Your weight loss journey is going to be challenging, especially in the beginning. These tips will make it easier for you to succeed and make the changes that you want to make so you can lose weight.
Overweighted Episode 14 Transcript
Malaika Burley: In this episode, we are going to talk about how to set yourself up for success. We have got our starting point, we know where we are, and where we’re starting in this weight loss journey. We have figured out what and how much we want to eat. And now we need to set ourselves up for success. So that’s what we’re talking about in this episode. Let’s go!
Make It Easier to Lose Weight
Okay, so I want to give you some actual tips to help make it easier for you to succeed on your weight loss journey. So hopefully, by this point, you’ve already gone through the last two episodes, this is part three of How to Lose Weight in 90 Days and Keep it Off series. And we’re going to talk about making it easier for you to succeed, or really how to set yourself up for success.
If you can do things to make it easier for you to succeed, when life gets busy, or it’s the holidays or you’re stressed, or all the things that tend to happen in our daily lives happen, then it’s gonna make it easier for you to stick to your weight loss plan and for you to hit your weight loss goals. So I want to talk about some actual, practical things that you can do to make sure that it’s easier for you to succeed.
Build Healthy Habits One at a Time
So one of the things I love to teach is that we focus on building healthy habits one thing at a time, and that’s what’s going to lead to long term success. So what we should do is make it easier for us to engage in those healthy habits, and then make it a little bit harder for us to engage in the things that are maybe not so healthy.
Most of the decisions that we make, or the things that we do, tend to be just out of habit. Some unhealthy behaviors that we have are habits that we’ve had for multiple years. And so when you have those different seasons of life, where maybe things are busy, or other things are going on, it’s easy to fall back into those habits. And so if we set up some of these practices, it’s going to help us so that it’s not as easy for us to fall back into those old habits. And then we can stay on track and work towards those health goals that we have. All right.
And so out of all the things that I’m going to mention today, I do not want you to try to do everything at once, don’t try to do it all. Just pick one thing, do that, and then work on the next. Okay, so just like when I talked about picking what you want to work on as far as what you want to change first, for your healthy habits, it’s the same thing here, just pick one thing, do that and then work on the next. Don’t try to do everything at once. When we try to do it all and we have this all or nothing kind of mentality. Well, that’s exactly what happens. It’s all or nothing. And so we tend to kind of set ourselves up for failure and sabotage our success. So I want you to really focus on just doing one thing at a time. And eventually you’ll have done all the things.
Change Your Environment
Okay, so the first thing I want you to do is work on changing your environment, this is really going to be foundational to your weight loss success. Because if some of the unhealthy things that you want to do are less accessible than the healthier options, then that’s really going to be key and it’s going to help you move forward towards your goal.
So one of the things that I want you to do, and you know me, I don’t really teach about cutting out food groups or anything in particular. But if you know that something is a big trigger for you, or it’s something that has really hindered your success before in trying to lose weight in the past, then I want you to get it out of your kitchen. If it’s in your fridge, your freezer, if it’s in the pantry, wherever that thing is right now, I want you to get it out of your house. So it doesn’t mean that you’re never gonna be able to eat that thing again. But what it means is that it won’t be as easily accessible to you because it won’t be in your home. So you want to make it so that if you want that thing you actually have to get up and go get it out of the house because I won’t be in the house anymore.
So I talked about like soda before, so that was a big thing for me. And so I couldn’t like buy a case of soda and just have it in the house. Right if I wanted a soda I had to make it too. where I had to go out and get it from the convenience store. And so that would mean I would have to stop what I’m doing, get up, maybe get dressed depending on if I am dressed or not, and go out to the store and actually get that thing. And so by doing that, it makes it really inconvenient for you to have that. And sometimes just doing that alone, because you have what’s called like a pattern interrupt, and you’re breaking that normal habit of just going into the kitchen and getting that thing by you having to get up and kind of change that pattern of how you get it. Sometimes that will stop you from going to get it and in turn, you just won’t have it as much.
So the first thing I want you to do is if you have a trigger food or something that you’re trying to not eat as much of, I want you to get that out of your house, get it out of your kitchen, wherever you might be hiding it in your house, get it out of your house, and make it really inconvenient for you to get that thing when you want it. And again, I’m not saying don’t eat it, I’m just saying don’t have it so accessible.
Make the Healthier Options Easier to Get
The second thing I want you to do is have some healthier options, like more accessible, so you’re making the not so healthy options, or your trigger foods to where they’re not as easily accessible. And then you’re going to make the healthier options more accessible.
A really good thing to do is to have them at like eye level in your cabinets have them at eye level in your fridge. So when you open it, that’s one of the first things that you see. Whenever I buy fruit, a lot of times when I put the fruit down in the fruit drawer, it ends up spoiling and going bad because I forget it’s in there. And so I will put it up on the shelf where it’s at eye level, so that I can remind myself to make sure I eat that fruit. And then I always do when it’s there.
