4 Habits of Successful Nutrition Clients
As nutrition coaches, we see a lot of different habits that work for different people. As coaches, it’s our job to design a program that helps add to a client’s life and to make sure it enhances their lifestyle, as that is a pretty good indicator of sustainability and success. After coaching thousands of clients, we have found a few characteristics that successful clients have in common.
Meal Prep
Tracking and eating on the fly is difficult. There are going to be days it has to be done, but the clients I see that are the most successful are ones that meal prep. They have a habit of grocery shopping and meal prepping at least once a week and they make it a priority. A good baseline to start with is to head to the store and pick:
3 proteins (chicken, beef, shrimp)
3 veggies (asparagus, broccoli, peppers)
3 carbs (sweet potatoes, spaghetti squash, quinoa)
2-3 fats (olive oil, avocado, nuts)
Navigating Weekends
This is the hardest one for most and ties into the next habit.
Weekends. Are. Hard. There isn’t as much structure, there are social engagements and sometimes it’s nice to take a mental break from tracking. But if we go off the rails Friday night to Monday morning, that’s a lot of damage. Let’s do the math. If there are 21 meals in a week and you eat whatever you want on the weekend that’s 33% of your week. That means if you are “perfect” every other meal of the week you still get a 66% for the week. That’s a D+. Clients that are successful still track for most of those meals. They may enjoy one or two meals untracked or track and know they will go over. They create a structure for their weekend by having meals planned and food still prepped.
Not slashing the rest of your tires when you get one flat
This one can often tie into navigating weekends, but I think it’s important to make this its own habit. As coaches, we do not expect every day to be “perfect.” We don’t expect to see you within 1g of each macro EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Honestly, as a coach that would concern me, but that's for another post. What we don’t want to see is that just because you are going to go over your calories by ~100 or your fat/carb distribution is going to be off, that you say “SCREW IT” and throw all your hard work to the side and go B-A-N-A-N-A-S eating everything in sight. So what could have been ~100 calories is now an extra ~1000 calories on top of the shame and guilt you are feeling for breaking that commitment to yourself. Successful dieting is about consistency and adherence, not perfection.
Lifestyle habits in check
Last but definitely not least, lifestyle habits. Please don’t mistake this for saying that calories in vs calories out doesn't matter, but let’s just say everything “works better” when you are sleeping well, moving more, stressing less, and maybe drinking more than a glass of water a day. There is plenty of research to explain the importance of sleep when it comes to fat loss and health with one easy example being that after a few days of low sleep (about 4 hours), the body starts to emulate responses similar to a person with Type II diabetes. That's just after a few days, imagine what chronic poor sleep does! Lifestyle factors are just as important as food quality and quantity, and sometimes I would argue even more so, depending on the person. The clients that understand the importance of these and make improving them a daily habit are the most successful.
These are just some of the basics that we experienced as a coaches. What are some of the things you feel are important for you?
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