how much do you plan?
 

hello everyone!

im sitting down again to rededicate myself to this effort, and i find i have a powerful urge to buy a new spiral notebook and write out grocery lists and meal ideas and workout schemes and a goal calendar, etc...

does anybody else feel this as well?

does anybody else think its actually a barrier to your hard work?

i feel like i get all revved up to start anew, but those feelings dont last more than the hour or so im "planning" my weight loss.

maybe im just struggling to actually get going??

Planning is helpful, but try not to get so wrapped up in the planning that you never have time to actually do it! So plan, but also act.

I do that too. Big time when I first started. I'm SUCH a list person. I've tamed down now. I did find that I would play with my lists rather than actually do the workouts. I felt like it was a barrier.

However, it really helps to have a well thought-out plan. But dont overload yourself. Take it slow at first and make little lifestyle changes. Kinda sounds like I'm contradicting myself, I'm not. :) Just find a good balance for you right now.

Ah yes, the best laid plans and all that.

I find planning absolutely, positively ESSENTIAL to weight loss and now maintenance. I've said it a hundred times - eating healthy does NOT happen by chance - it's got to be thought out and PLANNED - in advance, AHEAD of time.

Once you get used to it and have some favorite healthy meals that you can repeat, it gets easier. You know what to shop for and what to have on hand. Don't forget to plan in snacks as well. Good healthy ones.

Good luck to you.

My goodness I think this is an EXCELLENT idea. I plan using the computer and an Excel spreadsheet, but then my friends know me as the Excel queen, so there's that. :)

I posted on another thread a link to my meal planning spreadsheet. I spend about an hour a week planning meals and I couldn't do it w/out my planning time.

Here's the link to my post on meal planning if you want to see the spreadsheet i use:
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/show...36&postcount=5

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I plan everything with my new spiral notebook. All my food plans, custom recipes and calorie counts, body measurements. I keep it with me during the day so I can jot down notes and feelings, idea's etc. It keeps me on the straight and narrow :)

Healthy eating doesn't just happen by itself. I need to do a lot of planning so i can make sure I always have good options to eat.
If you are hungry it is just too easy to make bad choices.
I also have to plan my day so I can have plenty of time to excercise. I need my sleep so I refuse to get up earlier for it.
Planning is not a bad thing. Just make sure you follow through.

I'm the same way.

I think it was in the book Body Clutter (one of the FlyLady books) where she says something about how each book you read and plan you adopt and list you make and menu you plan, etc. is only as good as your intentions. Most people who have been on a weight loss journey have a whole library of books and notebooks full of good intentions.

It made a lot of sense to me, as I tend to be the same way. I get stuck in the list-making, planning part.

Revved up is nice, but not necessary ;). You can still go ahead and start even though you don't feel revved up anymore. After a day or two, you start to feel so good about what you're doing, you'll be revved up again :). And then ... soon you'll feel unmotivated again. You just keep going anyway. You have to expect this.

I agree that some level of planning has been essential for me. I plan a few dinners ahead of time each week, but on a daily basis I often have my breakfast, possibly lunch, and usually dinner planned the night before. I find it's easier for me to stay on track that way.

I also kept a food and activity log for the first couple months of my weight loss. I'm not doing it as much now, but re-visit it if I think I need to. It not only is a way for me to see in black and white what I'm actually doing, but if I don't exercise I have to acknowledge my laziness by writing n/a in the appropriate spot on my sheet. Really helped to keep me motivated.

When I first started, I was the QUEEN of the spiral notebook...but I make lists for everything, even important conversations I want to have, so it was a no-brainer for weight loss. Now that I have been at it for a while, my planning has tamed down, but I do still use my notebook for recording my food each day. In the beginning, I found that planning REALLY thoroughly made me feel like I was getting "serious" and really working on my weight, and I think it helped me in those first few, hardest weeks while I built up the "habit" of exercise and eating right.

Oh, and the benefit to having an actuary for a husband is that he designed me my own custom computer program into which I enter each morning's weight, and it shows me my five day average, how closely I was following my goal "trend" line (This was when I was still losing...), and just plotted a graph with points on it showing my downward slope from the start of the process, or comparing different months, etc -- all kinds of fun and helped me really see the patterns -- like the week and a half of water retention during PMS or the fact that I also retain a couple of pounds of water around the time of ovulation -- just for a day or so. Who knew?

Planning is great!

I don't have a program, just a spreadsheet ... but I found the same thing ;)

I have never heard it mentioned before. People always talk about pre-menstrual water retention...but the ovulation thing was a total surprise...which I don't think I ever would have figured out without my handy little graphs. :)

Pre-menstrual was always my prime losing time. I'd lose every day for the week before. I wouldn't gain until after TOM started. Now that I'm losing ever so much more slowly, I'm starting to see just a touch of pre-menstrual gain (about a pound, maybe 1.5, during the preceding few days).

I use Master Cook and plan my meals for the upcoming week on Friday. Then I print out the grocery list and I ready for shopping. If I eat as planned, I don't have to do anything that day. If I don't, I go in and make the changes and a note on why I changed. I like using Master Cook because I can save the meals and go back and use them again and I can keep recipes and I have all the nutritional information.

Planning is definitely the key to weight loss and maintenance.