Need better meal planning ideas

alf1163

Hello challengers!!! I am starting to feel overwhelmed from all the food logging. This is what has caused me to keep losing the same 7-10lbs in the past 2 yrs. I need a better plan!!! I have read about people that eat the same thing every single day making logging easier. But I love variety!! Any tips? I have tried to plan the night before my meals for the next day, snacks etc but that is also taking up time in the evening when I can be spending it with family and resting.

hippie_spirit

I have tried something new this this week. logging makes my life all about food. this week i logged in the morning what i am having that day and then i'm done ... unless something changes. although i really like variety too, i need to make my life a little easier. (i have a son in high school and between school activities and the 2 soccer teams he plays on ... i am on the go a lot.) so in an attempt to simplify things ... i ate the same foods this week. next week i will plan a different week of food, but stick to that for the week. that way i am never thinking about what to have next and i'm not constantly logging. worked for me this week. i was too busy to really notice or care that i was eating the same foods everyday.
i took all my snacks and put them in 100 calorie portions in snack sized baggies. i put the baggies in a big bowl on my kitchen counter, that way, when it's snack time, i can just grab one and go.
if we fail to plan
we plan to fail
don't know if any of this helped you :flowerforyou:
make it a great day!

ChelseaSM

I find that if I plan a different meal each day, I fail and end up not eating, or eating junk. I usually meal plan on Saturday mornings for the upcoming week, grocery shop and meal prep on Sundays. I usually make two big batches of something (ie. soup, stew, chili, casserole, fajita fillings, salad toppings, meatloaf, etc.), and will cook up batches of grains (quinoa or brown/wild rice), enough for 1 cup a day (1/2 cup each meal). I also pick 3-4 snacks for the week, and stock up on those, changing them each week for variety. Lots of veggies and homemade dips, fruit, crackers, sometimes string cheese or a hot dip.

If there is something I am really craving, I will put it into the menu for the following week. This weekend I will be having breaded shrimp with that red sauce - I've been craving it all week! I'm busy with work and school right now, so I've been making an extra large batch of one thing and eating it for lunch and dinner. It does get boring, but it keeps me healthy, and I know I am eating it for only five days before I get something new!

Sat/Sun are days for different meals. Eggs or toast or w/e for breakfast instead of my smoothie, and a lunch/dinner that are a bit more labour intensive.

amccord2

ChelseaSM.... you are on the same track as my resources that I have been reading and gathering advice. Plan ahead and make it simple, in bulk, and repetitive. I posted a sample meal plan for the week on Wednesday, but I'm not sure if the link worked. Here it is again, but you may inbox me your e-mail address if you want me to send you a copy. If the link works, tell me what you think.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx6LyUGCQOGQNGQ1bWJMRzJMQ1E/edit?usp=sharing

alf1163

These are all excellent ideas!!!! Thank you so much to all of you!!! Do you pre weigh/pre measure the veggies and fruit once a week? or do you estimate it? For example, if I have a pear, not all weigh the same. I know the food log is not going to be 100% accurate but we don't want to under or over estimate. I am the anal type, yikes!!! All or nothing. :noway: :grumble: I did test this out the last 3 days, somewhat, and it was much faster to log in. I do love the idea of logging as I prepack my meals for the next day because I like to know if I am on target before I eat. When I first started on here I would log the foods after I ate and a lot of times ate more than I should have.

Have a great evening!! :flowerforyou:

ronitabur

I too packaged up baggies with snacks this week but mine were 200 calorie packs - a healthy Chex Mix - Wheat Chex, Mini Triscuits, Fiber One Original cereal, wasabi peas, pistachios, walnuts and freeze dried strawberries. Of course a little butter and all that stuff that's in the Chex Mix recipe to make the Wheat Chex and fiber one salty but it's so worth it!

I cooked a bunch of skinless chicken breast this week and each night added it to things like whole wheat pizza, Progresso Vegetable Light soup, salad, etc... Chicken is so flexible, that it just makes meal-making easy when it's on-hand and already cooked. Tonight it was Mexican style chicken & refried bean whole wheat pizza.

