Are your meals actually meals?

One thing I see over and over in coaching is that busy women aren't necessarily making bad food choices. They're simply too busy and forgetful to stop and eat an actual meal.

Breakfast gets pushed back because there's something to do. Lunch arrives and there's nothing planned, so they grab a few bites of this and a little of that. Dinner gets chaotic, so they snack while cooking and then eat whatever they can throw together. By the end of the day, they've basically eaten a patchwork quilt of random snacks instead of three structured meals.

And usually, that means they're not getting enough fuel or enough protein.

A protein bar is absolutely fine when you're in a pinch. But it's not a meal, and I don't want you relying on bars, handfuls of nuts or random bites all day because you never made a plan for eating.

The goal is to eat enough at your meals that you rarely even need snacks. But for that to happen, we have to reverse engineer the meals that keep falling apart and then create a system that makes success almost automatic.

Here are some of the things we work on:

1. Find your problem meal. Maybe it's breakfast because you're rushing. Maybe lunch because you're working. Maybe dinner because you're getting kids where they need to go. Start with the meal that most often becomes random food.

2. Work backward from that meal. What has to happen for you to actually eat it? Do you need to shop, defrost something, prep vegetables, cook rice or make something ahead? Put those steps on your calendar.

3. Set alarms for the steps. An alarm to remind you to defrost the chicken at 8 AM can be the difference between chicken and vegetables for dinner and standing in the kitchen at 6 PM wondering what you're going to eat.

4. Then follow through. This is the part that gets skipped. You can set all the reminders in the world, but when the alarm goes off, stop and defrost the chicken. Prep the food. Start the rice. Do the thing.

5. Triple your leftovers. If you're cooking dinner anyway, make enough for tomorrow's lunch and another meal. Future You will be very grateful.

6. Recruit your family. You don't have to shop, prep, cook and clean up every meal yourself. Give your husband and kids jobs that take something off your plate.

7. Build an emergency meal before you need it. If a protein shake is one of your solutions, don't wait until you're already starving. The night before, put your Mom Fuel protein powder on the counter with your blender, cup, straw and shelf stable ingredients so it's ready to go.

That's what I mean by creating guaranteed success. We're not depending on you to suddenly become less busy, less forgetful or more organized. We're building the reminders, preparation and environment around the life you actually have.

Because you don't need to be perfect. You do need to eat actual meals.

And if breakfast, lunch or dinner has become your personal patchwork quilt of random snacks, tell me which one. I'm curious which meal is giving the most women trouble.