Need Help Meal Planning For One

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Hey everyone!

I've been going strong on a calorie restricted diet for the past 5 months, and have lost close to 30 pounds! I'm feeling a lot better, but now I need to get even more serious and focused to keep losing and getting toned. The problem is that I live by myself, and have a hard time planning healthy meals without either wasting a lot of food or eating the same thing over and over again.

I need some tips and tools to plan all my meals of the day. I also want to stop eating out for lunch and start brown bagging it so that I can save money.

I still have about 40 lbs to lose, and I want to start including more exercise in my daily routine. I am 25 y/o, male, 6'1", and currently weigh 220. Does anyone have a good food schedule I can follow, or at least help me plan it out?

Replies

  • cjs3001
    cjs3001 Posts: 273 Member
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    If you've got a bit of spare time could you not batch make a few things? Chillis, pasta sauces and things like that? I know you dont want to get stuck with a load of samey things but in our house we have chilli with baked sweet potatoes/sweet potato mash, rice and as a dish in a bit of a Mexican feast so if uou find something versatile or easily tweakable it might work. Soup is also a good one, I tend to see what's reduced and just boil it all up. You can add different spices and stuff to make it a bit more interesting.

    Best of luck :smile:
  • HartJames
    HartJames Posts: 789 Member
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    I plan 3 dinners, lunches & breakfasts as each will repeat twice, throw together whatever on last day of what's left. I also plan 2 snack a day from 4 items (ie: yogurt, nuts, fruit, cheese).

    I make chicken Sun/Wed (4 breasts each time). Making a few days worth of my Protien/meat helps a lot.
  • cmeiron
    cmeiron Posts: 1,599 Member
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    Keep making batches of food like others have suggested, have one serving and maybe keep one more out for a dinner/lunch for the week, then freeze what you're not going to eat into single meal portions. Do this with a bunch of different dishes and soon you'll have a freezer stocked with no-fuss, healthy meals that you can rotate through to avoid boredom. I try to feed my freezer with a few new things every week; there are only 2 in our house but we usually cook for 4-8, so we have leftovers AND freezer stock.
  • carriempls
    carriempls Posts: 326 Member
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    I lived alone for about 10-12 years.

    If you make a few things on the weekend you don't have to have the same thing all week. Chilis and soups I would measure out into one serving portion into a ziplock bag and pile them in my freezer - they'll keep for months if needed. Then you can rotate stuff so you're not eating the same lunch every day. You can do that with lots of dishes.

    I also got really good at modifying recipes for one or two servings. This works especially well for stir fries (which is a staple of my diet).
  • BarackMeLikeAHurricane
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    I usually find myself cooking my own food as well as my boyfriend's meals (I need to lose, he needs to gain so different meals are required). I make a lot of veggie wraps for myself because it's healthy, yummy and easily prepared. I just throw some lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, and onions on a wrap and roll it up (I'm vegan so I don't add anything else but you can add meat/cheese/whatever).
    Oatmeal is good because it's very versatile. Buy plain oats and then add whatever you want. I add protein powder, flax, cinnamon, and splenda but you could also add fruit, maple syrup, brown sugar, honey, milk, etc. Salads are another thing you can just throw together in a few minutes. Tons of vegetables can be very quickly and easily prepared. Mashed turnips mixed with mashed potatoes, spinach or green beans cooked in olive oil, carrots baked with brown sugar, etc. are all pretty quick and easy.
  • Smorsb
    Smorsb Posts: 104 Member
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    I cook on Sundays and freeze what I can for the rest of the week. Chili, soup, and stir fry freeze well and then there is a variety to choose from.
  • jessmart83
    jessmart83 Posts: 283 Member
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    I usually cook for myself, since my bf usually refuses to eat "healthy". Although I do sneak in healthy items in his food too. Like others I freeze my leftovers so I have a quick easy meal when I am short on time. Freezers are a life saver!
  • Firestar98
    Firestar98 Posts: 30 Member
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    I have zero portion control, so if I make more than one meal I'll inevitably eat both "meals" on the same evening. Rather than buying "in bulk" I purchase products that are pre-packaged to roughly the right size, then make one of those each evening.

    My daily calorie intake is proportioned at around 110 for breakfast, ~400 for lunch, then the remainder (~900) for dinner. Sams Club has pork and turkey tenderloins in 3lb packages that are already split up--typically about 1.5 lbs per package. You buy a package of two for around $14, so it's $7/meal (which is fine for me, but being budget-conscious may make this recommendation unusable.) I open one package, place the contents on a rack with an aluminum foil-covered pan underneath, place it in the oven for the required amount of time and consume the meal. Makes it VERY easy to eat proper portions!
  • Ready2Serve
    Ready2Serve Posts: 113 Member
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    I cook all of my meat (Except Fish) on the weekends. I will do like 10 pounds of chick on the grill then I vaccuum seal them in induvisual servings and freeze them. That way you always have alot of choices. Then you just have to fix you a vegitable to go with it.
  • MightyDomo
    MightyDomo Posts: 1,265 Member
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    Keeping certain 'favored' staples while cycling other foods through your house is the best method.

    I love turkey and beef and all kinds of fruit so I cycle what fruit I eat and use and keep beef and turkey as the main meats of my dishes. I can do a my 'turkey lurky dinner' which is ground turkey browned with mixed vegetables (green giant frozen) with 1/3 cup cooked brown rice (used salt reduced beef broth or veggie broth instead of butter and salt). It's simple, you can easily switch out the veggies that you use for something else and you can even add different seasonings to the ground turkey if you want a little more flavor. Super simple.
  • krickeyuu
    krickeyuu Posts: 344 Member
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    Buy a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken, 2 lbs of 90% lean ground beef, a dozen eggs, 1-2 5oz. pieces of fish (I like salmon and Swai), a lb of bacon and a few cans of tuna. Cook 1 lb of ground beef with onion and garlc to use in tacos or pasta sauce. Make the rest into patties.
    Hard boil 6 of the eggs.
    Bread and tortillas.
    Fresh or frozen veggies,fresh and canned fruit.
    Dry pasta, precooked rice and/ or quinoa.
    Milk, cottage cheese, low-fat cheddar and jack, parmesan cheese and greek yogurt.
    Salad mix and salad dressing.
    A box or two of granola bars, some high fiber cereal and oatmeal.
    Pantry staples like canned beans, pasta sauce, soup.

    These thinks can be combined in myriad ways to create lots of delicious low-calorie dishes/meals.
  • slyjoker87
    slyjoker87 Posts: 4 Member
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    I like these ideas. The hard part is getting disciplined enough to do it every week (i.e. spending a few hours prepping everthing ahead of time on Sunday).

    I've never been much of a breakfast guy, but I feel like I need to start off with a better meal. Anyone recommend a good and easy way to start off the day? I'm thinking some type of granola bar and some fruit maybe.
  • mmddwechanged
    mmddwechanged Posts: 1,687 Member
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    If you like the idea of making batches of food ahead of time google OAMC for ideas.
  • slyjoker87
    slyjoker87 Posts: 4 Member
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    So went out and I'm starting with something simple:

    Breakfast:

    1 Fiber one bar
    1 Centrum Vitamin

    Lunch

    1 Chobani Yogurt
    1 Turkey and PepperJack cheese sandwich on rye bread

    Dinner:

    Not sure yet. I'll figure that out tomorrow.


    So at least for now I am trying to get back on track of stability and progress. I'm also looking into incorporating exercise 3-5 days a week to burn more calories and build tone.