When trying to hit nutrition goals, planning is everything. Whether you like to plan a month, a week, or a day ahead is up to you. This is how I do it. This may or may not work for you, but you can get an idea of one way to try planning your nutrition. But you are going to have to have some sort of plan. Just winging it day to day is not going to be successful. Trust me on that!! I personally do better planning 24 hours in advance. But that is just me. I don’t like to eat the same things everyday. I like variety.
- Meal Prep
I like to prep my proteins in bulk when they go on sale. I freeze individual portions, and keep them in the freezer until I am ready to use them. For instance, I will buy a big package of chicken breasts and cook them all at once in the crockpot. I will add the recipe below. Then I have lots of shredded chicken that is seasoned with just the basics, so that I can season it when I use it to fit whatever meal I am making. I freeze 5 oz portions in individual zip loc bags, then put all of those bags in a big gallon bag so that I don’t have little chicken bags all over my freezer. You can do the same thing with ground beef, ground turkey, or ground chicken. The only protein I do not cook ahead is seafood. It doesn’t freeze well already cooked. Once you have a good stock of proteins in the freezer, meal planning is super easy.
Another great thing to have in the freezer is frozen berries, fruit and vegetables. I get the frozen veggies in those steam in bag things at the grocery store. They are so easy to throw in the microwave and they are done in minutes. Frozen berries and fruit are easy to throw into a blender for a smoothie, or to throw on top of oatmeal, greek yogurt, or cottage cheese.
A well stocked freezer with a variety of proteins, fruits and vegetables is a meal planning must.
2. Meal Planning
I plan my meals around 2 things. My calorie goal, and my protein goal. And both of those goals change depending on what my fitness goals are at the time. I did a whole blog on how to determine your calorie and protein needs according to your goals. This is the link: https://vibrantfitnessco.com/blogs/news/how-to-determine-how-many-calories-your-body-burns-in-a-day-tdee.
Calorie and Protein Goal Distribution
For example: let’s just say my calorie goal is 2000 per day and my protein goal is 150g per day, and I want to eat 3 meals and 2 snacks per day. Note: it does not matter how many meals you eat a day. Do whatever works for you. I do not recommend less than 3 meals a day, but if you can stick to your goals with less, you do you Boo. I want my meals to be satisfying so I want them to be about 500 calories each with at least 40g protein. So 3 meals at 500 calories is 1500 calories total. That leaves me with 500 cals for snacks, divided by 2 that is about 250 calories per snack. Then I have 3 meals with 40 grams of protein is 120g protein. My protein goal is 150g so that leaves me 30g for snacks, divided by 2 is 15g per snack. Now, you probably are not going to hit every number exactly right and that is OK. You don’t have to be 100% perfect. I give myself a good 5% variance for everything. So if my calorie goal is 2000, Im going to give myself =/- 100 cals leeway. Same with protein goal. It will be rare for you to hit those numbers perfectly. I think I have only one that a couple of times in the past 6 years!! You can also choose to eat less cals for breakfast and lunch and cut out snacks on the days you plan to eat out. Because it is so hard to account for calories in food you eat out at a restaurant, I would allow for at least 1000. Even salads out at restaurants can have that many calories.
Food Choices
I choose my meals 24 hours in advance. So the night before, I will choose my meals and snacks. I choose the protein, what I want to do with it, then add in a plant (fruit or veg or both), then if cals allow, I will add other things. For instance: Lets say I am craving buffalo chicken for lunch. I will grab a package of the frozen chicken and stick it in the fridge to thaw for lunch. I know that 5 oz of chicken breast is 231 cals, and 43g protein, so my protein is taken care of. I have frozen green beans in the freezer that I can steam in the microwave and season with salt and pepper. 2 servings of those is about 60 cals. I can put the buffalo chicken on an English muffin (I get the 100 calorie ones) so we are now up to 390 cals. Add in the buffalo sauce and the blue cheese dressing for the chicken and we are up to around 500 cals and 43g protein which is right on target. So you get the idea.
Drinks
It is best not to drink your calories if you can help it. Specialty coffee drinks, regular sodas, and alcoholic drinks are very calorie dense and don’t contribute to your protein intake at all. Water and no calorie drinks are best, but if you do have the occasional Starbucks coffee or a drink out with friends, be sure to account for it in your daily calories and adjust your meals to allow for it.
Food Tracking
There are several free apps that you can download to help you keep track of your calories and protein. I personally like Cronometer. I feel like it is easy to use and the free version is very good. My Fitness Pal is another one, but their free version is not very user friendly as far as being able to input your calorie and protein goals. I personally only track protein and overall calories. Unless you are getting ready to compete in some athletic, or bodybuilding competition, there is really no reason to track carbs and fat. They usually work themselves out. I know there are a lot of people that do not want to track calories and have lots of different excuses as to why they can’t. But I will say this. There is no way to know exactly what you are eating until you track it. You will not guess correctly. Not tracking has gotten you where you are right now. Im just saying. Does it take time? Yes, and it takes effort, but if it is important to you to reach your goals, then you are going to have to commit to doing what it takes to get there. You have to make changes for changes to happen Sis.
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