Angela, you expressed concern a couple days ago over me lowering my calories to 1200 per day. I do wear a heart rate monitor with a calorie counter and I always eat back my calories. So, on days that I exercise, I will typically eat 1500-1600 calories. This week, it appears that I will probably post more than a 2 pound loss, but I think that it is just the first week response to the reduction in calories. So next week, I'll monitor my weight daily, and if by mid-week I seem to be headed to more than 2 pounds of weight loss, then I'll raise my calories a bit. I did discuss this on Tuesday with my nutritionist (as part of my employer's wellness program) and she is fine with it, as long as I eat healthy, which I do. I eat very little junk when in weight-loss mode. Tonight, I am going to have buttered air-popped popcorn. A special treat! :drinker:

alf1163

That's awesome Roni!!! You are a pizza loving girl, aren't you?? :laugh: Do you make the crust or buy it? We normally grill or cook different meats on Sunday to eat during the week and that helps with dinner preparation. I would need to make sure I separate what I am having during the week so my husband and son don't eat it. :laugh: :flowerforyou:

ronitabur

These are all excellent ideas!!!! Thank you so much to all of you!!! Do you pre weigh/pre measure the veggies and fruit once a week? or do you estimate it? For example, if I have a pear, not all weigh the same. I know the food log is not going to be 100% accurate but we don't want to under or over estimate. I am the anal type, yikes!!! All or nothing. :noway: :grumble: I did test this out the last 3 days, somewhat, and it was much faster to log in. I do love the idea of logging as I prepack my meals for the next day because I like to know if I am on target before I eat. When I first started on here I would log the foods after I ate and a lot of times ate more than I should have.

Have a great evening!! :flowerforyou:

I am anal about logging all foods except fruits and vegetables. This way, I'm much more likely to eat fruit or veggies and honestly, the calorie difference is not that significant between a medium banana and a large banana. And, with leafy greens, I often don't even log it - I only log it so if I look back, I can see what I ate, but I definitely don't measure it - I just give it a quick guess. But other things like meats, cheese, nuts, oils, salad dressings, etc... - I am super anal.

I am jealous that you can eat pears. I'm allergic to all fruits that are related to birch trees (to which I am EXTREMELY allergic) which are in their raw state - Pears, apples, peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, cherries, and raw almonds and hazelnuts. If it's cooked, I can eat them as it changes the protein. I don't know why I'm telling you this other than I'm extremely envious. I miss these fruits so much! So, I say you should live in the moment, enjoy every second of the deliciousness not obsess about every single calorie! :bigsmile:

I too log my food before I eat it. I will often adjust my preparations if the calories in my planned meal are too high or in the other direction if I think I have room for a treat such as cheese, I'll whoop it up! I think logging before I eat is the biggest factor in my weight loss success.

alf1163

Wow Roni!!! I feel so sorry for you!!! :ohwell: I love all those fruits. You said you could eat them before. When did you become allergic to them? I lived in Germany for 6 yrs and while there I became allergic to shrimp. I hated it because I love shrimp! I couldn't even touch it to prepare it for my family. Then when I came back to the states I "tested" my allergy (kinda dangerous to do) and I can eat it here!!! I think it was the type of shrimp that is sold in Germany. :noway:

ronitabur

That's awesome Roni!!! You are a pizza loving girl, aren't you?? :laugh: Do you make the crust or buy it? We normally grill or cook different meats on Sunday to eat during the week and that helps with dinner preparation. I would need to make sure I separate what I am having during the week so my husband and son don't eat it. :laugh: :flowerforyou:

Yes, I do love pizza! But, I don't normally eat it this often. When I do, I buy thin crust 100% whole wheat pizza crusts from the grocery store and the crusts come in a two pack, so it's the base for 8 meals, getting 4 meals per crust. I understand having to separate the food out when you cook ahead in bulk. My husband is currently dieting so it's not really an issue, but when he's not dieting, he has a tendency to eat stuff up. I sometimes have to hide food in the vegetable drawer if I need it to last. :laugh:

alf1163

Regarding weighing/measuring fruits and veggies, I don't know girl but a pear or apple can add up some significant amount of calories, sometimes close to 200 and lots of carbs. Leafy greens not so much but by now I can pretty much estimate a cup of kale since I use it so much in my smoothies. :laugh:

alf1163

That's awesome Roni!!! You are a pizza loving girl, aren't you?? :laugh: Do you make the crust or buy it? We normally grill or cook different meats on Sunday to eat during the week and that helps with dinner preparation. I would need to make sure I separate what I am having during the week so my husband and son don't eat it. :laugh: :flowerforyou:

Yes, I do love pizza! But, I don't normally eat it this often. When I do, I buy thin crust 100% whole wheat pizza crusts from the grocery store and the crusts come in a two pack, so it's the base for 8 meals, getting 4 meals per crust. I understand having to separate the food out when you cook ahead in bulk. My husband is currently dieting so it's not really an issue, but when he's not dieting, he has a tendency to eat stuff up. I sometimes have to hide food in the vegetable drawer if I need it to last. :laugh:

