Welcome to the Street Parking Nutrition Program!
Our goal is to take the stress out of tracking your food and simplify your lifestyle and approach to nutrition. This process may seem a little overwhelming at first, but we trust that you will get into a groove over time.
You will be following a recommended foods list. The goal is to not only gain a better understanding of portion sizes for your body, but focus on picking quality foods. We take into consideration consuming quality, whole, unprocessed foods while trying to hit daily macronutrient needs. We have laid out easy to measure portion sizes for you to follow. We provide alternative options if you don’t have a food scale as you learn how to measure. This will simplify the process to make your life easier. We could give you a list of macros to hit and you could fill it with anything you like - donuts, pizza, ice cream, etc. - BUT that isn’t going to help you reach your overall goals.
We do not expect you to dive head first into making all of these changes in order to strictly follow the template. We know the value of approaching things gradually, and we’ve provided a guide on how to do so found below. This approach allows you to get comfortable in stages and not get stressed by changing everything all at once, which will ultimately help you to make lasting and sustainable habits.
We know this may seem like a lot of food at first, but don’t freak out. You might go through an adjustment period with feeling REALLY full. This is normal and usually takes the body about 1-2 weeks to adjust. If the food amounts are a little too much you can start with 3/4 the recommended serving per meal. Do NOT try to cut your food in order to ‘see results’ more quickly. Many people come from an under-eating, under-nourishing lifestyle, so your body NEEDS the time to adapt to the servings that are appropriate for your body size! If you find you are starving all the time please reach out to the Street Parking Nutrition Team.
HOW TO FOLLOW YOUR TEMPLATE
Your template lays out each meal for the day with portion sizes.
At each meal you will have a designated serving size for each: protein, carb, fat and veggie.
You will use the ‘Food Chart’ to help you figure out how much you will consume of each food item.
You can eat any combination of items off the food chart as long as you follow your serving sizes for each meal.
SAMPLE TEMPLATE MEAL:
PROTEIN: If your Meal #1 reads: 3 servings protein, pick ANY protein option off the selected foods list.
For example: 1 serving of chicken breast is 23 grams cooked. 23g x 3 servings = you need 69 grams of cooked chicken to meet your Meal #1 serving.
CARBS: If your Meal #1 reads 2 servings carbs, pick ANY carb option off the selected foods list.
For example: 1 serving of sweet potatoes is 80 grams cooked. 80g x 2 servings = you need 160 grams to meet your Meal #1 serving.
FAT: If your Meal #1 reads 1 serving fat, pick ANY fat option off the selected foods list.
For example: 1 serving of coconut oil is 15 grams. 15g x 1 serving = you need 15 grams to meet your Meal #1 serving.
VEGGIES: If your Meal #1 reads 1-2 servings of veggies, pick 1-2 options from the veggie list. 1 serving= 1 cup /1 small handful/the serving size as listed in the food chart. You can have 1-2 cups per meal, minimum of 4 servings per day.
Combo Items: Some of the items considered ‘unfavorable’ will be a combo item. Make sure to read the notes carefully in the food chart. You will see combo items that account for more than one food category. For example, in Greek Yogurt you may need to account for more than just the protein serving and include some of the fat serving. Or perhaps your carb option counts for some of your veggie serving.
Template Options:
Basic Template: This is a great place to start especially if you have never weighed and measured or are not sure when you will be working out. This lays out 4 well balanced meals and 1 post workout option.
Advanced Nutrient Timing Template: This is the same amount of food as the basic template, but is a little more specific to time of day you will be training. This will help you better utilize your carb sources for training. This template is based off working out in the morning. If you are interested in learning more about nutrient timing WATCH BELOW to learn how to adjust your meals based off when you workout.
Please note: By choosing the nutrient timing template this option doesn’t mean you will lose more weight/lose weight faster. We highly recommend starting with the basic template to keep things simple. To put it into perspective, Julian, Miranda, Molly, Michelle, and the rest of the Street Parking team ALL follow the basic template.
What do the different meals mean in nutrient timing?
Can I adjust my meals in nutrient timing around when I train?
Yes, you can stick with the same serving sizes per meal but switch them up so they fit the time of day you workout. Here are some examples of different ways to adjust the meals:
Try to not overthink the nutrient timing. Do what works best for you and your schedule.
HOW TO START GRADUALLY
If you prefer to start gradually, here is a suggested plan of attack for easing into template life. Remember: this is about improving your nutrition as a lifestyle, NOT a quick fix diet!
Weeks 1 & 2: Focus on the quality of your food and making better food choices. Utilize the food chart in the template to make up your daily meals. Do NOT worry about serving sizes. Simply select a food from each of the following categories to make up your meals: protein, carbohydrates, fat and non-starchy veggies.
Week 3: Start using the basic way to portion out your food using the palm of your hand. You will continue to select foods from each category as you did in Weeks 1 & 2, however you will focus on portioning the amounts according to the size of your hands.
Your palm determines your protein portions
Your fist determines your veggies
Your cupped hand determines your carb/starch portions
Your thumb determines your fat portions
Weeks 4 & 5: Introduction of more specific weighing and measuring, utilizing the serving sizes on your template. A continuation of food selection and measuring, refining the measuring to use a food scale and/or measuring cups and spoons.
