[GlamourGirl827]

I'm curious how much you plan? Do you plan out meals for the week, or do a healthy grocery shopping and wing it? Do you make a grocery list? Do you prepare meals earlier in the week, make lunch the night before? Do you write down everything you are going to eat, or have eaten? Is ther any point of not planning enough that you start to go off track? Is there any point when planning too much makes you feel obsessed? What's your happy medium?

And exercise.... Do you plan it? Schedule it? Write it down? Do you have to plan the workout in detail (i.e. X minutes treadmill at X miles per hour) or is it just "I'm going to the gym" today?


What will you break plans for, what have you passed up (i.e. last minute dinner with friends) to keep your plans? Do you have a healthy back up plan for when you original plans fall through? What about workout plans? Will you break them? And for what? Do you have a back up workout when plans fall through?

If your family decides last minute they all want pizza, do you stand your ground and cook the planned meal? Or give in?

[baker23]

I never planned my food out. Just tried to stick to a certain calorie limit and keep it healthy. Mostly just winging it.

My excerise on the other hand was planned out everyday. Especially my running as i'm training for a 1/2 marathon right now. I keep a log on my computer to keep track of my improvements with running every week.

During the entire weightloss thing, I tried not to limit myself from enjoying food with friends and family. Just always in moderation(which is prob why it took me around 4 years.) Firm believer in not having weightloss effect your life to much :P

[Katbot24]

Depends on the day/week.

We plan shopping as part of our budgeting strategy so food is mostly planned, although there are nights where a night out happens because life is worth having fun in.

Exercise wise, I try to get 3 30 min sessions in every week, some weeks that's it, other weeks I'll find the motivation to go every day.

I've never missed out on plans, I'm a social butterfly and would be miserable if I did and, since this is a lifestyle change, I'm not doing the misery thing. I might choose not to eat, or to eat very little though.

[lin43]

I don't plan meals for the week, but I buy staples that I know I regularly eat. I may boil some eggs and make a salad, for example, because I know those will come in handy regardless of what I eat during the week.

I cycle my calories & have a weekly total rather than a daily one. Also, I start my "day's" count w/ my most unpredictable meal, which is dinner. So, if an unexpected eating event occurs (e.g., an unexpected invitation to dinner), I go with it and make up for it the next day or next several days. This has helped me tremendously as such spontaneous events were usually my downfall in the past.

I like to get at least one hour of exercise in, 6 days a week, but I usually do more than that. I usually do most of that in the a.m. (although this summer is an exception), so I rarely have a reason not to exercise. However, if something comes up, I don't worry about skipping a day since I feel I do enough regular, consistent exercise for that one day not to be a problem.

[m3k]

I actually don't do a whole lot of planning. For just the two of us, it's pretty easy. We head out to the grocery store, and make a small plan there about what we'll do for lunches and dinners. He likes certain cereal for breakfast, and I like to eat certain things for breakfast. So, that's usually a free for all. We also just don't let certain foods in to the house. If it's not there, we can't eat it.

The nice thing is that it is just us. If we had kids, there would certainly be more planning involved and I'm sure everything would be a lot different.

As far as exercise, I just make sure that I'm exercising at the very least 4 times a week. If I'm working out by myself, I run or go on the elliptical for about a half hour. I'm in the process of doing a couch to 5k program. If it's a Zumba day, I'm there! Zumba days I definitely try to go to. There's usually several a week, but some are in the morning and some are in the evening. It's exhausting, but so much fun and very good for you.

I found that strict planning and scheduling for me became too restrictive. Now I just know that I must work out, I must eat well, and all will fall in to place.

This is the third or fourth time I've solidly tried to lose weight, so I've had plenty of trial and error.

The only planning that I do is when I first wake up, I use the restroom and then weigh immediately. This keeps me accountable daily. I have an entire Excel spreadsheet chart system set up that I am VERY strict about. It must be completed every morning. The next morning, I fill in my exercise for the day and the amount of time I took to complete it. I then have each month of weight loss charted along with all of my mini goals. This visual of how far my journey has come and how long I have to go is extremely important. It starts my day on the right weight loss/fitness foot.

I hope I answered at least some of your questions!

[krampus]

I don't plan much. I buy groceries and make things out of them. I eat chicken, tuna or hard boiled egg salad 2-3 days a week for lunch with Greek yogurt and fruit. I am OK eating the same stuff for lunch day in and day out with more flexibility for dinner and weekends.

I have two lifting days that I absolutely must stick to, but they are flexible depending on my schedule. The other days I can run outside or use cardio machines or walk or go to Zumba. My roommate/good friend and my boyfriend, the two people I hang out with most, are both active people who respect my exercise plans and sometimes join me.

Too much planning, journaling, recordkeeping, numbers crunching drives me to total insanity.

[Rana]

Originally Posted by GlamourGirl827

I'm curious how much you plan?

I want to plan. I used to be better at it before. But sometimes I plan, sometimes I don't. What helps is that I have some favorites that I call "pig chow" (boyfriend's term for it!) that are healthy meals that I can make with my eyes closed. And I freeze stuff too for easy meals when I'm too tired.

