Meal prep

I honestly feel like this is what keeps me on track. I usually plan out the night before what im eating for the next day. And i plan out on the weekend what meals will be for the week and prep a bunch of the food ahead of time. That way when im having a craving i already have pre-portioned snacks.

I stay on track when I have healthy meals ready to eat. I’ve been building a freezer stock of individually frozen meals and soups, and I usually put together a couple of veggie and grain and protein salad-y things when I get home from the store with a produce haul. It’s almost like a new hobby—to turn my fridge into a healthy takeout store!

I do plan for meals, but very vaguely, regarding what’s in the fridge and cupboard. Until it’s obvious I have to do a market run. Once there, I plan to purchase only manageable foods and beverages. I particularly don’t immediately repurchase something I , mistakenly and unfortunately, binged on. Right now that would be almond butter. I also only go to those familiar grocery stores where I know they sell the stuff I need. This may change in the future, but that’s how it is for now for this currently hot overwater.
Have a lovely week, everyone! 👍✌️

How do I feel about meal planning in the morning, or the night before?

I feel like it's the perfect strategy for some people, but that for me it's antithetical to my personality and my impulsive tendencies. I eat pretty consistent breakfasts, because I'm near-comatose cognitively for a long time after I wake up, so repetition is easy (and comforting). After that, I'm much less structured, don't even always eat the same number of meals/snacks daily, and choose them more in the moment. I keep certain foods I like stocked in my fridge/pantry, but mix them up in varied ways. Sometimes I even change my mind about what a meal is part way through fixing it. It works fine, for me - did during weight loss, ditto now in long-term maintenance.

I think personalization of tactics is an important factor in success. Each of us is an individual with different preferences, strengths, challenges, and more. Our weight management strategy needs to work for us. No one cookie-cutter approach universally works for everyone.

If planning/prepping appeals to you, seems like it might help you, why not try it? Other people's tips in this thread can help you give it a whirl. If it makes weight management easier for you (after a fair trial to work out the kinks), keep that approach.

If it doesn't work out for you, don't feel that you've failed: It would just be that that's not the perfect approach for you. Detailed planning is not the only possible approach that can work. Don't let the fact that others find it ideal keep you from trying some other approach.

Best wishes!

I love prepared meals, reduces temptation. I work Mon amd Tues and have weds off , so that's a prep day for Thursday and Friday.i work Thursday and Friday.
Saturday off and Sunday prep day for Monday and tue.

I have the time to prepare healthy homemade meals, counting calories and portion sizes. Sometimes even freeze meals so extra prep for other days when I don't have time.

I mostly only cook once a week, if that. That pretty much takes care of meal planning until whatever I made is gone.

I *like* to meal plan on the weekend for the M-F to come. That way I can go to the grocery store and get everything lined up. Sometimes I get busy, or Hubs & I don't sit down and plan it out. Like this week...

I do sometimes prep/plan my work lunches. (M-F office job.) Tonight Hubs & I are on our own for dinner. Meaning he is planning to eat taco meat leftovers and I'm making a small batch of chili which will be my dinner tonight and my lunch for the next 2 days.

i like variety of choice, so I like to shop, batch prep and have on hand various choices (think a sandwich or salad bar approach to having snack foods and veggies on hand, ready to dish up/reheat & eat). for dinners, we tend to 'batch cook' enough to last 2 or 3 nights, so cook those up 2 or 3 times a week.

i found that if I pre-track - i tend to significantly change my mind so much that I was doing double the work - so, now I track as I dish (unless I already know the foods and portions.) If I don't need to check the tracker, i will snap a picture or jot a note on paper, then post it in later when I get back on the computer.

I sincerely wish I had the personality type to meal prep or plan! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told myself it’s what I need to do…but it’s just not ever going to be me.

I’m impulsive and contrary - if I do pre-plan it’s a sure fire way for me to go off my calorie target. Knowing what I ‘have’ to eat makes me not want whatever it is…so I rebel by eating something entirely different!

Fortunately, I’ve been tracking calories for so long that I’m intuitively pretty much on point - if I want a lunch of 300 cals, for example, I can ‘wing it’ as I put stuff together and come out +\- 10 calories of the target I have in mind.

I’m vegetarian and my husband/family are not - so I cook separate meals every day. I do batch cook quite a lot, both for myself and for the family. Much easier to make a recipe for 4 and freeze the other 3 portions than try to quarter a recipe to serve a single portion. Means I have plenty of ‘no effort’ meals on hand. If I’m cooking a complex meal for the family I can defrost a quick, healthy option for myself - and vice versa…I have quick options for the family for the days I want to spend more time and effort on cooking for myself.

Basically, my meal planning runs strictly around what room there is in the freezer at any given point! I go through cycles of trying to use up stuff to make space so I can fill it up again! 😂

Most days, I eat two meals taken between 10am and 6pm and have a rough plan the night before. If I have a full breakfast: eggs, buttered toast, hash browns and bacon; then I plan for a lighter dinner - perhaps green beans, broiled fish, mushrooms and a salad. Conversely, If I plan for a higher calorie dinner such as half a homemade pizza or cheesy quesadillas, I'll have only homemade yogurt topped with berries or a veggie omelet for breakfast. So most of my meal planning involves matching up two meals that will meet my daily calorie goal.