You don’t need another meal plan.

"I just need a meal plan" ...

This is the cringiest DM as a coach that I receive, and here is why.

First off, Hi! I am Coach Brittany. And in case we don't know one another, here's a bit about me.

I was a successful, full-time, in-person career trainer, fitness business owner, fitness manager, and education instructor for just over 15 years before becoming a mom and transitioning my business online.

I was able to take my years of coaching other trainers in their businesses, working with clients on the gym floor for 15+ years, and extensive education, and apply all of this to successfully coaching my clients online.

Over the past 4+ years, I have had the absolute honor of coaching many women (primarily over 35), on their health and fitness pursuits, around the world. I work mainly with women who have forgotten somewhere along the way that their needs matter too as they've fallen into a primary caregiver role in some capacity, and I help them rediscover what health, wellness and fitness look like in a different body, with different demands and responsibilities, and often with juggling/balancing many different roles.

Okay, so let's get into why "I just need a meal plan" is cringy DM for a coach to receive from someone.

It's not that you don't need help with nutrition—far from it. But you need SO MUCH MORE than a meal plan to get to your goal.

Let's think about this. Unless you have been living under a rock, you have heard of two resources—Google and ChatGPT. With both of these FREE resources, you can outsource a meal plan.

If you were to go on Google it would look something like this: "meal plan for fat loss for women over 35".

If you were to ChatGPT it, it would read something like this: "Please write me a meal plan for a woman over 35 with 20 lbs of fat to lose. I like these foods, and I want to eat this many times a day."

Both will provide you with a meal plan, but people don't do that, and if they do, they don't stick with it long-term.

Why?

Because of several factors - one being that Google and ChatGPT don't take YOU into the equation. They do not factor your biopsychosocial blueprint into consideration. Neither coach you, try to understand you or will hold you accountable. Neither provides you with the support, direction, and community that can make or break this change for you.

And a meal plan can't do that for you either.

You don't need another meal plan. You need a coach, which is why you are reaching out to a coach for a meal plan.

Here is why coaching shines: As a coach, I explore with my clients, when building out their strategy, things like their mindsets about food and exercise, their past experiences, and their current season of life.

When I coach women through their health and wellness journey, I get to know them. I pay attention to their thoughts, feelings, perceptions, expectations, goals, anticipatory language, experiences, values, worries, viewpoints, values, and priorities.

I look at the demands in their lives, the hurdles and obstacles, the challenges, and the struggles. I also look for gaps in their current approach (emotional, social, psychological, etc.). Through that, I am able to coach them through the steps that will not only get them to their goals but also provide them with the ability to have lasting change.

I teach my clients about nutrition and I help them understand how to build out their own 'meal plan' so that they are eating foods they enjoy, with the people they love, in a way that supports their health goals, and allows them to feel empowered. I respect client's preferences, cultural influence, and ethics when I help them, so that they understand how to eat in a way that excites them, but that also ultimately takes them to a space where they are also excited about what they see in the mirror, and what they look like in a picture, and how they feel in their body.

So, no, you do not need another meal plan. I stand by this statement both personally and professionally:

women need to be done with food rules, limitations, and being told what to put in their mouths. Instead, they need to be nurtured through a transformative, educational, and empowering experience with food that allows them to become the authority of what is going on their plate (and ultimately into their mouth).

Here are some strategies I use to help my clients overcome food rules, limitations, and negative relationships with food:

1. Avoiding Labels: We don't label foods as "good" or "bad" because every food has its place in a balanced diet. In the RESET Method, we follow the 80/20 rule (myself included!).

2. Ditching "Clean Eating": I loved Tosca Reno once upon a time, but moving away from the dangerous term "clean eating" is key to shifting the focus to nourishing our bodies with a variety of foods.

3. Non-Judgmental Approach: Clients learn not to judge themselves or others for food choices, fostering a more positive relationship with food. Guess what, as your coach I don’t judge you either. But we do work towards determining how different foods affect your mood, energy, digestion, recovery, etc.

4. Incorporating All Foods: We recognize that all foods can (and do!)

fit into a healthy and balanced approach to eating, promoting flexibility and enjoyment. You are not a robot. You are a fully formed human, having a human experience, and a big part of that experience is centered around food.

5. Mindful Eating: My clients learn mindfulness around food choices and portion sizes, helping them tune in to hunger and fullness cues. This goes a long way when eating out socially, going on vacation and during the holidays.

6. Empowering Social Choices: We empower clients to make mindful choices in social settings, without feeling pressured by peer influence. Sometimes friends and family, though well-intentioned, have specific triggered feelings around you making different choices than them around food and alcohol. I coach my clients through this so they can feel empowered and strong in their choices all while inspiring others.

7. Emotional Eating: We uncover emotional eating triggers and develop strategies to address them, promoting healthier coping mechanisms. This helps my clients move past behaviours and habits that have held them back in the past, while working towards developing a healthier emotional coping strategy.

8. Avoiding All-or-Nothing Mentality: Clients learn to ditch the all-or-nothing approach to nutrition, which can lead to binge-restrict cycles.

If you resonate with these strategies and believe in a holistic approach to health and wellness, while also recognizing that another meal plan isn’t what you need, I'd love to chat with you.

Yours in Holistic Health,

Coach Brittany