I know for me, planning my food each day was one of the final pieces of the puzzle to fit into place when it came to creating a better relationship with food.

If you’re tempted to pass on this process, I feel you!

Before I began daily planning,

Here’s what I was telling myself:

• I told myself it was boring

• I told myself I LOVE to be spontaneous

• I told myself what if I don’t WANT to eat what I planned?

• It will take too long to plan

• I don’t see how can this one thing make any difference?

I’d been listening to my coach for a while before I began planning each day.

But Once I made the decision to begin, and understand WHY it matters,

Here are some reasons why I got started.

WHY PLANNING MATTERS

1. We build trust with ourselves when we do what we say we’ll do = Self Confidence
a. We develop the muscle of trusting to become women who keep promises to ourselves
b. This is foundational in creating self-confidence, and proving to our brain that we can be a person who does what she says she will do, which will affect EVERY area of our life
c. Doing it with food is such an easy way to develop this skill

2. It’s a form of Self Care - When we sit down to plan; (and I recommend you plan for your day when you are the freshest).
a. For some it’s first thing in the morning, and for others you may be more alert in the evenings. Either way, planning what you’re going to eat for the day is one of the most beautiful gifts of self-care we can give ourselves.
b. It’s an amazing way for us to plan from our part of the brain that has executive function instead of being at the effect of our impulses.

3. Prevents decision Fatigue -
Decision Fatigue - the idea that after making many decisions, your ability to make more and more decisions over the course of a day becomes worse, - The more decisions you have to make, the more fatigue you develop and the more difficult it can become.

4. Visualize obstacles before they happen –
we typically have more bandwidth earlier in the day, and creating plans from our best self. Because at the end of the day we have less bandwidth to make better decisions and anticipate obstacles before they occur so we can have a more peaceful day, which helps us to make food choices from a calmer place than if we’re frazzled.

5. We hate having open loops –
Our Brains love predictability, therefore, choosing what breakfast, lunch and dinner and snack you will be having each day ahead of time helps because instead of putting off choosing in the moment, you have already decided, so you don’t have to question it and wonder what’s coming.

It’s quite simple, the impact of just deciding on 4 things first thing in the morning, We Choose to effect the rest of your day versus being at the EFFECT of our impulses.

OVERCOMING MY OBJECTIONS

Planning is Boring -
If you need food choices to prove to yourself that you’re exciting then perhaps we’re putting WAY too much pressure on our food.

How about thinking about you as an exciting person? Instead of looking to food to prove whether or not you’re NOT boring.

My guess is, when you tell yourself planning will be boring is because we use it as an excuse NOT to plan, so you can stay in the same pattern.

At some point you need to ask yourself, how is that working for you?

I love Spontaneity -
when we tell ourselves we don’t want to be predictable or boring, we LOVE spontaneity, it’s actually just a story we tell ourselves.

It’s like we only see one side of the equation. What else comes with spontaneity? Just take a few minutes and think about the down side.

For example, when you don’t plan ahead and you want to connect with a friend, but they’ve already made plans. You can be spontaneous, but at what cost?

Think about it. When we actually plan for what we WANT, and anticipate obstacles it’s so much more loving to us, also to our nervous system.

There are MANY ways to create spontaneity in our lives that have nothing to do with food, so when your brain offers this one up just remember, It’s basically a LIE.

Here’s something to consider… what about being spontaneous when it comes to shopping for a smaller size. When I was NOT willing to let go of being spontaneous with food, I LIMITED myself to only shop at plus size ladies stores because my butt was too big for the clothes.

It’s so much more fun now to have clothing options. So I choose that instead of telling myself I want to have food options.

Don’t want to eat what I planned –
This one is so interesting, because one way I tested this out was I was thinking I just didn’t want to eat “diet” food.

So I teach that you can put on ANY food you want. Especially at first when I first started losing weight.

For those of us who were or are Weight Watchers and you get their food plan. Or you get it from any one. At first it feels fun and exciting to try something like this that will have all the answers and you stick with it for a while, and it actually works. – Until eventually it doesn’t.

I would catch myself with this one, I would put a McDonald’s cheeseburger on my plan, and when it came time to eat it I wanted a cheese steak instead. The interesting thing is, it wasn’t like I had dried out chicken and broccoli on my plan, but Of COURSE we don’t want to do what we say we’re going to do. It’s normal, its part of our rebel nature, but, in the end you need to ask yourself, why is it I’m wanting to change my plan at the last minute? What’s behind that?

Chances are, you’re wanting a specific food to meet an emotional need versus an actual hunger need.

One of the benefits of planning food ahead of time is that we learn to gain trust with ourselves, and begin to see us as a person who keeps promises to herself.

This skill is the first step in creating SELF-CONFIDENCE, which will show up in so many other areas.

