Kati’s Fit Kit – The #1 Key to Success

Kati’s Fit Kit

The #1 Key to Success

As I’m putting the finishing touches on tomorrow’s Nutrition Seminar (there are a few spots still open and there is no cost to attend, so please join us!) I got so excited that I had to send out a “spoiler” of something I was going to share tomorrow. When you have good news, it just shouldn’t wait!

Wanting to make changes, or knowing that you “should” make changes to your nutrition can be really overwhelming and stressful. How do you know what changes to make? Do you have to change everything all at once? Does nutrition have to be all or nothing to see results?

Tomorrow I will be sharing the answers to those questions, as well some simple ideas to help make nutrition less complicated and confusing. But one thing jumps out at me as I look at the members who we’ve seen have the biggest success: PREPARATION. If you think about it, preparation is key to success in pretty much everything, but let’s just take a look at what preparation can do for you in terms of how you eat.

Calendar – One of the things I will ask members to do is to take a look at their calendar for the next couple of weeks, and take note of travel, special events like parties or weddings, or even just low key social events like happy hour with friends. For many of us, just reminding ourselves of an event coming up where we will want to enjoy some “splurge” foods will have us leaning towards healthier choices in the days leading up to that event. Using a calendar also gives you time to plan for how you will handle food situations that might be stressful – like doing some research to find places other than fast food when you have to travel, or planning to bring a healthier snack to share at a party.

Menu Plan – We’ve all been in the situation where the cupboard is bare, it’s the end of a long day, and we have no idea what to eat… and now we’re STARVING! So we hit a drive through on the way home from work, or order pizza for the third time this week etc… But even if you have plenty of food in the fridge, it does no good if you don’t know what you plan to make and when you plan to eat it. It might sound time consuming to create a menu for the week, but in the long run, planning your meals in advance is a huge time saver!

Meal Prep – Once you have your menu planned, preparing foods in advance can help save time, and make it easier to stick to your meal plan when you get busy. Try taking an hour or so on weekends (or whenever you have downtime) to chop veggies, cook protein you can use for salads for lunch, and portion out snacks so they are ready to take on the go. I know with my schedule it makes a big difference for me to get home at the end of the day and know that vegetables are chopped and food is prepped to go into the oven or a quick stir fry. If I didn’t have things ready to go, it would be a lot more tempting to grab some take-out instead of cooking.

Aside from being a time saver, another thing that stands out to me about preparation is that it can help alleviate some of the guilt that can come with food. Maybe the real story isn’t that you don’t have the “willpower” to resist donuts in the staff room, but just that you didn’t have a plan in place for breakfast…

More good news about preparation is that your plan doesn’t have to be perfect to start making a difference. If it seems overwhelming to plan a menu for all your meals for the week, start just by planning a few dinners. If spending hours on the weekend meal prepping is too much at first, start just by chopping up your veggies so that you have them ready to go when you open your fridge for a snack. One small change can pave the way for more changes over time, and before you know it you will be reaping the rewards of your preparation.

Happy prepping!

Kati

PS – Hope to see you for our Nutrition Seminar tomorrow, Saturday 7/8 at 11:30am at Breakthrough!