Importance of Meal Planning

Meal Planning in the Morning
 

As my hubby and I are working our way through Insanity Max 30,  I have to keep in mind the one main element to our results that means more than getting our sweat on, and it's what we are putting into our body during these 60 days.   It is said that 80% of your results will come from what our body is made up of.  Our results are going to come from what we are putting into out bodies. 

What are you fueling your body with?  You cannot be slim, lean and strong by eating processed, nutritional valueless foods.  When you are fueling your body right, you are giving it lean proteins, veggies, fruits and healthy grains.  That was the way our bodies were intended to eat.  So in knowing that, I definitely know our focus has to be what foods we chose this week to put into our bodies and make some progress this week. 


If you have known me for awhile you know that I do enjoy working out, running and even a challenge.  I love the sense of accomplishment when I've finished a hard workout.  I think that's why I'm really enjoying the intensity of Insanity Max 30. 
BUT what was missing a year ago was the nutritional aspect.  I was trying to exercise my way to a healthy and fit body but it just doesn't work like that.  A lot of it comes from what your body is made up of and what's in it.  If you are healthy and eating the foods that are closest to its original form, you are going to feel better, have more energy, and look your best because your body is going to be happily fueled on what your feeding it. 

Rewind a year or two ago,  I was working out fairly regularly but it was going no where.  I was putting in all this effort and energy and time into working out and sweating and all that hard work but my body wouldn't lose the weight, because I was feeding it junk.   


What has changed?  Well I got truly honest with myself and realized that if I wanted change, I needed to do something different with my daily diet.  I started on the 21 Day Fix Journey and invested in my health and started to drink Shakeology daily.  That was giving me all the nutrition I needed, just in one, quick, meal replacement shake daily.  That dose of nutrition alone helped me have more energy and feel 1000% better.  It curbed my cravings which was a huge thing for me to get over, I was totally addicted to sugar.  My body was finally getting the nutrients it needed so I wasn't having those cravings for sugar kicks anymore.  I still to this day have a Shakeology each and every day because I know for certain it's the one meal that I know is full of all the nutrients I need each day.  You can read more about Shakeology HERE

Another HUGE difference and change from last year is that now I plan my meals (insert groan..... )  I know I know.  This will probably feel like homework, but I was realizing it would literally make or break my week of progress.

These two situations used to be me:

6:30am - and running late getting ready for work.  Realizing I have to leave the house in 15 more minutes and I still haven't packed a lunch for later.  Running late and there's no time to make a healthy breakfast.  I'll just grab a bagel, and coffee on the run. 

OR

5:30 pm - so exhausted from a long day at work.  Been snuggling and chilling with the kids on the couch and the last thing I want to do right now is make dinner.  Don't even know WHAT we have in the fridge that I could cook right now.  Go to the fridge, blahhhhh, nothing to eat.  Okay I'll throw some quick chicken nuggets and fries in the oven, a quick pasta or order in pizza to make life easy.

So instead of making these above errors in judgement each week, I dedicate about 30 minutes to meal planning each weekend so I can plan it all out, print it for the whole family to see, make my grocery shopping list from it, (so we aren't overspending in food that we don't need or will be wasted in the week) and I'm then literally set up for success.  No wondering what I'm going to make.  No tired and quick food decisions.  It's all planned out for me ready to have a great week feeling my best.  When you know what you're eating ahead of time, you can also do some quick meal prepping and make a couple healthy meals at a time for later on as well instead of grabbing quick unhealthy things. 

This is what a typical day would look like for me a year ago:

Breakfast - Timmies blueberry bagel toasted with butter, vanilla yogurt and large double double with milk
Snack - none
Lunch - Whatever was quick from the store or I would have a microwave lean cuisine
Snack - pop maybe?? I would come home after work and nibble on something with sugar because I had such a low from malnutrition and needed a quick sugar kick
Dinner - some sort of pasta.  We were always eating pasta.  it was quick and easy and the kids loved it.  But this wasn't teaching them about balanced meals at all.  They were not getting all the food groups in for the day.

What does it look like now?

I have 5 carefully planned and balanced out meals that contain all my food groups for the day.  This I learned from doing the 21 Day Fix.  Totally changed my life the way I look at food, portions and balanced meals.

Breakfast - egg whites, oatmeal with fruit and natural PB, water, coffee
Snack - Chocolate Shakeology with 1/2 banana, water
Lunch - Salad with a protein (chicken or salmon or ground turkey)
Snack - cucumbers and hummus
Dinner - Chicken, quinoa, veggie of some sort.

Now, I'll be real here too, this doesn't mean we don't have a few treats or desserts every once and awhile. But we have definitely changed our eating habits significantly from a year ago.  We have treats maybe once a week instead of EVERY night.   

It's about progress not perfection :)
AND
When you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

This is what has changed in the past year and a huge key in progress for me and what a change from a year ago just by adding the 30 minutes to plan the meals out and sticking to it !

Here is what week #2 looks like if you've been following my meal plans from the Eat Clean Diet Stripped book by Tosca Reno.

I really encourage you to meal plan.  I truly believe it will make a whole lot of difference in how your week will go.  It will help to take those tempting situations away that lead us into the same quick fix trap week after week. 
Feels like homework yes, but totally worth that 30 minutes to carefully plan out your week.

Here's to a great week!!