Fitness 360: Rachel Flint, Fit Like Flint Nutrition

Busy people need good nutrition to propel them through the day. Rachel Flint needs healthy food to fuel her through her training, her full days of being a mom, and her tough weekends of being a soldier. Her solid nutritional plan gives her plenty of energy for her life and the right macros to sustain a great physique.

If you want to transform like Rachel, you can. Here's the nutrition plan that's helped her pack on the muscle and uncover her lean figure.

Rachel Flint Fit 360
Watch The Video - 11:43

Healthy Is As Healthy Does

Rachel's pre-fitness-buff nutrition was based on cheap pizza and Hamburger Helper. "Eventually my husband and I got away from that, but we still weren't eating as healthy as we should have been," she says.

When she entered the world of fitness, Rachel was pretty worried about calorie restriction. "I was really happy to learn that you don't have to starve yourself to get fit," she says. While Rachel understands that you can't hope to be fit if you eat everything you want to, she also knows that "you can have a lot of healthy food and don't always have to be hungry."

"There are a lot of clean foods that I eat now that I never tried growing up. I also didn't know that so many foods have great nutritional benefits," says Rachel. Now, instead of pizza and Hamburger Helper, she eats avocados, asparagus, and sweet potatoes.

Nutrition is more important than training, as Rachel well knows. So she supports her goals by eating 6-7 clean meals each day, spaced 2-2.5 hours apart. "I like to get my protein from chicken and tilapia; my carbs from sweet potatoes, brown rice, and green veggies; and my healthy fats from almond butter, peanut butter, and avocadoes." Because she has a sweet tooth and tends to overdo sugary treats, Rachel has switched her cheat meals to savory snacks. "My favorites are pizza or wings."

She's a wife and mother, so Rachel makes healthy food a must for her family. "My daughters are little, but they like healthy food. They love broccoli, sweet potatoes, and chicken," Rachel says. "If you start when they're little, they'll recognize good food. Whatever my husband and I eat, they eat."

When it comes to eating out, Rachel does her best to stay on track. "Before we go out to eat, I usually pull up the menu and make sure there's a healthy option. Once I get to the restaurant, I can make an informed decision about what I'm ordering."

Rachel's Nutrition Program

"I usually like working out in a fasted state—my strength doesn't suffer and I have plenty of energy to make it through my workouts," she says. "So I have my first meal at 7 a.m., about 30 minutes after I get home from the gym. I know that method doesn't work for everyone, but it seems to work great for me".