Mealprepping 101 advice for a beginner?

vvancol_rose

Hi everyone, I was just looking for some advice/ suggestions/tips /ideas on how to begin my food prepping journey. A little bit about me: I am currently 250 and am looking to weigh 180 by july. I'm starting insanity in a few days and already have a lifting routine so my exercise is taken care of My struggle with losing weight has always been my poor eating habits and lack of self control, so I did some research and discovered the concept of meal planning on youtube and decided I wanted to give it a go, however it seems really overwhelming and don't really know how to begin. I've already bought the containers but would like some insight on how to go about it in an efficient way thats easy for me:

1.) is 1500 calories a day ok for me to be eating or should I eat more ( 5'7", 250lbs, cardio6x,lifting 5x a week)

2.) what are some quick easy cheap HEALTHY recipes i can make for breakfast,lunch,dinner? ( I don't really have a lot of time to or moneydedicate to cooking because of my schedule i'm a college student and i'm also on a weekly budget of 50$ a week for groceries)


3.) what are the pro's and cons of meal prepping

*any other advice, comments, suggestions are welcome !!! thanks in advance

editorgrrl

70 lbs. is 6 months is an unhealthy goal. That's 3 lbs. per week! Set your goal no higher than 1.5 lb. per week: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided

On the weekends, make a big pot of bean soup (yankee bean, lentil, split pea, etc.) and freeze it in single serving containers.

Get a Crock-Pot (slow cooker), and freeze those leftovers, too.

Oatmeal is cheap, healthy, and filling. I use this recipe: http://www.theyummylife.com/Instant_Oatmeal_Packets

For lunch, pack a Ploughman's lunch: hardboiled egg, cheese stick, portion-controlled nuts, and fresh fruit. (Starbucks calls theirs a protein pack bistro box.)

77tes

Check out this link. Good luck! http://www.organizeyourselfskinny.com/

TavistockToad

Are you eating exercise cals back? If not, 1500 sounds low to be doing insanity.

iheartinsanity

Hey fellow Insanity lover! Honestly, eating only 1500 doing insanity may not work. I've done it 2x and I'm a certified instructor. Honestly you may find yourself getting so hungry and eating around 2000 may work better (depending on your goals) but be sure to follow the eating plan. Or if you're a Beachbody program junkie I know the new Insanity Max program has a section where you can use the 21 day fix containers to eat along with it. I've heard a lot of people saying it's pretty helpful. I personally love "egg cup muffins" (you can make them right in a muffin pan - one egg per cup with your choice of veggies, meats, etc) and make them for 3-4 days. I won't food prep for more than 4 days, but it's only because my schedule allows. I love the egg muffin cups, even if you don't eat em for breakfast. They're good to pop in the microwave, and they're full of protein...especially if you have impulse habits.

Commander_Keen

vvancol_rose wrote: »

Hi everyone, I was just looking for some advice/ suggestions/tips /ideas on how to begin my food prepping journey. A little bit about me: I am currently 250 and am looking to weigh 180 by july. I'm starting insanity in a few days and already have a lifting routine so my exercise is taken care of My struggle with losing weight has always been my poor eating habits and lack of self control, so I did some research and discovered the concept of meal planning on youtube and decided I wanted to give it a go, however it seems really overwhelming and don't really know how to begin. I've already bought the containers but would like some insight on how to go about it in an efficient way thats easy for me:

1.) is 1500 calories a day ok for me to be eating or should I eat more ( 5'7", 250lbs, cardio6x,lifting 5x a week)

2.) what are some quick easy cheap HEALTHY recipes i can make for breakfast,lunch,dinner? ( I don't really have a lot of time to or moneydedicate to cooking because of my schedule i'm a college student and i'm also on a weekly budget of 50$ a week for groceries)


3.) what are the pro's and cons of meal prepping

*any other advice, comments, suggestions are welcome !!! thanks in advance

For somebody as yourself, I would recommend the following
Canned tuna fish (protein)
Rice & Pasta (carbs)
Beans ( carbs & Protein)
Onions, Mushrooms, oil to mix in with the beans and rice.
There's also Oatmeal.
You can get a weeks supply for less than $50

DarbiB

Advice: Do all your prep Sunday night. Portion all your snacks out and put them away. Cut up some veggies and chicken, toss 'em in the crock pot and go to bed. That way you'll wake up on Monday morning with your house smelling like soup (yum!) and your food taken care of!

I'm at about 1500 cal atm, here's more detail (in case you want it). My grocery budget is about $75/week which is a fair bit higher than yours, but theres plenty of space to make lower-cost adjustments.

Breakfast:
-Coffee + Creamer
-1/4 cup oatmeal + 2 tablespoons of chocolate PB2 (5 tupper wares pre-portioned for the week)
-Luna bar

Lunch:
-Spicy Chicken + Veggie soup (make this in the crockpot, essentially just chicken broth, chicken breasts, and whatever veggies are catching my eye that week. Normally comes out to around 350 cals/serving)
-Angie's Boom Chicka Pop Popcorn (35 cals/cup!)
-Chipotle Chickpeas
-Beef Jerkey
-Apple/Pomegrante/Berries (whatever catches my eye)

Dinner:
-Mix it up here. Really like making Thai-style red curry chicken over rice w. veggies, or Moroccan-style chicken over couscous w/ veg.

Dessert:
-Dark Chocolate covered pretzels

leggup

1. Calories. Use the MFP recommended goals. 3 lbs/week is going to be too much, especially when you drop lower in weight. Also, 1,500 is too low. To lose 1-2 lbs a week, you can eat 1700 to 1900 as a light office worker. If you're doing any workouts, you eat back those calories.

2. Recipes. Check out pinterest. There are loads of easy meal ideas. Personally, I like 2 hardboiled eggs for breakfast. If you make 10 on Sunday, you have enough for the work week. For lunch I enjoy soup with crackers and a changing side. For snacks, I like fruit or pre-portioned whole grain graham crackers. For dinner I don't meal prep, but frozen veggies are a huge part of my life (and very inexpensive).

3. A con of food prep is that you have to put in the time. I like Sunday afternoons. Another con of food prep is that you sometimes prepare a lot of something and then you don't want to eat it. I once made 70+ fritatas and then didn't like them that much. I discovered they were okay if I added salsa, so I did end up eating them.