One hour and seven minutes. That is how long I walked around the house today with no pants on and no socks on. (ok, ok, ok. that maybe too much information, I know, but I promise you there is a point.) AND our house is COLD! It’s 10 degrees here in Wisconsin and our house in the morning is about 62 degrees…so it is NOT plesant to be bare in there. Brrrr.
Well – I woke up and hit the ground runnin’. My son woke up, our new puppy woke up and everyone needed help RIGHT NOW! I just thought to myself – I won’t slip back into my jammies and slippers – I’ll just get the day going and get dressed! Up an at’ em, right?
One thing lead to another and another and another and another. Max wanted a snuggle and the puppy wanted out. Max needed to get changed. So find his clothes, go potty, get the reward for the potty, play the REALLY fun game of ‘Chase Me Momma While We Get Dressed’ and then breakfast for him. The puppy then wanted to eat. Then Max spilled something. Now the puppy needs to ‘really’ go out. At that point I slipped on my snow pants and boots and took the puppy out. We went to the barn to collect our eggs. When we got back Max wanted to watch ‘toons – got him all set up. At this point I’m freezing and looking for my clothes for the day. Well, they are wrinkled so throw them into the dryer to freshen them up. Then after breakfast I get him all dressed. (underwear, long underwear, coat, boots, etc. ) Then because we are potty training we have a ‘CRAP-tastrophe’ and have to clean him and do it all over again. And on and on and on. An hour and seven minutes later I’m still cold and don’t have on socks or pants because I’m running after what everybody else needs. Sound familiar (OK, the busy part…..not the bare/cold/crap-tastrophe- part.)
My point is that I’m busy. We ALL are busy and sometimes it is difficult to take care of yourself.
The number one concern that my weight loss clients have is that they don’t have much time and that staying on track takes energy, time and preperation. Here are a few things that I talk with my clients about doing every week to keep them on track and to make eating on the fly easier. I am really grateful that I also follow these basic rules, too. Otherwise today would have been an eating disaster, for sure. Now I’m not saying I’m perfect all the time but these basic steps really saved today. We’ll go over some of the basic tips and then I’ll show how they worked out for me today.
Here are some basic tips:
Pre-plan meals and recipes for the week. Then post on your fridge what you have ingredients for. How many times have you gone shopping, dumped it into the fridge and then when dinner time comes you have no idea what to make or why the heck you have a head of cabbage, limes and black beans.
Shop and Chop. When ever you grocery shop – do the ‘Shop and Chop’ method. Bring all your foods home, clean your fruits & veggies, spin your salad greens, organize your fridge, get rid of junk and prep out some of the basic food that you use day in and day out. It takes longer on the day you shop but it saves you so much time and energy during the week.
Have Veggies Ready To Go. Not really a brilliant tip – but, hey, if they are chopped and transportable you are much more likely to eat them.
Pre-Load Snacks. Have emergency snacks that won’t go bad. A favorite of mine is 10 almonds with 3 dried apricots. I usually make up 15 snack baggies of them and leave some at home, work and one or two in my purse.
Double Down. When you cook – double the recipe. Either freeze some in take along containers or just pack them for lunch the next day.
Pack your lunch EVERY night. It feels so good to wake up and know that you have a game plan for the day.
Hydro-Load. Everynight before I close down the kitchen I fill up my 32oz water bottle with filtered water and stick it in the fridge.
Set up back up. Prepare your space. If you spend a lot of time at work – leave items that you can use and eat there.
Here is how all of those steps fell into place for me today.
I meant to make lovely farm fresh eggs with fruit this morning but due to the chain of events – I ran out of time. So, I grabbed one of my snack packs of 10 almonds and 3 dried apricots and took my bottle of water. I grabbed my pre-packed lunch and hit the road.
I had the snack and water in the car on the way to work. One hour after arriving at work I made a smoothie – I stash everything that I need at work (blender, protien powder, frozen fruit, nano greens, rice milk and large cup)
Then for lunch I packed left overs from dinner the night before. I had made chicken saytay, peanut sauce, lots of broccoli and brown basmatti rice. The meal only took 30 minutes to make for supper and then only took 5 minutes to warm up while at work. It is a beautiful and yummy lunch – which is important. If my lunch is boring – I’m much more likely to run out and get a ‘better’ lunch. (that recipe is from the Ultra Metabolism Cookbook. Very Yummy and easy)
I also grabbed some sliced cucumbers from my stash from ‘shopping and chopping’. I have hot herbal teas at work for the afternoon and then supper is already 1/2 prepped out for tonight.
So, not perfect but pretty good. AND I was able to do it even with a crazy morning because of all the pre-planning.
Best of luck – I hope some of these tips help you & get you out of the house on time and with pants on. (uh. I mean with a good lunch)