Originally Posted by GlamourGirl827

Do you plan out meals for the week, or do a healthy grocery shopping and wing it? Do you make a grocery list?

I have a vague idea of how I want to eat during the week -- I take into consider meals out with friends/boyfriend, how much time I have at hand. At the grocery store, I have an idea of what I will buy, but I like to buy what's in season and sometimes my store runs out of stuff... So, again, I have a vague idea, but I am flexible if I have to be.

Originally Posted by GlamourGirl827

Do you prepare meals earlier in the week, make lunch the night before?

I sometimes cook on the weekends and then save for meals during the week (lunches, mostly). Sometimes I cook at night and save the leftovers for lunch the next day. It depends, again, on how much time I have.

Originally Posted by GlamourGirl827

Do you write down everything you are going to eat, or have eaten?

I have to keep track of what I eat. I calorie count. Eating intuitively doesn't work for me. I know I eat out of boredom or to procrastinate, so looking at my "budget" of calories, reminds me that I need to save them for later, so I can eat dinner!

I also try to eat lower carb and putting it in MFP let's me see where I am in terms of my carb grams.

Originally Posted by GlamourGirl827

Is ther any point of not planning enough that you start to go off track? Is there any point when planning too much makes you feel obsessed? What's your happy medium?

Yes, if I don't plan at all, it's easy for me to get lazy and just start eating out -- my boyfriend will HAPPILY bring me lunch or dinner so I don't have to cook, but the end result is that I can't control what I'm eating. And we all know restaurant food has excess calories in it.

I do get diet fatigue and for the last six months I've thrown caution to the wind and the end result has been a 5 lb gain from my lowest weight this year. It doesn't seem like a lot, but I'm not done losing yet.

So, I have to be strict about what I eat again and part of being strict is planning ahead of time for it -- so I know my portions (weigh and measure food) and I know that if I want to make through a 1500 day, then I should skip the cookie and eat the almond butter with an apple instead (same amount of calories, better satiety!)

Originally Posted by GlamourGirl827

And exercise.... Do you plan it? Schedule it? Write it down? Do you have to plan the workout in detail (i.e. X minutes treadmill at X miles per hour) or is it just "I'm going to the gym" today?

For exercise, I can't go to the gym... being on a treadmill is mind-numbing for me.

So, I go to a studio where I can take pilates classes and spin classes. And I ride my bike on the weekends. The classes are set by the schedule -- so it's not MY schedule, it's theirs.

Even when I was part of a gym, I went to the classes that the gym offered. Again, not my schedule, the gym's schedule.

For my bike rides, I go with friends (it's good peer pressure if you say you're going to show up at 7:45 AM to ride with them) and then we ride however long we say we're going to ride that day. We know the typical length and how long it should take us. What I don't know -- and can make the ride easier or harder -- is the weather. If it's really windy, it's a hard workout because you fight against the wind. Or if it's really hot, you sweat more than in the spinning class.

Originally Posted by GlamourGirl827

What will you break plans for, what have you passed up (i.e. last minute dinner with friends) to keep your plans?

I will plan meals with friends, but I will pick a healthy option on the menu -- usually a salad with a balsamic dressing and protein.

Originally Posted by GlamourGirl827

Do you have a healthy back up plan for when you original plans fall through?

Frozen meals! Or my "pig chow."

Originally Posted by GlamourGirl827

What about workout plans? Will you break them? And for what? Do you have a back up workout when plans fall through?

Yes, I will, for dinners with friends during the week, if necessary (schedule is fixed for classes, so I can't make it up later). Weekends are easier, since the classes are in the day.

I won't exercise, but I will get right back on track.

I exercise 6 days a week, though, and it's just part of my weekly/monthly routine. I have one day off.

Originally Posted by GlamourGirl827

If your family decides last minute they all want pizza, do you stand your ground and cook the planned meal? Or give in?

Boyfriend usually doesn't keep me off track, but if he does request something special, I'll give in. Thankfully he fully supports my efforts and today, for example, he said to me when I called him at work begging him to buy me a cookie, "No, you are not allowed to have a cookie."



He's the best.

[freelancemomma]

Very little planning. I aim to average about 2,000 calories per day and 150 minutes of exercise per week, but beyond that I keep it loose and flexible.

F.

[JossFit]

I am a creature of habit, and I LOVE to plan. I find something so relaxing about ritual and comforting about deciding what to do ahead of time. I find a little bit of preparation makes sticking to my healthy lifestyle super easy for me. More specifically...

Originally Posted by GlamourGirl827

Do you plan out meals for the week, or do a healthy grocery shopping and wing it? Do you make a grocery list?

I go grocery shopping after I leave the gym on Saturday morning and once I have my groceries for the week, I sit down with my journal and plan out each meal from lunch that day until breakfast the following Saturday.
I do make a list but I will deviate from it a bit to try new things.

Originally Posted by GlamourGirl827

Do you prepare meals earlier in the week, make lunch the night before? Do you write down everything you are going to eat, or have eaten?

