One of the biggest hurdles I’ve had to face as a health and fitness coach is getting clients over the ‘diet’ mentality and diet behaviour. We are decades deep into the diet culture and it’s a massive challenge to rewire that.
It’s not my job to put you on a diet. Because it’s not a one size fits all.
Metabolic flexibility now that’s a really cool tool!
As a coach I always get asked how much of this should I eat, what time of the day should I eat etc.
Let me give you an example…
When I was running 50-80kms per week I had the mentality I could eat anything I want. I would eat a loaf of bread per day, a delicious plate of mum’s pasta 3 times per week, and ice cream every 2nd night.
The assumption was that the engine would burn anything. But the reality was my insides were a mess!
So how do we change this diet mentality?
Firstly; get everything out of your diet mentality for 30 days and see how you feel. Then slowly start reintroducing some foods and see how you feel.
Don’t fall into the mindset of having to be held to this strict plan, this template or guideline and if I stray from it I’ve failed myself.
It’s bullshit!
As coaches we are really about empowering and freeing people up to have metabolic flexibility. To be able to enjoy and experience things because their mindset has become broader, not because their mindset has been hampered by their meal plan or diet mentality; I have to count my calories etc…
My goal is for people to develop the knowledge to know what is appropriate and not think “Hmm what did Matt say about that…?” or “what would Matt do in this case…?”
I want them to get a sense of what hunger is, and what an adequate workout is compared to over doing it.
There are no right answers; the goal is to be intuitive with your body. As health coaches, it is our goal to help with your diet mentality.
Over time when you start to develop metabolic flexibility you’ll find that you will no longer be hungry. The modern human eats way too much food. Once clients get it they realize it was the food they were eating that was making them hungry, not a lack of food as is often believed.
Happy Eating!
Coach Matt
