http://www.planosnutrition.com/

Andres Ayesta, Tampa, FL (2025)

06/07/2021

Decoding nutrition labels

How many times have you seen these words on the front of food packages?

Organic
Low sugar/sugar-free
Gluten-free
Vegan
Naturally flavored
GMO-free
All-natural
Superfoods
Made with real fruit
Multigrain
Keto-friendly

Many food products, particularly those sold in health food stores, use the words listed above on their packages.

These buzzwords are probably terms you associate with healthy eating. By including these words on their packages, food companies encourage you to buy more because you feel you're making a healthy choice.

Unfortunately, none of these words are synonyms for “healthy”.

For example, if something is “gluten-free”, it doesn’t mean it’s healthier for everyone, it’s just healthier for people who have celiac disease or a gluten intolerance.

Naturally flavored? It just means it includes flavors that come from animal and plant sources, it doesn’t say anything about nutritional value.

Made with real fruit – again, it might come from fruit, but the main ingredient in the product could be refined sugar.

Multigrain – this just means the product includes more than one type of grain. It does not mean that it's a whole grain product, which is the kind you want to choose most of the time.

HOW TO READ A FOOD LABEL 👀

Instead of purchasing based on the front of the package, flip the package over and look at the Nutrition Facts and the ingredients.

Here are a few things you should know:

The ingredients are listed in order of their quantity in the product
When looking at Daily Value (%DV), 5% or less is considered low, and 20% or more is considered high.
The serving size is NOT a recommendation for how much you should eat or drink, it reflects how much people often consume, but doesn’t consider your body size or nutritional needs.

👉🏼Choose products with LESS... added sugar, saturated fat, sodium
👉🏼Choose products with MORE... fiber, vitamin D, calcium, iron, and other vitamins

Are you still confused about food labels? Drop your questions below and I’ve got you covered.

06/02/2021

5 reasons you’re not seeing results from your workouts!

Do you know how many times I hear from friends and clients that they have been working out but they can’t see results (even Gb complains about this 🙄)? … The answer is a lot

And while sometimes it’s just a matter of consistency, here is also what might be going on:

1️⃣ You’re using training to justify overeating

Sometimes when people start going to the gym, they think their nutrition choices don’t matter anymore because they feel like they’re burning soooo many calories during their workouts.

Unfortunately, most people underestimate their calories burned and overestimate how much they’re eating. This often leads to weight gain over time.

2️⃣ You’re exercising for 30 minutes…but then sitting at your desk for the rest of the day.

While 30 minutes of exercise has tons of benefits (eg. improved mood, more energy), in terms of calorie burn it isn’t that significant compared to what you’re doing for the rest of the day.
When you prioritize consistent daily movement, that’s when you burn more calories without even realizing it and fat loss becomes much easier.

3️⃣ You are not getting enough protein

To build muscle, your body needs enough protein to form the building blocks of that muscle. You can work as hard as you want in the gym, but if your protein needs aren’t met, muscle gain isn’t going to happen.

4️⃣ You’re not training hard enough

If you want to see changes in your body, particularly muscle growth, you need to be challenging your muscles. If you’re pushing the same 10 lb. dumbbells through the same number of reps for months, you’re not giving your body the right stimulus to create change.

5️⃣ Stress and sleep

Maybe your problem doesn’t lie in the gym or in what you’re putting in your mouth. Research has shown that high stress levels and low sleep often contribute to overeating and weight gain. Don’t neglect these important areas of health!

Are any of these five factors a struggle for you? Comment below.

05/28/2021

This is how to know if you’re overdoing it

But over-exercising can cause high levels of cortisol, the stress hormone leads to a ton of negative side effects, including weight gain and muscle loss.

The first is people who hate exercise and struggle to get enough movement in throughout the day.

The second is people who go hard at the gym 7 days a week, thinking it’s the best way to lose weight fast.

And honestly, neither group is going to see optimal results!

But today I’m going to be talking about the gym fanatics and how recovery might be what’s missing from their fitness plan.

Exercise places stress on the body. Many times, this stress is good! It forces the body to adapt and change, becoming stronger and building greater endurance.

But over-exercising can cause high levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, leads to a ton of negative side effects, including weight gain and muscle loss.

Here are the signs you might be over-exercising:

You’re tired all the time
You’re hungry all the time OR you have no appetite
Your sleep is disturbed
Your performance declines
You’re constantly sore
You get injured frequently

So, when it comes to exercise, MORE does always mean BETTER; rest days are key.

But, one area where more is often better for recovery is for caloric intake.

This is because many people who are working out intensely to lose weight are also seriously restricting calories.

If your body isn’t getting enough calories, particularly carbs and protein, to replenish glycogen stores and rebuild muscle, you won’t fully recover.

Here’s how to solve the problem:

1. Give up the guilt. You shouldn’t feel guilty for taking days off. Rest days are just as important as training days.
2. If you’re training hard, give yourself at least one rest day for every 3 days in a row of training.
3. You can exercise every day, but it doesn’t have to be an intense HIIT session or CrossFit. Go for active recovery, such as walking or yoga.
4. Eat plenty of carbs and protein (even on rest days)!

