Our Next Challenge- Plan First, Eat Next

I am sure you have had the following experience where you really planned on eating healthy all day.You planned to eat healthy but your day got away from you and you were running around like crazy and by the time you finally were in the vicinity of food you were starving and with your low blood sugar you made a poor choice and just inhaled what was there.

We are better able to choose wisely when we have time to ponder and plan. 

I mentioned to you that I recently attended a lecture by a woman that had lost 100 pounds in 8 months. One of the strategies she used was to plan every mouthful of food she was going to eat the day before. This is a strategy used often by my (ideal body weight) dietician daughter. She plans her meals and her snacks and if needed packs food and takes it along with her. You would be so surprised if you saw how fit and trim this girl is and the mountain of food she eats. How does she do it? She plans ahead to include healthy fresh whole foods and doesn't "fill up" on junk.

One easy way to do this is to use myfitnesspal.com You can go in the night before and enter all of the food you will eat the next day. Plan snacks as well as meals so that you don't get to that "low blood sugar and starving" point. 

I especially like doing this if I have plans to eat out. Menus are available on line ahead of time and although not all restaurants provide detailed nutritional information for their dishes it is possible to find something similar on myfitnesspal as you plan ahead. I rarely get to a restaurant without knowing ahead of time exactly what I'm going to eat. 

I realize this is not 100% possible. You might be invited to a friend's home for dinner or have a work luncheon where you to not pick the menu. Sometimes your only resort is to eat moderately what is provided. 

But this week for every day that you plan your meals and snacks ahead of time (when it is possible) you can claim the 5 bonus points. 

Week 2 Asking For Heavenly Help

I recently attended a lecture given by a Mormon woman that had recently lost 100 pounds over an 8 month period. She shared lots of tips and strategies but there was one I found especially interesting. SHE ENLISTED GOD'S HELP. She said she had a testimony that God desires to help us in all of our righteous endeavors and she felt strongly that changing her body to be healthier and more vibrant was a righteous cause. She said she upped her efforts in her religious habits such as giving service,  daily scripture study and especially personal prayer and she dedicate these efforts to God asking Him to bless her healthy efforts in return. She prayed for His strength in meeting her goals and she sought His inspiration. She said she prayed for strength and focus as well as about whether this food or that activity were "good for her goal" and she felt continued inspiration and assistance. 

So our Bonus Challenge for this week is to do something to enlist spiritual help in your healthy living efforts. Pray for strength, pray for inspiration, pray for the focus to accomplish what you desire. And I know you will accomplish more than you would on your own.

For each day that you do something to enlist spiritual help in your weight loss efforts you can claim the 5 bonus points! 

We Start Again- Strength in Numbers

As usual our challenge for the first week of this round of healthy living is to make a huge effort supporting and encouraging your partner. There truly is strength in numbers. I got a text from my gym buddy Gail the other day. We had plans to go to yoga but Gail had a stomach ache. And do you think I went by myself? No I happily wimped out. It really is amazing how much more we enjoy exercising and eating healthy if we are doing it along with others that we care about. 

I REQUIRE you to have a partner for this competition and it isn't just so we can rally a bigger number of participants. It is because that perhaps you have let yourself down in the past. Perhaps you have been negligent in making your self care a high priority in your life. But I am hoping that since your partner is counting on you -- you will do it for her! 

For our 5 bonus points per day I challenge you to have contact with your partner every day this week. Drop by, phone, text, tweet, instagram but contact her in some way and remind her that we are making the love and care of our physical bodies a high priority.  And do one more thing for me (and for the points) Do something creative to encourage her to break out of her slump-- treat her body right, and honor her own health and well being. Do this and you can earn 5 points a day for 35 possible bonus points. 

Please think about what kind of help and encouragement your partner needs. I expect you to send her encouraging messages on instagram, twitter, facebook, e-mail, voicemail, text message. But you can also write something encouraging on a balloon, on a can of diet coke, on the chalkboard in Relief Society before class begins. You can drag her with you to do laps at the gym, to belly dance with a groupon, to eat a healthy salad at a new favorite place. 

Put some thought and heart into thinking about what will help your partner make some REAL and important changes in her life. Does she need you to buy her a water bottle and remind her to drink? Does she need you to drag her into an empty spinning room and prove to her that she can cycle? Does she need you to walk with her despite the heat or the rain and show her you actually won't die if you exercise when the weather is bad? 

For every day this week that you have encouraging contact with your healthy living partner you will earn the 5 bonus points. But you also must do at least one creative thing this week to help your partner with her healthy living journey. And I would love it if you share your creative encouragement ideas in the comment section of this blog or in an e-mail to me. 

Have a great Week #1. And don't forget to weigh and measure yourself tomorrow morning and record it in a safe place.