Wellbeing Wednesday. Planning: A Gentle Tool for Success
"Plan what to eat. Eat what you planned."
Sometimes the simplest ideas are the most powerful.
This month I'm taking part in my own July Tortoise Diet Lite 4-Week Challenge, because I know how valuable it is to keep reinforcing the habits that lead to long-term success.
That's really what the Tortoise Diet Lite is all about – incorporating four simple habits into your daily life. As you practise them consistently, they gradually become automatic and quietly guide you towards your weight-loss goals.
One of the biggest tools for success – not just for weight loss, but in almost every area of life – is getting organised and making a plan.
One habit I strongly recommend is planning your meals in advance for the week ahead.
Rather than trying to decide what to eat when you're already hungry or tired, spend a little time creating half a dozen or so "go-to" meals that you can rely on. Choose meals that:
You genuinely enjoy eating.
Contain the nutrients your body needs.
Fit easily into your lifestyle.
Leave you feeling satisfied and energised.
Although I don't advocate spending lots of time thinking about food (most people have already spent far too much of their lives obsessing about it), I do believe it's worth investing a little time at the beginning of your journey to create a shortlist of meals that work for you.
When you think about it, most families already have a handful of fallback meals they cook again and again. So why not deliberately choose meals that move you closer to your goals rather than further away?
The whole premise of The Tortoise Diet Method is that it's actually anti-diet. I've never been a fan of traditional diets. In fact, I'm fairly sure I would never have struggled with my weight if I'd simply continued eating the balanced, sensible meals my mother taught me to enjoy growing up.
That's why I try not to increase the "food noise" in your head. But there is one exception: the beginning of your journey is the perfect time to think carefully about creating your own collection of reliable, nourishing meals.
One of the benefits of doing the Tortoise Diet Lite Challenge is that it naturally encourages you to build that collection.
Once you've found meals that work well, keep using them as your baseline. Shop for them each week and make them your default choices.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with having a fairly small rotation of breakfasts and lunches. In fact, it often makes healthy eating much easier.
A summer lunch might simply be a chopped salad filled with whatever salad vegetables you have on hand, plus some protein, grains, nuts or seeds. In winter, it could be homemade soup or leftover stir-fry. Pack it, reheat it at work, and lunch is sorted.
Like every worthwhile habit, meal planning takes a little effort to establish. But over time it becomes second nature.
Imagine having six or eight meals that you know you'll enjoy, that leave you feeling satisfied, and that give your body the nourishment it needs until your next meal a few hours later. That's a wonderful foundation to build on.
So this week, get yourself organised.
Pull a couple of those cookbooks off the shelf and create your own collection of favourite meals. If you're a bit old-school like me, write them on index cards. I still cut recipes out of magazines, glue the pictures onto cards, and write the ingredients on the back. Then, when I'm planning my week, I simply check what I already have in the pantry, write a shopping list for anything I'm missing, and I'm ready to go.
It doesn't have to be complicated.
Plan what to eat.
Then eat what you planned.
Repeat that gentle habit often enough and you'll not only reach your goals—you'll be much more likely to maintain them for years to come.
To Register for the next Tortoise Diet Lite 4 Week Challenge Click here.