Weight Loss Strategy: Conquer Your Diet One Meal at a Time

It’s hard to wake up one morning and be a completely different person. Yet that’s exactly what we’re asking of ourselves if we make a New Year’s Resolution to lose weight and hope to start doing it “on Monday.” everything straight. Depending on what your starting point is, that could be a LOT of changes at once! Set yourself up for success by renewing your habits and rituals more gradually to make the change more manageable.

Manage your transition by looking at your diet and nutrition first, then exercise. There is no more exercise than a bad diet. If you’re losing weight, 85% of your training will be in the kitchen.

Maybe you can relate to this: when I look at the new meal plans for a whole week, I think about having to make a shopping list, having to look for things in the supermarket that I don’t normally buy, and having to follow recipes for every meal. It feels cumbersome and time consuming.

One strategy for healthier eating and weight loss is to control one meal at a time. Instead of planning every meal for every day for a week, focus on one breakfast routine, for example. Think about your schedule, time, likes and dislikes in the framework of your overall goal.

Let’s see what that thought process might look like. Let’s say your goal is to lose weight and you’ve determined that you need to consume 1,500 calories a day. From there, you could divide your day into thirds: breakfast and snack in the morning, lunch and snack in the afternoon, and dinner and snack before bed. You could budget a third of your calories for each of these time periods. In other words, you have 500 calories for each.

Now you can tailor your meals to your needs within these parameters. How is your morning schedule? Are you an early riser and have a lot of time to prepare breakfast? Or are you more likely to run out the door yelling “Oh no, I’m going to be late again?” What kind of foods do you like? Do you like to eat the same thing over and over or do you need more variety so you can stick to something? If you’re a morning buff who likes a consistent breakfast menu, then maybe a shake or protein bar will do the trick. If you’re a slow-up-and-going person who likes variety, you may want to start your day with a more gourmet approach and have several favorites in your repertoire.

The point is, learn to conquer breakfast. Do it right every day. Once your breakfast routine becomes second nature, tackle lunch. The same thought process applies. What are the circumstances around your typical lunch? What do you like? What would work for you? Master it and then tackle dinner.

This is what we call a transition. You don’t have to change everything overnight to start seeing results or to see BIG results. By adapting to new routines, changes are more manageable and sustainable. That is what we call a lifestyle. See how easy was that?