Living by the 80/20 Rule

Are you following a diet plan that requires you to drink 7 juices a day, and/or training with a trainer who doesn't let you eat carbs, socialize, or do anything you used to love doing?

Good news for you! Whether your goal is to cut for the summer, or to lose 20lbs, do you think it's sustainable to only drink juices for the rest of your life and not be able to have a drink with your friends on a patio on a nice hot summer day? I know I wouldn't be able to sustain that.

Let me introduce the 80/20 rule to you. This is the Pareto Principle that came from macroeconomics, and are often applied to business techniques, but really can be applied to any real life situation. You may think that pushing yourself 100% of the time is the only option when you've tried every diet and exercise plan out there and nothing has worked, and yes, losing weight and keeping that weight off will be something you'll have to work on for the rest of your life, but luckily, we only need to exercise hard and eat well 80% of the time, and the remainder 20% of the time we can enjoy the things we love- chips, chocolates, patio days, nights out, you name it!

In order to build sustainable habits:

• eat healthy 80% of the time

• eat foods that you enjoy 20% of the time

A lot of the times, people end up underestimate the unhealthy foods that they consume and over estimating the healthy foods they consume! So a great way to makes sure that you are accurate (until at least you get the hang of it) is to create a meal plan and try to stick to it as much as possible. This allows you to have an overview of what you're eating in a day or in a week, and I encourage you to schedule in your nights out as well, that way you can adjust your breakfast and lunch meals to cater to the extra carbs and calories you may consume in your night out. If you find that you have strayed away from your meal plan towards the end of the week, remember that things don't always go as planned! Just make sure you make an effort to get back on track the next day- don't wait until next week or next month!

If you're looking for a weekly meal plan template or guidance to get started, shoot me an email HERE and let's get you reaching your goals!

Thoughts or questions? Drop them below!