Meal Planning

 Meal planning:

This is something that took me a LONG time to learn, and I'm still learning. The only way to nutritionally succeed is through planning. ESPECIALLY if you are like me and are prone to binge eating, cravings, bad food choices, and portion control problems. AND especially if you're BUSY!!!

Let me help you learn!

Every Sunday, I sit down on Pinterest and find healthy meals that look easy to make and look yummy! I usually pick 4. For breakfast and lunch, I eat the same thing throughout the week (or leftovers) and then I plan 3-4 meals for dinners. I also plan about 2-3 snacks per day, this seems like alot, but I need food I can turn to if my roommate comes in with ice cream or there is a box of donuts sitting on my counter. THEN I make my grocery list. This part of the planning can either take 10 minutes or 3 hours... just make decisions on the first few things you see!

The grocery store. Some people say that eating healthy costs more.. I disagree. If you decide to eat healthier by adding to your diet and not removing anything from your diet, then yes, it will obviously cost more. So if you are still eating everything you normally do, but you added almonds, spinach, and quinoa... well yeah, pricey. But if you ONLY buy the things you planned at the grocery store and left your normal purchases behind, you will see that your budget will most likely stay the same (depending on the meals you planned, clearly I'm not including lobster or steak on my menu!!). 

The only things you need to remember while shopping are: 

1. only buy what you planned 

2. stay on the outside of the store (this keeps you away from chips, candy, soda...)

Then I cook them, put them in individual baggies and portion amounts. Again, this seems petty when you are scooping servicing sizes of nuts into a baggie... but TRUST ME, it makes all of the difference.

This week:

Breakfast: Shakeology shake (Shakeo + Milk) ~ 200cal

Lunch: Veggies with Quinoa ~400cal

Dinner: Pad Thai Spaghetti Squash, Snap Pea Lima Bean Salad, Sweet Potato Salad, Veggie Pizza ~400cal

Snacks: Shakeology energy balls, Oranges, Bananas, Anti-Oxidant Mixed Nuts, Yogurt, Veggie Chips ~200cal

Cheat Meal: Friday night or Saturday lunch (schedule this ASAP, otherwise you will end with with 5 cheat meals at the end of the week!)

 So my lunches are all prepared, my snacks are all portioned, and I now have SOOO much less room for mistakes!

Help yourself succeed by planning! This is easy to talk yourself out of! I will be posting my plan every Monday to keep myself accountable! You should join me :)