Habit #1: Planning — Here’s The Right Way To Do It

So, quick re-cap of the last post about what to do for fat loss: 

If you want to change your scale weight – it's all about quantity of food.  If you want to impact how lean and "toned" you are, it's about getting stronger and eating better quality of food.

Now that we've got that out of the way, we can focus on what really matters to get lean and fit — the "how"

And the how is habits.

Remember, the leanest and fittest people focus on habits, not diets.

The first habit we want to take a look at is planning.

Some really cool things happen when you plan your food week ahead of time:

You can take a look at if you need to go shopping.

You can take a look at when you are going to cook (hint, not when you get home from work!)

You can take a look at social events — do you want to make them "free meals"?  Or do you want to plan what you are going to eat and drink and what you are going to say about it?

You can plan when you are going to do your workouts.

You can see all of the roadblocks that normally de-rail your fitness and food ahead of time, and get strategic about them.

You set yourself up to win, instead of relying on "willpower"

Lets Plan Your Food Week Right Now: 

Plan for Thanksgiving to be a free day.

Plan whether or not the 28th, 29th and 30th are going to be free days or on-plan days.

Lets plan Monday Dec 1st – Friday December 5th.

1. What proteins are you going to have for breakfast?
2. What proteins are you going to have for lunch?
3. What proteins are you going to have for dinner?
4. What carbs or fats are you going to have with your proteins?
5. What meals are you going to eat out?  Where?  Look at the menu online, what will you have?
6. Do you need to go shopping?
7. When are you going to do prep work and/or cooking?
8. When are you getting your workouts in?

The trick is, you only need to do ONE of the above.  Whichever one will make the most difference.

Again, it goes in levels.  If you struggle with breakfast, then just plan your breakfasts for the week.  If you struggle eating out, then just plan your meals out for the week.

That's the trick — only one new thing per week.

This Week, Put Planning First

So whatever you take on planning wise (lets say breakfast), make that the most important thing.  In other words, if you get to the gym, and you haven't planned your breakfasts for the week, sit down and plan your breakfasts.

Don't do your workout until you've done your planning. 

Even skip your workout, but don't skip your planning.

I've seen people clock five hours of workout per week, when they really needed 20 minutes of food planning.  Don't be that guy.  

This is a big point for any habit you're working on — put it first.  Make it more important than everything else you've ever heard about fitness, just for that week.

Notice how you want to do other things instead.  Notice how you put it off with other things that seem like they make a difference.

"I didn't have time to plan my food because I had to do my cardio" does not fly.  This is a way people self-sabotage.  They do something that feels like work, so they can avoid doing the thing they know they need to do.

Focus on One Thing, And Put It First

The big thing is to look at your week, think about the things that normally trip you up, and then pick that one thing (from the list above) that's going to make the most difference.

Then, have the balls to put that one planning habit first.  Make it important.

It's actually just that simple.

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