Eating right takes planning. The mistake most of us make is that we don’t plan our nutrition in advance, we wait till we get extremely hungry, and we grab the first thing that we can find is usually fast food. It’s a recipe for disaster.

During your 10 minute planning session, you should also think about your nutrition for the upcoming week. This is crucial. We’re not talking about writing down exactly what you’ll eat and when (or weighing food and the rest of that foolishness). That’s all nonsense, and that type of severe restriction is a clear recipe for failure.

Instead, try to decide what strategies you can use to insure that you eat frequent, small meals (as opposed to gorging yourself at one or two meals per day) of nutrient dense food. Your goal is to compose your meals primarily of real food. In general, the more processed the food is the less you should have. Not sure if it’s processed? Well, if it grows or ever moved it’s a priority; if it’s found in a plastic package or a box, or worse yet a plastic package inside a box, it’s probably heavily processed.

Taking the time to plan ahead for your week also allows you to realistically determine trouble-spots and adjust accordingly. For instance, perhaps you have a social gathering scheduled for next Saturday, maybe a holiday party. Well, set aside this day as your cheat day or free day;a day when you can eat whatever you like.

Having one cheat day a, and as long as you’re eating healthy on the other six days, one cheat day won’t set you back at all (so long as you don’t go over board!). In fact, it’s good for your mental attitude and may help you stay on track better. It will also help your metabolism stay in check by "tricking" your body. The long run: you’ll burn more calories!

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