Meal Planning: The missing piece of the weight puzzle

When you hear the phrase, “meal planning,” do your eyes roll to the back of your head? Or maybe you just think a resounding, “NOPE”.

I get it. 

Meal planning is not at the top of most people’s list of things they enjoy. 

As a nutritionist, can I let you in on a little secret? 

You do not lose weight at the gym. You lose weight in the kitchen.

And the only way you lose weight in the kitchen is by eating healthy food. You cannot out-exercise a crappy diet. Believe me, I’ve tried. And I coach many people who have also tried. It doesn’t work. You need to change the food you eat if you want to change how you look and feel. 

You should exercise to build muscle and strengthen your bones and heart, not to try to lose weight. 

Let me share a little story with you and then we’ll get into the best way to lose weight in the kitchen (hint hint - it’s meal planning!).

Meet Libby. 

Libby is a former coaching client. When she came to me, she was struggling with substantial digestive issues (food sensitivities, constipation and diarrhea, gas, bloating, and weird rashes all over her body). She also wanted to lose about 20 lbs. 

For years, Libby exercised for at least one hour, 6 days a week. She was also very active outside of that and thought she ate really healthy. Despite all the time in the gym, Libby couldn’t lose weight. Even worse, she couldn’t build any muscle. 

Just like most busy people out there, Libby didn’t have time to spend hours every day in the kitchen. She stopped at the grocery store on her way home from work to pick up dinner. Lunch was whatever she could get her hands on while driving from meeting to meeting. 

There are a ton of reasons people struggle to cook regularly. It could be that your schedule is jam-packed, and you simply feel you don’t have the time to cook daily, like Libby, or you struggle with meal planning, so you aren’t quite sure what to buy, prep, and cook.

Some people just don’t enjoy cooking or feel like they don’t know how. 

The first thing we did when Libby began her coaching program was to address the kitchen-shaped elephant in the room. Libby needed to start planning her meals. All this buying dinner on the fly doesn’t work. 

You make bad decisions when you’re hungry – especially at the grocery store.

Libby decided to begin meal-planning using these five basic, yet incredibly powerful, tips to get started. These tips will work for you, too!

Decide on a cooking schedule

Some people prefer to cook all their meals in one day at the beginning of the week. Weekends usually work best because schedules aren't as busy with work, but pick any day that works best for you. 

Dedicating one day to cooking might not work for you at all. Instead, you might dedicate two or three days a week and cook for less time each day. The amount of time you have will also help you decide what kind of meals you want to make— do you want something quick and easy that will last you all week, or do you want to try something new?  

There are so many ways to navigate this, so it's all about finding what works for your unique schedule. 

For Libby, she decided to meal-prep on Sunday mornings. She would prepare anything she could for the week ahead so all she had to do each evening was cook. Her meal prep included things like chopping vegetables, cooking grains, marinating tofu, tempeh, and portabella mushrooms, and making salad dressings. 

That brings us to the second tip, you need to know what to cook, right? That’s why we’re going to rotate your recipes.

Rotate your recipes

This tip might be the most practical part of any meal-planning system. Finding a rotating schedule of meals, so you aren’t cooking the same meals every week and getting bored, is crucial to keep things interesting in the kitchen. 

Your meal planning schedule needs to work for you, and that also includes enjoying the meals you make. You won't be able to stick with something long-term if you aren't enjoying it, and who wants to eat meals they don't enjoy?!  I know I don't, and I'm sure you feel the same. However, eating the same foods repeatedly can quickly get boring, and this step is how we prevent that dilemma from arising.

So, in this step, you will create a list of your favorite easy recipes and rotate them throughout the weeks. Then, when you have more time, you can try some new recipes to add to the mix, as well. You can use a Pinterest board to keep your recipes in one place, or if you enjoy the old-school cookbook method, that works well, too. 

Compile as many recipes as you can find, so you have a large bank to choose from and can rotate the recipes in a way where you aren't overlapping too often.  This will help you stay excited about your meals and will keep your family happy, too!

I’ve even gone one step further to make this ultra simple for you! You can join the Everything But The Kitchen Stress Recipe Club where I do this step for you! Click right here to learn more.

During Libby’s coaching program, I provided personalized meal plans for her each week. Together, we found recipes Libby and her family loved and that fit into her time constraints. 

