Yes, it’s been awhile since I posted. Sorry. Between my career, house chores, firehouse responsibilities, and just relaxing, blogging hasn’t been at the top of my list.

I started working on this post right after my first lessons learned, and given that I’ve been making some poor diet choices lately, I thought finally posting this would be a good kick in the pants for myself. Maybe it’ll help you too.

Meal Prep isn’t just for body builders

Do yourself a favor and cook your meals ahead of time. Like I mentioned in my last post, keeping appropriate foods (for Whole30, this means “approved”), on hand is a must. When you’re hungry or have somewhere to be, chances are the last thing you want to do is cook a meal. Not only does this give you a little more time back during the work week, but it helps you stay on track and focused.

A food scale is a must

Once you start counting calories, you’ll absolutely need a food scale. You may think you know what a 4 ounce serving of meat looks like, or what a 1 ounce serving of cashews look like but, you don’t.

You actually need to cook

Please, don’t think you can just order healthy items from the menu at Applebee’s or Chili’s and still lose weight. Can you make safe choices at some of these places or ask the chef to modify something? Sure, but that becomes annoying for you, your dining partners, and your waitstaff. I understand you can’t be a hermit and sometimes it’s unavoidable (hint: business travel), but don’t let it become a habit. Hell, even when I traveled to Las Vegas, I still made time to go to Whole Foods and pick up some fresh fruit, vegetables, and healthier prepared items so I wasn’t eating at buffets every day. This was my first stop. That, my friends, is dedication.

Set small goals

Losing weight isn’t easy – if it was, everyone would do it (or at least be successful). As such, along my journey I realized that small goals are easier to achieve, build motivation, and keep you focused. Whether your goal is to lose weight, run a faster mile, lift heavier weights, or whatever, smaller is better. Before I figured out what worked, I would always set lofty 50+ pound goals, which never worked. 1 or 2 pounds in comparison was a far cry away from 50 pounds, so it wasn’t very motivating. By setting a goal such as “I want to lose 5 pounds” or “I want to be under 250 pounds” (given that you currently weigh 255, or something close) will help you reach the goal faster, determine what works and what doesn’t, and then move on to what’s next. After you reach that goal, you can set another realistic goal, challenge yourself to lose a bit more than last time, or strive for another 5-10 pound loss.

Thanks again for reading, and I hope you found this helpful one way or another. Let me know your thoughts in the comments and feel free to share some of your “lessons learned”!

Until next time,

— Sean