The other day my husband bought chocolate covered donuts. They were not the fresh kind, but rather the kind you get in the supermarket.
The kind that I used to devour when I was 17.
He left them sitting on the counter in the kitchen for 2 days.
Every time I entered the room my eyes went to them.
And then a conversation ensued in my brain.
“Oh man, those look sooooo good!!” “Maybe I should have one.” “Yeah, but they’re probably not as good as they look.” “But it would be fun to just have one, just to see if they taste like I remember.” “Ehhhh, it’s probably not worth it.” And I would keep on walking.
What does this situation tell me?
First of all, it tells me that I don’t care that much about those donuts and I have sufficient motivation to NOT eat them.
It also tells me that I was being lazy in keeping up an environment that supports my intentions around food choices. I allowed myself to be tempted.
Luckily, the donuts weren’t THAT appealing. But what if they were? What if I was frustrated or tired? What if I didn’t care that much about my health? Well, the answer is clear. I would have eaten one or more of those darn donuts, maybe even the whole box!
This story really does get to the crux of the issue when it comes to weight loss.
Motivation, “training”, and setting up your environment properly are all essential for easy and sustainable weight loss.
Yes, there are many other factors but these three are the biggies. If you can set up your environment for success, you are “well-trained”, and you are sufficiently motivated to not indulge in food that will slow your progress then you have won 95% of the battle.
Once you understand each of these factors and you work WITH them most of the time. You will be working WITH your nature, rather than against it and your weight loss process will be much more successful and EASY.
I’m writing an entire book about these subjects so there is a lot to say and we’ll save that for another day.
But today I want to talk about setting up your environment for success. I want you to be the master of your universe. You can only do this if you are creating an environment that is set up to make it EASY for you to do the good stuff and HARD to do the bad stuff.
There are three phases to this:
- Environment Triage: Get all of the temptations out!! Set up your kitchen with healthy food and decent cooking equipment. Let everyone you live with know that the tempting foods need to be hidden or removed.
- Environment Planning: Be aware of what environmental factors trigger cravings. Make a list. Keep them out of the house! Find good substitutes and have them handy. Make a list of healthy, quick, easy, and appealing staples to have in your house. Check out this past blog post I did about setting up your kitchen.
- Maintenance: Do meal/shopping planning 1-3 times per week and make sure the good stuff is in your kitchen and accessible, and the bad stuff is OUT. Be sure to plan for planning. Build it into your schedule. Make sure you know what you are going to eat and when. EVERY WEEK! This is imperative.
We are all by-products of our environment. An environment that is filled with temptations and that is not set up for easy, quick, and satisfying meals and snacks, is COMPROMISING YOUR SUCCESS AND LEAVING YOU VULNERABLE.
Planning is key for setting up an environment for success. When you do this you are setting yourself up to make the right choices with as little pain as possible. Weight loss CAN be pleasurable and easy.
Working in my programs you will learn how to set up your environment for success, how to “train” yourself to want to make the right choices, and how to sustain your motivation.
If you are struggling with the weight loss process I invite you to join me on a complimentary strategy call. We will talk about your goals, your struggles, and what your next best steps should be.
