24 Mar How To Make Healthy Eating A Part Of Your Lifestyle
Life. It’s a beautiful thing. But it seems to always get in the way of healthy eating.
Lets start with a look at the 2016 holidays:
- MLK Day – Jan 18th
- Mardi Gras -Early February
- Valentines Day – Feb 14th
- St. Patricks Day – March 17th
- Spring Break – Mid to late March
- Easter – Late March/Early April
- Tax Day – April 15th (A little extra wine around this time of the year)
- Cinco De Mayo – May 5th
- Mother’s Day – May 8th
- Memorial Day – Late May
- Father’s Day – June 19th
- 4th of July – July 4th
- Labor Day – Early Sep
- Halloween – October 31st
- Thanksgiving – Late November
- Christmas – December 25th
- New Years Eve – 12/31
That’s 17 different holidays, and there’s a lot I didn’t include. So take that number and add:
- Your friends and families birthdays
- Your friends and families wedding and newborn events
- Work parties/events
- Checking out that cool new restaurant
- Concerts/events/OMG I can’t miss this for the world type stuff…
And here’s the conclusion:
There will be something every week that will make healthy eating challenging
So what’s the solution?
Well luckily, wedon’t have to be perfect year round.
BUT, we do have to have a plan and a mentality that prevents excessive poor choices.
Don’t have a nutrition plan? Start with our blog post called “Clean Eating vs Eating For A Goal.”
Once you have a nutrition plan in place, you have to make it convenient to execute. That’s where making a weekly meal plan and cooking food once or twice a week is so important.
Start with cooking all of your protein (meat and fish) the first week. Then add the veggies the next week. Followed by the right amount of healthy carbs. And so on.
In time you’ll get more and more refined with your system and you’ll improve your cooking skills which will make you appreciate your food even more.
Once that’s in place, 80 or 90% of your meals should make eating healthy mindless.
So how much can you play and maintain looking and feeling great?
That varies for each person, but typically 1-3 meals a week shouldn’t change much, and may in fact help (depending on your nutrition plan).
4-6 meals a week off will probably put you in maintenance mode and more could lead to sliding backwards.
Now if you’re just starting out don’t stress yourself out if you have 1 bad meal. Just focus on the habits of meal prepping and making smarter choices until 80-90% every week is the new norm.
And 1 more thing:
If you’re going to have a cheat meal, don’t be an idiot with your portions.
If your family is like mine, then you’re tempted with somedamn good food and it means a lot to them if everyone tries their new desert or dish. Sometimes I take a bite. Other times I just say “no thank you.”
In fact, I’d recommend trying a couple things occasionally, but I always keep the portions small. But for heaven sakes, just don’t smash a piece of cheesecake, half a pizza and a milkshake and wonder why you gained 5 lbs this weekend.
If you do make a few bad choices, hey, it is what it is.
Just start fresh at your next meal and get refocused.
But never forget that consistency is the key.
So think ahead and plan your cheat meals. Then stick to your plan 52 weeks a year with the understanding that some weeks will be better than others, but it’s the sum of them all that make you look and perform the way you do.
If you need help with nutrition coaching or your training program check out one of those links or click ‘Request More Information” below.
