Struggling with Meal Planning

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lthornton1979
lthornton1979 Posts: 4 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I am having a really hard time with meal planning. I know from experience that they best way for me to lose weight is to plan out my meals for the week (plan the work, work the plan). This used to be pretty easy for me but now I'm struggling with it and I don't know why. It's like my brain just gives up - like writer's block but for meal planning.

I'm not sure what to do now. I've dug around online for meal planning calculators and can't seem to find what I need. They seem to be really generic, have terrible recipes, or don't account for fiber (which is important to me).

Any ideas where I can go to see meal planning that includes not just Protein, Fat, and Carbs but also Fiber and Sugar? Or where I can look to pay someone to meal plan for me? Or even ideas for breaking the mental block?

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  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,988 Member
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    Fiber is important to me too! I swapped out Sodium for Fiber in my diary settings: https://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

    I mostly use desktop - it's much easier to see macros.

    If I have a serving or two of berries and beans per day, between that and other smaller sources of fiber, I hit my fiber goal without thinking about it.

    I usually have a legume based dish going at all times. I make it for dinner for the four of us and my mother, brother, and I have it for lunches as well. Right now we have Brazilian Black Beans and a chicken and bean dip. Next up is split pea soup - that's a crazy amount of fiber! I have to be careful with portions, lol.

    For New Years Day we had Hoppin' John, a southern rice and beans dish. I also like Cuban rice and beans. And then there is Indian rice and beans (dal)...

    We also have baked beans, hot dogs, and brown bread from time to time.

    The Joy of Cooking has all of these recipes. (I just do baked beans and brown bread from a can these days.) If you don't have a copy, you can likely borrow one from your local library system.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,988 Member
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    ps: for meal planning, when I cooked for myself, I'd get 8 chicken thighs on Sunday and cook four of them one way and the other four another way, plus a starch and veg, and have them for lunches and dinners throughout the week. Friday I'd get takeout at lunch and have half for dinner. I'd also make up snacks like hard boiled eggs and have perishables like carrots, hummus, and cheese in the frig at work, and nuts in my desk.

    These days I am cooking for four, and one or two of them would balk at that much repetition. When I get the weekly supermarket flyers, I start planning around that. If see something on sale that is high calorie and fat, like fresh raviolis, I'll pair it with low calorie and fat chicken breast.

    I also ask my family for suggestions. My brother is best at that.

    I also get the Joy of Cooking "All About" series from the library. These have color pictures, and it is easier to get suggestions from my family from them.

    I'm not a vegetarian, but am always looking for new ways to cook plant-based dishes, so bought this:

    https://smile.amazon.com/Joy-Cooking-All-About-Vegetarian/dp/0743202090/

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    I think all of these recipes are in the big JOC, so I just get this from the library for inspiration at the start of Soup Season:

    https://smile.amazon.com/Joy-Cooking-About-Soups-Stews/dp/0743202104/

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