Meals and meal planning vs. just tracking over the day/week

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Tatarataa
Tatarataa Posts: 178 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, I am curious how you follow your calorie goal: do you eat planned/scheduled meals and if so how exactly do you plan and how many meals do you eat/do you calculate a certain calorie rabnge per meal before? Or do you just track as you go along the day?
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Replies

  • hsmith0930
    hsmith0930 Posts: 160 Member
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    I usually have a general idea of what I plan to eat, but no set plans. Then I just track as I go.
  • phoenixx866
    phoenixx866 Posts: 173 Member
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    I never have set meal plans. Either I'll be dragged to other places, or I'll be working late and my food will be at home, or something will go bad at some point... I have the worst luck. I just track as I go.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    I pre-log my days every morning, therefore have a meal plan for that day.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    hsmith0930 wrote: »
    I usually have a general idea of what I plan to eat, but no set plans. Then I just track as I go.

    This. I am boring and prefer having the 3 standard meals and maybe a bit of dessert after dinner or a snack during the day if I workout and am hungry at some point (I tend to have a long time between lunch and dinner since I eat dinner late). This was decided upon just because of my schedule and what I've always done, although for me it works best to eliminate any unplanned snacks (unless I want to have the afternoon if I work out snack be optional). The main thing for me to decide is what's for dinner--I usually have a couple of similar breakfasts that I eat, a variety of standard lunch options, and a basic dinner template, and then I fill in based on when I work out, how hungry I am, if I want a dessert, etc. I have an idea of the calorie range for each meal based on experience with what satisfies me and when I like to eat. It's just about practice.

    When I first started I premade lunches and had a standard breakfast (vegetable omelet--I change the veggies, though), and then made sure dinner had protein and veggies but largely would decide during the day what I felt like specifically for dinner from what I had in the refrigerator to choose from. I've always kind of planned dinner in my head during the day, though. I've adapted as I've added calories as I've gone on (started at 1250 + some exercise calories, now eating close to maintenance).
  • Technopagan
    Technopagan Posts: 5 Member
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    I'm currently working off a 1200 calorie plan and my better half is going through the Michelle Bridges 12WBT, as such I plan out secifically the weeks dinners on a Sunday morning, so I can then shop for the ingredients and I use a rough plan for breakfast and lunch;

    Most dinners are 12WBT recipes that work out to be around 250 - 400 calories.

    Breakfast is nearly always similar for me, I have homemade unsweetened greek style yoghurt with honey and fruit. Normally works out to be sub 200 calories.

    As for lunch, I will generally make a wrap with some meat and salad totally usually around 200 - 300 calories.

    Leaving around 300 - 550 calories for between meal snacks (fruit/nuts/snack bar) and coffee with milk, and that is without the addition of excercise calories which add a lot more breathing room for me, normally an additional 600 - 900 calories :).

    Pre planning my meals took a bit to get used to, but it has made aided greatly with weight loss for both myself and my better half.

    I am told I am not eating enough, but I honestly don't feel hungry on what I am consuming, and on the occassional day where I am hungry I will eat more, not binge! just eat up to my exercise amount. It has worked for me 17.7 kg since January, with less than 6kg til I hit my ideal weight...
  • kpkitten
    kpkitten Posts: 164 Member
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    I live with my parents and mum plans evening meals for the week, so I log that the night before. I have a few different breakfasts that are similar calories so that just depends how much time I have, and then lunch and snacks vary depending on what I'm doing, trying to hit my macros.
  • Merkavar
    Merkavar Posts: 3,082 Member
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    I am fairly boring or consistent. I tend to eat similiar tings each day.