Drop an emoji in the comments if you’re going to commit to quality rest this week!

05/25/2021

Are you struggling on Keto but not sure how to make a change?

Keto can be a pretty controversial topic in the world of nutrition. Many people are either all for it or completely against it.

Personally, I like to stand more in the middle ground. I think it can have benefits for specific populations, but only when it’s done for the right reasons and with the right education.

For people who are on Keto just for weight loss, it’s probably going to feel overly restrictive and lead to failure 9 times out of 10.

If you feel like Keto is no longer working for you, but you’re scared to add carbs back into your diet, this post is for you!

The first step of transitioning off Keto is a mindset shift.

The one main thing I don’t like about the Keto diet is that it often creates a fear of carbs.

But carbs don’t have to be the enemy! They can have a powerful role in fueling your body, keeping you full, and helping in the process of fat loss.

Next, we get to the nutrition side of things.

Here are 4 steps to take:

1️⃣ Track your calories/macros for a week to see how you are eating (you may by eating a lot more carbs than you think, but also a lot of fat).

2️⃣ Based on the week of tracking, keep the calories the same but slowly drop fats while increasing carbs.

3️⃣ When it comes to food selection, you may feel a little scared to include carbs again after avoiding them for so long. It may help to start with fruit and higher carb veggies and then add grains later, as you adjust.

4️⃣ Continue to increase carbs slowly as you lower your fats. For most of our clients, we try to keep their fats at around 25-35% of daily calories.

THE TAKEAWAY 👉 For most healthy people, carbs aren’t the culprit sabotaging fat loss; the problem is a poorly-implemented nutrition strategy that feels restrictive and unsustainable.

If you’re trying to stick to Keto but feel like you’re constantly failing, it may be time to rethink your approach. Shoot me a message with the word “CARBS” and let’s get you on the right track to crushing your goals!

05/19/2021

How to fix your sleep

Tell me something right now:

When was the last time you got 4 hours of sleep in a night and then spent the next day snacking on vegetables, hitting PRs in the gym, and walking around with a smile on your face?

HA.

Never.

When it comes to fat loss, sleep habits are one of the major priorities we address with our Planos clients.

Here’s why sleep is critical when trying to lose fat:
Studies have found that people who are sleep deprived have an increased appetite, because the body makes more of the “hunger hormone”, ghrelin.
You tend to crave more sugary, fatty, calorie-dense foods when you’re tired.
One study found that when sleep time was cut from 8 hours to 4, the participants ate over 500 more calories! (Brondel et al., 2010).
Poor sleep can cause muscle loss, which results in a lower resting metabolic rate (so you burn fewer calories throughout the day).

Instead of trying to get through sleep-deprived days using willpower, here are a few quick tips to improve your sleep:
1️⃣ Get out in the sun during the day. Exposure to sunlight, particularly in the morning, helps maintain a normal circadian rhythm (your body’s internal clock)

2️⃣ Turn off all devices/screens an hour before bed. Blue light in the evening makes your body think it's still daytime! If this isn’t an option, try blue light glasses.

3️⃣ Cut the caffeine after noon. It can take up to 10 hours to completely clear caffeine from your bloodstream.

4️⃣ Try to go to sleep and wake up at consistent times, even on weekends! Changing your sleep and wake times alters circadian rhythms.

5️⃣ Make a list of things you're grateful for - research shows it can help you sleep better and longer!
You don’t have to jump into all of these tips at once – it’s best to start small with new habits.

So, let me know in the comments: which sleep habit are you going to work on this week?

05/12/2021

This is a misconception I see all the time…

So many people think they should lose weight FIRST and then they’ll be able to improve their relationship with food.

Their plan usually looks like:
1. Diet restrictively for 4-6 months.
2. Once they’re at their goal weight, they’ll “eat normally”.

There are a couple problems with this approach.

First, maintaining a restrictive diet for 4-6 months (or any period of time!) is very difficult.

Most people end up going back and forth between “on the diet” and “off the diet”, constantly losing and regaining weight.

Second, this plan assumes that once you’re in the body you want, you’ll suddenly be able to eat in a balanced way – enjoying the foods you love, but still prioritizing nutrient-dense choices the majority of the time.

But here’s the truth: a healthy mindset gets you to the body you want, it doesn’t COME from getting the body that you want 🤯

When you lose weight while dieting restrictively, you build up a lot of rules in your head:
You believe that some foods “make you fat” and other foods “make you thin”
You second guess all your food choices
You struggle to enjoy less nutrient dense “fun foods” in moderation (all-or-nothing mentality).

Sadly, these rules don’t disappear once the weight comes off, so even if your body gets smaller, food will continue to be a struggle.

You struggle to enjoy less nutrient-dense “fun foods” in moderation (all-or-nothing mentality).

What needs to happen is changing your mindset before changing what’s on your plate.

It means…

👉 Giving up the idea that foods are “good” and “bad”
👉 Realizing that one meal won’t “make you fat”
👉 Coming to understand how some foods fuel your body and how others bring some extra enjoyment to life…and realizing that both types of food can have a place in your diet.

