This is where the real work begins and the true results begin to show. A 4-week Nutrition Challenge is the warm-up for the next few months or years for those who really want to change their nutrition habits and see long lasting results. The first month (4-week challenge) helps you experience some pretty cool changes (i.e. some weight loss, eat less junk, drink less caffeine, sleep better, and less bloating). But there are far more better results waiting for you over time.
Think of the process in stages, just like your workout routine. The first month you start working out, you are very sore and is very tough to do but see and feel some small changes that make you happy. Then after a few months you start moving better and faster because your mind and body begins to understand what makes you feel good. Then beyond month 3 or 4, your good habits become part of your daily life and you are looking leaner, lifting more weight, or running faster than before. It’s like CrossFit, it gets easier after months of consistency, patience, and guidance. So why do so many of us fall short so many times with our nutrition?
Food is very personal to us all and we are attached to it for various reasons (childhood memories, tastes, convenience, price, etc.) This is why it does take time to change your bad habits for better ones and involve more PATIENCE to change, but they will bring you better results. A great way to approach your nutrition goals is this way; If it took you months or years to get to your current weight, it will take you just as long to lose the weight SAFELY. There are fad diets out to help you lose weight quickly, but will it TEACH you to keep it off?
This is where a “Behavior Based” approached nutrition plan is easier to adhere to. We work with everyone on an individual bases depending on goals and what you like and don’t like eating. Not everyone eats vegetables, or breakfast, or likes meat, or eats 4-5 times per day, or knows how to cook. For these reasons we need to form and change YOUR habits slowly when you are ready to accept them and not before. It would be easier but not affective to give everyone the same menu, portion sizes, and tips to follow but nutrition is not a “One Size Fits All” kind of thing.
You will fall short on some days or even weeks and go back to your old ways of eating, but that is normal and expected with change. This is where Nutrition Coaching comes in to help you understand the how, who, where, and why and help correct your behavior to guide you back towards your goals. Meeting with someone twice per month or more is needed to help hold you ACCOUNTABLE of your actions.
PATIENCE, SAFELY, TEACH, and ACCOUNTABILITY are actions that are needed to help you change your nutrition habits. The Italian proverb states:
Teach him how to fish and you feed him for his lifetime. -Anna Isabella
Learn to eat healthy and eat healthy for the rest of your life.
We are all going to have to pay for our nutrition choices one way or another. Option 1; create better habits, choose quality food, and make informed choices in your younger years. Option 2; do nothing about your poor eating habits for the next few years and pay for medication to control diseases caused by poor nutrition choices in your later years (Diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol). The choice is yours. So, how can we help?
-Coach Anthony
