I saved this weight loss tip for right now–the days leading up to Thanksgiving. Weight loss tip #4 is:

PLAN YOUR MEALS

For those of you who are in charge of cooking all or most of a Thanksgiving meal, my guess is you’ve made some sort of a plan: what you’ll be serving, when to shop for your food, when certain things must go into the oven, and what time you’ll eat.

Now if we could only be this organized EVERY week! Show me a woman working on weight loss who plans her meals and shops for them ahead of time, and I’ll show you a woman who is WAAAAAYYYYY more likely to be steadily losing weight. Why? Because she probably isn’t going to the store at 6pm famished and trolling for food. She probably has healthy snacks with her during the day. She probably doesn’t eat out 4-5 times per week. She probably isn’t grabbing a Snickers bar in between meetings several times a week. Interestingly, her food bill is probably a lot less than the non-planner’s food bill too.

Bottom line: planners will have smaller waists and fatter bank accounts!

Planning doesn’t have to take a lot of time. If you’re serious about weight loss, here are a few ideas to get you started being more pro-active with your food planning.

-Sit down once a week and look at the next 3-5 days. When can you eat at home? When will you need to catch a meal on the fly?
-Write out some breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks that work with your schedule in those 3-5 days. Even if you don’t cook–you can do this! Ever heard of rotisserie chicken? How about frozen (unfried, unbreaded) fish fillets? There are a TON of healthy options for non-cooks at all grocery stores.
-Write out a grocery list for your meals.
-Shop for your meals.
-When you get home, spend an hour or so prepping anything that will save you time with your upcoming meals (shred rotisserie chicken, make veggie sticks, chop nuts, shred cheese for salads or quesadillas)
-Put your menu plan up in the kitchen where you can see it.

That’s it! I do this every Sunday, and my menu plan reflects nights when I have time to cook and nights when it has to be fast, or even take-out because I’m running between high school sports activities. Works like a charm.

If you want to be a successful “loser”, you’ve GOT to have a PLAN.

I’ve just purchased a month’s worth of a new meal planning service from a Registered Dietician I really admire. I’m going to test it out for a few weeks and report back to you what I think. For those of you who have a hard time planning out your own nutritious meals, this just may be the ticket to weight loss for you! I’ll try it out first and be the guinea pig for you.

Are you a successful loser who uses a plan? Share it here so we can learn from your success!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving,

Becky

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