Preplan or just wing it ?

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myfatass78
myfatass78 Posts: 411 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Just curious how many people actually plan their whole food day ahead of time or like me, just go with it ?
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  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    I pre-log every morning.
  • MLLeFever
    MLLeFever Posts: 25 Member
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    Plan the day before if at all possible. If I know I'm going out for dinner, I try and save about 900 calories for that night.
  • Blueseraphchaos
    Blueseraphchaos Posts: 843 Member
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    I loosely pre-log so i have a general idea, but I'm open to change as well. Lol
  • karendellovo5964
    karendellovo5964 Posts: 4 Member
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    I sometimes will do the day before to make sure I have enough calories to have pizza for dinner or to see if I should do some extra cardio!
  • Laurend224
    Laurend224 Posts: 1,748 Member
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    I generally pre log breakfast and lunch. Dinner is usually a new recipe creation, so I use the recipe builder as I'm cooking to figure out how much to eat. I always, always, log before I put food in my mouth, though.
  • successgal1
    successgal1 Posts: 996 Member
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    I plan, in fact I cook ahead, but I'm also open to winging it if the time comes. I know how to make healthy choices now and what a real portion is if I end up eating something unplanned. But for the most part I have a few options for breakfast, snacks, lunch at the ready. Dinner can be an open ? but like I said, no matter what I know my portions.
  • higgins8283801
    higgins8283801 Posts: 844 Member
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    I prelog, and tweak as needed.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    I pre-log on Sundays for the week. I use it to plan my grocery list, too, since I grocery shop on Sundays. And I'll often cook some stuff ahead and portion it out, since I have more time on weekends.

    Things change and life happens, of course. If I change what I eat during the week, I just change it in my log. But it saves a lot of time and a lot of standing in front of the fridge wondering what to eat. I also find myself looking forward to my planned meals and treats more, since anticipation is half the fun.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
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    I go with it. But I eat the same thing a lot and have an idea what kind of meal will be X amount of calories, and most importantly-how much I will have left for dessert.
  • TheVirgoddess
    TheVirgoddess Posts: 4,535 Member
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    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    I pre-log every morning.

    Yep. I feel like doing this makes it easier to meet my macros.
  • snowy0wl
    snowy0wl Posts: 179 Member
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    I strongly believe in calorie counting with the proper macro nutrients and with MFP its a lot easier.. however I would say that I beginning to forecast ahead what I will eat but I don't know if that will work long term. I have friends who will want to try going off modern grains so that will change what they eat and definately have to plan ahead for that untill it becomes 'normal'.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
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    segacs wrote: »
    I pre-log on Sundays for the week. I use it to plan my grocery list, too, since I grocery shop on Sundays. And I'll often cook some stuff ahead and portion it out, since I have more time on weekends.

    Things change and life happens, of course. If I change what I eat during the week, I just change it in my log. But it saves a lot of time and a lot of standing in front of the fridge wondering what to eat. I also find myself looking forward to my planned meals and treats more, since anticipation is half the fun.

    This. And it definitely helps when I'm headed to a restaurant to check the nutrition because I can make more informed decisions.
  • Lasmartchika
    Lasmartchika Posts: 3,440 Member
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    Monday thru Friday I pre-plan mostly cuz I'm the one cooking all meals anyways for my BF and me. But on the weekends... I'll wing it, mostly cuz he'll want to cook or we'll go out, or whatever... so anything I would pre-plan would get changed anyways. :laugh: But when that happens, it's not like I'll eat some super huge portions anyways. I'll pretty much stay within my daily calories.
  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
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    Definitely pre-log lunch. I log breakfast, then fix lunch, and never know what I might have for dinner.
  • SingRunTing
    SingRunTing Posts: 2,604 Member
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    I don't pre-log. I log before I consume to make sure it fits (meaning it goes into my phone before any food goes into my mouth, and I adjust the portions according to my needs), but I don't log the whole day in the morning like some people do.

    However, I stick to the approximately the same calories for each meal. I eat 1650 a day. I have 250-300 for breakfast, 400 - 500 for lunch, ~ 600 for supper, and the rest in snacks for the evening. Each meal is relatively balanced in macros and I make up for the rest in my later evening snacking (like if I'm low on protein, I'll have some greek yogurt instead of ice cream).

    It works for me. If I know ahead of time that supper is going to be a larger meal, I'll eat lighter for lunch. Conversely, if I eat a little too heavy at lunch time, I'll have a lighter supper.
  • CaffeinatedConfectionist
    CaffeinatedConfectionist Posts: 1,046 Member
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    I tend to log my day's intake before work while drinking my morning coffee. I find pre-logging helps ensure that I'm at least close to my macros, and makes it easier to fit in higher-calorie foods while still staying reasonably close to my calorie goal. This doesn't work out every single day, of course, especially if I'm going out to eat or socializing, but it sets a good routine for the day.

    Interestingly, and playing into the idea of pre-logging, is the theory of decision fatigue - that the more decisions someone makes, the worse those decisions tend to be. So by making most of my eating choices in the morning, I'm less likely to be tired, physically or mentally, say "F it" and routinely splurge on something that doesn't fit my goals (not that I have anything against occasional splurges).

    From a NY Times article about decision fatigue (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/magazine/do-you-suffer-from-decision-fatigue.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0):

    Decision fatigue helps explain why ordinarily sensible people get angry at colleagues and families, splurge on clothes, buy junk food at the supermarket and can’t resist the dealer’s offer to rustproof their new car. No matter how rational and high-minded you try to be, you can’t make decision after decision without paying a biological price. It’s different from ordinary physical fatigue — you’re not consciously aware of being tired — but you’re low on mental energy. The more choices you make throughout the day, the harder each one becomes for your brain, and eventually it looks for shortcuts, usually in either of two very different ways. One shortcut is to become reckless: to act impulsively instead of expending the energy to first think through the consequences. (Sure, tweet that photo! What could go wrong?) The other shortcut is the ultimate energy saver: do nothing. Instead of agonizing over decisions, avoid any choice.
  • mom2kpr
    mom2kpr Posts: 348 Member
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    TheVirgoddess wrote: »
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    I pre-log every morning.

    Yep. I feel like doing this makes it easier to meet my macros.

    This. Occasionally not on weekends though.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    myfatass78 wrote: »
    Just curious how many people actually plan their whole food day ahead of time or like me, just go with it ?

    I log for the next day, except for Saturday and Sunday when I don't know what I'll be eating.
  • goldthistime
    goldthistime Posts: 3,214 Member
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    I try to incorporate something with protein in my breakfast and lunch because that is the macro I struggle to meet, and I try to aim for filling foods, but I pretty much eat what I want at those meals. Before I plan dinner (which is usually a smaller meal for me) I have a look at where my macros are. Surprisingly, what I feel like having usually matches up. If my carbs are low for example, it's probably carbs that I am hankering for.
  • nam985
    nam985 Posts: 140 Member
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    I log everything for the week on Sundays when I'm doing my meal prep for the week. I enter all my breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks ahead of time to get an idea of where I sit nutrition wise for that week and if I have any extra room for a little treat (dessert on Saturdays or possibly a cocktail or two on the weekend). I try to stick to my plan as much as possible, but I usually end up deleting something from my diary every day (usually a snack or part of a meal I didn't eat because I was too full).

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