A simple guide to meal prepping: 8 easy tips, which bring 8 amazing benefits

Painful as this is for me to admit…I have at last reached an age when I am beginning to feel the effects of a slower metabolism creep up on my waistline. Like many others before me, I decided to embark on a quest to lose weight. But first I decided to engage in some meaningful introspection. And this led me to some interesting realizations…
 
Gone are the days I can just devour an entire pizza or a pint of ice cream on my own. Gone are the days I can visit the Cheesecake Factory with my besties and have guilt-free bingeing sessions (amazing and therapeutic as those sessions were!). Gone are the days I can head to work empty-handed and just rely on the break room donuts to sustain me throughout the work day. Now, don’t get me wrong here…I totally still can (and would love to!) do all these things…they just don’t come without consequence anymore.
 
Enter the days of mindful eating and meal prepping! I’ve always heard of meal preppers and over the years I’ve seen a fair share of meal prepping ideas on Pinterest. But in my mind it was always something that other people needed to do.
 
Logically, I knew the purported benefits of meal prepping. It’s just that I personally didn’t see the value of meal prepping in my own life. I knew how to make good food choices, I told myself.  I knew how many calories I was consuming, I told myself. I knew how to get all the nutrients that I needed in a given day, I told myself. Lies, lies, lies!
 
Now mind you, I didn’t just jump head first into this whole meal-prepping thing. No, no, no, that would be silly! I actually took a two-pronged approach, which consisted first of mindfulness and then of learning how to meal prep correctly (hint: there’s an actual process to it!).
 
Becoming More Aware
As with any new change, my journey began with me needing to further convince myself that all my efforts with this were a necessary undertaking. So before I joined the world of highly organized folks who engaged in this meal-prepping thing, I decided to become more mindful of my own eating habits. As a health coach, I am used to learning about and preaching healthy diets and healthy eating habits. But when I applied my own advice to myself, it was quite enlightening.

This is what I realized when I became more mindful of my daily eating habits:

• I was underestimating the amount of calories I was consuming on a daily basis
• I was overestimating the amount of nutrients I was getting from my diet
• I was overestimating how many calories I was actually burning during my scattered workouts
• I was underestimating just how long it took to burn off the calorie-rich foods I had been consuming
• I was falling quite short of meeting the basic dietary guidelines for a healthy diet
  
• I was eating pretty much whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted (though I definitely tried to make healthy choices as often as possible….and I often fell short!)

 
These realizations were one tough cumulative pill to swallow. I thought I had always made conscientious food choices and I’ve always intended to talk the talk and walk the walk. So what to do now? It was time to call a spade a spade and it was time to get organized. My diet was all over the place and I had no systems in place whatsoever when it came to my eating habits.
 
Convincing yourself to make a healthy change always consists of a process. For me, this process meant first spending some time upfront to convince myself that something needed to change. In my case, waistline creep helped pushed things along even faster for me. This, combined with my newfound mindfulness about my calorie consumption and expenditure, and I felt ready to do something different.
 
Just Start
But if you’ve been trying to lose weight, or have just been trying to get healthier overall, then you know how crazy difficult it can be to just start. For this reason, I am a firm believer in creating sustainable systems. What does this mean exactly? It means making a plan. It means getting organized. It means having clarity on what it is that you are trying to accomplish. It’s being clear on why you want to accomplish it. And finally, it means fully committing to the process.

So this is how I went from a daylong grazer to a super-organized meal prepper:

• I reviewed the current dietary guidelines on recommended carb/protein/fat consumption. I became better informed of my body’s needs.

 

• I made my WHY clear: to lose some weight so I could feel more energetic and more confident.

 

• My goal was also clear: to rein in my calorie intake and get all the nutrients my body needs in a day. I did this by creating a SMART goal: “I am going to prepare 3 lunches per week, which will each consist of one serving of a healthy protein source, one serving of a healthy fat source and 2 servings of healthy carbs (fruits and vegetables).”

 

• I bought what I needed to just start: a cute lunch box and a matching bag!

 

• I made a kickass grocery list, which included healthy foods from each major food category (the macronutrients: carbs, proteins, fats).

 

• I tried buying my groceries online and discovered that it was a surprisingly gratifying and enjoyable experience. My pre-made list made grocery shopping quick and it prevented impulse buys. I found it much easier to stave off temptation when I was behind my computer than when I’m right in front of an unhealthy temptation. I was far more in control and more intentional this way.

 

• I wrote out a daily menu and I limited my meal prep just to lunch to start with, to make it more doable. As with any new change, slow and steady starts are the best.

