Rock the Kitchen: How to Plan for Diet Success
If you’ve ever tried a bit of body transformation (losing weight, gaining weight, redistributing it), you know what it’s like. It can be a frustrating, disheartening process. Still, it doesn’t have to be that way. As with anything, a bit of preparation makes all the difference. No matter what your body transformation goals are, here are the components of kitchen success.
Clean out the cupboard
You know what it’s like. You’ve been sticking to the plan for a while now, eating healthy meals and steering clear of the bad stuff. One day you notice a lonely packet of potato chips in the back of the cupboard, and it’s game on. Before you know it you’re scouring the room for the simplest, tastiest ready-made snack you can find. Solution : clean out the cupboards before you start, and remove anything which doesn’t fit in with your intended eating plan. No need to go overboard here, just get rid of the obvious ‘shouldn’t have‘ items. NB : if you’re sharing the kitchen with others, just put your food - as much as possible - in a separate place.
Benefit : you’ll be starting with a clean slate (shelf, actually). Much, much easier.
Do your shopping in bulk
Once the cupboards have been pared down a little, it’s time to go shopping. And no, this won’t cost a fortune. The general idea is to work out which foods your new diet is based on, and buy them in bulk. Whilst this certainly doesn’t apply to everything, the larger items can usually be stored or frozen (here’s how).
Benefit : as well as being slightly cheaper than a regular trip to the supermarket, there’s much more reason to eat the right things if you’ve already paid for them.
Plan your meals
This may sound a little unnecessary, but it really does help : plan your meals in advance. This can be as general or as specific as you like; as long as you include the main items. How far in advance? In my case, it’s about a week. This gives me plenty of time to stock up on the major items.
Benefit : a meal plan makes shopping a breeze, and helps to establish an overall idea of your diet.
Keep track of what you eat
As important as meal plans are, it’s also critical to keep track of what you actually eat. It’s one thing to say ‘I’m going to have fish for dinner on Friday‘, but if you end up watching the game with your friends and eating nothing but nuts from the local bar; you’ll want to note that somewhere. That ‘somewhere‘ could be one of the many online food trackers. These not only keep a record of what you eat, they calculate the number of calories you consume; giving you a regular idea of how you’re doing overall. It makes a big difference.
Benefit : online trackers give you a quick ‘calories in vs calories out‘ figure each day. It’s the simplest way to see how you’re doing overall.
Cut back, rather than cutting out
As a former alcoholic, I’ve got an idea of how tough it can be to give up something you love. It’s much easier - and much more effective in the long term - to simply cut back a bit. There’s another component to this : the idea that if you’re only going to have something occasionally, that it might as well be high quality. Rather than living on frozen pizzas, make a reservation with a local Italian restaurant once a month.
Benefit : there’s a big difference between telling yourself ‘never again‘ and saying ‘not for another 30 days‘. Additionally, your social life remains intact. Especially if you like pizza.
Final Thought on Planning for Kitchen Success
There’s a lot of work involved in transforming your body, no matter whether you’re aiming to lose weight, bulk up or just do a little fine-tuning. A bit of planning can make an enormous difference. If you enjoyed this article please vote for it on Diggand Stumble Upon. Thanks :).
Scott Bird is a writer and fitness enthusiast based in sunny Sydney, Australia. When not wandering around second-hand book stores, he can usually be found over at his strength-training site, Straight to the Bar.
Learn how I found happiness and meaning and how you can too. Get your FREE copy of my e-book by signing up.
14 Comments
August 28th, 2008 at 6:27 am
Hey! great post I think this will help a load of people…some great tips, but I wouldn’t get too caught up monitoring exactly what you ate its a path to mental destruction!
Chris - Zen to Fitnesss last blog post..Why Fat Burners are Bad News
[Reply]
August 28th, 2008 at 7:09 am
I like the idea of planning meals for the entire week. It makes things more of a breeze. The weeks that I do not plan - I end up feeling more stressed when it is time to decide what to eat for the coming meal.
