Meal planning is essential?

ryenday

Today in my MFP feed a blog post from MFP starts out:

"When it comes to losing weight, meal planning is essential."

Personally I think that is just WOO.

Essential for some folks? I'm sure. But personally I would probably fall off a 'meal plan' on day 2 of my diet. It is one of the reasons that Jenny Craig and its ilk are not for me.

I don't know, that blog entry just irked me because it implies to me that if you are dieting you are doing it wrong if you are not taking a 'meal planning' approach.

estherdragonbat

It really depends on the situation and amount of planning. Here are a couple of issues/quirks for me:

1) I'm strictly Orthodox Jewish and Sabbath-observant, to the extent that I cannot weigh/measure precisely nor write/type from the time the sun goes down on Friday night to the time three stars appear in the sky on Saturday night. Sabbath is also when there is generally more and fancier/more calorific food. During previous weight-loss attempts, that became 'permission to go off the rails and eat whatever the heck I wanted'. And I didn't always get back on track the next day. It became "How did I eat all that? And are there leftovers?"

So. Every Friday afternoon, I write down what I intend to eat that night and all day Saturday. Are there last-minute substitutions? Sure. Do I make room for indulgences? Absolutely 100%. And I stay on the rails because I know that a 160-calorie frosted shortbread and two pieces of potato kugel fit my daily calories. Because I planned for them. So the guilt and negativity and 'well, today's already blown so I may as well grab more' that would have me reaching for the cinnamon babka? Doesn't happen.

2) As a pet project, I'm working through a large cookbook recipe by recipe. This is not a low-calorie/low-fat cookbook. It's just... average. And some recipes are 400 calories to the serving. Some are 600+. I plan those so that I 'know' I have room for 360 calories of fried rice with vegetables for supper (one of the vegetables is green peas, so there's protein). And I know that after supper, I want 85 calories for 2 cups of Skinny Pop popcorn. So that goes into the log right off and the rest? I figure out when I get there.

So, I don't plan everything a week ahead, but I do plan the day of or the day before. And if I know for a fact that the next dish out of the cookbook is one of the 600 calorie ones? I plan on a lighter lunch, more exercise, or no side dish.

cwolfman13

Meal planning is different than having a meal plan to follow. I'm not dieting and I meal plan...it's efficient for a number of reasons...for one, grocery shopping is more efficiently done once per week and much easier to budget for. I also don't have to really think about what I'm making for the week...meals are pretty well planned out, etc...

I think most successes start with proper planning with just about anything in life...

TavistockToad

I think it depends what you mean by 'meal planning'?

I don't do any meal prep apart from making my lunch on a night to take to work the next day, and weighing out my cereal...

I make a menu for the week at the weekend when I do my weekly shop, if that's what you mean?

kommodevaran

That sentence is woo - and I love meal planning But the article is great

It may be down to the ambiguity of the word "essential". For me, meal planning is an essential part of what makes my routines effective. But meal planning isn't essential in the sense that I'll regain all the weight I lost and see my health deteriorate if I can't meal plan, for instance if I'm on vacation. I am single, so meal planning is an effective tool to get varied, balanced and tasty meals, to avoid waste, to limit trips to the grocery store (and thus temptation and stress), and to provide predictability and structure. Varied, balanced and tasty meals, stress reduction, not too much temptation, and some kind of structure to my day, is essential to wanting to eat healthy and not too much, but meal planning is just one strategy to make it possible, and it just happens to be the most effective strategy available to me in my current situation. And it's eating healthy and not too much that keeps me healthy and normal weight.

It may be down to the ambiguity of the word "plan". A plan can be as strict and detailed as you want it to be - deciding in advance that "this week, I'll have one fish dinner, and a vegetarian dish twice, and chili twice" can be a meal plan; buying an assortment of ingredients to make meals from can be meal planning; deciding which restaurant to have your birthday dinner can be meal planning.

ryenday

I guess I'm just on the opposite end of the spectrum. I 'plan' one big cooking meal a week usually. Greek chicken and potatoes or pot roast or something I can get about 4 or 5 servings out. I often cook that on Friday or Monday and the leftovers are available for meals the next few days. But that is it for planning.

