A basic diet, for those who don’t want a diet
No one likes the idea of dieting.
So, when I heard someone talking about how he helps people “have their cake and eat it too” – how to be healthy and fit without sacrificing – I needed to know more.
How?
That was my main question for Gaston Kroneman, who teaches at Ride Indoor Cycling when he’s not teaching Pilates, personal training, nutritional coaching or competing as a bodybuilder.
Kroneman is an interesting person to have this conversation with. Yes, he has an array of certifications and credentials, but also walks the walk. He calls himself “a former fat kid,” a comment that he makes with an air of kindness and candor that seems to be infused with an eagerness to help, not to layer shame.
As a kid, Kroneman had asthma that turned into several courses of Prednisone per year. He says he started gaining weight in second grade and carried it all the way into college, where he learned more about diet, nutrition and exercise, and realized he didn’t necessarily need to accept the way things were. That’s when he started shredding pounds – ultimately, 100 of them.
Kroneman’s main takeaway is gloriously common sense: Losing weight requires burning more calories than we eat. But he can distill that more, depending on one’s appetite – pun intended – for granularity.
He helps some clients break down which foods to eat, when to eat them, and how much, even digging down to the level of how many calories they burn at rest. It can be a whole big, prescriptive and scientific thing, like his journey into bodybuilding competitions. Or, for the average person who wants to be in shape without stress or sacrifice, he says the broad premise of calories in versus calories out can be a useful framework for choices throughout the day.
If you want to eat a cupcake, and you don’t want to gain weight, either increase activity that day to burn it off, or adjust other meals in a way that sounds roughly reasonable. Have a lighter lunch (salad instead of roast beef?) or skip the extra glass of wine, for example.
Kroneman says an average cupcake is about 250 calories. He adds “any form of exercise moderate in intensity and greater, burns about 450-600 calories per hour.” That’s a pretty rough idea of numbers, but it gives some perspective.
The concept basically comes down to budgeting. It’s simple, but in a world with tons of diet options and lots of people trying to lose weight, this bottom line is often overlooked. We don’t need to implement rigid diets with severe restrictions that cut all indulgences; it’s just about balancing them out.
With that, Kroneman encourages folks to migrate toward a diet that speaks to them. Some are drawn to protein-heavy regimes. Others like the Mediterranean approach, Whole 30, or intermittent fasting. Some do their own thing. He advocates a broad understanding of what’s healthy vs. what’s not (fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, whole foods, lean proteins vs. processed foods, fried foods, sweets, white flour) and balance, or as he calls it, a “credit system.”
It probably involves some trial and error, seeing what feels right and maybe even some one-on-one guidance. But it gets back to basics. I think that’s useful, worth chewing over.
Kroneman’s journey and various offerings can be found on Facebook and Instagram under GastonKFitness.