Meal Planning:  Sounds so simple, doesn’t it?

Well for about 2 percent of the population that’s actually true, for the rest of us, that’s not quite the case!  In response to both the lack of knowledge and  the lack of discipline that most of us suffer from many companies have come along to make the job easier for you.  The diet industry is a multi-billion dollar industry and yet the average success rate that people have on just about all of these diets is less than 5 percent.  Success being defined as losing healthy weight and then keeping it off for any period of time over 2 years.  Some focus on restricting certain food groups, some focus on making all of your meals for you, and many have you taking a variety of supplements to stay healthy while you essentially starve yourself!  Well, there are reasons why all of these diets fail and we have a great video on the homepage of our website that walks you through Weight Management 101 without all the half-truths and misleading information you’re contantly bombarded with.

We’ve all heard the expression, “knowledge is power” which is certainly true, but knowledge by itself is pretty much useless unless it then translates into taking action.  The truth is that it doesn’t take rocket science to eat well or to be fit but as opposed to just focusing on the fundamentals and consistently doing them, we keep looking for magic pills, injections, gadgets, and gurus to help us do what we already know how to do!  This is why at XCELFIT we focus on equipping our clients with the fundamentals of good eating and exercise and then provide systems that encourage, challenge and teach our clients how to transform their lives for sustained success.

The first thing you need for proper meal planning is knowledge – the knowledge of what a healthy breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks would look like.  That knowledge includes, 1) how many calories/what size meals are appropriate for you given body composition and activity levels; 2) the various levels of vitamins, minerals, and other essential nutrients that you need to maintain optimum health; 3) variations for your meals – what proteins, fats and carbohydrates can you substitute so as not to end up eating the same boring food every meal; 4) basic information on what supplements are worth the time and money you spend on them; 5) a basic system to help you stay encouraged and accountable for making the lifestyle changes that will lead to a lifetime of healthier eating.  There are other components but enough for now!

A topic for a future post will get into the other key ingredient of lasting lifestyle changes – the psychology of change – but today’s post is meant to  deal with Meal Planning.  After you’ve watched the Weight Management 101 video take a few moments to look at our On-Line Meal Planning tool.  This planner provides incredible help for making meal plans, making sure you’re getting all the nutrients you need to stay healthy, and even helps with making grocery shopping lists once you’ve made up your meal plans.  Go here to view the demo.