Looking for healthy meal planning ideas you can whip up quick and easy? This is a great way to stay on your weight loss plan while eating great-tasting food.
Plan healthy meals day-by-day, week-by-week, or month-by-month. Whatever works for you is great.
Meal planning is pretty simple. All you have to do is find healthy meals you enjoy, that work with your lifestyle and schedule.
Start by taking a look at the meals you already prepare. If they're healthy and a good fit with your weight loss plan, you're already ahead of the game. If they're high in calories, fat, sugar, and carbohydrates, consider making healthy swaps to lighten up the recipe.
If you don't know of any recipes you can use to create a healthy meal plan, that's OK - there are plenty of recipe sites you can check out to find recipes that fit your healthy eating program.
Here are some of my favorites:
These are great resources where you can find free recipe ideas.
You can also look for cookbooks with healthy recipes for easy reference when you just can't get online. Believe me, it happens!
You can tap friends and family to check out their cookbooks, take a trip to your local library and borrow a few, shop local yard sales and used book stores, or check out Amazon for great used and new cookbooks of all kinds.
When you have a good-sized list of recipes you want to rotate, you're ready to start meal planning.
Find or create a calendar - it can be a pre-printed calendar, a paper calendar you create in a document program, or something else you find. The number of days you plan for depends on your needs, but start with planning out at least the next two weeks. To avoid overwhelm, stick to no more than 30 days of meal planning.
You can also keep things really simple and write down your meal plan on a sheet of notebook paper.
For each day, all you have to do is write down...
B
L
D
"B" for breakfast, "L" for lunch, and "D" for dinner. Then write down what you want to have for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for that day. Then do the same for the next day, and the next, and so on.
Begin by planning one meal a day - like dinner. If you plan your dinners, you can use leftovers for lunches the next day. Then, keep breakfasts simple - cereal, eggs, fruit, oatmeal, english muffins, etc.
Pretty easy, isn't it? Have fun, be creative, and remember that practice makes perfect.
Oh, and be sure to make a note of nutrition information like calories or points so you don't have to think too much about your meals once they're planned. Plan it all out and enjoy stress-free dining every day.
