New year, new temptation to start a super intense diet to make big changes fast. If you haven’t guessed from our podcast, articles or book, we’re not super on board with crash dieting. We are, however, in favor of small tweaks and habit changes to make a big difference over time—and getting started now! So the fact that you’re even reading this right now and thinking about a new approach to food is a great starting point, but let’s focus on health and longevity over fast weight-loss results that likely won’t stick.
With clients, we aim to develop habits, or said differently, we aim to take actions that are lasting changes. I bet you are doing something pretty damn well right now. Do you eat protein like eggs at breakfast, drink some water in the morning? Great.
Can dinner become a pretty solid protein+veggies dish? Super.
Start with small changes and don’t aim for 100% perfection: aim to boost yourself from where you are to a little higher this week.
These actions can come in a few different forms
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Rock Slide – Molly calls these ‘rock-slide’ habits in our book ‘Becoming a Consummate Athlete’ the habits you can do once (or a periodically) and see a ‘rock slide’ of benefits. Cleaning out the pantry, getting that cooking gadget out on the counter, planning and shopping for the week (or month) ahead are examples. Research 2 new recipes and spend a Sunday figuring them out (instead of your long workout, if needed). This is so that going forward, so you can throw a meal together and rotate through your few meals with a bit more variety. If you find yourself lost in a grocery store or planning meals your rock slide might be tog get Get nutritional help … ask the questions you are wondering about and see if there is a better solution. (For training these could look like gear room clean-outs, planning out your training for a block, or consulting with a coach or getting a training plan.)
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Daily Actions – Prep your meals for the day ahead (e.g. make more food then you need and portion out some additional meals), decide on your breakfast and don’t vary it (much) … Try and plan out a really great breakfast for Monday if that is meal you struggle with. Get that meal in the bank and you have boosted your weekly percentage. (With training we want to think in the same direction: why not add more warmup and cool-down to your workouts? Rather than hugely increasing volume or adding in 5 more really intense workouts … try simply adding more warmup and cool down.)
Figure out how to stay the course when you’re rushed
We often see people start strong, then end up right back where they started because life happens. We want to future-proof your habits!
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Simple recipes and some know-how make you super capable! Those rock-slide habits come to your aid here. Taking a Sunday, skipping your long workout, and learning 3 recipes and pre-cooking for the week gives you enough cooking skills that you can throw together a quick version. Learning that cooking does not need to be complicated or fancy but can still taste good. Look (or ask friends) for recipes or cookbooks that are super simple, low-ingredients and fast. We like the ‘feedzone cookbook‘ and Shalene Flanagans ‘Slow Food, Fast Running’ books for simple and tasty meal ideas!
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Having a box of healthy bars, protein powders, nuts/trail-mix or other solutions when you get stuck with less-good food options or under-shoot what you need at work or on your shopping trip. We try to stock enough nut butters for a few months, have jumbo nuts containers, and stock bars like Lara Bars, Epic Bars and other nut/fruit/jerky style bars with minimal sugars and/or additives. Keep a variety of options in your desk, car, purse, backpack—wherever you often find yourself wondering what you can eat!
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Have basic equipment like sharp knife and pressure cooker and a decent pan. If there are annoying, extra steps in your process to get food chopped up, cooked or the scraps thrown out, work on a system/setup to make things easier. If you had to design your kitchen to make meals quickly, what would you do differently? What if you ran a restaurant in your kitchen? How would you set it up?
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Get Tupperware and a cooler to bring food with you, plus a bigger cooler than you think you need so that you have lots of extra room to bring lots of extra good food, water and any accessories you need.
