Let's just dive right on in to it! Part two to Importance of Meal Planning (previous post).This is the blank meal plan followed by the meal plan I've filled out for myself this week. Nov 24-Nov 30th. It being Thanksgiving week, it's the ultimate cheat week :-D
And this is why having a new platform would be nicer. I would be able to turn pictures that way I want. The picture just would not be fixed even after I deleted it and changed it. At any rate, I'm going to analyze one day. I know that I don't want to exceed 1500 calories a day. So, as much as possible, I try to base my meal plan off that.
- Determine your daily caloric intake. On average, people should consume about 2,000 calories. I'm petite...4'11 and weight 106.5 and would like to stay there. Since I'm petite, I eat less food. No I'm not trying to lose weight, though I can stand to lose a little fat and gain muscle.
- You can use the app Mt fitness plan to check the calories on food that you would like to eat. At first, it may take a week of planning to determine how you can make meals in order to meet your caloric intake per day. If you can't use this app, I found this website that will work just as well. http://www.calorieking.com/foods/ You can also use this link to determine what your caloric intake needs to be if you ARE trying to lose weight.
- With those meals in mind, I plan a day's meal trying to keep in mind that FOR ME (this may not work for you) but eating too heavily in the am slows me down, so my heaviest meal is LUNCH and I try to put it off for as long as I can. My lightest meal is usually dinner. I incorporate snack in there to avoid snacking on something unhealthy, but if I'm not hungry I can skip it.
- Here is a general list of food I chose from for each category:
BREAKFAST - oatmeal, yogurt, fruit, banana pancakes, egg whites, whole wheat toast, peanut butter, cereal with 2% milk, granola
LUNCH - chicken lasagna, grilled chicken salad/light dressing OR lemon juice sprinkled on top, cup of brown rice, 1 piece of baked chicken/salmon/tuna or another meat. (I don't consumer pork and I eat VERY little beef, and I eat some lamb), steamed veggies, etc.
SNACK - grapes, mixed nuts, yogurt, granola bar
DINNER - salad, yogurt shake (helps with digestion) mixed nuts, leftovers (if I have food in the fridge that I need to get rid of before it's wasted, I would eat a small bowl of it)
With meal plan prepared, you can now determine what items you will need from the grocery store for that week. If there are any items left over, you can always incorporate them into a meal for the following week. Save money and time!
When dining out, consider the caloric intake. Some restaurants will have the calories listed for some meals on the menu. Seek those out. When it doubt, consider a lean piece of protein, cup of brown rice, steamed veggies.
You can also incorporate cheat meals here or there. Just don't over do it. Cheat meals for me include fries, macaroni and cheese, icecream before bed (which I must say is a NO-NO), but I'm keeping it real with you. For drink, I drink water. End of story. I may sip on some juice here or there at an invent but usually even when I eat out, I drink water. I get enough calories from my meal. I'd rather not use my calories on a drink.
Once you have created your weekly meal plan for one week, it makes it easier to plan the next and the next. Feel free to add new meals into the plan as well just to mix things up a bit. Also, working out in the am, helps to get my juices flowing, even if I just dropped and do 20 push-ups real quick, it's better than nothing. But generally speaking I workout 5x's a week...1-2 days I go hard in the paint, the other 3-4 days I do a quick 20 minute workout. I'll post about that workout next week. This post is long, but informative. Hope this was helpful. If there are any additional questions, please don't hesitate to email me at niaimbue@gmail.com. Follow me at IG @livlyhood. And yes, I'm still moving my blog and will update you when there is any new information. Take care of your health because you are worth it! MuAh & CiAo!