Some pointers on how to plan healthy meals and where you are going to eat and eat regularly to help maintain and lose weight.
Major meals should mainly consist of foods rich in protein combined with vegetables and no more than a handful of foods high in carbs. Snacks and everything else you eat in between should generally also consist of proteins and vegetables or of proteins and fruits on training days. You can find suitable food recipes in our nutrition guidelines. As always, you can also find well suited recipes on the left for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks & drinks.
Many healthy meals take some time to prepare. If you get hungry before there is something healthy available, however, it will be tough to resist temptations. You will be more likely to eat fast food, instant meals or sweets. Planning is crucial to stick to a healthy nutrition in the long run. Write down what and where you are going to eat during the day every morning and prepare your meals if necessary. Yes, this might mean that you have to get up 15 or 30min earlier. Accept it. You will have less relapses to former habits and hence quicker results regarding training and losing weight.
You will be tempted to try and create all your meals for the entire week on perhaps a Sunday but I urge you not to fall into this trap! Although it might seem like a good idea and more time efficient to do this you will be only robbing yourself and your body of all that nutritional value that fresh cooked meals afford you. Through the process of re-heating your food should it be required is just another way to loose those healthy nutrients from you food. I would only consider cooking snack food such as beef jerky and hazelnut balls in advance, or perhaps you can make some power juice that can be made in advance and served cold but best not to leave for longer than 3 days.
Why is that important? When you are hungry, your body releases numerous substances that are supposed to make you eat. However, healthy meals are oftentimes harder to get than meals high in fats and carbs. If you don’t plan your meals in advance, you will hence very likely eat unhealthy alternatives more often.
Most juices can last up to 2-4 days in the fridge
Only Eat Healthy Snacks & Avoid Sugary Treats!
Replace sweet, greasy and salty snacks with alternatives rich in protein.
From now on, you should avoid chocolate, cookies, cakes, jelly babies, potato chips and the like. A hand full of nuts, cottage cheese and low fat curd are good, high-protein alternatives. To add different flavours, you can combine them with cucumbers, carrots, peppers, tomatoes or any other kind of vegetable. On training days, you can also have a small serving of fruits instead of vegetables.
Get rid of all unhealthy snacks that surround you. And don’t buy new ones. That’s the key to successfully implement this rule into your life. If you constantly keep sweets and chips close to you, you will constantly be tempted to eat them and at some point you won’t be able to resist anymore. Simply avoid that in the first place. Always have a healthy alternative such as vegetable sticks with cottage cheese in your fridge instead. By eating healthy snacks, you will have food cravings less often and you won’t get hungry for a longer period of time afterwards.
Kick sweets and treats to the curb!!!
This in return enhances your weight loss. To many of you, these replacements might not sound appealing in the first place. You need to understand that sweet, greasy and salty snacks do seriously stand in your way to become fi t and healthy. But don’t worry: Nobody of us wants to live with that constant feeling of sacrifice. The first step to get rid of it is to relearn to love healthy foods. Some of you might not be able to imagine that right now but your body and preferences will change and adjust to you new habits. Believe in yourself and constantly work towards your goals.
Why is that important? Unhealthy snacks contain large amounts of simple sugars and saturated fats. Instead of providing your body with important nutrients, they merely make you eat too many calories and gain fat.
5 Tips On How To Plan Healthy Meals
- Plan all meals of each day including your snacks – doing this will make sure you won’t stray and keep on the plan you set.
- Mix up your meals – providing different meals will ensure that you won’ become bored with the food and go backwards in the plan you set yourself.
- Hydration – add into your plan the amount of water you want and need to consume. Don’t rely on coffee, tea or snack juices alone for your water intake.
- Quality Carbs & Protein – choose the right carbs and protein to consume. Whole wheat bread, brown rice and whole grain pasta should replace white bread, white rice and regular pasta.
- Partner up – get a friend to join you in your plan, this person will not only encourage you but you won’t feel like you are doing it solo.