The other thing you can do really similar to that is put it up front, in your pantry or in your fridge. So like say you have juice or soda or whatever in your fridge, but you want to focus on drinking more water. So put the water up front on the shelf, and then have the juice or the soda or whatever the other drink is behind it like towards the back of the fridge. That way you have to reach all the way past the water to grab that other drink. And so it’ll kind of trigger your mind to say, hey, you should be drinking this water instead. And hopefully that will help remind you to drink more water and you’ll grab the water bottle instead. So try that as well. So keep things at eye level, or move them up to the front so that they’re one of the first things your hand has to go past before you get to the other stuff.
Prep Your Fruits and Veggies In Bunches
Another thing you can do are just some simple meal prep tips. And so we’ll get into this more in another episode. But if you’re buying fruits and veggies, which you should be buying fruits and veggies, one of the things that you can do is wash them off right away or when you eat the first one.
So if you’re gonna grab some grapes to eat, go ahead and wash all of the grapes. If you’re going to have an apple, go ahead and wash all the apples. So that way it’s already done. And it’s one less thing you have to do when you’re trying to grab that healthy thing for you to eat. Because sometimes we choose the less healthy option because it’s just more convenient. And so if we go ahead and wash our fruits and veggies, or if you need to cut up the veggies and have them prepped and ready in containers, you can do that as well. But if we do all of that, that will make that more convenient for us. And then that increases the chances to eat more fruits and veggies throughout your day.
Clean and Declutter Your Kitchen
Another tip around your kitchen is to clean your kitchen and declutter and organize your kitchen. So I know that when I took the time to declutter and clean up my kitchen, it made me feel so much better going in there from day to day. You know, when your space is cleaned up and it’s organized, it helps to really clear your mind and it’s gonna make mealtime less stressful. So it really goes a long way to clean up and organize your kitchen and declutter some things. If there’s some appliances that you really aren’t using, go ahead and donate those or sell them whatever you need to do, and get rid of a lot of the plastic that probably you don’t have the lids for anymore. So it really go through your kitchen and think about what do I actually need in here and organize it the best way possible so that the tools that you use the most are easily accessible. And the ones that you don’t use this often maybe are more towards the back or in the harder to reach places. And again, that’ll just make it really nice when it’s time to go in and cook it’ll be less stressful and you’ll have what you need.
Turn Your Fridge Into a Vision Board
Another tip for the kitchen and I thought this was so smart. This was from another precision nutrition coach, and they had said to make your fridge door like a vision board. So me Maybe you’re putting like pictures of what you want your body to look like up on the fridge. Or you may be putting sticky notes with goals or like affirmations up there, but really turning that front of your fridge into like a vision or a prayer board. And that way when you’re going to the fridge is going to help you to see those things and help remind you of your goals. So that it’ll make it a lot easier to grab that water when you go on the fridge instead of grabbing that soda.
Keep Some Healthy Options in Your Car
And the last tip that I have for you and changing your environment is keep some healthy snacks in your car. So whether that’s granola bars, or NutriGrain bars, or you have some water bottles, or like the drink packets that you can put into water, have some of that stuff in your car, probably in your console or in the glove compartment, but have some snacks in your car available. So that way when you’re out and about and you start to get hungry, instead of going through the drive thru, you can grab yourself a snack. Again, those are just some ways to change your environment to help you set yourself up for success. And so the next thing you can do is change what’s coming in your house.
Change What’s Coming In
So you’ve already worked on your environment and maybe taking some things out that needed to leave or that may be triggers for you. But it doesn’t help if you just bring those things right back into your house. So you want to change what’s coming in to your house. So the first thing that you can do is plan your meals out for the week, so that you know what exactly you want to buy when you go to the grocery store. Right. And for me, I don’t like to necessarily plan what food I’m going to have on what day. But I will have a list of meal ideas for the week. And then I’ll decide that day like or the night before, okay, I feel like I want to eat this today, or I want to eat this tomorrow. And so I will prepare that meal that day. So I’m really driven a lot by my mood. But I will still plan maybe some ideas for the week. And so based on that I know what I want to buy at the grocery store when I go. So however you decide that you want to do your meal plan, plan out your meals, and then make your grocery list accordingly. So that when you go to the grocery store, you actually have a plan of what you want to bring into the house.
And the second thing on that note is don’t go to the grocery store hungry, because I don’t know if you’ve ever done it before. But when you go to the grocery store hungry, you tend to buy a lot of things that are not on your plan or not on your list, or you end up grabbing things that are just less nutritious because you know, they’re just going to be a really satisfying in that moment. So you grabbed them. So go to the grocery store with a plan and don’t go hungry.
Consider Meal Deliver Services
And the last thing I have for you as far as changing what’s coming in, if it’s something that you can afford, and that works with your lifestyle, consider doing some type of meal delivery option. There are so many companies out there now that offer really delicious and nutritious meals. So if that’s something that’s within your budget, then consider that, because that’s also going to help take a lot of the guesswork out of what you eat, and what you need to buy because they come with the ingredients already in those boxes. And so a meal delivery service might be a really good idea for you.
