Achieve a High Compliance Rate
Showing up every day for something for a long time is how you can get good at anything. Nutrional habits are no different. The nutrtional goal is to implement a plan that give you at least a 90% compliance rate.
Understand the Following
In order to lose weight or gain weight for the long term the most important part is to stabilize your calorie intake. I suggest to eat regularly throughout the day evenly splitting up calories across all meals.
This is two-fold, you can either have the foods prepared in advance or you can predetermine what you will have to eat. Success can from either method or a combination of both
Honesty
Before you decide on a plan you must feel confident about it. Be honest with yourself. It is typical when people are highly motivated to set unsustainable goals. Try to be realistic about where you are and what you are capable of.
You will know if it is too aggressive when you…
-feel restricted,
-get frustrated,
-consistently battling hunger or fullness cues
-feel like your life is falling apart
-feel like a failure
If that happens, stay calm. Reflect on a weekly basis and be okay with thumbing back your goal to something a little bit more sustainable.
Set Your Plan Right
For example. If you go out to eat every day and feel like you never have time maybe you should reconsider your food prep goal of cooking and preparing 21 meals in advance. In this case I recommend to change the goal to…for lunch at a typical restaurant you go to predetermine 1-3 specific item off the menu and choose from you. Make sure that the meals you choose are enjoyable!
For extra credit, the meals can also have the following components…
-around 400-800 calories
-a lean protein source
-a high quality fat source
-a vegetable source
-a complex carbs source
Take Your Time
You may need take 4 weeks to build a compliance plan for each meal of the day. Start with the easiest meal to standardize, come up with options that are roughly the same number of calories and master the habit of getting that meal in everyday around the same time. If you stick with that you have increased your compliance rate to 33%. Now you only have 56% more to go. After you feel confident about building the consistency of eating that meal daily turn you attention to the next one easiest meal to normalize.
At this stage be careful about physical assessments. Because weighing yourself can manipulate your motivation levels leading to inflated or deflated motivation. Both pose a serious risk to compliance. I recommend to change the assessment from “did the scale move?” to “what was my compliance rate?”. See where that number is and reflect upon it asking questions like…
-Did I hit my consistency goal?
-Why or why not?
-What will I implement differently next week to allow for more success?
The Next Stage
If you are at a point where you have created a plan with most of your calories accounted for the reflection process is a little different. You must use a bodyweight scales or progress picture to determine whether the plan is working. Make sure compliance rate is over 90% or above. Then fine tune calories to match your body composition goals. You may find that you need to increase compliance rate to 95% and reduce or increase calorie intake and add in extra conditioning or hypertrophy work.
This is my foundational meal plan
In Conclusion
Building the consistency of a food plan that is roughly the same number of calories every day is the foundational piece to any body composition goal. For long term success you must set the bar a tiny bit higher then where you are at. This may take a week; it may take months. It also may take working with specialist over a longer term. Before starting a plan take an educated guess on where you are by reflecting honestly on your capability levels, past experiences and future goals are. Be realistic, open to change and patient.