meal planning - how you do it?

You can log your food ahead of time, makes it easy to see if you are running under/over before you eat.

I dont like "planned diets" where I am forced to eat only specific foods that I may or may not enjoy. For me is means sitting down on the weekend and figuring out what I have on hand and what is in the freezer . I do most of my cooking on the weekends and package everything up into single servings and freeze it, that way I can just take something out in the mornings and its thawed out by the time I get home from work, heat it up, add in some veggies and dinner is ready. After a while you have a nice variety to pick from.

I take a few minutes late in the week to plan dinner menus for the next week (I use a calendar on my computer) and use the plan to make a shopping list. I do a little shop early in the week to top up the produce and find that it really helps both in planning for MFP and in keeping the science experiments in the frig to a minimum. I've also started to have planned leftovers which I freeze for a day when there's no time to cook.

I had to start doing this even before I started my weight loss journey or my husband and I would bicker about what we were having every night! I go grocery shopping every weekend, so before I go I write a list of up to ten possible meals for the week and write my grocery list based off that. That list goes on my fridge and we decide on a meal first thing in the morning so I can defrost/prep whatever needs to be done to make that meal work for the day. I have a huge binder full of my favourite meals and i go through that to help with my meal choices. I love to cook, so i try and add one new recipe every week. I live a fairly busy life and plans can change from day to day so I can't force myself to sit down and write exactly what I'm going to eat on tuesday for example, but with the list, I find I don't over spend at the grocery store and it keeps me from eating high calorie unplanned meals that I then have to work out to justify eating.

I have some basics that are my 'typical' breakfasts and lunches dependent upon how much exercise is planned for the day. And I log everything at least one day in advance.

Also, when I know that a special event is going to happen I try to plan my cheat day around it (ie. Thanksgiving and Christmas. I know in advance that with family get togethers I won't be able plan my meals that are as healthy as I'd like so I'll make sure that I have light meals early in the day and hopefully it compensate for dinner with the family)

Hope this helps.

I've never planned in advance not even in a daily basis meal planning.
But this lack of plan makes me to eat whatever is at hand good or bad when I am hungry

How do you do this? Is there a way to enter the plan in myfitnesspal for the following days?

thanks

yes, I used to do this all the time. You can enter tomorrows food, add things and take things off until you get it within your calorie budget. It's a great way to plan your meals and stay on track. You can always delete and add things if you change your mind.

I am a little obsessive, I think. I buy a LOT of whatever is super duper cheap as far as meat, canned or frozen veg, canned tomatoes, etc. The pantry basics. We get a co-op produce basket every other week on Saturday. After we get the basket, I see what I can work in from the produce and the freezer and also what else we need for the week. We kind of have standards that I buy every week as needed, so things like eggbeaters for me, 7-grain cereal for Robert, light fruit flavored yogurt for him, ff plain yogurt for me, wheat Montana bread for either toast to go with the eggbeaters or sandwiches, etc. I also add to the list the things we are out of like spices, cooking spray, that kind of stuff. We kind of wing it for lunch (which is my breakfast meal) based upon what is leftovers or what other thigns sound good. I try to add some fruit for that meal or a snack. Whenever I cook a meal, we eat it for two days. If it is more than 4 servings, then we either freeze it for busy or forgot to get something out to thaw days, or Robert has it for lunch the next day(s). I hae to buy fresh produce in between baskets soimetimes, and then I buy whatever is great and on sale, or if we want something special, I get that once in a while. I was on a strawberry kick for weeks and weeks when they were in season and must've eaten my wight in those darn things.

We used to eat out a LOT. It is expensive and I make better food ;-0 Having a plan makes it really easy to cook good food and we almost never end up at the drive thru or pizza place if there's already something on the menu that we like. We don't eat stuff that is icky, or that we don't enjoy. It's a lot of work because I spend a good bit of time cutting produce, grinding chicken breasts for burgers, meatbalos or meatloaf, sausage, etc. but I work at home, so I can fit in the time. I think if I was working out of the house like I used to I would cook ahead on the weekends or prep everything in the crock pot the night before and put it in the fridge then cook it the next day. That takes some organization, but worth the effort once you get into the habit.

Just how I do it and some folks seem to do just fine grabbing a frozen meal or pre-cooked and cut chicken strips, etc. Lots of grocery stores have great salad bars and pre-cut veg, too. Also some of them have meat that is already prepped so you just have to cook it. If you have plenty of money, it's easy to just grab stove/oven ready components and do the cooking part at home and let someone else do the cutting and seasoning for you.

Lots of ways work; you just have to figure out your own best way!

Barb

I have diabetes 2 , so my husband and I pay attention to what we buy , and he likes to grill so almost every nite he makes the meat (on the grill) and I do the sides , usually veggies. On more than one occasion he has talked me out of a bad choice