I go to the store weekly and get perishable staples ( like baby spinach, fresh fruit and other veggies, fresh ground almond butter if I'm low...) get meat and large quantity staples from Costco every few weeks, and that is largely it. And then I make whatever I fancy at meal time. If I'm lazy I'll have my big meal leftovers- otherwise I wing it.

How do I stay on track calorie-wise? I just only keep sensible foods I know I won't overeat in the house.

I don't consider that a meal plan, or meal planning, But, keeping tortillas and potato chips out of my house is certainly essential to my diet success so I guess if you very loosely defined not having problem food in the home as meal planning... but I don't.

Now @estherdragonbat, yes, it sounds like meal planning is central and essential to YOUR weight loss success. (And good on you for working that smart strategy!) But essential to anyone and everyone? I'm not buying it.

TavistockToad

How do you stay on track?

Pre log

VintageFeline

You are meal planning to a degree just by virtue of the fact you plan ahead a few days by cooking a batch on Sunday regularly.

Personally, my meal planning consists of going to the supermarket and picking up things I fancy and hope will last the week. I am utterly hopeless (but not just because actually hopeless, cognitive stuff) and I have still lost weight. I wing it most days. I now get a meat hamper once a month-ish and most of it goes in the freezer. So I guess that's a small amount of planning of sorts, that I got that hamper and that every night I decide what to take out for the following day.

So no, I don't think meal planning is essential to weight loss. But I also think that you are doing a degree of it but it's okay to think it's not essential too.

kommodevaran

Now I'm really curious to hear your definition of meal plan/a description of something you would call meal planning, @ryenday!

lemurcat12

For me planning is making leftovers so I can bring them for lunch or preparing a few lunches ahead.

Beyond that: I tend to have the same breakfast or a few similar ones, and I have the ingredients I need (eggs, vegetables) available (and coffee!).

I get out the proteins I want to use in sufficient time so that they are ready to be cooked.

I decide in my head roughly what I plan to make.

During the growing season I have a farm box of vegetables weekly, so I plan meals around that (meaning I think about what I need to use up and how I might use them -- I do this in my head and am flexible based on what seems good when I am cooking). I work with what I have, however. When I am not getting the box I buy most of what I use for the week on the weekend and do the same thing.

If there are things I will want to cook (longer cooking types of meat, dried beans) I plan in advance so I can do a slow cooker meal or make something ahead.

I know WHEN I will eat and generally when I will have challenges (work lunches, restaurant dinners) and plan around those.

I call this meal planning, but it's mostly in my head and changes on the fly. Where I think people get in trouble not planning is if they are the type who tend to graze or eat what seems good and check the calories after, and if someone is like that (I'm naturally not, I tend to plan everything ahead in my head, even if not on paper), then meal planning more formally, at least for a while, might be good.

Pre planning all meals for a week or pre logging has never worked for me, I feel stifled.

ryenday

Hmm, I guess I think of meal planning as determining ahead of time ( like a day ahead or more) what my meal's "menu" is going to be. I usually decide 5 minutes before I start cooking. Not what I'd call planning. My options do get limited the day before I grocery shop, I'll admit. Fresh fruit for instance rarely makes it to the following Sunday. ( I usually grocery shop on Sunday or Monday).

Certainly preplanning a week's meals or even pre logging would have a negative effect on me, I'd just want to rebel. If I need to check if I have enough calories for something I want to make, I enter it into MFP and then delete the entry. Lol, I delete the entry even if it fits my calories and I'm going to eat it. I'm A tad OCD about logging AFTER meals.

clicketykeys

IMO meal planning is essential for avoiding repeated trips to the grocery store. And since the nearest store is a 10-15 min drive away that's important to me.

rachaelgifford

I have to make my sandwiches for work the day before to make sure I don't go out and buy junk. Personally, I like to have some idea of what I am going to have each night. If I have already decided I tend to stick to it much better, which stops it feeling like a diet.

