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MyFitnessPal Community

Do you have a set list of meals that you choose from each day?

anxietyfairy

My sister made herself a list of meals she could have with the appropriate macros of say, six different things for breakfast and lunch.

Do you do this, and has it been helpful for you?

I'm thinking of doing this but I need to figure out how much protein and fibre should be in each meal and what foods to put together to meet my needs.

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Replies

yirara

My breakfast tends to be pretty much the same: oats with skyr, raisins and whatever fruit I have. My lunch and everything inbetween is also fairly the same, in the sense that it's bread with whatever I have at home, a cheese snack and various fruits and veg to snack from. Dinner is usually the same for 2-3 days, or I freeze a portion and eat it later. But anyway, dinner is always different, having a choice of over 100 cookbooks and some more go-to recipes to chose from. After logging for a while the right amount of calories is fairly easy to estimate. If I'm still lacking protein then I might add a shake at the end of the day. I just assume I get enough fiber from all the fruit and veg that I eat.

nossmf

I voted "sometimes" and here's what I mean:

Each week I plan out the entire week's dinners, taking into account work/school schedules, doing my best to keep a variety going to prevent getting bored with a given meal. (I keep an Excel spreadsheet with a list of about 50 meals the family eats, so most meals are eaten at most once a month, often every other month.)

Each day I pre-load my expected food for the next day. (Today is Thursday, so I am actively looking at Friday's diary.) After I load my dinner (already scheduled) and breakfast (which never changes), I take a look at how many calories I have left for the day, if I'm a little light on protein, etc. From there I can now plan what my lunch is going to be…a smaller lunch on big-dinner day, a high-protein lunch if dinner is a little light, etc.

I'm not going to make every day perfectly match my "ideal" totals of calories and protein, and that's ok. A single off day is not going to ruin my progress, no more than a single great day was able to make me instantly healthy back when I was obese. The long-term average is far more important than a single day; MFP can show you the week's average. But with practice, I can make most days pretty close.

Of course, planning and life do not always exactly match. (gasp!) Just last night my family opted to change our dinner plan from an indoor meal to an outdoor BBQ to take advantage of the weather. I found this out after I got home (long after lunch was eaten). Fine, new dinner it is!

If it helps you to figure out a menu of meals, all of which are about the same calories and macro content, so you can on the fly roll a dice and get a random one to eat…more power to you! (I work an hour+ commute from home, so spontaneous changes in lunch is not an option.)

I just caution you to not let the pursuit of perfection get in the way of the pursuit of enjoying life.

AnnPT77

I don't look at macro goals as an exact formula.

I have a protein minimum and a fats minimum, because those macros contain essential nutrients we need to eat for best health. Pretty close daily for those on the majority of days is fine for me, and over is also fine.

People who are diabetic or insulin resistant may need to manage carbs carefully, but that doesn't apply to me. I don't care how many carbs I eat, as long as calories come out close to where I want them, and I get my protein/fats minimums plus reasonable micronutrients.

I'd probably have a fiber minimum technically speaking, but I love my veggies and fruits so much, and find them so helpful for micronutrient goals besides, that I get way over a rational fiber minimum without paying any attention to that total.

If planning meals in a structured way, like having a rotation of a few that help you meet goals, is something that works well for you, it can be a great strategy. Because of my impulsive, hedonistic personality type, it's not an appealing strategy for me in the slightest, so I don't do it. I didn't do it during loss, don't do it during maintenance. I don't even pre-plan/pre-log days, though that's a great strategy for what seems like a majority of people here, based on posts. I can hit my personal goals without that pre-plan/pre-log strategy, and wouldn't enjoy it, so I don't do it.

Figuring out what works best for ourselves as an individual - personalization - is a key success factor, IMO.

I can understand asking others what they do and how they do it to get ideas to try, so I'm not criticizing your post.

Corina1143

Yes, but not for the reasons you stated.

I'm a lazy cook, so I have a list of meals I like that are easy, no cook or I can almost make in my sleep. Keeps me out of the fast food drive thru.

My only set minimum is protein. My favorite food group is protein. Pretty easy.

My nighttime snack is usually fruit with either cottage cheese or yogurt and fiber cereal. Makes it pretty easy to make sure I hit minimums.