How to Prepare For Success

I've said it before and I'll say it a thousand times more: I really do believe that preparation is key to weight-loss/healthy lifestyle success. We live in a world laden with temptation and what's more, we are sociable creatures! There are going to be events that crop up that will disrupt the preferred order of things and without a plan, this can really throw you off-balance! Trust me! Today I want to talk to you about the best way to avoid these situations and share some of the extremely useful resources I use to help plan my week!

Planning: Where to Start?

First off, your key resource is going to be a calendar/journal or anywhere where you can record and WRITE DOWN your plan! If it's written down you're more likely to stick to it; trust me, it's scientifically proven! Personally, I love the iCal system on Mac's, iPhone's, iPad's - you get the gist. What I love most about it is that you are able to colour-code different categories (such as meals/workouts/work/classes etc.) and that it can be synced (is that even a word?) across all of your different Apple devices using iCloud - now for me this is perfect! I can enter my shifts at work on my phone on-the-go and then when I'm planning my fitness week at home on my laptop - I can see on the screen when I'm going to be working. It's the little things like that that will really help.

Here is a screen-grab of my calendar for the upcoming week. Uni related entries are orange, Fitness entries are purple, work is green and personal life is blue! So far as the colour coding goes, it helps me to see how I'm dividing up my time and it makes it a lot easier to see where I need to be and when! And it looks prettier and who doesn't love pretty looking things!

In as far as putting my workouts in to my calendar goes, I find that if you schedule your workouts like appointments - you are MUCH more likely to stick to them! This definitely works for me. You'll see that the majority of my workouts are planned for the afternoon or evening. This is just a personal preference in that I like to prioritise school work. So every white space you see from Monday-Friday is taken up with school work! If I get that done earlier in the day I have a guilt-free workout because I don't feel as if I should be doing something else!

Planning: Nutrition

It goes without saying that it is highly beneficial to plan your meals out in advance - I'm talking on a weekly basis. Not only does this save time in the week but it can also be a lot more cost-effective! Furthermore, who wants to visit the store more than they have to?! I realise not everybody will be the same but for me, my M1-M4's (if you're on the Tone It Up nutrition plan like me!) rarely change so I can pretty much guarantee the majority of my groceries will be the same week in, week out. That part is easy. Now when it comes to M5 it really helps for me to plan out in advance what I'm going to eat. That way, I can do all of the shopping in one go, collate all of the recipes into one place if need be and get any preparation that I can done. 

I've been following TIU Nutrition Plan for 3 years!

What's more, going back to a point I made earlier, if it's written down in advance and the ingredients have already been bought for my lean clean and green meal, I'm much less likely to derogate from the plan! Meaning I am much more likely to eat healthily if I plan in advance. It can be as simple as folding a page over in a recipe book but so long as somewhere I have a record of what I'm going to eat and when - I can ensure I choose healthier options.

Now I know things don't always go to plan - how many times have you spontaneously been invited out for dinner? That's ok too! More often than not restaurants (especially larger chains) will have published their menu's online so you can check them out beforehand and choose an option that is in line with your goals - I can thoroughly recommend doing this! 

Planning: Workouts

There are millions of resources out there to give you inspiration for your workouts. Be it magazine articles, DVD's, YouTube videos, Pinterest - the resources are all out there, you just have to access them!

My typical workout week runs from Monday-Friday as I'm heavily active on my feet at work over the weekend in a store. So I like to plan my week as follows; on average I split my time pretty evenly with normally 45 minutes of both toning and cardio

My cardio routine varies from day to day in that I will use different machines or I'll run. For my toning routine I will follow the Tone It Up workouts and/or the machines in the gym. I like having this plan as it allows for focus rather than uncertainty! 

Some of the resources that have become invaluable to me are; 

• The Tone It Up Weekly Schedule
• The lovely girls at Tone It Up post a workout for every day of the week online! The post goes up on a Sunday and it is fabulous for those days when you're lacking inspiration
• Tone It Up Printables
• With each new workout, TIU produce a PDF printable. I never print them - but every single one the girls have ever made is in the iBooks app on my iPhone. This is absolutely BEYOND perfect for the gym. Getting the PDF's on your phone couldn't be easier - see this post for instructions on how to do it!
• The Beach Babe DVD's/YouTube videos
• Again, another Tone It Up product but one that it so fab, I couldn't not mention it! For those days when you're running short on time, or where you want a more structured toning workout, follow along videos are well worth the investment. I like the Beach Babe DVD's (1 + 2) particularly for the targeted workouts; both DVD's feature Ab, Arm and Booty workouts all under 20 minutes. 
• The New Tone It Up Website
• The TIU website has recently had a complete redesign and has workout playlists depending on the area you want to target - this is great for when you've got more time and access to a computer
• Calendars
• Both the Blogilates and Tone It Up monthly calendars are really great motivational tools to make sure you get those workouts in! 

All of these resources are really great for helping you plan a workout and I hate to repeat myself but writing things down REALLY helps! If you've got a set workout ready to do, you're going to be much more productive than if you're not really sure what you're going to do! Time well spent if you ask me :)

There you have it! Those are my top tips for planning a successful week! 

I hope they help! 

All my love,

Georgie