Here I will discuss some more nutrition and health tips that can help you prepare for this upcoming year ahead. These tips can help you lose weight, tone up, and build muscle. These steps will help you get started to create your own meal plan.
It is important we have a good balance of Proteins, Fats, and Carbs. We will be discussing those today as well.
Benefits to eating a balanced, mindful diet:
- Lowers disease risk like diabetes and heart disease
- Increases mobility (less achy joints)
- Better Sleep
- Less stress
- Happier mood
- Less cravings for junk foods
- Look better
- More energy
- Live longer
This only a fraction of the benefits but they are the best reasons to eat a better diet.
Disclaimer: ♡ Affiliate links from Hum Nutrition, Cronometer, and Amazon in this post are provided for your convenience, and so I can feed my fur babies. If you do purchase something, thank you! Please read my disclosure for more information. ♡
Want some help in accomplishing your goals sustainably and realistically? Schedule a discovery call with me!
Step 1: Have a good Mindset & Positive Body Image
This one may seem totally weird to include in a meal planning post but it is the most crucial step into creating a healthy meal plan and a better relationship with yourself and your food.
Ask yourself:
- how is your body image?
- Are you often wishing you looked like a different person?
- Feel unhappy when you look at others or just negative in general when you look at yourself?
If you feel any of these thoughts, you may have unhelpful body image. Granted, we all have bad body image days sometimes, it can be worse than others.
We all have unique bodies because God created us individually and beautifully, we should love what they can do for us.
And if we don’t appreciate something about ourselves, we should change only what we can to an extent and the things we can control.
Be kind to yourself and get right with your body and your mind.
Related: How to Create a 1500 Calorie meal Plan
Your mindset is critical. For example, if you are suffering from an Eating disorder or disordered eating, maybe weight loss isn’t right for you.
You might need to work on accepting food as nourishment and energy rather than an emotional coping mechanism and work on more emotional issues going on inside first.
Basically, we must accept our bodies as well, or else we will be miserable! It is important to understand your body is different from another person’s- but it is still very special.
Step 2: Determine Your Caloric Needs & Energy Expenditure
Okay now that we got the emotional part out of the way (it is part of living a healthy lifestyle!), we need to determine how much you move and how much energy you need to sustain yourself.
Depending on your goals, we will discuss this in step 3, you might want to lower your energy intake, increase, or keep it at maintenance.
Calorie Needs & Energy Expending calculator:
These will help you create the best meal plan for YOU! You don’t need to focus so much on macros, but more the calories and protein.
If you meet your calorie needs for the day, you can feel energized, full, satisfied, and better about your decisions.
It can also help you be more mindful about what you eat throughout the day and whether you are eating emotionally or if you are eating for hunger.
Related: 20 Weight loss Tips You Wish You Knew Sooner
Step 3: Determine your Goals & and where you are at right now
This is also a fun one. I love to reassess my goals every month to see where I am at with progression and my body and mind. This is what I do with my clients. We work on one major goal and go from there.
You should try to come up with 1 goal and focus on it for the month. Since this is a meal planning post, It is assumed that you might want to focus on your nutrition!
So with this focus in mind, what do you want to achieve?
Weight loss:
if your goal is fat loss, then you need to be in a calorie deficit. It doesn’t really matter how much you go into a deficit as long as you are eating less than you are expending.
For example, after determining you burn 2,000 calories a day from step 2, you need to be eating under that amount to lose weight.
The larger the deficit, the faster you will lose weight. HOWEVER, don’t focus on doing this fast, it took time to gain weight, it takes time to lose it as well.
Fast weight loss is not always a good thing because you can gain it back even faster plus more! It is recommended not to lose more than 1lb a week depending on your weight.
here are some helpful posts on foods to eat for weight loss!!
- How to create a 1500 Calorie Meal Plan!
- 10 Realistic Healthy Habits That Will Help You Maintain Weight Loss
- How to Meal Prep: a guide to healthy eating for your goals
- Heavenly Healthy Snacks to Help You Lose Weight
Lose 1lb a week: 500 calorie deficit a day (2000-500= 1500 calories a day)
Lose .5lb a week: 250 calorie deficits (2,000-250= 1750 calories a day)
Maintenance:
If you just want to maintain your weight, then you need to eat as many calories as you burn. For example, if you typically burn 2,000 calories a day you would eat 2,000 calories a day to maintain your weight.
Of course, a few calories under is just fine because it balances out week by week. This is the easiest phase to stay in. we are constantly fluctuating our weight.
