Meal planning and macros

jelleigh

I'm heading on vacation next week and my husband and i have viewed to begin a dedicated long term change to our eating habits on return. Since we are busy, i want to meal plan and bulk cook so that it's easy. I plan to weigh everything and label the meal containers with the nutritional info.
So I'm trying to wrap my brain around how to effectively menu plan for our nutritional needs for a week . is there an easy way to do this other than literally logging in each and every item, then doing the math on how tio combine the foods to hit the macros? Is there a general rule of thumb that can be a template? (I don't know- like 5 oz protein, x oz veg, x ounces carb?) I know i will still need to weigh things but I'm trying to figure out how to group the food ahead of time in a balanced way . what's your trick to make things easier?

lemurcat2

Are you using the MFP macros?

I just have the same few breakfasts (although I use different vegetables or fruits), and then for lunch and dinner tend to plan around a source of protein, some vegetables, and some other food (starch, fruit). If it's a particularly lean source of protein I may add something else with some fat, and I'll use fat in cooking. It seems to work out for the most part, although the only macro I really focus on is protein.

Hope that helps and is not too vague.

There's really no rule of thumb, you just kind of get used to different combinations and how they are likely to come out over time.

The Eatthismuch website might help you get a sense of it since it will meal plan based on specific calories, macros, and diet preferences.

martaindale

I meal plan every meal, snack, and dessert for 6 days a week. I don't specifically track macros, but aim for a calorie count each day. For me, the macros usually balance out ok the few times I have checked them. I actually created a menu template as a word document with the days of the week along the left and columns for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, and dessert. As I select my meals for the week I fill the menu out and date it. That way I can create several at a time when I am on a roll.
My breakfast tends to be the same each day for any given week with minor variations (overnight oats may be 3 different flavors, etc - but I have oats each morning). For lunch and dinner, I make 3 different entrees that are all about the same calorie count and rotate them for lunch and dinner. It keeps me from feeling like I am eating the same thing everyday. Snack and dessert also tends to be the same each day. I leave a calorie buffer that I usually fill with varying amounts of fruit each day either at breakfast or snack to account for slight variability in the calorie counts of each entree. But I stick to 1-2 types of fruit each week to cut down waste and shopping cost. So maybe grapes and strawberries once week, bananas another, etc.
Each week I usually have a salad, something I cook on either a single sheet pan or in a slow cooker, and maybe 1 that requires any hand-on cooking. I can do a weeks worth of cooking in about 3 hours at most while not working at a frenetic pace. I also tend to stick to 1-2 proteins a week. So if I use chicken for 1 entree, I will find at least one other meal that also uses chicken. Same for unusual ingredients. For example, if you need adobo sauce for something, find another recipe that uses the red pepper in the can to cut down on waste and cost.
I love recipes from a recipe/fitness blog called Peanut Butter and Fitness. She does meal prep recipes that usually make 4-6 servings per recipe. She is a macro counter, so that may be really helpful for you and when I have double checked her calorie counts, they have all been good. She also creates barcodes on her site that you can scan with your phone and it will log it directly into MFP for you!
I also use pinterest as a place to collect recipes I come across that work for meal prep. If you find a recipe you like, do the number crunching for calories and macros and edit your entry to save that info along with any modifications you make to achieve those numbers so that when you scroll through your recipes you have accurate info and you aren't doing the same work multiple times.
Then, I save my menus. I scratch out things I didn't like. Once you have a couple months worth of menus, you can just recycle or easily mix and match recipes you really liked and the weekly menu prep becomes really fast. Shop on Saturday, prep on Sunday and I am good to go for the week.
Every now and then I do a double prep and freeze 1 week if I know I won't have time in an upcoming week to prep. Usually I use soups, breakfast sandwiches, burritos, chili, stuff like that. I pre-portion it out into deli containers and label it before putting it into the freezer.
WOW, that was long. Sorry for the wall of text! So much info.

Panini911

you can look at marcos over a few days as well not just daily. so if you end up low on say protein one day just try to keep that in mind and eat a bit higher protein the next day. The clock doesn't reset at midnight.

Another options is to log your meals in the morning-night before and see where you are "out" and use snacks to cover that (ex: if meals lower in protein, pick snacks that are mostly protein). Eventually you know what meals are lower in protein or fat and can just ad hoc without having to pre-log what your snack should be.

I have a narrow rotation of breakfast and dinner and some snack options that can cover heavier protein or fat depending what I need. So based on dinner i can just pick the snack that works better for overall macro. (Ex: having a lentil curry for dinner i may opt for snacks that are higher in protein like jerky and greek yogurt...but not at the same time ).

I also don't loook TOO in depth in macros. I sorta glance at protein and fat sometimes i look at sugar but that isn't usually an issue for me.

amy19355

I am a meal prep nerd.

My most frequent meal made in advance is 4oz of chicken with 1 cup of beans.

There are almost always 10 jars of this in my freezer.

It’s a known number of calorie and macro components, making it easy for me to add what ever is needed to balance out the whole meal. And it is in my frequent foods list so it’s easy to log.

bigbandjohn

Breakfast is probably the easiest meal to plan around. Pre-made breakfast burritos, Muffins, overnight oatmeal, etc.... If you both work, taking one day to plan and make the core of your dinners may be helpful. Every couple weekends I try to make a few dishes to have in the house. Much I use for lunches and freeze them. Put in microwave-safe dish and reheat at work.

There are some things that are always made fresh. Salad and veggies usually fit that. Also "Slab-o-meat" if you like meat. Still, you can marinate the meat over a couple days. Have it seasoned and marinating for when you want to have. Make enough that you can cut up leftovers and make a wrap for lunch the next day.

jelleigh

lemurcat2 wrote: »

Are you using the MFP macros?

The Eatthismuch website might help you get a sense of it since it will meal plan based on specific calories, macros, and diet preferences.

Thanks! I've never heard of this website before. I've signed up and will give it a try.

@martaindale Peanut butter fitness sounds great! Love that you can scan directly into MFP

Also i like the idea of having set meal sizes and then just filling the gaps with snacks. Makes it a bit easier and i like easier!

tinkerbellang83

This might help...

Deviette

Honestly, just run a few meals and see how it comes out. Generally the only thing that people struggle with is getting a minimum amount of protein. However, if you're the type of meal planner that plans a meal around the protein, then you should probably be able to hit a minimum of 0.8g per kg of body weight (minimum recommended by WHO), although it would be better to aim for 1-1.2g per kg of body weight. If you're looking to build muscle, this should be much greater, but as your aim is to lose weight, then that should be fine.


The thing is that macros aren't really that important except for personal preference. Most people find it easy to get the minimum fat, and protein can be a struggle (I know I do), but is normally not too difficult to add in as long as you are mindful that you should be getting at least some protein for every meal. Other than that the balance really doesn't matter unless it's a way you prefer eating, and that'll be something that you'll have to play around with yourself and will take some time to work out what's best for you.