Train harder in the kitchen.

If you've been training for a while you know the best way to change your body is train with resistance consistently. Pretty easy to remember, but how much time does that really take? You might be hitting the weights hard, but it only really accounts for 3-6 hours a week. 3-6 hours is great, but the thing that takes up most of your time and is more important than any gym session is what you're eating on a daily basis. Your food intake will determine how you look regardless of what you do in the gym. Go ahead and work out for 2 hours a day, but if you're not eating the right foods at the right time, you're just spinning your wheels.

I've seen plenty of men and women in the gym who work out all the time and have looked exactly the same for years. It's not like these people are bodybuilders who are already at 4% bodyfat and look phenomenal. Far from it. They are overweight and apparently don't know it. It's very easy to fall in the trap of, “I work out so I can eat whatever I want.” Unfortunately, that's not the way it works. At least not for 99% of the population. In order to change your body for the better you have to work hard in the gym, but even harder in the kitchen. What does this mean to you? It means you have to plan your meals, pre-cook some food, and get everything organized. As the saying goes, fail to plan then plan to fail. It couldn't be any truer for your body. Here are a few tips that have really helped me get my bodyfat down but didn't keep me in the kitchen all day long:

1. Plan your 5-6 meals a day for the week. Using a whiteboard or an excel spreadsheet really helps.
2. Make a list and go to the grocery store and get only those items. No wandering. Stay on the perimeter of the store.
3.Wash and cut all vegetables so they're easy to throw into a meal or eat them as a snack. Cook all chicken so you can have a 3 or 4 day supply at the ready. This really helps for throwing them into salads.
4.Get a big cooler to take with you so you can never be caught without the right snack. People might laugh, but wouldn't you rather laugh at their soft, out of shape bodies? Trust me, the joke's on them.

If you start working on these few steps alone, I guarantee you will start seeing results. Without a plan you'll be floating hopelessly through your day eating the first thing in sight. Make your plan, start training hard in the kitchen and you'll be enjoying a strong, healthy body in no time.