Food Plan and Prep

When you are on a path to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight, food planning and preparation is so important. Just like with anything in life, if you fail to plan, you may plan to fail. With food, if you have no idea what you will eat in a day, it could be left up to chance and chance can lead to poor choices.

To keep your body on an even metabolic keel throughout your day, you should eat 4-5 small meals. Start by always having breakfast and avoid letting your body go into starvation mode. It is imperative to have meals and snacks prepared, and if not, at least mentally prepared to stay on track.

A useful tip is to plan meals around foods (when prepared in large amounts) that can be used in one recipe one night, used for lunch the next day or in a completely different meal the next night (or two). For example, if you prepare chicken breast, you can make one or two pounds and have a portion for dinner day one with cooked vegetables and a baked sweet potato and lunch on day two chopped on top of a salad. You can freeze the remaining cooked chicken breast and take it out on day five and make a soup with rice and vegetables. It is really a time saver.

When it comes to your snacks, try to schedule eating something small such as a piece of fruit with yogurt or a handful of raw almonds or walnuts as a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack. When lunch and dinner time arrives, you should not be as hungry and you will eat a smaller portion. If you need to remember your snack time due to a busy schedule, another tip is to put a reminder on your phone, calendar or what ever you use to keep your day straight. It is that important.

You can train your body with food, just as you would with exercise. It needs to be fed on a regular basis because you are burning calories on a regular basis. Remember, the key to weight loss is burning more calories than you take in. When you take in quality, nutrient dense foods that you plan for during your day, you will be successful in your weight loss or weight maintenance plan.