50/50 The Importance of Meal Planning

All of my life I have heard that if you just exercise the weight will come off you just get that workout in watch and see.  So, I did that and when I had the metabolism of an 18-year-old it worked back then.  I could eat whatever I wanted to, workout and my weight was maintained.  Nevertheless, when I got married and gave birth to three wonderful children gravity took over and exercise alone could not pull the weight off my aging body.  My metabolism began to slow down and required more effort on my part to be healthy, if I wanted to become a Lifestyle Changer.  I realized that meal planning was intricate, completely paramount to my journey. 

Those that know me, know that I am the queen of fast food and I enjoy eating out as often as I can.  When my children were younger as an after-school treat, I would occasionally take them for Chinese food—we made up a whole song as we traveled to the restaurant. “Chinese food, Chinese food” we would sing the whole way there.  Nonetheless, eating out for 5 can be costly and definitely not healthy always if over indulged, it will come back to get you later.

Therefore, planning your meals for the week simplifies the decision of what you should eat and reduces the temptation to make less healthy food choices. As an alternative to following stringent rules and restrictions, you can focus on integrating healthy foods into your diet in moderation. Let us keep in mind that crash diets only promise quick weigh loss, which is not sustainable and often unhealthy.  A lot of times I have found that I have gained the weight back.

Nevertheless, if we use the 80-20 rule in which 80% of your diet should consist of nutritional, whole foods, while the remaining 20% can be more flexible with occasional treats.  You will also find that meal planning allows you to manage your portion sizes, simplify your budget and create more of a consistent routine for yourself.

All these steps are putting me on a journey to becoming a Lifestyle Changer for a healthier well-being.  We are given one life to live so we must be strategic in the choices that we make because they are not isolated.  Ultimately, they lead us toward a direction—a path that changes our health.