Try to purge your kitchen of unhealthy foods, especially those that are high in calories, added sugars and saturated or trans fats. (Getty Images)
Stay on track tomorrow with these simple tricks you can do right now.
“I’ll start tomorrow.” We’ve all said it – and then, the next day, proceeded to skip a workout, order in, overeat and generally do anything but lose weight.
But it’s not due to lack of willpower. It’s due to a lack of preparation. “The single most important thing for people to do if they want to succeed at weight loss over the long term is prepare,” says Brian Quebbemann, president of The N.E.W. Program, a California-based bariatric and metabolic weight-loss center. If you aren’t prepared, your schedule will be too jam-packed for you to work out, you won’t have the healthy, ready-to-go foods in your fridge and you’ll head into meals ravenous and ready to binge.
So how can you get ready to lose weight tomorrow and beyond? By following these tips today.
1. Raid the Kitchen
“Get rid of the unhealthy foods you have in your house, especially ones that are high in calories, added sugars and saturated or trans fats,” recommends Alexandra Miller, registered dietitian at Medifast. While it’s perfectly OK to eat these foods on occasion (we’ll get to that later), not having cookies, chips and ice cream behind every door can help remove temptation and mindless munching. Store any “splurge” items out of sight so they won’t be the first option you see when you enter the kitchen after a long day at work.
2. Fill the Right Fruit Bowl
Once all of the junk is cleared out of your kitchen, you’ll need to buy healthy grub like apples, pears and bananas, Quebbemann says. But to make sure that you’ll actually eat them, you’ll also want to purchase a clear glass or plastic fruit bowl. It turns out that people automatically nosh on more fruit when it sits out in a clear versus opaque bowl, according to research from Saint Bonaventure University.
3. Gear Up for Your Workouts
You’ll never find the time to exercise. You have to make time. So take a look at tomorrow’s, or even the whole week’s, schedule to see when the best times to work out will be, he says. Then put them on the calendar, plan out the exercises you’ll do and pack your gym bag. Set it by the door, in your car or wherever will prevent you from saying, “I would have worked out, but …” By doing everything ahead of time (except exercise, that is), hitting the gym or the pavement will become automatic. Zero thought or possible derailment involved.
4. Think Through Your Food Splurges
We all know that splurges are going to happen. And more than that, they should happen, Quebbemann says. Regular “cheats” can keep you from feeling deprived and make healthy eating more doable over the long term. But rather than make all of those splurges impromptu, plan small treats for yourself every day. It could be a square of chocolate, a slice of birthday cake or a glass of eggnog. But by planning them out, you make sure that you never feel deprived or, on the flip side, wind up having 10 splurges in one day.
5. Plan and Prep Your Meals
Meal prep is the pinnacle of weight-loss planning. And, while it might seem like a serious time investment today, it will save you countless hours and calories over the course of the week, says Jeffrey Johnsrud, a weight-loss specialist and surgeon with St. Joseph Hospital in California. Write down on a piece of paper or a dry erase board all of the meals you want to cook or eat during the week, head to the store to stock up on the ingredients you need and then cut, chop, sauté and bake everything that day, he says. (Bonus points for incorporating the same ingredient in more than one dish.) Package each meal in its own container and label it so you know when its time to open it up and dig in.
6. Go to Sleep Early
No weight-loss strategy survives a bad night’s sleep. In fact, in one Mayo Clinic study, people ate an average of 549 extra calories when they had missed out on a mere 80 minutes of sleep the night before. And if you can hardly keep your head up, you probably won’t be logging any PRs on the treadmill. So turn in early tonight to make sure you wake up feeling rested and ready for healthy living tomorrow.
7. Stock Snacks Everywhere
Wherever you are, protein-rich snacks should be there, too. “They’ll take care of your hunger and keep you from nibbling on junk, simply because you feel starved and have nothing healthy to eat,” Quebbemann says. Plus, protein sticks around longer in your stomach to keep you feeling fuller longer than any cereal bar will. Store protein bars, nuts or turkey jerky in your desk drawer, bag and car. Plus, if you have access to a fridge at work, cheese, Greek yogurt, lean meats and hardboiled eggs all make great mid-day snacks.
8. Buy Smaller Plates
It might sound silly, but the good ’ole small-plate trick really works. In one famous study of all-you-can-eat buffet diners, research from the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University found that when diners served themselves using large plates, they ended up eating 45 percent more food than those who filled up smaller plates. Check your favorite home decor store for 9-inch plates.
9. Buy a Refillable Water Bottle
That way, you’ll be able to drink up all day long. Staying hydrated is vital to keeping your body functioning properly, and the many of hallmarks of hunger – fatigue, stomach growls, moodiness – also occur when you’re thirsty, Quebbemann says. So by keeping yourself hydrated, you can make sure that you don’t reach for a second serving of mashed potatoes when all your body really wanted was a glass of water.
10. Download a Food-Journaling App
It’s time to hit up the app store. Research published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine shows that when dieters keep daily food records, they lose about twice as much weight as dieters who don’t track their food intake. You’d be surprised how many TV-time snacks, handfuls of cereal and extra cups of coffee go unnoticed when you don’t right them down.
Written for Health.USnews.com