We talked about how I kicked my body into shape, but what about that 20 lbs I lost? Honestly, to lose weight, you don’t need to go to the gym. The only thing you need to do to lose weight is eat less.
Simple, genius concept, right?
To that end, I began logging my calories about a year ago on MyFitnessPal (feel free to send me a friend request! I can always use more accountabillabuddies!) — they have a bar code scanner for those of us who eat foods with bar codes on them, restaurant finder which works pretty well for major chains and some smaller places but YMMV (it was never very helpful for me, but NYC has such an overwhelming number of smaller-run restaurants and eating establishments that it will be a long, long while before calorie counts become more accurate for those). Then, to streamline my life into the most efficient way to structure my calorie consumption on a daily basis, I began meal-prepping.
Every Sunday, I’d set aside time to make myself a breakfast casserole that I’d portion into 5 roughly-equal portions, logging how much the total casserole was and dividing it by 5 to get the calories of each piece. Then, I’d make and pack myself 5 lunches for the week, and every morning, I’d grab a breakfast, a lunch, and a snack, take them to work with me, and know for sure I was on the right track with my daily calories consumed.
Breakfast casserole – 6 eggs, frozen spinach or kale, shredded cheese, and a meat protein of some sort (usually breakfast sausage that I chopped or broke up and cooked)… generally under 200 calories a piece. Lunches varied widely depending on what I felt like eating that week — but I am fully aware that not everyone likes the idea of eating the same thing for a week!
It worked for me though, to help bring my weight down. I eventually lost 28 lbs just by eating less, and I never felt restricted. I was hungry sometimes, but… that’s part of dieting. Learning how to eat less than you’re used to, until you reach the weight you want.
Of course, once I met Hubba Hubby, I began meal prepping for both of us and had to take into account his own caloric goals and needs and balance with not making 2 totally different things for both of us but still keeping us on track.
I’ll be sharing more about what lunches I pack for him now, to combine speed, deliciousness, and efficiency — in another post, so stay tuned!
What do you do to stick to caloric goals for the week? How has meal prep improved your life? Let me know in comments!
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