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Why should we plan out our meals?
The better question to ask is why not?
Eating properly is much like determining how you are going to get to the next city or how you are going to pay for that new pair of shoes. You need to have a plan.
Planning is essential in most everything you do nutrition included. Do you just aimlessly get in your car and start driving and hope you get to the proper desitination?
This is essentially what you are doing when you just haphazardly put food in your mouth and hope that you will eat less and lose weight.
Here are the benefits of mapping our your meals.
* You know how many calories you are consuming
* You control the nutrient ratio and don't overeat too much of the wrong nutrients.
* You can easily make changes to your plan because you know what you have been eating and what is working or not working.
* You are less likely to stray with your eating
1. Layout out your plan so that you know how many meals you will be eating each day. Approximately when you will be eating these meals is also important so you can write that down as well.
2. Next layout how many servings from each food group you will be eating and at which meal you will be eating them. This is the key to avoiding wasted grazing and snacking on unhealthy choices. It also helps you define how many calories you will eat that day and in what ratio.
3. Then prepare your grocery shopping list so you know exactly what you are purchasing for the week and how much.
4. Finally prep as much food as possible by cutting up vegetables you need for the week ahead of time. If you are eating chicken and other meats cook them all at once so you just have to heat them up or pack them in your lunch and they are ready to be eaten.
Purchase many different tupperware containers to store your food in so that again it is easy to assemble your meals and you aren't wasting time figuring out what you are going to eat and how you will obtain the food.
By following these simple, but essential steps to proper meal planning you will have a much higher success rate when it comes to weight loss and dieting.
A proper eating plan is no different than an exercise plan. You have a goal or objective and you then have a plan to succeed with that goal. Now it is up to you to carry out that plan. I guarantee your chances for success will increase significantly and you will be loving yourself for following and sticking to your plan.
