I'm trying to get myself organized here and find that I'm struggling a bit. Do you plan for your weeks/months? How detailed do you get? Do you actually write it down or just keep it in your head? What works for you? I'm looking for ideas on meal planning, exercise scheduling, whatever!

I was thinking that I would make up 4 or 5 week-long menu plans (including every meal and snack) and then just rotate through them for awhile. That would help keep meal "boredom" away but allow me to not have to put much thought into it. (Well, after the initial thinking, anyway!) Or is that over thinking/planning the situation? Is it possible to over plan? I'm afraid I'm going to feel "trapped" by all the planning. KWIM? Anyone have an idea how to combat that feeling?

Also, for exercise. I thought maybe I would start with straight up walking for the first 2 or 3 weeks. The goal would be to get out and walk the 2.5 mile trail outside our house every day (treadmill for an equivalent distance on bad weather days). I would love to do the Couch to 5K program but am afraid. I started wearing a pedometer last week and before I started to deliberately add to my walking totals I was walking less than 4500 steps a day. (That is so embarrassing to admit!) I just wonder if I should push it back a month or so until I've been walking a little more. I'm not planning to put weight training into my workouts until I hit 199. I just want to concentrate on cardio for awhile until I feel like I have my feet under me.

Any tips or views are welcome. Thanks!

Well, it's definitely good to plan, because it gives you something to hang on to and stick with.

I personally have an overall plan in mind usually for 8-12 week periods, but I don't plan out every single meal... although you could.

I have sort of a basic meal plan for a week. I prepare and cut things and stuff on Sundays and W'days.

But there's nothing wrong with planning. And besides, over time, you'll get used to what you're doing. What I mean by that is that you won't have to constantly plan anymore, because things basically become 'routine'.

Hope that helps...

You know, I've been so wrapped up in getting things started that I haven't even really thought about that. You are right, of course. I was feeling more than a little overwhelmed by everything. That actually makes me feel more centered about the whole thing. Thanks!

I was coming back to mention that I have 4 kids, so planning is something that I absolutely just have to do. Although we're pretty experienced with having to adapt on the fly, spur of the moment living really isn't something we can do right now. And anything I can do to prep ahead of time is just super helpful.

Additionally, I am curious about tracking methods. I know a lot of people are using the online food trackers and stuff but I'm not a big fan. I might try FitDay again because it's been so long that they may have made improvements, but does anyone have a not-online method of tracking their food and exercise? I'm wondering if I wouldn't be better off just jotting it all down in a notebook. Low-tech, yeah...but I think I'd be more likely to do it. lol

I'm a low-tech tracker, because I've found it works best for me. I've used fitday and livestrong and they're OK, but they don't beat my black notebook which is stuffed to the gills with everything I need.

I get a bit obsessive about recording things, so my little black book has the following sections:

• daily food diaries
• daily exercise logs
• daily, weekly and monthly goals
• wishes, dreams and inspirations
• stats on previous weight loss attempts
• weight loss tracker
• weight loss graph
• BMR calculator

and it helps me keep on track, because I can just sit on the sofa or the train or at my desk at work thumbing through my little book...which I couldn't do so easily if it was web-based (despite my iPhone). I'm sorry to be such a Luddite, but my iPhone just doesn't cut it the way my little black book does!

As for food planning - I don't really do it as such. I make sure that I always have the fridge and cupboards filled with healthy stuff and I don't tend to buy any unhealthy stuff. The only thing I really need to make a special effort to think about is snack food because that can catch me out if I'm not careful. So I try to have nuts, seeds, dried fruits etc on hand that I can weigh out into a little snap lid tupperware container as I head out the door. That keeps me out of trouble most of the time.

Whichever method you decide, I hope it works for you and good luck on the journey!

Mind you ... I don't have kids at home to figure into the equation (kudos to you!)

We're having a bit of an economic slow down at our house So, here's what I've been doing. Last evening, I assessed the contents of the fridge and freezer, then sat down with the weekly flyers.
My biggies are meats and vegetables. I made lists for both of the stores that I pass on my way to and from work. I'll buy more meat than I need this week and put some in the freezer. Frozen vegetables are the same. Fresh vegetables I gather up a couple of times a week, almost always on sale.
If I can easily come up with a protein (today it's a pork roast that I just put in the crockpot) and I have an assortment of vegetables to choose from ... I can make whatever carb DH feels like eating (bread, tortilla, brown rice, pasta ... all bought on sale of course).

As long as I'm careful to buy a variety when it is on sale. Planning is simply a matter of choosing a couple of things that I already have.

I think you're overthinking it, IMO. For me to make it work, I couldn't lock myself in for weeks ahead. Pretty much I made sure I had some choices on hand for every meal and snack, on a weekly basis, and then I would choose as needed. This is where a calorie tracker comes in handy--you can make quick comparisons without a lot of hand-calculating.

