What's Your Nutritional Level?
If you’re new to healthy eating, we don’t typically recommend doing a cleanse or drastic dietary overhaul. Nutrition newbies are often deficient in many key nutrients which need to be addressed first and foremost.
Common deficiencies that we come across include:
💦 Water intake
🍣 Protein intake
🥑 Healthy fats
🥦 Minerals and vitamins
Until these key nutrients are addressed, our bodies simply won’t function optimally, making our health and fitness goals harder to reach. So, priorities for beginners should really be on finding strategies to improve these key pieces. Once a proper foundation is formed and your body is ready for more, then it’s okay to move on to more advanced strategies like portion/calorie control and food combinations.
If you’re nailing the basics and want to pursue more specific body goals, then you can consider the following strategies:
✅ Establishing proper portion sizes
✅ Including veggies, protein, fats and carbs in 2-4 meals/day
✅ Eating slowly and mindfully
✅ Limiting desserts/processed food to 1-5 times per week
✅ Limiting caloric beverages to 1-5 per week
Someone in this intermediate category might follow these strategies 75-90% of the time. This window is to account for the spectrum of people wanting moderate (e.g. you’ll look good but not super lean) to bigger changes (e.g. fit appearance). The more changes you want to make, the more behavioural changes you’ll need.
If you’re someone who’s nutritionally experienced with specific, aggressive goals like dropping to a certain fat percentage, these are some recommendations:
✅ Set and track specific calories and macronutrients
✅ Food prep for the day or week
✅ Plan what to eat in advance
✅ Include protein, vegetables, fats and carbs at every meal
✅ Start to incorporate calorie/carb cycling
✅ Limit desserts/processed food to once every 1-2 weeks
✅ Limit caloric beverages to one every 1-2 weeks
Someone in this advanced category would have to follow these recommendations 95% of the time to get the desired results. The more changes you want, the more behaviours you’ll need to address.
It’s easy and tempting to jump into a whole dietary overhaul, but without having a solid foundation and addressing nutritional deficiencies, progress can be slower and more challenging.
When setting goals, it’s important for you to consider how many changes are doable and/or reasonable in your day-to-day life. For some people, the cost of getting to a specific goal is worth the tradeoff and for others it’s not. Whatever you decide, it’s all good. Just make sure you understand what’s needed to get there so you can manage your expectations along the way.
Always remember, motion is lotion. We encourage you to Move Well, Live Well™.
Need help with nutrition or exercise? Contact us to book your free Functional Movement Screen and Personal Training Consultation. We’d be happy to help.