I know how hard it is to stick to a diet when you’re busy. You have good intentions about starting to eat a decent breakfast but the mornings get so busy and you run out of time. Work gets so hairy you realise at 3pm you’re starving and haven’t had lunch. That can add up to some seriously toxic snacking as well as a massive dinner. And as to what that dinner is, well if you’ve had no time to get to the shops, you might just have to get take away!
The secret to weight loss, so often, is getting organised – even more than will power. I am dead set serious. Now that you’ve joined a terrific program, to a certain extent that is taken care of. Your meals and snacks are sorted, it’s just a matter of picking up your bits and pieces and taking them to work with you.
But what about the next step, when this part of the program comes to an end? How do you stop yourself from slipping back?
- Do a big shop twice a week and get organised. On a Sunday, crank up the music, grab your kids and do a quick half hour family chopping bee. Wash punnets of baby tomatoes, wash and chop capsicums, celery sticks, snow peas and carrots. These should be stored in those awesome plastic lidded containers in the fridge. Each morning grab a handful of veggies and stick them in a plastic bag for work (and make a couple of bags for the kids too!) Pre-washed and chopped veggies are also great added in to your salad at night. Top up again and freshly wash and chop once midweek.
- Take a water bottle to work and stick it on your desk. It can be easy to get thirst and hunger mixed up. Stay well hydrated through the day and you won’t need to snack as much.
- Grab small packs of nuts, with or without dried fruit and little tetra bricks of skim milk and leave them in your desk. Even on a bad day when you’re too busy to leave your desk, a bag of veggies from home with some milk and a little tub of nuts is better than nothing.
- Cook extra portions. When you’re cooking a meat or chicken dish or even vegetarian options like lentils, cook double and freeze so you have a meal ready to hand to grab from the freezer each night and allow to thaw in the fridge the next day. Frozen veggies are more expensive option than fresh but do really well nutritionally and most importantly are always quickly ready to turn into dinner.
A quick word for those who go out a lot. Your wine, champagne and cocktails all contain calories, as does the typical canape or beer nut. Drink a couple of glasses of water before you go out, so you’re not downing wine for hydration purposes! And have a big plate of veggies with some cheese and wholegrain crackers, or have fruit with yoghurt to fill you up and stop you from diving into the canapes. If you are sitting down for a meal, again I would go in half full and well hydrated. Don’t fill up on bread while waiting for your meal. Opt for just a single course, or if your friends are having two courses, ask for a salad instead of an entrée.
Good luck!
