What a week it has been! I had planned the week off from the studio & training to recover from the Kildare marathon as well as spending time with my parents who flew over from Nottingham to see my race. I managed to get some well-needed rest (but could always do with more) as I’ve had a long winter season of training and it was my first actual break from work for a couple of years! The only bad side of training for a marathon early in the year is that you have to train during the winter months so I am looking forward to getting back into training and see how I get on at the DCM in October and ‘HOPEFULLY’ will get some lovely weather over the coming months so training can be a little more ….fun…! 🙂
Do You Plan to Lose Weight or Get Fit – Use Forward Planning?
Although I was off for the week I was always available for my members to contact me and I tried to reply as soon as I could to most – Thank God for technology :). One of the
main topics that came up over the week was the topic of ‘planning’ and the need to plan to be successful. If you think about it………keep thinking…….. you plan almost everything in your life. You plan when to get up, when to go to bed, when to eat, what to do in work or in a meeting, what to do with the kids etc. etc. etc. – So why not plan what you are going to eat? Planning is an integral part of any successful weight loss plan – or if you want to better your fitness then planning is equally as important. Taking a look at Elite athletes like our Olympic runners – their success comes from following a certain plan. They have a target in sight, and will then set out a training plan to stick to ensuring that they have the best chance of reaching their goals! People who succeed in all areas of life are all going to have the one thing in common – FORWARD PLANNING! Okay, so some people may just “wing it” – and they may even get away it for a while, but in the long term lack of planning will trip you up somewhere!
Plan to have a successful weight loss journey
So in terms of your weight loss and fitness journey you can see how this also relates. Nearly all (if not all!) members at some stage will have days or even weeks where the tracking in the diary starts to slip. Many people will feel they are doing okay and “just know” that they are within their calorie range! But 90% of the time, when people start to find their weight loss has slowed (or stopped) it usually happens when the diary isn’t getting filled ahead of time or planned properly. Even if the diary is being filled in after the fact – the odd little chicken nugget off the kids plate here, tasting the preparation of lunch & dinner while cooking and the tiny little finger pinch of crisps doesn’t get added in. It is easy to forget about these little nibbles – and mostly we are not even aware that we are even putting it into our mouths! They are all extra calories that aren’t planned! Those who only partially fill in their diary end up eating 20% more than they actually realise. However, if you enter everything in your diary BEFORE you eat it, you have a much better chance of sticking to it. When you know how to plan and what is in the plan – you tend to STICK TO IT! And then at the end of the week the results from the scales really will show how important your planning is. Plan, plan, plan, plan, PLAN! If you are planning a car journey, you will always make sure you have enough petrol for the journey…………this is a dieting journey, so make sure you have planned the right fuel for your body to get you where you need to go!
Why do we make it so hard on ourselves?
When it comes to forward planning and our food – so many of us completely neglect it! Running out of the house to work with no breakfast because the cereal ran out and you forgot to replace it, no lunch planned so you end up “grabbing something” on-the-go
(which usually is much higher in calories than if you fixed it yourself). Remind you of anyone? It’s so easy to happen and we all do it at some stage, some more than others. If you are short on time during the week, spend a little time on a Sunday making a large batch of something like vegetable soup or low-fat lasagna, portion it out and freeze it. If you foresee any issues coming up in the week ahead (travel, hectic schedule, etc), plan for it in advance. If you think you may forget to eat meals or snacks, set up reminders on your phone or email. If you travel a long distance to work you may be one of those who happen to stop off at the same garage each day for a little snack or when you are topping up with fuel you end up buying all the yummy chocolate bars on the way to the cashier – change the time you buy your fuel – get it after dinner or at a time when you have just eaten as you’ll be less likely to buy something for hunger; always make sure you have a healthy snack in the car or in your bag so you can have something when those cravings appear and will hopefully stop you from popping into the garage!
Don’t forget to plan your exercise – If you think you’ll have less time to exercise, try getting up earlier to do some vigorous activity before the day begins, you’ll feel so much better in the day and the great feeling that knowing your exercise is done for the day 🙂
Failing to Plan – is Planning to Fail!
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Hannah x
