I am not a nutritionist or dietitian. I do not prescribe detailed meal plans. I do however, love helping clients notice what nutrients they are getting too little or too much of and start to use that information to make healthy lasting shifts in their eating habits.
One of the tools I often recommend to have clients gather information on what they are or aren’t getting in their diet is an app called MyFitnessPal. Using MyFitnessPal to track food intake for 2 to 4 weeks helps clients take a look at the percentages of the three main macronutrients our bodies use for energy, carbs, fat, and protein, they are getting in their diet and use that information to make changes.
Once you have the information on your current nutrient intake from tracking your meals for 2 - 4 weeks, I recommend trying to see how colorful you can make your meals. More color on your plate at mealtime translates to a diverse nutrient intake of the things you need to give you energy to take on your work and your workouts.
You can also start to get a grip on portion control if you notice you are getting too many calories in a day relative to your energy expenditure by using your fist as a helpful tool to guide your portions. The serving size of each item on your plate should not be larger than your fist.
I’ll have more to share next week on how to make it easy to get healthy staples to make those colorful nutrient-dense meals. For today, start with gathering information on what you’re eating in terms of calories and nutrients.