Importance of daily routine for your long term success

What is this good for?

At first, it may seem a little silly. Importance of daily routine? What is it good for? I don’t want to have any must-dos in my life. I will do as I please. Well, partially you are right. We all like to have some kind of freedom.

But what I tell you is that a good daily routine can help you maintain your weight, reach your goals, and limit your cravings to the minimum. It sounds good, right?

Little helper

A good daily routine can be incredibly liberating. It can put things in perspective, you can focus on things that are way more important than looking for things to dress, thinking about what to have for breakfast, or if you should do some exercise or not today. All the things that are supposed to be an integral part of your lifestyle from now on can be put on autopilot and you don’t have to keep thinking about them anymore.

It is a mess…

I don’t have any routine at all, I do things as they come. I don’t even have a to-do list. If I remember things, I do them, if I feel like it. Does this sound familiar? Maybe yes. Worry not! You can also become a well-organized person and have things under control.

Omg, I will have to maintain some military-like routines, this is not for me, I simply can’t.

Your rules

First of all, no one will impose anything like this on you. You are the driver in the car of the story of your life. It is all up to you. Start somewhere and keep adding things. You will be surprised how many things you will be able soon able to do painlessly.

What do I mean by this? It is easy. Let’s start with something simple: I get up and I have coffee/tea/water. Can you do this? I think that you are very likely to do this already. Good, the first stepping stone is already there. Now what? How about dressing up a little? Staying in PJs all day might be cozy, but let’s keep it for special occasions only 😀

I get, up, I have my coffee, I get dressed. Here it requires a little organization beforehand. You will need clean clothes and you will have to be able to find them. So some basic organization of your closet would come in handy. But bit by bit.

Build it slowly

Can you see how things are starting to show up? If you keep going and adding things, you will be surprised how easy your mornings will become. No more rushing, frantically searching for things. I got to the point when I have my clothes prepared the night before. I have my gym clothes on the corner of my writing desk, so I have to do the exercise before I glue my (nonexistent) butt to the desk, because the clothes take up space there and I can’t move around. Easy way how to make myself do things in logical order.

Meal prep! YESSS!!!

What will I have for breakfast? It is up to you, but make sure you have all the things at hand, maybe even prepared in some container or frozen. You take them out, you eat them, and that’s it. No more staring into the fridge and wondering which food is yours and which is for your teenage kids.

If you prepare it, you know that you will eat what you should and you are way less likely to grab the first thing you see just because you don’t have time and you crave something that is in front of you. I have my shelf in the fridge and no one even thinks to touch my food. It is mine!

Preparing your meals in advance is a huge advantage you can do for yourself. I have my boxes and I fill them in every Friday. It is my grocery shopping day, so I buy what I will need, I make the required portions, put it all in boxes, and stuff it in the fridge/freezer. It is there, in quantities that are adequate for me and it is food that is good for me. No more thinking about the pizza that is three shelves below. It is not mine.

Building your agenda

I also have my agenda at hand, so I know what is waiting for me every day and every week. And I have some idea what I will have to do each month. No more surprises. I know that the next week my cat will have to go to the vet to get the vaccinations. I can plan and don’t keep it at the very last moment before they expire and I will have to torture my kitty boy with more needles than necessary. See, it is good for everyone.

Planning things may seem like a boring chore at first. But it is not. You may find it overwhelming at first. Again, start somewhere. Have some kind of system where you will start putting everything that you must do, where to be, what to pick up, who to drive where, and so on.

Every time you remember you have to do something, put it down and then find a reasonable time when to do it. You will see that things will become much easier.

First, you won’t forget things, second, you won’t have to keep thinking about them, third, you won’t be late. No more rushing, no more scares, things will start to order themselves much better. The big picture will be much clearer.

And my weight loss?

What does this have to do with my bariatric weight loss, you might ask. Actually, more than you think. Do you remember the times before? Why were you eating? How did it all feel? What was your life like? I think that is very different from now. It might have been a good chaos or completely empty. Black or white. Or maybe you were trying to juggle a million things and then crushed in front of the TV at night eating the whole fridge even with the cable to numb yourself.

Now, things are very different. You have meals to eat, liquids to drink, pills to take, and exercise to do. This is the bare bari-minimum. And you have family, your social life, you have your job, your medical appointments, your kids have school things, and your spouse might have also some things to do. And you have only 24 hours a day to do that all. If you don’t plan, somewhere it will start to suffer. It is inevitable.

Organize or lose the battle

I am convinced that it will be your exercising and your diet on the top positions of neglect. It is so easy to go back to what you already know. But these things led you directly to the weight you used to have. So if you don’t plan accordingly, you are very likely to be doing pretty soon what you shouldn’t and the weight you have just lost will start going up again. Nightmare.

That is why I am suggesting these routines. You can’t do it all. No one can. We might be super mamas, but are not Wonder Woman. We can do what is reasonable and technically possible. If we organize ourselves, plan things, we prepare ahead, things will be much easier for everyone. (I became a huge fan of cooking in batches. My partner has meals prepared for a week, maybe two ahead and I don’t have to spend hours in the kitchen every day.)

Find your way of doing this

No one is telling you that you must do things like this. Find some way of organizing things that suit your needs. Make a diagram, put things according to dates, write things in an exercise book, send yourself WhatsApp, who knows? There are so many things about organizing yourself and your things.

Explore, try something. If it doesn’t work, you can try something else. Just don’t sit there and scream that you don’t know what to do. Try something else. Make it tailor-made exactly to your needs. Eventually, you will find a way that is best for you.

And once you have it, stick to it no matter what. I admit, I was looking for months. But I found it eventually. And it is all made by me. I needed something very special and it was not on the market. So I did it myself. Now it is perfect. I don’t forget things, I have my routines, and I even have planned time for me only –  my door is closed, and whoever will open it will face a very angry Godzilla, so think twice 😂

You are the priority

Make yourself and your needs a priority. You can be available to people, but don’t forget that you are undergoing a huge transformation, that you are forming new habits, trying new foods, cooking new meals, you are doing your best exercising. It is a lot. Don’t be ashamed to tell them that you are tired, that you need rest or help. It is ok.

When things stabilize, and they will in time, you will thank yourself that you had this help that actually worked like a small daily and weekly guide for you. Wishing you good luck in your journey. Let me know how it is going 🙂