The majority of the clients that I deal with on a day-to-day basis are quite often beginners when it comes to nutrition and exercise, but with a big enthusiasm to make a change. However, I often find myself being confronted by some very advanced questions, for example:
• What is the best fat burner to take?
• What are pre-workout supplement should I be having?
• How long do I leave it before I have my post-workout meal?
• How do I lose fat from just my lower abs?
• How many meals should I be eating?
• When should I have my protein shake?
As I said, a lot of these questions come from relative beginners who have not yet mastered the foundations of their own general nutrition and habits.
Asking these types of advanced questions is not of any real use to these people yet because, this is a little bit like wanting to be a professional swimmer and then:
• Looking at race tactics..
• Breathing techniques…
• Stroke critique…
• Assessing your competitors…
• Picking out swimming caps and goggles…
• Buying your ticket to the next Olympics…
And you haven’t even learned to swim yet.
The answers to these questions will be of absolutely no use to the average Jane looking to begin her weight/fat loss journey. So before we get anywhere close to even thinking about these types of questions, we need to focus on the basics and get the foundations of nutrition and exercise right.
So what questions should I be asking?
When starting out we need to start firstly finding out where we are currently and then how to start gradually improving the foundations of our new healthy habits and how we can make them stick. So things like:
• Am I eating too much junk food?
• Am I eating too much?
• Am I eating enough fruit and vegetables?
• Do I eat enough quality protein?
• Do I crave certain foods?
• Do I binge eat?
• How much sleep should I get each night?
• How much water should I drink?
These are the types of questions that will help guide you towards improving your nutritional habits and begin leading a healthy lifestyle that will help with:
• Achieving your health and fitness goals
• Improving your sleep
• Improving your energy levels
• Improving productivity at work
• Reducing stress levels
Furthermore, if you can start asking these types of questions to a coach, then they will be able to provide you with the tools and information to help guide you on the right path to improving your habits and building a healthier lifestyle.
So before you start to ask crazy advanced questions, try and get the basics mastered and get the foundations of your nutrition right.
Basically, don’t try and run before you can walk.