Do you plan or wing it?

lauragreenbaum
lauragreenbaum Posts: 1,017 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
This has probably been asked before, so please don't yell at me if so. :-) Do you plan your meals out each day or do you just wing it and add up the calories as you go? If you do plan, are you able to stick with your daily menu or do you sometimes go off it or change it?

Asking because I find I can stick to my calorie goals much better if I plan my meals for the day. It's easier now with the Covid lockdown because I'm home much more- I used to travel 30% of the time which made meal planning difficult.
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Replies

  • Geneveremfp
    Geneveremfp Posts: 504 Member
    Mixture. Which I know might not be helpful!
    I plan meals most of the time but don't plan the calories in as such until the morning. Then I know how much leeway I have for snacks and other things.
  • Jacq_qui
    Jacq_qui Posts: 429 Member
    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 :)
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,098 Member
    My meals are planned just simply for shopping purposes: I know which ingredients will be used for the hot meals. But I don't know the calorie count beforehand, so I'll take an appropriate portion (or a good guess, if I haven't entered the recipe yet) and then my evening snack will be adapted to fit the remaining calories.

    Bread meals are not planned, I just calculate as I go and choose from the toppings available that day. I stop at a certain amount of calories (more or less).

    Breakfast is fairly routine.

    Snacks are variable depending on what I feel like and how many calories I have left. But I always have a varied stock to choose from.
  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
    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.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    I pre-log the day before so I can see right away if something I'm planning is way too many calories or will take me outside of my macro comfort zone. I do allow myself to make some changes the day of, but it's usually pretty limited.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,937 Member
    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.
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,052 Member
    Plan. Adjust on the fly when necessary/convenient/appealing.
  • RAinWA
    RAinWA Posts: 1,980 Member
    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.
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    I am somewhere in the middle.

    I have certain things I keep on hand and typically will have for weekday breakfasts, snacks, lunch. Dinner varies a bit more but I Try to have an idea of what is for dinner either the day before, or by midday. I prelog and then make changes as I go. Sometimes that is just updating weights of foods, and sometimes snacks and meals change completely.

    My weekends are a little less predictable.

    Prelogging gives me an idea of what calories I have to work with.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,547 Member
    edited July 2020
    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!

    🤷‍♂️
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,974 Member
    edited July 2020
    My freezer, frig and pantry are always full w/food that I want to cook/eat but I generally don't do much meal planning, except to defrost any meat/seafood that I think I'll want 2 eat in the next day or so. Otherwise, I just cook whatever tickles my fancy when I get hungry and it's time to eat.
  • busyPK
    busyPK Posts: 3,788 Member
    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.
  • mmebouchon
    mmebouchon Posts: 855 Member
    Not really. Breakfast is usually the same thing every morning. Normally I figure out what I want for my dinner around mid morning and log an estimate of how much I will consume in MFP then I make adjustments if needed during the meal. That way I know how many calories I have for lunch and snacks.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,966 Member
    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.
  • ccrdragon
    ccrdragon Posts: 3,365 Member
    sgt1372 wrote: »
    My freezer, frig and pantry are always full w/food that I want to cook/eat but I generally don't do much meal planning, except to defrost any meat/seafood that I think I'll want 2 eat in the next day or so. Otherwise, I just cook whatever tickles my fancy when I get hungry and it's time to eat.

    This is me as well.
  • briscogun
    briscogun Posts: 1,135 Member
    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"!
  • holly8312
    holly8312 Posts: 38 Member
    lauragreenbaum wrote: »
    This has probably been asked before, so please don't yell at me if so. :-) Do you plan your meals out each day or do you just wing it and add up the calories as you go? If you do plan, are you able to stick with your daily menu or do you sometimes go off it or change it?

    Asking because I find I can stick to my calorie goals much better if I plan my meals for the day. It's easier now with the Covid lockdown because I'm home much more- I used to travel 30% of the time which made meal planning difficult.

    I plan as much as possible because when I wing it my diet is atrocious (see today's diary for example). I'm also only cooking for one, so planning ahead helps me reduce food waste to practically nothing.
  • gewel321
    gewel321 Posts: 718 Member
    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.
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    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.
  • richardgavel
    richardgavel Posts: 1,001 Member
    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.

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