10 Things to Start Doing Every Sunday to Hit Your Weight Loss Goal
Don’t waste another week falling short of your weight loss goals. Instead start your week with intention and start seeing results, finally!
Below are 10 things to start doing every Sunday to help you hit your weight loss goal.
Sundays are the perfect day to set our intentions and get organized for the week ahead.
But why do this in the first place?
We are all busy, especially us moms. That’s why when we take time to plan and prepare on Sunday then it will allow our week to better reflect our goals!
A few things can happen when we don’t set our intentions and prepare for the week.
We lose focus, feel overwhelmed, experience burnout, and are less productive. We find ourselves just going through the motions and on survival mode.
This is especially true if your goal is weight loss. If you don’t set this as your intention going into the week then before you know it it’s Friday and you haven’t followed through.
You end up having to start all over again Monday!
Sound familiar?
To see the weight loss progress, you need to not only have your goal set, but you also need to have a plan for how you are going to achieve your goal.
These tips will start your week off prepared so you will be more successful with reaching your weight loss goal. They will also help refresh your mind and give you the energy needed to stay motivated to reach your goal.
So, let’s get into the top 10 things to start doing every Sunday to hit your weight loss goal!
1. Clean
Sundays are the perfect day to reset and get organized for the week ahead.
Cleaning up is my favorite thing to start with. It’s honestly how I start every day.
What does this have to do with weight loss?
It may not be the most obvious or exciting thing, but having a clean house equals a clean mental space to me. I can’t focus when the house is a mess which means I can’t get motivated either.
If you are lacking energy, sometimes you just need to clean up your space. When you get it done it’s like it gives you a boost of energy and there’s no stopping you after that.
Not only does it give you a mental refresh and boost of energy, but it helps you keep up with all your priorities. If you are constantly falling behind, one of the first things to get pushed aside is your nutrition and exercise.
Establish a Quick Clean Routine
Even with cleaning I have a routine. It starts with throwing laundry in because it is the most time consuming. If you have kids, I recommend doing a minimum of one load a day, so it doesn’t pile up!
Then head into the kitchen. Do the dishes and clean the counters.
Tip: Load the dishwasher or handwash your dishes at night so in the morning all you must do is put them away.
Once the kitchen is cleaned up move onto the living room and other spaces that may need a quick pick up. If you have littles, then you probably have a never-ending stream of toys always making their way into the living room.
Tip: Grab a basket and pick up everything off the floor! Then when it is time to put away you aren’t making as many trips.
The point is to start your day with a clean space as well as an accomplishment! You’ll now feel much more confident in tackling the other things on this list.
2. Meal Plan
Now we are getting into a must do when it comes to reaching your weight loss goal!
Do you struggle every day coming up with a healthy meal for dinner? Then find a recipe that looks good and then you don’t have the ingredients needed. Or you resort to an easy packaged processed meal that isn’t the greatest option for fueling your body.
Meal planning is so helpful. You’ll stay on track with your nutrition by not settling for something less nutritious or “easy”.
You won’t waste time thinking of meals every night or having to make unexpected trips to the grocery store. It will also save you money because you’ll be eating out less.
How to Meal Plan
There are two basic steps to meal planning.
Step 1
First step in meal planning is finding your meal ideas. I have two resources I use to helping me find my meal ideas.
How to Use Pinterest For Meal Planning
I have a Pinterest board for recipes. Within my recipe board I have boards for Salads, Dinner, Snacks, and desserts.
You can make boards for whatever you’d like. If you find yourself struggling for breakfast ideas, then do a board for that. You could even do one for soups, smoothies, or quick dinners. Make it work for you.
Then search Pinterest for what ideas you need for the week. For example, if you type in healthy dinner ideas, you’ll get lots of results!
You can narrow this search by searching recipes for crockpot meals, high protein, plant-based, low carb etc. When you find something you like save it to your dinner board.
The nice thing about Pinterest is the more you save the more suggestions you will get for similar recipes. Which makes it easier the next time you need meal ideas.
I love using Pinterest because you have access to the recipe online whenever you need them. It’s also easier to find it the next time you want to make the recipe.
It’s a great way to find and try new, healthy recipes. You’ll never get bored of eating healthy!
How to Meal Plan With Recipe Books
I am always on the hunt for recipes I love. When I find one that I want to remake I’ll usually buy that cookbook because I know I’ll like the other recipes.
I tend to go for plant-based cookbooks because it helps me find new ways to eat more vegetables. Which I’m always in need of!
