Do You Know How to Ditch the Diet?

Planning for a Your Own Food Makeover.

I'm always hearing about Oprah's new workout plan or the latest star's healthy eating tips. And you can't help but notice the beautiful bodies that graze the covers of the magazines.

Yes, it would be easy to eat well and stay fit if we all had a personal nutritionist, chef, and personal trainer every day of our lives. Wouldn't it be great if someone else cut up all of your vegetables and all you had to do was cook and eat them?

Unfortunately most of us don't have a personal chef and trainer.

I've put together some great tips below on how you can eat well and stay fit.

1. If you skip breakfast: Are you that person that sleeps just a little bit later than you should? You hit the snooze three times instead of twice and then you wake up dashing all around your apartment trying to make up for lost time. You have the intention of eating breakfast but you end up running out the door empty-handed. Some days you are good and pick up something relatively healthy on the way into work. But other days, you just grab the leftover bagels or donuts that are sitting out in your office kitchen. You are too hungry to think of anything else.

Here is a way to save time, money and your expanding waist line :)

A little planning goes a long way for that morning rush. Stockpiling quick early morning foods can make the process a lot easier. Just grab and go as you are running out the door.

Here are a few examples:

A portable fruit such as an apple, pear or easy to peel orange (tangelo, Clementine) and a plain yogurt (I like FAGE Greek Yogurt).

Fruit and a portable low-fat cottage cheese container

A whole-wheat tortilla spread with natural almond butter

A hard boiled egg and whole grain crackers (add an apple if you are hungry)

2. If you decide that you are going to work out every day this week and then Thursday magically appears and you haven't worked out yet:

First, Forgive Yourself. Go over your week and look and see if there was actually time to work out in your week. Was it a crazy busy week, full of social plans or work obligations? If so, then cut yourself some slack and lose the guilt. You can only do so much in one day. And even if there was time to work out and you didn't go, there isn't much you can do about it now. Besides, you could use the energy that you spend feeling guilty or angry at yourself on much better things.

Next, Plan for Next Time and Be Realistic. Make a promise to yourself that the next week you are actually going to look at what is going on in your week and make time to exercise. Or decide that since you'll be planning for the upcoming sales meeting during the week, you'll work out on the weekend. Either way, make a promise to yourself that you can actually keep.

Finally, Salvage the Time You Have Now. Avoid failure paralysis, that feeling that since you haven't been able to work out all week, you can't work out now. You still have Thursday, Friday and the weekend. Remember, a little is better than nothing. And you are doing well, no matter what you do.

If you resonated with any of these situations, then you should definitely be on the call I am hosting July 26th, 2007. You'll hear simple suggestions that I know you'll be able to use in your own life and ask questions.