weekly meal plans?

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kieran9810
kieran9810 Posts: 83 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been struggling with staying under my calorie limit recently, and thought I'd try weekly meal plans ( writing down a set plan for each day of what I'm going to eat and when) and was just wondering if anybody had any success doing this? I'm still planning on hitting my calorie goal, I just think it might work better for me if I have a structured plan of what I'm going to eat and when.

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  • smc0170
    smc0170 Posts: 56 Member
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    You could try something like E-Meals...there's a cost associated with it, but you can get full meal plans with shopping lists included. I've not done it, but I've heard good things. If nothing else you could use it as a base, then google around to find something similar for free.

    http://www.emeals.com/meal-plans/
  • RunHardBeStrong
    RunHardBeStrong Posts: 33,069 Member
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    That's the best way for me to stay on track. I sit down on Saturday make a plan, get groceries then on Sunday prep as much of it as possible. It does take about 2-3 hours out of my weekend but saves me about an hour every night during the week. The weeks that I don't do this I struggle to make the best choices, waste a lot more time cooking and take time from my workouts. And even when I do plan (which is most weeks) we don't always follow it to a T because life happens but it's still better for me than not doing it.
  • Calliope610
    Calliope610 Posts: 3,775 Member
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    Please don't do what this chick did...

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1222331-meal-plan-how-much-have-you-paid
  • danaberge
    danaberge Posts: 117 Member
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    I find that when I plan out my meals, it's less stressful to think about what i'm going to eat.

    What's working for me right now? Salads - every night. I shake it all up in a big ziplock. So, I can weigh and add whatever meat and seasoning I want... grill it up, bake it, sautee it.... put whatever veggies I want in there and low-calorie dressing.

    For lunch I have been struggling keeping my sodium down. But, I saw another thread and many people who lost 50+ lbs attribute planning and pre-logging to there success.

    GOod luck!!
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    Absolutely! Planning is a major key to success IMHO. Every Saturday morning, I go through my recipes to see what I'd like to make for dinners, think about what to pack for lunch and snacks and make my grocery list for the week. Sunday I do some prepping (doling yogurt and oatmeal into snack containers) so all I have to do is grab containers, 2 fruits and throw my sandwich together and I'm good to go!

    Also, it can help you avoid temptations. Say I've got chicken thawed in the fridge and Hubs wants pizza. I can put him off a day or two by saying I have food we don't want to waste and can take that day or two to plan my days to make room for a pizza indulgence. Sometimes putting him off totally takes care of it as he'll forget and just go with whatever I've got planned for the next few days.

    I'd also think about looking into crock pot meals of the like. Something you can throw together quickly and easily so being tired or not having time isn't an excuse to make a good meal.

    Good luck!
  • FaithfulJewel
    FaithfulJewel Posts: 177 Member
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    I personally know what I'm going to do for at least 1 meal a day (I only eat 2, plus "snacks") then the other meal/snacks are free reign.

    That way, I log that meal in advance, know how many calories I have to play with the rest of the day and stick to that planned meal like my life depends on it.

    It means you still have the freedom of "I really want a slice of toast right now", and you can have it, but you've already got a specific amount of calories used up for later so anything else is allowable (within your calorie limit).

    No way saying this is correct, but this certainly works for me!

    It also means you can do something a bit more calorie heavy for dinner, plan it in advance, then you'll just (hopefully) reduce the calories in that day's lunch/breakfast to compensate for the larger amount later.

    I also agree with Danaberge that knowing you've got a certain meal waiting means it's less stressful - and less chance of picking high calorie extras.
  • kcm105
    kcm105 Posts: 50 Member
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    I do meal plans every week. As someone else said, sometimes life happens and things don't go as planned here and there, but for the most part it helps me eat better and just as importantly, cheaper. If I don't do a meal plan we end up ordering out at least half the time. The other half we eat frozen pizza or something like it. It can be time consuming, especially if you cook for a family every night like I do, but once you get into the swing of things it's totally worth the time.
  • smc0170
    smc0170 Posts: 56 Member
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    My wife and I will bulk cook once a month...we make one huge trip to the grocery store and make 8-10 dinners and 5-6 breakfasts in one weekend. Most of the meals are either crock pot or in trays that you can pop in the oven. Also a few smaller meals that we put in microwave containers. If a meal is 6 servings, we will typically eat it twice, then I have 2 days of lunch leftovers (wife gets free meals at work).

    It eats up an entire Saturday, but it makes things much easier throughout the month to do that. Plus you can put it all into MFP right away for pre-planning purposes (which helps me with knowing my daily snack limits). That amount of food might be ambitious if you don't have a lot of freezer space, but even putting together 3-4 dinners at a time (doable with a small freezer) would give you 10-14 days of peace.

    Some good websites that we use when putting together meals:

    http://www.getcrocked.com
    http://www.budgetbytes.com
    http://www.reddit.com/r/slowcooking
    http://www.six-cents.com/2012/06/crockpot-freezer-cooking-101.html?m=1
    (This one has a grocery list if you make them all)
    http://www.amandathevirtuouswife.com/2012/10/all-my-freezer-meals.html
  • kieran9810
    kieran9810 Posts: 83 Member
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    Yeah, I'm not going to pay for meal plans, I'm just going to plan my week in advance so I know what i'm eating and don't have the temptation of 'I don't have time/I don't have this ingredient so I cant make this' etc, And I also think it'll help because i'll know in advance what food I need .. for example If i was going to have some grapes but I had non, I might get a sandwhich instead - But if I have it planned out I can make sure I have the grapes in, If that makes sense?
    Its worth a try at least for a few weeks to get me past this phase of struggling with my calorie limit.

