Why You Should Smash Your Meal Plan

So you’ve got a meal plan…

A perfectly detailed plan, that if you follow to a ‘tee’ will get you the results, the energy, confidence, happiness, and the body that you’ve always wanted.

But life happens. And you can’t. So you don’t.

And you fail, yet again.

I’ve coached hundred of women in their weight loss journey, and more often then not, weight loss has nothing to do with willpower, and everything to do with your capacity. When you don’t have the emotional or mental capacity, no amount of meal plans, diets, or workouts will provide the solution you think you’re looking for.

I know, because I have helped a client lose over 100 pounds, only for them to discover that weight loss did not bring fulfillment. In fact, it was emptier, because the very thing that was supposed to fulfill them didn’t. The meal plan to be followed and the weight you so desperately long to lose have nothing to do with willpower and everything to do with the problems that persist underneath it all, preventing you from experiencing true happiness, fulfillment, and security.

You can do all the right things, lose all the weight, but without a personal transformation of your mind and self-awareness and a development of self-love, it’s a lot of wasted energy, discontentment, and discouragement.

Through my own personal experiences and struggles with binge eating and emotional eating and watching countless women beat themselves up after failing yet another diet, I realized that women don’t need meal plans, they need courage and self love.

We need tools to free us from the emotional baggage and self defeating talk that tells us we are not good enough.

I wholeheartedly believe that when you discover who you really are, you don’t need a meal plan, because you have a life plan and the confidence to live it with courage.

It is for this very reason, and through my coaching experiences that I have transitioned from coaching women on nutrition, to coaching women to discovering who they truly are, unearthing that they are enough already. In this shift, I have witnessed nothing but beautiful breakthroughs, weight loss, self care, and self discovery. Like Bonnie, who was starving for a solution, and now lives nourished and fulfilled.

“My journey began by signing up for LIFE nutrition program (at Brady’s Fitness Studio) to keep my weight under control, to eat healthy, and to stay in shape. The entire impetus was to stop consuming sugar and to avoid the tremendous amount of medication that my sixty-nine year-old mother consumes in any given month . . . there is no way that I wanted that for myself.

I was becoming quite retrospective as the big 5-0 was fast approaching.

I knew I needed to take care of myself, overcome my dependency on sugar, and begin an overhaul of myself, putting a self-care plan into place.

The program started out with conversations about nutrition, portion size, weight, food, and exercise goals. But it soon morphed into so much more . . . Brady really wanted to know why I was at Encompass, what my REAL goals were.  As we began to meet, conversations turned from portion sizes of protein to the real reasons why I felt so tired and why I truly was reaching for candy for energy.  

We talked about my role as a caregiver for my mother and how stressful it was (not that I would trade caring for her for anything!). We discussed how I was the voice of reason and the shoulder to cry on for my daughter, who was beginning her law career, and dealing with relationships, friendships, disappointments, and career oriented strains and demands.  We discussed how important it was for me to be a support wife and to be there for my husband.

It was only because of Brady’s uninterrupted listening, and her deep rooted questions, and real life suggestions that enabled me to learn to take care of myself, not just from a nutrition and exercise perspective.  She gave suggestions concerning balance involving the care I give others with the care I needed to give to myself.

The focus switched from food intake to self-care.  

Truthfully, Brady managed to care for my diet AND for my entire well being.  In fact, during one meeting, I told Brady how far I had come, with her care and attention, in terms of nutrition and exercise, but also in my mental well being . . . how much better I felt as a whole person, not just my physical exterior.  I was happy to announce a lesser dependency on sugar and a greater dependency on yoga and meditation.  I have more energy for the ones I love, including myself, thanks to Brady. It was during that particular meeting that I suggested that Brady become a life coach to empower other women too.”

Bonnie Chepil-Kvamme

Have you had a failed meal plan? Do you wish you could resolve the deeper roots that have been holding you back from your happiness? I’d love to hear from you - you’re definitely not alone, and you don’t deserve to be beating yourself up in silence. Comment below or send me an email!