Dieting with a Busy Schedule
When it comes to dieting many of us find that the number one hindrance to our success is the lack of time to prepare the proper meals and snacks for our dietary needs. It is often much more convenient to throw one thing in the crock pot for the family or resort to the fast food last resort rather than preparing the healthy and nutritious meal that we should be eating.
There are things you can do however that will reduce the temptation to hit the drive thru and keep you on course with your dieting needs. The first of these is a process known as once a week cooking. With this method you cook enough meals to last you a week on one day. This means that for every night of the week you have a diet friendly meal ready to go. If your entire family is dieting or eating healthier with you, this works for this situation as well. Dieting and incorporating healthier eating habits into the food for your entire family is a great way to set an example for your children will keeping you motivated and removing temptation.
With once a week cooking you freeze the food that won’t be immediately consumed and thaw it the morning you will be eating the food to cook when you arrive home after work or decide it is time for your evening meal. This is a process that works well no matter how many soccer games, dance practices, and band recitals you have on your calendar for the week. You can manage to stick to your diet while having a great meal for your family each and every night of the week.
You should also make sure to have a nice supply and cleaned and cut fruits, vegetables, and salad ingredients in your refrigerator in order to make these dishes readily assessable for quick lunches or snacks. Having these foods readily available will help you resist the temptation to snack on higher calorie prepackaged food while also helping to insure that you have a ready supply of fresh fruits and vegetables to help you get your 5 servings a day.
You should also keep some conveniently packaged yogurt on hand as a good quick and easy dairy product. Sugar free pudding cups are another decent snack for those who need something quick and easy to have on hand. Preparation and planning are essential to successfully meeting your weight loss goals. By preparing as much of the food as possible ahead of time you will never even miss the convenience of those high calorie pre packaged meals and snacks that so many of us survive on when not dieting.
Another time saver is to work your fitness opportunities into the course of your day. Rather than performing one lengthy workout each day, try to find methods of bringing a little fitness activity into the most mundane portions of your day (go stair climbing at lunch, park on the top level of the parking garage and walk down-then up when returning-the stairs), park far away from the door of the supermarket and see if your mall has a walking path that is clearly marked. You’ll be amazed at the hidden opportunities many of us have for exercising during our busy days. The trick is often in discovering the activities rather than the time.
When all is said and done, dieting doesn’t have to be as time consuming as you may think it is. There are all kinds of prepackaged plans for dieters however if that is the choice you feel is best for you. Whether you are going with Lean Cuisine meals, Weight Watchers frozen entrees, Jenny Craig, or the Slim Fast program there are all kinds of opportunities to work dieting and fitness into even the busiest of schedules. When planning your dieting practices be sure to consider the tips and advice mentioned above.
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I think you’re right on with a lot of this, but I don’t think, the prepackaged stuff is a very credible option for anyone who has good taste in food. Most of it is downright nasty compared to something made fresh and on the spot.
The homemade frozen stuff might be okay, but even it places a distant second to “cooked fresh”. It’s tolerable, though, unlike the frozen junk!
July 4th, 2008 | #
It is hard to find the time to eat healthy – it’s so much easier to go through the drive through with a hectic schedule – but it is worth it once you make the changes to your schedule!
July 5th, 2008 | #
a handy way of dieting when at work is to make sure you take fruit and water with you, it will make you not buy snacks and coke from the vending machines!
July 6th, 2008 | #
I agree with the comment above. It is important to take healthy things to work to snack on such as fruits and vegetables. I lot of people for get this, and thats when they start hitting up the vending machine as their last option.
July 18th, 2008 | #
Hear, hear for preparing meals ahead of time. I take one day a week to make a food plan and have healthy snacks prepared and ready for when I hit that “I’ve got to eat right now” moment!
September 2nd, 2008 | #
I agree with much of what you say, but not sure if many people could cook enough for a week and freeze the food and then use it each day. I can only cook two or three days ahead at most. I find that I or someone else ends up eating the food when we get home or at other times, but not at work! Yikes, that messes things up. One new technique for weight loss and many other ailments I just learned about is EFT (like accupuncture, accupressure and psychology combined at once that you do yourslef at no cost). Look on Google under that acronym and it will lead you to an interesting site – and no, I have nothing to do with it, but I am studying it and you will too – trust me. You can thank me later.
November 12th, 2008 | #
Eating right is so important and not having the time to make a proper lunch or dinner can defiantly effect how you feel and live. The first thing I do is never eat fast food then keep the fridge stocked with easy to eat veggies like carrots so when your hungry you don’t go strait to the chips just because “you don’t feel like cooking”.
November 15th, 2008 | #
Homeade fruit smoothies are the way to go. Healthy and they taste awesome!
November 19th, 2008 | #
I find that prepping food for the upcoming week helps me stick to a healthy meal plan while having a busy schedule. I have chosen Sunday as my “prep day” that I cut up all my veggies, bake all my chicken and prep all the other ingredients to allow me to save time later in the week when everything is going hectic.
January 6th, 2009 | #
Well it’s easy to cut up some veggies as a snack but yes meals are a different story. I’ve done week cooking but not really with healthy food because it doesn’t seem to last as long as say a greasy meat lasagna. But now that I think of it I could probably make a large healthy lasagna or something similar that would last a few days. HMM
January 9th, 2009 | #
Away from vending machine, I said. Agree with you and Pot Roast. Fruit, vegetable and waters will keep you away from vending machine. If you were not fruit or vegetable fans, I think pretzels or light popcorn are good option for snacks.
January 12th, 2009 | #
I could never find time to shop healthy..but I tried other method as hypnosis, and it helped reinforce my diet!
January 14th, 2009 | #
I find protein and fruit shakes are great for sticking on my diet when I’m busy at work, and I also keep sunflower seeds in my bag in case I’m tempted to buy a packet of chips.
January 16th, 2009 | #
We need more tasty options like subway. In my area there is nothing else that’s quick and healthy. You get burned out on sandwiches after a while though!
March 8th, 2009 | #
I always run into the problem of not being prepared with healthy foods and snacks and end up settling for fast food. I wish I could change my behavior
March 13th, 2009 | #
Very interesting post , I’m curious what your thoughts about these new miracle cures are. I know Oprah recently reviewed one with Dr Oz and they said it could increase your body’s metabolism enough to burn 700 calories per day.
What are your thoughts?
April 7th, 2009 | #
Hi Cindy,
I think the biggest problem with diets is the word itself! It almost implies that a diet is a “quick fix” or temporary solution.
People simply need to eat CLEANLY. Personally, if it doesn’t grow, walk, fly, or swim, it doesn’t go in my body.
There is a great book over on Amazon or Barnes & Noble called “the Abs Diet”, by David Zinczenko, editor for Men’s Health Magazine. I recommend it to everyone. Give it a read, and you’ll never look at nutrition the same again.
Paul
September 8th, 2009 | #