How would you like some tips to succeed at weight loss? Picture this: It’s happened to the best of us. We start our year with the best intentions to make it “THE” year in which we lose weight, fit into that cute little black dress or those jeans that we have been keeping stored in our closet accumulating dust, Or, we think “THIS” is the year that we’ll be able to play a sport with our kids without feeling winded, only to all of a sudden fall flat on our face with a very loud “SPAT!” Yep, I’ve been there too… and it’s NOT fun. I remember those days as I said good bye to the old year and good bye to the little black dress and would tell my daughter “go ahead, you play ball… mommy will watch you over here and cheer for you.” One day how ever, someone gave me some great tools to succeed at losing weight *insert angelic sound here with light beaming down* and my life changed forever.
I was told “plan your work and work your plan.” I am GREAT at planning work, I used to work in a tax department and knew exactly how to organize my day to get things done on time for the 700+ accounts that we handled for that company. I have also worked on projects in which I know exactly how much work I need to do in order to finish said project on time. However, when it came to losing weight and as logical as the “plan your work, work your plan” sounds, I hadn’t a clue of how to do that… until someone mentored me and taught me what to do and how to do it. Some of the things I am going to recommend may sound like a lot of work, but trust me… they will save you time in the long run.
Here are the tips that I was given:
- Make a meal plan for the week
- Set aside some time to cook for the whole week. For me it’s normally Sundays. I normally cook a large batch of brown rice, I measure what I’m going to use for each meal and store it in ziplock bags in the freezer. When you’re ready to eat, just reheat and serve. That saves you 40 minutes of time every time you want to make rice.
- Chicken – slow cook several chicken breasts, prepare with rosemary, garlic and onions, cook overnight at low heat for 8 hours. The next day, separate, store and freeze. Label your bags Monday – lunch, Tuesday – dinner, etc.,
- Prepare one large container with fresh salads
- Eat raw veggies as much as you can, they are higher in vitamins than cooked veggies. Prepare a large bowl with your favorite salad leafy greens and store for 3 days (it normally stays fresh for that long) Make sure you wash them REALLY well though.
- Drink water! We often confuse thirst with hunger. Water will give you energy, make your skin glow and you’ll notice you will be less likely to reach out for that junk food if you have water with you.
- Carry snacks with you at all times. As a mom of a young child, I can tell you from personal experience that at those times when I thought ‘I’m going to be right back and need no snacks” were the times when crying child and desperate mother would run into the closest frozen yogurt place to find comfort, only to kick myself later. Good snacks to carry: Apple slices, almonds, organic edamame, grapes, oranges, grapefruit, carrot sticks and hummus, brown rice cakes with almond butter, tuna fish, a bit of chicken, a protein shake or a small baked sweet potato. Make sure you carry everything in a little lunchbox. Trust me, I’ve saved money, headaches and even temper tantrums from my daughter (and even me) when we go hungry.
- Plan your treats and don’t call them “cheats”. Work for your treats, workout during the week, be good, don’t “cheat” and plan that treat at the end of the week on a day that you worked out. ONE treat only and then go back to your eating clean meals. You’ll notice how sometimes you’ll forget about that treat meal and will be less likely to go for it.
- Don’t do extremes… seriously PLEASE!!!! Moderation with everything, if you’re starting a workout program, do one that you can ease into. You’re not supposed to feel like you need to throw up.
- EAT! Make sure you’re fueling your workouts with good quality calories. Don’t ever think that you need to starve yourself to lose weight. Your body will go into starvation mode and more than likely you’ll ruin your metabolism by eating little. I keep my calories between 1700 and 2000 calories and always listen to my body. If I’m hungrier than usual, I eat.
Let me know if you need help with meal ideas or menu plans. If you want to make me your coach, you can join for free here then send me a message with your question and I’ll be happy to guide you.