JustRobby1

I can't really do that because I have no idea what I might be hungry for day to day. My food tastes are quite similar to my musical tastes in that they vary widely depending on my mood.

sijomial

A calorie deficit is essential - meal planning is just one of a whole host of tools to achieve that.

Only time I meal plan these days is when I'm cycling a very long distance and even then my biggest meal of the day just tends to be whatever is available.

Just another example of people misusing an absolute term. Much like the frequent use of "impossible" when people really mean unusual.

YosemiteSlamAK

I think part of it can also be based on circumstance, for instance. I lived in a place where we had 2 "superstores" or catch-all places to buy food, clothes, home goods, outdoor supplies, the only pharmacies as well as having bank locations inside. Because of the scarcity of shopping options, the fact people also were buying everything they needed, lines were long! Then we had "convenience" stores that sold limited food (typically twice the price), lots of liquor and OTC medications all over the place.
Therefore meal planning was a must. When we wanted to go shopping we had to have a plan, optimize our time or coordinate with someone else to pick up things we've missed. Who wants to sit in line longer than it will take to cook a meal just to buy the items for your meal?

zdyb23456

I meal plan to save money and prevent waste. By meal plan I decide ahead of time what I will cook during the week. It is based on sales and what I currently have in the freezer/fridge/pantry.

rheddmobile

estherdragonbat wrote: »

It really depends on the situation and amount of planning. Here are a couple of issues/quirks for me:

1) I'm strictly Orthodox Jewish and Sabbath-observant, to the extent that I cannot weigh/measure precisely nor write/type from the time the sun goes down on Friday night to the time three stars appear in the sky on Saturday night. Sabbath is also when there is generally more and fancier/more calorific food. During previous weight-loss attempts, that became 'permission to go off the rails and eat whatever the heck I wanted'. And I didn't always get back on track the next day. It became "How did I eat all that? And are there leftovers?"

So. Every Friday afternoon, I write down what I intend to eat that night and all day Saturday. Are there last-minute substitutions? Sure. Do I make room for indulgences? Absolutely 100%. And I stay on the rails because I know that a 160-calorie frosted shortbread and two pieces of potato kugel fit my daily calories. Because I planned for them. So the guilt and negativity and 'well, today's already blown so I may as well grab more' that would have me reaching for the cinnamon babka? Doesn't happen.

2) As a pet project, I'm working through a large cookbook recipe by recipe. This is not a low-calorie/low-fat cookbook. It's just... average. And some recipes are 400 calories to the serving. Some are 600+. I plan those so that I 'know' I have room for 360 calories of fried rice with vegetables for supper (one of the vegetables is green peas, so there's protein). And I know that after supper, I want 85 calories for 2 cups of Skinny Pop popcorn. So that goes into the log right off and the rest? I figure out when I get there.

So, I don't plan everything a week ahead, but I do plan the day of or the day before. And if I know for a fact that the next dish out of the cookbook is one of the 600 calorie ones? I plan on a lighter lunch, more exercise, or no side dish.

I didn't realize weighing and writing were among the things prohibited to Orthodox Jews on the Sabbath. Learn something new every day! Thanks for sharing your creative methods for dealing with a tricky situation. These would be helpful for anyone who has to face situations where logging and measuring at the time are impossible.

Lounmoun

ryenday wrote: »

Today in my MFP feed a blog post from MFP starts out:

"When it comes to losing weight, meal planning is essential."

Personally I think that is just WOO.

Essential for some folks? I'm sure. But personally I would probably fall off a 'meal plan' on day 2 of my diet. It is one of the reasons that Jenny Craig and its ilk are not for me.

I don't know, that blog entry just irked me because it implies to me that if you are dieting you are doing it wrong if you are not taking a 'meal planning' approach.