POST WORKOUT MEAL OPTIONS
For your post workout meal, consume a protein (whey protein, collagen protein, or veggie/vegan Protein) AND a carb. If you are not comfortable consuming a protein powder, that’s ok! You can just have a post-workout meal with real food, containing a lean protein, and carb source, with little fat.
Post Workout Protein: If your Post Workout protein reads 3.5 SERVINGS (~25g Protein) this means you will have 25g of whey protein OR 3.5 servings of a protein options from the food chart. Look at the nutrition facts on the bag of protein to get the serving size for 25g of protein. Remember this is NOT the total weight, this is actually 25g of protein.
Please account for ANY carbs that are in your post workout protein sources and deduct that from your post workout carbs. If your protein powder has 20g of carbs, you will subtract that from your overall post workout carbs. If you aren’t comfortable consuming a protein powder you can choose a lean protein source instead.
Post Workout Carbs: You can consume ANY FOOD item on the carb food chart for your post workout carbs. If your Post workout carb reads 1 serving of carbs, this means you will consume 1 carb option from the food chart. For example, 1 Serving of banana is 88 grams. This means you will need 88 grams to meet your post workout meal carb servings.
Please Note: If you workout for more than 60 minutes a day or twice a day at high intensity you may increase your post workout carbs by 50%. This means if your post workout reads 1 serving of carbs you will increase to 1.5 servings carb. If you workout twice in one day, you can split your post workout meal however you would like.
WHAT TO EAT AND WHAT TO SKIP
Do your best to stick to the food chart. This will help your body reset from processed foods/sugar and help create a solid baseline. If you bounce around eating things off of the list, you won’t know what is working and what isn’t.
Are these foods all that I get to choose from?
Yes! If you choose to have an item that is not on the food list, you will have to do some math to account for the macros in that item and remove them from your meal totals. This could create a lot more work on your end if you regularly eat items off of the list.
What about consuming something considered an unfavorable food?
You will see that some “unfavorable foods” are included on the food chart. This means they aren’t terrible, but not something to consume all of the time. Try to stick to the regular food chart and add these “unfavorable” items here and there.
What happens if I consume something off of the food chart?
Try and keep things as simple as possible: if you consume a meal or food item that isn’t on the list, continue to follow the rest of the day’s meals and serving sizes. One random meal won’t throw off weeks of hard work! Plus, we don’t want you stressing over math and trying to figure out how to adjust your macros for the rest of the day. However, if you choose to eat or drink an item off of the food chart every day you will need to account for it in your macros.
We understand the food chart and servings we provide aren’t the only way to eat. We encourage you to stick with things as best as you can, but it you have certain foods or things that you aren’t willing to give up - or know won’t work for your goals - by all means add them in!
Please see the FAQs for more info.
We understand that not everyone can eat 4 meals in the day. Maybe you work shift hours and consuming larger meals doesn’t work well with your schedule, so breaking them up into smaller meals would work better. This is allowed as long as you stick to the food servings for your meal.
Below is an example of how you could split one meal into two snacks, allowing you to consume 3 meals and 2 snacks throughout the day.
For example:
If you eat both snacks balanced you will be good for the day! Make sure they are evenly split! Similarly, if you prefer fewer meals, you can combine them using similar logic to above.
Please Note - This does NOT mean you SKIP servings for your meals!
Meal plan. Look at your calendar for the day (and even 2-3 days in advance) and plan your meals according to your schedule so you are not worrying about what and when you will be eating.
Bulk prep. Prepping 3-4 days worth of protein (like shredded chicken or ground turkey), carb (like roasted sweet potatoes or rice) and having bagged/pre-cut veggies on hand is a great way to make sure you know you have go-to template approved options ready!
Don’t overthink nutrient timing. Nutrient timing is just a tool that should be put into place once you are accurately counting your food. Tackle one thing at a time.
Don’t worry about using an app (like MyFitnessPal) for tracking. If you are used to tracking and following your macros, you may struggle with seeing the numbers compared to what you are used to. We recommend not tracking in an app for a while and focus on how you FEEL, measurements and pictures for body composition changes, etc. Using a handwritten journal or your “Notes” app on your phone is a great option for logging meals!
Don’t try to do it ALL. It’s easy to get excited and want to make ALL the changes at once. But when we try and juggle and implement all these changes at once, we can end up giving up because we feel defeated. Focus on the small wins and daily victories.
WHAT ELSE SHOULD I FOCUS ON?
Regular Exercise: Try and incorporate 3+ Street Parking workouts a week.
Water Intake: Drinking sufficient water each day can help our bodies in so many different ways. It can aid in hydrating the body and skin, digestion, and weight loss. Aim to drink about 40-50% of your 1/2 your body weight in ounces of water a day, but you do not need to exceed 80 ounces for women and 100 ounces for men. If you like drinking lots of water you can ignore the limit.
Sleep: Sleep is just as important as nutrition and exercise when it comes to improving your health, performance, and body composition.Good sleep helps our bodies and minds recover, keeping us lean, happy, mentally focused, and healthy. But chronically bad sleep slathers on body fat, screws up our hormones, ages us faster, increases chronic illnesses, and drains our IQ and mojo.
Please Note: Results may vary for each individual. Since this is a digital product, all sales are FINAL - no refunds!