Diets. There are so many of them. How do you choose the right one for you? How do you know if it will be feasible? Do the positive aspects of one diet plan outweigh the negative aspects? I don’t have an answer for that. Sometimes doctors tell us to do a certain diet, or give us referrals to dietitians, but ultimately we are in control of implementing the plan.
Some of my favorite plans have been the 21 day fix program and Super-food Swap-out, but some of the ingredients to recipes were things I could not find in my local grocery stores (and believe me, I looked all over and stopped at different stores), and some were just so expensive up front that I had a hard time being okay with buying them. So while I liked them and think they were both effective, they weren’t feasible for me all the time, so I strayed away. There are a few recipes that I continue to use, and concepts that I continually try to practice. The biggest things being portion control, sneaky ways to incorporate super-foods, and what good carb choices are out there.
My most successful time have been while working with a coach at a nutrition club that uses meal replacement shakes. Now before you go to the “that’s not sustainable” place, I already know that and I don’t buy into the two shakes a day thing. Let’s be honest, I’m still a big woman and I do like to eat so that I am not starving.
So my nutrition club suggests people trying to lose weight to do two shakes a day, two snacks a day, and one colorful dinner a day. Which I do in my own way, but I don’t follow that to a tee. I am not a morning breakfast eater, I never really liked to eat when I woke up because I was not hungry, but also it’s a habit I learned from my mother. I have also come to learn that eating too late into the evening is also what prevents you from being hungry in the morning. Anyway, I tried doing breakfast and lunch shakes when I first started out, but would eat the whole house by the time it was dinner. So I switched it to shake, real lunch, shake with my snacks in between, and that was a lot more doable for me. But I still wasn’t big on the whole not eating actual food thing.
Shakes for breakfast are perfect for me and the lifestyle I live. Like I said I am not a breakfast person, but I also don’t have tons of time to cook breakfast, and cereal is sugar and crap central. So the shakes are a happy compromise. I will have my am snack which is typically something like an apple and string cheese. Then for lunch I have my colorful meal. For my afternoon snack I’ll do something like beef jerky with cucumbers, lime, and tajin. And dinner varies. Some nights if I’m not too hungry I will have a shake, but most nights, I just make sure I have high protein and an appropriate amount of carbs and healthy fats. The key components for me are that I stay within my calorie range for the day (I aim to be between 1600 and 1800 calories a day) and try to focus on protein being my highest category, alternating carb and fat intake from day to day (as an endomorph body type, I need to carb cycle).
This diet works for me. And I feel like I eat so much more than I used to. I eat more frequently, which helps fuel my metabolism. And while I am eating more frequently, and at times it feels like more food, my food is dense in nutrients and are well balanced.
The downside to my current plan is that some of my high protein snacks are high in sodium. Which is another area I try to pay attention to because of heart health. Beef jerky, lunch meat, cheeses, most nuts available in my local grocery store are all high in sodium. While this does concern me because I have high blood pressure, but as I lose weight my blood pressure also decreases and is more steadily in a healthy range. So at this point in time, the good does outweigh the bad. Once I get to a maintaining stage, I am hoping to be able adjust to a lower sodium diet.
My suggestions for anyone else picking a diet plan:
- Check with your doctor/dietician
- Do your research- what diets have worked for people with your medical conditions (as applicable), what are the benefits, what are the downfalls
- Decide what compromises you’re willing to take
- Ask yourself- Is this feasible long term? Does it fit into my regular schedule?
- Think about any plans that worked for you in the past and why they were successful/why they failed
Intention Transform 