In this short article I will share with you how I help individual clients with their nutrition by creating a customized clean eating meal plan. education, guidance and accountability to help them achieve their goals.
When I work with a client the first thing I do is REALLY get to know them. It’s important for me to understand the wants and desires as well as apprehensions and limitations of each client. First, I need to know what you have done and what your goals are. If you are someone who has tried 27 different diets and feels nervous about cutting out foods, I don’t want to try any of those things or make you feel like you should be punished for eating a banana. I also need to know if your goal is to be able to run three times a week while losing belly fat because we need to fuel you to run those distances, well, and set you up with realistic expectations.
When we talk about goals, we also need to talk about WHY those goals are important to you. If you tell me you want to lose 20 pounds because you just want to, that isn’t enough. We need to get to the bottom of why, like perhaps you want to lose 20 pounds because you always feel tired and left behind because of that, or that you want to lose it because you feel so incredibly insecure about your body you shy away from going out to do things with your friends and that makes you sad.
We need to talk about these things because there are going to be days you are not going to want to meal prep and days you are going to want to just order pizza for dinner and so when we can really draw upon what we truly want, we can find motivation in those things. But you have to really understand those things to remain motivated even during tough times.
Once I get to know each woman I work with and truly get to understand her goals, we look at what can be fixed first. If someone skips most meals and raids the fridge until she comes home and usually makes poor choices at that point, we may try to add in a snack prior to coming home so she can make better choices. Perhaps an apple and a protein shake can subside the hunger long enough to skip the TV dinner and make some shrimp and sautéed veggies. Or perhaps if the client drinks every single night, we see if we can get her to enjoy a tea or seltzer water in lieu of alcohol every night and just save that for a few nights a week.
If a new client goes through the drive through for a sugary coffee and bagel every morning, gets Subway sugar-laden bread and low quality meat product and chips for lunch, then comes home and gets Chinese take out or makes Hamburger Helper, then munches on Goldfish in front of the tv every night, we are going to look for simple swaps. I do not want any client doing a 180 in terms of their nutrition, because those 180’s always lead to 360’s, in my experience.
I like to look at the big rocks. What are the first things we can make a small change to that will get the biggest results, then go from there. If someone never touches a vegetable and eats a lot of fried food, those are easy things to tweak. I don’t want that person going from fast food to counting macros in a day.. a week.. or even a month!
Once we nail down the big rocks then and ONLY then would we begin making the small tweaks like counting macros, timing or cycling carbs, etc. I never want my clients to feel restricted. I never want them to feel overwhelmed.
I want them to feel confident which is part of why I work so hard to educate my clients. I give them the background and information of WHY certain foods aren’t great choices and why others are, so in the end, they can choose their own meals without talking to me first. I don’t want them to rely on me.. I want them to understand what works for their bodies and goals.
If you are ready for this approach to helping you with your diet, let’s work together! Go to commit2fitcoaching.com to learn more about my 1:1 program and join!
Your Coach,
Kyra
P.S. I do not do one-off or one-size-fits-all meal plans because you are an individual and you need something tailored to you and this program is where I offer that.