PLANNING & PREPARATON IS THE KEY

I'm going to tell you a secret about weight loss.   No, I haven't perfected it but I know it will help determine your success or lack of success.   At least it does for me. 

You have to plan your food.  That's right!  You can't just wait till you are hungry to decide what to eat.  If you do, the chances are you will grab an unhealthy snack, go to a fast food place or eat more than you should.

Plan your meals for a week.

Make a grocery list around those meals.

Choose a day or an evening and prepare your breakfasts and your lunches for the week, especially  if you work.

Keep a drawer in your fridge that is just for your foods.  Let the kids and family have the rest of the fridge but that one drawer is YOURS!

Keep your fruits and cut up veggies there.  Have some extra protein servings there.  When you are hungry, go to your drawer.

When I don't plan that is when I fall off my food plan.

Now, I know a lot of people losing weight want everyone to think that everything is hunky dorey every day.  IT ISN'T!!  Yes there are times we eat unhealthy.  Yes, there are times we overeat.  Yes, we even gain a few pounds.  But we keep getting back on track instead of giving up. 

I don't know anyone who doesn't mess up while losing weight.  No one.  If they don't admit it, well, they are in denial.  lol

That is why you need to plan.  Planning is the key to staying on your food plan!

As long as I have food for making my meals, prepare some of my meals for the entire work week and have my drawer stocked, I will stay on plan.  If I don't, I'm likely to be eating something that is unhealthy for me.   And for me that is carbs.  Lots and lots of carbs.  

My weight loss stops.  My blood sugar rises.   I get fatigued.  I have no energy.

That 2 hours a week planning and preparing makes it so much easier.  I don't think about what I'm going to eat.  It's already determined.

So, now you know.  Planning and preparation is the key.  Give up a couple of hours of TV or internet or playing games.  Your body will thank you.  You'll feel better and you'll lose weight. 

It works for me!

copyrighted 2015

caryn cannatella

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2014 - WHAT A BLESSED YEAR

2014 - WHAT A BLESSED YEAR!

What a blessed year 2014 was for me.  My kids, Ashlie and Cody are both doing great!  They are really becoming grown-ups!  I look at them and remember where I was at their age and I'm just amazed by their progress!  They are doing great.

I paid my house off this year.  Yippee!  What a feeling of freedom!  I upgraded my car from a 2006 to a 2011 with very few miles.  And I was able to do it with cash.  Yeah baby! 

I will be completely debt free in 4 weeks.  I have the money to pay off my last two bills but I want to pump up that emergency fund a little more. 

I was able to reduce my work week from 5 days a week to 3 days a week.  And I'm not even 62 yet!  My golden years are financially secure even if I live 25 more years (Ok, The Buddhist monk says I have 29 more!).

I've continued to lose weight this year with Skinny Fiber.  I started jogging and completed my first 5K.  More weight loss and jogging in 2015 with yoga added.

I have good friends who are my family.  I have kids I love and adore.   I love them with all my heart.  Everyone is healthy and doing well.

Here are some things I tell my kids that I have learned:

Pay God first.

Pay yourself next.

Live below your means.

Save money for your future.  In your 20's, 30's, 40's and even your 50's, you just don't believe that 60 is really coming.  It does and in your head you are yelling I'M ONLY 25!  Be prepared.

One of my mother's favorite sayings that i have passed on:  Live like you will die tomorrow.  Plan like you will live forever.  Wise words.

Now, I'm not saying that my life in 2014 was all balloons and flowers.  It wasn't.  There have been days and still are that were hard and filled with tears.  I just choose to focus on my blessings.  And my blessings are overflowing!  Every day.  Every week.  Every month.  Every year.

Decide to make changes in 2015 that will have positive effects on your life in the present and in the future.  A year from now you will be amazed how far you have come and how quickly it has gone by!

To all my Facebook friends, online and off, I am hoping for you that 2015 will be YOUR year! 

Happy New Year!  Make 2015 the ride of your life!  I plan to!

copyrighted 2014

caryn cannatella

Skinny Fiber Sales:  www.caryncann.com

A GOAL WITHOUT A PLAN IS JUST A WISH

A GOAL WITHOUT A PLAN IS JUST A WISH

Are you just wishing or do you really want to accomplish something?  If you have a goal, you have to have a plan on how to reach it.  Yes, you may stumble along the way, but then you just go back to the plan.

How many times do we all say things like, "I wish my house was paid off."  "I wish I weighed 100, 50, 25 pounds less."  "I wish I could go to college."  "I wish I had another job."  "I wish I could retire."  We all do it.  Wishing is like so many other things we do in our life.  It's a waste of our time.

Put that time to better use.  When you wish for something, decide if it is important enough to you to actually want to do it.  If it is, then set it as your goal.  Write it out!  And then set smaller goals to get you to that main goal.  It's difficult to set a goal that is in the future when you cannot see progress of smaller goals along the way.

Here is how I started saving over a decade ago.  I had no savings and had never saved a penny.  I wished I could save 10% of what I brought home.  One day I got a raise at work.  It was $6 a week.  My friend Debi said, "what are you gonna do with all that money?  But a dozen donuts?"  lol 

What I decided to do was save it.  And so I did.  Each week I would put that $6 in savings.  It grew slowly but for the first time in my life, I had a savings account.  Then I paid a credit card off.  I was paying the minimum plus the interest each month.  That gave me about $16 more each week.  I added that to the $6 and now I was saving $22 a week.

I now save more than 10% of my income.  It is a great feeling to look in my savings account and see money.  When an emergency comes up I no longer have to decide, "do I fix my car or do I pay my electric bill?" 

This process works for any goal.  I did the same procedure when I wanted to start tithing.  It worked when I started jogging.  All it takes is choosing a goal, writing it down with smaller goals, and then putting your plan in action.

Once you do that, your goal is no longer just a wish.  It's a plan that you can accomplish.

copyrighted 2014

caryn cannatella

Skinny Fiber Sales:  www.caryncann.com