4 Steps to Becoming Your Own Diet Coach

You’ve heard it a million times before, but it’s true. You can’t out train a bad diet. In other words, no matter how often or how hard you workout, the results you get won’t be as good if it’s not matched with good nutrition. 
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Often the focus for nutrition is all about weight loss, and transforming ones image. Having a good diet can certainly help with that. However, the benefits of eating well far outreach losing a few kilos. We’re talking everything from huge increases in energy to curing serious illnesses. 

I love the phrase “food is medicine”. I honestly think that so many of our daily health concerns can be helped and even solved by focusing on your diet. Simply by being open to this idea, you give yourself a chance of achieving ultimate health. ​

In the ideal world, we would have a Nutritionist guiding us through this process & figuring out once and for all, specifically what is good for us. Health isn’t a one size fit’s all, which is  why so many healthy eating programmes fail by the way. It has to be individual. 

Unfortunately, nutritionists don’t come cheap, and will probably set you back upwards of £100 per hour. Sounds expensive, but when you think about it, if by working with a Nutritionist, you increase the quality of your life, that’s pretty good value if you ask me. 
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I’m not a Nutritionist, but as a Personal Trainer & Coach, it’s something I have had to learn a lot about over the last 7-8 years. I’ve developed certain techniques and tools which I give to my clients who want to really focus on their diets. I wanted to share these with you today, so that in just 4 steps, you can become your own Diet Coach.

KEEP A DIARY

Keep a Food diary for at least 5 days. Track everything you eat and drink, and be honest. We can be extremely good at kidding ourselves, and when you have to write it down, it may be obvious why you’re putting on weight, or feeling sluggish when you wake up. As a general rule, if you’re eating well 80% of the time, you will be fine. If you’re unsure of what to even look out for, then Tip number 4 is perfect for you. ​

TRIAL & ERROR

By trialling different foods, you give yourself a personalised plan which you’re 100% confident in. A very high number of people are allergic to Dairy, which can lead to skin irritations, slumps in energy, and some even claim it causes cancer. If you think a certain type of food is causing you issues, eliminate it for a week, and track how you feel. You can always bring it back in to your diet, and then you will no for sure if it’s having an impact. My advice would be to look at trialling caffeine, dairy, gluten and wheat. Try removing each of these individually for a week, and you may be surprised at the results. ​

(Always check with a doctor before cutting things from your diet) 

TRACKING RESULTS

Track your results through everything you do. This way, you will no whether something has worked or not. This can be anything from weekly weight ins, to keeping a mood diary. When you experience a positive result from eating a certain way, it adds fuel to your fire and makes eating well so much easier. ​

FOCUS LEARNING

Take one subject at a time, and Focus learn. The issue with any learning based tasks is overwhelm. There’s too much to learn, so we end up freezing, not even knowing where to start. Make it your mission to not have any weak points in your knowledge. If you keep hearing about the benefits of including good fats in your diet, but you don’t know the different between the good fats, the bad fats and the ugly fats, then take some time, and learn. You can get so much online for free, you can ask your trainer at boot camp, or buy a book on that subject. It won’t take long for you to know much more than the average person, and then you can make in informed decision about something, rather than following any old guru on facebook. 

There's a quote I love which is: 
​"Everything you need for a better future and success has already been written, and guess what, it's all available" 

Summary

I would always recommend working with a professional. I’m not just saying that so you start working with us, but seriously, it makes a huge difference. I would recommend having an initial 4 week boost to really tailor your approach, then follow these 4 steps to keep you on track.
 
Remember, if you get your diet right, it can unlock your strength, your energy and potential. Make it your mission to be the best version of you. 
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Keep us posted on how you get on, we’d love to find out if you find this useful. 

WHAT NEXT? 

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Find out about working with a coach 1-1 to help you get control of your nutrition. 

Email Sam