WHAT OBSTACLES ARE STANDING IN THE WAY OF YOUR HEALTH, NUTRITION, OR WEIGHT LOSS EFFORTS?

You’ve said you WANT to lose weight, eat better, move more, be healthier.

But what are you doing to make it happen?

As Busy Moms, we have good intentions, but then the week starts, and something pops up. A kid wakes up sick. The dog got out of the house/yard on your way out the door and you spent 15 extra minutes getting them back inside. You didn’t have breakfast planned and, in the rush, you forgot to eat anything, just grabbed a coffee instead, and then the boss brings in donuts for the morning meeting and your good intentions for the day are sunk.

Sound familiar?

We all have similar versions of this scenario. My teenage daughter needing permission slips signed, can’t find the WHITE jersey for the game today so we spend time looking for it only to discover it was actually in her gym bag the whole time, and the cat decided this was the morning to throw up on the stairs in a trail down three steps – carpeted stairs.

So, my good intentions for making a healthy breakfast are shot, and I end up grabbing something on the fly. Sometimes I manage to make it healthy and other times I say screw it and go for the giant blueberry muffin.

This is where PLANNING your meals can be the difference between sticking to your goals or tossing them out the window in a moment of stress, overwhelm, or hurry.

There are 3 MAIN OBSTACLES when it comes to planning ahead to stay on track (and probably more, but the majority fit in some form into these 3 categories):

Time Crunch

Being Too Vague

Over-Planning

The first argument I hear when asking clients about planning what they are going to eat for the week is the TIME CRUNCH. Not wanting to take the TIME to PLAN because in that time you were “planning” you could have been getting something else done. This is a trick your brain likes to play on you! Don’t fall for it!

Planning what you are going to eat for the week, or even for the DAY, will help you stay accountable to your goals; it will help you save TIME and MONEY in as quickly as one week; and you can be certain you are meeting your nutritional needs for muscle gain, fat loss, and getting the correct vitamins and minerals, as well.

Being Too Vague is a sneaky problem you might not realize you have. Telling yourself you “plan” to eat a healthy breakfast every morning is too vague. What are you going to eat? Do you have the groceries in the house already, or do you need to go to the store? How much time is it going to require each morning to make your breakfast? What about the rest of your family?

What you consider a “plan” – make a healthy breakfast each morning – might actually require more steps than you realize until you take the TIME to plan it out.

Instead, get very specific about what you’re going to do. This is where S.M.A.R.T. goals are a big thing.

For Example: “I am going to eat a banana and nut butter toast for breakfast Monday, Wednesday, and Friday this week. I am going to eat avocado toast and a fried egg on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings. Sunday will be Family Pancake Morning. I will do this by buying bananas, peanut/almond butter, avocados, eggs, whole wheat bread, pancake mix and syrup on Sunday afternoon. I will cook the eggs and put them in the fridge, and have the other ingredients sitting together when I start the coffee on Monday morning.”

The steps need to be very real, focused and doable. Or S.M.A.R.T. – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-Framed.

The flip-side of the Being Too Vague coin is Over-Planning – the fine line between getting things done and overwhelming yourself or burning out.

I am the QUEEN of overplanning!!! Thinking, “If I’m already cooking ground beef for tacos, I might as well make 3 extra pans of enchiladas for the freezer” – and we have to be out the door again for an activity in an hour.

Or if I plan to walk for 30 minutes, why am I not walking for an hour? Or two hours? If I’m going to do the dishes, why not do 3 loads of laundry and deep clean the bathroom, too?

No! Stop that!  

Again, this is your brain trying to be tricky. Don’t let it!

Using the example above, if you’re starting the habit of planning a healthy breakfast each day, DO NOT let your brain convince you that you should be planning all your snacks, lunches, dinners, your entire family’s meals, your extended families’ meals, deep cleaning your kitchen, buying entire new sets of meal prep containers, and making a month’s worth of freezer meals, too.

If you hear that internal gremlin start telling you, “I should do __________, too,” DON’T LISTEN! Shut it down!

Just create your plan and write down the necessary steps to ONLY MAKE BREAKFAST for the week. Nothing more. Schedule those tasks. Nothing more.

Once breakfast (or whatever habit you want to conquer) becomes a natural part of your routine, THEN you can add something else. But when you get caught in the Over-Planning trap, you set yourself up to get overwhelmed and end up getting nothing done.

Planning ahead for your health, nutrition, or weight loss goals is an underrated KEY to making your efforts a success. While it may seem like a hassle, an inconvenience, or that it’s COSTING you more time than you’re saving, the opposite is actually true! By planning ahead you can SAVE time and money, set yourself up for a LESS chaotic week, and avoid WASTING emotional and mental energy on unnecessary things. In only a week, you could set yourself up for greater success.

And if you would like to learn more about how to plan your Health and Nutrition goals, Book a FREE Consultation.