Not Getting Fitness Results? Maybe it’s what you’re eating

One of the most awesome aspects of all Beachbody fitness programs (my soul fitness solution) is that they include an easy to follow nutrition guide with a meal plan and recipes to help me achieve my fitness results. 

Have you ever been super diligent about your new fitness regimen, only to become discouraged that you’re not seeing results? Besides the fact that results don’t happen overnight, the biggest culprit for lack of results is nutrition. You might have heard the saying, “You can’t out-exercise a bad diet.” No joke. This is the truth.

When I first started exercising, I was in my early 30’s. I’d never really paid much attention to my nutrition beyond the fact that I knew what foods would increase my blood sugar too fast and which ones didn’t. I ate when I was hungry, when I wasn’t hungry and sometimes I ate just to make myself feel better.

The first Beachbody fitness program I did was P90X. When I received it in the mail, I was immediately impressed that there was a whole book about nutrition included, with recipes! In all honesty, I didn’t pay much attention to that book. I just wanted to get fit – apparently, this fitness program could get me ripped for summer! And so, my exercise regimen began.

P90X is a 90-day fitness program that combines a variety of exercise techniques, including strength training, cardio, yoga, plyometrics, and stretching. Half way through the program I was definitely feeling stronger. I was learning to do pushups and I had upped the weights I was using. I was so proud that my strength results were starting to show. However, I’d look in the mirror, trying to SEE my results. I could imagine I was seeing results but I still had padding around my belly etc. I went back to the information that came with my program as I began to get discouraged and realized why I wasn’t seeing the type of results I thought I would have. Had I not cracked open those books, I might have stopped the program.

I learned that nutrition is THE major component of awesome fitness results. I immediately adjusted my nutrition regimen to fall in line with the P90X program’s recommendations and voila! That’s when the results started to happen. In fact, the problem wasn’t that I was eating too much… I was not eating a balanced diet and, even worse, I wasn’t eating enough. My metabolism was not where it needed to be to have me in my best shape possible.

Why am I telling you this? Like you, I wasn’t born knowing what to eat, how much to eat or even when to eat. It’s ok to be confused.

The Beachbody fitness programs (I’ve now done most of them) have taught me to plan my meals to ensure that I’m eating for health. Each fitness program works in a specific way and Beachbody has taken an incredible amount of time and performed an incredible amount of research to ensure results. It’s brilliant. These fitness programs have taken the guesswork out of getting real results! So what the heck do these meal plans actually look like??

Below, find a sample meal plan for one of Beachbody’s most popular workout programs, Autumn Calabrese’s 21 Day Fix. Nutrition is such a huge part of fitness results so Autumn has also debuted a fantastic cooking show on Beachbody on Demand called FixAte. As an aside, with Beachbody on Demand, you can stream your workouts, have access to the fitness regimens, nutrition information AND get great meal plans to compliment your member program library. Contact me if you’re curious about this or click the link below to give it a try, free for 30 days!

Example Meal Plan: 21 Day Fix

Since meal planning and health-minded eating is a major struggle for me and most of the folks I speak with, I decided to share a day of eating following the 21 Day Fix meal plan! Hopefully it’ll give you an idea of what to expect and what a day of health-minded eating looks like. I have found my fellow diabetics really appreciate such a straight forward approach to nutrition. Being diabetic, it’s important to have consistency… and this program offers it. No more guessing! For me, knowing what to eat makes all the difference.

The 21 Day Fix was the first program to introduce the colored container system to help manage portion size. It’s super easy to over-eat health food. I’ve done it! That’s where the containers come into play. There is a portion container for each type of food: vegetables, fruits, carbohydrates, proteins, seeds, healthy fats and oils. Yes – fats. A balanced diet includes fat. I could go on and on about why fat is so important but, that’s a story for another day.

The 21 Day Fix nutrition guide helps you determine how many of each portion container you should eat each day. You actually eat a lot! Initially I was worried that I’d starve to death – nope!

I learned that I am required to eat 1200 to 1499 calories per day to get results with the 21 Day Fix exercise program. If I weighed more, I’d require more calories. People often think that starving themselves get them the best results. Well, that’s not healthy weight loss and this mindset often ends in disaster!

A Typical Day on the 21 Day Fix Meal Plan for Fitness Results
(Category A: 1200-1499 calories)

For those of us who love to have all the details, here are the nutrition facts for the day:

(this info comes from the Loose It app, so it’s far from 100% accurate, but it still gives me a good idea about what I’m eating. Another great app is MyNetDiary.

Calories: 1320
Carbs: 96.2g (28%)
Protein: 92.6g (27%)
Fats: 67.1g (44%)

As mentioned, I am following Category A/1200-1499 calories from the 21 Day Fix nutrition guide. Depending on your current weight, activity level and goals, your meal plan may be a little different. This was intended to give you a glimpse into what a typical day will look like.

Need more meal planning ideas or tips for fitness results?

Let’s chat. Contact me or comment below.