So hard to find the time!

faramelee

I can't really add anything new. Can your son help out with buying groceries? We meal plan for the week and order our groceries online, it saves so much time, although I appreciate it isn't for everyone. It does mean that we don't buy superfluous foods therefore saving money and minimising the risk of eating extra.

mom23mangos

I think most people have covered the planning in general as well as meal planning. I just wanted to give some advice on multi-tasking. I once had multiple jobs, was a student and a mother at the same time. I learned to be creative with my studying. Make flashcards that you can keep in your scrubs and pull them out on breaks. Listen to recorded lectures while working, cleaning, exercising, cooking, driving etc. Along the same line, quiz yourself by making recordings. Record yourself asking a question....pause......then give the answer. That way you can quiz yourself while you are doing other things. Multi-task with exercise when winding down and watching TV. Sometimes I'll hula hoop while watching TV, if you have an exercise bike or treadmill, that would work as well. Sometimes I stretch.

When you are juggling a lot of things in your life, multi-tasking and planning are key.

Tazzie0208

"I work 8-430 but have been staying double shifts lately once or twice a week 8am-1230pm. I am going to change to 4-1230 soon though and will have some school clinicals during the day. Thanks for all the ideas, prepping meals ahead is something I really have to do. Some good meal ideas here too. Sometimes I make things too complicated too marinated meat on the grill and veggies is a good idea. Wish I had a list of maybe 10 meals or so to rotate, I never know what to make. I geat real sick of salads too if I eat them every day."

***Use the pinterest app, it's the best thing in the world to have handy. There are sooo many great recipes and so easy to make! best of lucks. you have MFP family support. They have given you great ideas! Add me up if you'd like, we can always support and check on each other!!

brznhabits

Good advice above.

Couple more thoughts...I struggled for a long time with wanting variety and overthinking meal planning. I finally got to the point where meal planning in now liberating and in large part the repetitiveness of recipes allows me to balance the fun stuff. I eat the same thing almost every week (about a 6 week rotation) and that structure allows me to occasionally eat at maintenance for fun/outings/etc. It is very worth it to me to meal plan and prep so that I can also enjoy when the time is right.

I'll also add that most of my meals are as simple as potatoes/rice/pasta+veggie+sauce. Examples: Baked potato + Broccoli+Ranch, ravioli+squash+alfredo, wild rice+chicken+fruit+dressing. All is prepped on the weekend and I only reheat and combine during the week. Sure I have more complicated recipes but I save them for weekends where I have the time. I do literally all my food prep for lunch and dinner in (usually) 3 hours on the weekend. It also greatly reduced my expenses. I typically eat out one lunch and one dinner a week.

Additionally, I'll say, you can eat out and lose weight. You just have to find your go-tos and it is a bit harder because you can't be (as) certain with ingredients and portions. But it is doable and you might want to consider doing the work on this consider doing the work to figure this out, considering your other obligations. I have some go-tos at Wendy's, Panera, Jason's Deli and one of our local places. Through practice I know how this fits into my deficit cals.

I also wanted to comment on this "I do fine for a few days but then get very busy with things and my plans or lack of plan cause things to fall apart".

All or nothing didn't work for me, I got completely overwhelmed and would give up constantly. To succeed, I take baby steps. I actually started with figuring out my maintenance calories, and worked on not gaining for 30 days. Then I cut 100 cals. Then I gave up my organic sodas. Then I targeted water consumption. Then I cut another 200 cals. Then I gave up most bread products (trigger food for me). etc. etc. Some of these took one month and sometimes they took three. It's taken me two years to start to be able to care about macros. I have lost very slowly which would be super frustrating for some folks but I wanted to build sustainable habits and that meant learning and practicing new skills, often one at a time. Additionally, when I find myself going off the rails I back it all up to basics. Log and eat at maintenance (sustaining) and drink water and I do that until I feel like I can take another pass at better living, sometimes I focus on maintenance for a day or sometimes 4 weeks.

Good luck.

GemstoneofHeart

Once you get into a rhythm it won't feel so burdensome.