No time to cook or busy weekends holding you back?

Many people are short on time and so don't have the meals or snacks ready for when they need. People often have busy weekends and the change of routine throws them off, leading to feelings of frustration and discontent about their health and body confidence.

Today I'm going to give you one easy solution to manage this.

But first, what I think is the actual problem: the way people look at problems. Many people are too easily thwarted. Something changes and suddenly it's panic stations. They are flustered, flapping and it's too much to manage, so they give in.

This isn't actually their fault. You may know someone like this (or it might be you) and it isn't yours or their fault. But it is your/their responsibility to fix this.

No one is coming to save you and no top tip or tactic from me or anyone else you listen to is going to break the back of your problem and lead to everlasting happiness (sadly).

But changing how you think will.

If you can become more resilient to problems and panicked thoughts then you can recognise these issues for what they really are.

An inconvenience, but a problem that can be managed and navigated.

1 - If you can recognise when you are overreacting to a problem.
2 - Calm yourself down through grounding or deep breathing.
3 - Rationalise your thoughts by asking if this is the truth or your truth and looking for alternative viewpoints.
4 - And find a solution by having an open, can do approach.

Then you can be successful.

People want the result but they don't want the process.

The concern here is that your flapability will inhibit every area of your life. When it comes to health and weight loss this mindset will impact:

Meal prep, meal planning, what exercise you do, how often you exercise, how hard you exercise, the food you take to work, the food you eat in front of colleagues, friends, family, social occasions, communication, stress management, sleep, NEAT, on and on the list goes on.

And that's just the things that can impact your fat loss.

The way your mind works currently, if you are someone who struggles with time and weekends, will be inhibiting every conceivable area of your life in some way.

But you can change this. Look at the 4 numbered tactics above for where to start.

Putting this into action, me and Sustain coach Steve went to watch Italy vs Leicester in the rugby on Saturday in Leicester. I had to leave my house at 9am to get to Steve, drive to Leicester (well, he did), watch the rugby, drive back, then straight out to see some friends of mine in Leeds, play some pool and then head home at 10pm.

Phew! A tricky spot to navigate. So how did I do it?

I bought convenient nutritious food.

On the way down we stopped off at a Waitrose service station (subway, KFC, costa avoided) and got some couscous and 5 chicken thighs (minus the skin).

I then didn't eat and had a diet coke at the rugby. On the way home I bought some prawns, pulled ham and 2 veg and carbs pots (rice and avocado and couscous again) from an M&S services (Greggs, costa, Burger King avoided this time).

Then back in Leeds my friends ordered 4 pizzas and received 6 (mega temptation) but I just went hungry until it was time to go and I got 100g of ham from Tesco.

I left the house with nothing and picked up food on the way for 13 hours. I could have also bought all of this ahead of time and had it in a cool bag if I had seen fit.

The moral of the story is that people's approach to problems is what needs addressing, people need to work on the process that leads to a solution.

Rather than looking for solutions to specific problems. When we do this we miss the root of the problem which inevitably springs back up and throws us off track when we aren't expecting it.

If you can apply these principles then you give yourself every chance of gradually improving until you are consistent.

The final addition is perseverance. I have been an online coach for 7 years and before that a personal trainer for 4 years. One of the biggest issues people have is they give in or believe this is how it's meant to be.

Another good example of the way you approach problems being the issue!

If you'd like to chat about where you are at currently and how we can help, you can book in a 15 minute discovery call here: