It's All About the Plan!

The 8 weeks of the challenge are over. Despite winning, the motivation to continue at the current pace is waning. Its hard work to eat healthy and exercise frequently! We have determined the culprit.  Lack of planning!

Exercise is the hardest to plan for us. A busy life means near constant juggling, prioritizing, and often re-prioritization.  Ordinary life events constantly get in the way!

Communication is also key. One needs to have support of the other spouse to make food and exercise happen!

• Our recommendation is to communicate daily. Plan the exercise time. Plan meals. You might need to plan who is picking up what at the grocery store! We do.
• Utilizing the free Kid Fit class (and Child Watch) as guaranteed exercise time. That equates to two days a week planned exercise for the entire family from now until April!
• We plan meals on the weekend for the work week. Steve and I together. It only takes a few minutes. It equates to buy-in and a little bit of research in the freezer (Steve's job).  I make the grocery list and plan what needs done to make that meal happen. I use the crock pot often. I also have an electric pressure cooker that makes meals a snap!
• Back to grocery shopping, definitely we are shopping more often. You have to have the fresh fruits and veggies on hand to be compliant with eating healthy. My recommendation is to shop the ads. Local stores offer 2-day sales to entice us to come in. Sometimes the buys are a really good deal! You could even plan meals around what is on sale. One must stick to the list though to avoid impulse buying. And the old adage that the outside aisles of the store is where the healthy foods are is mostly true. I have to admit the sale ads are mostly full of unhealthy foods.
• Another item to plan for is hunger. Kids get hungry, often! We now keep a snack bag in the van. We fill it with Dr. Krackers, dried fruit, and dry cereal (like puffed wheat or shredded wheat), and when I think of replenishing it baby carrots or a small apple or two. This is especially handy for after swim lessons or after an evening work out when the kids will have to wait for the meal to be prepared before they can eat. Before the challenge I am pretty sure Mc Donalds or Checkers might have been an added stop when the errands ran long or we were gone over mealtime. The additional reason to have this access to a snack is for timely replacement of glycogen after a good work out! If I don't eat something relatively soon sometimes I feel not so good. And that has potential to ruin my day.
• Planning THAT is the key!