Organization and Time Management Help You Lose Weight

If you have organization and time management in good working order, your task with weight loss is easier! I often hear clients say that they don’t eat better because they haven’t planned ahead to shop, cook, and take healthy food with them when away from home. Then at the last minute they are hungry and tired and just eat anything. Sound familiar?

If so, here are a few pointers to make organization a regular part of your week. You can start with one pointer at a time, and build in more as you are ready.

Put Menu Planning and Shopping on Your Calendar

If you have these on your calendar, they will most likely get done. Many people like to do these tasks over the weekend. Plan out what you are going to cook during the week — make a menu and then write a shopping list of everything you will need to get during the week.

Do the shopping and have everything ready for the week. You may also want to keep a running list of staples, those items you may not need for a specific dish during the week, but which you like to have on hand. This list may include grains and beans, frozen fish and chicken, spices, oils, nuts and seeds.

Plan Your Time To Prep for and Cook Meals

Make this realistic! If you can’t cook every day and also get other important things done, plan to cook every other day, every third day, or whatever works. Some of my clients like to cook a lot on Sunday, and then freeze things in portion size. They can then be pulled out when you know you won’t have time to cook, such as the day you have a meeting after work.

Preparation of foods can be done in advance. You can chop up veggies and fruits and store them in containers. Then when it’s time to use them, you are good to go. This step is also helpful if you take food with you to work. Get it cut up and packed up so you can just pull it out of the frig in the morning. This step also helps you have healthy snacks on hand.

Leave Time To Eat!

This may sound like it goes without saying, but I find that one of the hardest things for clients to do is to actually sit down, eat slowly, and pay attention to your food. Eating mindfully is a big part of weight loss, so please get this step on your schedule.

Save Time With Food Shopping and Cooking

This step will depend on your individual schedule. Can you do food shopping when you are in the area of the grocery store for something else? In other words, can you combine errands to save time?

Fresh, whole foods are the best. But if time does not allow, you can save time using precut veggies and maybe some frozen veggies part of the time. They are still way better than a meal of fast food.

Also think in terms of time-saving cooking aids. I’m a big fan of the Instant Pot, because you can put your food up and get other things done while it’s cooking. You don’t need to attend to it. The same holds true for a slow cooker and for a rice cooker.

Also check how long certain dishes take to cook. If steaming veggies takes 15 minutes, set the timer so you can be doing something else like other food prep or kitchen clean-up at the same time.

Have Food In The Freezer for Emergencies

It helps to have some things extra on hand for: days you will really be tied up, times you don’t feel quite up to par, bad weather that prevents you from going food shopping, when you’re about to go out of town and don’t want perishable food left in your frig when you leave, and other situations that demand a quick fix. When you cook and have extra food, this is a good time to freeze for such times.

Getting Started

Remember to take one step at a time. This will keep you feeling in control, so you don’t get overwhelmed. Once you have one good habit under your belt, you will naturally be encouraged to do more.

Start with what resonates with you the most, or perhaps with the easiest intervention that you know you can succeed with.

Anticipate what might come up that will throw you out of your routine, and plan ahead for such contingencies. Being proactive is always a good plan, even though we can’t anticipate everything.

Most of all, remember to give yourself a pat on the back for the progress you are making! Small steps lead to big changes.