Are you feeling overwhelmed about how much you have to fit into your day and now you’re following the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge and don’t think you’ll be able to prepare the meals and do the exercise?
Well follow these tips to work out how you can save time and plan your days so that following your healthy eating diet plan and exercise routine is super easy:
- Use a diary if you don’t already and write down key things to do on each day e.g. take children to swimming lessons or meet friends for coffee etc. As well as your daily events add in your Challenge activities e.g. write down which days you are going to exercise and stick to those time slots or which days you’re going to do weekly food prep etc.
- Most of the recipes on The Healthy Mummy 28 Day Challenge can be ready in under 20 – 30 minutes so choose the quickest recipes if you don’t have lots of time each day. Salads or recipes that can be made ahead of time and frozen are great when you’re busy.
- Do a session of food prep once a week – chop vegetables and fruits and place them in air tight containers in the fridge so you can just grab what you need when making a recipe or snack. Make up some extra batches of soups, curries, pasta or other freezer friendly meals and place them in portion sizes to defrost during the day and then heat up at dinner time. Make a whole bunch of snacks to have on hand throughout the week, protein balls and slices are great to make in larger quantities and keep in the fridge for the whole week.
- It’s ok to become a creature of habit throughout the Challenge – having the same few recipes on hand for breakfast and lunch and alternating will save you time and money as you’ll know what you’re having, can buy more of the same ingredients and you’ll save time preparing something you know how to cook as opposed to something brand new.
- If you’re really pushed for time in the mornings or at lunch then try The Healthy Mummy Smoothies and have ingredients for your favourite combinations readily available, to quickly combine when you’re in a hurry.
- Prepare some “snack bags” at the beginning of the week – fill with nuts, veggie sticks, dried fruits etc and grab when you’re leaving the house or going to work so you have something to keep you going when out and about.
- Marinate meats and refrigerate or freeze to use when needed or prepare larger quantities of often used grains like quinoa or couscous so these things are ready to assemble at meal times.
- Exercise is just as beneficial when done in small segments as when done all in one go. So if you can’t fit in a full 30 minutes every morning – get up and do 10 or 15 minutes and then another small session later in the day.
- Make lists of three to four key things you want to achieve each day that include your Challenge tasks e.g. “clean the house, do 2 x 15 minute exercise sessions and prepare meal for dinner” and keep your lists short – don’t try and do everything all at once. You’ll feel great when you tick the activities off the list and see you’re getting closer to your goals.
Keep things simple and set small goals for what you can achieve each day when it comes to incorporating your usual daily tasks with the 28 Day Challenge ones and you’ll find you can easily fit everything in and see the results you want.
