Planning is the Key to a Healthy Lifestyle
That statement sounds blunt, but it’s true. If there’s no forethought in going to the grocery store and having healthy foods in the house or no plan for exercise, how do you expect it to happen? The good news is you don’t have to be a Type A person to reap the benefits of a little planning. Here are 3 easy meal planning tips to help:
Meal Planning Tips
The plan starts with a grocery list, and a grocery list starts with the ingredients you need for meals and snacks. I personally use MyRecipies.com that pulls recipes from several databases like Cooking Light and Health so most of my recipes are in one place and they are (mostly) healthy options. If you’re not sure where to start in planning meals, use weekly themes to narrow the choices down such as Meatless Monday or Taco (i.e. Mexican) Tuesdays. Plus then you will already know exactly what you are cooking the day of. Be sure to pick up some healthy snacks too – avoid the hunger temptations by keeping yourself satiated between meals and snacks are a great time for extra servings of fruits, vegetables, whole-grains and fiber.
Meal Prep
You’ve got the ingredients, now it’s time to prep where you can. Here are a few scenarios I use to prep during key times. Like anything, this type of forward thinking takes practice and some time to get used to, but I PROMISE it gets easier.
- On Sundays, I pre-make Overnight Oats in mason jars so breakfast is covered for the week. It only takes me 6 minutes! Get the recipe here.
- I pre-cut veggies on Sundays and Wednesdays – I find that some veggies don’t last to the end of the week. To make it more efficient, I pre-cut everything while I am cooking so I’m already in the kitchen and getting dishes dirty.
- Pack your lunch while cooking dinner. I take dinner leftovers for lunch the next day, so as I dish out dinner I put portions into our lunch dishes. I also pre-wash my fruit, pack snacks and get my coffee ready while making dinner. Again, I’m already in the kitchen and my mornings are SO easy!/li>
- When I think about which meal I will cook on each day, I save easier & faster meals for days when I get home later. There are so many meals you can make in the time it takes to pick up something from a restaurant./li>
Exercise Prep & Plan
Two key questions to ask yourself daily and weekly when it comes to your workouts: WHAT and WHEN. If your schedule stays consistent week to week then you can set a routine and these answers are probably easier. But if your schedule changes week to week, then your success lies in answering the WHAT and WHEN prior to each week starting. Having these answers in place will make it much more likely that you will get your workouts in, even if your motivation is low.
I hope these meal planning tips help you reach your goals. For more scheduling tips & tricks, Subscribe to my Newsletter.
Happy Cycling!
Jane