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With two weeks of meal prep and food tracking under my belt, mistakes have already become evident. This does not surprise me as I am a total newbie when it comes to food prep. If there’s a Food Prep for Dummies, I should have read it. Maybe I should write it. While there were plenty of good things that happened as a result of prep and planning, (hello weightloss and never feeling over-full) there were some pitfalls as well.
Containers. Right out of the box, I bought the “wrong” containers. I knew this going in as I snagged these off the grocery store shelf, but I thought it better to just start rather than agonize over ordering and waiting for the “right” ones.
In hindsight, compartmented trays like these would be better but in this case I think starting trumps waiting to do it right.
Fat. Wow fat adds up. Fast. I had avocado in my breakfast and in my burrito bowl this week. A little nut butter with my apple sent My Fitness Pal into hysterics. Sheesh.
Snacks. I was great about planning my meals but snacks? Not so much. I arrogantly assumed I could whip up a decent snack on the fly. Because I did not have healthy snacks at the ready, sometimes I got hangry and that’s when Doritos happen.
Activity fluctuations. As a runner there are days when I run 10 miles and days that I rest completely. Obviously my fuel needs need to be adjusted pretty drastically for this. On rest days I feel like I can barely eat anything while on long run days I find myself with hundreds of calories left over. Better planning would address this.
Logging food. This is easy as long as you stick with the plan. When you have to look up “handful of chocolate chips” and ” 6 broken cashew pieces” or “crust of half a grilled cheese sandwich” then it becomes a pia. Even though I rarely if ever went over my daily calorie allotment, there were days that I didn’t make the best food choices and racked up calories with junk. Chocolate chips I’m looking at you. At least they were dark chocolate, that’s good, right?
At the end of the day, yes I made mistakes, but overall meal prep has been a resounding success. I’m losing weight, feeling better, eating lots of nutrient-dense food and keeping junk to a minimum. Best of all, it’s a great feeling to not agonize over what to eat. I just go to the fridge and have a meal there waiting for me. Boom!
Have you done meal prep? Track food? Any tips?
I’m linking up with Meranda, Lacey and Rachel for the Friday Five.
I lost a lot of weight with food tracking but I can’t do it any more. I drove myself crazy trying to figure out what to do if I just didn’t want to finish that 6 oz of yogurt or — heaven help me — eat something besides plain chicken and steamed broccoli at a restaurant. I do still try to plan and avoid mindless snacking, though, unless the best thing at the airport is a bag of sun chips and I’m about to board a 4 hour flight ….
I don’t track my calories anymore bc it makes me crazy. I have started watching my portion sizes and that helps me a lot. I do meal prep and meal plan so I have healthy foods to eat all week long. There is definitely a learning curve
I used to track food like crazy but the way I did it just wasn’t healthy. So it’s not for me, but that’s because of my own failings! I do prep all of my lunches for a week. Sometimes I will put them in separate tupperware, or sometimes I will just take a big tupperware to work that has my chicken and then whatever side I made for the week (veggies, potatoes, quinoa, etc). Then I just scoop out portions into a bowl I have at work.
We go through so much tupperware. WHERE DOES IT GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????
Meal prep is definitely intriguing to me. I plan all our dinners (otherwise I spend a small, unnecessary fortune at the grocery store) but other meals are kinda willy nilly. I should probably prep a bit!
Thanks for linking to those containers – I’ll need to check those out! I agree with you on snacks. I *told* myself that I would just grab an apple…but of course then I saw a bag of chips and well, the rest is history.
I don’t track my food yet but I know I need to stop being lazy and just do it!
I am was really great with this during the summer, but post-ankle break I flew off the deep end. I really need to get back to it. My problem lately has been that I’ll have my meals for the week all planned out, and then instead I’ll end up eating random junk.
I’ve been tracking my food to both make sure I was eating enough during marathon training and now to lose a little bit of weight before I start training for my next marathon. I’m so surprised at how much more fruits and vegetables I”m eating now versus in marathon training (when I was leaning towards rice and pasta to get in enough carbs). It’s a learning experience and I’m going to try to get in more salads during my next marathon cycle (along with the rice and pasta)
I go through phases with my meal prepping. I wish the week after my last race I would have done better when food nutrients really matter. I did do much better this past week and it makes me feel so good. I ate fruit bowls with yogurt for lunches and stayed off the diet soda 🙂 We got to celebrate progress!
Doing something is ALWAYS better than doing nothing. Yes, fat adds up extremely quickly, even the healthy ones, darn it. I seriously have to measure my nut butter.
So many people just hate tracking. It works for me. If that’s what it takes to maintain my weight than I’m willing to do it. Of course I’d love to not have to track, but experience shows me that doesn’t usually work for me. I find actually having a plan — pretracking the day beforehand — really helps a lot. Doesn’t mean you have to stick to the plan, but it just takes a lot of the guess work out of it.
Planning snacks is key for me. If I don’t have a snack, I get hangry and end up eating way more than I need or going for junk.
I must have missed what kind of nutritional plan you are on. What is your concern with the fat, when it’s good fat like nut butter and avocados? I’ve used MyFitnessPal and the like at times. One thing I really like about MyFitnessPal is there are so many choices about what nutrients to track. I’ve used it when I had specific nutritional goals. One thing I like to track is fiber, I try to get a LOT, like 50 plus grams a day.
I never have done much for meal prep, especially in recent years with the three kids all going in different directions. I admire the peeps who do it, but I honestly think it would drive the artsy-farsty part of me crazy (because I am not one to follow “plans” and have everything “symmetrical” LOL)…My hubby, on the ot her hand, is pretty anal…he’d thrive on this (that is, if he took an interest in meal prep)
I meal plan, but that’s as far as I go. I couldn’t do this. I just couldn’t. I give you and everyone else who does meal prep and MyFitnessPal a lot of credit. I’ll just hope and pray that my wing it method just works out.
I’m with you when it comes to snacking – that’s my downfall on the fly. I do much better if I have planned snacks and sometimes even need to keep a list of healthy snacks on my fridge so I know what to choose from at home!
My meal planning/prep strategies have changed alot over the years. I don’t do as much as I used to, but I usually try to cook one meal one the weekends that can be used for leftovers or reheated for dinner early in the week. Also, cutting veggies, prepping some stuff for breakfast, etc. It can be so much work to prep, but it is worth it I think! And for snacks I bring yogurt, fruit, and granola bars to work with me and snack on those between meals.
I do not meal prep but I would like to do it for my work lunches. I usually by those frozen microwave meals because they are easy!
I try to do meal prep on Sundays, especially during the winter! You are so right about the avocados and nut butters!! I do not eat any kind of nut butter anymore, partially because I used to eat the entire jar!! 🙂
I like those containers. However, I find myself just throwing everything together in a pyrex container and in my lunchbag.
I like the idea of those containers. I always meal plan but have been lax lately on the prep…and snacks? Forgetaboutit! Snacking is so my downfall!
I meal prep, but I don’t log or count calories. I try to just eat regular meals.