Planning your meals weekly/daily
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I plan my meal daily and it has worked for me. I am more likely to have something that I don't need when I plan at the moment.0
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Yes maam..Planning has gotten me thru this journey the most...I go to the store on Sunday and each day...I plan and cook my meals for the entire day! I pack up those with my snacks and take them to work...11-8p.m. schedule and I set my goal of everything eaten by 7p.m. Has worked so far...Planning holds you accountable and doesnt leave much room for error or excuses...Kudos t o you for setting a weekly plan..Awesome!0
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I'm on a budget, so this helps my plan healthy meals and stay within my spending limits. Each week I sit down and plan out what I will cook and what we will eat for each meal. Then I make a list of what I need in order to prepare the meals, as well as the price of each item so I can make sure its within my budget. Then, I head to the store! I always plan to cook 2-3 dinners and eat leftovers 3-4 days each week. Lunches are easy: Soup & Salad. Breakfasts are always the same, just need to make sure I have those staples.0
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So I didn't see anyone else suggest this, but I have found that it really helps me to not waste food if I only make three different dinners per week (each gets done twice and we eat out one night a week). I am only cooking for two and often have ingredients left over if I don't make it twice. Plus, it makes planning a breeze. Choose three meals and you are ready to go.0
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I wouldn't say that I plan out my meals exactly per week. I don't think I would like that because it would be way to constrictive. I do, however, make sure that I have enough healthy food in the house, and the right ingredients for the right meals. From there, I plan out each morning what I will eat for that day.
I went food shopping this morning, I bough 2 whole chickens. I know that will provide PLENTY of protien for at least 6 meals (lunch and dinner). I need sides with that, so I also got FF refried beans. I don't know what days I will be eating these items next week yet, but I know its there for me.
I also always have plenty of frozen fish in the house. I have individual portion of talipia - it takes just a few hours to defrost, and its a super quick and super healthy meal.
I think, starting out, its a great idea to plan each and every meal and snack for a week - You need to show yourself what you should really be eating, and when - to teach yourself how to divie out your calories. After you learn this, I think you can "wing it" by figuring it out each morning, or the night before if you need to pre-cook and save time.0 -
I sit down every Sunday and plan my meals for the week, working out the ingredients and calories in each meal, so that I know exactly what to buy each week, and how many treats I can have each day. If I didn't do this I would never be able to stick to it!
Because I cook just for myself, I also find that making a large batch of a meal (curry, chilli etc) and freezing it in portions is great, as some weeks I barely need to buy anything but bread and milk on my weekly shop!0 -
I keep a grocery list and add to it throughout the week. Then I make my lunches the night before every work day and i keep healthy snacks/fruit at work. If i don't do this, i will be tempted to eat out. I definitely make sure i don't buy anything that is tempting that would screw up my diet. It's hard work but once you get the hang of it - it's easy and it's worth it. You can do it!0
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I love meal planning! I've fallen off the wagon a little lately, but prior I made a full 3 meal/day plan for the entire week. I compiled a list of everything I needed, shopped for it, and had it in that order. I got to the point where I got annoyed if hubby wanted to do something different (like go out, or he picked up salmon from the dock, or whatever).0
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it helps me sometimes. the way I saw it explained and made sense to me was to look at it like a menu. in a way you have everything you can have for the day, eat it whenever, and it is a good road map to have0
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Absolutely plan....log everything in the a.m. and follow it. I also email my log every morning to my sponsor....KEEPS ME ACCOUNTABLE.
I, too, have a mate who is not dieting and his preferences are taken into consideration during the planning and I just tweek the sides for myself. He has his SPECIAL TREATS and I just don't touch any of it...
CONSISTENCY + ACCOUNTABILITY = RESULTS
ODAT TO ALL:flowerforyou:0 -
I sit down and plan out pretty much every meal for the week. I started doing it to help control our grocery budget and pay off school loans, but it has helped tremendously with watching what I eat.
For example.
I tend to have a fruit and yogurt for breakfast everyday. If I want something else, I make low calorie egg white "muffins" with ground turkey, bell pepper, and onion (86 calories!) and eat two or three.
For lunch, its usually last nights leftovers with salad, baby carrots, a fruit cup, and peanut butter. (I eat it straight as a dessert)
For supper, since my fiance isn't on the diet, I try to pick something we'll both like.
Last week we had chili, spaghetti squash spaghetti, chicken curry, chicken vegetable soup, tacos, and 2 other things I can't remember. I ate the taco meat on top of a salad and just bought him some shells to eat.
I threw some left over marinara and ground turkey on top of my salad for lunch the next day with some fat free cheese and it was AMAZING. Ditto with the chicken curry and taco meat.
I spent about 100 bucks for the two of us, which was a little more than normal, but I figure we're eating way better than when we we're eating hamburger helper.
Plus, when I have something planned out, it keeps me from picking fast food or spending money eating out since I already have that idea in my head. It's hard at first, but what I eventually did is plan out two weeks worth of food and wrote out a grocery list for everything. I just keep a copy of this list and use it each time I go shopping to make it easier. Occasionally I'll try something new, but we tend to eat the same thing every two weeks.0 -
Tomorrow is a big day for me, I'm starting out a new residency at the hospital! My goal is to eat a packed lunch every day instead of hitting the cafeteria and vending machine, or grabbing fast food on my way home. The biggest challenge I have is eating when I get tired, and my work definitely wears me out throughout the day. Also, eating when I'm feeling emotional about something at work (stress, frustration, etc) is a big problem.
I've planned a rough outline of the week ahead, and spent tonight getting everything prepared. Breakfast will have two options- one for if I have time to eat at home, the other which is easy to eat during the commute, both healthy. I made a huge batch of cold wheat pasta salad w/ edamame, corn, bell peppers, kidney beans, tomatoes, and cucumber which will be enough for 3-4 lunches. Healthy snack items are greek yogurt, apples w/ natural peanut butter, cottage cheese w/ blueberries, or hummus w/ carrots to have in the work fridge and choose from if I have a chance.
Hopefully having lots of healthy delicious food around will keep my energy up and keep away the temptation of buying chocolate candy and sugary coffee drinks!
Wish me luck!0
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