ME TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :laugh: Although my husband hardly eats any of the healthy stuff I eat, even when he is dieting. LOL And my son is a cheese monster, we have to hide it but he can spot it a mile away. He is severely autistic but he is sooo sneaky. :noway:

ronitabur

Wow Roni!!! I feel so sorry for you!!! :ohwell: I love all those fruits. You said you could eat them before. When did you become allergic to them? I lived in Germany for 6 yrs and while there I became allergic to shrimp. I hated it because I love shrimp! I couldn't even touch it to prepare it for my family. Then when I came back to the states I "tested" my allergy (kinda dangerous to do) and I can eat it here!!! I think it was the type of shrimp that is sold in Germany. :noway:

We moved to where I'm at now, 15 years ago. I used to live in CA and had really bad spring allergies. We moved here and I had zero allergies. But, after a few years, the spring allergies came back. Just a few years ago, all the birch trees on our cabin property bloomed like crazy - there was yellow dust all over everything! That summer, I was eating a peach and my ears and throat started itching. So, I had some allergy testing done and discovered the Birch allergy, and then did some online research and discovered all the fruits that are related and I've since avoided them. Except, my research did not expose that raw almonds were on the list and I ate raw almonds one night with a glass of red wine. I ended up in the ER, thinking I was having a heart attack - the combination of the two caused extreme pain in my esophagus and I thought I was having a heart attack. Fortunately, the allergen cannot get into my blood stream, because when it hits my stomach, the acids "cook" it, changing the protein. So, it's not as dangerous as a shrimp allergy. My throat can swell up, so I do have to be careful, but Benadryl is all I need. Be careful with that shellfish allergy!

ronitabur

ME TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :laugh: Although my husband hardly eats any of the healthy stuff I eat, even when he is dieting. LOL And my son is a cheese monster, we have to hide it but he can spot it a mile away. He is severely autistic but he is sooo sneaky. :noway:

Sneaky... Haha! This makes me smile.

amccord2

Roni, now I see. You are lowering the net, which is not a problem at all in the way you described it. Too often I see people under eating (lower than their BMR), which I was guilty of at one time. This is how I ended up gaining almost ALL of my weight back and looking terrible (fat pockets & no tone). And, it was difficult to lose weight after a point. Now, I am sure to eat the right amount of calories for my body and burn through appropriate cardio + weight training. I think I'll post some resources that I use for that. Most people who only use MPF for calculating calories are under eating.

I too packaged up baggies with snacks this week but mine were 200 calorie packs - a healthy Chex Mix - Wheat Chex, Mini Triscuits, Fiber One Original cereal, wasabi peas, pistachios, walnuts and freeze dried strawberries. Of course a little butter and all that stuff that's in the Chex Mix recipe to make the Wheat Chex and fiber one salty but it's so worth it!

I cooked a bunch of skinless chicken breast this week and each night added it to things like whole wheat pizza, Progresso Vegetable Light soup, salad, etc... Chicken is so flexible, that it just makes meal-making easy when it's on-hand and already cooked. Tonight it was Mexican style chicken & refried bean whole wheat pizza.

Angela, you expressed concern a couple days ago over me lowering my calories to 1200 per day. I do wear a heart rate monitor with a calorie counter and I always eat back my calories. So, on days that I exercise, I will typically eat 1500-1600 calories. This week, it appears that I will probably post more than a 2 pound loss, but I think that it is just the first week response to the reduction in calories. So next week, I'll monitor my weight daily, and if by mid-week I seem to be headed to more than 2 pounds of weight loss, then I'll raise my calories a bit. I did discuss this on Tuesday with my nutritionist (as part of my employer's wellness program) and she is fine with it, as long as I eat healthy, which I do. I eat very little junk when in weight-loss mode. Tonight, I am going to have buttered air-popped popcorn. A special treat! :drinker:

amccord2

Annette, here is the recipe for a gluten & guilt free pizza, created by my nutrition and fitness "Goddess," Brenda Leigh Turner. You can find her YouTube channel, Lean Secrets. This pizza is amazing, and you two have made me crave it for dinner!!!

That's awesome Roni!!! You are a pizza loving girl, aren't you?? :laugh: Do you make the crust or buy it? We normally grill or cook different meats on Sunday to eat during the week and that helps with dinner preparation. I would need to make sure I separate what I am having during the week so my husband and son don't eat it. :laugh: :flowerforyou: