Why Meal Planning is More Important Than Meal Prepping

Yes. I said it.

Everyone is obsessed with meal prep these days. The internet is inundated with recipe ideas and mouthwatering images.

It can be incredibly overwhelming! I can’t even begin to count the number of times that I wanted to make a new recipe, find a recipe that fits in with the latest fad diet or find a recipe that would work for my depleted ingredient inventory.

Or, my favorite, see a drool-worthy photo on Instagram of an awesome meal and think to myself, “I’m going to the store RIGHT NOW and I’m buying the ingredients to make this for my entire week.”

The point is, we can spend HOURS upon HOURS mindlessly jumping around the internet and social media for recipes, ideas and inspiration. These hours can be spent more efficiently.

If you’re trying to meal prep, chances are you’re doing it for one of three reasons:

Let’s focus on number one. Meal prep is a great way to avoid ordering out food for lunch or eating (gulp) cafeteria food, both of which are going to be calorie dense and nutrient-insufficient options.
“But I only order healthy food at work”

Sure, that may be the case. But most places prepare food with a bunch of different ingredients, and oils, which makes the calories and fat content add up. Yes, even those subs that are deemed healthy.

Enter Meal Planning.

Meal planning, in my world, is planning out exactly what you’re going to eat, and when you’re going to eat it. This includes more than just what you take to work for lunch (don’t get me wrong, that’s very important).

But what are you eating for breakfast? Dinner? Snacks? The weekend? If you’re meal prepping for weight loss, knowing the number of calories you consume is imperative, and not planning out what you’re going to eat for every meal will lead you to eat calorie-heavy meals. And, as you know, to lose weight, the formula is calories in must be less than calories burned.

A good meal plan takes your calories for the day works backward to fit your specific needs.

When do you like to eat? Is there one meal you prefer to be bigger than the others? How many times a day do you want to eat? Then, you can allot calories to each of those times and choose the meals that you want to eat.

It’s that simple! Here’s a sample of what my meal plan looks like on a weekly basis:

Typically I hit my numbers no problem. By having them allocated to each meal, it becomes like a financial budget- I only have so many to “spend” and if I have any leftover, I splurge a little at night with a sweet treat (calories don’t roll over). As long as I am within 50 calories of my daily total, I’m fine. This helped me lose 6% body fat (very stubborn fat, too) and 8 pounds in two months. I focus more on the body fat because I gained some muscle, which makes the weight loss not look as amazing. I also dropped two pant sizes, and I am the lightest I’ve been since high school.

All this because I actively plan my eating schedule and meals.

Does it take some work,k upfront? Absolutely. Do I save time in the long run? You bet. I don’t go to the grocery store multiple times a week or for long periods of time. I know exactly what I need, so I’m not aimlessly wandering down aisles (which helps your wallet, too!) and I don’t open my fridge or pantry and stare aimlessly at what’s inside.

Related posts:

If you have not yet started using Huobi Pro, there are lots of reasons why you should do so without delay, foremost being the opportunity to lower transaction fees and even earn by exploiting certain…

Teachers play an essential role in moulding the minds and personalities of their students. In addition to imparting academic knowledge, they are also responsible for instilling moral values in their…

Stress is something that everyone experiences. It is something that, when asked the question: “how do you deal with stress?”, everyone has their own answer. Today, let’s chat through what stress is…