What’s nice about using cookbooks is you can just flip through and mark whatever pages catch your eye.
I usually write them down as I go and make sure to include ingredients I will need to buy.
Using recipe books is nice because it feels more nostalgic, you have all the recipes in hand and don’t have to rely on your phone, and it also can be less time consuming than searching for a recipe online.
Step 2
After you’ve found ideas, narrow down which ones you want to make for the week.
Tip: Pick recipes that have similar ingredients or a lot of ingredients you already own. That way you won’t have a long grocery list and you won’t be wasting ingredients by only using them once.
Now that you’ve chosen your recipes you will have to go through and make a grocery list. Try to organize it the best you can by combing ingredients in the order you would grab them in the store.
How many times have you gone into the store without a plan? You just pick up whatever looks good. Or you have an idea of what you want to make for the week, but guarantee you’ll get home and be missing something.
Do not forget to make your grocery list and check it twice!
3. Grocery Shop
Now that you’ve meal planned and have your list you are prepared to grocery shop!
Grocery shopping on Sundays is a crucial step to getting prepared for the week.
It’s crucial because you may have your meals planned, but without the ingredients you will not get anywhere. It’s a task that needs to be tackled to prepared and ahead of the game!
Grocery shopping tends to be a least favorite task for most moms. Maybe you have help with the kids on weekends so going to the store won’t be as challenging. Please, take advantage of this help.
Getting your groceries on Sunday will also give you some healthy options in the house. Come Monday morning you will be stocked and ready to make healthy choices!
4. Food Prep
Now food preparation is a bonus step. It’s not necessary, especially if you are a stay-at-home mom. However, it is helpful for both stay at home and work away from home mommas.
I’ll tell you why!
As a stay-at-home mom myself, the day can be hectic and it’s hard to get everything done. Making breakfast, snacks, lunch, and dinner for a hungry toddler can be a part-time job itself!
What I’ve noticed with stay at homes moms that have trouble eating healthy is they are so busy making sure their kids are fed that their needs get pushed aside. Or they aren’t making good food choices because of the extra time or thought it may take.
Then if you work away from the home most likely you pack food, grab fast food, or you skip eating all together! If you pack food in the morning then you might be in a hurry and are just grabbing the easiest option.
Can you see how both types of moms can benefit from food prepping?
What is Food Prepping?
Food prepping is when you prepare a large batch of food vs a large batch of a meal consisting of different foods as with meal prepping.
Example of food prepping is cooking a batch of chicken or rice. When you are food prepping you want to choose a food you are eating lots of and that you can use to make different meals.
What I like about food prepping is it saves you time overall.
Say you are having chicken every day. Maybe you have three different recipes you want to use the chicken in. Making the chicken on its own allows you to have variety.
One day you can have a Caesar chicken salad and the next you have a chicken stir fry. You don’t have to eat the same, boring meal every day!
You might choose to food prep instead of meal prep because it allows you to be flexible with your meals, you can decide portion sizes more easily, and you can cook up a large portion of your most used food.
I also love it because with meal prepping the meals just don’t stay as fresh. With food prepping your ingredients are ready and you just need to combine them. You can even add fresh ingredients to the mix.
Here’s an idea if you are still looking for meals vs foods that are ready on the fly.
Put together your prepped foods the night before into a meal. That way you can still portion your meals, have a fresh meal, and include variety into your meals.
Then in the morning you have your meal prepped and ready to take with you or enjoy at home amidst a busy day.
There are so many options for prepping foods ahead of time. It is truly a lifesaver when your goal is weight loss!
5. Take a Walk
The next thing you should do every Sunday is fit in some sort of intentional movement.
Taking a walk is a great option because you can walk outside and get fresh air, you can walk with a friend, or walk with your family for quality time.
If walking isn’t your thing some other great options are yoga or light stretching, cycling, and light resistance training.
Getting in low to moderate intensity movement will help you relieve stress, help you sleep better at night, and help you recover from the week of workouts.
If you are following this beginner’s workout plan, then you know active rest days are also essential to getting in your recommended cardio for the week.
What I also love about adding in movement on Sunday is you are maintaining a routine. If you leave Saturday and Sundays for rest days, then you are training your mind to do nothing those days.
Including light activity will help reinforce the habit of exercise and will make it easier for you to jump back into your routine on Monday!
So how much walking?
Well, this really depends on what you want to do or have time for. I recommend trying to do at least 30 minutes at a pace you can still carry a conversation.
