you hear from others the more excited you will become and the harder you will work. When I would get ready for a show by week 4 I would hear comment that would excite me. See bodybuilding is about going on stage at 2.9% body fat and losing 20-40 pounds in 14 weeks. This lifestyle as you will see below is so much more enjoyable.

THE MEALS

Okay, here we go. Keep in mind you want to eat when you’re hungry. You want to drink water. You want to be certain the meats you buy are as stated below and you want to enjoy your Sunday as it will trick your body into speeding up the process as it will think the food has changed and you are back to old habits.

Vitamins: Take a multi vitamin with antioxidants, Vitamin C, and if you like green tea which is a favorite of mine. Take as prescribed on the bottle.

Breakfast: Note use Pam to spray all pans. Do not use oil or butter.

Meal One:

• 1 cup grits or oatmeal. This is 1 cup of wet weight.
• Egg Beaters to equal 4 eggs or 3 whites of eggs and 1 whole egg mixed together.
• ½ grapefruit
• Vitamins for the day

Meal Two:

• 4-6 ounces of skinless grilled or broiled chicken breast
• 1 cup steamed green vegetables fresh
• Note: chicken maybe topped with salsa

Meal 3:

• 4-6 ounces of grilled or broiled eye round or white fish ( not catfish)
• ½ cup steamed white or brown rice or ½ sweet potato
• 1 cup steamed green vegetables
• Or 1 protein drink made with water

Meal 4:

• 4-6 ounces of white turkey cutlets ( cooked in Pam) or grilled chicken breast
• 1 cup steamed green vegetables
• You may use salsa on food for additional flavors.

Meal 5 (dinner)

• 6-8 ounces of grilled eye round, or white fish, or turkey breast, or skinless chicken
• 1 cup steamed green vegetable
• 1 cup steamed white or brown rice or 1 sweet potato

Meal 6 before bedtime (1-2 hours before)

• Protein drink or
• 1 4-6 ounce grilled chicken breast
• 1 cup steamed green vegetables

You may eat as treats: Sugar free popsicles, or sugar free Jell-O, This will be in moderation when you crave sweets. Also chewing ice cubes will cut the cravings.

Please note I will furnish some life style meals on another page that you may use as your dinner meal. Portion size is very important so don’t forget it needs to be the size of your palm.

Please note any new lifestyle change should start with a trip to your doctor to go over your goals and have a physical exam. Life style change meals can be substituted to your needs to read limitations and keep the hand in mind with everything you eat.

Exercise: this is the catalyst of the new lifestyle. Ride a bike, walk the block everyday twice, jog, weight train. Ease into any new fitness program but get yourself off the couch and exercise. Pretend you’re a kid again and jump rope, swim, try to walk further and further everyday, join a gym and have a trainer teach you the ropes. This will make things happen twice as quick.

Above referenced text is the opinion of Johnny Carino and has been used by Johnny Carino and his clients. As this is only a reference and Johnny suggests you contact your own doctor. Johnny assumes no responsibility for people who follow this diet advice as it is to be used as guidelines and not in place of medical advice.