Perhaps you’ve recently embarked on a weight loss journey and starting to find staying on track with your weight loss plan challenging. Or maybe it’s been some time and you’ve been finding yourself in the all or nothing trap, where you have one of those days you didn’t have the right foods on hand and ended up eating something off plan, which then led to going off plan the rest of the day, which turned into the rest of the week. It’s ok. It happens to the best of us. Fortunately, it can be avoided and there are some things you can do to set yourself up for success week-to-week. In more than 20 years of “dieting” and exercise, I’ve learned a few tips that have helped me stay on track. These are:
- Plan.
- Prepare.
- Know your go-to restaurant items.
- Avoid alcohol.
- Track.
As you may know by now, if you’ve been following my blog, I’ve done just about every weight loss, fitness program, or diet you can name. This has taught me a ton. It is also how I’ve come to learn some of the keys to succeeding with whatever approach it is you are doing to either lose weight or achieve whatever your body goals may be. Regardless of the program or diet you are following, successfully staying on plan comes down to five key things. Let’s get into them.
- Plan.
In my years working in the public health field, I often heard the phrase: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Applying the concept to success in weight loss or nutrition, having a plan is your prevention for going off track. In an earlier post, Meal Planning Made Easy, I discussed meal planning and the many benefits of doing it. Chief among them is the time it saves you in the long run. In addition to your general meal planning, you also want to plan as much as you can in terms of your food for each week. For example snacks and daily lunches. While more detail is certainly helpful, this doesn’t have to be to the nth degree and it doesn’t have to be complicated.
An example of what I do is I generally have at least two of my lunches for the week using leftovers from dinners. I factor this into planning the dinners. I plan lunches for days I won’t take leftovers or when I am working at home. Having done this for several years now, I have a good sense of the nutrition breakdown of most foods and snacks I like and what fits well into my daily macros. So, I plan all my meals and snacks accordingly, so I don’t have to think too much about it during the week. - Prepare.
A lot of preparation is done through the meal planning. However, it is also really important to prepare for the unexpected and make sure you have a backup. What if you forget your lunch or your kids ate your leftovers you were going to take for lunch? You want to have a few things on hand that you can grab in a pinch, that fit your plan. Some of the ways I do this is one, I keep a few things at work for both snacks and emergency lunches for these types of situations. Examples of things I like to keep on hand are jerky, tuna pouches, whole grain crackers, cartons of soup or bone broth, pouches of rice, and fruit pouches. I also buy a few things to keep on hand that I can grab and go from home if needed. Some of these things include, pre-shredded rotisserie chicken breast, bags of mixed raw vegetables, string cheese, extra turkey lunch meat. I usually pre-bag individual, pre-measured servings of the chicken and vegetables before the work week starts so I can just grab them in the morning. Depending on what I have planned for the week, I may also boil half a dozen eggs or roast a large sheet pan of mixed vegetables like squash and asparagus. - Know your go-to restaurant menu items.
There will always be times the unexpected happens or when you want to go out for lunch or dinner with friends. You can still do this, enjoy great food, and stay on track. It’s just a matter of being armed with a little information. Almost anywhere you go, you can find items on the menu you can have. In many cases it may require some modifications. A few general rules can make a world of difference. One, for sandwiches or burgers, ask for the sauce or mayo on the side. This way, you can control the amount and have a better idea how much you’re putting on there. Similarly, for salads, ask for the dressing on the side as well as any other item high in fat, such as cheeses. In other cases you can ask them to leave certain ingredients off completely. Another thing I do sometimes, is ask for a side of steamed vegetables instead of mashed potatoes or a side salad instead of fries. Avoid deep fried items on the menu, opt for grilled if that is an option where you are.
A more general way to approach it is basically looking for the menu items that are most in line with your nutrition plan or approach and using that as your guide. Most places will accommodate requests for modifications or will have menu options that will enable you to stay on track. - Avoid alcohol.
I know many may not want to hear this. I know it was hard for me to accept, but alcohol is not your friend if you are trying to lose weight or improve your physique. In a nutshell, when you drink alcohol your body switches from metabolizing whatever you’ve eaten to metabolizing alcohol. So, calorie- or fat-burning are essentially put on hold. To make matters worse, if you have a few drinks you may find your appetite increases and you end up eating more or eating foods that aren’t so friendly to the waist line. There are ways you can still enjoy the occasional glass of wine or cocktails with friends, but you really want to keep it to a minimum. - Track.
This really is one of the more seemingly underrated tips for success when it comes to weight loss. For so long I just eyeballed stuff and kept track in my head. Please don’t do this! It is incredible how far off you can get with this approach. Most of our “eyeball” measure of two tablespoons of peanut butter or salad dressing for example is far from reality in the worse way. Aside from this, though, tracking makes you more aware of what you are eating each day and provides you with valuable data that you can use for your own benefit.
For example, on the days you find yourself feeling hungrier throughout the day, you can look at what your food consisted of and see what you could tweak or whether you had a more intense workout that increased your hunger. When you check your progress every few weeks you can look back and see what contributed to your results, regardless of what they are. This helps you see what is working and what may need some tweaking. Regardless of what you do, keeping track of your food as well as exercise and water intake is a great way to keep you on track and sustain your progress.
I have been tracking in some form or fashion for years. I could never find quite he tracker that fit all the things I wanted or the way I wanted to track, so I finally learned how to create my own. I’ve published several different options of covers, with the same great tracker pages inside. You can check out the covers and interior in the Store, here on the website, or on Amazon at the links here:
Beauty & Barbells Fitness Tracker https://a.co/d/aWO2VjY
Faith Fitness Joy Fitness Tracker: https://a.co/d/hjcqfO7
High Energy Fitness Tracker: https://a.co/d/0Eoq9ES
I Can & I Will: Weight Loss & Fitness Tracker (Tie-Dye) https://a.co/d/1HS8oYA
Progress not Perfection: Weight Loss and Fitness Tracker https://a.co/d/d0b3vOt
I hope you have found these five tips helpful! Please share your thoughts in the comments. If you want to continue the pursuit of faith, fitness, and joy with me, please like and subscribe. You can also find Faith Fitness Joy on Facebook and Instagram or check out the podcast at https://faithfitnessjoy.podbean.com. Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you in the comments and on the socials!