Meal Planning for Weight Loss

I'm an exceptional planner. However, when it came to planning our meals, I was hesitant to be too rigid when it came to our food. I liked the flexibility of not having a plan to allow for more spontaneity in food options. This left wiggle room for eating something that was not necessarily good for us. In addition, we inevitably forgot items in the back of the fridge that contributed to some food waste. Thankfully, we have chickens who love scraps.

The funny thing is, I did plan meals for kids on weekends, holidays, and vacations, and I've been doing it for years. Planning has been helpful in ensuring we have delicious, healthy, and varied family meals. This process is also beneficial to maximize the time spent with our kids. So it wasn't a huge leap to apply the same thought process to all our meals.

One of the many benefits of meal planning is taking the guesswork of what we are going to eat on any given day. This keeps us on track and removes the temptation to grab takeout or eat something from a convenience mindset. Another benefit is a better utilization of our resources. We have very little food waste. Probably the biggest benefit is that we save time by having a plan that allows us a variety of healthy meals with whole foods, healthy proteins, and fats. Many of our meals take about 30 minutes to prepare, and I plan foods that I know I have ingredients for, saving time and money.

I use Dropbox Paper to plan our meals, a simple tool that we can access from any device, and also provides a historical archive for accessing recipes we use on a regular basis. I started to plan one day at a time until planning a week in advance became second nature. Over time, this became a habit.