Meal Planning

Meal planning has been essential to my successful weight loss. It also SUCKS. I'm not the best at planning ahead, but I've forced myself to do a better job. If I don't, my healthy eating suffers.

First, I take an inventory of my kitchen to determine what I'm out of. If I don't do this, I will end up with 17 jars of PB2. And who wants that? So first up, inventory what you have.

Based on what I know I need to use up, then I write out what meals I want to make for the week ahead. I use a copy of my meal planning template for this.

Next up - I make a grocery list on my iPhone - I use the notes section. I ALWAYS have my iPhone with me. Therefore, I'll never forget my shopping list.

And finally, over the weekend I shop! I try to stick to my shopping list. I delete items as I put them in my cart. I spend the majority of my time shopping the outer perimeter of the grocery section - proteins, veggies, fruits. All the processed stuff is in the middle, and I'm to the point where it just feels wrong to be shopping there.

And finally, food prep Sunday. It's amazing how much easier my life is when I pre-wash my fruits and veggies. I also like to pre-cook the foods I know I'll need a lot of - boiled eggs, chicken breast, ground beef, etc. Food prep ensures there's no chance of failure!

It's super important to me that I keep a food log - I print a second copy of my meal planning template, and write down what I have eaten. I keep it at my desk, and I write it down as I go along through the day. It helps keep me focused on my goals, and I'm much more successful when I do this.

I'm posting my meal planning template on the blog today for everyone to download. I couldn't find a template that I liked, so I made one! I'm happy to share it with you. Here's another meal planning template version that I made too.

Hope you have a successful meal planning weekend for great results next week!