How to Plan Meals to Lose Weight

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Making changes to your diet can be hard when you're trying to lose weight.  But you can make the process a little bit easier with simple organizational strategies.  Use these tips to plan meals to lose weight faster and to keep the weight off for good.

4 Steps to Plan Meals for Weight Loss

1. Schedule a time to plan. That sounds redundant doesn't it? It's not. You need to set aside 30 minutes each week to plan diet meals and create a shopping list. I find that it's easiest to do it on Sunday mornings. I create a workout schedule and a meal plan at the same time. You can either use this template if you have Microsoft Office or create one of your own. Once I have a meal schedule, I create a shopping list. That way, I buy only the food that I need for the week (no additional snacks!) and save money by not buying food that will go to waste. It's best to do this step when you are not hungry.
   
2. Evaluate your meal plan. If you are following a specific diet, make sure each day's calorie count and nutrient balance follows that plan. If you don't have a specific diet to follow, you can still evaluate each day's intake on your meal plan. Does each meal include a healthy serving of vegetables? Did you plan your meals to provide the right amount of protein for weight loss?
   If you're not sure how many calories to eat and how many calories to burn each day, take a few minutes to figure out your energy balance.  Once you know your basic numbers, you can make simple adjustments according to your food choices and your schedule to reach your goal weight or maintain your current figure.


3. Shop and cook. One of the reasons that I like to plan my meals on Sunday morning is that I spend Sunday afternoon shopping.  Then, I use low calorie cooking techniques to prepare foods in the afternoon. I cook in large quantities and then divide the food into individual containers to eat throughout the week. This saves time later in the week when I am too busy to cook a healthy meal and I find myself tempted to eat higher calorie, convenience meals.  My favorite healthy breakfast, for example, is only 233 calories and it takes just 5 minutes to make when I have prepped in advance.  Good food choices are easy to make when healthy food is ready to go.
   
   
   
4. Lay out the day's food. I usually do this step the night before, but you can also do it when you wake up each morning during the week. Refer to the meal-planning schedule that you created in step one, and set out the food that you are going to eat the following day. I pack my lunch and place the foods that I'll eat at home in the front of the refrigerator or pantry. That way, the food that I should be eating is the food that is easiest and most convenient for me to grab when I'm hungry.

Keep in mind that the first time that you sit down to plan diet meals and create a healthy schedule, the process will take a little while longer.  But once you have a system in place, you'll breeze through the ritual and you might even like it!  Getting organized feels good and reaching your weight loss goals feels even better. 

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