OH! Magazine - Australian Version September 2017 | Page 9

( Fitness & Motivation )
MICHELLE
BRIDGES
PORTIONS & PREP
FOR WEIGHT LOSS
Michelle Bridges shares her tips for
successful weight loss.
eople ask me all the time about
how to get the weight off, and also
once it’s off how to keep it from creeping
back on. My answer is that there’s no
magic secret; it’s nothing particularly
complex but rather just as the Scouts say:
‘be prepared’. So what does that actually
mean?
P
It means every week, you look ahead to
the following week and you prepare for it.
Look at what you have coming up, and
plan your exercise, meal preparation and
meal times around your commitments.
Then write your exercise, meal times and
meal prep (include your supermarket
shopping list as part of this) into your
schedule, and proceed to power through
them as they come up.
Scheduling in these commitments means
you know when and what is coming up,
and you can be prepared and organised to
action them. So, say you have parent/
teacher interviews on Tuesday night, plan
your supermarket shopping to be on the
Sunday before, and a big cook up on
Monday night that will cover off Tuesday
dinner as well. Book in your Tuesday
exercise during your lunch hour, and mark
in meal prep of bringing the ingredients
for a smoothie for lunch (post-exercise)
on Tuesday morning.
Part of being prepared, when it comes to
your eating, is also portion control. Eating
the house down because you haven’t
portioned out your meals, is costly both in
terms of calories and in terms of cash –
it’s expensive to eat the equivalent of
three meals of calories in one sitting! So
in order to make sure you stay in control
of your calories and your cashflow, employ
portion control.
YOU CAN CONTACT MICHELLE VIA:
Web: michellebridges.com.au
Facebook: Mishy.Bridges
Twitter: @mishbridges
Instagram: @mishbridges
When you are planning your meal prep,
you’re deciding if you’re cooking one meal
or multiple (e.g., if chicken mince is on
special at the supermarket, which you’ve
seen because part of your meal prep
planning is looking at what’s on special at
the supermarket and planning your meals
around that), buy in bulk and then cook
up either multiple recipes that have
chicken mince in them, or double/triple
batch a single chicken mince recipe.
Portion out your meals once they are
made, and put them straight into the
fridge and/or freezer so only your current
meal is ready to go.
Another aspect of portion control is to
help you make sure you’re taking in
enough of the good stuff, like water.
Getting yourself a water bottle that has
markers on it to show you how much
you’ve consumed and what good daily
goals are, gives you something to
measure, so you can manage your intake
and ensure you’re topped up. My 1L
Water Consumption Bottles are great for
this! In fact, my latest range of MB Active
kitchenware (available now exclusively in
store and online at BIG W) features
multiple drink bottles, portion control
containers and more to help you in your
meal preparation. From duo bento boxes
to meal prep kits and half, one and two-
cup portion-control containers, there is
something for every occasion. I’ve made
things as easy as possible for you to get
your prep done and power on through
your life, in control, empowered and on
track with your weight loss and health
goals!
OH! MAGAZINE ( SEPT 2017 )
9