Has anyone had success with planning all food ahead of time?

HayleyDecember2012

Yes it really helped me the first time I was logging and dieting, I know how much work I have to do at the gym then!

Amberonamission

I log everything pretty early in the day. Some things like lunches, I will make a weeks worth to keep in the fridge. That I will log all at once. If I am having the same breakfast all week I log that too.

Dinners get planned early-ish. I have most stuff logged before noon. Then I just have to track nibbles. I give myself up to 500 calories for those.

I've been having much more success lately then I did before. It takes time to learn it.

floridapanthergirl

.I log in at breakfast time and then plan in and log the rest of the day. At that point, I know that I have the foods I need for the day and have a sketch of what's ahead. When I get home and after dinner, I go back and correct. Sometimes it just doesn't work out the way I had in mind (lunch with a friend comes up, I am not hungry when I get home and do a protein shake instead, there is room in my calories for a cookie). It helps me to stay focused and avoid emotional eating, especially at the end of the day when I am tired. I haven't tried more than one day at a time. I guess that is what works for me right now.

BCSMama

I also try to pre log in the morning when I can. As for meals though, my routine is to prepare at least 4 full meals for my family and me on Sundays to eat throughout the week. Then, I'll either enter them in the recipe builder, or if I have the nutritional information, I'll add it to "my foods". I find this has helped me tremendously by saving time, money and having something healthy and delicious ready to pop in the oven when I get home after a hectic day at work.

Prelogging in the morning has also helped me avoid having a ton of left over calories at the end of the day. At first, I was kind of afraid to eat my calories early in the day because I thought I wouldn't have enough left for the evening. So, I ended up being starving all day with too many to eat through at night. Now, I am able to keep myself satisfied throughout the day and know I will have plenty left in the evening for dinner and a snack.

Aradia_Silvermoon

Every morning I sit down and put in what I plan to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner...and my chai tea indulgence I HAVE to have this daily. Then I see how many calories are left for snacking. It has really helped me and keeps me on track! Right now I just finished inputing my meals and know I have aroun 400 calories for all the Christmas snacks surrounding me! I work at a hospital and patients bring in food to say thank you and the week is split up for a department to bring treats in on a certain day to celebrate so it is so hard to say no! But now that I know how many calories I have left today will really help me figure out which treat I want the most lol!

XXXMinnieXXX

I do this all the time and have had pretty good success. Small Things get altered but I mostly follow it x

XXXMinnieXXX

Every morning I sit down and put in what I plan to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner...and my chai tea indulgence I HAVE to have this daily. Then I see how many calories are left for snacking. It has really helped me and keeps me on track! Right now I just finished inputing my meals and know I have aroun 400 calories for all the Christmas snacks surrounding me! I work at a hospital and patients bring in food to say thank you and the week is split up for a department to bring treats in on a certain day to celebrate so it is so hard to say no! But now that I know how many calories I have left today will really help me figure out which treat I want the most lol!

Had my first chai latte a few weeks back. AMAZING! X

MissAnjy

I pre-log, but not a week at a time.
I log my entire day at breakfast, and then look back throughout the day to see what I should be eating.

fwharvey180

The phone "ap" helps me log my food and exercise. I also started the Paleo Eating Plan and not only did I start to lean me out, but the fat started to burn off a bit faster as well. I hope this helps and I wish you the best of luck!

branson101

I log my day in the morning. Sometimes I have to go back and change things but it helps me not only to stay on track but lets me know how many calories that I have to play with for snacks or if I need to walk at lunch or excercise more in the day to cover what I eat.

sarahharmintx

I prelog my day but never my week. I always figure out what I am going to cook for the week ahead of time but I dont log it. I find the planning ahead helps me immensely.