Evelyn Lims last blog post..Planet Of Dreams
[Reply]
August 28th, 2008 at 8:48 am
I love these ideas although completely cleaning the cupboards to start was exhausting just read about.
I have had success with planning my meals. When my 4 children were young I’d cook on Sundays for the whole week. It saved time and we ate healthier meals. I recently resumed doing this on occasion for myself. Even cutting up my fruit ahead of time ensures that I’ll eat more of it.
When I don’t plan meals, I end up eating crazy combinations just to quiet my hunger.
Flora Morris Brown, Ph.D.s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday
[Reply]
August 28th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
It’s really hard to get eating right. I have this idea that years and years ago, anything you ate was OK because there were no additives, no msg or refined products. Now you have t go out of your way to find healthy food. What a hassle.
[Reply]
August 29th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
When you actually track what you eat, you will be more than pleasantly surprised or should I say shocked at a how much you have eaten. However, I find tracking food so tedious and one of the reasons diets fail. I would do it for a week and post it up as a reminder of what not to do.
-Tabs
Tabs at Levnows last blog post..Take a Personal Inventory of Your Life - Science of Getting Rich Levnow Series
[Reply]
August 30th, 2008 at 9:19 am
All excellent advice, thanks Scott!
And although I agree with Tabs that food tracking can be a pain, I’ve found it well worth the time/effort — I lost 50 lbs by keeping a food diary.
Alis last blog post..Listening to your body – exercise
[Reply]
August 30th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Very solid advice Scott.
Planning our meals in advance has been very helpful to Kathryn and I. We used to go to the supermarket with no idea of what we wanted. Now we usually make a meal plan on Sunday for the week ahead and use this plan to help create a shopping list.
[Reply]
August 30th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
I agree with you completely. Make dieting virtually “idiot” proof because the more you have to think about it, the harder it is and the greater the chance you will fail.
Of particular use to me in the past was planning (and preparing) meals in advance. Often when we are starving hungry it is when we reach for cookies or chips or some other quick snack. By having a delicious salad or other meal ready and to hand at any time, you greatly reduce that impluse and do better on your diet.
Nice article.
Get Rid Of Man Boobss last blog post..Diet To Get Rid Of Man Boobs
[Reply]
August 31st, 2008 at 1:56 am
Hi Scott - These are great tips. When I don’t buy in bulk and plan ahead, that’s when things go drastically wrong and we find ourselves not eating so healthy.
Often, when we were working late, we used to buy a lot of ready made meals. But they really don’t save you so much time at all and they’re far less tasty and healthy than the things you make yourself.
[Reply]
September 1st, 2008 at 7:03 am
Another excellent post. Living on my own now I have to take much more care of my diet so thanks for this
Cheers,
Glen
Glen Allsopps last blog post..The Power of an Abundance Mindset
[Reply]
September 4th, 2008 at 6:55 am
Thanks for this post. As a college student it is easy to lose track of the importance of proper nutrition and eating hacks. Time becomes a scarce resource and sometimes expensive restaurant food beats cooking. It is important to stay grounded and care for our diet.
Ibrahim | ZenCollegeLife.coms last blog post..30-Day Self Mastery Challenge
[Reply]
October 1st, 2008 at 8:49 am
Hey that’s some great advice but some of it is a little idealistic. It’s all very well recommending clearing out the cupboards but you have to have the self-discipline not to refill them with junk when you go out shopping again. Actually on the shopping front I would recommend never shopping when you’re hungry! I have found I always make bad decisions when I’m strolling around a supermarket with a rumbling tummy!
Still, a great article which I enjoyed reading. Thank you Scott.
[Reply]
October 10th, 2008 at 7:48 am
You know the greatest men have always planned and it is a way to success.
We sleep dream and worship food so much is why we do not plan, people love to eat and having a plan can be a great way to keep it in moderation.
Nick Savages last blog post..
[Reply]
March 14th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
This is great post,I’m surely bookmark this page and keep reading every post you made, thx!
[Reply]
Share your thoughts, leave a comment!