My first time planning ahead...

suppakana

So this is my first shot at planning my meals the day ahead. Hopefully I'll be able to do this more often, and plan ahead more than a few days in advance. My BMR is 1597, so I just kind of set my goal at 1600 (if I go over by a bit, I don't freak out.)

Breakfast (pre-workout) 1 medium banana (105 [1495 left for day])

Breakfast (post-workout) Chocolate Shakeology (160 [1335 lfd])

Second Breakfast: 1/2 cup dry rolled oats w/ another banana mixed in (245 [1090 lfd])

Lunch: Quinoa, a squeeze of orange & lemon juice, mixed (frozen) veggies, and chopped almonds (377 [ 713 lfd])
I might mix it up, and instead of orange & lemon juice use, like... General Tso's sauce or something

Snack: Smart Pop popcorn or Weight Watchers Red velvet Icecream sandwich (100 [613 lfd])

Dinner: Tortilla pizza! (total 616 [-3 lfd])
2x whole wheat tortillas (100 ea. [413 lfd])
Mozzarella Cheese (180 [233 lfd])
Shredded Parmesan (220 [13 lfd])
Generic tomato/pizza sauce (16 [-3 lfd]) -- I only use a tiny amount. Too much is overpowering for me.


These are all kinds of things that I eat regularly, and are super easy (for me) to make. I'm not very good at planning variety into my life. On other days if I wanted to mix it up I'd probably do something like... Instead of all quinoa, half quinoa and half rice. Sometimes I put pepperoni on my pizza.

Suggestions? Comments? Any feedback is appreciated!

suppakana

Oh, one other thing. If I'm eating at my BMR, should I be trying to eat back my workout calories?

peggymdellinger

Oh, one other thing. If I'm eating at my BMR, should I be trying to eat back my workout calories?

You really need to be eating above your BMR, but if you feel you must eat at it then definitely eat back your workout calories. BMR is the number of calories that your body would burn if you just lay in bed all day. If you're doing stuff you're burning more, if you're exercising you're burning further. Add some chicken and veggies to that tortilla pizza... calculate your TDEE and take off 10-20%. If you feel you must eat less, and you have a significant amount of weight to lose (like, 100 lbs) then do up to 30% off. If you decrease your calories more than that you run the real risk of losing lean body mass (muscle) and/or metabolic slow down which can make weight loss nearly impossible. Good luck with everything. Planning ahead is an excellent idea. I do it most days.

suppakana

The TDEE calculators I've looked at give me a very wide spectrum of numbers - anything from 2100 to 2500. Right now pretty much I sit around on the computer unless I'm working out (burn 300/day, 5 days a week, and usually 500-600 one day a week. Last day is a rest day). So I count that as lightly active. And currently 168 lbs.

Taking 80% of what those TDEEs are, it puts me at 1680-2000. So I'm thinking what I'll do is I'll try to eat at 1600 for a few weeks (I've BEEN eating around 1400, which I know is too low).. And if I start seeing bad trends, I'll increase to 1700 and then 1800.

Does that sound okay as a plan of action? :embarassed:

peggymdellinger

They're all estimates. I just took the average of 3 TDEE calculations. I have (actually HAD, lol) 100 lbs to lose so I went with 30% off, putting me at 1750 for now. I'll recalculate to 20% off once I reach the 1/2 way mark, then 15% off at 3/4, to 10% for the last 10 lbs or so. I've seen it recommended that you recalculate TDEE for every 10 lbs lost. I do that b/c I'm trying for a sustainable lifestyle. You HAVE to do what works for you and is sustainable.

Your numbers seem lightly active. You may want to get a fitbit or something similar to get a better estimation of your daily activity though. 1,600 is a pretty good number so long as it isn't below your BMR.

I think it's fun learning all of this stuff. I always knew I could lose weight by eating less and exercising more, but knowing that I don't have to eat A LOT less, and a bunch of diet foods, and the weight is still coming off is so satisfying!

VioletNightshade

One thing that helps me planning ahead is cooking ahead of time and packaging things up in portions in the fridge and freezer. It makes it very easy to say "well, I have lots of chili this week, so, chili for lunch tomorrow, dinner the next day and lunch the day after" and mix it up during other meals. It's lovely because you already know how many calories and whatnot is in the meal, so it's virtually mindless.

All it takes is a little practice, and remembering that the plans aren't set in stone and can be rearranged.

guessrs

Way to go. Planning ahead is key.