    Laterly I started planning by day in advance so I know what I am eating and don't get something too large at lunch etc
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    I prelog every morning. That way I can tweak things if I go over or under. Logging as i go wouldn't work for me as knowing my luck something somewhere wouldn't fit and I'd be over my calories for the day and it would be too late. I need a plan and routine for calorie counting to work for me
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
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    Until recently, I tracked as I went. I did that before, when I lost a lot of weight. It was ok then because I was able to do a lot of cardio, which gives you a bigger margin of error.

    trying to do more planning and prelogging, because i'm not doing as much cardio these days
  • kindrabbit
    kindrabbit Posts: 837 Member
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    I have asked this elsewhere but can't find it. For those that pre log- I can't see how you do it. For example. If I make a salad and bacon wrap, I can log the wrap and the bacon but how do you know exactly how much salad you're going to put in. Even mayo can vary by a few grams when measuring by the spoonful. Am I just being too picky? I get anxiety if I don't weigh things to the gram.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    Karen I have a protein smoothie most everyday for lunch. I use the same ingredients but still weigh them as I go. I logged my dinner this morning which was a 300g steak, mashed potatoes from my recipes. We had carrots and peas. I guestimated the weights for the vegies this morning and changed them when I was preparing them, I was 50g out with the peas, carrots were spot on.
    I eat a lot of yogurts which are already weighed and measured for me. I have 6 cups of tea every morning with milk which equals 600ml. I also have a lot of recipes logged which obviously always use the same ingredients and weights.
    I'm the kind of person who can eat the same thing everyday and not get sick of it. Which means regular foods that are already in my own data base.
  • kpkitten
    kpkitten Posts: 164 Member
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    Karen_libert wrote: »
    I have asked this elsewhere but can't find it. For those that pre log- I can't see how you do it. For example. If I make a salad and bacon wrap, I can log the wrap and the bacon but how do you know exactly how much salad you're going to put in. Even mayo can vary by a few grams when measuring by the spoonful. Am I just being too picky? I get anxiety if I don't weigh things to the gram.

    For something like salad, I'd eyeball compared to the packet weight (half a packet, quarter of a packet etc.) because it's so low in calories anyway. Everything else I'd weigh, and if I realised that I'd planned to have too much/too little of something to make the meal the way I want to (eg. because 5g of mayo turns out to be nowhere near enough for me) then I'd either stick with it and make a note for next time, or adjust and fit it into my calories. Because I tend to plan only lunch and dinner in advance, log breakfast as I eat it, and then fit snacks in as I "earn" the calories for them (I have a fitbit so get pretty good updates throughout the day), it doesn't matter too much if a meal turns out a little differently.
    I do have to try to stop my mum using copious amounts of cooking oil though, and try to make her measure it! If I cook, I rarely use oil anyway, because I can't taste a difference in the food, and I hate "wasting" calories like that. The only time I like oil is if I've not eaten much and need a lot of calories at the end of a busy day.
  • Jgasmic
    Jgasmic Posts: 219 Member
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    Karen_libert wrote: »
    I have asked this elsewhere but can't find it. For those that pre log- I can't see how you do it. For example. If I make a salad and bacon wrap, I can log the wrap and the bacon but how do you know exactly how much salad you're going to put in. Even mayo can vary by a few grams when measuring by the spoonful. Am I just being too picky? I get anxiety if I don't weigh things to the gram.
    I only pre-log meals that have been prepared. I pack my breakfast and lunch the night before to bring to work and I log it as I make it so I have the correct weights.
  • Steff46
    Steff46 Posts: 516 Member
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    I prelog every morning. Since I like to be active after work (not cooking dinner) I've always preplanned my dinners and that takes me Sunday - Thursday (mostly meat & veggie). Friday & Saturday are the days I eat out with friends. I am doing IF so I skip breakfast. Lunch is at work at my desk and preplanned (canned chicken/chopped raw veggies/peanut butter). Occasionally, I will venture out for lunch but it is planned. Makes me think of a quote, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail". :)
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    When I pre-log, I estimate sizes and then I adjust when I have the actual numbers.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    edited April 2015
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    I plan, prelog and tweak. I plan what I'm going to eat while I plan what I'm going to buy. But I have to be flexible, I know everything won't be available everywhere when I need it. I have a set breakfast - crispbread, spread, milk, fruit, vegetable - and eat the same spread every morning until the container is empty. Then I'll have some other spread the next day. Alternate between fish and meat spreads, and rotate. Fruit and veg rotate too. I have to decide what's for dinner the evening before, as it usually involves defrosting meat or fish, and possibly soaking of beans or barley. When I have large amounts of foods that spoils easily, I will prioritize that in my plan and think up good combos.