    Thanks for all the suggestions :)
  • MelRC117
    MelRC117 Posts: 911 Member
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    Yeah, I'm not going to pay for meal plans, I'm just going to plan my week in advance so I know what i'm eating and don't have the temptation of 'I don't have time/I don't have this ingredient so I cant make this' etc, And I also think it'll help because i'll know in advance what food I need .. for example If i was going to have some grapes but I had non, I might get a sandwhich instead - But if I have it planned out I can make sure I have the grapes in, If that makes sense?
    Its worth a try at least for a few weeks to get me past this phase of struggling with my calorie limit.

    Thanks for all the suggestions :)

    I meal plan for my family so I have an idea of what to make for dinner instead of taking an hour to figure out what the heck to make. It helps with grocery shopping and it can help to take a look at the weekly flyer before going so you can meal plan based on what's on sale.
  • nomad1000
    nomad1000 Posts: 206 Member
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    I meal plan for dinners since both the H and I eat pretty much the same things for breakfast and lunch every day.

    I also do bulk cooking so I know what I have prepped and ready to go since it is in the freezer. Tonight is Citrus Ginger Sesame Chicken Breasts. The bulk cooking does take up a whole day but the lack of stress I know feel surrounding dinners is totally worth it.

    This week's menu:
    Su: Rosemary Balsamic Pork Chops, boiled red skim potatoes, salad
    Mon: Flatbread Pizzas
    Tue: Citrus Ginger Sesame Chicken Breasts, quinoa and salad
    Wed: Meatballs, WW pasta and homemade marinara sauce, steamed veggies, salad
    Thu: Spicy chicken quesedillas, raw veggies, salad
    Fri: leftovers
    Sat: TBD but probably steak, mashed potatoes, salad
  • FaithfulJewel
    FaithfulJewel Posts: 177 Member
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    Another thing is how long you want to be eating this stuff for.

    Most ingredients (packs of mince, chicken etc) that are prepacked come in enough for about 4 people, which if you're living on your own means you either have to freeze part of it prior to cooking (eliminating the ability to freeze it later due to circumstances), buy the more expensive smaller packs (often free range or extra mature or something) or eat the same thing for... well, 4 days.

    As some of the other commenters mentioned, prepping and freezing stuff in advance is good for a variety of reasons. I've also found that it means I can eat 1 serving today, separate the other 3 servings into a 1 and a 2, then freeze them. It stops overeating (major problem in my world), means you have a meal saved for another time that you can get out in the morning and is ready to reheat when you get home, and have a double serving for either yourself and a guest, or 2 lunches or something.

    Planning ahead can save you a lot in food costs when shopping too. If you need 5 onions, you know at the start of the week to buy about 5, often saving money with a bit of bulk buying.

    Just remember some stuff goes "off" quicker than others; I've found grapes and bananas don't last more than about 4 days, so I have to plan to eat those sooner in the week than the apples I buy for later on.
  • kenyainez
    kenyainez Posts: 222 Member
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    I find that when I plan out my meals, it's less stressful to think about what i'm going to eat.

    #real

    I find this statement to be VERY true.

    Here's what I do, it won't cost you money but it WILL cost you time!

    I looked at the daily menus of my favorite restaurants and I decided to make a healthier version of said meals. For Example:

    On Wednesday, the menu may say Spaghetti and Meatballs, so I'll remake that with Turkey Groud Meatballs, fresh tomato sauce, over spaghetti squash. Along with that, I just add other meals that I would eat throughout the day but I planned out my daily breakfasts, lunches and dinners first.

    As far as calorie and macro counting, I selected ALL of my meals in my food journal to get a count of everything I needed, copied it, pasted it in an excel sheet, and figured out the calorie and macro count for each day. By this time, I know what my additional meals are, the number of calories per meal and for the day along with the grams of sugar, sodium, fat, protien, and carbs.

    LIke I said, this does take time, but it is worth it. Hope this helps and best of luck! \o/
  • asiantaye
    asiantaye Posts: 26
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    I find that it works great. I meal plan on Sunday for the week. Leeaves me extra time during the weeek. Plus Im less likely to cheat if my meals are already planned,cooked and ready to pop in the microwave.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    That's pretty much what I did early on in my travails down this path to better health and wellness. For the longest time I pretty much did just daily shopping and ate whatever. Sitting down and planning out meals in advance not only saved my some $$$ on my grocery shopping, but it really helped me makes some really positive changes in RE to how I was eating. It also let me plan out more variety in my diet than just picking up some random fruit and veg or whatever and eating the same things day in and day out.

    I did that pretty stead fast for a few months until things just kind of became habit for me. I no longer sit down and plan out every single meal for the week, but I have a pretty good idea of what I'll be eating throughout the week so I still just make one shopping trip on Sat or Sun for everything I need. Occasionally I have to go pick something up during the week that I forgot or if I get that random wild hair to prepare something I wasn't really planning on, but that's pretty rare.

    It really helps to get you and keep you on track with things.
  • kieran9810
    kieran9810 Posts: 83 Member
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    Thanks for all the help guys, I just have another question; I've done a meal plan and planned out what im going to eat and when and how many calories it is, but im just wondering will my 'body' become used to the same meal plan if i use it all the time? ( I'm quite fussy about what I eat) but I mean in terms of like hitting a pleatua?

    I've also made it so that some days ill have 1940 calories, other days i'll have 1850 ( my goal is 1900 a day), Will this impact my weight loss? I thought it might be better than just having a set amount of calories everyday.

    Thanks for all the help guys! I've done so much better eating since i started this thread today because of sticking to my meal plan.

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