I don’t like meal plans. Why? Because they don’t work. At least for most people, they don’t work.
Now what I mean by a meal plan is – anything pre-put together lasting longer than one week. So yeah, those 4 – 8 week already done-for-you meal plans are exactly what I’m talking about.
The reason is simple.
As a coach, how would I ever know eight weeks out what is going to work for an individual that I haven’t even known for one day?
It’s impossible.
Sure, on paper I have a pretty good idea of what will and won’t work but the reality of the situation is that I’m dealing with real people. We’re all different. We like different things. We might have full or empty calendars. Some of us are more ready, willing, and able to do what the “meal plan” recommends than others.
Conceptually, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the meal plan is bad, it just means that individual preferences, needs, commitments, etc. are not taken into account with these plans.
I can’t emphasize how important this is.
I believe most people can follow anything to a T for a few weeks, but start going past that point without addressing the above, and you will begin to struggle.
This marks my 20th year in the health and wellness field and for more than half of that time I went the cookie-cutter, done-for-you meal plan route with clients, and guess what?
The results were dismal!
As a professional, there are times when you need to look at yourself in the mirror and ask if you might be part of the problem. And that’s what I did.
At that point I had two options:
One, keep blaming my clients by nicely suggesting that they might not be following the plan correctly and perhaps gently questioning if they were completely dedicated, or wanted it badly enough.
Or two, find a different approach that leads to better results.
So I chose option two and have never looked back. I’m not going to bore you with the details of the new methods I needed to learn, but let’s just say I don’t hand out meal plans anymore.
Here’s my opinion – we like being given a meal plan because it seems easy. At least on the surface, it does. It’s what we’ve always done in the past and everywhere you look – there’s another “easy 8-week meal plan to your best body ever.”
Notice how it’s always easy?
Well, I’m here to tell you that it’s not easy. True, it is super easy just to tell you to eat this and not that, but if I don’t take into account your current lifestyle, preferences, time available, etc. – you WILL fail.
I’ve had to learn this lesson the hard way and I’d suspect many of you have as well.
While I’m not a fan of the meal plan, I am a big fan of meal planning. So what’s the difference?
Think of it this way – meal planning = flexibility and is constantly adjusted based on the outcomes (results) or lack there of the individual is experiencing. Whereas, a meal plan = rigidity, and doesn’t change regardless of the circumstances.
Proper meal planning focuses on sustainability that yields long-term results and can continually be built upon for greater results, while the meal plan largely focuses on rules, willpower, and deprivation leading to short-term results and more despair.
Trust me, I know it’s not often fun to have to consider all this other “stuff”, and yes, it does take time. But what I can tell you is that it works, and it’s why I don’t do meal plans anymore.