    I usually eat five meals a day, but sometimes add a snack/dessert, or I'm so full that four meals is enough.

    I have a rough idea of how many calories will satiate me for each meal - 600-800 for dinner, 200-250 for the other meals. I aim to have a source of fatty protein and a vegetable at every meal. I also like to combine different colors/tastes/textures to make it appealing.
    Karen_libert wrote: »
    I have asked this elsewhere but can't find it. For those that pre log- I can't see how you do it. For example. If I make a salad and bacon wrap, I can log the wrap and the bacon but how do you know exactly how much salad you're going to put in. Even mayo can vary by a few grams when measuring by the spoonful. Am I just being too picky? I get anxiety if I don't weigh things to the gram.

    Manmade food, prepackaged one servings, and packs with stuff of the same size, is easy, I just choose to trust the label. I weigh everything else. I enter ingredients with a "dummy" amount beforehand and alter amounts if necessary. Take potatoes. When I make mashed potatoes, there is no way to know how much the 3-4 potatoes will yield after I've peeled them, maybe I have to cut off some bad parts too. I weigh meat before cooking, and subtract weight of bones after I've eaten. That's why I like to have at least one meal after dinner, so that I can adjust calories with foods that is easier to portion exactly.

    Things like PB can be measured very accurately, I weigh the container, and fill/scrape off the spoon until the display shows the amount I want in negative. I lick the spoon. I do. I have to, when I do it that way...!
  • Jagerin
    Jagerin Posts: 68 Member
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    I pre-log the majority of my day the night before, but I always leave off anywhere from 300-500 calories as a little wiggle room if I see something during the day that I want to have a bite of.
  • Erfw7471
    Erfw7471 Posts: 242 Member
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    I pre-log just about every morning and adjust throughout the day when necessary.

    I have some basic constants that I eat fairly regularly (Joseph's pita w/turkey, cheese, mayo & lettuce; homemade meat sauce w/ vegetables; granny smith apple w/ almond butter; etc.). Pre-logging gives me the general calorie/macro counts for the day so then I work in what else I want - Tuesday I had ice cream with raspberries, yesterday jalepeno Cheetos, today will be a Cadbury Cream Egg (or 2 depending on how much I run tonight, lol).
  • manders_b
    manders_b Posts: 44 Member
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    Jgasmic wrote: »
    Karen_libert wrote: »
    I have asked this elsewhere but can't find it. For those that pre log- I can't see how you do it. For example. If I make a salad and bacon wrap, I can log the wrap and the bacon but how do you know exactly how much salad you're going to put in. Even mayo can vary by a few grams when measuring by the spoonful. Am I just being too picky? I get anxiety if I don't weigh things to the gram.
    I only pre-log meals that have been prepared. I pack my breakfast and lunch the night before to bring to work and I log it as I make it so I have the correct weights.

    This ^^

    I pre-pack my breakfast and lunch almost every morning and weigh/log as I make it the night before. Then I can better plan what I'll make for dinner, or if I have room in my macros/calories to go out. On the weekends I tend to track as I go, but I usually have a good number of exercise calories on those days so if I'm off on something, I have a little playing room.

    When I first started MFP I tried tracking as I went, and found that I was still overeating and was way off on my macros. Ultimately I think you just need to try a few different things and see what works for you. :smile:
  • BicepsAndBows
    BicepsAndBows Posts: 197 Member
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    Being in college, working full time, and also cooking for my boyfriend and constantly being on the go all make it hard to really plan my meals too far in advance. What I do is have a general idea of what I'm going to eat, and then just adjust as I go. That way, if anything unexpected comes up it doesn't throw me off. I just count as I go and choose what to eat for the rest of the day based on how many calories I have left. For me, this is more realistic. It also allows me more flexibility in case a special occasion comes up. Whatever way works best for you so you will stay on track is the best way to go! I know some people who plan out their whole week each Sunday and prep all of their meals/snacks for the week that day and just store them in the fridge in labeled containers so they can grab their meals/snacks for the day each morning and just go. It's really just based on personal preference! Try each way and see what you like more, or which way you do better sticking to your goals on and go from there!

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