If you fail to plan... you know the rest

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. That is one of my favorite quotes and, in my current lifestyle, it is absolutely 100% true. I'm dieting down, so I'm obviously pretty hungry. I am not sure if I have a deeper relationship with food than the average person but I do know that if I don't eat exactly when I want to, it is not pretty. I can't concentrate, I get irritable and I will lash out at anyone who stands in the way of me and my meal! That being said, when I haven't properly planned my day and mealtime comes without a previously prepared meal, I will eat whatever I can find. This usually results in a binge. Realizing this cycle and putting an end to it has been my #1 priority through the past few weeks prepping for my show.

My most difficult test to date was a 5-day work related trip to Dallas a few weeks ago(week 1 of my diet). This is an annual out-of-town trip for my job so I had previous years experience with the constant fast food and client dinners that inevitably lead to weight gain. This time around, however, I wasn't only trying to avoid the weight gain but to kick off my weight loss so I knew it was going to take immense planning to stick to my nutrition plan.

At the suggestion of my nutritionist, I prepared meals and packed them into a cooler that I included with my luggage. As you could've guessed, this was searched by the FAA coming and going as I found their friendly little note tucked inside my suitcase. I wonder if they got a good laugh at my tupperware filled with chicken and veggies. This, for the most part, was my saving grace. When the food I packed had run out, I opted for the local grocery and for Pei Wei where I got steamed chicken and steamed veggies. I was the most high-maintenance employee that my boss probably ever had but it was worth it; at my 3 week appointment, I had dropped 4% body fat.

It doesn't matter how much of a pain it is to cook and pack all those homemade meals, when you see the scale go down, it is so worth it. I have learned to ignore all the crazy stares I get when I pull out my little packaged meals at work or in public- afterall, if we are measuring the harshness of our dietary habits to the general public, we are waaaaay off as the average diet is not a level of normalcy.

Keep up the good work everyone! Remember that the key to seeing changes is consistency, consistency, consistency. Real, lasting change happens slowly over time. It is those who want immediate results who will never maintain their physique.