I cook batches of chicken for the week, but everything else is prepared after work and packed up in my cooler for the next day (except for meals on Saturdays and Sundays, in which case I just make each meal before I eat it but eat what I planned most of the time.) I do write it all down ahead of time, and then just check it off as I go. I will change something if I'm not in the mood for it but I write the changes down.

Originally Posted by GlamourGirl827

Is there any point of not planning enough that you start to go off track? Is there any point when planning too much makes you feel obsessed? What's your happy medium?

I always plan unless I'm planning not to, like a vacation or something. I can never seem to plan too much... I love it. I'm weird like that.

Originally Posted by GlamourGirl827

And exercise.... Do you plan it? Schedule it? Write it down? Do you have to plan the workout in detail (i.e. X minutes treadmill at X miles per hour) or is it just "I'm going to the gym" today?

Yep, I write down my workouts ahead of time each week so that way I can make sure I get a good balance and hit my muscles evenly, and also to make sure I don't skip out on exercises that I dislike or that are particularly hard. As I go through the workout, I fill in how many sets/reps and what weight I used.
For cardio, I set little goals such as "Run at least 20 minutes" -- again, just to make sure that I have a good balance and don't end up going weeks without changing up my cardio.

Originally Posted by GlamourGirl827

What will you break plans for, what have you passed up (i.e. last minute dinner with friends) to keep your plans? Do you have a healthy back up plan for when you original plans fall through? What about workout plans? Will you break them? And for what? Do you have a back up workout when plans fall through?

I change things up as needed. If I decide to go to lunch at Panera Bread with a girlfriend I just erase my planned meal and pencil in the one I had instead. Same thing with my workouts; if I can't get to a machine or weight I need for my planned workout I just do something that serves the same purpose and write it in my journal. My "back up plan" is just to be flexible in the moment and do something else. Generally social events are things I know about ahead of time, so I will plan (for example) up through lunch and leave my dinner blank because I know I'm going out for a fatty delicous dinner and lots of drinks. I try not to throw out the entire day and eat well and exercise as normal up until the event.
That way, I also already have the next day's meals and workout planned so even with a hangover and a guilt hangover (sometimes) I already have my game plan to get right back on track. It is soooo helpful not to have to think about things like that in the moment!

Originally Posted by GlamourGirl827

If your family decides last minute they all want pizza, do you stand your ground and cook the planned meal? Or give in?

It's just me, so there is never an issue with that. My fiance lives in another state, and when we do see eachother (and when we were together before he had to move) it was rarely an issue. We are both grown adults and are pretty independent. If he wants to order a pizza he does, and I eat the pizza if I feel like it or I eat whatever was on my plan. I love to cook for both of us and he loves my healthy cooking, but when we don't agree on what to have for dinner it's never a cause for any issues between us.

[LockItUp]

I don't plan a ton food-wise, but I know what foods I need on hand, so I guess I plan in that way.

For eating out I plan that for sure! If something unexpected comes up, sometimes I will just refrain from eating until I get home if I can't work it into my calories. Unless I'm splurging, in which case it's a planned splurge, so I guess it is planned lol.

I do plan my workouts fairly specifically. When I do a weight training workout I have my little book with me, I already know what exercises I will do, what weights etc, I keep track so I can ensure I am progressing and pushing myself. I try to do the same for cardio, especially running. I try to be flexible when I can, things come up sometimes with babysitters etc, but I try to plan which days and times ahead of time.

[ELBS717]

My fitbit has revolutionized my planning. As in, helped reduce the need for it a lot! And it's FABULOUS. I pretty much plan on going to the gym 5/7 days a week, but take it day by day. And I eat what I want, but stay consistent with logging what I eat so that I know I'm meeting my deficit.... I also try to eat healthy, but this means that if someone has free donuts at work, I have one.

[novangel]

Cardio 5-6 days a week. Food right now is making sensible choices but everything in moderation, zero calories on drinks, no soda (never liked soda anyway) and all the green veggies I want.

Trying to plan too much usually dooms me to failure. I don't like rules.

[KittyKatFan]

Regarding food, I do prepare a shopping list in advance to make sure I don't forget anything. I only grocery shop once a week so forgetting something is a major inconvenience.

I don't typically plan meals. I know that at dinner, I will cook a protein and a vegetable. I will choose whatever sounds good, or whatever needs to be eaten while it is fresh. I haven't been taking lunch to work because I don't have time and my company typically offers several healthy choices. I will check out the cafeteria menus ahead of time though, so I know what to eat.

As for exercise, I typically have a weekly routine, but I will mix things up at the last moment if I need some motivation.

[Arctic Mama]

I'm the same as Joss. I love planning and do plan out my exercise and two week menus well in advance. It's a sign my life is going haywire when I lose my routines, because I depend on consistency and planning to keep my responsibilities in order and life predictable. For the sake of my kids, especially I try to be predictable and consistent and it has benefitted my weight management greatly.

[shcirerf]

I've been doing this long enough that food/grocery shopping for me and the hub, not a big deal.

The workouts, planned! Weight Watchers meetings, "planned"! Hub knows the drill! I am not available at these times!

I do take some extra time on Sunday to chop and slop and slice and dice and bag up things to make my life through the work week easier.