Everyone does it differently, and I don't have a family to prepare food for. But I did have to make sure it was a plan I could follow without too much prep. I'm not someone who enjoys cooking elaborate meals.

Good luck with whatever you choose!
Jay

I don't write down anything. Hubby and I made the decision to be vegetarian when at home and eat meat when we dine out (once a week). That means I just pop into the frig and pick a few veggies every other night and cook! Going veggie isn't an option for many, which is fine, but I find that it's made my life a lot easier. I don't have to worry about thawing the chicken the night before or making sure it's cooked just right without overcooking the veggies or looking up recipes for different varieties of chicken. It's just easier for me. I agree with the above poster that these things become routine in a while. I used to make a mental list of everything I wanted to make during the week. Now it's just habit. Good luck!

I eat the same breakfast and lunch every day, so planning for that means making sure I have all the ingredients on hand and that I cook and prep ahead so that in the morning I can quickly assemble my breakfast and lunch (that means cooking hardboiled eggs and chicken and always have some in my fridge, and cleaning and prepping all the veggies for my big lunch salad).

Suppers are more flexible for me - I'll often try to cook something one night and have leftovers for the next couple of nights. Or it's something pretty easy to put together, like a pita pizza. So again, planning is mostly shopping and making sure I have healthy choices on hard.

I have one child (age 5) but since he's got different food tastes than me, plus he's underweight, I have mostly given up eating the same foods. We'll eat at the same time but I put something together for separately from what I have for myself (and he buys school lunch so I don't have to plan a lunch for him).

I personally use Fitday and that also helps me plan because I put all my food for the day in at one time, and then I can adjust if I have to if it works out too high or if I am not as active as I originally had expected, so I can cut back to make sure I'm hitting my calorie deficit target. Whatever method you use, I think it's important to remember it's not just about tracking the food you eat, it's about setting up a plan in advance to eat so that you have enough food to meet your nutritional requirements but not go over your daily calorie limit.

As for activity, walking is definitely a great way to start! The biggest issue with exercise is scheduling/blocking out the time and getting into the habit. That can be tough when you have a lot of other responsibilities (I have only one child but I am a single mom 100% of the time so no breaks when my child might be with another parent, and I work full time outside the home, so my days are packed!) but you have to make yourself and your health the highest priority and then fit other things around that, instead of the other way around.

I do best when I make sure I have a lot of healthy foods in the house. I don't try to plan every meal, but I try to make sure there's food for 21 healthy meals for the 2 of us in the house. Usually, Sunday is the day I cook a meal that has some leftovers for 1 or 2 additional meals. I make sure there's veggies for lunchbags, and other snacks are prepped and portioned (e.g., baggies with nuts and dried fruit).

Inevitably, something shifts -- we go out to dinner, or whatnot. Then maybe something doesn't get pulled from the freezer...

In other words, I try to make a flexible plan.

And it really does become routine and less overwhelming as time goes on.

One of the biggest things that's helped me is working from a particular cookbook series ('Looneyspoons', 'Crazy Plates', and 'Eat Shrink & Be Merry'). A lot of the recipes for main courses involve similar ingredients, so if my pantry is stocked, I only need to pick up the fresh veggies, or the protein if I don't already have it. I buy meat when it's on sale, and buy more than I need, so I try to have the freezer stocked with lots of pork loin, chicken, and lean ground beef.

I don't tend to plan more than a few days in advance. Mind you, I don't have 4 kids. But I do find it helpful to sit down on the weekend and plan out the meals for the next three or four days. And if it gets to Tuesday, and we don't feel like having salmon or whatever was planned, we usually have on hand the stuff we need to make a roasted pork tenderloin or something instead.

Exercise I have to plan a lot more, because of family scheduling. I try to have my gym stuff with me in the car, and I go to the gym at lunch. If I don't make it to the gym, I try to get the boyfriend, the two year old and the dog rounded up after work and we go for a walk near the house or hit a local trail for half an hour, just to do something.

It does get easier the more you do it, as everyone has said. Good luck!

I generally only plan the night before or in the morning for the current day. My lunches are pretty set (I have 6-8 things I keep on hand like low fat yogurt, carrot sticks, wholegrain crackers, etc., and I choose 4-5 things each day). I make a dinner plan at the beginning of the week before we go to the grocery store, and I tend to decide which food I'm preparing on a given night based on my calorie expenditure the rest of the day (i.e., I had a big lunch, so I'll make chicken and green beans instead of chili, or I had a small lunch, so I'll make whole wheat pizza for dinner).

I personally use a spreadsheet to track all of my calories and my weight loss. For the first month and a half, I also kept a detailed food diary to establish better eating habits.

