One of the biggest challenge I hear from lots of people is that reach for the vending machine at work, because they have cravings throughout the day.

Generally this happens when you don’t plan your meal in advance. If you don't have a meal plan, you're likely to grab anything when hunger strikes and that will keep you from reaching your weight loss goals.
Planning meals in advance might be a pain, but it’s the only way to guarantee a successful weight loss journey, and later on, staying on the healthy lifestyle wagon.

Once a week, or twice a week have a look at your diary and plan your meals.
Do you have a lunch meeting ? Are you going out for dinner ?
Work around your diary and plan your meals accordingly.

if you're always planning to catch something when you get a chance, you have no way to know how much you should eat at any given meal. If you know you're going to have a large dinner at 7pm., it's easy to compensate by going light on lunch. But if you go out to lunch having no idea whether dinner is going to be a thick steak with mashed potatoes or a bag of crisps, how can you decide what kind of lunch is appropriate?

Make a shopping list for the week, and set some cooking time aside.

Make sure your kitchen cupboard is stocked up with the basic staples: olive oil, wholemeal pasta, tinned/chopped tomatoes, wholemeal couscous, wholemeal rice, lentils, different sort of beans, spices, etc

If you don’t have much time to cook, don’t worry, try and just make bigger portions and freeze in plastic containers.
So for instance, if you make a soup, take your biggest pot and freeze into individual portions.
Make a few different soups, and you can alternate soups whenever you feel like it. That way, you don’t have to eat the same soup every day for a whole week :-)

You can do the same with a stew and many other dishes. Prepare a big pot, and just freeze into individual portions.

That way, you can easily defrost whatever you want to eat the following day and take with you to work, or have ready for when you come home in the evening.

Plan your snacks ahead of time as well.

The main goal is to not let yourself be caught without nutritious food on hand. This one essential key will go a long way in helping you stay with your eating plan. The more prepared you are when you leave home each day, the less likely you are to stray from your diet and raid the vending machines.

If you need help with your nutrition, contact me to book your free consultation on 07880627944 or email me at anne@barnetpersonaltrainer.co.uk