Set Yourself Up For a Win!

You know how the old saying goes, "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail." There is so much truth in that! This got me thinking about a key thing I've learned this past year when it comes to weight loss. Obviously, there are things in life that surprise us maybe an unplanned event or even a weak moment or two (or a million weak moments in my case) but the majority of things we do, we usually plan for them to happen or at least know it's probably going to happen. Like holidays, birthday parties, eating out at restaurants.. etc. These can be pretty tricky if you don't go into it with a plan! With Halloween right around the corner, we've talked a bit about all the candy that's going to be flowing through most of our homes here in a week or so. We already know it's going to happen, Halloween is always on October 31st, there's always candy involved, so why not try and be prepared! I try to plan for MOST things, yes even sometimes I plan to be very bad, but nevertheless, I still plan ;) One of the big lessons I was taught as a young teenager was to already have a plan on what I was going to allow happen when I was with a boy. My mom was a strict one (THANK GOD!!) She would tell me to decide what I will allow to happen, like will I allow myself to be alone in a room with a boy (yes) will I kiss a boy (umm yes) will I .... so on and so on.. but I needed to know what I would do before the situation happened. It's tough to make a plan when you're already past the point of making a plan. Honestly this lesson kept me out of a lot of trouble growing up. This lesson can totally apply to situations with food! These are some things that I do that really help me.. When I'm going out for dinner I try to find out where we are going before we go. I look up the menu online and then pick out a few things that I would like to eat and then I figure out the points (or calories). I like to have a few options so I can change my mind if I want too. Of course there are times I have no idea where I'm going and in those cases I just do my best to try and pick the thing that I think is the healthiest. And just so you know, there are times I pick out something that I really want and it might be "bad" but I usually try to only eat half of it, still preparing though. When it comes to parties, in my opinion these can be the toughest situations, I will try and see if I can find out what the person is serving and then plan once I know. This isn't always the case though, in most cases you don't know what's being served. Sometimes I'll put a piece of fruit in my purse or something that I know I can snack on. I try and pick the best things to eat at a party and try my hardest to leave the unhealthier things behind. Those little finger foods can be dangerous and the calories/points add up quickly! I try and tell myself, "Self, this is not the last meal you're going to eat, so chill out!" Here are some tips I've learned for Halloween ( I have 3 little ones, I'm sure I'll have delicious Halloween candy in my house for at least 6 months! grrrr ;) but here's some suggestions we've talked about in my WW class; not to buy any candy until the day before or day of Halloween, to buy something you do not like (ummm I like everything though!! ;), to keep it out of sight and to try and get rid of it all on Halloween, don't keep any extra laying around. For me, it's going to have to be mind over matter, my kids will trick or treat and bring home 3 bags of candy, but I will be telling myself, is eating 10 mini candy bars in one sitting worth it? No, probably not. But one mini candy bar might be ;) Hope I didn't blab.. I know what I wanted my point to be, I hope it came across clear. Thanks for reading!!!