Eating...some basics

So on Friday I gave you some of my favourite snacks. And I want to expand on that and write a little on the way I eat. You will be able to find thousands and thousands of meal plans out there in the internet land, and that's not really what I want to get to today. What I want to cover is what your meal plan should look like, based around a few principles that I have found to work.

The first is you need to eat regularly. I generally eat 5-6 meals a day. This way you are constantly 'topping yourself up.' This helps keep you feeling full, means you are less likely to end up with that starving feeling, which can lead you to then go and over eat. If you're anything like me this tends to be with whatever is most convenient and therefore not very healthy. 

The next is to work towards a solid balance between you fats, carbs and protein. This is what will keep you feeling full and ensure you get the right balance of nutrients and such. I've written about the myfitnesspal app before and if you don't have it, I encourage you to get it! This will work out, based on your details and goals, how much of what you need to eat.  You then put in what you eat through the day and it tracks how much of each of the macros you have left! From this, you can then work out what you need to eat more and less of in your day. If you're like me it's a message to eat more carbs, but let the app guide you. 

What the app will tell you is, you want to have a fair amount of protein. I think it tends to underestimate this amount for me, so always beef it up a little. But you should centre you meals around protein, if you're active. Firstly, this way you're giving your body constant hits of protein to help with muscle growth and repair. so tends to take more energy for your body to process than fats and carbs, so it provides good nutritional value without the extraneous calories high fat foods give you. Research also shows having several protein rich meals through the day give you the same muscle building effects as taking protein powders after a workout!

I guess the last thing I want to say is more psychological than anything else. You should not think of any of this as dieting. The saying that has stuck with me is that you should eat and train, not diet and exercise. Diets are temporary things to achieve a short term goal. We should aim to build good habits that we can maintain, rather than just look for a quick fix, just like what we do physically should be towards a larger goal to help maintain motivation, rather than just something we do.

What're your tips? How do you structure you eating to ensure you achieve your goals?