Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail!

I'm going to make this a quick one because I think the point has been beat into everybody by now.

We all know what we are SUPPOSED to eat, right?

Likewise, we all know what we are NOT SUPPOSED to eat, right?

If that is the case, then why do we start to feel guilty every time we "cheat" on our diets?

Very simply put, it is because we do not prepare well enough ahead of time when it comes to our nutrition. We fail to plan and thus, we plan to fail.

You can throw every statistic in the world out there about how vital our nutrition is to our goals. Personally, I believe that it weights about 80% of whether or not we achieve those goals for a variety of reasons. Namely:

• Food is fuel, and if we do not fuel ourselves properly throughout the day, it triggers responses in our body that force us to make some not so wise choices towards the latter part of the day.
• The type of food we out into our body dictates whether we have enough energy for our workouts, or just to get through our day. We wouldn't put diesel in a Ferrari would we? (Hint: No.)
• There are varying schools of thought which say eat 5-6 small meals a day, and others that say that you should eat when your hungry. You have to try both and see which works for you and make it sustainable.
• We just don't plan.

I consider myself to have a very good diet. There are days however, when I do not plan to bring enough food to work with me. I find when I come home, I tend to feel lethargic and just want to put anything in. As such, I tend to look for the quick, easy fix, and that is when my own diet starts to take a dip.

Sound familiar?

Don't feel bad. It is perfectly normal. Everyone does it. The key factor here is that now we know that we need to plan out our meals for the day to ensure that we do not get caught in this "quick fix" trap. Figure out whether you need to plan the night before, or give yourself adequate time in the morning to get it done.

Try it for one week and see the results. Food affects our mood, our energy, our stress, our body composition and even the way we sleep. Taking a few minutes in our days to plan out our fueling strategy can and will make the difference between success and failure.