Prospre: Meal Planner
Meal plans based on macros
Prospre: Meal Planner
Meal plans based on macros
Prospre: Meal Planner
Meal plans based on macros, macro tracking, and more
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September 21, 2023
As a personal trainer, you want to assist your customers in reaching their fitness objectives. Unfortunately, when it comes to achieving your dream physique, exercising is only half the battle. Nutrition is the other side of the equation.
As a personal trainer, you have an innate understanding of health and well-being, including nutrition. What you don’t know, you can undoubtedly find out using professional resources.
Of course, there are limitations. You can’t prescribe nutritional supplements or a set diet to treat a medical problem such as diabetes. There are plenty of other things you can do as a personal trainer, though. Consider some ways trainers can help their clients with nutrition.
First and foremost, trainers should encourage their clients to get medical assistance if they have a medical problem. Someone with prediabetes, for instance, should discuss diet and exercise with their primary care physician.
Your goal is fitness, not medical help, and it's crucial clients understand where that line lies. If a client confides in you about a medical issue, instruct them to carefully follow their doctor’s care plan. As a trainer, you should never offer medical advice.
Trainers understand the importance of protein in the diet. It provides the literal building blocks for muscle. Consistent protein consumption is essential along with exercise - you simply won't get the most significant benefits if you don't.
Protein is still crucial even if your clients' objective is to get slim rather than bulk up. Protein is required for the body to recuperate after an exercise, whether it be heavy lifting or an hour of cardio.
Most workouts operate by breaking down muscle fibers, leading to greater muscular growth or leaner muscles when healed. Protein helps the body rebuild itself, resulting in faster outcomes and less recuperation time between exercises. A high-protein diet can help support the demands of a rigorous training plan. This entails consuming a variety of protein-rich foods such as lean meats, poultry, seafood, eggs, and nuts.
After a workout, most individuals will want to supplement with protein drinks. Getting the appropriate amount of protein from diet alone is difficult, but a post-workout smoothie can help make up the difference.
Furthermore, eating protein post-workout helps the body kick-start the process of muscle regeneration, allowing your customers to recover quicker.
There are three critical macronutrients: protein, carbs, and fats, and they all matter. Part of eating right is learning how to optimize these macronutrients in the diet to get the optimal result.
This is an excellent opportunity to clarify some common dietary misconceptions, too. For example, not all fat is created equally.
Some harmful fats should be avoided or minimized. These are fats derived from fried and processed meals and a variety of snack items.
On the other hand, many other healthy fats provide a variety of advantages and are a vital element of a balanced diet. These are called monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, and they are good for your heart and brain health, energy generation, cognition, and other things.
Avocado, olive oil, nuts, seeds, salmon, and tofu are high in "healthy" fats. Despite their name, eating them in your diet will not cause fat gain. So, even if your client's objective is to lose weight, consuming these meals will help. Good fats frequently make a person feel fuller sooner, which aids in weight loss.
Also, carbs are vital for good nutrition despite what fad diets say. Generally, the rule of thumb is 45 to 65 percent of intake should be carbs, but that doesn’t mean going out and grabbing a candy bar or doughnut.
Carbs are either simple or complex. Simple carbs tend to be the ones to avoid. Anything that contains refined sugar like soda, some juices, and, of course, all those tasty sweet treats.
Explain that they should focus on complex carbs to get the maximum results, and whole grain is the way to go. Whole wheat, oats, rye, these are carbs that give back. They provide lots of fiber and nutrients.
Explain to them that counting calories is a two-way street. You want to eat just the right amount of calories, no more or less. Eating too few will send your body into starvation mode and make working out more difficult.
Too many calories, especially the wrong kind like refined sugar, add fat, not muscle. One of the best tips to offer is to fill a plate with one-quarter healthy protein, one-quarter healthy carbs and fats, and the rest with veggies and fruit -- the more colorful, the better.
The good news is trainers have incredible resources at their disposal that make them look even more effective to clients. Take our app Prospre. It provides nutrition-based meal plans with food tracking tools to help keep clients on track with their fitness goals.
To be a well-rounded training professional, you must see beyond the gym walls. Helping clients manage their nutritional needs will pay off for you both.
