#Lesson 1/Part 2: Nutrition and Food

Small step to transform your own meal plan

When going through a body transformation most people ask for a meal plan or expecting to get one. My question is would you be able to follow it diligently? With your hectic work schedule, family commitments and so on.

Traditionally meal plans are given by personal trainers and coaches in the health and fitness industry. There’s nothing wrong, meal plans do work.

A typical meal plan example looks like this:

Breakfast – 7.30am

3 eggs scrambled

1 cup mixed berries

1 slice whole grain toast

1 cup of black coffee

Morning snack – 10am

1 Protein bar

1 handful mixed nuts

Lunch – 12.30pm

4oz chicken breast

2 cup salad

1 cup of rice

1 glass of water

Afternoon snack – 3.30pm

1 scope of whey protein

1 banana

Dinner – 7pm

4 oz of steak

1 cup veggies

1 baked sweet potato

1 glass of water

Clients might expect to get a meal plan. Tell me what I’m going to eat, and I will follow. Sure, but when we try to follow a meal plan like this, often time things go wrong.  

And here’s why,

1. You just don’t stick to the plan.

At the beginning of your transformation, you are excited and enthusiastic. Truth is meal plans can be tough to follow. And that’s perfectly fine. We are not robot, we are humans. Life gets in our way.

• People gets busy
• We’re not always prepared
• Kids gets sick
• Bosses expect you to work late
• It’s always someone’s birthday
• Special occasions, holiday trips, friends/relative gathering on a weekend
• Business trips, events, social gatherings
• Sometimes you just don’t feel like drinking your whey protein

And the list goes on. Sometimes you might find yourself subtly rebelling against it. Does all these resonate? Well, this is completely normal.

2. You follow it too well, too perfect.

You follow the plan too well and for too long. In fact, most meal plans are meant to be temporary (short-term goal). People who want a specific short-term goal to help them drop a few more pounds before a photoshoot, a wedding, cutting weight for a show or athletic competitions. Usually, our body adapts to this meal plan for a short period of time.

But if you follow for too long, you could end up with disorder eating habits, mental, metabolic, lasting health consequences

3. You follow it for too long.

You felt sick, it doesn’t make you sane. It’s no longer sustainable and it’s unenjoyable. Maybe you saw some short-term results at the beginning and stick to it but as time goes by, your weigh increases and sometimes dips and then it plateaus.

You hate eating and living this way and eventually you quit. Eating healthy sucks! Sometimes you felt:

• Overwhelmed
• Anxious
• Guilty
• Negative emotions
• Restricting foods and food groups
• Getting obsessive and compulsive about food

Then stop it!

Meals plans works really well for professional athletes and bodybuilders who make money off their bodies and athletic skills. They follow a strict meal plan to prepare for training and competition. Are you one of them? Are you getting paid for doing this? 

Most of us are not and we do not need to weigh and measure everything or count calories to the point.

You just need to make small changes and improvements to what you are normally eating and enjoy it. One small change at a time. Remember transformation takes time and it’s a process not a destination.

Introducing Your Meal Transformation

Think about food spectrum or food continuum you get to experiment and ask yourself,

• What you eat and
• What you eat it

How can you make this meal a little better in every situation? In each situation which is easier or harder?

When you have limited choices. For example, when you are travelling, or you are eating out. How can you eat a little a bit better and still be realistic? Without being too perfect.

Stage 1: Let’s start with breakfast using food spectrum and how it might look like in your daily life. Your daily breakfast starts with a cup of coffee added condensed milk, toast bread and eggs. You are in a rush, and you eat on the way to work. It doesn’t work well anymore, you felt bloated or indigestion. You are always in a rush. Now you will aim to improve your breakfast a little bit better, starting with what you have been doing.

Stage 2: Your small change in meal transformation, you might replace your toast bread to whole grain bread. Replace condensed milk to single cream and stevia and get a cup of yoghurt for some protein. You are still busy and rushing for work.

Stage 3: Now you are ready to bring up a little notch. You switch to granola with Greek yoghurt or cottage cheese. Now you switch the cream to milk in your coffee or black coffee and you add some fruits. You are not eating in a rush or on your way to work. However, you are on your laptop while eating.

Stage 4: Now you are ready to take another step further. You have set sometime aside to sit down and enjoy your breakfast without being rush. You have managed to prepare yourself an egg with veggies in advance. Replace coffee with tea because you realised you had too much coffee and it gives you jittery. Now a bowl of mixed fruits and you start to drink more water through the day.

Well done!

You see meal plan or transformation need not to be drastic change and perfect. We all start from somewhere, if you are at stage 1, aim for stage 2 and gradually work your way up. How far you progress depend on you! What you want, what you need and how realistic can you do, right now.

Change takes time, effort and most importantly be patience! Have a food prep journal or routine. Practice planning and preparing meals in advance. It will help you make better decision when you are in a rush.

Your food prep planning includes:

• Groceries
• Menu and meal planning
• Washing, chopping and cooking meal
• Cook in bulk
• Sorting foods that you need in container for easy cooking
• Plan ahead for your busy week, travelling etc.

All goals require trade off and sacrifices. If you want to achieve the highest level of athletic performance or amazing body transformation, then you need to know your priorities. See you on next Lesson 1/Part 3: Nutrition and Food.

Credits: Precision Nutrition

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