Do you plan or wing it?

I plan seven meals. Usually stick to the menu, but lunch is unplanned, depends on leftovers (often make extra portions for this) and what needs eating in the fridge

I meal prep so I have some Grab-N-Go meals on hand, Mix-N-Match, throw 'em in the oven and kick the door shut. I don't really fly by the seat of my pants because that got me nowhere good.

Both. Usually breakfast is, "What sounds good?" After breakfast I'll log dinner and my afternoon tea. That will usually leave me 500, "discretionary," calories which I'll use either as midday snack, dessert or after dinner snack or both but I don't pre-log those.

I plan a week ahead of time and then adjust amounts as I go. But I don't get too concerned if something happens and I have to change things up.

I find I stay on track better planning ahead and it really helps keep me organized through the week and for grocery shopping. My husband can't cook and it really helps me to do the prep work for the next day breakfasts and lunches in the evening so I'm not scrambling early in the morning or as soon as I get home from work.

I'm a little more lax on weekends - I have dinners planned but kind of wing it for earlier in the day.

I occasionally planned when I was losing and this was especially true when I had a batch of cooked stuff.

I definitely test entered items in my diary before eating while I was losing so that's another situation that I would call "fully" planned. Occasionally I still do this (test enter)

I usually have a collection of shelf stable, canned, frozen or fridge items that I know the approximate caloric count of cobbling them together in a "meal".

Some of them (canned soups, or shelf stable pouches of heat and serve Indian food, or frozen entrees) I deliberately pick in a variety of calorie counts to have the option to choose at prep time. Same applies to canned fish (tuna for low cal, salmon for high cal) that can quickly go on a slaw and tomato and onion and what have you salad

Frozen veggies in boxed mashed, onion & coleslaw or frozen veggies in hot and sour rice noodle soup, or my staple 650g 0% fruit yogurt mixed with cereal and a refrigerated jello pudding are examples of such meals during the past 2-3 days. Threw some frozen shrimp in the soup the other day for extra protein. High end cuisine it ain't, I leave that for special occasion!

So in that sense there does exist a vague plan of having things around that can make reasonably filling meals in the 500 to sub 1000 cal range and snacks in the 150-350 range.

Which also brings up that both during weight loss and now I am consuming in the 2500+ range, which does make it easier to get away with the occasional sub optimal choice.

While all this is definitely more planned than at any other time in my life, currently, as I am sitting here writing this, the only thing I **know** I will be eating today is the coffee in my hand! I haven't even decided if I am going to have breakfast or wait for lunch!

But I do log! Everything. By weight whenever I can!

🤷‍♂️

I log after I eat, but I do tend to make the same dinners weekly (and eat leftovers for lunch) so I know it all will fit into my daily/weekly calorie goal.

Definitely in the "wing it" camp. That said, by preference I tend to have consistent breakfast/lunch choices, and most of the variety is at dinner. (This has always been true for me, regardless of weight. I'm a night owl. I don't cope well with choices in the first half of the day, and tend to stick to easy, comforting routines ).

As with many other things about weight management, I think understanding one's own preferences, limitations, strengths, and personality is really important. Tailoring strategy to oneself is a success strategy, IMO.

I've kind of settled into a food routine so I have a pretty good idea what my day will look like most of the time. Breakfast is usually the same thing probably 5 days a week, I have 1 or 2 others that I will sub in and out as I like. Lunch is pretty much one or two options (I brown bag it to work) so I am pretty much within a certain "range" by the end of the day. Snacks are the same, I rotate through a few favorites. dinner is the wild card because my wife cooks that so I'm never quite sure what I'm having until I walk in to door. At best I can try to control the portion size if it's something way out of my league. If its a lighter choice I can always grab a snack to up my calories before bed, too.

So in short, I'm pretty much planned out for the most part, but I always have to adjust a bit on the fly at the end of the day (unless I'm off and I'm cooking/barbecuing).

Side note: At work today and folks decided to get sushi so I jumped in. Had a tuna/avocado roll that was unplanned. Figured about 250-280 calories. I adjusted my day "on the fly"!

I have the same breakfast and lunch options daily during the week but dinner is 100% on the fly. Usually when I get home is when we decide on what to eat. I never know what I am going to be in the mood for or feel like cooking. I make sure I have plenty of calories for the end of the day meal and if I need extra then I go for a walk to earn some extra.

Semi planned. It's on the fly, but breakfast and lunch especially are a rotation of 4 or 5 options which are roughly the same macros.

I usually pre-log the entire day the night before. But I'm one of those weird, odd creatures that likes to eat a lot of the same things day after day. I'll go through waves where I rotate a handful of things and then remove or add something to that rotation as i get tired of something. But eventually that item works itself right back into the rotation at some point though, and the cycle continues. Lol.

I mostly plan because I’m only eating one meal a day and I have a family to cook for. So I buy groceries and plan out dinners. But there are also a couple nights a week, usually weekends, when we just wing it and pick up something from a restaurant.

BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »

I wing it, I’ve always found that if I plan ahead I’m 100% not going to want to eat what I’ve planned when the time comes.

I don’t eat breakfast, never have. Lunch is varied around a few vague templates - depending on what I have to use up. Usually between 150 - 250 cals.

Sometimes I’ll grab some fruit before starting to cook dinner for the family. I’m vegetarian so it suits me to cater separately. Generally, I’ll go the fruit route if their meal involves cheese as the fruit helps me to resist nibbling! If it’s a more meat based dish I’m not tempted! 😂

Then a couple of hours after I’ve cleared up I’ll start to cook for myself. This means I’m eating around 8:30pm which leaves no room for feeling ‘snacky’ before bed.

How much effort I put into my dinner varies but it generally comes in anywhere between 350 - 450 cals. Add a glass of red wine and I’m done for the day.

Based on this post you're not eating enough food!😲

I usually plan out what I'm going have the next day at least the night before. Then when the next day actually comes, sometimes I change my mind and something else sounds better. In those cases I change my diary before I eat so I can make sure it still fits into my calorie day/doesn't have a big impact on what else I can eat that day.

I’m a wing it sort of girl which works in favour for me mentally but not as good physically. What I’ve started to do is meal prep some meat kebabs and fish cakes in the freezer and some home made frozen veg packets all weighed and portioned out. I still prefer fresh foods so it’s only good when I’ve run out of fresh food. I make yummy simple meals like stirfry veg and fish, oats, roast veg, pasta, quinoa, eggs etc so it’s easier to track the calories of the food. I’ve also bought some yoghurt pots which I can have with seeds and fruit for a quick snack/mini meal.