Entries from April 2009 ↓

When I tell people that I plan every meal and snack for the whole week in advance, I get a lot of resistance. People say things like “Oh, I couldn’t do that, I don’t have time” or: “I wouldn’t like that, I like to be able to eat what I want”  Never mind the fact that I never asked them to try it, they usually feel compelled to tell me that it won’t work for them anyway

The bottom line is, people think menu planning is too hard, too time consuming, and too restrictive. It will stop them being spontaneous, it will take away their freedom. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Here are a few things I’ve learned since I started meal planning;

1. It doesn’t take away spontaneity. A meal plan is a GUIDE, not a rule. If I’ve planned chicken and asparagus on Monday, but I get home only wanting eggs on toast, that’s OK. The eggs are less calories than the chicken, and the chicken can be cooked on Wednesday, while Wednesday’s steak can go in the freezer for next week. Whatever. Likewise, if I’m unexpectedly invited out on Thursday night, I will simply make the best choice I can from what is on offer. Having said that, more often than not, if I am at home I will eat what is on the plan, because the ingredients are there and it does not require thinking about.
2. I get more variety with a meal plan.Think about it - how often when you’re wandering round the supermarket looking for something to cook tonight do you think “Oh, I’ll try that new recipe I saw in that magazine!” Not often I’ll bet. But when I’m planning meals I often think, “Oh, I’ll have a look through a cookbook and find something new to do” In fact, I try to make a point of trying at least one new thing each week.
3. It doesn’t take up a lot of time - In fact it’s getting quicker as I go along. I can do up a meal plan in about 20 minutes now.  The reason it’s getting faster is because I’m building up my database of custom foods in my calorie king software, I don’t have to hunt around and add things in so much.
4. It’s not hard to do- I use calorie king software to plan my days, then I jot each day onto a printed grid, which has mon-sun across the top and breakfast, snack, lunch etc down the side. This allows me to see my whole week in a glance.
5. I only count calories once a week, not every day - The best thing about meal planning is that it takes away the stress of continuously obsessing over numbers. The numbers are already added for me at the beginning of the week. If I eat what I planned, I will be under my calories. I generally know how many cals I have planned for the day, so I know if I have extra space for the freddo after lunch. I also know that my lunch was around 400 cals, so if I have a 400 cal subway instead of what I planned, it will still work out. Or i could have a 300 cal salad, and then I know I can have an extra snack when I get home.
6. IT WORKS!!- I have been planning my meals in advance for many months now. Whether I stick to the plan religiously or use it only as a guideline, it is the one thing that has kept me, and my weightloss, on track for so long.

So, what are you waiting for? Give it a go, even if only for a couple of weeks. I dare you!

Last night after my dancing class I stayed back at the social dance for quite a while. I definitely worked up a sweat, it’s a great workout

From doing the barn dance and dancing with every guy in the room, to practicing the rumba with another beginning to getting swung off my feet by a state champ in the jive (My shoulders still ache!,) I love every minute of it.  And I never would have had the confidence to go while I was still so big.  I’m really glad I signed up now!

I had an awesome week this week, I lost 1.6kgs, and I am now a sixties girl at 69.8kgs! I haven’t seen a number starting with 6 on the scales for years, so I am stoked

This week, instead of planning 1300 calories days, I planned around 1200 and didn’t stress too much about extra treats like freddos after lunch on a couple of days. I got back into exercising this week after a couple of weeks off, which felt great.

A update on friday’s post - the datey thing was nice and I enjoyed practicing my dance steps, but I really wasn’t attracted to the guy and became pretty irritated by his constant attempts to put his arm around me by the end of the night. Oh well.

Tonight I have a datey-type thingy. Not an actual date, but kind of. I’m meeting a guy from my dancing class, who has admittedly, flirted a little in classes, and we’re going to the social dance night where we take classes. They have these dances every friday night and apparently they’re a really good night out by all accounts. I haven’t been to one yet just through busy/lazyness, but I’m quite looking forward to it.

Anyway we arranged to meet up at the dance, which is not a date to my mind, but then he texted and suggested “grabbing a bite to eat ” first which makes it a bit more datey than not-datey don’t you think?

I must admit, while I am flattered, I’m not really into this guy. I do anticipate a pleasant night and a lot of fun trying out the dances we’ve learned and maybe even dancing with some other guys. ) Hopefully the Hottie who was there last tuesday!)

Anyway, it’s my first datey-type thing in ages and ages, so yeah, I’m excited