This is our first recap day. I am planning a few of these days as I know that some of the changes that you are making are tough and there is still more tough stuff coming to get you felling better and most of all getting healthier.

Whenever you make any kind of life changes there are a lot of tough times. There are days when everything seems to go right as well as days when nothing seems to click. The reason that this happens is that your attitude starting the day either tells you that YES you are moving ahead and the changes are great or NO everything was find before and the pain of the changes are not worth it. Hopefully to this point you are having more yes days than no days.

Our first day was just a subtle commitment to make changes without really know the impact that it would have in our everyday life except for the excitement that comes with changing for the better.

Our second day was adding more water to our diet and this I thought was a fairly easy start with a high impact result over the fairly short term.

Our third day was getting started doing cardio everyday. We did not go into any details on the cardio because the first most important exercise trait that you want yourself to get used to is some kind of movement. Just as long as you walk, dance, do yoga, run or bike you are doing great.

Day four was taking care of our meal sizes, far to often people eat to few meals and often to large to really give anyone the nutrition they need and giving anyone a great way to gain fat. Many meals are a great way to keep up energy and be more aware of the food you eat.

The fifth day was a day to learn how to stretch. After all that movement and cardio your muscles will be getting sore by this day and stretching is a great way to get the blood flowing to the fibers of your muscles to get rid of a day or two of extra muscle pain as well as giving you extra flexibility.

Day six is the first good nutrient day. Learning about carbohydrates is a great way to see how we eat when we are not conscious of what is an important kind of food. North Americans are really bad for eating a lot of sugars and then eating far to many carbs as well in each meal.

The next few days may be a little more difficult but I will try to keep a few easy days in as these changes are going to still be challenging. I am sure by this point that your new attitude and feelings are great. These 30 days are designed to give you not only a better feeling body but also a fantastic new outlook on life.

I was asked to join in on another TLC book tour, remember this one from last year? I agreed and when the book arrived I found myself skimming the first few pages. Pages about Mark’s efforts to lose fat and gain muscle, to get back in shape, watching his mom struggle with her weight and eventually his wife when she was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. And then I get to the first chapter: Why Diets Fail.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve heard this line many times before. So I was prepared to read the same information that I’ve read before. But what he wrote stunned me because it was so accurtate and spot-on.

He talks about that one moment in our lives when we felt in control of our health. This could be a week, or several months. A time when we were breezing through diet or exercise- or both. Everything was working, we felt good…we look good. And then it’s gone. The effort goes away with life circumstances. We get thrown off course.

I don’t know about you, but this has happened to me countless times. I think back to my days on Atkins.. And then the time when I did Weight Watchers and I was losing 10lbs a month. Both times I dropped 30-40 lbs. And then stopped.

Mark says “we spent endless hours focusing on the past, trying to figure out what had changed. That moment becomes our hope, out future possibility–our ace in the hole. We believe that at any time we can pull out that ace and get back to where we were during that moment.”

We justify that life is too busy, that we will get there when projects are complete, after the holidays or when the timing is right. Each day telling ourselves that we know what we need to do but are just not doing it. We keep tight hold of the ace in the hole, ready to use it at any time.

And then the day comes when we pull the trigger and dive right back in. Trying to minic those ace in the hole days, and it’s much harder. We try again the next day, and then on the third day we are wondering what is so different this time. This is when panic sets in…and when as he puts it “diets attack”.

“People use diets in their moments of frustration and desperation.”

And there you have it friends. The cycle.

So what’s the solution? According the Mark, blood sugar stabilization through meal intervals, nutrient ratios and calories per meal. He believes that nutrition should be used to create an internal balance.

Mark will guide you through meal plans for your body type (your metabolism), creating a set-point with your weight, and helps you to discover the “why” in your goals. He calls his place Venice nutrition and shares many meal plans and recipes for each body type. He talks about the difference between high quality and low nutrients, such as protein.

The meals he suggests are easy and would take minute to prepare. Such as Salmon with rice and asparagus, italian tuna salad with a side of fruit, steak with sweet potatoes and steamed cauliflower, seared scallops with brown rice and spinach, and spicy turkey club wrap.

In the last chapters of the book he helps you  in creating an exercise plan, how to adopt this way of eating into your current lifestyle and he has a whole chapter dedicated to staying true to the process.

Here is what I like about the book and Venice Nutrition:

I like that he focuses on real, clean food that is easy to prepare. This is food that we should eat 90% of the time. He focuses on quality of food rather than calories in, calories out.

His plan is about eating for life, rather than “how I will eat when I’m losing weight”.

He talks extensively about blood sugar, nutrition and the way we metabolize food.

He gives real-world solutions for all lifestyles.

He focuses more on what you should eat rather than what you can’t or shouldn’t eat.

He covers the importance of both cardio and strength training. He provides a plan for both.

He is positive and hopeful.

What I don’t like about the book:

I’m not a big fan (at all) of food products: protein bars, shakes etc. Some of the recipes include protein powders.

The recipes are simple. This is a good thing for some people. But for me, I enjoy cooking. I like following recipes. To me, a turkey burger is about as sad as it gets. I don’t like to buy ground meat unless I know the source and most of the ground meat the I buy is local and doesn’t promote “leanness”. Rolled up deli meat with a side of cashews is not a meal. I don’t know if I believe turkey or chicken should be ground up and made into burgers or meatballs or whatever else. I’ve done this before, but it just seems wrong.

The book doesn’t seem to address eating out, or social occasion. I could have missed this section, but I enjoy eating out with my husband. I enjoy trying out new to us restaurants that are locally owned. I like long meals with friends. These things are non-negotiable. I’m not going to bring a shake with me, or have a cooler of prepared food to a gourmet/real food establishment. Not gonna happen. I also realize that these are special occasion meals.

Bottom Line:

I believe that the Venice Nutrition can be done 80% of the time. It’s about eating smaller meals about five times a day. This stabilizes blood sugar, boosts your metabolism and prevents cravings. It focuses on eating real food: lean meat, whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

Mark helps you to set goals for yourself and gives you the tools to see them through.

Visit his site, Venice Nutrition for more information.

Thank you to TLC Book tours for including me.

Disclaimer: This book was sent to me free of charge, for review.

Related Blogs

• Related Blogs on fat

Over the last couple of days I have been getting a lot emails regarding the fat loss 4 Idiots meal plans. Let’s get straight to the point:

Everyone that joins fat loss 4 idiots should know that this diet comes with an online menu generator that you can use to pick your favorite food choices and it automatically generates 11-day ready-made meal plans. You get to eat 4 meals a day, basically this diet doesn’t involve starving yourself like other diets require and you get 3 days off the diet every 11 days so you can satisfy your cravings.

Unlike most of the popular weight loss diets, fat loss 4 Idiots doesn’t require you to buy any expensive pre-packed foods or anything that results in spending lots of money. It’s not a low calorie diet, therefore you won’t be spending money on low calorie foods that are most likely to be expensive. You get to choose your favorite fat burning foods, that you can easily pick up at your local store as you would normally do.

Although everyone has different eating habits here are a few samples of a typical day diet with fat loss 4 idiots.

fat loss 4 Idiots Meal Plan: First Day

fat loss 4 idiots Meal Plan: Second Day

fat loss 4 Idiots Meal Plan: Third Day

The main reasons fat loss 4 idiots stands out from all the other weight loss diets you may have tried before: You don’t have to starve yourself, you get to eat foods that you enjoy and best of all you won’t walk away hungry.