GR Coaching Academy

Tracking your daily food intake can be a daunting task at first, but it’s actually soooooo simple once you get used to it!!

People believe that it’s a time consuming task, or that you need to be super creative when it comes to planning your meals. This couldn’t be further from the truth!

In reality, if you’re wanting to achieve the best results from your fat loss phase, it’s probably time to forget about eating something different for every meal of every day, and accept the fact that it’s probably best to just choose a handful of meals and have them on repeat for a few weeks.

If you want to have a larger selection of meals on rotation, that’s totally fine, but this will mean investing a bit more time (I would recommend creating ‘Meal’ entries in the app to save time when you need to add it into your daily logs) so you need to assess whether you actually have that time to spare…

Don’t make things harder for yourself by trying to track on-the-go all the time (you might have to every now and again, but you shouldn’t be doing it all the time if you want the best results) or standing in the kitchen every dinner time wondering ‘what shall I have tonight?’…

An initial time investment of around an hour should be all you need to last you a few weeks! Then, if you want/need to make changes as the weeks go on, it shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes to do 🙂🤩

As you become more experienced you’ll be able to make changes with pretty much zero thought, but if you’re new to it, just do yourself a favour and keep things simple 👌🏻

If I told you that I could put you on a diet plan where you’d be guaranteed to lose weight, would you buy it?

What if I told you that although I would guarantee that you would lose weight, I would also guarantee that you would put the majority of it, and maybe more back on. Would you still buy it?

Now I’m not saying that it’s completely impossible to keep weight off if you go down the fad diet route. I’m sure there are people who have…but I can guarantee that 95+% will only be successful for a short time. Who actually wants short term success???

If you’ve ever followed a diet to lose weight but gained the weight back, I’m sorry but that diet didn’t work! 😂

So what if I told you that I could provide the guidance that you need to lose the weight for good, but you will still need to work really hard (especially in the beginning), make lifestyle changes, accept that your results are a true reflection of your behaviours, take it slow, and do things that you sometimes don’t wanna do.

Doesn’t sound that attractive does it? 😂 but I don’t sugarcoat anything because I refuse to support ‘diet culture’ and sell people fake news! Reaching your desired physique goal (if you have 1) takes work! It requires an investment of your time! It requires you to make choices that don’t come naturally at first! It means accepting that although you don’t have to cut anything out, you still have to have an element of discipline and control!

But what I will 100% guarantee is that once you reach the point where you’re happy and the goal posts change from ‘reaching the goal’ to ‘maintaining the goal’, that’s when you really realise how easy it is. That’s when you’ve instilled the behaviours that mean it doesn’t feel like work anymore. That’s just your life now! You don’t go out for a walk to get your steps in, you go out for a walk because it makes you feel good. You don’t overindulge in foods that make you feel s**t…because you know they make you feel s**t and you’re not about that life anymore! The time it takes to reach this point will vary massively, but it’s 100% attainable if you’re willing to put the work in ✌🏻

A C C O U N T A B I L I T Y ✌🏻

When I ask clients why they chose me to support them on their journey the usual response is ‘I appreciate how honest and open you are when sharing your own journey’. Although I don’t share it for anyone but me, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that sharing it keeps me accountable! Same reason I still have my own coaches (not the only reason, I bloody love them and owe them SO MUCH more than I could ever explain)…checking in with them weekly has been the absolute key to my success and has become something I look forward to!

Having a coach i.e. someone else to be accountable to other than yourself, can make a MASSIVE difference to your progress. Weekly check-ins give you the time to pause and reflect on the previous week so that you can go into the next week full of motivation and ready to smash your goals…but what happens when the motivation runs out 3-4 days later? Because it will at times! That’s where the accountability comes in! Knowing that in just a few days time you’re going to check-in with your coach again can give you the push that you need to keep going.
Of course discipline has to play its part too, but it’s human nature to seek validation from others…we like being told that we’re doing a good job, and having a coach means that if you adhere to your plan you will be told you’re doing a good job, this will make you feel great, and you’ll be more likely to carry on!

Yes there will be times where things don’t go to plan, and that’s ok, we’re all human! But it’s just as important to speak to your coach about these things too, as it’s their job to help you identify what caused it, how to prevent it from happening again, or better prepare for things that can’t be avoided. A good coach will help you fit things like social events into your plan whilst still keeping you on track 😊

Check out these results from just 3 of my incredible clients 🤩

I am SO proud of them all!!!

As a Coach, it’s important for me to understand that every client is different, and that everyone will require different levels of support.

But before you hire a Coach it’s essential for you to understand that, unless you’re specifically signing up to a short-term arrangement e.g. a challenge, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll get the best from your journey if you don’t come into it prepared to invest for months (sometimes years!).

Research indicates that it takes an average of 66 days to embed a new habit. Let’s say a client has 5 new habits to work on…(I would personally say that’s the absolute bare minimum)

5 habits x 66 days = 330 days 🤷🏽‍♀️

Of course there are sometimes ways of embedding a couple of habits at a time e.g. drinking more water and going for a daily walk, but the same research that says it takes an average of 66 days to embed a new habit also says that it can take up to 254 days…so there really is no way of knowing how long it will take each client to truly make the lifestyle changes that they need in order to get the results that they want and, more importantly, be able to keep them!

In addition to actually making the changes that your Coach suggests (and being aware that no one can do the work except you!), it’s also down to you do the things mentioned in this post.

