Diets often fail due to lack of planning - you know the drill, you get hungry, and you eat the most conveniently found food, not necessarily the healthiest food for you. To achieve your weight loss goals, the cornerstone to every diet is a strong plan. Follow these 3 P's every Sunday to make the following week of eating healthy and best of all, easy.

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1. Plan Your Meals
   
   
   The most important part of weight loss or healthy eating is planning your meals. Cooking healthy meals on a daily basis is a great thing to be able to do but let's be realistic, with all the other stuff you've got going on in life, it's probably not going to happen. Be efficient with your time and save money by planning out a week of healthy eating on Sunday before hitting the grocery store.
   
   Keep portion sizes from one handful (1/3 cup) to half a cup and here are few other helpful reminders:
   • Lean protein (meat or fish): 1/2 cup
   • Complex carbs (ex: brown rice or sweet potatoes): 1/3 cup - 1/2 cup
   • Vegetables: 1/2 cup - 1 cup
   
   
   Plan on 5-6 small meals a day with the above portion sizes, excluding complex carbs from your last 2 meals. Stick to the portion sizes with the exception of vegetables - you can have more of these since they help you feel full without adding extraneous calories.
   
   
2. Prepare Your Meals In Bulk
   
   
   We all know the best way to purchase our food is in bulk as groceries tend to mark these prices down in order to move product faster. However, another thing to do in bulk that will save you time and money is cooking in bulk. You can actually cook a full week's worth of food in one day, with the exception of seafood or fish, which spoils in 3-4 days.
   
   Be mindful of portion sizes and grill or cook your food in a skillet, mitigating the use of too much butter or oil. One of the quickest, most efficient tools for the fit-minded eater is the George Foreman grill which can cook most foods in about five minutes. You may think you don't have time to cook "all that food" but it really should take only about an hour, if you've planned correctly. Be creative with your seasoning and marinades to add flavor but watch your salt intake - sea salt is the best option and use it sparingly.
   
   
3. Pack Accordingly
   
   
   After planning and preparing, we're finally at the last P: packing your newly cooked meals. Say it with us, Tupperware is a fit person's best friend! The best part is Tupperware or any form of reusable food container is they are available in all grocery stores and are very inexpensive. They come in different sizes and there are larger sizes with portioned off sections for your meals. For the most part, it is simplest if you eat the same things daily. It's fine to have healthy snacks in between if you must, but for packing stick with the same pattern. Pack six or seven Tupperware containers of Meal 1 and do the same with Meals 2-6 and label them as such so it helps you differentiate. This way, during the week you can just grab and go.