Nearly every work day, I eat exactly the same thing. So I no longer have to "plan" for that very much, and packing it is easy. For dinners, my husband does the grocery shopping and cooking, and he generally gets whatever meat is on sale of the things we prefer to use (ground turkey, pork chops, chicken breasts, steak), and a bunch of veggies. Most of our dinners consist very simply of a hunk of meat and a bunch of vegetables. (That sounds boring, but my husband is a very good cook and makes it tasty.)
Friday nights we have a special end-of-week dinner, and I plan that and tell my husband what to shop for. I think about that and look forward to it all week, and it's a lot of fun to cook it together.
I do think it's possible to overthink the plan, and let the plan itself distract one from really getting anything done or changed. I'd recommend starting with baby steps; pick one meal to "clean up," and work on getting that right for a couple of weeks before moving on to cleaning up another meal. That's how I eventually arrived at the routine foods that I eat, a little at a time--I didn't start with my plan fully-formed, I just jumped in and started making micro-changes.
I actually don't plan. I eat what I want, and I add it into a count every day to see what nutrients I need to aim to get :-) The continuous count helps me realize what to focus on for my next meal.
I don't plan anything either. I do fill my fridge and pantry with foods that support my effort and I work from that, then keep track with WW points. I've recently gone vegetarian, so I too appreciate the value of not having to take out a chicken to thaw. It does make my cooking life easier.
As far as planning for exercise, I do have a set routine of activities, but I exercise at different times of the day. I work at home, at my computer, so I get up often to spend 20 minutes on the elliptical or 45 minutes on the rowing machine, and I watch TV from the comfort of my FitBall (bouncing) so I can keep burning fat aerobically. I do weights or Pilates in the late afternoon. I exercise most days, at least an hour, just not to a schedule. The only thing I keep track of is the weights, because I tend to forget what I was lifting and how many reps, etc.
Plans and me just don't get along. I've tried to keep a plan in my past attempts on losing weight and always ran the other direction.
When I became serious about my weight loss, I started with the low calorie diet.
when it came to food I tracked everything I ate and then when I figured what worked in a day so that I didn't go over, I stuck with certain foods or dishes (about 3-4) I would be fine with eating for a while then just added more variety later on.
when it came to exercise: I started out slow...step aerobics using my Wii Fit as I watched my favorite program. From there I tried other aerobic DVD's here and there but tried not to over do it to where I would give up on my whole over all hope of losing weight. All I kept in mind was to do 45 minutes but if I could only do 30 minutes a day that was fine...no need in beating myself up because I at least did something. as time went on and the weight came off I pushed it to an hour a day or a daily 3 mile walk.
The only thing I had in mind was a saying I heard once and never forgot. "It takes 6 weeks for a hobby or activity to become a habit." I just kept telling myself "You gotta make it past the 6 weeks, it's not that far away." and sure enough it got to the point that it became part of me.
** I agree with everyone else, keep your pantry stocked up with healthy stuff. Buy healthy snack alternatives. I buy almonds and fresh fruit to snack on through out the day. I also have snack bags that I fill (make sure its the serving amount, don't wanna sit there thinking "Oh shoot, I don't know how much I ate.") with nuts for just in case that I skip a meal and start wanting to hit a fast food joint. Its my emergency pack I guess you can say. LOL I eat it as I'm thinking of either driving home to make something or seriously think of what I can have at a fast food place that won't break my calorie bank.
I eat a lot of the same foods. So what I do is buy enough food to last me for two weeks. I know what my meals will be because I eat so much of the same things. I get plenty of fruit, (mostly packaged so that it stays fresher longer and so that I know the exact calorie amounts that I am eating) plenty of yogurts, turkey, chicken, and veggies. I also get a few healthy choice meals or smart ones to throw in the mircowave if I am in a time cruch. I also do get a few canned items like turkey chili.
Eating similar foods everyday might not be what you would like to do, but it works for myself. I enjoy the foods I'm eating.
Last edited by Asherdoodles87; 03-22-2010 at 12:52 PM.
I do best (weight loss wise) when I plan ahead, and when I write EVERYTHING down BEFORE eating even one bit.
However, I rarely plan to that degree. I'm often torn between trying to plan more, and enjoying a less structured existence. Spontaneity is my middle name (at least it would be if I could spell it. Thank Heaven for spell check). So I accept slower weight loss in order to enjoy less structure.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Amanda77
I'm afraid I'm going to feel "trapped" by all the planning. KWIM? Anyone have an idea how to combat that feeling?
Here's where I think you're overthinking. If you find yourself feeling trapped, or frustrated, or in any way unsatisfied with your plan, you need to remember that (giving it its own paragraph in bold italics for emphasis):
You can change your plan at any time. You can decide to plan less, plan more, or plan differently. And you can do so as many times as you wish, whenever and however you wish.
It's important to remember that we're not locked into any of our choices. Experimentation isn't just ok, it's pretty much essential.
Totally agree with mom4life - snacks (homemade, or at least home-packed) are key for me.
I make sure I always have yogurt and fruit at work.
