KHFP Week 15: Plan Your Healthy Day

Kandie’s Health & Fitness Project is about making small but significant healthy changes a little bit at a time. The project is meant to be especially beneficial for women over forty by incorporating healthy foods and exercises that address this age group and their special needs. Each week points out the benefits for adding these healthy foods. The descriptions are broad in nature, but if you look closely the descriptions point out benefits like helping with osteoporosis, increasing metabolism, boosting the immune system, and lists vitamins & minerals. All these things concern your health as you get older.

The corresponding information is just that, information for an individual to determine or realize how it can benefit his/her health situation. Some elements like the super foods have antibiotic properties, anti-inflammatory properties, and are effective as pain relievers. Also, things like switching to non-dairy products like soy has been found to better benefit women when it comes to weight loss. Eating more fruits, vegetables and whole grains are also known to help women approaching and going through menopause. Many books have surfaced regarding menopause and a woman’s eating habits, which they say can better alleviate the effects of menopause. Therefore, each one of this project’s healthy tweaks will benefit anyone, but it is tailored for women over forty and written from a woman over forty perspective.


The fitness project is past the half way mark and now is the time to start putting things together more cohesively. You need to be able to plan your day in advance in order to keep you on track. There are so many obstacles that can steer you away from eating healthy and exercising regularly. Some of these can be your food budget, your job, your family, your friends, stress, emergencies, your schedule etc. This week’s focus is to get you thinking ahead of time and preparing meals and snacks in advance. You can designate a specific day like Sunday to plan out your entire week. You can set aside a specific time of day to plan your meals and workouts. However you decide, just plan on making out your schedule. As the saying goes, “If you don’t have a plan, then plan to fail”.


Think about all the previous weeks' tweaks and determine which ones you need to do everyday. Some of them you can incorporate into your schedule 3-4 times a week instead of everyday. For instance, drinking 8 glasses of water a day, eating a hearty breakfast and eating an apple should be done everyday. Exercises like walking or weight training can be done every other day. Refer to the weekly checklist at the end of this post for the entire list.


Get organized so you can have a plan laid out in front of you that you can refer to throughout the day to keep you on track. When you put everything in writing it holds you accountable, kinda making sure you get it done. The reason why most people fail at weight loss is because they don’t have a plan. One of the reasons why weight loss programs like Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers or Nutri-System work is because they do all the work for you and put you on a plan. This is great because if you are very busy the meals are created for you. The one drawback is that once you are off the structured meal plan you tend to fall back into your old unstructured unhealthy bad eating habits.
 

You need to arrange your day according to your own needs. Make sure to jot down your work and family responsibilities first and then schedule your three meals and snacks. You can create your own daily spreadsheet or get a daily planner that you can carry with you for reference and reminders. You can search online for menu planners you can download for free to help get you started. It may start off kinda rough but once you get the hang of it, you can plan weekly meals and shopping lists. The more involved you are in the planning process, the more successful you will become. Make sure to keep your cupboards stocked with some basic staples to help with the planning process. This can be whole grain breads, cereals or crackers, whole grain flours for baking, whole grain pasta, nuts, seeds, olive oil, dried fruits, canned beans, canned fruits, and protein or energy bars. You can start planning your meals and shopping list based on the menus in KHFP Week 12 if you are unsure how to create a healthy meal.

 
I can not stress how important it is to plan your day. There has been a few weeks that I’ve found myself struggling to stay on track. But keeping a food dairy has actually helped me become more aware of what I have or have not been consuming. I have noticed how my belly is looking less bloated and my pants don’t feel as snug which means the inches are coming off, I just need to be more focused. By putting myself on an eating schedule, my body tells me when I should be eating. Typically, you should eat something every 3-4 hours while awake. Try not to eat a heavy meal 3 hours before bedtime. So, if your bedtime is 11pm then your dinner should be before 8pm.


Here is what your KHFP schedule might look like (not including work or family):

7:00am     Wake up, drink glass of water (1)
7:30am     Eat hearty breakfast, sprinkle some flax on it & take vitamins
9:30am     Drink glass of water (2)
10:00am   Eat an Apple
11:30am   Drink glass of water (3)
12:00pm  Toss up big salad, add a superfood, drink sparkling water or herbal ice tea
2:00pm    Drink glass of water (4)
3:30pm    Snack on handful of nuts or seeds
4:00pm    Drink glass of water (5)
5:30pm    Get Movin, or Pump It Up
6:30pm    Drink glass of water (6)
7:00pm    Eat dinner based on abs made in kitchen week 12
9:30pm    Drink glass of water (7)
10:00pm  Schedule your day, prepare tomorrow’s meals
11:00pm  Drink glass of water before bed (8)


By preparing your meals ahead of time you can shave off some time during your otherwise busy schedule. That is one less thing you have to stress about. Plus, when things don’t go according to plan you will at least still be on track for your meals. You can make sure you have a piece of fruit, some nuts, or a protein bar on hand to keep you from being tempted to swing through the drive thru. Keep some bottled water or sparkling water on hand as well. Another good way to trade up your drinks and stave off hunger is to keep some herbal tea packs on hand like green tea. You can also add honey or lemon to your water, sparkling water or green tea.


Remember that people are watching you and may not understand why you are so hell bent on eating healthy or why you are by passing on the chips & cookies. Subconsciously they will try and sabotage your efforts, they may mock you and taunt you. Just remember that you have a plan and stick to it. Once they begin to see how you look, act and feel they will ask what are you doing to lose weight because you look great. Tell them that you planned on losing weight and followed this awesome health and fitness project (smile).


　

Assignment
Determine if you want to plan your schedule weekly, daily or both. Invest in a good planner or create a daily schedule sheet you can fill in and carry with you. I’m a firm believer in setting routines or schedules. I try to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner around the same time everyday because it allows my body to get used to being fed so I won’t skip meals. Make yourself a basic template or checklist based on the weeks we’ve covered so far and then build from there. You can combine tweaks to create an awesome meal in order to get them all into your schedule.
You can download this very basic/generic printable weekly meal planner to enter your meals and use this basic template for scheduling meal times.

Basic Template:
Wake up, drink glass of water #1
Eat hearty breakfast
Put flax on it
Take vitamins
Drink glass of water #2
Eat an Apple
Drink glass of water #3
Lunch: Toss up a big salad
Eat a superfood
Trade Up Your drink
Trade Up Your Dairy
Drink glass of water #4
Go a little nuts
Drink glass of water #5
Get Movin, or Pump It Up
Drink glass of water #6
Dinner: abs made in kitchen
Drink glass of water #7
Snack: say no to your poison
Schedule your day, prepare tomorrow’s meals
Drink glass of water #8 before bed



　
Weekly Checklist
Drink 8 glasses of water every day
Eat a Hearty Healthy breakfast
Get movin’ by walking or aerobics
Eat an Apple or Pear everyday
Say no to your poison, ditch the junk food
Go a little nuts by eating a handful of nuts
Toss Up a Big Bowl of Salad
Take Your Vitamins
Pump It Up!!!
Trade Up Your Drinks
Sprinkle Some Flax on It
Abs are made in the kitchen
Trade Up Your Dairy
Grab a Superfood
Plan Your Healthy Day


 
References
“The Lean - A Revolutionary and Simple 30 Day Plan for Healthy, Lasting Weight Loss” by Kathy Freston

Picture Sources
Franklin Planner
Organized Pantry