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"Discover The 9 Essential Strategies of Healthy Nutrition That Will Have Your Fit And Lean In Less Time Than You Ever Thought Possible."

By Holly Leonard

There is nothing that will affect your health and fitness results more than healthy nutrition and smart supplementation habits. I state that boldly because most of your fat loss results will come from nutrition rather than exercise. In fact, nutrition accounts for more than 80 % of your results, whereas exercise only accounts for 20% of your results.

If your program isn't yeilding the results you want I can almost guarantee it's because of your nutrition habits. By using the 9 strategies I lay out in this article you'll be well on your way to achieving the fat loss results you desire.

The folowing strategies will help you skyrocket your metabolism, become a fat-burning machine and achieve maximum results from minimum time from your program.

1. Increase your meal frequency.
Take your total daily caloric intake, divide it by 5 or 6, and consume a supportive meal every 3 hours. This will keep you’re your blood sugar and energy levels stable throughout the day. Stable blood sugar is critical to speeding up your metabolism and will keep you in a fat-burning state all day long – even at rest!

2.Eat a supportive meal every 3- 3 ½ hours.
The sinlge most vital factor to increasing your metabolism (the speed at which your body burns through calories) is to increase the frequency of your meals. I know you've been told that you must cut down on your calories and exercise more, but that will not work. Eating less and working out more will doing nothing but decrease your metabolic rate. When consuming your mini-meals during the day, strive to get a balance of protein, starchy carbohydrates and fibrous carbohydrates. By incorporating all of those components you’ll be sure to stabilize blood sugars, pump amino acids to the muscles and put your body into fat-burning Overdrive!

3. Eat as wide a variety of foods as possible.
Most often we eat in a very habitual manner, eating similar breakfasts, lunches, and dinners day in and day out. Boring, but easy to plan and manage. It’s critical to balance out the above strategies with a healthy variety of foods. Be sure to include a variety of lean proteins, fruit and veggie sources, starches, etc. every week. This will prevent boredom and will supply your body with a variety of healthy nutrients.

4. Drink enough water throughout the day.
Water is a vital component to life. It's impossible to survive without clean water every day. If you don't consume enough water your body will age quicker, appear fatter, and be more susceptible to colds, flus, increased soreness and much more. As a general rule of thumb you should take your bodyweight and divide it by two. This gives you the amount of water you should consume on a daily basis.

5. Take a quality vitamin/mineral supplement daily.
Science tells us that we simply can’t get all the nutrients we need in our bodies from food alone especially when trying to lose weight. In fact it would take approximately 5,000 calories to get all the nutrients our bodies require. That’s simply not possible when trying to lose body fat. That’s why every major medical organization in the world recommends that everyone take a daily multi-vitamin/mineral supplement.

6. Use meal replacement shakes/bars for delicious on-the-go meals.
For healthy snacks and convenient meals on the go, meal replacement bars and shakes are an excellent choice. Eating 5-6 mini meals each day is not always realistic in today’s fast-pace world unless you carry around a cooler all day. Rather than going through the local drive-thru or reaching for the candy jar use a good quality meal replacement shake or bar instead. Choose a shake or bar with a good amount of fiber (>4 grams) and protein (>10 grams). Doing so will help stabilize your blood sugars to keep you lean and burning fat all day long.

7. Always take a recovery shake after your workout.
To get the most out of the efforts you put forth in the gym you'll need to provide your body will the proper nutrients needed to recover. A well balanced protein and carbohydrate shake consumed post workout speeds up your recovery process allowing you to increase lean mass, strength, burn more fat and reduce unneccesary muscle soreness.

8. Plan ahead and be prepared.
One of the vital and most overlooked components to achieving great results is preparation. If you’re not prepared with your foods how will you ever be able to consume 5-6 meals everyday? A simple way to get prepared is to plan your meals in advance and cook in bulk. By planning you never miss an opportunity to supply your body with good nutrition.

9. Take one day per week and ignore the above strategies.
Yes, that’s right ignore everything I just told you about eating healthy. Well maybe not completely ignore, but you certainly can loosen up a bit. Choose one day per week or a few meals throughout the week to have some of the foods you've been craving. By doing this less than 10% of the time, you'll still be able to ahcieve incredible changes.

To achieve long term fat loss results you do not need to diet again and you don't have to eat perfectly 100% of the time to achieve the results you are looking for. If you follow the above strategies 90% of the time you’ll will be well on your way to achieving the goals you desire.

About the Author:

Coach Holly Leonard, owner of BeFit Health and Wellness Solutions, is a Body Transformation Expert who has helped over 300 Pioneer Valley men and women reclaim their healthy, fitness and vitality through proper fitness and nutrition. For more expert advice on how to master your metabolism so you can make 2009 your best year ever, check out http://www.befithealthandwellness.com Today!