Don’t make Food decisions daily, put them on AutoPilot
ByYou can not use up your will power first thing in the morning deciding between poached eggs with toast or waffles with syrup. If you want to eat healthy, make the decision in advance and conserve your will power for later in the day. Eat right at breakfast and lunch and you have won the battle. Will power is like muscle power, when you use it regularly it becomes stronger, but hard workouts leave the will and the muscles weak and tired and vulnerable to injury and failure. Take this to heart and make some decisions in advance. Make preparations and then just follow through. In the following two videos I try to show you how I set myself up for success at breakfast and lunch time. Exercise is an important part of living and health but weight is controlled 80-90% by diet. These decisions are very important.
Please try these suggestions. Tell me about your failures and successes. Leave me questions and make criticisms of these videos. The information is good and the principles are solid. I may not say it the way that makes most sense to you. Let me know what help you need. If you want some coaching, click on my offer above. Enjoy the videos.
So very true. But why do it your way when I can pay hundreds or thousands to do the same at Jennifer Houston’s what-is-it Weight Watchers? … lol … Watching myself shop when hungry versus when stuffed, or shopping with a prepared list versus with an “open mind” – it’s like day and night. The same is true, as you show so clearly, when putting food decision on auto-pilot when clear in my head versus approaching each meal time with an “open mind” i.e. an empty stomach, that is, if I can even wait to the next meal time. PS. Why do we call an open stomach “empty”, and an empty mind “open”? :-]
I guess Beat, both are waiting to be filled! When I come home hungry after work, I can ploy through 300-500 calories without even being aware of it. That is a habit I have not been able to significantly improve. I am at least better with the first 2 meals of the day.
Anne
My wife and I plan all our meals for the week ahead before we go shopping. We look through the cooking books, decide what to eat and only buy those ingredients.
It now takes us about 15 minutes to decide what to eat and about 40 minutes of shopping time.
Doing this has completely changed our eating habits…for the better!
Andrew
Thanks Andrew,
The beauty of planning meals the way you mention above, is the lower cost planning entails. I find when I have not planned a meal, takeout often is chosen; and that is more calories and cost!
Anne
Hi Anne,
I am like Andrew, Maybe i don’t do as good of a job, but try to plan my meals ahead of time. There are some evening when what am planning just does not sound good, so I will make something else.
I do like to eat more of the fresh food, rather that anything that comes in a box or can.
Videos are great, and thank you for sharing.
Debbie
Thanks Debbie,
Planning always helps but 100% of the time is almost impossible for most of us to do.
Fresh food is always better, so having that around can at least add a healthy component
to any meal. thanks for your comments.
Anne
I find I eat a lot more junk when I don’t plan and just have whatever’s in the cupboard. What is the old saying? Breakfast like a King, lunch like a Queen and dine like a pauper?
My wife plans out a lot of meals and I do the majority of cooking them at the moment. Nice for her
We might be better off if we ate like the saying but most peoples’ days are not structured to accommodate that. Some days I feel like I eat every meal like a pauper and snack uncontrollably in between!
I’ve been on a diet since mid January and currently 18lb to the good. A big part of that is down to thinking and planning what I eat and drink – mainly cutting out crap. But I eat an omelette for breakfast and have salad for lunch. Learning more about nutrition and making my own decisions about what is right for me has been exciting and fun, apart from anything else.
It is nice to discover you can still eat a lot of foods that you like and taste good, with a few minor (or sometimes major) adjustments. Sounds like you are on the right journey, keep going!
Absolutely sound advice, Anne. I need to implement that immediately! I’ve been working on the diet for too long with not enough success. My difficulty is late nights, as I get the munchies after dark. Perhaps if I made a plan for those times, I’d be able to manage better.
And that was 6 breakfastses, lol.