Why is Meal Planning and Prepping so Important, you may ask?

The importance of meal planning and prepping cannot be under-estimated. Knowing what to eat, how much to eat, when to eat and then preparing your meals are probably the most important aspects of achieving a healthy, balanced diet and for weight loss.

People who get the best results from their weight-loss or muscle gain efforts are those who take the time to carefully plan the meals that they will have each day and then create the habit of consistent meal preparation. Some people who do this will often make extra food when they're preparing their dinner in the evening and put the extra food in containers for their lunch and/or other meals for the following day. Alternatively some dedicate an hour or so per week to prep some meals that will set them up for the work week.

You may think that meal planning and prepping is just another thing to do and will take up even more of your free time but it actually saves you time. Really?? ....Yes, it's true!

Take a moment to think about HOW MUCH TIME you already spend preparing your meals each day? Breakfasts, lunches and then dinner.....a lot, right??

Well, meal planning and prepping isn't about making 21 different recipes for 21 different meals each week. That"s just crazy! Who has time for that? Instead, just pick ONE meal per day (breakfast, lunch, or dinner) and prepare those 5 meals for your working week. I recommend choosing the meal that you struggle with the most. For me, working from home gives me access to whatever is in the fridge and pantry rather than what I've packed for lunch so lunch is the best one for me to prep for the week to ensure I have a nutritional and healthy choice option at the ready in the fridge, rather than going for a quicker and more convenient (but usually not as healthy) choice. You can prepare the same thing for the whole 5 days or you can make a couple of different options and then you have a choice for the week. (Meals that freeze are also great as you can even prepare enough for 2 weeks and freeze some. Even better!)
Remember that you don't have to spend hours in the kitchen to for meal perp to happen. Focus on one thing at a time and nail it before overwhelming yourself with everything else.

The key to getting ahead with meal prep is to have a few staple foods that you can batch-cook and use in a number of different ways. If you really don’t have the time, opt for tinned fish, salads, raw veggies (think carrot sticks, cucumber, avocado, tomatoes, capsicums, spinach), fruit and nuts, and boiled eggs which take zero time to throw in a container. The other thing that is easy to prep for the week is your snacks. I like to have a stash of bliss balls in the fridge for those times I have a sweet craving, and always have fruit and nuts on hand for a quick snack (or snacks like I've listed above). I do enjoy sweet things and I'm sure I'm not the only one. 😉 (Therefore we just need to make some good sweet things that we don't have to feel guilty about). So all I need to do is mix up a double batch of bliss balls and put them in the fridge and viola! Some snacks ready for the week! The great thing about preparing things like bliss balls too is that you can freeze them in little snap lock bags to portion them out or add them to your lunch box for when you like to have something with your coffee. I find that if it's right there ready for me, I'm happy to enjoy that rather than be tempted to have a piece of cake or other treat to go with my coffee.

Here are 6 great advantages of Meal Planning & Prepping:

1) Saves Time

First of all, as I said earlier, it saves you time! Our time is one of our most valuable things in today's day and age as life seems to continually get busier and busier. Having your meals on hand during the day means you don't have to go out and get your meals. This saves you time and money and also means you won't have to skip meals if you get busy during the day. It also means you will be eating healthy foods that support your healthy living and/or weight-loss endeavours because sometimes suitable food isn't always available if you eat out regularly (or you may be tempted with a not so healthy choice instead).

Food prepping may seem like a large time investment up front, but you can actually make a week’s worth of meals in nearly the same time as it takes you to make a single meal. Amazing right?! For the same reason that the assembly line revolutionised mass production, the strategy of cooking everything at once will pay you dividends as extra hours in your week. Which means you have more time in the week to fit in your workouts, spend time with family or friends, or time for yourself. Get a few extra hours back by meal prepping. How good is that?! It really does work.

