Why eating different foods is sabotaging your weight loss

 Are you eating different foods every day? Or do you stick to the same things for the most part?

 

  I had a nutrition consult years ago with one of my clients and it has stuck with me to this day.

 

  It was a great conversation and a similar one that I have had with many women in the past before.

 

  This client had just done one of my challenges and gotten very good results.

 

  She was very consistent with her workouts and like many others she has kids and a busy lifestyle.

 

  She was running into a problem with her nutrition though. More specifically, she would do really well for a while and then inevitably “fall off the wagon”.

 

  Maybe due to her hectic lifestyle, maybe due to a busy weekend with not as much structure, etc.

 

  Whatever it may be, she would do well for awhile and then not so well.

 

  Here’s what I told her.

 

  2 things actually.

 

  The first one is that she needs to come up with a schedule. She has to set aside specific times each day that she will eat her meals, on days when she's not fasting of course :)

 

  I said 2-3 is an optimal number.

 

  So that might be first meal at 12:30 (breakfast is WAY overrated and not 'the most important meal of the day' either), next meal/snack at 3:00 and dinner at about 6:30.

 

  And that is when she will eat everyday.

 

  There’s no “guessing” at what time to eat each day.

 

  There’s no “Oh maybe I’ll have a snack now”.

 

  She now knows when she will be eating and she will eat enough to satisfy her and not leave her feeling hungry an hour later.

 

  The second thing I told her is that it’s ok to eat the same thing each day.

 

  She gave me a run down of what she ate the day before.

 

  It was actually a very healthy, balanced day of eating.

 

  I asked her if she enjoyed it. Yes she said.

 

  I asker her if there was a lot of preparation. No she said.

 

  I then told her to eat the same thing tomorrow.

 

  And then the next day.

 

  And then the next day, etc.

 

  You see, the thing is, most of us are creatures of habit.

 

  We’re so quick to say that we can’t eat the same thing over and over.

 

  But 9 times out of 10 we do eat the same thing.

 

  But what if we REALLY don’t want to eat the same thing EVERY day?

 

  That’s fine.

 

  Maybe you’re sick of chicken for dinner…..fine, have fish.

 

  Maybe you don't want to have yogurt every day as a 3:00 snack, fine, have cottage cheese one day, or an apple with peanut butter.

 

  But for the most part, eating the same thing, if it’s healthy and has good portions of lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, starchy carbohydrates, healthy fats, etc, is completely fine.

 

  And it’s so much easier to maintain this and not “fall off the wagon”.

 

  Not only that, but you will also drastically reduce the moments of looking in the fridge or the cabinets asking yourself, “Hmmmm, what should I eat now”?

 

  Not to mention the tremendous benefit this has with helping you lose weight!