Life is all about priorities. We are faced with thousands of choices every day and it is those choices that prove where our priorities lie. For example: what did you choose to wear today? How many factors did you take into consideration before you chose your outfit today? 

Before choosing that outfit you most likely considered:

While it may have only taken you 10-20 seconds to make these decisions, they are all still elements that factored into the outfit you chose.

Even though it's obvious that we weigh all aspects of a large decision (new house, new car, etc.) we rarely give conscience credit to the more subtle decisions that face us on a daily basis. We don't look at the smaller choices in relation to their larger impact.

Back to the clothing example...It would take one small decision to choose to wear pajamas to work every day. But what is the larger impact to that decision? Looking at the big picture - what is it people would think of you? They may think that you are lazy, obstinate, or rebellious? It would likely change the way people act toward you or lead to write-ups or even the loss of your job. Small things really do add up to have a large impact.

Now, let’s apply this same concept to food. While it’s true that running out the door without grabbing anything for breakfast isn't going to be a life-threatening problem...how long before it becomes a habit? What does that habit then lead to? Do you end up grabbing the wrong snacks later because you are hungry and they are available? Or, without revving up your metabolism, do you skip meals for the rest of the work day and then over-eat in the evening?

Being prepared and then grabbing the right things to eat should become as habitual as picking out your wardrobe. While we never intend on eating wrong, we do tend to write eating off as one thing that isn't a necessary priority the way other things are. While we can’t avoid taking care of the kids, work, bills...etc, feeding ourselves properly is the one thing we can shrug off.  When we’re running late, eating is the one thing that you can avoid as in, “Oh, forget that, I’ll grab something later.” Even though we often have every intention of fixing these problems, (Ex: ‘Tomorrow I’ll be sure to get up earlier so I have time for breakfast.’) Tomorrow brings new challenges and often we make the same decisions we did today.

Think of skipping breakfast as if you were you saying: “Oh, forget getting dressed today. I’m in a rush and just don’t have time. I’ll wear my pajama’s today and try get a better head start so I can get dressed tomorrow.” Just the same way that intentionally or unintentionally wearing PJ’s to work over and over again can have big impact - so can making the same wrong food choices and eating decisions over and over again. Small decisions very quickly add up to big consequences and soon the scale and your motivation suffers.

Before you can pack your fridge, your lunch and finally your body with the right things, you must first change your priorities. Once you re-frame your mindset to accept that food choices are not the one place in the day where you can ‘drop the ball’ that will lead you to see where the true problems lie.... 

...For example: perhaps you are leaving too much for yourself to do in the morning and should pack up a breakfast or lunch for yourself in the evening. Remember, giving yourself a pass on making a healthy food choice is not truly the ‘indulgence’ or the ‘stress relief’ it seems to be at that moment...remind yourself how over time, these decisions lead you to feel guilty, unaccomplished and begin to affect the scale and your health.

Because you know that you always take care of the things in your life that are priorities, those bills, the kids, your job, no matter how much extra time one or another may demand each week - eating right isn't something you actually ‘can’t handle’; it’s simply something that needs to be added to the list of priorities so that you make the time for it.

If you can prioritize eating all of the small daily habits necessary for weight loss the same as you do showering, brushing your teeth and getting dressed, weight loss will become just as much of your daily successes as any other.  - Remember too, once you are eating properly, you feel that much better leaving you far more productive the rest of the day!

Above all, keep in mind: it’s not eating healthy or consistently that is hard - it’s revising your mindset and your priorities to remember that it’s something you want to do, something you need to do and something you CAN do!...It's learning how to stop running out the door in your pajamas!