Fitness and nutrition is frustratingly difficult to start, sustain, and enjoy. If one of those isn’t involved, then it's most likely not sustainable.
Social media, magazines and television tell stories about our friend next door (let's call her Amanda, a mother of 2 and works full-time) effortlessly losing 30 lbs in 30 days due to a new diet, supplement, or workout routine.
The ad finishes with a big smile and the person seemingly happier than ever.
But, what happens to Amanda after those 30 days?
Does she maintain that weight loss?
Does she continue to train and diet the same way for the rest of her life?
Or does she start to feel restricted from foods she use to love, feeling guilt over eating foods that aren't on here "approved" food list, and gain all the weight back she lost?
Most, if not all of the time, it's the latter.
You might be saying "well, then what does sustainable nutrition look like?"
The answer, annoyingly, always depends, but your long term success is going to start with developing better eating and lifestyle habits.
Let me show you what that might look like.
At UTS we have developed 7 principles or "buckets" we need to fill up with overtime to help us reach and maintain our weight loss goals.
Each "bucket" you see above can be broken down into multiple skills/habits. That's where the nuance of coaching comes into play. Maybe you already do a stellar job in one area and need more focus in another, or maybe you're starting fresh from the beginning.
Down below are is what these buckets might look like for you:
Again, there is no exact "must follow" order to this system but if you're doing this alone from home I'd recommend starting with limiting snacking between meals, controlling hunger, and eating until satisfied (all food quantity control skills) and then followed by more whole foods (food quality control).
When I first started coaching nutrition, I always started attacking food quality over quantity with my clients first.
After years of trial and error, I find great success in now attacking food quantity first, then quality. By attacking quantity first, it allows the client to see quicker results, driving more intrinsic motivation in the beginning.
Then once we do attack the food quality piece, this will drive the client into an even deeper caloric deficit because typically when people improve their food quality, their food is less calorically dense than most processed food options they were consuming.
The meal planning and basic skills buckets are buckets we can consistently be working on and fine tuning to meet our needs.
At the end of the day, you will never perfect and fill up each bucket. AND that's okay because you can get to whatever weight loss goal you have by chipping away at each bucket overtime.
Most importantly, we want you to MAINTAIN your results and end yo-yo dieting for you, forever.