It is a silly statement to make.
People can certainly lose weight without meal planning, logging, using a food scale, exercising, eating vegetables, etc.
If they said meal planning can be helpful when losing weight I would agree. I think often people who struggle to stick to their calorie goal would do better planning out their day more instead of eating what they feel like in the moment and going "oh no! I don't have calories for dinner".

I have been planning meals for years to help stick to my tight food budget. I make a list of non-repeating dinners for 28 days. Assign them in groups of 7 to 4 weeks. Go grocery shopping once a week. Decide what I will have from my list each morning. Cross it off as I have it. Something different for dinner every night. Near the end of 4 weeks I make a new list.
I don't plan lunch, breakfast or snacks the same way because I eat a limited type of items for those. I just have to keep those same staple foods on hand. That sounds more like what you do for all your meals.

Prelogging my day every morning is helpful and easy for me. I make changes if I need to as the day goes but having things mapped out makes it easier to make choices. It isn't that I would eat a whole cake without a plan. I would tend not to eat enough protein if I did not prelog my food though.

Keep doing what is working for you.

Need2Exerc1se

It wasn't essential for me. Most days I have no idea what we'll be having for dinner until an hour or two before time to cook. I don't menu plan, pre-prep, pre-cut, pre-freeze, nothing. I like to decide what I'm in the mood for when it's time to eat, not have to eat whatever I planned several days ago.

lucerorojo

Meal planning works for me so that I can eat a wide variety of foods for lunch and dinner. For breakfast I mostly just eat either a banana/almond milk smoothie or oatmeal/egg and occasionally will eat out breakfast. But even my breakfasts I will sketch out because I cook from scratch and also make fresh almond milk. So I need to know how many days I´m going to drink the smoothie to know how many almonds to crush and when. I do not like leftovers--the most I will do is have leftovers the next day. I like variety for lunch and dinner and so I need to shop for it, and in order not for there to be a lot of waste and spoilage, I need to plan. Also I´m single and work a lot, sometimes during dinner hours. So I need to plan when I´m going to cook from scratch, when I eat a leftover and when I can eat out. Planning this makes it possible for me to bring snacks that will keep me in the calorie deficit and/or meals that I can take with me to eat on a break or if I can afford calorie wise to eat out, and what and where I will eat out. I think depending on one´s personal life planning may or may not be essential. For me it is, definitely for weight loss and in general just to eat well, not waste and have some variety in the foods--and fit it into my busy schedule.

jemhh

My version of meal planning is deciding what we're having for dinner each day of the week and then buying the right stuff at the grocery store. I don't do the weekly prepping and packing thing.

kristen8000

It's not essential, but it helps. I rarely "meal" plan until the day before/of. Or maybe think of things that go together when I do my weekly shop. It helps be organized and avoid the pitfalls of "not planning ahead", but "essential", no. That's one persons opinion. And you know what they say about "opinions".

Penthesilea514

I "meal plan" by coming up with a rough menu for dinners on my weekly shopping trip, and I have a standard breakfast/lunch that I know I will purchase. I don't often know exactly what dinner I will have day to day, but I know what my options are. I do aim for either a meal that will take less than 30 minutes to make or a crockpot meal. I do make ahead of time crockpot freezer bags so that the night before I just thaw in fridge/counter then dump into crock pot on my way out the door (I have zero time for much else in the morning as far as dinner is concerned). I try to keep a couple of those in my freezer for dinner. I also always keep a frozen pizza there- usually a CPK or something, for those days I really DGAF.

Breakfast is usually oatmeal or greek yogurt with granola or fruit, plus coffee or tea. Depends on my current weekly mood. Lunch/snack is usually a protein bar, fruit, cheese sticks. I am super lazy so I like just being able to throw my lunch and breakfast together quickly- otherwise, I stray.