ETA: I have a very detailed 7-days-a-week workout schedule that alternates jogging, upper body exercises (with resistance bands), and Pilates.

I'm not a diet expert, so this is just how I do it. I plan daily - I wake up and I think, "What am I going to eat today?" then I know what I can eat and when. I try not to think about food inbetween my meal times!

I don't plan my exercise - Just try to fit it in whenever the opportunity arises!

I plan on Sunday afternoons for the week. I usually look through the grocery store circular to get an idea of what's on sale, sometimes that makes a difference. I plan dinners for all meals for the week. (sometimes, I make two grocery trips a week, to make sure produce is fresh all week). I make a list of everything I will need to buy for all those meals. I check the pantry/frig to make sure I actually need the stuff on the list (not checking is how I ended up with like 5 cans of chickpeas at one point!)

I hit the store on Sunday afternoon and put everything away. On Monday morning, I make all 5 salads for my lunches (they are so much easier for me to make in batches like that). I store them in tupperware in the crisper and have only had one salad (in 4 years!!) be unusable on Friday.

Since I just did this yesterday, here are the meals we are having this week:

Breakfasts:
Monday and Tuesday, I'm definitely going to have Greek yogurt and sliced strawberries. After I run out of fresh fruit, I'll probably take oatmeal and apple butter to work. If I hit the store during the week, I'll grab some more berries (if they are on sale). I always have oatmeal and apple butter in the pantry, so that's an easy back up choice.

Dinners:
Monday - turkey tacos on blue corn shells, lots of romaine, tomatoes, a little low fat cheese, salsa, fat free black beans on the side (the leftover seasoned turkey will be for my salads the rest of the week)
Tuesday - Turkey burger on a bun, lettuce, tomato, onion, I'm having broiled asparagus on the side (Jason is having seasoned waffle fries and a lean 96/4 burger instead of turkey)
Wednesday/Thursday - I am making home made pasta sauce with turkey meatballs over whole grain pasta, I'll make a big batch on Wed and we'll have leftovers on Thurs
Friday - we got some fab steaks on sale. Jason is going to have the rest of his fries (or maybe corn, depending on what's left), I'm going to have roasted beets), we're both going to have broccoli crowns

Lunches:
I'm taking a salad to lunch every day. On Monday, I'm having leftover chicken bbq from our dinner Sunday night. Tues-Fri, will be spicy taco salads. I bought romaine, purple cabbage, carrot shreddies, roma tomatoes, crispy tortilla strips, dressing will be leftover salsa from dinner

Snacks
I'm going to take a tangelo and a string cheese every day

Why planning works for me:

* I plan meals I know I like, and I look forward to eating. I happen to love turkey tacos on crispy blue shells!
* When I buy the stuff, I am more likely to eat it. I HATE food going bad, so the thought of "well, let's just order pizza and let these broccoli crowns spoil" doesn't happen
* I have found it's impossible for me to eat healthy by accident. If I don't take a string cheese and a tangelo for work as a snack - what are my options when I get hungry at 4? The snack machine? Ugh.
* It's just habit now, Sunday is just grocery store day. On the off chance I don't hit the store on Sunday, I go on Monday. Some days I might feel tired and not want to go to the store, but I just think of how difficult the week wil be if I'm not prepared and that always motivates me!

I don't think I would have maintained my weight loss for FIVE YEARS without this level of planning. The old me used to "wing it' and that meant a lot of Taco Bell and pizza. I just don't have the mental energy after work to think "what's for dinner, what do I need to get from the store to make a healthy dinner" I want to get home, open the frig and get cooking!

I am not much of a planner, and whatever I plan is in my head only.
I usually make a big batch of something on Sunday so that I have plenty of leftovers to take to work for lunch or for dinners at home. I usually have two different things, e.g. fish plus some other meat so that I don't eat the same thing all the time (although I am quite used to that and it's fine with me).
I eat a big salad at work each day - some people are surprised how I maintain my weight because they think I eat all the time (partly it's true - I eat every 3 hours or so). I also like to eat before I leave work so that I can exercise right after I get home from work and take care of the dogs; and then I usually have dinner afterwards. It's working for me.

My plans change frequently - I am going through some health issues which determine what type of exercise I can or cannot do, so depending on that I either go to the gym or exercise at home - it doesn't matter to me as long as I get the scheduled amount of exercise done.
The same with the meals - sometimes I "stray away" because I feel like having something different so I just go with the flow.

I'm most used to diabetic exchanges. So there's the exchange break out for a certain calorie level and then I just eat to meet the pattern.

So it's like both a planned thing and as you go along thing.

The table numbers are not lined up well, but here's what I mean.

http://www.***************/all/diabeticexchang_rsmf.htm

A.