One of the many times I tried to lose weight in the past I would decide and then start popping on google or pinterest for the magic formula of foods to eat to lose weight and get healthy. Unfortunately, there isn’t such a meal plan. Dang it.
Well I can still help!
So a couple of tips I’ve learned over the years is don’t try to bite off more then you can chew. This often causes burnout. Start simple, if you know you struggle to eat ANY vegetables don’t start a new vegetarian diet. If you hate chicken don’t force feed yourself grilled chicken. This isn’t going to work long term if you hate what you are eating! Seems obvious but I’ve made pretty much all the mistakes in the book so I figured I’d own up to them and save you the trouble.
I would suggest starting out writing down foods you know are healthy and good for you that you like and make sure they are incorporated in your weekly meals. It’s always easier to go with the water current then against it right? Do the same with snacks if you are a snacker. We are wanting to make a snowball effect, if you roll a snow ball over more snow it will grow and get bigger. Small positive changes are key.
Don’t be like me, don’t eat all the crap you have stocked in your kitchen before you make this change. I did this so many times and what are you telling yourself when you eat all the crap before you start? You are telling yourself that you aren’t serious. I know this seems wasteful but what is better, waste the food or put the waste in your body?
Another tip that has been super important is the U-Turn. Here in Texas we have a ton of freeways and we like to drive fast, so missing an exit can be a common issue. Imagine you missed your exit, what do you do? You don’t stop your car, take out your keys and throw them over the overpass. You don’t keep going until you “magically” reach your destination, and you don’t tell yourself you’ve messed up and so you might as well drive until you fall off a cliff. You simply take the next exit and make a U-Turn right? Boom you’re back on track. FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY, when you get off track, and I mean a little off track or eat a whole x-large pizza. Take the next U-Turn. I don’t know how many times I did the most ridiculous things after I screwed up. The people who succeed at this long term take the next U-Turn and get back on track quickly. We will never be perfect so lets not beat ourselves up about it and just get back on track quickly.
I’ll leave you with that for now.
All my love,
Stephanie