 

• I only stuck with healthy foods that I could truly enjoy (i.e. dark chocolate, healthy nut butters, well-seasoned veggies, my favorite fruits and seafood prepared just right)

 

• I resumed intermittent fasting (16/8) and rediscovered the joys of filling my body with wholesome foods after a long period of not eating (heck, in my opinion, even a shoe would taste good after 16 hours!)

 

• I kept things simple. I am not much of a cook and lucky for me I’ve found pleasure in eating foods in their most natural form. Suffice it to say, meal prepping really doesn't take long for me at all.

 
So what should you eat exactly?
Everybody’s different. In terms of our specific food choices, what works for me may not work at all for you. This is okay. There are a million different healthy foods out there to choose from and a million more combinations that you can concoct with them. The point is not for us to eat the same exact foods. The point is to just get organized. It’s to become more mindful. It’s to find what works for you.
 
One particular friend of mine scoffs at the contents of my lunch box, so my food choices clearly wouldn’t work for her. And in case you’re wondering, you’re never too old to be teased about the contents of your lunch box.

So in order for all this to work for you, seek out healthful foods that you can truly enjoy. Educate yourself on current dietary guidelines. Know how much fat you should eat in a day and which foods are considered healthy fats. Learn how many carbs you need in a day, and how much protein is needed for your activity levels. We are fortunate to have a world of information right at our fingertips. Please don’t take it for granted. Use it for your meal planning.
 
8 easy meal prepping tips

1.) Make time for it. You will find time for something if it matters enough to you.

2.) Write it out. Make a menu like I did. Or use a meal prep log. Find what works best for you.

3.) Keep your pantry well stocked with healthy items. Consider low sugar, low-salt canned and/or frozen healthy foods to prevent spoilage. This is also a more affordable option to eat healthy if you are on a budget, as canned and frozen foods are cheaper but can be just as nutritious as fresh foods.

4.) Start prepping just one meal a day. Maybe start with just a couple days of the week. Get the hang of it first by starting small. Build confidence in yourself. Build from there.

5.) Get organized. Buy a lunch box. Make grocery lists. Assign a grocery day.

6.) Consider dietary guidelines and consume enough from each food group. Learn which foods are healthy and which are not.

7.)Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. If you like to cook, great. If not, do what I do and add a bunch of simple foods to your lunch bag (banana, hard boiled egg, nuts, veggies, etc.). Keep things simple and remember that food in its most natural, unprocessed form is usually best anyway. Don't stress over meal prepping or it won't last. Play music while you meal prep. Make it enjoyable.

8.) Pick a start date…and just start!
 
Still not convinced? Here are 8 great benefits of meal prepping:

1.) You can save money! No more ordering out last minute because you waited until you were “starving” and had nothing to eat on hand.

2.) You eat healthier, which will lead to fewer food cravings once you start eating richer, nutrient dense foods.

3.) You can save time.

4.) You can manage your portion sizes much easier.

5.) You’ll have fewer food decisions to make during the day, which means less reliance on willpower. This also means less guilt and also less decision fatigue so you can save your thinking powers for more important matters!

6.) You might just motivate others around you to eat healthier.

7.) You might find yourself doing less emotional eating and instead, redefining your relationship with food as it just being a source of nourishment and energy.

8.) You’ll waste less food. With a plan you stick with, you know that fresh bag of veggies will not go to waste this week.
 
What I have learned so far
It’s been several weeks now since I began my meal-prepping journey and there’s no turning back. While it might surprise some to learn, I don’t even own a scale. But I can already feel my clothes fitting better. I feel more energetic and I feel calmer. I feel less stress surrounding meal times and I take comfort in knowing that my eating is now under control. I make fewer food decisions during the day, and this prevents decision fatigue (future blog topic!).
 
If you’re like me, then chances are, you haven’t just gained weight for no reason (unless you do have a medical issue, which in some cases can cause unexplained weight gain). When you take a closer look at your daily habits, you might be as surprised as I was at what you discover.
 
It’s all about balance
Of course, there are still days when I throw caution to the wind and I really live it up. I’m a huge fan of dining out with friends and al fresco dining season is upon us. Living a balanced life also means being flexible.

Too much rigidity and you begin to feel a sense of deprivation. Some flexibility should be built into any plan. Highly restrictive eating is rarely sustainable. It’s important to find joy in your eating routine and also in your meal prepping time. I’m here to tell you that you can eat healthy, feel amazing and be joyful all at once. It just takes a little bit of foresight and planning.
 
I generally apply the 80/20 Rule to my eating habits. If I am organized and planning out my healthy meals 80% of the time, then I can relax a bit and look forward to that 20% of the time when I can let loose a bit. Surprisingly, I actually appreciate my healthy meals that much more after periodically filling myself with delectable indulgences.
 
Want more information?
Click here to learn more about the most update dietary guidelines if you are looking for a quick and easy place to start.
 
And remember, if I can do this, so can you!