I do eat fast food about once a week (within my calorie limits) because I want to, usually Taco Bell. Whenever I go out otherwise, I do try to pre-log by looking ahead on the menu so I know what I can fit into my day.

I am going to say that if planning is being equated to awareness of one's meals (pre-logging, thinking ahead, whatever) I will say that it has been invaluable to me. But I think that planning can take many forms- not just meal prep or advance cooking. Just being more mindful of meals is a form of "planning".

Jruzer

It's a useful tool but it's not essential.

Mrs Jruzer does the cooking in our house 90% of the time. I eat what she makes. She sometimes has meals planned out ahead of time, but often does not. She's a good and inventive cook, and often riffs her meals around what's available in the house. Because of this I don't "meal plan" in the sense it is often used nowadays. I do pre-log as much as possible, however.

I have lost and maintained just fine.

Sunshine_And_Sand

I agree that meal planning is definitely not essential to weight loss but for a lot of people it does make it easier. I have two school age kids who both do activities. Between homework, getting everyone to their activities, getting everyone fed, bedtime routines for kids (baths, teeth brushing, etc), both parents working full time, and both DH and I getting to get in some exercise, days get pretty full. I can still stay on track without a lot of "planning" but planning does take a lot of the stress out of it. Having a schedule with kids' activities listed and which of us is going to run/go to gym that day and who is going to take kid(s) to which activity and then filling in what meal/who is going to make it (based on the amount of "free time" we have that day) takes a little bit of he stress/rush out of it all and makes it easier to make the grocery list. Plus DH is an engineer and they love their schedules... Meal planning is a good tool for some when it fits their personality, but I can see how some would find it restrictive. Just do what works for u.

justkeeprunning91

My husband and I are both engineers, and for our personalities, meal planning is the best. I cook our dinners for weeknights on Sunday, we each plan what we need for our lunches for the week, then we have our same breakfast items pretty much every day. I pre log the night before, but leave out snacks so that I can see how many calories I have available for snacks during the day and can change up my plan as needed. It's really about personality, I think. I'm all about routine and planning ahead, so I would be at least ten times more stressed in my daily life if I didn't plan my meals ahead of time. But, that's just my personality. I also commute about 60 miles round trip every day, so it's nice to have a healthy homemade meal when I get home just by popping something in the microwave.

x_stephisaur_x

How does anyone know what to buy at the shop if you don't plan your meals?

To me, meal planning means sitting down and deciding what you're going to buy (and therefore eat) for the week ahead. This means that, as a general rule, there's very little food wastage and we're less likely to end up eating out.

Meal prepping is a different beast, and one I very rarely have time for.

Loug1983

If you'd have asked me if I meal plan I would have said no, but thinking about it I do eat set things for breakfasts and lunches each day. I have a few options for each meal based on what I have in the house, but they're all variations of the same thing and come within a pretty small margin calorie wise.

My evening meal I don't plan for, but I leave most of my calories for evening so that I don't have to. If I didn't eat the set things I eat for breakfasts and lunches I wouldn't be able to be so relaxed about my evening meals so in that respect I guess I do meal plan. And on the rare occasions that my breakfasts and/or lunches don't fall within the norm it definitely makes things more difficult. So I guess the level of meal planning that I do is essential to my success.

Macy9336

zdyb23456 wrote: »

I meal plan to save money and prevent waste. By meal plan I decide ahead of time what I will cook during the week. It is based on sales and what I currently have in the freezer/fridge/pantry.

I'm the exact same way. If we didn't plan out our meals for the week, I'd be a short order cook for my kids. We'd waste a ton of food and money. Plus I wouldn't be able to ensure adequate nutrition/balanced diet if I didn't do meal planning.

ladyhusker39

I would hate meal planning. I have no idea on Sunday what I might want to eat on Thursday for example. And if I tried to make all my meals ahead of time like I see some people doing, I'd be miserable because it's like eating leftovers all the time and I'm not much of a leftover person. It's a lifestyle choice and people should do whatever works for them.