6. Unplug
You don’t need to wait for Screen-Free Week to take a much-needed break from your electronics.
In fact, you should do this every week!
We are a society that is screen obsessed. People spend on average 3 hours and 15 minutes on their phone a day. (source)
Can you imagine what you could accomplish with having an extra three hours a day!
Unplugging has many benefits such as present time awareness, better sleep, increased productivity, and decreased stress and anxiety.
It’s nice to give our brains a break from the extra stimulus that is not benefiting us.
The most popular devices you should disconnect from are cell phone, tv, computer, and tablet.
Tips for unplugging:
- Silence your phone and if you are still tempted to check it, put it away in a drawer.
- Have the whole family unplug with you. This is kind of difficult to do on your own and it will offer just as many wonderful benefits for your family as well.
- Find other activities you can do while unplugged.
There are a lot of other activities you can engage in to avoid screen time. Starting with many of the activities on this list!
Start with disconnecting for one hour and add time on every week! Feel the benefits of reduced screen time and this just might be a habit you’ll want to add into your everyday.
Unplugging will help you with your weight loss goal because you’ll be more mindful and focused on you and your goals. You will waste less time and in return make more time for things that reflect your goals.
7. Schedule
While you’re unplugged is the perfect time to schedule your upcoming week!
Scheduling your week will help keep you on top of things you need to do to reach your goals and it will also keep you accountable.
Start by making a week to-do list. Put things you didn’t get to last week at the top of the list followed by other important, harder tasks.
I don’t know about you, but I know when I have lists in my head of things I need to get done, I can’t sleep, and I can’t focus.
So, get those things written down so you can tackle them come Monday morning and sleep good tonight.
Next you are going to schedule your workouts for the week and even dinners. If you already have a workout routine, then put the days you workout in the calendar. Since you already planned your meals, you should have what meals you will be eating written down as well.
The goal of this is you will be prepared, which will lead to less excuses when it comes to getting in your workouts or making time to have a healthy meal.
Checking your planner and seeing your workouts will remind you of your intention. You will also be able to stay on top of tasks and be more productive overall. Which gives you more time for your health!
8. Set Goals
This is an article about 10 things to start doing every Sunday to hit your weight loss goal. So of course, we are going to be setting goals for the week!
With setting goals comes tracking progress. You don’t really know where you stand with your goal without seeing what progress you’re making.
If your goal is weight loss, I recommend you take some measurements. You can measure your chest, waist, hips, and legs.
Make sure to write down your results in a journal. You may not see a huge difference every week, but you should see a downward trend.
Now you will set goals for the week. Instead of just setting a goal of losing a pound, think of habits you can work on that will help you achieve losing a pound.
An example of a habit goal would be eating a breakfast high in protein every day of the week.
Then decide how you will accomplish this week’s goal.
In the example above, you might accomplish this habit goal by meal prepping a high protein breakfast ahead of time.
Set a couple goals for the week whether they are related to exercise, nutrition, or even your water intake. Just make sure you are specific with them.
To help you think of which goals to focus on, reflect on what challenges you faced the previous week that held you back from losing weight.
Then make a goal to help you focus on the that challenge this week!
9. Relax
Phew we are almost done with this list of what to do every Sunday to help you reach your weight loss goal.
So, now it’s time to RELAX.
I think the most important thing you can do on a Sunday is relax. It is a day to rest and spend quality time with your family.
Above you did things that will help you meet your weight loss goals and relaxing can be just as beneficial.
Taking time to relax will help you wind down from the day. One way to relax is watching a movie with your family (that is if you are done unplugging). You could even take a hot bath or read a book.
Find what is relaxing to you and let your stress melt away.
10. Go to Bed Early
On the Weekend we tend to push our bedtimes back and come Monday we feel it. We might feel sluggish, moody, or even hungrier.
Research has shown that adults with poor sleep patterns have increased levels of the hormone Ghrelin. High levels of Ghrelin result in increased hunger and less feeling of fullness. (source)
Other benefits of getting enough sleep include:
- Maintaining a healthy weight
- Increased immunity
- Lower risk of chronic disease
- Increased productivity
- Clearer mind and focus
If your goal is weight loss aim to get 7-9 hours of sleep a night.
Since you’ve taken time to unplug, get some exercise, and relax you shouldn’t have a problem snoozing.
Final Note
Now you have 10 things to start doing every Sunday to hit your weight loss goal. Some are no brainers and others will take a little bit of discipline. However, if you do these things, you will be that much closer to reaching your weight loss goal!
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