Meal Planning for Weight Loss. Advice please.

I know this sounds trite, but keep in mind that one person's idea of obsession is another person's idea of dedication. You are trying to ingrain new habits, so a little obsession is a good thing.

I know this sounds trite, but keep in mind that one person's idea of obsession is another person's idea of dedication. You are trying to ingrain new habits, so a little obsession is a good thing.

Brilliant! I completely agree, sometimes I feel obsessive, but I know it's just pure dedication to the task

I usually cook a bunch of meals on sunday, so I have an idea of what I'm eating that week. I either fill out my diary the night before and then pack my lunch, or that morning. If I know I'm going out for dinner, I decide what I'm having beforehand, plug it in here so I know how many calories I have to cut back (or exercise) to stay at daily goal. If I just entered what I ate after eating it without any planning I would probably go over my calories every day.

So do you have a particular list of meals you cook (so you know calories etc per serve) ?

I will sometimes cook on the weekend a large pot of soup or something similar, figure out the calories and # of servings, and then eat that every day for lunch till it's gone so that I always know what to log. Keep it in one big container in the fridge and weigh out each day's portion before reheating. I have homemade yogurt with frozen berries and almonds pretty much every morning. Some say that's boring, however, I like and in fact prefer it! Dinners are always something different but I try to have that planned and logged by the time I'm finished eating breakfast every day so that I know how many calories I have to "play with" in the middle of the day.

I usually cook a bunch of meals on sunday, so I have an idea of what I'm eating that week. I either fill out my diary the night before and then pack my lunch, or that morning. If I know I'm going out for dinner, I decide what I'm having beforehand, plug it in here so I know how many calories I have to cut back (or exercise) to stay at daily goal. If I just entered what I ate after eating it without any planning I would probably go over my calories every day.

So do you have a particular list of meals you cook (so you know calories etc per serve) ?

I will sometimes cook on the weekend a large pot of soup or something similar, figure out the calories and # of servings, and then eat that every day for lunch till it's gone so that I always know what to log. Keep it in one big container in the fridge and weigh out each day's portion before reheating. I have homemade yogurt with frozen berries and almonds pretty much every morning. Some say that's boring, however, I like and in fact prefer it! Dinners are always something different but I try to have that planned and logged by the time I'm finished eating breakfast every day so that I know how many calories I have to "play with" in the middle of the day.

I find recipes on Fridays, create recipes in MFP, and adjust the serving size once the meal is made and I can decide how much I will eat in a serving. For instance, if I make a casserole or soup, I will divide it into individual containers, so if i have 6 containers when I finish, it is 6 servings. When I eat a meal, I log one serving of that recipe.

Check out Skinnytaste.com, OP. You can browse recipes and save them in a recipe box, and then generate a shopping list. She's got a ton of great recipes in many categories.

Edit: I should add that you'll have to manually enter the recipes in MFP.

Hey, I had this problem and tried so many things. Different things work for different people and I was lucky enough to find one that worked for me. I lost 18 pounds in one month without much exercise and it's been a life changer. I'm a little embarrased to post my before and after photos here but if anyone actually cares to hear what I've been doing then I'd be happy to help in any way. Just shoot me an email at rebecca.brookes.32(at)gmail.com and I'll show you my before and after photos, and tell you about how things are going for me with the stuff I've tried. I wish someone would have helped me out when I was struggling to find a solution so if I can help you then it would make my day.

I do it as soon as I get up in the morning. I just sort of take a general look at what I have in the kitchen, then I sit down at the computer and take 10-15 minutes to plan my food for the day. I feel it helps IMMENSELY. I haven't binged at all since I started back with MFP. I know if I just started logging as I eat, I'd go way over in calories. It's almost like a game to me.

This is exactly what I do, too. Except I HAVE binged since starting back with MFP. I am pretty good during the week days and I cut myself some slack on Friday and Saturday evenings. Both of those days, I still log food generally, and breakfast/lunch is always healthy. It's just the later hours that are very much not. I still get my workouts in, etc.

There are a lot of ways to do it, and it's about finding out what works for you. I didn't want to be obsessed with logging, either, but I feel that I think about it less if I pre-log everything. I know right now that I have about 300-400 calories to play around with in the afternoon/evening today after logging my breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, so I still have some flexibility if I end up wanting dessert or a glass of wine later. It works best for me. If I try to log as I go along through the day, I find it a lot more challenging. After all, by the time I'm going in to see if something will fit, I will already have decided that that's what I want to eat. So if it doesn't fit, I either have to eat less of it or find something else. It's easier, mentally, to have it all laid out at the beginning of the day.

Good luck!