Strategies To Overcome The Struggles Of Meal Planning & Prep
I've been a Beachbody mentor for over a year now and I have noticed a few trends among clients (and people I chat with who want lifestyle changes). One of the BIGGEST obstacles for people isn't actually working out but actually learning to plan and prep meals properly. It makes complete sense. At one point meal planning and prep were all new for me too and I remember feeling overwhelmed - "just meal plan and prep - what's the big deal?"
Well it is a big deal because I didn't know how to start or what to do and many of my clients feel the same way so I spend A LOT of time with clients teaching them how to do this (if people allow me to help them that's exactly what I will do). I now consider myself quite good at doing both and am able to put together meal plans (and prepare the meals) in a timely manner (unlike when I first did it - it literally took me all of Sunday to do). It really isn't that difficult once you have some guide lines in place. So with all of that being said, I decided to write a blog post on how I meal plan (and prep) in hopes that it will help you.
1. You need to follow a guideline. For some people, it's Weight Watcher points, macros, calories and in the Beachbody world it is coloured containers. Determine the amount of points, macros, calories or containers you will need in one day. If you want a free tracking service the 'My Fitness Pal' app is pretty kick ass.
2. Now that you have a baseline, the next step is to determine how many meals you want to eat in a day. People typically pick either 3 bigger meals or 6 smaller meals. I personally choose 6 that consist of 3 meals and 3 snacks.
3. Now, the fun part - spacing your meals out based on the times you will typically eat and determining the amount of points, macros, calories, coloured containers you want for each meal. Remember to take in account the time of day you will typically workout and what you would like to eat pre and post workout. In the case of the coloured containers, I also like to determine which meals I want each colour of container (I typically love to save a yellow container for supper). This guideline can be used over and over and over again. In my opinion, this is the setup (and heavy lifting) that needs to be done for your future weeks.
4. Your meals should be divided up - you may have divided them equally or maybe not. From here, you can start adding in what you want to eat at each meal. A simple trick to make this easier is to make extra at supper and save it for lunch the next day. Remember to keep it simple. There is no need for fancy recipes - just eat whole delicious foods. Click here for sample meal plans using Beachbody's colour coded containers. Click here to see my past meal plans and my favourite foods to eat.
5. As you plan out your meals I also like to keep a very detailed grocery list. In the past, I would write down 'green peppers' but when I got to the grocery store I would have no idea how many I would actually need. By keeping a more detailed grocery list you will be able to purchase your food and not end up either throwing it away or having too little of it in the first place and need to make an extra tip to the store (ain't nobody got time for that).
6. Once you get your groceries start prep right away. Don't bother putting groceries away just to haul them back out again in a couple of hours. Make sure you put enough time aside to do your shopping and to prepare meals.
7. Be productive and multi-task while preparing your food. If I'm eating a lot of chicken I will put all of my chicken in a baking dish and cook it all at once. The seasoning on the chicken may be different but it all goes in the oven at the same time. Spices make everything taste better - just keep an eye on any extra sugar or tons of salt (use those ones in moderation). I cut up veggies to eat raw or to have ready to cook after work. I will do the same with fruit and cheese.
8. Portion everything out even if it seems silly. I eat a lot of oatmeal (and protein) and I will portion out both into my Tupperware containers. I also portion out my unsweetened almond milk into mason jars. I eat quite a bit of rice as well so I will make large batches of rice in my rice cooker and then portion it out for the week. I always start prep with the simplest things to feel like I am accomplishing things quickly. It helps motivate me and overcome the mental struggle of 'oh my there's just too much to do'. So many times I will start with portioning out my oatmeal, protein powder and almond milk. It's pretty amazing how things can move quickly once you get started. As usual, the hardest part is to start.
9. Organization is key. First make sure you have enough containers, ziplock baggies or other storage methods to accommodate all your prep. Secondly, organize your fridge so you can find things easily. I have 3 main shelves in my fridge so I use them wisely. The top shelf is used for breakfast and my morning snack, the middle shelf is used for my lunch and afternoon snack and my bottom shelf is used for my supper and evening snack. The last thing you want is to struggle finding things in your fridge after all your hard work.
10. Resources - I don't think we can ever have too many resources when trying to meal plan and prep.
