The best weight-loss plan for busy women: If I had a penny for every time someone said to me, ‘I don’t have time to do X/Y/Z,’ I would be a very wealthy man right now!

The reality is that everyone has the same amount of time available each week: 168 hours.
It has nothing to do with a lack of time; it’s about how we use the time we have and getting those priorities in order.

How many people do you know whohave said they can’t pick up their kids from school because they didn’t have time? Or not gone shopping that week and left the cupboards bare for the whole family?

It simply doesn’t happen, as these were among their top priorities that day.

If we assign your nutrition the same ‘high priority’ status, you will ensure that, day in and day out, you consume the foods your body needs to stay happy and healthy and meet your body composition goals.

Win, win.

BUT…

This is often easier said than done.

One of the key ingredients missing from people’s success with nutrition is a solid plan.

Even people who create a plan and stick to only 75% of it still have far more success than those with no plan at all.

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There are 2 ways you can approach your nutrition:

  1. Making decisions in advance
  2. Making decisions on impulse at that very moment

Number 1 ensures that you THINK about your goals and plan everything around your success, body-composition-wise. If I plan my intake tomorrow, I will aim to get my calories, protein, fibre, and hydration in as well as I can.

If I choose option 2, I’m committing to making decisions based on how I feel at that time. When I’m hungry, I will always FEEL like having pizza, or p fry-u t’s okay, I’m okayay,uman being, andthat’ss normal when hungry.

But this obviously won’t work in my favour.

Even if you plan,,youu can factor in treats now and again, too! But with planned treats, you know exactly where you stand and that it won’t affect your results.

Having treats ‘when you fancy it’ will make this weight-loss journey much harder for you. (the single thing we DON’T want to happen)

So, here is a step-by-step process for setting up your week for success:

(MAKE A NOTE OF THIS PLANNING PROCESS, YOU WILL WIN EVERY WEEK IF YOU IMPLEMENT THIS FROM HERE ONWARDS!)

STEP 1: Total Calories

No matter what you eat, whether it’s poor quality or great quality, the calorie deficit is the number 1 factor that contributes to weight loss (Calorie deficit) or weight gain (Calorie surplus).

MyFitnessPal (a free mobile app) is a useful tool for estimating the number of calories needed to lose 1-2lb per week.

Let’s say you have 1400 Calories available each day to lose 2lb per week. On days you exercise, you must also aim to consume the extra calories you expend. If you burn 500 Calories, you need to consume 1,900 calories that day. (Extra food! Winning!)

Depending on which method you think will work for you, you could consume 1200 Cals per day Monday to Friday and ‘bank’ 200 Cals per day to save up for the weekend. This way, you’ll have an extra 1000 Cals over the weekend, and STILL have the same calorie deficit if the weekends are an issue for you in any way. (I suggest this!)

STEP 2: Total Protein

The scale we can use to establish your daily protein intake is as follows:

Between 1 and 1.7 multiplied by your body weight in kg.

If you are someone who takes it pretty easy, no massively intense sessions regularly, you may use 1.1 OR 1.2.

If you are training like a semi-pro athlete, 5/6/7+ times a week, you may use 1.6/1.7 as the target.

So, for example:

Let’s say you were 80 kg and taking it seriously, but not like an athlete or anything extreme.

Let’s use 1.4…

80 (kg) x 1.4 (protein) = 112g protein per day.

Make sense?

STEP 3: 5 A DAY MINIMUM. Your plan should include all essential vitamins and minerals throughout the day. Start with protein and aim for 5 servings per day immediately after each meal.

Prioritise Vegetables over fruit, as the additional sugars can quickly add up. A simple rule I usually follow is 1 portion of fruit on a non-training day and 2x on a training day, if you like.

Remember,r it must be AT LEAST 5 A DAY.

A variety of colours is the best way to increase the variety of vitamins and minerals.

STEP 4: Hydration

This is probably one of the most overlooked areas of our health.

If you struggle to drink water, you’ve got the EASIEST method to help you increase your water intake.

Fill up a water bottle for the day. Then, you will use 3 to 5 elastic bands to wrap around the water bottle.

That will indicate how many bottles of water you need to drink. As you finish your bottle, remove one elastic band and refill the bottle.

This is the easiest way to track your hydration and stay reminded to drink.

2-3L per day min, more on training days and hot/humid days.

STEP 5: Budget for Treats and Delicious Things (My favourite part!)

If you actively allow yourself to have the odd treat and account for this calorie-wise and ensure all of the previous steps are ticked – YOU ARE WINNING!
Treats can help you stay on track with your nutrition, so you don’t feel like you’re ‘dieting’ or cutting out your favourite foods.

You need to be consuming at least 80% of your nutrition from nutrient-dense sources. So if your intakes were recommended as 1400 Cals, for example, this = 9800 Cals per week,

so 20% of 9800 = 1960 Cals max allowance for treats.

Simple!

I hopethis provides a clear blueprint to follow when planning your nutrition each week.

A few important points:

  • I like to sit down on a Sunday and plan everything out, including working around any social events I know will be coming up in the following week and getting the buffering system in place if necessary.
  • With regards to the amounts of fats and carbs, this has next to NO IMPACT on your weight loss, so providing you stay within the total calories and have the correct amounts of protein… the carbs and fats can fluctuate. Some people respond better to higher-carb, lower-fat diets, and vice versa. This is really a personal thing you need to experiment with.
  • The foods you consume can be almost anything. Providing you stick to the framework described above, your intakes can be as ‘chef-y’ or as plain and simple as you like. The key is to find what works for you, another reason not to be looking over at someone else’s meals, but focus on you!

If you like being rigid, that’s great, get every meal set up:

MONDAY BREAKFAST = X.
MONDAY LUNCH =Y
MONDAY DINNER = Z

and so on…

If you prefer flexibility, make a list of 7x Breakfasts, Lunches, Evening Meals, and Snacks (if applicable) and choose what you fancy each day. This will still work as planned by addressing each point on the list above.

Enjoy that?

I hope it helped you!

Written by Ricky Ormsby