First things first, let me preface by saying, everyone’s version of a “successful week” will look different and that is totally fine.
What I’d love you to be aiming for, is having a week that you are proud of. A week where you can look back and think; “I’m really proud of my choices this week, on the whole they were considered and in line with my goals!”.
In my opinion, there is one sure fast way you can increase the likelihood of making choices that you’re proud of and this is planning. Think of it this way, 9 times out of 10 the choices that you’re not so happy with are the choices you make on the spot, the impulsive choices. For example, walking past a cafe feeling slightly peckish and deciding to grab a piece of banana bread or coming home from work and going straight to the biscuit jar in the cupboard.
Planning is not only going to give your day (or week) some structure but it is going to reduce the amount of “on the spot thinking” you have to do because you have given some thought, ahead of time, to what what your options are. Less on the spot thinking = less room for error. Simples.
Plan Your Week: The Non-Negotiables
1) Write yourself a weekly meal plan. Now, this doesn’t have to be a 100% concrete plan that you cannot deviate from but I do encourage you to have a rough idea of what you’d like your meals and snacks to look like for the week ahead. Essentially, we want to be reducing the likelihood of you wandering into the kitchen and proceeding to open the fridge and the pantry cupboards to find a snack you might fancy. Instead, we want to increase the likelihood you walking into the kitchen with intent and being clear, ahead of time, on what you are going to grab from the fridge as your mid-morning snack (because it was planned). I’m sure you get the picture.
Ensure your planned meals are balanced by using this guide.
2) Do your grocery shopping. Having a rough meal plan is all well and good but it’s not going to be much use if you don’t have the food in the house to eat. You should be able to collate a shopping list from the meal plan you’ve written fairly easily. My advice to all of my clients is to designate a set time each weekend to do your groceries (or do your order online), it’s going to be very hard to have a weeks worth of eating that you’re happy with without having your groceries done.
3) Meal and/or ingredient prep. By no means is this mandatory but some sort of prep can be incredible useful as, again, you are removing some of the on the spot thinking/decision making by having a meal or at least a portion of your meal ready to go. Meal prepping does not need to be this all encompassing thing with 17352 tupperware containers neatly stacked into your fridge. Nope, it can be as simple as roasting a tray of veggies ready for dinner the next 3 nights so that all you have to do is cook your protein source when you get home from work. Or, on a much smaller scale, cooking double the amount on one night to save you cooking again the next night. Anything that is going to save you time and thinking energy, do that.
4) Plan your activity. Book your gym classes for the week or, if you don’t do classes block out the times you’re going to the gym in your calendar, just as you would with a doctors appointment. On top of this, plan your daily walk and get your friends involved for some added accountability.
5) Finally, look ahead to see what social occasions you have coming up. Knowing what you have on at the weekend is a great way to hold yourself accountable to sticking to the plan that you’ve made during the week.
Remember, the goal is not to stick to a rigid meal plan. The goal is to make your food decisions slightly easier for yourself having given them some prior though. Your tired and time poor self during the week will thank you for the planning that you did on the weekend.
Here are some of my favourite question prompts that I like to use when planning my week;
- How can I be 1% better than last week?
- In order to look back on my week and feel proud, what 3 things need to happen?
- What is my intention this week?
- What would I like to accomplish this week?
- How can I act in line with my goals this week?
If a week of planning seems a little daunting, just focus on putting some prior thought into tomorrow. Trust me when I say it will get easier with time.