Calantorntain

I make my lunches ahead of time (here is this week's lunch: http://i.imgur.com/uV8Tt.jpg), and keep around healthy food that can be easily made for dinner (this week I have some already-cooked carrot lentil soup with quinoa, some baked spaghetti squash that is chilling in tubs and ready to be reheated, and a jar of meat pasta sauce for on top, and some raw broccoli that just needs to be cut and steamed, and some asian sauces to put on top, and some frozen dumplings to steam and eat as a side. As you can see, all three meal options are pretty healthy, and eating it ranges from very easy to pretty easy.)

This makes getting fast food/takeout/pizza/a bag of chips a lot less worth it. Why go get convenience food, when I've already got very convenient food?

PrincessNikkiBoo

I do this when I can I prefer it - especially work days.

Litlbeast

I used to never do this, then I read threads about it, and now I do it most of the time.

I play a bunch of video games, strategy-based. My daily food/exercise diary is just like one of those games, testing out different meals and foods and workouts in order to a) keep a slight deficit to lose but not undereat b) keep my workouts fresh so I don't get bored. It's all pieces of a puzzle and the reward is the final number.

So planning ahead is working for me. And if there's a change in the day unexpectedly (rain when I wanted to go jogging, or suddenly the kids want McDonald's and I decide to treat them) I roll w/ it and change the diary.

newcs

I do this to a degree but more on a daily basis. But you could say I kind of do it on a weekly basis since I grocery shop once a week and most of what I eat comes from that.

I found the most success with taking a lunch bag (I use the lock&lock ones after a spilled milk incident) and packing my day of food into that. Then I only eat from that bag (I take some things out to put in the fridge but if it wasn't in that bag in the morning, I don't eat it). I do this for my breakfast, lunch and all snacks up until 6:30pm. It's become second nature now. I had to struggle to then stay on track at night but now that's become mostly easy too. It also makes sure that I have a reasonable number of calories left by 6:30pm to reduce my chances of a late night sabotage.

SarahofTwins

At first I've had to log my foods as I went because I know from past experience I would try to sneak in foods. After learning self control and discipline I log my food for the day and make sure to eat accordingly. Its about personal preference because we all live different schedules, some busier than others.

Gramps251

I pre-log daily and TRY to batch cook on my off days for the entire week. This approach seems to work for me.

This is what I do. Once I have protein, grains (oatmeal) and veggies ready for the week I can build my daily meals out of the preped food.

MyM0wM0w

I prelog a week to 10 days in advance. I live in a pretty controlled environment, meaning that I live alone and rarely eat out. I only shop once a week this time of year (mostly frozen veggies) so it's easy to prelog, write my shopping list, and be done with it.

I'm a pretty big control freak so it really helps me to plan. I'll decide what kind of food I'm in the mood for.... american comfort food, mexican, italian, or whatever and make my menu to that.

I start out with lunch and dinner then add the breakfast I'm in the mood for (right now I'm on a yogurt/granola kick). Then I see what I need in my macros. Need more protein? Add some hardboiled eggs/deviled eggs as snacks. Need a few more carbs? Peanut butter on a wasa or add some evening popcorn in... etc.

It kind of makes me dread the holidays away from home where I'll have no control over what others are cooking..... eeep......

nerchk

i almost quit today, i think im going to quit for a while, i will keep on login what makes m happy. my workouts

seansquared

I do the following:

** Eat the same breakfast 7 days a week
** Eat the same lunch 6 days a week; either Saturday or Sunday is unplanned as a cheat meal that does not fit within my calorie goals but it does fit in with my body recomp goals - that is to say that it is typically a "carb up" or refuel after a week-long deficit and 4-day-a-week heavy exercise
** Eat the same dinner 5 days a week; both Saturday and Sunday evening I eat something else but it still fits within my goals

I also prepare my 6 days of lunch ahead of time, every Sunday afternoon (or evening if I was hanging out with buddies for lunch). This way I just grab-and-go during the week.

I do not pre-log any intake as I want to make sure I use the app or the site here actively. That's personal choice - to use this site as a motivator - it isn't meant at or against any one else.