YOUR STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS FOR SUCCESS

Performance nutritionist Daniel Davey’s practical ways to build a nutrition plan for a strong, fit, healthy body and mind

1 DEVELOP YOUR PLAN ON PAPER

Where do you start if you want real results with significant improvements in health, performance or body-composition? You start with a comprehensive plan that includes your targets, nutrition plan, activity plan and accountability strategy. This is your framework for success and you must review this plan each week to measure your progress — review what went well and what you need to improve on.

Remember, your plan should be based on a seven-day routine, not five or six days of perfect eating and one day where you lose structure over your meals or lifestyle. That doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy treats, it means that treats should be worked into your pattern of eating but not hamper you in achieving your goal.

2 SET REALISTIC TARGETS

Be realistic about what you want to achieve and give yourself plenty of time to achieve your goal. This could be related to creating a food prep routine, getting more sleep, losing or gaining weight or simply eating more fruit and vegetables. Judge your progress over a number of weeks rather than in days or one or two weeks as new habits take time to form. For example, if you eat only three portions of vegetables a day at the moment, eating an additional one or two portions a day consistently brings a big improvement in your overall nutrient intake.

3 LOG YOUR FOOD INTAKE FOR A WEEK IN A FOOD DIARY

By writing down everything you eat for a week you can see more clearly how much you are eating, what and when. This will give you a much better understanding of the areas you need to work on most. For example, are you eating too many/ not enough calories? Too much sugar? It is always a surprise when you write down what you eat because we tend to forget a lot of the food we eat day to day. It also identifies gaps in your diet and helps to plan meals more appropriately to your schedule.

4 ACTIVITY PLAN

Good habits are linked. Your exercise plan not only helps with body composition goals but is critical for wellbeing, general health and mental health. Use an activity plan that is matched to your goals, personal needs and level of fitness and aim for progressive improvements each week. You don’t want to stand still — at least aim to improve the quality if not increasing your volume of activity.