By a show of hands, please answer this question honestly: Do you spend any time, in advance, planning your meals, snacks and exercise time for the next days/week? Well, if I separated the audience to people that just started our program from people toward the end of the program or people no longer engaged in the SP Program, I bet I would see far different results. In the early stages of a weight loss effort, most people are really “tuned in”, excited, motivated and will often spend “planning” time. However, over time, the other responsibilities of life take over, causing focus to be lost, and “planning time” withers.
“Planning time” is vitally important for long-term weight control success. Going into a day making spontaneous decisions about what to eat will often lead to poor choices. Spontaneity in the eating realm will turn into fast food drive throughs, microwavable processed foods and/or simply skipping meals.
We have provided sample meal plans in our SP guide we provided to you so a relatively “easy” way to plan is by following the suggested dietary plans for the different phases. How long will it take to create a “game plan” for the upcoming week? I see this as 15 minutes: Develop a spreadsheet (or piece of paper and pen for old people like me) and think through what the upcoming week looks like and what you will eat for the various meals and snacks.
Always back to my sports analogies: Going into a game without a game plan will almost ensure a loss. Coaches get fired for not developing good game plans. In the weight control arena, not developing a game plan results in a gain and not a loss…of weight.