Life is full of opportunities for us to do things we’d rather not do in the moment, and the better we get at “making friends” with that skill, the more it will serve us.

How can this one thing make any difference?
I felt calmer throughout the day knowing what food was planned in the evening, so when I come home near dinner time I don’t need to run to the pantry or fridge, because I’m telling myself “it’s OK, I’ve got you”. We have a great dinner planned that you love.

I tested it out with one meal at first, and noticed the effect of NOT having to make decisions at the last minute.

Writing down my food each day helps me:
Anticipate obstacles ahead of time

It keeps me honest, when I try to tell myself, “I’ll just do it in my head” (I never actually remember)

Evaluation and data fact vs creating a story and then I forget what I intended.

The total upside of writing your food plan far outweighs the down side. With the biggest take-away is that it will help you achieve your goals, whether they are related to weight loss or not.

This is just a sample of some of my weight loss tools that I use with my clients.

We also dive into many other topics and strategies while on a call.

If you’re feeling stuck and are convinced it’s too late to change, then it’s time to prove to yourself what you’re capable of.

Let’s Chat

P. S. Get started with the FREE Daily Planning Guide

When most of us think about the word “evaluation” what comes to mind?

For me, I had so many negative thoughts associated with evaluating my day.

Things like:
· I don’t want to know
· I would rather not look at it
· I don’t need any more negativity in my life.
· I’ll just do it in my head
· It will take too long
· It won’t make that much of a difference
· Who cares if I eat something different than what I planned?

Here are 3 steps that I use each day to evaluate my day, which takes away the fear and dread out of this exercise.

1. Start with what you did right!

a. This is important for dopamine (good feeling hormone) which will keep you going
b. If you see something you’re doing right, then you’ll want to repeat it
c. It’s why I look forward to evaluating
d. We no longer need to rely on others to build us up if we get better at this skill (talk about bike riding example)

2. Consider what could be the REAL problem

a. Check in with yourself about things that could be an excuse or justification and Call BS on yourself.
b. Look objectively at what didn’t go as planned and why, from a place of curiosity, and compassion NOT judgement.
c. Remind yourself though you are NOT defied by the number on the scale, tap into why you want to lose weight in the first place. No one NEEDS to do this. So here is a great time to remind yourself why you’re exploring a new way to look at your food – because you want to create a different outcome
d. Use this as information for planning your next day’s meals

3. Decide what you’ll do differently next time

a. Pick just ONE thing to work on
b. Resist the urge to take drastic action
c. Remind yourself why you want to lose weight – you may decide to restrict some things, but remind yourself what benefits you will gain.


OVERCOMING MY OBSTACLES

I’ll just do it in my head

This one is for SURE not helpful. I tried it, and could never remember what I actually ate or didn’t eat, so then when the excuses come, I have NO answer for them, so I believe them. NOT helpful.
Writing down my actual food, helps keep me honest with myself and not live in my imaginary world where I tell myself I’ve done everything right and am still gaining weight!! :0

you can’t correct something that you think was just left to chance. By having a written record, it helps us to be ON to ourselves. We’re much less likely to believe falsehoods we’re telling ourselves when we see it written down.

What I LOVE about evaluating is having a chance to slow down the process of how we want to think about our day.

It will take too long

I spoke about this during the last live. It doesn’t. and the more you do it the faster you can get.

There are some days when I decide just to write down the food (very seldom) the truth is I love my journaling questions, but if for some reason I’m short on time, I’ll at least fill out my food and my habit tracker, so I’ll have all the data I need for the month.

The trick is to know and understand your actual limitations, and to be OK if it’s not perfect.

It won’t make that big of a difference

As I stated before. If you don’t know WHAT you’re doing you can’t correct it. One of my favorite activities if I’m noticing a pattern that I don’t want is to create a hypothesis as to why it’s happening. But having actual factual data instead of stories, or guesses, or excuses is essential so then we can see what problem we’re trying to solve.

The most fundamental piece of this process is to leave any judgement aside, and simply notice what’s happening and get curious. With compassion, patience and grace.

Who cares if I eat something different than what I planned?

As we spoke about last week. Being a person who does what she says she’ll do is an essential step in creating self-confidence, and learning to be a person who keeps promises to herself. So even though no one sees my evaluation, I DO. And I’m learning to be self-accountable, which is a skill that will serve me well in every area of my life.

For those of you who are ready to Up level your weight loss journey, reach out to me I’d love to chat and see if we’re a good fit. Message me for a date for a chat, or check out my calendar link on the website.

If anyone is interested in my planner or habit tracker, feel free to message me, DM, and request it and I’ll reach out to you and send you the PDF of my exclusive daily planning sheet.

If you’re feeling stuck and are convinced it’s too late to change, then it’s time to prove to yourself what you’re capable of.

Let’s Chat.

P. S. You can begin easily evaluating with my FREE Guide today.

Click on the link below to get started.