At Planos, we recognize the importance of your relationship with food in creating lasting change, so Mindset is one of the four pillars in our Nutrition Makeover Method program.

Shoot me a message with the word “MINDSET” if you want to learn more!

05/03/2021

Can you get the benefits of fasting while still eating?

This question is the premise behind the FASTING MIMICKING DIET (FMD) and today I’m breaking down the good, the bad and the ugly of this fad diet.

This post isn’t to shame anyone who wants to experiment with the benefits of fasting or has tried this plan. BUT there are still some concerns with this approach to keep in mind.

WHAT IS IT?

The ProLon Fasting Mimicking Diet was created by an Italian researcher and is sold as a weight loss plan in the form of 5-day pre-packaged meal kits.
For 5 days, you only eat the foods in the meal kits, which are high in healthy fats and low in carbs and protein.
Day 1 – approx. 1000 calories, Days 2-5 – a little over 700 calories per day.

THE GOOD
One study found that doing the diet once a month for 3 months reduced body fat and blood pressure. Additionally, fasting in general has some evidence-based benefits, including:

Improved blood sugar control
Reduced inflammation
Improved blood pressure
Reduced cholesterol

However, there isn’t enough research to compare of the FMD to other fasting approaches in terms of these beneficial effects.

THE BAD

Very little research in humans and no long-term research
Each box (lasts 5 days) costs $249, which really adds up if you’re doing it every 1-6 months, as the company recommends.
Highly restrictive and very low in calories; may cause low energy, irritability
Fasting is NOT suitable for anyone with a history of disordered eating.

THE UGLY

The biggest ugly truth? Even if you lose weight during your 5 day fast, severe restriction often triggers overeating, and you might find yourself binging as soon as the give days are up.

THE TAKEAWAY
Just because fasting has been shown to have beneficial health effects doesn’t mean it’s necessary to buy a program like this one.

My advice:
LESS: expensive fads trying to “hack” health
MORE: whole foods, movement you enjoy, good sleep, and reduced stress. In a word? Balance.

Do you have another diet you want me to review? Let me know in the comments!

03/18/2021

Why NEAT is your secret fat loss weapon

When you’re trying to lose fat, it comes down to taking in fewer calories than you burn in a day – ie. creating a caloric deficit.

One way to create this deficit (ideally around 200-300 cals each day) is by increasing the number of calories you burn each day.

While many people automatically think this means intense exercise, there is also another form of movement that can burn waaay more calories than you think it would.

This movement is called Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis or NEAT, which refers to all your other daily activities (walking, running errands, doing chores) that burn calories, outside of planned exercise.

In fact, if you are someone with a job where you’re on your feet all day, you’re probably burning significantly more calories than someone who hits the gym for an hour in the morning and then sits at a desk all day.

Besides the fat loss benefits, consistent movement throughout the day can improve cardiovascular and muscular health, increase bone strength, and reduce the risk of depression.

And the amazing thing about NEAT is it can turn that mile-long To-Do List into a ton of opportunities to work towards your goal of a healthier lifestyle.

Got chores to do? Vacuuming and cleaning are burning calories.

Need to go to the grocery store? Walking the aisles, lifting bags, and parking just a bit further from the entrance can all be great ways to get more NEAT in.

While there are great benefits of regular, strenuous exercise, don’t discount the impact of simply moving more and getting those 10,000 steps in each day!

Take a look at the graphic for some ways to get more steps in and tell me in the comments – which one are you going to do this week??

03/17/2021

Is there something hiding in your supplements??😱

I promise you will want to know this 👀

Recently on the Nutrition Blueprint Podcast, I got the chance to sit down with Andy Holmes, who works for the company LGC Science.

So, third-party testing can ensure you're getting what you pay for, and not ingesting harmful substances.or sports supplements.

Basically, the goal of Informed Choice is to make sure that the labels on supplements are accurate and the supplements are free of contaminants and banned substances.

Their process involves reviewing supplement manufacturers and testing products straight from the shelves.

And you’d be surprised at the kind of things Andy told us he’s found in supplements or the manufacturing facilities that make them, including:

• Steroids
• Methamphetamine compounds
• Antidepressants
• Co***ne (!)

YIKES.

These compounds can find their way into supplements in the processing of raw materials or during manufacturing if proper operating procedures aren’t followed.

If you’re going to spend money, you want to make sure you’re spending it on the good stuff!

Unfortunately, the FDA doesn’t verify the ingredients in supplements or make sure there is no contamination.

So, third party testing can ensure you're getting what you pay for, and not ingesting harmful substances.

One last note about supplements: there are some great supplements on the market, but they are not magic solutions for weight loss.

They can be used to fill in gaps in your diet (like getting in more protein) or provide an edge for athletes, but they can’t make up for poor nutrition and lifestyle habits.

If you decide to add supplements to your diet, head over to wetestyoutrust.com to find a list of Informed Choice certified brands and products.

And make sure to check out the episode of the Nutrition Blueprint Podcast with Andy if you want to learn more!

Did you know that some of your supplements could contain these substances?

Andres Ayesta

06/07/2021

06/02/2021

05/28/2021

05/25/2021

05/19/2021

05/12/2021

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03/18/2021

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