New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Besides death and taxes, there is one other certainty in life; a new fad diet will come along every few years. Who has heard this one? “No need to exercise and you eat all you want. Just take this pill before you go to bed and watch the pounds disappear!”
There are low-carb diets like the Atkins Diet, low calorie diets, high protein diets, vegan diets and too many others to mention. No diet seems to fit all people. The key is to find the plan that is best for you.
Getting ready to jump back into my mixed martial arts training this month, I thought it would be a good idea to try a new diet that could help me drop a few pounds and get me eating healthy again. This Fall/Winter I’ve been walking around at 180, but like to train/fight at 155 – 160. After a few visits to Faunce Corner Nutrition late last year, I decided to try their Balanced Diet Plan, which is billed as “A Self-Managed Diet Plan.”
I have a few simple rules when it comes to health. First, your diet is the most important factor when it comes to weight loss or maintaining your ideal weight. Exercise is important, but what you eat and and how much you eat is the single most important factor for attaining an ideal, healthy body weight. Second, your diet success is about education, willpower and a lifestyle choice. Most people do not know what they are putting in their body and usually make choices based on taste rather than health. A Snickers bar is tastier than a head of broccoli. Third, it’s important to exercise regularly for optimal health, but let’s focus on the diet part.
I learned at an early age that caloric intake is the single most important factor for reaching and maintaining an ideal weight. The basic rule while dieting is to add a zero at the end of your ideal body weight. Trying to get to 130 pounds? You can eat 1,300 calories a day plus what you burn through exercise. Burn 500 calories at the gym and you get to add another 500 calories to your intake (two Snickers bars!). The key is to find your ideal body weight based on your height, age and of course advice from your doctor.
WebMD provides a useful chart on caloric intake and recommends males 18 and over take in 2,200 – 3,000 calories depending on your activity level and age. According to the CDC, the average American male weighs 195.5 pounds, so that makes sense that an average, active male would eat about 2,200 to 3,000 calories.
Now that you are armed with this information let’s examine The Balanced Protein Diet that I recently tried and that is available at Faunce Corner Nutrition at 350 Faunce Corner Road in Dartmouth. It’s a diet that focuses on caloric intake, increased metabolism, high protein and low carbohydrates with a structured plan to help you achieve weight loss success.
There is a 1,000 calorie, 2 week quick start plan and two follow-on plans based on 1,500 or 1,800 calories (or 1,200 calories for women). Based on my earlier points, these are for men trying to achieve 150 or 180 pounds (or 120 pounds for women) without working out. My suggestion is to start a plan, but also start or continue to work out for best results.
I started the 1,500 calorie plan two weeks ago. I stopped by to pick up my two weeks of supplements and nutrition bars. With the help of the staff, here’s what I grabbed:
- Mix Bars
- Peanut Butter Bars
- Aloha Mango Smoothie
- Cream of Broccoli Soup
- Tomato Soup
- Creamy Mint Hot Chocolate
- Pudding and Shake Mix – Chocolate
- Pudding and Shake Mix – Strawberry
Each serving has 15 grams of protein (except the creamy min hot chocolate that has 12 grams) and was low in carbs (4-8 grams with none having more than 4 grams of sugar). This 2-week supply provided me 6 meals (3 meals and 3 snacks) a day. The meals/snacks were a mix of Balance Protein Diet items (supplements and nutrition bars) and grocery items (starches, fruit, veggies and optional items). The 6 smaller meals a day are meant to boost your metabolism.
The first week was easy to follow the diet plan because I was immediately buried into my home by the blizzard. No temptations of Mirasol’s coffees and muffins, or the restaurant foods that I love so much. The second week was tougher as I was liberated from my home and got back into my daily routine of working in coffee shops, traveling and eating out. But the great thing about the Balanced Protein Diet is that you can modify what you eat based on the available items you’ve selected for the day. On the road a lot? Take your nutrition bars with you. Just stick to your plan as best as possible. This plan takes more planning and effort than the “just take a pill before you go to bed” diet, but you’ll see results in a natural way and you’ll start making a healthier lifestyle change.
The food in the 2-week plan was surprisingly tasty with my favorite items being the mixed bars and the pudding/shake mixes. I already use my blender daily to make healthy smoothies, so the shakes worked well with me.
Jumping into a new diet is never easy, especially as you get older. It’s tough to transition from 10, 20, 30 or 40 years of eating one way and then changing your eating habits over night. The Balanced Protein Diet was not a tough transition for me because the staff at Faunce Corner Nutrition are more than helpful, the food items provided are tasty and the materials provided make the diet easy to follow.
The Balanced Protein Diet website is a great way to get started, but you really should visit the folks at Faunce Corner Nutrition. They will provide you a wealth of information and help you pick out your items. Even if you are already at your ideal body weight, stop buy and check out the every day items they offer like fish oils, protein shakes and more.
The results? At the end of my 2 weeks I lost 6 pounds (from 182 to 176lbs). I wasn’t terribly overweight to start and I didn’t have a lot of time to exercise with the snow storm and long work hours. I’m certain if I had worked out four times a week and skipped a few of the muffins my favorite coffee shops, I would have jumped down to 170lbs. But I know from past experience the first two weeks were the hardest and it’s all downhill from here!
Faunce Corner Nutrition
350 Faunce Corner Road
North Dartmouth, MA 02747
Phone: (508) 998-2155
Email: customerservice@fitness-connection.com
Mon-Thursday – 9:00 am to 6:00 pm
Friday – 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Saturday – 10:00 am to 3:00 pm
