Hi guys, Kris from Custom Fitness here, your Amarillo personal trainer. Today we’re going to be talking about why meal plans are a disservice to your efforts. If you have any questions about today’s blog, then please give us a call at (806)-322-3188
So, a lot of times people walk into the idea of wanting to change their body and health and want a meal plan to go along. The problem with that is typically, whenever they come in looking for something like that, it’s because they don’t know what to do on their own. They feel like they have been given way too much information, or that they don’t have enough information. They feel like they don’t know what to do, where to go, where to turn to, and that can be frustrating. Sometimes people just want exact instructions to follow.
So, there are three big reasons for why meal plans don’t work. And before we get into that I wanted to mention that in the state of Texas you have to be a registered dietitian in order to delve out a meal plan to someone. And so most nutritionists in the area can’t really give you that same level, but they don’t really need to. Because, again, there is three reason that meal plans don’t really work. They were created more for a medical type issue. So if you have medical issues that need to be address, then that might be a better way to go. However, in the general population, when you’re just looking at new ways to live and eat healthier, what do you do?
So you get that meal plan and problem number one is that it has foods that are not common to you. They may seem odd or be foods that you just have an aversion to. Everyone has different food preferences, and so once you get that meal plan, what happens psychologically is if it has those foods on there that you really have an aversion to or you really aren’t comfortable with the idea of, then the first thing that your brain does is shut down and says that there is no way you are going to eat that.
So now you’re bargaining with yourself, you’ll eat day five but not day six, and maybe it will be okay if you skip day three if you’re good about day four… And now you have lost the motivation to do what you were going to do in the first place just because the meal plan had things in there that you weren’t comfortable with. You’re not used to cooking it or you don’t have it in the fridge and you honestly can’t think about dealing with it. That is where the problem comes in with a lot of cookbooks. A lot of the time there is those couple of ingredients that you don’t like, don’t know if you like, or just don’t even know where you could find it. So you want to keep things simple and make sure that it’s foods that you know.
The second thing is that most meal plans are not maintainable. They are just way too strict. They’ll give you a seven to fourteen day meal plan and you just keep repeating that over and over again, and it work for a little while, but eventually you are going to get tired of eating that same things over and over again.
That leads us into our third thing: meal plans don’t teach you how to put your foods together. Now that is a great big problem. So maybe this old meal plan you has helped you to lose weight or put on muscle, and all of the sudden you are tired of this meal plan and you can’t go get a new one, so you want to put one together for yourself. The problem comes in when you don’t have those pieces to put together as far as education goes.
So those are the three big reasons why meal plans can be a huge disservice to your efforts. And all of the time I have people that come in to us and ask for a meal plan. So what we have to do is educate the client on those reasons why we don’t give meal plans. We can give you sample ideas of what other people have eaten in same situation, recipes, those kinds of things. We give you ideas on how to put your meals together and start to teach you how to put your meals together in a way that works for your body. Because not everybody’s body reacts the same way.
So those are some things to keep in mind when you’re looking at changing your health and changing your life. Make sure that what you’re doing is worth your time, worth your money, and that you are learning something from it. Because whether it is a supplement plan, a meal plan, whatever it may be, eventually you may decide that you want to try it on your own. If you are going at it on your own, you better have learned the tools at that point that you need to be able to succeed.
So, if you are wanting the accountability and help with creating an action plan to see results, or are wanting to someone to help create a workout plan to push you to your greatest potential, then that’s what we’re here for. We work with our clients not just on fitness, but also nutrition. We will help you navigate the nutrition aspect of health so that you will be able to feel comfortable knowing what to do. What we do is we will ensure that you are supported throughout every aspect of your health and wellness journey, and that includes making those eating changes.
We have an entire team of dedicated professionals to help you with your health and fitness goals. To get your consultation set up, give us a call at 806-322-3188 or email us at info@customfitness.biz At Custom Fitness, we are YOUR personal trainers in Amarillo, Texas. Have a great day.