Help me make a 7 Day Menu Plan!

The Eating Well site has meal plans...

Here's what I did a long time ago when I started as I too was on the endless search for the 7 day meal plan. "Just tell me what to eat and I'll eat it!" I ended up driving myself crazy so here was my plan.

Take out a sheet of paper and draw a chart with 5-6 columns and 4-6 rows (depending on how many meals per day you'll have).

Should look something like this (sorry can't format on here):

MEAL1 MEAL2 MEAL3 MEAL4 MEAL5
Breakfast
Snack
Lunch
Snack
Dinner
Snack


Come up with 4-5 meals for each of these that are healthy for you to eat. You can have the same thing everyday if you want but the more you come up with the easier it will be to stick with the plan. Use the database to create Recipes or Meals with the Ingredients of your choosing. Shoot for at least 2 of the primary macros in each meal (Carb, Protein, Fat).

For example, my Breakfast meals are as follows and I'll eat depending on what I want that day. It's always flexible to add something into the equation that you want. Most of these are in the 400-500 calorie range

MEAL1: 1 whole hard-boiled egg and 2 hard-boiled egg whites, 2 slice whole wheat bread, 1 slice low-fat cheese...if more hungry 1/2c Cottage Cheese or 1c fresh fruit or banana.

MEAL2: 1 whole egg, 2 egg whites w/ splash of milk for an omelet, 1 slice low-fat cheese (or 1oz feta), 1c peppers/onions/mushrooms/other veggie, etc. 1-2 slice whole wheat toast, 1 pad butter,

MEAL3: 1c fresh fruit, 1c cottage cheese/greek yogurt, etc.

MEAL4: 1c whole grain/high fiber cereal (such as Kashi Go Lean), 1/2c 1% milk, 1c fresh fruit, 1/2c cottage cheese/greek yogurt, etc.

MEAL5: 1c oatmeal, 1c fresh fruit, cottage cheese/creek yogurt


Repeat this process with each of the meals and you'll have an easy plan to follow. Without as much detail here are the others I use:

Snacks: Protein shake made with greek yogurt or milk + fresh frozen fruit; Cottage cheese, greek yogurt, fresh veggies and hummus, fresh fruit like an apple, orange, grapes or pear, nuts and an all natural PB and Jelly sandwich

Lunch: Deli sandwich with low-fat cheese, 1c fresh veggies; 1/2 deli sandwich with low-sodium veggie based soup; salad with protein and sometimes whole-wheat pita

Dinner: Protein + veggies + fat (i.e. olive oil); Depending where I am carb-wise and what meal I'm eating, I will add a Sweet potato, whole-grain pasta, whole-grain rice or quinoa to my dinner


Lastly, I try to pre-log on most days so that way I don't eat too much fruit in a day or have to many greek yogurts or cottage cheese, etc. It's never perfect and very flexible and easy enough to find a replacement if you find yourself not at home to make a meal.