I was listening to a podcast where Jill Coleman of Jill Fit was the guest. Jill was talking about her approach to coaching her clients on nutrition, specifically when people get a little impatient with their results.
We all want what we want and we want it yesterday.
Patience is a hard thing to master, especially when you hear about people losing 30 pounds in 30 days, doing these crazy diets and getting crazy results.
Why isn’t that happening for me? What am I doing wrong?
When it comes to nutrition, you can never look at what someone else is doing. What works for me, or Emily, or any of your fellow training clients, will probably not work for you. I would bet there’s one thing that needs to be different, at least.
Maybe you eat more carbs than the person training next to you. Maybe you need more protein to keep you full. Maybe you need 9 hours of sleep when they need 7.
There are so many variables. That’s why when people come to us and say “just tell me what to eat” that becomes a dangerous zone. We could “tell” you what to eat, but then what happens when you decide you want to eat something different that day?
Either you are paralyzed by too many choices or you are simply not educated enough on what your body needs to make a different decision other than what’s on your meal plan of the day.
Nutrition is a science but it’s not an exact science. That answer pisses people off too. There’s no worse answer that “it depends.”
But it DOES depend.
I want to give you three things that you can do right now to start the process of exploration with your own thoughts, feelings and reactions to your current nutrition plan. Do this before you even start changing your calories or macronutrients.
First, gauge your hunger.
When are you hungry?
Are you actually hungry or is it boredom or stress?
Second, gauge your cravings.
When do you feel the cravings coming on?
Are they stress related?
Are you craving sugar when you’re tired?
Third, gauge your energy.
When do you feel energized?
When do you feel dips in your energy levels?
Do certain foods make you feel energized and do some make you feel sluggish?
These three questions are a great starting point because they will help you manage your emotions around food as well.
If you can answer that your hunger is in check, your cravings are under control and you have balanced energy, then you can start looking at what you might want to change in terms of calories and macros. Do these first and do them often. You’ll also find some answers about how you deal with your daily lifestyle and stress.
Hunger, Cravings, Energy.
Let me know what you find out after about a week. I’d love to hear your results!