Pre planning

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brontemoon
brontemoon Posts: 14
in Health and Weight Loss
I think I am going to try and do my diary up at night before I go to bed so I know ahead of time what to eat the next day. I am hoping this helps as I am having trouble picking what to eat when I get hungry. I am going to pre plan my exercise as well so I have a daily goal. Does anyone else plan ahead? Do you find it works better?

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  • maevestewart
    maevestewart Posts: 38
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    I try to pre-plan as much as I can. Sunday nights I roughly plan my meals for the week and when I can fit in my work outs. With a super busy lifestlye it helps me to stay on track and takes the stress out of eating healthy. This week I planned all my meals from breakfast through to my afternoon snack and have allocated the leftover calories to dinner -when I decide what to eat I will just make sure it fits in with the allocated calories!
  • kikakiss
    kikakiss Posts: 7
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    I have been pre-planning my breakfast, lunch and snacks the night before since I stated 2 weeks ago and it has helped me a lot. I log in my meals and pack them in my lunch bag the night before and so that I know what I'm eating for the day and that is all i get to have, nothing else. This stops the impulse eating, because I always have what I'm going to eat with me. The only meal I don't log in is my dinner. I say try it for a week, you might like that your not having to guess or figure out what to eat or if it falls into the allowed amount for the day when that next meal comes up.
  • mollydubs
    mollydubs Posts: 205 Member
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    Pre-planning was a huge breakthrough for me. It makes all the difference because I get to feel that sense of security that the backbone of my daily menu is A) under my calorie goal, B) within my ideal ratios of carbs:protein:fat, and C) readily available! I find I feel a lot less guilty about having an extra something (fruit, snack, yogurt, something) when I know I have left over calories to play with for the day.

    Also, cooking for the week on Sundays and then portioning out the food was super helpful for me.
  • brontemoon
    brontemoon Posts: 14
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    I have been reading about pre cooking ideas just now actually and I think I am going to try that as well. I'm not a big meat eater because I don't cook, but I would do chicken in the oven or chili to make a head and freeze or put on salads. I planned my meals and snacks for tomorrow and I think I feel better about it already. No decisions to be made tomorrow just grab and go. Awesome.
  • ruby_red_rose
    ruby_red_rose Posts: 321 Member
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    I don't write everything in my diary ahead of time, but I usually know what I am going to eat for all of my week. This is because every morning, I drink a protein shake for breakfast. I always eat the same kind of snacks (soy nuts, nuts, jerky, greek yogurt, laughing cow), and I cook all my lunches and dinners for the week on Saturday. So I know exactly what I will be eating the rest of the week. I find it allows me to stay on track better because there is always healthy foods available every time I am hungry, so there is less temptation to just eat bad food. Try it for a couple of weeks to see whether it works for you.
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,554 Member
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    Absolutely - I plan out my meals almost every day. It works well for me because then I can plan my meal and fill up the left over calories with more fruit or snacks or extras in the meals (more rice, avocado etc if I have lots of cals left, grapes instead of a muesli bar if I don't have many).

    It doesn't mean that I stick to that list absolutely - but it does mean that if something comes up (like cake in the office) I know how my day is looking and I can easily see what I can drop off if I eat the cake, or I might decide I don't have room for it in my day.
    I tend to take a guess at home many cals I will burn for exercise and if that changes I'll just adjust my food quantifies.

    I think this is the best way to avoid posts like "it's 8pm and I've still got 900 cals to eat" or "only 33 cals left for dinner, what do I do?".
  • thefishers4
    thefishers4 Posts: 165 Member
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    I had done that and was doing really well and kind of went of track with it. I am hoping to start doing this again as it seemed to help.
  • ThaRealNicki
    ThaRealNicki Posts: 328 Member
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    I have never pre-planned meals but have always thought it was a great idea, my problem is ill be looking foward to it all day and eat early....

    never the less I still want to try it out I just havent
  • heather1945
    heather1945 Posts: 117 Member
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    I have always pre-planned. It's so much easier to keep control over what you eat, plus you can always do some juggling the day before to fit in any extra treats, yet still stay within your calorie qouta.. It worked for me - it took me 44 weeks to loose my 44lbs and on maintenance I still preplan and have stayed steady for over 3 months now - 1.5 extra kilos gone since goal weight,....always pre-plan......
  • momtokgo
    momtokgo Posts: 446 Member
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    I log my day every morning, then tweak and adjust/change things as needed.
  • LaurenMichelle004
    LaurenMichelle004 Posts: 80 Member
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    I pre-plan too! For dinners, I try to pre-plan for the week so I know what to get at the grocery store (and its less of a "what do you want for dinner?" "i don't know, what do you want?" "let's just eat out" kind of conversation). I do this by adding it to a google calendar which I share with my husband and then add the ingredients to my ziplist (I love apps). :p

    Then, I pack my breakfast and lunch the day before and log it in (and sometimes dinner too). I find that the more I am able to pre-plan and log, the more likely I am to stick to a healthy choice (since its already kind of been made for me).
  • A_Fit_Mom
    A_Fit_Mom Posts: 602 Member
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    I pre plan in the morning of each day, during the week. The weekend is not as predictable, so I just log as I go on the weekend.

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