Meal preparedness.

There’s an old saying, “he who fails to plan, plans to fail.” No idea who said it, but its certainly true enough. I’m sure its tossed around for great and grand ambitions, a golden brick of advice for the next Donald Trump or Colin Powell. For me, on the other hand, its very down to earth, and is something I’ve been trying to implement with my weight loss.

I’ve been on Weight Watchers for about eight months now, and have lost 14.4lbs thus far. While not as impressive as the latest fad diet, that’s a steady 1.8lbs a month average, and a healthy rate of loss. That, combined with increased physical activity (thank you to everyone who worked on EA Sports Active 2 for the 360/Kinect) has been very good for me, even getting my blood sugar own!
One thing I’ve had to deal with is the simple fact that if I don’t prepare my lunches ahead of time, like the night before, I am very likely to cheat. I’ve eaten at Jack in the Box more than a few times wondering, “why can’t I quit you?” It slows down my progress and honestly isn’t that great for my wallet, either.

So, after putting some weight back on, I got juiced up again to get back on track. After dinner is done, I’ve been taking the leftovers and preparing my lunch then and there, adding in some veggies to help make it more filling without adding Points. Bagging some fruit means I’ve got snacks ready, too. On top of that I’ll get my breakfast ready ahead of time – putting oatmeal in a bowl along with some water means all I have to do is microwave it in the morning – nothing to think about, nothing to worry about, its just there.

A recent trip to GNC resulted in me buying a bottle of their Total Lean 25 shake. It tastes okay (chocolate), is fairly nutritious, and helps me keep on course. It makes a nice “dessert” for my lunch. I picked up a nice shaker bottle from Vitamin World that works wonderfully – a screw on bottom holds the powder until I’m ready to make the shake. From there its fill with water, add powder, then shake. Everything mixes well and I’ve got a nice, pre-measured boost to my lunch.

I remember back when I was in Georgia using Myoplex Lite and really enjoying that. Even have used generic diet shakes in the past as well. I think that's one thing I can readily recommend for guys - look into meal replacement shakes. They're expensive up front, but per-serving they're cheaper than fast food meals, you're getting good nutrition, they're quick, and you know exactly what you've got. If you've got a store that sells them by the packet, get a bunch and try them out. There's no sense in buying something purely based on the nutritional label if you can't bring yourself to actually drink it!

Mind you, have real food too. You need the fiber, the bulk, and honestly real food is more satisfying to eat with all those flavors and textures. But a shake is a lot better (and cheaper) than a McDonald's combo meal in the long-run!