10 Easy Tricks To Staying On The Trim Healthy Mama Plan

Save for later!

Alternate titles:

• 10 Easy Tricks To Getting Back On The Trim Healthy Mama Plan If You’ve Fallen Off
  The Lazy Busy Person’s Guide to Trim Healthy Mama
  The Simple Way To Do Trim Healthy Mama

After a complicated pregnancy that required bed-rest and moving in with my dear in-laws for a few months, the healthy birth of our fourth child, moving our family to another home, and breaking out in shingles, I’ve finally had enough of my own excuses and gotten back on the Trim Healthy Mama plan.

I need it.

I was addicted to sugar (still detoxing!) and my lack of nutrition was evident in the white spots on my nails, thinning hair, and pure exhaustion.

I’m keeping things very simple, so there’s less chance of me burning out or giving up. Today I’m sharing 10 easy tricks to staying on the Trim Healthy Mama plan (or getting back on it!).

1. Do something healthy as soon as you wake up. For me, I like to start off the day with a Raspberry Zinger GGMS. This helps flush my body of toxins, and then I tell myself, “You’ve already detoxified! Don’t go ruin it now by eating sugar!”

2. Brush your teeth. This sounds so silly, but it works! If I’m hungry before my three hours are up (the THM plan recommends waiting that long between meals or changing fuels), brushing my teeth can often ward away the munchies! Who likes eating right after they’ve polished their mouth? My new habit is brushing my teeth after dinner to help me keep from late night snacking. It’s too much effort to do the job twice. 😉

Bonus: Your dentist bill will be lower and your teeth will be whiter, too!

3. Chew gum. Similar to brushing teeth, a mint-flavored mouth feels fresh and actually requires a conscious effort to ruin. Plus, it keeps my mouth busy when I just want to chew! There are several sugar and aspartame-free gums available including Homeofresh, PUR, and Glee Gum.

4. Prepare as much as you can at the beginning of the week. And hour or two of chopping vegetables, meat and cheese, rinsing and drying my greens, and hard-boiling eggs, saves me so much time the rest of the week. I’m far less likely to go off plan knowing that the time consuming parts are already finished. At the very least, I’ll be able to whip together a protein-packed salad.

 5. Stick to no special ingredient recipes. (Like the ones on this site, for example 😉 )
6. Reward goals with something other than food. I’m on THM because I was addicted to sugar, not because I need to lose weight. My BMI is perfect, but that doesn’t mean I’m healthy. My goals probably look different from someone who wants to shed a few pounds (more energy, healthier nails and hair, clearer skin, balanced hormones, etc.) but regardless, I’ve found rewarding myself with something other than off-plan food is a little more conducive to my purpose!

A new haircut, dress, book, lovely smelling hand-soap, pretty earrings, running shoes, or kitchen gadget are great ways to celebrate, but if you simple must celebrate with cheesecake, make it the Peanut Butter Chocolate kind! 😉

7. Keep your kitchen stocked with ingredients to at least 3-5 memorized main dish recipes that are quick to prepare. Much like point #4, this helps me be able to stay on plan even if I’ve had a crazy day (5-Ingredient Chicken Parmesan is one of my go-to’s).

8. Exercise. I can’t always find the time for deliberate exercise, but when I do, I know I make a much more concerted effort to eat carefully. I figure, “I’ve already burned ‘X’ amount of calories today! I don’t want them back!” Trim Healthy Mama isn’t a calorie-based diet, but you get my drift, right?

9. Have something you look forward to every day. For me, it’s a coffee after the kids go down for their afternoon naps, and a square of Lindt’s 85% Dark Chocolate after dinner. I look forward to that piece of chocolate all. day. When I’m tempted by other off-plan sweets, I tell myself, “You get a piece of rich, creamy, smooth, chocolate tonight, remember?” Looking forward to something on-plan makes it easier to say “No” to something off-plan that I’ll regret later.

10. Find an accountability partner. It could be your husband, a friend, the Trim Healthy Mama Facebook group, or even an app on your phone, but the idea of having to ‘fess up to someone or something does wonders to keeping yourself on track!

Do you have any additional ideas for keeping yourself on plan? I’d love to hear them! I need all the help I can get. 😉

Save for later!