Is a diet plan for you?
This may shock a lot of you to read this, but one thing I have learned in my 10 + years of experience in health and fitness is that unfortunately, diet plans usually don’t work. Lots of people looking to improve their daily eating think diet plans are the answer. The only problem with that is that the motivation needed to stick to a diet plan rarely lasts long enough to see the desired change. “Do I get a meal plan?” is the most common question I get from people who are considering, or just starting out in my nutrition coaching programme. The answer: I very, very rarely do meal plans for my clients. Sure, sometimes a specific diet plan is necessary e.g. professional athletes or bodybuilders who make money off their bodies and athletic skills, but 99% of us (and probably you reading this) honestly don’t need that level of surgical precision to achieve your goals.
They can cause you to:
Feel overwhelmed
Feel anxious
Feel guilty
Fall off the wagon
Feel obsessive and compulsive about food
Meal plans have long been a staple of the fitness and nutrition industry, especially in the instant gratification, automated age that we live in today. Clients expect them, ignoring the fact that it hasn’t worked for them in the past (or they wouldn’t need nutritional guidance) and unfortunately a vast majority of the time, they haven’t worked for others either. Traditional meal plans are rigid, unwavering prescriptions “eat this exact thing, in this exact amount, at this exact time!”, and when receiving this, you may be thinking, “Good! I want a plan. I’m sick of trying to figure all this stuff out! Just tell me what to eat!” Unfortunately, when we try to follow rigid protocols such as this, lots can (and often does) go wrong.
Problem 1: You just don’t stick to the plan.
No matter how enthusiastic you are, meal plans can be a lot tougher to follow than people realise. Life can quite easily get in the way; people get busy, kids get sick, it’s always someone’s leaving do or birthday. You may even find yourself rebelling against it in subtle (or not-so-subtle) ways which is normal, and something I have experienced many times in my career.
It may just not be sustainable. It doesn’t make you feel better and messes with your sanity. Eventually (or sooner than you may think) you hate living and eating this way. You never want to see another gram of broccoli or plain chicken again.
Eventually, you get so turned off by the process that you regress or quit altogether. You conclude that “eating healthy” sucks and you miss your chance to learn how to make healthier, more enjoyable, lasting changes.
Problem 2: You follow the plan perfectly. In fact, you follow it too well and for too long. Most meal plans are meant to be temporary, they’re designed to help a person get to a specific short-term goal, and if you’re too strict for too long you could wind up with disordered eating habits and lasting health (mental, metabolic, hormonal, etc.) consequences.
If you want to eat better, you don’t have to get weird about it, and you don’t need to weigh and measure every single thing that you put in your mouth. Start small, you just need to think about how you eat now, and what small changes you could implement to make it a little bit better, one step at a time. Start to think about factors such as:
adding protein
adding veggies and fruits
eating less processed food
eating more nutrient-dense, whole foods
drinking less alcohol or fewer sweet drinks
drinking more water
eating in a calmer, more relaxed setting
eating more slowly and mindfully
Don’t try to do all these at once, add things slowly. Start with one or two and see which ones work best for you, and once you’ve improved one meal a day, try another. Be patient, small changes add up in the long run.
Let’s say that your go-to breakfast is a whipped-cream coffee drink and an almond croissant which you wolf down on your way to work. You’re getting indigestion from rushing, and have an energy crash by mid morning, leading you to snack on whatever you can get your hands on in the office. To reroute this routine, you could begin by:
Replacing the croissant with a whole grain muffin.
Getting a regular coffee with a single cream and sugar.
Grabbing a yogurt on your way out of the house for a bit of protein.
A small but solid start. After this, you may now:
Switch the muffin to granola with Greek yogurt.
Switch the cream in your coffee for oat milk.
Add a piece of fruit.
Following these slow and steady steps, this may evolve into:
Setting aside a little extra time to calmly and mindfully enjoy your breakfast.
Prepping an omelette with veggies and fruit.
A black coffee with a tall glass of lemon water.
This is not about perfection. Living a fit and healthy life doesn’t require perfection. It is about being reasonable with where you are and what changes you can make right now.
Preparation is key. Planning and preparing healthy food in advance makes healthy eating convenient and easy, so experiment with systems, skills and strategies that work for you and your life. Fit and healthy people who have a good relationship with food don’t need other people to tell them exactly what to eat at all times.
Some people however, do enjoy and thrive using using a meal plan and that is absolutely fine. Some people like prescription, especially if they are working towards a specific short-term goal, like cutting weight for sport or training for a marathon. The key word here is “short”. Keep it short-lived, as meal plans are supposed to be temporary. You should try to make the meal plan fit your life, not the other way around, but also be aware that all goals require trade-offs. If you want to achieve a high level of performance or exceptional body composition, understand what you are prioritizing and sacrificing.
The goal in all of this is to help yourself intuitively and wisely make better choices, rather than just blindly following rules in a world with so much diversity and variety.
Think long-term. What do you want to happen over the next few months? Year? 10 years? Do you want to be on a meal plan for the next few decades? Remember, the real purpose of a meal plan should be to stop using a meal plan. Take control, your future self will thank you.