Jennifer Dent breaks down the 80/20 and 90/10 eating rules: 80% clean meals for maintenance, 90% for weight loss, with the rest as flexible meals. Plan ahead to avoid willpower battles, and reframe those meals as social occasions, not cheating.
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Hi, I'm Jennifer Dent, health and success coach, and I am here with a quick little message for you for a Friday afternoon getting ready to head into the weekend. I wanted to talk real quickly today about the 80/20 rule to dieting. Are you familiar with the 80/20 rule for dieting? I've heard it for years and I was like, oh, it sounds so interesting, but I was never really sure, like what 80% was versus what 10% was or what 20% was, because there's also that 90/10 rule as well to dieting. And I was like, ah, what does that mean? Does that mean I need to have 80% healthy things on my plate and 20% not so healthy things on my plate? Or does that mean I can have like 80% of my french fries that are— or not have 80% of my french fries and eat 20% of vegetables? Like, I was very confused. And I'm— the reason why I'm talking about the 80/20 rule going into the weekend is because that's how I implemented into my healthy lifestyle. I don't do diets. I got off of the diet roller coaster recently when I became a holistic health coach after 20 years of trying every freaking diet known to man. Finally got off of it, and I've learned to implement some very basic healthy rules into my own personalized lifestyle that work for me. Helped me to lose 20 pounds, lose 2 dress sizes, and keep the weight off. So I'm sharing one of my favorite rules, which is the 80/20 rule. How do you use the 80/20 rule? Um, Oops, sorry, reading all these messages that are popping up. How do you use the 80/20 rule when you are trying to, quote-unquote, lose weight or trying to diet? Here is my best rule of thumb: 80% of your meals during the week should be super healthy. And this advice is for people who are looking to maintain their weight, not really looking to lose a whole lot of weight. 80% of your meals should be super healthy, and then you have your 20%, which will equate to 1 or 2 to 3 meals for the week, including the weekend. So does that make sense to you? I think it makes perfect sense to me. Trying to maintain your weight, 80% of your meals Monday through Friday should be really, really clean and good, and then you have like your 2 to 3 meals where you kind of veer off track. So So you go to happy hour tonight on Friday, that would be considered one of your not healthy meals. Or you maybe have a family dinner on Saturday night that you're, you know, wanting to indulge in. Fine, enjoy that social time with your family. Family is important. That bonding time is really, really important. So that would be your 2 to 3. Now, if you are trying to drop some weight, And as a health coach, a lot of my clients are trying to lose that 10, 20, 30 pounds. This is what I tell them: I do not believe in deprivation. You cannot depend on willpower to lose the weight. You need to think sensibly, and you also need to plan ahead. So one of the things that you can do when you're planning ahead is consider, all right, this 90/10 rule. So, people who are trying to lose weight should follow the 90/10 rule. 90% of my meals are clean, unprocessed food, delicious, healthy food that you cook at home, mm-mm, things that agree with your digestive system. Those, that is the majority of your meal. 90% of your meals should be, 90% of your meals for the week should be just like that. Fat. 10% will equate to 1 to 2 meals for the week. So personally for me, I like to just stick to the 90/10 rule all the time. So back in the day when I was like trying to will the weight off of me and following all these crazy diets, I would be like hyper-focused, super strict during the week, Monday through Friday, breakfast, lunch, dinner. I had my 2 snacks, like I was on it. I followed whatever that diet plan, I followed it to a T. I measured everything, I weighed everything, like I was hyper-focused on following that one diet perfectly. But then I got to Friday, going to happy hour, start my weekend off. I was exhausted from trying to be so strict with my eating, so I would just like lose it. And I would just like go to town. So Friday happy hour, roll into Saturday morning brunch with my girlfriends, which would roll into Saturday night date night, go out another restaurant. And Sunday I was like, whatever, I'll start again on Monday. And so basically I sabotaged all the good work I did during the week in a weekend period. I don't want you to do that. That's why I want you to follow the 90/10 rule. 10% of your meals can be your fun meals. I don't like to use the word cheat because that seems like, you know, you're doing something bad by eating a french fry or having a glass of wine. No, that is your fun food, your enjoyable food, the food you go out when you're socializing and you're enjoying your company and the food is just great and you're just having a wonderful time. Because did you know your environment affects the way your food is digested in your body? Hmm, very interesting, right? As a health coach, I am all about the mind-body connection, and this is just an aside, but when you're eating food alone at home, stuffing it in your mouth and eating in a bad environment with the negative Nellies running around in your head, your body is, is going to assimilate that food a lot differently than if you are out enjoying yourself, feeling the vibration of a high-energy, loving environment with friends and family. Just an aside. Okay, so back to the 10% rule. 10% of your meals should be your fun food, and to me, that is 1 to 2 meals during the week. Not the day, the week. So, that could be your Saturday brunch with your friends, or maybe your Sunday meal with your family. That is your 1 to 2 meals, but you've gotta get back on track. Enjoy that one meal, you planned for it, enjoy it, have a great time, but no Saturday for lunch, you're not gonna be out grabbing McDonald's at the drive-through while you're running your errands, nope, you've got your meals already planned, so you already know what you're gonna eat on Saturday. Alright, so that is my quick tip on the 80/20 rule, or as I love to follow, the 90/10 rule. Jennifer Dent, health and success coach, signing out. Have a great weekend!