Now, Libby just needed to buy the food. That brings us to the third tip…

Be a grocery store superhero

Sometimes, the most challenging part about meal planning is compiling your shopping list and finding time to get to the grocery store. So today, we are going to choose a day of the week for grocery shopping and resolve to come prepared. (By the way, within the Recipe Club, I also provide shopping lists for you. So if you’re in the Club, you can just grab the list I made you, and head to the store!)

Lists are your best friends when it comes to planning anything. 

Choose the handful of recipes you would like to make for the week and write down a list of ingredients. This will not only save you time at the grocery store, but it will ensure that you have everything you need to make your meals. You don't want to be caught off-guard halfway through your busy week, realizing you don't have what's needed for dinner. 

To help your grocery run be even more efficient, you can separate your list into categories of the grocery store. This allows you to know precisely what things you need to grab in each section of the grocery store and can cut down on your grocery run by quite a lot. Growing up, I thought my mom was crazy for doing this. As an adult, I can’t not categorize my lists…

If you live in an area with grocery delivery, this is the best option to save the most amount of time and energy. Compile your grocery list and let someone else do the shopping!

By going to the grocery store only once a week, Libby saved a ton of time. She was able to be efficient at the store and made sure to go at a time when she didn’t feel rushed – or hungry!

But sometimes life happens…

Keep an emergency meal in the freezer

Despite our best efforts, sometimes life gets in the way. Even with the most beautifully planned week! Work runs late, the kiddos' practice runs long, or Fido needs to see the emergency vet.

To prepare for this, because it will happen, I recommend keeping an “emergency” meal in the freezer. Then, when life gets in the way, you can just pop it out and reheat it in the oven. You will still have something healthy and delicious to eat. No need to hit up the drive-thru!

Some really great emergency meals include soups, enchiladas, casseroles, or stir-fry “kits”. Simply prepare one of these, or two, when you have a little more time, or just double the recipe when you’re already making the dish. Pop the second batch in the freezer and use it in an emergency. 

The goal is to keep it as simple as possible for future you. 

Libby’s emergency meal of choice was a delicious batch of black bean and sweet potato enchiladas. She packaged it in an extra pan so all she needed to do was bake it in the oven. This saved Libby many times over!

That brings us to the final tip on meal planning. This one saves the most money…

Plan leftover nights

When I figured this out, I stopped throwing away soooo much food (and saved soooo much money!).

One of the biggest problems with many meal planning systems out there is they don’t account for leftovers. Some recipes make more than they say, even when followed to a T. Or maybe your spouse or kiddos decide they’re not eating and you end up with more than one night’s worth of food. 

In my house, my husband and I plan two leftover nights each week. Libby’s family does the same. 

We simply plan Thursdays and Saturdays as nights we clean out the fridge. Dinner might look different for every family member. Some are eating leftover soup while others are eating a salad made from the random vegetables left in the drawer. And someone might even be repurposing all those grilled vegetables into a delicious pasta sauce.

The point of these leftover days is to eat any leftover food before you start on the next week’s batch of planning and cooking. There’s no use throwing all that food (and money!) in the trash! 

What happened to Libby after she learned to set up and execute her meal-planning system? 

I’ve lost over 30 lbs by following the meal plan and changing my exercise routine. I know I couldn’t have done that without fueling my body right. I’m eating more than I ever have and still losing weight!  - Libby

Libby lost over 30 lbs in about 6 months and put on over 12 lbs of muscle. Her exercise routine changed to focus on strength training instead of cardio and her meal plan focused on increasing protein intake and balancing blood sugar spikes. These tweaks allowed Libby’s body to go into fat-burning mode and put on muscle faster than she ever had before.

What about those digestive issues? Gone. In addition to setting up a meal-planning system, Libby also completed comprehensive stool testing to help us support her gut microbiome with targeted supplements and nutritional changes. 

Meal planning might not be the most exciting activity in your life, but it is necessary if you want to improve your health. 

Be like Libby. Take control of your health and use these tips to help you optimize the food you eat. 

You got this!

The Everything But The Kitchen Stress Recipe Club was developed for busy women who are sick of struggling to figure out “what’s for dinner” night after night. It will provide you with a monthly 14-day meal plan, shopping lists, support from a real nutritionist, and other great bonus resources. Click here to join or for all the deets!