Effective training programs will work to change the shape of your body. You’ll have more energy when you’re fit, you’ll sleep better, clothes will look better on you and you just feel awesome knowing you can ask your body to do whatever you want, and it will be capable. Running with the kids, carrying heavy loads, gardening, playing sport, it all becomes easier or even just plain possible.

Losing body fat also requires that you clean up your nutrition. Following a healthy eating plan is a lot easier when you’re prepared and organised. Here are some ways to help you be prepared to eat healthy food all day every day.

Start the Sunday Night Ritual:

Integrate some time on Sundays to plan and prepare meals. Get your family involved in a fun way to help you prepare the meals for the week. Give everyone (kids and husbands) an appropriate job to help this get done more quickly. My family actually has all our week day evening meals planned 4 weeks ahead. On Sundays I look to the week ahead do 2 things. Firstly, make sure I have everything I need to make each meal. Secondly, what can I prepare ahead? Slow cook recipes, soups and some other dishes can be prepared and reheated on the day you plan to eat them. This saves me heaps and heaps of time during the week when I’m busy running my 5 children to their various sporting and other appointments. It means we eat a totally home made (not prepared, packaged or processed) meal every night of every week.

Boil a dozen eggs at a time and refrigerate.

Hard-boiled eggs will last at least five days in the fridge, and are a great compact snack. This is so, so handy. Hard boiled eggs can be added to salads, vegetable dishes, mashed or just eaten as they are. Combine with a carb source and some fats, and bingo, meal or snack made in a few minutes.
Cook lots of chicken breasts at a time. Grill, BBQ, bake or broil with your favorite seasonings. I often poach a few chicken breasts at a time. Simple simmer in stock or water with added herbs, spices or lemon. Don’t over cook and put into a covered container as soon as you get them out so they don’t dry out. Great for slicing over salad, or even having a portion as a snack. Keep 3–4 in the fridge, and individually freeze the rest. Take out a frozen breast the night before.

Chop up vegetables and store in individual containers.

Chop up whatever vegetables you like to eat raw. Keep in a covered container for best storage. You can eat them as is or cook them. Makes meal preparation on a day to day basis so much quicker

Make Soups from scratch

Make your favorite soup recipes and make enough soup for a week. Store 2–3 servings in the fridge. Put the rest in individual containers and store in the freezer. A couple of our favourites are lamb or chicken soup. I simmer chops, shanks or chicken on the bone in water till the meat is falling of the bone. Cool (for a few hours or overnight) and skim off some of the fat and remove bones. Chop veggies finely, all sorts and in huge amounts. Simmer till vegies are soft and eat. Yummo. Eat some now and take the rest in portions to work for lunch or snacks.  I have more soup recipes below.  Lots of different ones for all tastes.

Cook a huge amount of vegetable stir-fry.

Throw a bunch of vegetables into a wok and stir-fry with unlimited herbs and spices of your choice. Store in the fridge in individual containers, so they are ready to grab. Add your pre cooked chicken breast to it. Or eat cold with your hard boiled eggs diced through. This way,a meal or snack is almost ready without having to cook when you get home from work

Pick 1–3 recipes and cook ahead of time.

Using healthy balanced recipes, cook and freeze. Take out the meal in the morning, so it will be defrosted by dinnertime. Add a side of stir-fry or salad. As above, I do this a lot.  Most recipes will last a few days in the fridge.  So keep enough for  a couple of days fresh in there and freeze the rest (if there is any)

Portion out nuts/seeds.

Buy your favorite nuts/seeds in bulk and store in containers in the fridge. Portion out your weekly serving amounts into snack bags. This makes it really handy to grab and go. Always have one of these in your hand bag ready to go. Grab a piece of fruit or some cut up veggies and a hard boiled egg or precooked chicken and a complete meal, ready to go.

Create a standard grocery list.

We have a list of groceries stored on my computer that lists practically every single thing we buy at the supermarket.  Each week, I make a duplicate copy and take off stuff we don’t need.  I then add the fresh meat that I’ll need that week at the bottom.

This has prevents me from forgetting stuff when I do go shopping.  Saves me so much time both with planning my shopping but also with the actual shopping.  Less forgetfulness means less trips to the shops.

Eat the same lunches and snacks on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and then switch on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Planning to eat the same things on alternate days cuts down on the need to plan, grocery shop and prepare ahead of time. This way, you always know what you are having and can use the leftovers for lunches. Eating the same things can also stop you thinking about food all the time and make urges to eat unhealthy foods a less often occurrence.
I do most of these things most weeks. Its really not that hard to be organsied. So stop making excuses and get to it.