Your Very First Step To Changing Your Life

3001Fitness • Aug 19, 2019

There are a few reasons we don’t give out specific meal plans here at Core Principles that say “eat x amount of y at a certain time of the day”. One of them is without any background knowledge of what your current eating habits are like there is no way someone can provide you with a well-structured meal plan that you can follow.

 

If I were to do that I would simply be shooting in the dark and throwing together a random plan that does not take into account where a client is right now.

In terms of our nutrition coaching here at Core Principles, we have a few steps we must take in order to set our clients up for success and long-lasting results!

 

Today I want to talk about one of the first steps in the process that you can do right now that will provide you with a ton of valuable information.

 

Assess

 

There is a saying in the fitness industry “If you’re not assessing you’re guessing” I also find that to be 100 percent true when I am working with my with nutrition coaching clients.

 

When I get a new nutrition coaching client the first thing we do is sit down and discuss what is going on with their nutrition right now, what their goals are, and what roadblocks they see coming up in the future.

From there the next step in the process (which you can do right now at home!) is to simply record what their food intake looks like.

 

I will ask my clients to record what a normal day of eating looks like for them. I do not want them to change anything because they are recording now I just want to get some starting data to help build a little awareness.

 

Now there is a big misconception when I say record your food. Some people think that what I mean is that they must measure, weigh, and use an app such as Myfitnesspal to record their food.

 

Now, while this is one of the options my clients do use, it is not the only option they have and in no way the best option.

 

Two of the other options we talk about are old school pen and paper with a C.P. Daily Food Log , or taking pictures with your phone and using an app such as Google Keep.

 

It is super important that my clients understand that no one of these options is best, I simply want them to use what they feel will work best for them and what they will be most consistent with.

 

I also stress the importance of not only tracking what you eat but also where you are eating, what you are doing, any thoughts/emotions going through your head. All of that information is just as valuable as the actual food.

Evaluate

 

The next step in the process after you have collected some data for a few days is to take a step back and evaluate it. When I say evaluate I want to be clear that I don’t mean take a look at what you tracked and tear it all to pieces because you feel like everything is bad and you are hopeless.

 

Instead, I want you to look at it with a positive mindset and provide yourself with some constructive feedback.

Look for things you are doing well, look for things you think you can improve on, and look for any triggers that cause you to overeat, or snack, or crave some sweets. Remember that nutrition habits don’t only involve what we eat but how we eat, our emotions around eating, and triggers.

 

Allowing yourself to step back and take a look at what you are doing will give you a clear picture of your habits.

 

Maybe you notice that you could add a little more protein into your day.

 

Or that all that snaking in-between meals are really adding up.

 

Or when your boss drives you crazy your more likely to stop to get a big pizza on the way home from work.

 

Without tracking to look for patterns it is almost impossible to break the habits you have.

 

If you feel like you are struggling to figure out where to start with your nutrition I highly suggest starting with tracking your food for a few days. Let’s be real you are not going to track every single meal for the rest of your life and you don’t have too, but the more data you can collect and the longer you can do it the greater results you will have.

 

If you track your food and still do not know where to start, click HERE to book your free 20-minute laser coaching call with me (Pat) the head nutrition coach here at Core Principles.

 

If you have any questions call/text Pat @ 203-914-6396 or send an email to pat@coreprinciples-sc.com

 

-Coach Pat

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