In my car, I keep boxes of raisins, or a container of yogurt covered raisins, and these also come in handy when I've gotta pick up the two year old and I know we've got more than an hour before supper. I definitely plan for snacks. I hate being hungry, I find it too distracting!
I don't plan much.
Whenever my partner and I can find time to grocery shop, we sit down and decide what meals we want to eat for the next 10 days or so. We buy ingredients that work for multiple meals (chicken stock, celery, etc) and string those out during the week. Otherwise, we just buy healthy foods that can be used for lunches or dinners.
I'll pack lunches to take to school with me and my partner and I text during school time to figure out which dinner we want that night. Most of the time, I cook at least four servings so I can take left-overs to school for lunch.
I find it easier to have a lot of healthy options in my fridge and go from there. I end up cooking the same things over and over again anyways.
I plan and we wing it. The new ad for one of our local stores comes out every week, so I look it up online on Tuesday night. Once that's done, I have an idea what I can make on sale. On Wed., I go there and buy the sale items. A couple of times a week, I go to the other store for my fruit and veg that aren't on sale at the first store, and I usually get only what's on sale there, though today I was dying for pears, so I paid full price, but only purchased 3. We buy lots of frozen veg on sale and frozen pre-portioned fish such as tilapia, salmon etc. Robert (hubby) eats fish, veg and whatever carb he can scrounge for lunch every day unless we have leftovers of something else. I usually have just a piece of fruit in the morning and then either breakfast (hot cereal and fruit...either fresh or frozen), or lunch around noon-ish. I try to have another fruit or a small carb and some protein in the afternoon and then we have a really nice dinner around 7 pm every evening. I usually cook 4 servings at a time, so I only cook every couple of days. If there's more than 4 servings, I portion out the extra and freeze it for food "emergencies".
I love to cook and I work at home, so it's no problem for me to make the dinner thing. Since I've been counting fat and calories, I've gotten really good at remaking a lot of my favorite meals to fit in. And I know I've mentioned often that I cook a lot of recipes from food network...I just rework them so they fit into my plan. I've found some desserts that I like and even though they are still pretty non nutritious, at least they don't have too many calories or fats, so I can have a "junk" fix once or twice a week without blowing my plan or feeling like I fell off the wagon.
I do some kind of exercise every day, which can vary from just a wlak around the block to Richard Simmons videos to bouncing on a mini-trampoline during commercials when I watch tv, to riding my bicycle. The bicycle is my favorite, but sometimes the weather doesn't cooperate. I have a bulging disc, so I usually can't walk too far too often, though I did walk for a mile the other day.
For me, it's mainly that my calories and fat must be below a certain point and I must exercise some every day. I was taking Thrusday off, but not anymore.
It works pretty well so far, though some weeks I lose a lot and other weeks I whine about working too hard for not much result.
Good luck to you...just set your goals, see how they work and where you need to adjust and go with it. You'll do just fine as long as you do something towards your end goal and just keep doing it 'til you get there.
I plan and shop for 3 days at a time. This is mostly financial so that I can pick one or two fresh ingredients and use them before they go bad.
Don't worry if it is a little hard to find the right amount of planning at the beginning. You can also plan more or less depending on how things are working for you.
I plan, plan, plan...for several reasons. I get paid every other week. The Fridays I get paid, I make a menu on the computer for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the next two weeks, along with grocery list of everything I will need. On saturdays, I go shopping. Sundays, I make soup (typical lunches) to freeze, turkey sausage, eggs to freeze, salad dressing, etc. Anything that can be made up and frozen gets made. The menu hangs on my refrigerator, so while I'm making dinner one night, I know what I need to thaw for the next day. On the non-paycheck weekend, I will usually make a quick trip for some fresh veggies, but that's it. If I have to decide when I get off of work what I'm going to have for dinner, or 5 minutes before I leave for work in the morning, I'm not going to make good choices. This also keeps me from making unnecessary trips to the store where I am tempted to buy unhealthy stuff. Also, I have a lot off food related health problems due to food intolerances. To avoid developing more intolerances, I must rotate my foods on at least a 3-4 day cycle. Having everything planned out helps me keep track of what foods I've eaten and when.
Wow! You guys are awesome. Thank you for all the different ideas and just "this is how I do it" posts!
A couple of you really hit it on the head for me, I think. I do tend to plan, plan, plan to get everything just "right." This inevitably leads me to failure because you can't plan for everything and it's not always going to work out perfectly. And if it's not "perfect" then I get frustrated and quit.
I have to plan at least a little (I am in awe of those of you who don't! Especially Rachel! lol I would be a mess.) but I need to remind myself that it's okay to tweak as I go if something isn't working for me. That will help immensely with the sense of being overwhelmed, I think. I just put too much pressure on myself to get it "right." It helps to see all your various levels of planning (or not! lol) because it reminds me that there is no "right" way. It's just doing whatever is going to work at the time. Thank you so much for all your answers!
Reading this thread has made me realize that I do need to plan. During the week, it's easy. I eat about the same things and at the same time. So no need to plan. Because in actuality, I already have made a plan.
Weekends are vast uncharted territory in which I overeat yet never feel satisfied. This weekend, I'm going to plan my meals and exercise and see if that helps.