Weight gain:
This has the same principle as weight loss only you will be eating in a surplus instead of a deficit.
This is where things can get tricky.
Some people might think if they are skinny, they should just increase their calories and do a “bulk”.
Eating at a surplus will not help you gain muscle. It will gain fat but it can give you more energy to lift heavier in the gym. It is recommended to still do a bit of cardio in this phase.
If your goal is to put on muscle mass, then you should stay at maintenance or slightly above maintenance with your nutrition. Then, lift heavier at the gym to build muscle.
Make sure to eat the adequate amount of protein needed for protein synthesis. If you aren’t eating meat, make sure you eat a complete amino acid protein profile for the day so protein synthesis can occur. Check out this article here!
Step 4: Plan the Components of Your Meal Plan
Wow, we just discussed so much! I will be very plain, simple, and brief about this part. You don’t need to be an expert in nutrition to eat a healthier diet and create your meal plan . However, you should know some basics to understand of what make a healthy meal plan!
CHECK OUT THESE POSTS FOR ACTUAL MEAL IDEAS:
- One Week of Healthy Meals For Weight Loss
- 50 Meal Prep ideas for Weight Loss Under 500 calories
- 7 Day Mediterranean diet Meal Plan
Hum Nutrition Supplements can also help! Here are some fun superfood powders that may help you along your journey 🙂
- Raw Beauty Vegan Greens $26,supports energy, skin health + metabolism*
Let’s talk about macros for a sec.
- Macronutrients are nutrients that we need in larger quantities. Macros are: Protein, Fat, and Carbohydrates.
- Micronutrients are nutrients we need in smaller amounts. These include vitamins and minerals.
Protein:
Needed for the amino acid profile. Enables protein synthesis (muscle growth after workout). Helps you feel fuller for a longer amount of time. Stabilizes cravings. Rebuilds muscle tissues and skin cells. Essential for our bodies.
- Tofu, meat, eggs, beans, quinoa, rice, peanut butter, protein powder, protein bars, nonfat Greek yogurt
Fat:
What it does:
- Nourishes skin cells, hair, nails, eyes. Higher in calories (more energy dense).
- May help you feel fuller and gives food flavor, texture, and better taste.
Benefits:
- Some fats have essential omega 3’s that are important for brain and body function.
Types of Fats:
- monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, saturated fat.
- Avocado, oils, nuts, seeds, meats, eggs, butter, dairy products
- processed foods
Carbohydrates:
What it does:
These are our energy suppliers! We get a bulk of our calories from carbohydrates. They replenish our energy stores after a workout and supply energy for before a workout as well. Carbohydrates make up 60-70% of our diets! (1)
Benefits:
- Include fiber, water, and help us to feel full, contains vitamins and minerals essential from fruits and vegetables.
- Limiting carbs is exceedingly difficult because they are meant to be eaten in bulk. These are essential for having energy and a good mood.
- If eaten to much we will easily store more fat in our bodies if we do not move enough in the day to use up the energy that has been stored. Can easily increase insulin resistance with the wrong carbs.
Types:
- Vegetables, fruits
- pasta, beans, rice, legumes, whole grains, bread, sugars, milk, oats, flour
- processed foods
Now that you know what you need carbohydrates, proteins, and fats for your meal plan you can search on Pinterest for Meal ideas that include these foods.
Check this post for some ideas of High Protein Vegan Meal ideas.
Step 5: Meal Prep Your Meal Plan
Meal prepping is your friend! Having snacks , lunch, and dinner ready is essential to stick to your plan I cannot tell you how many times I have messed up at got take out just because I was “too tired to cook”.
Now you can create your meals!
- Meal prepping saves so much time with meal planning and making food in the week. You will look forward to your meals. Try these glass meal prep containters.
- Make the meals you like, enjoy, and can eat a lot of. Favorite bulk foods include casseroles, soups, oatmeal, tofu’s, meats, potatoes, beans, rice, and cut up veggies or fruit.
- Plan your meals ahead of time & grocery list. This will help you not wander aimlessly in the grocery store and then you end up buying too much food, waste, and snacks and other foods that have little nutritional value. Have a plan before you go to the store so you know what you will make. It will help you save money.
With a solid goal, plan, and prep strategy, you can have a healthy meal plan always ready to set you up for success!
Again, Schedule a discovery call with me to help you create realistic health goals that will help you lose weight sustainably and realistically!
Related:
I hope this post helps you. It is long but valuable! However, if you are confused, please leave a comment or contact me, I will be happy to assist you!
Kindly,
Dacia
A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.
Proverbs 16:9