Eat Mindfully and Intentionally
The next thing that I want you to do to help set yourself up for success is I want you to eat mindfully and with intention. And so obviously, when you make out a meal plan, you’re eating more with intention, because you’re not just kind of grabbing anything and eating anything. So that’s one big thing that’s going to help you there. But what tends to happen with us is that we eat whatever we’re served. So whatever amount that is that we get, we tend to eat that right like the clean your plate club. So just as an example with my kids, whatever size plate they have, they will fill it up with chicken nuggets or pizza rolls.
Use Smaller Plates
So one trick is to have smaller plates. And so with a smaller plate, you can only fit so many chicken nuggets or pizza rolls on that particular plate as opposed to a bigger plate. And it works with kids and it works for us adults as well. So think about buying yourself some smaller plates. And I’m not saying they have to be a really small like dessert plates. But if it’s just a smaller size plate, maybe a kids play or maybe even a plate that has sections on it, what we tend to do is fill our plate according to the size of the plate. So if you have a smaller plate, then by default, you’re probably going to eat less. So think about getting yourself some smaller plates to eat from.
Eat with Less Distractions
So another thing I would like you to do when trying to eat mindfully is eating with less distractions, because what tends to happen is when we are there Directed, whether we’re watching TV or we’re on our computers are working, we will eat more when we’re not paying attention to what we’re eating. So if you’re in a position where you can eliminate the distractions, or totally turn them off while you’re eating, do that, because it’s just going to help you be more aware of what you’re eating and how much.
Add Movement In Naturally
So another thing that you can do, as far as setting yourself up for success is add movement into your day, just naturally. So for instance, if you’re going to a store, you could park farther back from the entrance of the store. And that way, you have a little bit farther to walk. And so that’s just naturally adding in some additional steps for you.
Another thing you can do, if you have a dog, instead of just taking the dog out in the backyard, maybe you walk the dog around the neighborhood. So that’s getting your dog some exercise, and it’s helping you to get some more exercise as well.
Another tip that was from a another nutrition coach that I thought was really good is that you can put some of your workout gear around your house. So like say you have some dumbbells, or maybe you have a pull up bar. So what you can do is place it in different areas around your house. And then whenever you pass by that piece of equipment that’s like a trigger or a reminder for you to do that particular exercise. So if you have the pull up bar, maybe at the entrance of your office, like your home office, then whenever you go through that doorway, you have to do like five pull ups on that bar. So I just thought that was a really fun way to add some extra movement into your day.
Another way to possibly add some extra movement in is to join a social group that’s really based around a movement or some type of activity, where you’re up and moving around. So maybe you’re joining a biking club, if you like to bike and so that’s naturally going to get you out and on your bike more. Or maybe it could even be a group of dog owners and you guys go out and walk your dogs. I’ve seen some mom groups where they put their kids in strollers, and then they go walk around together. So just really look for maybe clubs or organizations in your area where you can just get out and meet some new people and then also get some activity in at the same time.
And the last thing I want to say about adding in more movement naturally is get some comfortable shoes. Because I know for me, one of the big barriers for me in the beginning with exercise is that my feet and my back would always hurt. So I actually found this particular pair of shoes that when I wear them, I don’t have any problems with my feet hurting. So find a really comfortable pair of shoes for you. And when you’re in the house or just walking around the house, you can wear those shoes, just having those shoes on might make you want to go out and walk around the neighborhood or it might just make you want to get up and go exercise because you actually have your sneakers on. So find some really comfortable shoes for you to actually exercise in and then wear him.
Get Some Accountability
And the last thing that I want to talk about as far as setting yourself up for success is get some accountability, whether it’s a co worker or a friend or a family member or you join a group like transformation tribe, whatever it is, get yourself around some people that are going to encourage and support and uplift you on your weight loss journey. You want to have that accountability in place, because there’s going to be times where you just don’t want to do it, where you want to give up where you might start regressing. And you need to have that accountability and support they’re in place to help you during those times. And also sometimes with accountability, we’ll tend to do things for others that we may not do for ourselves. And so it helps if you know that Oh, I have my friend waiting for me at the gym, I need to get up and go to the gym. Or if you know that my coach is going to be checking in on me and my meal plan. So I need to make sure I’m sticking to this meal plan. Whatever that accountability is gonna look like for you make sure that you have some accountability in place. Like I said, it can be a friend, it can be a co worker, it can be a family member, it could be a weight loss mentor or coach. Or it could be a group of people that are on a weight loss journey just like you are.
So that was five things to help you set yourself up for success on your weight loss journey.
- 1. Change your environment
- 2. Change what’s coming in to your environment.
- 3. Eat mindfully and with intention.
- 4. Add more movement into your life naturally.
- 5. Get some accountability.
Your Homework
So for your homework, just pick one of those areas and work on one thing that I mentioned from that area. And then once you have that down work on the next thing. I will see you guys next week and We will talk more about actual food and what we should grab when we’re going to the grocery store. All right, I’ll see you later.