MEAL PLANS DON’T WORK, AND HERE’S WHY…
Here at KLN, we don’t do meal plans.
Each of our new clients receives a meal template - a planned day of meals and snacks that meets their food and meal timing preferences and hits their macro targets spot on - but it’s not a meal plan. The meal template is a helpful example, especially for those new to flexible nutrition, but it’s not meant to be followed forever.
RULES, RESTRICTIONS, AND STRICT MEAL PLANS ARE UNSUSTAINABLE, AND SUSTAINABILITY IS WHAT MAKES A SUCCESSFUL DIET.
There are two reasons I dislike meal plans:
Because I get dozens of messages a week asking if I make meal plans, and people get upset when I say I don’t.
Because meal plans are unsustainable.
Following a meal plan typically looks a little something like this:
You read over your meal plan, thinking that the food looks pretty good and you can definitely follow it all week, no problem. You head to the grocery store and get a little anxious trying to make sure you’re getting the exact matching ingredients from your grocery list (“it says brown rice, but is white rice ok!?”). You head back home and prep your meals. A few hours later you have a full week of meals laid out in front of you. It’s great, because it means no brain power focusing on food choices for the rest of the week!
Mid-week you’re feeling a little burnt out on chicken and broccoli, but you know you can power through until the weekend.
Then, one night your friend wants to order takeout together, or your partner wants to cook a celebratory dinner, or you want to celebrate your kid’s birthday with cake and ice cream, and you think “now what?”
A meal plan doesn’t give you an alternative when it’s girls night, when you’re out for drinks after work, or when you’re on the road with your family.
MOST OF ALL, A MEAL PLAN DOESN’T TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THAT LIFE IS CHAOTIC AND CONSTANTLY CHANGING.
We are not meant to eat the same thing every day with no opportunity for flexibility when social events or family meals arise. That is what makes meal plans, and any restrictive diets for that matter, unsustainable.
No strict meal plan is conducive to a life when you have a work lunch to enjoy, when you want to spend a weekend with family, or when you want to have drinks with friends (even if it’s a virtual cocktail party for now) - because you either have to follow a restrictive plan or feel totally off the rails.
INSTEAD OF FOLLOWING A MEAL PLAN, LEARN TO PLAN YOUR MEALS.
Like our meal templates for new clients, an example meal template can be really helpful at first. But if you take a closer look at almost any meal plan, you’ll realize that most of them follow a similar pattern.
They are not random combinations of food, but balanced plates generally based on an identifiable protein + fat + carb source.
There is so much power in understanding our food.
It allows us the knowledge and awareness to make the best choices for our goals regardless of our situation - whether we’re at home or ordering takeout - and that is what is sustainable.
SOME EXAMPLES OF BALANCED MEALS:
Breakfast: Overnight oats with oatmeal (carbs) + protein powder or collagen (protein) + peanut butter (fat)
Snack: greek yogurt (protein) + granola (fat and carbs) + berries (carbs)
Lunch: Dave’s Killer Goodseed bread (carbs) + turkey (protein) + cheese and condiments (fat) with a side of carrots and cottage cheese.
Snack: RX Bar (protein + carbs + fat)
Dinner: Skillet meal of chicken thigh (protein) + squash and brussel sprouts (carbs) + bacon (fat)
Learn more about Flexible Nutrition and how meeting your fat loss, performance, and health goals doesn’t require meal plans or misery.