Benefits associated with following a meal plan

August 25th, 2014 by

There is always a person who will say, “meal plans are so strict” or “I can’t eat the same thing every day” or “how am I supposed to eat so much/so little” or some type of comment that already reinforces some negative idea about meal plans, weighing food, meal prep.

I want to put to rest some of those ideas and fears associates with meal plans.

#1: Meal plans are a tool of measurement.

-(In the context of fat loss for the sake of this bullet point) What this means is simple; if you do not track your calories, especially when the goal is fat loss, you have no hard numbers to go by and measure. If you can’t measure, you can’t accurately assess. If you cannot accurately assess, you cannot make adjustments to eat more or less. If you cannot make adjustments accurately, you cannot be mad at the results (or lack thereof). While LBC does not specifically follow an IIFYM approach (for reasons that have been previously posted) to flexible dieting, we do promote and believe in a flexible dieting approach to health, wellness, fat loss, muscle building and anything in between as the best way to be successful long term. This leads me to point #2…

#2: The majority of one’s plan is ideally composed primarily of single-ingredient whole foods.

-The beauty of having the flexibility to adjust your own meal plans by way of substitutions (we do it via the LBC Food Substitution Calculator which is an app available for both iPhone and Android platforms) is simple; adequate amount of protein/fats/carbs, goal-dependent, person-dependent, health-dependent, culture-dependent so on and so forth … see what I’m getting at here? It is COMPLETELY individual especially for individual goals; variety is up to the individual. No one is saying you have to sit and eat tilapia, sweet potato, and asparagus all day every day. You don’t! That sucks. Period. It is simply about being a bit more conscious with how MUCH you eat more so than what you eat as calories at the end of the day is the driver of your goal.

I will use myself as an example: My last meal of the day is chicken breast and brown rice. I am personally a picky eater so this meal doesn’t bother me. Ask any of the coaches; they think I’m weird because I seriously dislike cheese. A LOT. lol. Back to the point. I usually have no problem using McCormick seasoning on my chicken and rice. It’s actually real good but one night I wanted General Tso’s chicken. I had the sauce and I wanted to remain on-plan. What did I do? Well, the sauce is a primary carb source. I knew that to stay in my caloric range I had to make a small sub. I looked at the serving size of the sauce, subtracted enough rice that allowed for one serving of the sauce, put it all in a wok with a cup of broccoli and vio-la, General Tso’s chicken.

Single ingredients are just that. Have a look on the Curls & Whey page especially for some solid recipes. You don’t need to feel restricted. You just need to open your mind to creativity.

#3: The secret to success isn’t a secret.

-The equation for a successful body transformation: (Strength Training x Creating Better Habits) + (Eating Enough Food x Creating Better Habits) = Success.