PRISM Nutrition

▫️Meal Plan | Flexible Framework ▫️

Bespoke meal plans can be a great educational tool highlighting suitable portion sizes and varied meal compositions to support goals, appetite and dietary adherence.

For many, a meal plan can simple remove any ambiguity and enable clients to focus on other aspects of their lives (e.g. developing healthful behaviours and lifestyle modifications).

To get the most out of a meal plan, I do suggest clients view it as a template or guideline with the option to include and/or remove certain foods as they see fit.

A strategy I typically recommend to provide greater flexibility and to empower clients to make-informed choices, is the option to make amendments to meals and/or snacks via a tracking app such as MyFitnessPal.
By providing a suitable calorie and protein target for a given meal, clients have the opportunity to develop a flexible mindset with their nutritional choices. This can also discourage the ‘all or nothing’/’on or off the diet’ mindset often associated with meal plans and permit clients to deviate from the plan in a controlled manner that supports goals and preferences.

Within certain fitness circles, meal plans are frowned upon as some believe it disempowers clients to make their own food choices away from the plan. For the most part I disagree with this notion once the correct guidance and education is provided. A meal plan or framework is typically designed for a specific goal and can serve as a template or stepping stone towards healthier eating habits. This includes a personalised meal pattern (i.e. frequency & timing) to best suit lifestyle.
It is true that if a meal plan is given with zero guidelines or education and does not allow for any flexibility then it can promote this good vs. bad or rigid mindset for some individuals.

Take-home message – think of a meal plan as a flexible framework with room for amendments to help you develop healthful eating habits that guide you towards achieving your goal.

Calories and macronutrients:

~2,400 kcal | 200g Protein | 198g Carbs |
90g Fat