Creating A Meal Plan To Lose Weight

How far in advance you plan your meals is up to you. Some people like to plan a day in advance making a meal plan each evening for the following day. Others prefer to make a weekly meal plan before they do their grocery shopping so they know exactly what they’ll be eating and therefore what they need to buy to stick to their diet.

Personally I don’t like to feel like that and prefer to “go with the flow”. I have a “cheat sheet” of healthy foods, which is all I buy each week (no temptations left in the house at all - if I want a treat I actually have to go out and get it which means I usually can’t be bothered and begrudgingly stick to my diet if I fancy a Mars bar!).

But I am used to the healthy eating now. It’s a habit and it doesn’t require much thought. I only buy “good” foods and fix myself a meal at a planned time - whatever I fancy and have time for - so there’s plenty of flexibility in my meal plan for the meal plan to lose weight.

Which way you choose is up to you - see what works best for you. Remember it’s a diet where you can eat a range of wholesome foods - and you can eat them at any time.

You don’t need to limit calories later on in the day or live on just protein for a day so less planning is needed. As mentioned elsewhere each “meal” should consist of a portion of protein and a portion of carbohydrates with plenty of fruits and vegetables thrown in for good measure.

I have discussed portion sizes elsewhere on other hubpages so it just needs to be said that a meal doesn’t consist of any old protein and carbohydrates. A cheeseburger provides both protein (cheese, beef) and carbohydrates (bun) but clearly isn’t healthy so you need to select your sources from a list of healthy options.

Once you have this list you are free to mix and match the ingredients plus some seasoning and/or low fat dressings to make your meals a little more flavorsome. For example, margarine is best avoided, but grilled turkey and salad in a pitta can be a bit dry.

However adding some cranberry sauce or fat-free salad dressing soon really adds something to the meal and makes it that bit tastier and increases the chances you’ll look forward to it in the future. And you should be enjoying your food.

It’s terrible to eat something because you should rather because you want to. Chomping your way through something you hate - or something just plain - isn’t any way to live. Don’t forget the water and vegetables and remember this is not an exhaustive list so if something isn’t here but is obviously “healthy” then feel free to add it to your list.

All I do is take this grocery list to the supermarket with me and buy whatever I feel like so long as it’s on the list. Then I get home and decide how I want to combine the ingredients for best results.

The only limitation with this method is that sometimes you have an idea of a meal that fits into your plan but you’re missing an ingredient so you either have to cook something else, go out for the ingredient or do without.

Here’s an example…

I fancied doing tortilla soup – one of the best vegetarian soups. I had corn tortillas, garlic, onion and other flavoring but hadn’t bought any fresh corn so had to go out for them. So possibly the best way to create a healthy meal plan for the purposes of losing weight is to plan your meals a week (or at least a few days) in advance so you can avoid any nasty surprises and ensure you always have the ingredients you’ll need to hand.