2) Saves Money

Another major advantage of planning and preparing your meals is the fact that you will be able to save quite a lot of money. Cha ching! It is not uncommon for people to save around $1,000 a year by simply changing from buying the meals regularly to preparing their meals themselves. I’ll let you do the math about your specific situation, but when you do your own meal prep it is nearly always a strategy which saves you a ton of money compared to eating out. Also there are the expenses that we don't even think about for some reason: the money we’ll spend in the future on medication, hospital visits, surgery, and a shortened life span if we're not eating well; which is the REAL cost of living an unhealthy life. Hmm...now it got real. I read a quote on a wall in a gym years ago that got me thinking about this point and has stuck with me ever since. It said, “We don't value good health until we no longer have it”. Let's enjoy our health and make it last. Another saying to get you thinking: “Every time you eat or drink, remember you are either feeding disease or fighting it”. Sobering but true.

3) Gives Control Over Your Food and Portions

When focussing on weight loss or muscle gain, you should consider your calories in versus calories out. When you prep your food in advance, it's a sure way of knowing what you are consuming. Preparing your own meals gives you insight into what a true portion is. We are so used to consuming more than we should be eating by eating bigger portion sizes than what our body really needs. By creating the habits of meal planning and prepping you are able to control what foods and ingredients are in all of your meals. You would be surprised at what added things go into the meals and snacks that you buy. They usually have loads of sugar and sodium as well as other preservatives and enhancers. Having your meals on hand during the day means you don’t have to go to the local cafe for food (where you can also be tempted with not so healthy choices).You have full control over the portions and ingredients in your meals, which is essential if you're serious about healthy eating and/or losing weight and getting in great shape.

It’s easier to not over eat (or under eat) if you have pre-portioned your meals ahead of time. Packaging your meal portions into containers ahead of time eliminates the worry of eating more than you really need. You just eat what is already prepared in that container… no more, or no less. It's another form of accountability for yourself, as you know that you have the right lunch ready to go for you and you won't want to throw your prepared food away as you have invested your time and money into it.

It also takes away constantly having to use willpower with what you are eating, how much of it and constantly trying to make the right choices. You are in essence avoiding willpower demands, which frees you up to spend it elsewhere.If you know that you need to be eating what is in your pre-planned and pre-cooked meals, you just need enough willpower to cook once. We can all do that can't we? Think about how many times you’ve gone into the week with good intentions, but by Tuesday or Wednesday you’ve already switched back to something other than the healthy option? We've all done it! It’s FAR easier to stay on track if your meals are ready to go. Not only that, but you can utilise the extra willpower you now have to spend on other habits you are forming…like regular exercising, getting enough sleep, drinking enough water, giving up smoking, etc. Even better!

4) Regular meals & snack times

As I said earlier, it's also important to be prepared at snack time when hunger strikes with something nourishing, so that you can feed your body regularly and keep you metabolism humming. Having your meals at the same time everyday as well as regular healthy snacks will stop your body falling into a catabolic state, which results in the loss of lean body tissue (including muscle) and a depression of your metabolic rate. This is NOT what we want! We want to feed our body and muscles to promote a good metabolic rate which helps with muscles growth and fat loss. Some great snack ideas include nuts, seeds, raw vegetables, a can of tuna, boiled eggs, and home made goodies such as granola bars or bliss balls. (Just to mention a few examples again for you).

5) Achieves and Maintains Results

Since nutrition is one of the most important aspects of a weight-loss and/or muscle building program, meal planning and preparation guarantees you get great results! That is of course assuming that you following the correct nutrition principles. 😉

Not only does it mean that you are guaranteed of achieving results (which is ultimately what you're wanting), but by maintaining the habits of meal planning and prepping you will be able to maintain those results as well. Woohoo! That's even better!

6) Good Nutrition

By consistently planning and prepping your meals your will gain a good knowledge about nutrition and healthy eating that you will have for the rest of your life. This of course will ensure that you're able to make good and informative choices, optimise your body's functioning, minimise your risk of getting a range of diseases, maintain high levels of energy, and generally improve your quality of life!

Overall, if you're serious about healthy living, becoming stronger and losing and maintaining long-term weight loss, then investing time in meal preparation and planning is definitely something you must be willing to do. It's the fat loss secret! And really is the one thing many people overlook the importance of when they're on their weight-loss journey. This is the key to your success!

Now is the time to succeed in your meal planning and prep. Give it a go. What have you got to lose?

As the saying goes.... if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

❤ Julie