If there is one habit I get the most push back on, it’s counting calories.
Every client at one point or another has told me tracking their daily calorie intake is not possible. First of all, it is. But that doesn’t matter if a person isn’t going to do it.
Fortunately, the goal with the calorie counting habit is not to have every client tracking their intake every day until the end of time. The goal is to make them aware of how many calories their meals contain and recalibrate their concept of serving size.
Which brings us to today’s topic. There is an easy way to build your meals so you can skip calorie tracking and still lose fat.
SETTING EXPECTATIONS
The less exact you get with your tracking, the more correction you’ll have to do. Your fat loss progress will still happen, but it will be slower. You need to understand that you are sacrificing the speed of your results for the convenience of loose tracking systems. There’s nothing wrong with that.
I’ve had clients adopt this approach, then get impatient when their weight loss was slow. For those of you who are reading this but aren’t a client of mine, I won’t be able to help remind you of these timelines. You’ll have to manage your own expectations.
You will have to keep track of your progress to be sure your current habits are effective. Every 2 weeks check your progress. If you’re gaining weight at 2 weeks, you need to make a change. If you are losing weight or maintaining the same weight, change nothing and keep going. If by 4 weeks you’re still maintaining your weight, then make changes.
I’ll walk you through the changes as we get through the eating plan.
BETTER THAN DOING MATH
Most things are more fun that doing math. Even if the math is the simple addition of the calories you eat in a day.
To avoid excessive calculation, we switch from actual numbers to ballpark measurements using parts of your hand as a reference.
Palm = 1 serving of protein
Cupped hand = 1 serving of carbs
Fist = 1 serving of veggies
Thumb = 1 serving of fat
Not too difficult right? Take a moment and actually look at your hand. Cup it, make a fist, give a thumbs up. These are your portions.
Compare them to the last meal you remember. Those portions are a little different, right?
Now, the amount of these portions you will use to build a healthy plate will vary.
Give yourself a hand building one meal. Women, you will use one portion of everything. Men, double that to two portions of everything.
3 – 4 meals of these portions equal roughly 1200 – 1500cal for women, and 2300 – 3000cal for men.
CUSTOMIZING FOR YOUR GOAL
Here comes the fun part. This is how we get you to results you want. There are some criteria for knowing which way to adjust.
If you need more food: women will add a 1/2 portion of carbs and/or fat to their meal, men will add a full portion.
More food may be needed if you’re larger in stature or extremely active. If you are trying to gain muscle, or have been on this eating plan and failing to gain muscle, you’ll need more food. I also let clients adjust their meals to increase portions when they can’t eat at least 3-4 times per day. If you only eat twice, have a bigger meal.
If you need less food: women will subtract a 1/2 portion of carbs and/or fat from their meal, men will subtract a full portion.
Less food is needed if you are smaller in stature or not very active. If you eat more frequently than 3-4 times per day, no need smaller portions per meal. This is adjustment is absolutely necessary for you to lose weight.
This whole method of portion control is much much much easier than logging all your calories. The funny things is, it’s just as accurate as calorie counting. But that’s an explanation for another time.
PRACTICE AND PREP
This is by far the most helpful information I give to my clients. Usually, this is where their progress kicks into a higher gear. It can easily do the same for you, but you have to actually use it.
By having these simple building blocks, it’s easy to scale this up for your week or for a whole family. Look ahead to next week. Choose you proteins first, then add up how many palms you need. Do the same with your carbs, veggies, and fats – all adjusted for your goals. Then hit the store.
MORE INFO
If you have trouble implementing a plan or building these nutrition habits – that’s what coaches are for.
To get help that addresses your specific limiting factors or stumbling blocks, contact me. I’m happy to hop on the phone and get a plan together. Scroll to the top of the page and submit an application for a call. Or, you can message me on Facebook or Instagram.
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