Weekly Meal Planning

One thing that I had to learn was meal prepping. It sounds so simple but how many of us do it? I workout 5 days a week and spinning all of my cardio wheels to find out that my success was not as great as it should be. Being frustrated while losing weight is a hard to deal with. That is when you feel like everything you are doing is just not working, and that can be very frustrating. Not to mention, how many of us decide to quit because of that emotion? When really we should not give up on ourselves so easily. I'm not going to lie. I cried in all of my frustrations.  Until I realized I was not properly measuring out my food. I was eyeballing when I made my dishes, and I did not plan what I was to eat ahead of time. Trust me I am not perfect at all. I am still learning as I continue with my journey. But the number one thing that is helping me is to make myself sit down and start meal planning.

Here are my 1st steps for a weekly meal planning:

1. Print off a blank calendar to write on. 
2. Check your regular schedule and cross off any days that you will be going out to eat with the family or meeting someone for lunch.
3. Think about what you would like to eat for the week. If there is a meal that you have not enjoyed in awhile, write it down. 
4. If you know what meal you would like to prepare for the week. Grab the recipe.

Now here comes the second step:

Because I am over weight my doctor suggested that I stick to a 1200-1499 calorie meal plan. I've done the math and targeted the calories that the universe told me I should start with. But I have had little success with eating that. My doctor suggested that I go down to 1200 no less. That is the only meal plan that I will be providing today. When I search the web I find other people posting for different calories. Not me, if you want to eat more eat more green vegetables if you are hungry. If you need to lose weight stick to the meal plan. If you are starving at the end of your day. Eat some more vegetables. Get where I am going with this?

1. At the top of your calendar I want you to write down each category. 
• Protein-4, Carbohydrates-2, Fruit-2, Vegetables-4, Healthy Fat-1, Oil & Seeds-2 
• Water-8
2. Next, write down what you are going to eat for breakfast, and make sure to have a vegetable, protein, fruit, and 1 oil. 
3. Snack: I usually leave this to the end and see what I have left over. 
4. Lunch and dinner: I pick 2 recipes that I can rotate throughout my week. I will also do a breakdown of vegetable, protein, carbohydrate, fat, seeds, ect...

Make sure to put a checkmark under each category that we wrote at the top of our calendar. That way you can visually see that you covered all of your basis. 

The last step:

1. Take your meal plan and recipes and make your grocery list. 
2. Go shopping.
3. Come home and make a meal in a crockpot, and the other in the oven. Make them together that way you are saving time during the week to spend more time with the family instead of cooking. Make extra for your lunches. 
4. Measure out your portions and place them into containers for a quick grab and go. 

Now, once you complete these steps for your weekly meal plan, and carry them through to the last step. Believe in yourself. That is the most important here. There will be screw ups along the way. Learn from them but keep moving forward. If you really want to lose weight and change your lifestyle you are going to have to make some changes. This is a great step in that direction!

The picture below is my meal plan for the week. I decided to use Excel on my computer and turn it into my meal calendar. Then after everything was written out I colored each food item into the category they belonged too. I had a notebook next to me checking off each item to make sure I've included everything my body needed nutrition wise.  What I had left over was a fruit so I added a snack with some berries, and another snack with hummus and vegetables.

Here is a close up of one day:

For my breakfast I am using Vegan Shakeology as my protein. I happen to be allergic to breakfast foods so this makes my life easier to drink my first meal of the day. You can trade it out with and egg white omelet cooked with 1 teaspoon of coconut oil stuffed with with spinach and colored peppers, and to top it off with an apple. It is very important that when you meal plan that you pear different groups of food together. This helps your sugar level to be level because food works together as a team in your system.

I challenge you to write out your weekly meal plan and stick to it. You will find in the end that it saves you money, and your meals are a lot better then dining out daily.

If you liked this post stay tuned. I will be continuing on with meal prepping for the next few weeks.

Also, if you would like to follow me on my Facebook Page here is my link: https://www.facebook.com/fittinginfitnesscoaching/

Please feel free to share this post with a friend or on your social media page. I also love feed back!