Of course you know the old joke of the tourist who asks the musician how to get to Carnegie Hall. The musician replies, “Practice, practice, practice!” For the musician, preparation is key.  The same thing is true of your own personal Carnegie Hall, whether that’s losing weight, feeling better, or being healthier – prepare, prepare, prepare!

Yesterday, I shared some veggie photos and some of the habits that helped me be successful losing 94 pounds two years ago. Like I do, I got lazy, though, and strayed from those habits. As a result, I’ve gained a little bit of weight – around seven pounds – and I feel a lot more “gummed up.”

Now, if you’re anything like I was at the start of my personal journey, you just read “seven pounds” and said, “girl, pleeze!” Here’s an interesting thing I discovered on the healthier end of the weight scale and on the smaller end of the clothing scale: smaller numbers matter. When I was a size 20, I could gain seven pounds and barely feel it. My clothes still fit and I didn’t feel any worse than before since I already felt pretty crappy. At a size six, seven pounds make an enormous difference. Those pounds put me into an eight or even a ten for some items. And I feel every single pound. I feel bloated, puffy, uncomfortable, and, yes, fat.

That’s another thing, whether it’s seven ounces, seven pounds, or seventy pounds – when you feel fat, you feel fat. The feeling is exactly the same. That was truly a surprise for me.

Anyway, back to my point: the biggest habit to develop for yourself is to prepare. If I have peppers, tomatoes, and squash already cut up sitting there, I’m more likely to reach for them when I want something to go in my hummus; thus, I’m more likely to eat both the veggies and the hummus than I am to run to the store for chips. If I already have peppers and onions sautéed, I’m more likely to eat that roasted Portobello or that grilled, lean chicken breast – both of which are also already prepared. Those are at the ready and just need to be heated; so, why make the trek to Wendy’s? No need.

As a culture, we are all about easy and quick. Well, I’m sorry to break it to you, but eating right isn’t really all that easy or quick. However, it can be easier. It can be quicker. When we take a few hours, one day a week to plan and do some basic prep work for our meals for the whole week, we give ourselves a much greater chance of success.

You’re too busy? It costs too much?

What? You’re not worth the investment of a few hours of your own time? So fast food, diabetes and illness are less expensive than eating healthfully?

Girl, pleeze!