For lots of people, the financial investment will be what makes them question whether they want to work with a Coach. Chances are, those who even consider it can afford it, but they will question whether the financial investment is actually a priority or not.
So for those who decide to take the leap, why not do everything you can to get the absolute best from them? That’s literally what you’re paying for! I have clients that I talk to daily, sometimes multiple times a day, and I have others that I only talk to during their weekly check-in. I have clients who fully self manage their planning process, and I have others who require more help so we have a weekly call to look at their schedule/commitments for the week and plan things in together.

Your Coach can only help you if you’re honest about what you need/want help with.

Those who are ‘in shape’ (interpret that how you will), have got that way on purpose…and it took TIME, PATIENCE and CONSISTENCY.

Sure, some people have great genetics. Some can eat like a horse and not gain a pound. And some lose fat quicker than others. But these people are the minority and we shouldn’t compare ourselves to anyone else anyway!

We ALL have the ability to make changes to our lifestyle. The fact of the matter is that the majority of us are impatient and we seek quick satisfaction over long-term success.

If you want to break the cycle of searching for another quick fix to lose the same 7-10lbs over and over again, you must accept that your journey to becoming the healthiest and happiest version of you will take a lot longer than you want it to.

Accept that you must make it a lifestyle, find a form of physical activity that you love, eat the foods that you enjoy, just learn how to eat the quantities that are relevant to your goal. Most of all, learn that it does require effort!! But the more time you spend building sustainable habits, taking it slow and learning as you go, the easier it will be to create a way of life where you truly have balance.

Your journey to sustainable results starts with you accepting that ‘health and fitness’ isn’t something you can just forget about once you reach your primary goal…

• Weight loss - you eat in a calorie deficit until you’re happy with your physique. What happens if you then completely stop paying attention to your food intake? You put the weight back on. (this is why I don’t give meals plans as standard…you learn NOTHING if I tell you what/how much to eat)

• Improved cardiovascular fitness - your resting heart rate reduces, you run 10km for fun, life is just easier! What happens when you stop running? Your fitness level drops and all of a sudden 5km is a massive challenge

• Strength progression - you progressively overload and your strength shoots through the roof! What happens when you stop going to the gym for 6 months? You get weaker! Fortunately, strength gains can be recouped pretty quickly, but imagine how strong you’d be if you didn’t stop in the 1st place!

That’s just a couple of examples!

This is exactly why I continuously preach the importance of creating healthy habits. It’s why I jump for joy when my clients tell me that they are making lifestyle changes that they can truly see themselves carrying on with forever! And do you know what? The majority of these changes are actually really small! Walks at lunchtime instead of sitting still, parking further away at the supermarket, making sure they get protein and vegetables with every meal, carrying a bottle of water with them at all times…none of it is rocket science!

Your goals, life commitments and therefore application and effort levels will always change, but that’s exactly why laying the foundations is so important. It embeds practices that we can continue with even when we can only get to the gym twice a week instead of 4-5 times, when we go on holiday and don’t have access to our kitchen, when the kids are ill etc. There’s no such thing as perfect, and if anyone tells you that they are ‘on it’ 100% of the time then they’re lying to you, but those who are successful accept and understand that consistency is key.

Take it slow, be patient, reflect on the small things…you can do it 👌🏻

Puts more vegetables on their plate….’urgh you’re weird’

Goes out for a walk at lunchtime…‘what’s wrong with you?’

Has 3-5 drinks on a night out instead of 8-10…’when did you get so boring?’

Gets up earlier to exercise before work…’f**k that, I love my sleep too much’

When did making choices to prioritise our health make us the weirdos?! 🤔

The saddest part about it is that those who start their own journey to better health can often be influenced to change their ‘healthy behaviours’ to suit the expectations of their friends and family. They’re genuinely made to feel like they’re obsessed just because they choose not to eat s**t or sit on their ass watching tv at any given opportunity. If that’s what you want to do then by all means crack on, but no one should be made to feel bad for wanting to improve their health!

Now this isn’t me saying that there isn’t time for eating whatever you like or binge watching that Netflix series, but if your loved one has a goal of losing weight, getting fitter, or just being healthier, you should be supporting them! You shouldn’t be telling them that they’re weird, you should be clapping louder than anyone in the room!

I find it so strange that something as simple as choosing to go for a walk, or taking a prepared lunch into the office can be considered an obsession 😂 honestly though, think about that…how does that make sense?!!?

To everyone who chooses to be more conscious of your health, I’m clapping for you 👏🏼

It’s December…there are work parties, mid-week friendship gatherings, kids parties, Christmas markets and a general increase in social events. Not to mention the massive stash of festive food bulging out of every cupboard. But does that mean that we have to lose lose all control? 🤷🏽‍♀️

I am a BIG promoter of enjoying ourselves and ensuring that we find balance between our health and fitness related goals and our social lives, but in order to do that we must practice the necessary behaviours that allow for that balance to be found. If we don’t, there is no balance, it’s as simple as that!

It doesn’t matter whether your goal is related to fat loss or building muscle, the principles remain the same.

‘But if I wanna lose weight and I know I won’t over Christmas, what’s the point in doing anything?’

This tells me that you’re looking at your measures of success in a very tunnel vision like manner. In order to create sustainable results we must change our mindset around what is deemed success. Using Christmas as the example here -

Usual scenario:
You eat so much on Christmas Day that you end up feeling physically sick and then you sit and wonder why you do it every single year because all it causes is discomfort and guilt.

VS

A change in mindset:
You eat exactly the same foods as you always do, but you pay more attention to the volume that you put on your plate. You make sure that you’re really present whilst eating it so that you enjoy all the tastes and textures, and you stop when you feel full. You enjoy the rest of the day with your family feeling satisfied and happy.

That is success!!! There are so many tiny changes that we can make that really make all the difference!

More to come soon on how to approach the festive period 🎄😃