“Can you just give me a meal plan?”
I get asked this question ALL the time. As annoying it can be to start tracking your food, a meal plan is NOT the answer to your weight loss, weight gain, whatever your goal may be. There are several reasons why meal plans do not work in the long run:
1. You may say “I just eat the same thing all the time anyways” but what happens on the weekends when your friends want to go out to dinner? What happens if you run out of food or find yourself running errands and you get really hungry? Guaranteed you stop for a snack, or you eat the meal out. Then what? You ate off the plan, how do you reset? What do you eat the rest of the day? Should you not eat? Eat whatever because the day is now ‘ruined.’
2. Going off the first point, occasions do come up in our daily lives that revolve around food so sticking to your ‘meal plan’ is not going to be as easy as you think
3. Our daily activities change. For example, what if one day you do a crazy long workout, then go for a hike with the dog, and by the evening you are STARVING but you already finished your food for the day according to your meal plan. Then what? Sometimes we need to have the ability, and the knowledge, to adjust our food according to our activity levels.
Here are some of the benefits and reasons why you should start tracking your food if you have a specific goal in mind:
1. You have more freedom with the foods you will inevitability end up eating. For example, say you do have friends that decide to go out to dinner. You can look at the menu ahead of time, ideally first thing in the morning, decide what you want to get, enter it into MFP or whatever food tracking app you use, then adjust the rest of the day accordingly. At the end of the day, you stayed close or within your macros and overall calories, and you were still able to enjoy time out with friends.
2. The more you track, the less time you will need to spend tracking. As we track and measure out food, we get a better idea and understanding of portion sizes. The more familiar we become, the easier it is to eyeball your foods, rather than weigh them out specifically.
3. By allowing yourself to have variety in your foods, the less restricted you feel. In my experience, ANYONE who has severely restricted their foods, ends up with binging issues, yo-yo weight loss/gain, and an overall messed up relationship with food. Allowing yourself to have some freedom with your food options is going to be a big help in preventing this.
After going through some crazy food restrictions myself, and royally screwing up my relationship with food for awhile there, I set out to HELP people in the healthiest way possible. This means there likely will not be a ‘quick fix’ or instant results. That is because I want to help provide people with the best knowledge and the best tools to help themselves so they will see long term success. If you have questions, please feel free to reach out!
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