Those are my top three ingredients to weight loss. The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that those three are at the core of my success.

Food Prep

I have to hand it to Sherry here; she is the force behind our food prep, and while I help her, she’s the mastermind. From making the plans for the menu, putting together the shopping list, shopping, and actually preparing and packaging the food is mostly all on her volition. I help at every stage: I help her decide what we’re going to eat, I go shopping with her, and I sous chef for her, but I let her do the packaging. I would put too much food into the containers; she helps me control my portion sizes.

The food prep allows us to have readily-available food for lunches daily as well as for dinners throughout the week. After a long day at work, sometimes the last thing we want to do is labor in the kitchen. The times when we come home hungry and are impatient are the most dangerous times for anyone trying to eat healthy food. It is at those times that the fast and easy options look best, but often these are the worst possible foods to eat. Fortunately for food prep, we have healthy options available to us at all times which means we never have to resort to eating fast food.

Perseverance

This encompasses many different things: sticking to a lifestyle/diet, being patient with the progress, trusting in the process, and putting in the requisite effort. Without perseverance, there really is nothing to do. Motivation, dedication, resisting temptation: these are all parts of perseverance. I have written about these things extensively in the past.

Sleep

This is the secret weapon to weight loss. I rarely see it mentioned as prominently as it should be. I rank it as an equal to diet and exercise. Without getting a solid night’s sleep, your body holds onto weight as a source of energy to use when you’re tired. Also, your body heals and processes while sleeping. When you short change your sleep, you short change your progress and miss out on making making the maximum progress.

Honorable mention: Sabotage

There is no such thing as cheat days. Get it out of your head now. It’s actually sabotage: destroying progress physically and mentally. Any progress you make in weight loss can be easily erased with one day of eating bad foods, and each time you cheat makes it easier to cheat again. My advice is just don’t do it. Don’t even allow it or plan for it. Avoid at all costs.