It’s hard to wake up one morning and be a completely different person. Yet that is exactly what we wonder if we set a New Years Resolution to lose weight and hope to start “Monday” doing it. everything Right. Depending on where you start from, that could mean a LOT of changes at once! Set yourself up for success by renewing your habits and rituals more gradually to make the change more manageable.

Manage your transition by looking at your diet and nutrition first, then exercise. You can’t exercise on a bad diet. If you are losing weight, 85% of your training will be in the kitchen.

Maybe you can relate to this: When I look at the new week-long meal plans, I think about having to make a shopping list, having to search for things in the store that I don’t normally buy, and having to follow recipes for every meal. It feels cumbersome and time consuming.

One strategy to eat healthier and lose weight is to control one meal at a time. Instead of planning each meal for every day for a week, focus on a breakfast routine, for example. Think about your schedule, time, likes / dislikes within the framework of your overall goal.

Let’s see what that thought process might look like. Let’s say your goal is to lose weight, and you’ve determined that you need to consume 1,500 calories a day. From there, you can divide your day into thirds: breakfast and morning snack, lunch and afternoon snack, and dinner and snack before bed. You can budget a third of your calories for each of these time periods. In other words, you have 500 calories for each one.

You can now tailor your meals to your needs within these parameters. How is your morning schedule? Are you an early riser with plenty of time to prepare breakfast? Or are you more likely to run out the door yelling “Oh no, I’m going to be late again?” What kind of foods do you like? Do you like to eat the same things over and over again or do you need more variety to be able to stick to something? If you’re a morning hunk who likes a consistent breakfast menu, maybe a shake or protein bar could work. If you are a slow-growing person who likes variety, you may like to start your day with a more gourmet approach and have several favorites in your repertoire.

The point is to learn to conquer breakfast. Get it right every day. Once your breakfast routine becomes second nature, tackle lunch. The same thought process applies. What are the circumstances surrounding your typical lunch? What do you like? What would work for you? Master it and then start dinner.

This is what we call transition. You don’t have to change everything overnight to start seeing results or to see BIG results. By adapting to new routines, changes are more manageable and sustainable. That is what we call lifestyle. See how easy was that?