For me…Planning is Key

There’s a slight chance I’m going to get my 20 pound star tomorrow at WW. I need to lose 2.4 pounds this week to get there. My scale this morning showed that I’m close…but who knows what tomorrow will bring. The scale can be so fickle.

Anyways, when my WW leader gives out stars she often asks people what has helped them be successful. They rarely are prepared for the question so they say the first thing that comes to mind…usually journaling or exercise. I’ve been putting a lot of thought into what I would like to say in response to this question. Journaling is big…no doubt about it. I’m always amazed when I first get back into journaling just how many calories I’ve been consuming! How quickly we forget that just because it can be eaten in 20 seconds or less doesn’t mean its ‘free’! :)

So, in my thinking about this I’ve decided that there is one thing that has been even more imperative in my success in this journey so far. And that is….drumroll please…planning!

Now that little S has joined our clan it has become even more important than ever before. I usually sit down on Sunday morning and make a plan for the week. I plan 5 meals total –one vegetarian, one seafood, one chicken, one pork, and one ground beef/turkey. The sixth meal is always out and the seventh might be leftovers, eaten out, or put together on a whim. For me the benefits of planning are endless. A few:

1.  No thinking in the evenings. When I come home I know exactly what needs to be done and I don’t have to stare in the fridge and pantry trying to come up with what I can “throw together”

2. Grocery shopping made easy – I make my grocery list at the same time as I make my menus and so I don’t have to send hubby to the store on a regular basis to pick up missing ingredients

3. Less wasted produce. I buy produce for our planned meals and it stops me from buying a head of broccoli thinking I ‘might’ use it and then forgetting about it before it goes bad

4. A lot less eating out! This is a big one. When I fail to plan ahead of time and I have a stressful day at work or with the baby I am very quick to call A on his way home from work and say “stop and pick something up on your way home.” When I’ve got a plan this happens far far less often. No statistics on this…but trust me!

5. Dinner anticipation. This is good for A and myself. We know before we leave for work whether tonight is taco night or salmon night and we can look forward to it all day. Sounds kind of silly but we both find that we enjoy this aspect of it.

6. Pre-prep opportunities aplenty! Some evenings S is happy to sit in her bouncer seat and entertain herself. On those nights I can look to the next nights dinner and see if there is any pre-prep I can get done. Some examples are chopping veggies and boiling eggs. Allows me to be pretty flexible.

7. Fewer canned vegetables – when I plan ahead I can buy the fresh produce to have on hand and I don’t resort to the cans nearly as often.

I could go on and on about the benefits here. I used to hate the idea of pre-planning because I never knew whether I’d be in the “mood” for a given food 3 nights from now. But, I’ve found that knowing each morning what I’m having for dinner that night allows me to get in the mood for it.

A few of my tips – plan the meals that you anticipate will have a lot of leftovers for earlier in the week…then you can take those leftovers for lunches. Plan at least one meal that is super simple for later in the week…then if you have a really really stressful day you can always move that meal forward to the day where you could use a break. And finally, look through your fridge and see what you’ve already got on hand….then try to use those in your weekly plan.

I would suggest that if you haven’t ever planned a week out in advance you should give it a shot this week. You can do anything for a week right?

I’ll post my plan in a subsequent post.