It Takes Two to Make a Thing Go Right

If there is one thing that I’ve practiced and preached over the years it is that planning is the key to success when it comes to weight loss and weight management. Sounds simple, right? It is, but with all of the other planning we have to do in our lives, from kids’ sports schedules to business meetings, work trips and vacation, planning out your healthy lifestyle always seems to come last or be forgotten.  But what happens when you don’t create a plan for yourself, in business, in your home, etc? Nothing, you get stuck in neutral. So in order to move forward with your healthy lifestyle journey, you must make planning it a top priority.

Chew on these two scenarios: a day in the life of Shannon who plans and a day in the life of Sam, who does not.

Scenario #1: Shannon wakes up on Sunday morning, spends some time with her family and receives a calendar reminder at 10AM to remember to meal plan and grocery shop for the week. That was helpful, because Shannon was a little fuzzy from too much Merlot the night before. Shannon makes a plan, buys her food from the grocery store, cooks a healthy dinner on Sunday night, careful to make leftovers for Monday’s dinner as she knows she’ll be working late that day. When she wakes up on Monday, she heads to 5:30AM spin that she booked the day before. On the way, she makes a mental map of what she’ll be eating that day. Shannon already knows that she’ll be eating lunch with colleagues at her favorite restaurant, so she plans on eating a super healthy breakfast post workout, indulging a little more than usual at lunch, and keeping her calories relatively light at dinner.  What happens when Shannon follows this kind of plan every day? She feels successful at the end of the week and motivated to STICK WITH THE PLAN!

Scenario #2: Sam wakes up on Sunday morning and rabidly downs a 3-egg Western omelet with cheese, potatoes, bacon and a side of toast because he’s toast from too many vodka sodas the night before. After the 5 minutes of eating is over, Sam is filled with remorse and settles onto the couch. He’s probably going to miss his weekly basketball workout with the guys, but oh well, he’ll catch up on exercise during the week.  A few hours later, he heads to a friend’s house to watch the big game, which means more grub food and possibly a few brews. Before you know it, day turns into night and when he gets home, he’s hungry for a snack, but realizes his wife didn’t make it to the grocery store so he grazes on some chips.  Sam wakes up late for work the next day and has to run to a meeting. He skips breakfast and is absolutely starving at lunch time, so he overdoes it and has a burger and fries. He manages to head to the gym after work, but feels too full from the burger to work out to his full potential.  Dinner is super healthy; veggie/chicken stir-fry (yay wife!), but he’s still not feeling great from the overindulgent weekend. He promises himself that tomorrow is going to be a better day, but doesn’t really make a plan as to how to get there. Sam’s week ends with an inconsistent track record: workouts: 3, unhealthy meals: 3, healthy meals: 3, snack attacks: 4.

So you see, making a plan results in smart, informed decisions which ultimately helps you stay on track, lose/maintain weight and become the best version of you.

Are you ready to see how simple this is? It really only takes two (steps that is) to make a thing go right. Follow my simple Two – Step Plan of Planning for two weeks and start feeling great in your skin again.

STEP 1, Sunday Planning: 

• FOOD: Map out what you are going to eat throughout the week, and hit the grocery store that day to prepare yourself for the week ahead. If you’re a recipe follower, great, grab your ingredients. Not a recipe follower? Grab a bunch of veggies, lean meats/proteins and good grains that are easy to throw together. Can’t deal with cooking/shopping? Find your ideal meal delivery service and book your meals in advance (Sun Basket, the Purple Carrot, etc).
• WORKOUT:  Book your workouts in advance, and hold yourself accountable to those days. If you use ClassPass or book through a gym/studio that you have to pay in advance for, you’ll be accountable to yourself and your pocketbook. If you workout in a regular gym, book your workout sessions on your calendar and activate your reminders for your workout as you would a meeting.

STEP 2, Daily Planning:

• Wake and Bake (Your Plan!):  When you wake up each morning, mentally map out your day and decide how you are going to eat around your busy agenda, breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack.  When we don’t have a plan around our food, we tend to make spur of the moment decisions that aren’t always the best for us. However, if you do have a plan to follow, you decide at the beginning of the day what and how much you’ll be eating throughout the day. This also helps you to be the boss of hanger management.
• Start your daily planning as soon as you wake up tomorrow, and begin weekly planning on Sunday. With Halloween falling on a Monday this year, it’s crucial to have a strong game plan in place to avoid sugar-filled mistakes.

Cheers to your health,
Michelle