Meal plans are absolute BS. There, I said it. They are a terrible dieting strategy in the long run and I do not advise using them to reach your fat loss goals. 

Before I explain, let me say this: What I am about to tell you is not just coming from internet research but from personal experience. I began my own fitness journey using a meal plan (to prepare for my first NPC bikini competition.) I switched to tracking macros soon after with much better results both physically and mentally/emotionally.

I am now a full time online health coach dedicated to helping women achieve healthy, sustainable body transformations using flexible dieting strategies and weight lifting. After seeing the incredible magnitude of their results using a strategy that required no elimination of their favorite foods, I am absolutely convinced the whole meal plan thing is BS. 

Here’s why it’s time to ditch the meal plans for good:

1. They’re not fun. 

I know… not the most scientific reason (those will come later.) But it’s true. If you knew you could get to your fat loss goals without saying goodbye to ice cream, chocolate bars, cheeseburgers, (insert other favorite food here), wouldn’t you? If you can get to your goal via meal plan or via eating what you like, honestly, which would you rather do? You’re going to get there either way.

I don’t know about you but I’d rather continue to eat things I enjoy (in healthy, moderate amounts, of course.)

Everything that’s been pounded into our head from these big weight loss companies suggests that weight loss should be difficult, painful, complex, and somehow involve eating very special “weight loss causing foods,” which don’t exist, by the way. 

You can choose to get to your goals while having fun and eating foods you love or you can get there with a monotonous, boring meal plan. You get to pick. 

2. Eventually, you will hit a plateau you can’t break out of.

Depending on where you’re getting your meal plan, if it’s something you’re just pulling off the internet, it hasn’t been designed for your particular stats: your weight, age, height, activity level, dieting history, and background.

Not only will results vary heavily from person to person on such a plan, but if the plan has you on much lower calories than it should for your metabolism, you will plateau quickly. 

Additionally, if the plan does not adjust calories downward appropriately over time, you will get stuck in that plateau and be unable to break out of it (unless, at that point, you trade in your meal plan for a macro or calorie tracking strategy.) 

3. They don’t teach you anything about how to sustain your results.

I believe in teaching a man (or in my case, a woman) to fish, via educating her on how to track her macros. Once you know how to track them, you can easily use this process to maintain and even improve your fat loss results.

When using a meal plan, the general process is to stick to the meal plan until you reach your goal (which is hard in itself) and then to promptly come off the meal plan. This is a problem. 

Just going back to your normal way of eating post meal plan will not help you sustain your results. If you go ham, and return to normal calorie intake, you just put the fat right back on. The meal plan helped you achieve results because you were eating in a calorie deficit (burning more than you were consuming.) After you leave the deficit, you revert back to where you started. 

Or, in the unlikely event you go back to your old foods but continue to eat in your “diet sized” portions, you will be stuck with a slow metabolism. 

In order to hold onto results and return to normal eating behaviors, you would need to know your calorie intake so you could reverse diet back to a faster metabolism and normal food intake while maintaining fat loss results.

4. You could end up with nutrient deficiencies. 

Generally, meal plans take the 100% clean eating route, which means you’re eliminating foods you normally eat to reach your goals.

Not only does this mean your body could forget how to digest those foods properly, it also means you could end up with nutrient deficiencies.

Continuing to eat foods you love (in moderate amounts) while also eating a diet rich in “cleaner” foods, actually leads to better overall micronutrient levels than going full on clean eating. 

5. They aren’t sustainable long term.

Inevitably, you will, at some point miss the foods you gave up and fall off the wagon. Eating off of a meal plan day in and day out simply isn’t sustainable in the long term.

Generally, people have one bad day where they give into cravings, and then rebound completely. They feel like they’ve failed and then give up or they realize how much they missed all these foods they’ve been eliminating and go crazy consuming them in larger than normal amounts. 

If you can’t see yourself on your diet 10 years from now, then it’s not the diet for you. This is not to say you should still be dieting by that time. It’s simply to say that your dieting strategy should feel that easy for you to adhere to. Your strategy should blend with your normal every day lifestyle seamlessly to create your best results.

This is why I am a huge advocate for ditching the meal plans for good, and pursuing a flexible dieting lifestyle. 

Are you ready to ditch the meal plans and crush your fat loss goals with a flexible diet?

I've been helping women just like you build muscle, lose fat, and improve their metabolism with an easy to follow flexible diet and FUN training routine. 

If you're ready to say HECK YES to changing your health, your body, and your life, APPLY HERE for 1 on 1 coaching. I will be there to coach you every step of the way so we can get you better, lasting results. 

Not convinced? Check out some of these amazing success stories from women JUST LIKE YOU. If you're sitting there telling yourself you're too busy, too tired, too old, too unmotivated, or that it's not possible for you, STOP RIGHT NOW.

You can do this no matter who you are and where you're at in life. Don't hold yourself back from the quality of life you CAN and WILL have if you take the leap. 

No more waiting for the perfect time. There will never be a perfect moment. The time to make a change is always RIGHT NOW! Let me show you what you can do. 

To Your Good Health & Success,

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