Tag Archive for: meal plans

Your Body is Not a Calculator

How many servings of grains should I eat each day? How about protein, fruit, veggies, and fat? These are questions I used to get all the time when I created meal plans for clients.

 

That was back in the day when I was doing weight loss counseling (cringe!). The meal plans I created always “worked” for clients if they “followed” them to a T. But the problem was, they were not able to follow them exactly because they had a life to live. They had birthday parties to go to, vacations to go on, business dinners to attend. And once they felt like they couldn’t “stick” to the plan, they started making choices that didn’t honor their health.

 

Of course, we know what followed. Guilt, shame, feelings of disappointment and frustration. Then back on the meal plan, only for history to repeat itself.

 

Energy In = Energy Out

 

When I was in school, I learned about energy in = energy out. And in order to lose weight, you had to take in 500 less calories per day, or expend 500 extra calories per day, to lose 1 pound per week. Nutrition science has come a long way since I was in school.

 

In those early days of counseling, this is how I calculated weight loss meal plans for clients. I first calculated how much energy (aka calories) one needed to take in to maintain current weight. I then subtracted 500 calories and created a meal plan. I encouraged exercise to expend even more energy, this way my client would lose even more weight.

 

The problem with this is that THE BODY IS NOT A CALCULATOR.

 

This formula doesn’t work like this in real life. There are many factors that affect how you absorb the calories that you eat such as medications you might be on, medical conditions/diseases that you might have, your genetic makeup and the bacteria in your intestines to name a few.

 

You cannot manipulate this energy equation by eating less or exercising more to promote weight loss.

 

Once I realized this, I stopped calculating precise meal plans for clients.

 

2 Variables that Affect Your Body Weight

 

Manipulating your energy input and output isn’t going to help you achieve the body you want. But there are certain variables that will affect your body weight that are often NOT addressed. These are:

 

  1. Stress: Do you live in a chronically stressed state? If yes, then your stress hormones (specifically cortisol) are streaming through your body wreaking havoc on your physical, behavioral and emotional health. Perhaps it’s time to figure out what is stressing you out and work on de-stressing with some tried and true stress management techniques such as meditation, yoga, deep breathing, etc. Learn more here!

 

  1. Sleep: Do you get enough sleep each night? There is no magic number but there are enough studies that show that most people need between 7-8 hours of solid sleep. Here’s a hint: If you wake up the next morning yawning, you are not getting restorative sleep. Perhaps it’s time to put a sleep program into place.

 

What About Food/Nutrition and Exercise?

 

You might think because I teach intuitive eating, that I don’t regard nutrition and exercise. This is NOT TRUE! What you put into your body and the movement you do (or don’t do) each day has an important impact on how you feel.

 

The way that I encourage my clients to address food/nutrition and exercise is through a gentle lens. Only when they have rid themselves of the diet mentality can they move into this final step of their intuitive eating journey. And that goes for you too.

 

If you are still counting calories and watching the calorie counter on the treadmill in the gym, then you are not yet ready for gentle nutrition and movement. But if you have given up the calorie counting and watching and have regained the trust in your body to guide your eating, then by all means it’s time to start taking a closer look at the foods you are choosing and the movement you are doing (more on this in a future post!)

 

Final Thoughts

If you are still convinced that watching every calorie you eat is going to make a difference in your body weight, then please show some compassion for yourself. It’s okay, you are surrounded by a culture that has us believing this and I truly know that it’s hard to move away from it (take it from someone who used to calorie count…me!).

 

With time, you will learn to make smart eating choices from a place of self-care. In the meantime, if you need support, you can always reach out to me here!

Is Structuring My Meals Still Dieting?

This week’s Intuitive Eating Wednesday Question is:

Is it okay to have some structure around intuitive eating? Like having a basic plan to go by, with suggestions of what to eat, especially when you’re new to intuitive eating.”

 

This is such a common question, and I’m sure you have been wondering the same thing. It all comes down to 2 questions.

 

  1. What do you mean by having “structure”?
  2. Do you still possess a diet mentality?

 

Let’s tackle question number one first.

 

The definition of the word ‘structure’ according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary is:

“something arranged in a definite pattern of organization.”

 

Arranging your eating pattern for the day into meals plus ‘as needed’ snacks would be putting a structure to your eating pattern. It’s basically laying down some guidelines for yourself so you have a basic idea of what you will eat for that particular day. As long as these are foods that you love and feel good in your body, then what you are doing is planning. And my motto is:

 

 

You plan vacations, you plan your children’s activities, and you plan work tasks. You plan many different areas of your life. Why wouldn’t you plan your meals?

 

However, if you break out in hives because your plan does not pan out, and you have difficulty being flexible with it, then this meal plan structure is just another diet.

 

Which leads me to question number two.

 

Do you possess a diet mentality?

 

As stated above, if the meal plan structure you’ve created for yourself leads you to feel deprived of foods you didn’t include in your plan because you think they aren’t “nutritious” for you, and this leads to overeating or bingeing on these foods when you “just can’t take it anymore”, then this structure is doing you more harm than good.

 

This is why the first step on your intuitive eating journey must be shifting your mindset. It requires you to acknowledge all the damage that dieting has done, biologically, health wise, psychologically and emotionally! And not just acknowledge it. Really get down deep to understand why you will never ever diet again. This step takes time. You must not rush it.

 

Is it scary to no longer diet, and not have a meal plan to guide your eating?

 

Absolutely. I’m not saying stop dieting and stop paying attention to what you put into your mouth. I’m saying to throw away the diet rules and relax your eating. Eat your meals, and choose foods that feel good in your body because your body needs the nutrition and the energy it gets from food.

 

It’s okay to plan, but be conscious that the planning does not become dieting.

 

Let’s discuss this further on today’s Facebook LIVE at 1:30 pm EST on my Facebook business page HERE. LIKE the page now so you get notification when I go live.

 

If you are reading this after we went live, just head on over to the FB page and you’ll find the replay under Videos. I’d love to hear your thoughts, comments and questions.