I mentioned in my Whole30 post last week that being prepared is very important to have success on the program. As someone that has been meal prepping for years now, I have known how good of a tool preparing can be. Especially when trying to change your lifestyle. Not everybody is in the habit of doing so. I think I can offer up some advice to show just how important being prepared for the week ahead of you is.

The obvious place to start would be meal/food prep for your week. I personally prep my food on Sundays as I know many people do. Before I started Whole30 I really only prepped my lunches in advance and just had an idea of what breakfasts and dinner would be for the week. When I started Whole30 I realized with the schedule I am on I would need to prep other foods prior to the week as well. Trust me by the time I get home from work and the gym I certainly do not have the time or patience to roast sweet potatoes in the oven. I am making detailed meal plans for my next week as well as a grocery list of the ingredients I need to pick up. I've stopped at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's on my drive home from work on Fridays to get the food I need. I am cooking my lunches on Sundays and prepping what I need for my other meals during the week as well. If you keep yourself as organized as possible with food and as prepped as possible you are setting yourself up to meet your goals. I know I am more likely to stick to a healthy meal if it is readily available for me. 

As silly as this is going to sound I also keep myself on a schedule with my water consumption. I try to drink either a can of sparkling water or just a plain bottle of water during my drive to work. Then I try to drink two of my 20oz bottles at work before lunch. Another 20oz bottle should be done by my 3:00pm snack, and then one final 20oz bottle before I leave and head to the gym at 5:30pm. Luckily I have access to filtered water at work that I can just refill my bottle with. That certainly helps a lot. If you are someone that struggles to get your daily water in, I highly suggest coming up with a similar strategy.

Working out without a doubt should be planned ahead as well. I set out to go to the gym Monday thru Thursday. Sure, things come up and this isn't always the case, but the majority of the time I stick to this. I also plan out what I am going to do each day as well. Yes, I have had some help from my trainer with this. He has a structured workout plan for me that I can just follow. At this point it is just a habit for me to head right to the gym after work Monday thru Thursdays. I also make sure my gym bag is packed up with clean clothes and ready to go every night prior to working out. This way it is all ready to go and I can just grab it and leave in the morning. Trust me if you are anything like me you will not remember to pack it in the morning if you wait.

Overall I wanted to mention just how much you can set yourself up for success by planning ahead. If you dedicate one day to make sure you are ready for the coming week, you will absolutely thank yourself later! Everyone is different of course, but I know I am that much more likely to succeed if I do this. Sure it is a big chore at first, but I am to the point now where it is just party of my weekend routine. Sundays (with some exceptions) are the days I dedicate to meal prep and laundry and that in turn helps me face the week ahead. Well and blogging of course as you all know! I have my soup all ready to go for next week's lunches and my laundry is in the basket ready to go to the basement. Trust me I get that you are busy, but in the long run this is only going to make you less busy during the week.