Preparing For Your Big Success
Prepping for Success
Are you ready to kick off your New Years Diet? Now that you're moment arrived for a new you, it's time to get real, and have your lifestyle change to kick your new diet into action. I bet you are only anxious to get started along with millions of others across the world. That's awesome...!!!! but with all the great intentions, most of us barely last two weeks😞 What are the reasons for failing? Lets take a look;
Most go Cold Turkey, eat things they don't like, eat too much, eat too little , eat foods at the wrong time, let stress dictate your food eating process, make bad food choices, don't prepare & don't accommodate for moving more. These are but a fraction of what can present as a problem, before our diets begin. It's all about convenience to be honest. Most people get caught up in life, work, family, friends & events and it gets in the way of you minding yourself, as you put your best foot forward for everyone else. So how can we make it easier for ourselves? Well here's a few suggestions you might take on board.
Prep the Kitchen 101
1. Remove the crap in cupboards & fridge
Dump the lot it's that simple, you need to dump the shit (sorry but let's keep it real here) clean slate, you get out what you put in.
2. Get your family onboard with what you're doing.
Having support will make life so much easier. They will be aware of what you are trying to do and be, hopefully considerate enough not to eat a large 4 cheese pizza and fries in front of you, while you chow down on Chicken Salad 😳
3. Cook in Bulk
Stock up on foods you can freeze and that you can cook large amounts of. Meats & soups are excellent for this kind of thing. Please be careful certain foods, the likes of Rice is notorious breeding ground bacteria, you start heating & re-heating. So get your research done. Reheating food can be detrimental to your health if you don't know what you're doing. Simply ask, read the instructions & recommendations.
4. Stick to the same meals
What's wrong with having the same meal once or twice a week? NOTHING..!! First of all it makes bulk cooking and prepping easier and secondly it's a useful tool to help monitor nutritional and caloric intake. The body loves consistency. Keep feeding it regularly, beneficially and it'll respond in kind. Plus it's a great time saver and if it's a Dish you like you get to look forward to it through out the week.
5. Snack Attack
The amount people that get this wrong is awful. Prepping the big meals are one thing but when you get caught at work between meetings or on a delivery run hopping in and out of the van eating on the go becomes your best friend and your survival method (Welcome to the jungle baby 🤣) grab a handful of Almonds or Some Fruit, have sweet potato pancake made up with some Some Greek yogurt and dash of honey, it also kills that sugar craving. Always have something at hand. I love to create alternative snacks, and get a kick out of trying them knowing that they are healthy makes it even more guilt free.
6. Food Bag
Plenty of them out there but get one that can hold a min of 6 meals a day. Stock it with your 3 main dishes; Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner and then your mid-morning snack, afternoon Snack and Late Night Snack. Carry that with you as if it were a gym bag or a handbag. Eat every 2.5hrs-3hrs and keep that body ticking over.
7. The Spice of Life
When eating the same meals over and over. Mix up the content, mix and match your ingredients add certain spices to your dish. Avoid the heavy loaded sauces.
8. Assembly Line
Lay out all your containers, have them listed right through the day. Start filling them up as you prepare each food. I love doing this as it becomes very visible quickly. Plus if you can make it, colorful, exciting and plentiful. Tomorrow when you go to eat it you will certainly see it as inviting and very appealing. This is also ideal for bulk cooking method and it is a life saver when you go to the freezer and realise you have a lot of meal ready but just to be defrosted.
9. Organise your Fridge Like the cupboard clear it out. Put in the foods you need to cook with. Fill it up with water sparkling or still is fine. Have a section cleared for your prepped food. Keep that constantly full and ready to go. Make sure your ice packs are frozen to help keep things fresh throughout the day. If sharing with family ask them if it's ok you take a shelf for yourself.
10. Look at the use by date Certain foods are more time sensitive so this is vital to when you should use them up. This will need to be factored into your meal prep. And if they can be frozen and eaten later on.
11. Tools of the trade Buy a decent pan, some nice storage containers, good utensils, a weighing scale, some measuring cups etc. The better the quality the less hassle and the better the results. I've tried it with some crap knives and pans and trust me all your time goes on cleaning for next meal. Make life easy for yourself. Remember this is all about convenience 😉
You must want it, you must be in the right frame of mine and head space before you start. And remember you can start any day, it doesn't have to be a Monday...!
So in a nutshell if you don't have time to prep then you're at a major disadvantage straight away, but this to me is ridiculous. It's easy throw a couple of chicken breasts into a pot, some broccoli into a pot or steamer & maybe some sweet potato into a pot/steamer or oven, turn on and go in and watch your favourite soap. If you have trouble cooking, then you'll need to learn quickly, start with some simple ingredients . 3 ingredients then 4 and more as time goes on.
Hope this is a little help to you. This is what we specialise in here at M4U Nutrition taking all the prep & guess work out of it for you. We buy your food, we cook your food and monitor your diet. All you have to do is eat it. Email us for more information: info@m4unutrition.com and we can chat to you more about becoming an M4U Athlete.
