So hard to find the time!

Yeah it can be hard but you got to do what you got to do! You have to learn to put yourself on priority. I always say if one of my kids had a weight problem i would not have taken it so lightly as I do with my health!

I have been in a similar position, working full time, interning 25 hours per week, plus family. If you want it bad enough, you will make it work. If you have to, put it in your calendar to block off that time.

Make your meals simple, and do it all on your last day off before your longest run of shifts. Kate's a PSW on 12hr shifts, and I work 10's. We have twin 19 year olds and a 12 year old and we manage week in, week out. Do it all in one day, throw it all in the fridge, and it takes five minutes to microwave after your shift.

The struggle is real! You have to make planning your meals, shopping for groceries, and meal prep part of your routine. Convenient, healthy foods are your friends. Experiment and find what works for you. Cook once, eat twice (or more). Use a slow cooker for long days. I have found that a little bit of planning and prep actually saves me time and stress! Oh, and if you are like me and don't have time to shop - look into ordering groceries online!

wendhall wrote: »

Finding it difficult to find the time to plan meals, shop, prepare meals, exercise and log everything.How do you fit everything in?

I have to repeat what other people said. Make time to meal prep and make food ahead of time in batches.

That actually saves time later on when you are tired and super busy -- it's great to come home and find the meal is ready and all you have to do is heat it. I work and went back to college (which starts again in 2 weeks, eeek!) so I understand where you're coming from.

I don't make complicated recipes, just basic food.

While I'm reading and working on homework and papers I boil a soup pot of lentils and let it simmer (and set a timer so I don't forget it's on the stove). Then I let it sit for an hour, add vegetables, and freeze it in individual portions. All I have to do later is heat them up. I also make salads ahead of time. I can make tons of food that way. Once I got down the process it was easy.

Again, it's incredibly nice to come home and the food is ready except to heat it -- that saves the time of ordering a pizza and saves a lot of money, too.

Both my husband and I work from home, which means I cook almost every meal we eat. At first it seemed like I did nothing but cook and eat, and then cook some more. Prepping really is a lifesaver for me. If you get bored easily eating the same thing every day, prep only the parts of a meal which take a long time, then add different stuff to it on the fly. For example I prep quinoa, spaghetti squash, steel cut oats made with milk, lean protein such as roasted chicken or pork tenderloin, and stir fried onions with bell peppers. Then I can add what I want to my oatmeal for breakfast, slice some protein and fresh veggies and add to my quinoa or squash for lunch or dinner.

Complicated meals such as Indian food, I cook more than one meal at a time and make four servings (two meals for myself and husband) and put back the part we don't eat for lunch the next day.

The other lifesaver is being able to just collapse and eat something you don't have to cook once in a while. At least one of our meals per day is an easy meal such as a poached egg or cottage cheese with fruit. And knowing where to pick up or order takeout which is healthy and low calorie is also good. In my town, there's a cheap takeout sushi place near me which will make my sushi with a half portion of rice (I'm a diabetic) with a seaweed salad. There's also an Italian place which delivers, which makes homemade chicken pesto wraps and healthy spaghetti sauce - lean meat, not a lot of added sugar and sodium. So once a week we get a wrap to split for lunch and a serving of spaghetti with a side of spinach to split for dinner, and I eat mine on spaghetti squash, while my husband has the pasta and the bread that comes with it. Notice that in this case, a half portion of restaurant food is about right - half is a reasonable 500 calorie meal, while the whole portion would be way too much for either of us. But there's nothing in there which is unhealthy, it's quality food, and I didn't have to cook it, and having one day a week when someone else cooks help keeps me sane. Find out the healthy options near you - just because you don't want to cook doesn't mean the other option should be pizza.

I think most people have covered the planning in general as well as meal planning. I just wanted to give some advice on multi-tasking. I once had multiple jobs, was a student and a mother at the same time. I learned to be creative with my studying. Make flashcards that you can keep in your scrubs and pull them out on breaks. Listen to recorded lectures while working, cleaning, exercising, cooking, driving etc. Along the same line, quiz yourself by making recordings. Record yourself asking a question....pause......then give the answer. That way you can quiz yourself while you are doing other things. Multi-task with exercise when winding down and watching TV. Sometimes I'll hula hoop while watching TV, if you have an exercise bike or treadmill, that would work as well. Sometimes I stretch.

When you are juggling a lot of things in your life, multi-tasking and planning are key.

Good advice above.

Couple more thoughts...I struggled for a long time with wanting variety and overthinking meal planning. I finally got to the point where meal planning in now liberating and in large part the repetitiveness of recipes allows me to balance the fun stuff. I eat the same thing almost every week (about a 6 week rotation) and that structure allows me to occasionally eat at maintenance for fun/outings/etc. It is very worth it to me to meal plan and prep so that I can also enjoy when the time is right.

I'll also add that most of my meals are as simple as potatoes/rice/pasta+veggie+sauce. Examples: Baked potato + Broccoli+Ranch, ravioli+squash+alfredo, wild rice+chicken+fruit+dressing. All is prepped on the weekend and I only reheat and combine during the week. Sure I have more complicated recipes but I save them for weekends where I have the time. I do literally all my food prep for lunch and dinner in (usually) 3 hours on the weekend. It also greatly reduced my expenses. I typically eat out one lunch and one dinner a week.

Additionally, I'll say, you can eat out and lose weight. You just have to find your go-tos and it is a bit harder because you can't be (as) certain with ingredients and portions. But it is doable and you might want to consider doing the work on this consider doing the work to figure this out, considering your other obligations. I have some go-tos at Wendy's, Panera, Jason's Deli and one of our local places. Through practice I know how this fits into my deficit cals.

I also wanted to comment on this "I do fine for a few days but then get very busy with things and my plans or lack of plan cause things to fall apart".

All or nothing didn't work for me, I got completely overwhelmed and would give up constantly. To succeed, I take baby steps. I actually started with figuring out my maintenance calories, and worked on not gaining for 30 days. Then I cut 100 cals. Then I gave up my organic sodas. Then I targeted water consumption. Then I cut another 200 cals. Then I gave up most bread products (trigger food for me). etc. etc. Some of these took one month and sometimes they took three. It's taken me two years to start to be able to care about macros. I have lost very slowly which would be super frustrating for some folks but I wanted to build sustainable habits and that meant learning and practicing new skills, often one at a time. Additionally, when I find myself going off the rails I back it all up to basics. Log and eat at maintenance (sustaining) and drink water and I do that until I feel like I can take another pass at better living, sometimes I focus on maintenance for a day or sometimes 4 weeks.

Good luck.