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FROM A NUTRITION COACH: KATE LYMAN
As nutrition coaches, we have the privilege of building close relationships with our clients as we help guide them toward their goals - be those related to aesthetics or fat loss goals, performance goals, or goals of optimal health. Along the way, as we work on building a better relationship with food and our habits, we get to share parts of our stories that are relevant to our coaching styles. We’re taking time this year to share more about us, our nutrition journeys and transformations, our road to becoming nutrition coaches and educators, and the amazing clients we have the privilege of working with.
HIGH VOLUME VS. NUTRIENT DENSE: ADJUSTING FOOD CHOICES TO YOUR APPETITE AND NEEDS
One part of our nutrition that I think can be really empowering is learning to address appetite through the typical ebbs and flows of life. This means when we’re sick, hot, busy, etc. and appetite is low (or gone completely); and when we’re more active or a little munchy and appetite is higher than normal. In either of these situations, knowledge of our nutrition allows us to tailor our food choices to how we’re feeling, so we can still honor our hunger and fullness cues and continue to fuel ourselves well.
TIPS FOR OPTIMIZING YOUR PERFORMANCE THROUGH RECOVERY: FUELING FOR PERFORMANCE PART 2
When it comes to seeing progress and reaching our goals, the things we do outside of the gym (like our nutrition!) are just as important as the training we do in the gym. If you have goals of improving your performance in the gym and how you feel overall, take stock of how you’re approaching some of these things. We also share about how supplements can play a role in helping maximize your performance and share which ones we recommend most!
HOW TO TRULY MAXIMIZE YOUR PERFORMANCE GOALS THROUGH YOUR NUTRITION: FUELING FOR PERFORMANCE PART 1
You don’t need to be an elite athlete to optimize your performance. Regardless of your level or experience, you just need to make sure your nutrition aligns with your specific goals. If your goals are aimed at optimizing performance and recovery, your priority should be eating the right amount to fuel your training and your recovery. Today’s post will give you some of the basics on what to eat, when to eat it, and how food plays a role in your performance in and out of the gym.
EASY RECIPE: ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP
This butternut squash soup recipe is an absolute favorite of mine. Think of the recipe as a simple base for a delicious dish that you can tweak and adjust to your liking. The base below gives you a high-fiber, micronutrient-dense, high-volume recipe to play with (or enjoy solo, because it’s delicious that way too!)
YOUR NUTRITION AND FITNESS GOALS FOR 2023: GOAL SETTING TO MAKE THE MOST OF THE NEW YEAR
Goal setting can seem cliché, but setting yourself up with the right type of goals can be the difference between getting frustrated and giving up, and actually achieving the big goals you have set for yourself. This post is here to help you along in the process of making new goals that will best serve you in this coming year.
MACRO FRIENDLY COFFEE IDEAS AND RECIPES
A big part of diet culture that plagued me for a majority of my life was a fear of liquid calories. There is no need to fear liquid calories, period. For those who love a high calorie latte, mocha, etc., here are a few tips for how you can make a generally calorie-packed drink a little more “macro friendly.”
THE ULTIMATE GUIDE FOR NAVIGATING YOUR NUTRITION THROUGH THE HOLIDAYS
With the holidays around the corner, there’s no doubt that our calendars will start to fill up with extra social events these next two months. Whether you’re at a family gathering, a work party, or a gift exchange with friends, there’s a good chance food will be involved. This week’s post pulls together our most tried and true nutrition tips and tricks that we’ve shared with our clients over the years for how to approach the holidays while continuing to work towards your nutrition and fitness goals.
HOW TO (ACTUALLY) HIT YOUR PROTEIN TARGET WHEN TRACKING MACROS
I know that getting adequate protein take can be really challenging. But I also know it can absolutely be done. And it can be done in a way that fits our eating preferences, that doesn’t require us to double our grocery bill, and that helps us build positive long-term habits.
HOW TO CALCULATE YOUR PROTEIN NEEDS (& WHY YOUR PROTEIN INTAKE IS IMPORTANT)
We talk so much about protein that it can feel like a gimmick - something that isn’t actually that important or necessary. But the importance of protein for our overall health as well as any aesthetic or performance goals we may have is so very real.
Smart Watch Pros and Cons: Using Tech to Support Your Nutrition Goals
Smart watches - Apple Watches, FitBits, Garmins, etc. - can be such an incredibly helpful tool for daily life, but they become more detrimental than helpful when we rely too heavily on the data they provide. But we can understand how to utilize them in a way that is most beneficial for us and our needs, without having them give us inaccurate information.
4 Most Common Macro Tracking Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
After over seven years working as an online nutrition coach (and years in the fitness industry before this!), I want to share four major nutrition mistakes we often see as coaches working 1:1 with our clients. These mistakes aren’t because our clients are uninformed or wrong; they’re just often things we have been told (incorrectly) most of our lives.
Combat Self Sabotage: Reaching Body Composition Goals With Self-Compassion
One of the most frustrating forms of sabotage is chasing an old version of ourselves. Even if we do instinctively know that it’s a fruitless task, it’s something we often do that leaves us spinning our wheels in frustration and overwhelm because we’re chasing a goal that is not physically possible.
Macro-Friendly Gas Station Snacks: Nutrition On The Go
Something I often urge clients to do is to keep easy-win snacks on hand at all times, but especially during travel - whether that’s a day of work travel, a family road trip, or just a long day of errands where you’re out and about the whole day. While on the road, gas stations can be a fantastic place to find those “easy win” snacks.
Challenging Restrictive Dieting: Understanding Dieting vs. Diet Culture
Diet culture is a system that places value on our weight and size over our health. Diet culture is supported by a multi-billion dollar industry that pushes weight loss through every medium possible. Diet culture tells men, women, and children that they are not small enough, strong enough, or lean enough. DIET CULTURE IS HARD TO IGNORE. Anti-diet culture is not the same thing as anti-dieting, and let’s talk about why.
The Calorie Deficit Checklist: Am I Ready for Fat Loss?
We already know that a calorie deficit is the most important factor at play when it comes to pursuing fat loss goals. But, for most, staying in a consistent calorie deficit is a lot more challenging (and far more complex) than just “eating less and moving more.” One roadblock I see hindering progress over and over is not being in the right place to commit to these goals from the start.
7 Meal Prep Tips for Macro-Friendly Meals: From The Nutrition Coaches
We often think of “meal prep” as a meticulous and time consuming routine that ends in perfectly portioned tupperwares full of your meals for the week. The beauty of a flexible approach to our nutrition is that we have the ability to shape “meal prep” into whatever fits our needs and our lifestyles best. We wanted to show the large range of what meal prep can look like for different individuals and their different circumstances, so this week we are sharing our best meal prep tips as nutrition coaches who have our own specific nutrition needs, as well as supporting our clients and their needs.
How to Track a Recipe in MyFitnessPal for Accurate Macros
If you are new to tracking your macros, the idea of tracking recipes can seem overwhelming. Adding a recipe into MFP is neither impossible nor time consuming. It can seem daunting at first, but is faster after some practice. I enjoy MFP for its ease of use, especially when it comes to adding recipes or repeat meals. We’re teaching you exactly how to do it in this post!