Step 2: How to START and KEEP your New Year resolution!

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By Nicholas Sorrenti

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MEAL PREP!

Today were going to be going over the most important part of making your New Year resolution possible…. MEAL PREP! Many people I know skip over this crucial part in their weight loss regimen. They use the excuse, “I worked out twice today, and so I’m going to treat myself”. When I hear this, it automatically makes me think to myself, “If your working that hard in the gym, and going in twice a day to get a good sweat, why are you going to ruin that by fueling yourself with garbage?”

When it comes to scenarios like this, I feel that if your going to work hard in the gym, yes, you should treat yourself. However, treat yourself with good foods; and this can be more closely followed if you have a meal prep planned out for the week. By doing this, it allows you to focus more specifically on your workout each and everyday, without having to worry about what you’re going to eat afterwards. From personal experience, I’ve learned that meal prepping allows me to look forward to eating, without having to feel guilty for putting bad foods into my system after working my butt off in the gym.

Step 2:

  • NO EXCUSES: To begin, I know some of you full-time employees are reading this and saying to yourself, “yeah, meal prep is possible if you have time. I have kids, I work, and then I have to make dinner for them as well.” Don’t get me wrong, I know you all have a very difficult schedule to follow, but even with these responsibilities, it shouldn’t be an excuse for taking care of your personal well being. You have to take care of yourself, because if you don’t, who will?
  • COUPONS & MONEY MANAGEMENT: You’re going to make all of this possible by simply food shopping. Another bump in the road that many people complain about is food being so incredibly expensive; trust me, being a college student I completely understand this problem. But once again, there’s a solution to your problem. You simply pick up the old fashion newspaper, or if your more into smartphones, going onto the app store, and simply type in, “The Coupon App”, or to make it even more general, go onto Google and type in the grocery store, or super market that you use in your area. By doing this, you will be able to access in the food coupons that they offer on their webpage. I promise you, if you look hard enough, you’ll find enough coupons to save anywhere between $25-$100, and sometimes even more. Also, without coupons, I like to go to ALDI. This market has a wide variety of food choices for an extremely low price.
  • MAKING TIME: Now, all of this shopping can be done once per week. The same time when you go to the store to food shop for your kids, family, cousins, etc., you get the point. Don’t make an excuse for time, because I know you can fit an hour into your 24-hour day schedule to help benefit your long-term health. Now, I find it easiest to shop on Sundays, because usually the kids are either watching football, or some type of sporting event on TV, which allows you to make time to run to the store and shop.
  • FOOD RESEARCH: However, before you go shopping, whenever you have downtown during the day, when your at work, laying in bed at night, or even on the toilet, make a well-educated list of the types of food you want to be eating. I recommend doing some research on different types of food before buying products that you don’t have much knowledge on. A handy website that can benefit you through this step is, http://www.calorieking.com/foods/. This website makes it as easy as simply typing in the food you’re interested in, in the search bar.
  • GET TO WORK: Once you completed this educated list and you make a weekly log of what food combinations you want to mix together throughout the day, I want you to pull out those coupons and get to work. OHHHHH, one last thing, don’t forget to pick up a few Ziploc Tuppawear. This makes it a lot easier for story products in the fridge, and it also keeps your food fresh.
  • SATISFACTION: After the shopping is done, and you find some free time to get this meal prep out of the way, go after it with a full head of steam. This process should be fun. I promise you, if you do this in the correct way, you will see results in your mental and physical well being so much quicker then you’ve experience in the past, and that is when things begin to get exhilarating, and most importantly, satisfying.
  • SKIPPING BREAKFAST for COFFEE: Last but not least, my favorite meal of the day…BREAKFAST! One thing that I’ve realized throughout my years of trying to have a healthier lifestyle, is that many people do not eat breakfast. I’m no scientist, but I can promise you that any fitness website, or nutritional website will tell you that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, especially if you’re trying to speed up your metabolism to lose weight. Without breakfast, not only do you slow your metabolism down, but you’re also setting yourself up for failure throughout the rest of the day, and possibly long-term as well. What I mean by this is that, usually people that don’t eat breakfast will stop at some Joe Shmoe coffee shop and buy a high caffeinated, high sugared coffee, that not only causes stinky breath, but can lead to serious health affects such as, stomach ulcers, IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), Heartburn, possible laxative, Stress, and most commonly experienced, a huge caffeine crash, which leads to more bad decisions such as eating candy, or drinking more high caffeinated drinks. Additional information about side effects of coffee can be found here, http://www.healthambition.com/negative-effects-of-coffee/.
  • IMPORTANCE OF BREAKFAST: I found an extremely helpful website that explains specifically why breakfast is so crucial for future weight loss success, and they received validating information from, “Eric Rimm, Sc.D., a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston”, explaining,

“After a healthy breakfast your blood sugar increases a little bit, but it will take a while for your body to absorb it. So you might not be hungry for lunch for 5 hours.” If you don’t bother with breakfast, though, the prolonged fasting might lead to a bigger than normal boost in “hunger hormones” such as ghrelin, encouraging you to overeat at your next meal and leading to spikes and dips in glucose. “Over time, if your pancreas is constantly producing insulin to compensate for high levels of glucose, it will burn out and you’ll develop diabetes,” Rimm says.

  • The website also explains that, “What you eat is important, of course. If your idea of breakfast is a doughnut and a cup of coffee, or sugary cereal and a glass of fruit juice, you’re setting the stage for metabolic havoc.” However, the website also include positive information regarding to breakfast and gives additional links to check involving, “Plenty of traditional breakfast foods that taste great and are good for you. Our food-testing team took a close look at 33 cereals and 27 Greek yogurts—two of the most popular breakfast items—to help you pick the most nutritious and best-tasting options”. Check out the website and additional websites here, http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2014/10/why-eating-the-right-breakfast-is-so-important/index.htm.

 

So these are the tips I have for you today, I hope they were helpful, and meal prep becomes a huge part of your weight loss regimen. Monday, I will be posting STEP #3, keep a look out and make sure you get to that food market and buy the necessary products to make this New Year resolution possible!!!! Please Share if you find this to be helpful, thank you.

 

Quote of the day,

“Eat for a purpose, not for pleasure”

-Michael Irvin

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