Healthy Living Diaries #2 - Planning Ahead

So in a bid to stay motivated with my weight loss journey/getting healthy, I am running a series in which I share my tips, experience, routines, ideas, pretty much everything to do with the above. This week I thought I would talk about planning ahead as this is quite often the key component for maintaining a successful weight loss/diet journey.

I work different shifts in my job and no two weeks are the same for me so planning ahead is extremely important in order for me to stay focused. As part of my new diet I have actually written down my meal plans in order for me to put thought into what I'm eating and to make my plan easily accessible. Plus I find actually putting pen to paper and writing a plan very satisfying. Strange, I know.

I have divided the plan so that the columns are each day, and then the rows are the different foods I will eat. I have made some of the snacks optional, especially on a day when I'm eating a heavier meal. I have also drawn up a list of all the meal and snack ideas that I can pick from.

In each plan, I have tried to make the foods I eat that week fairly consistent, purely to keep within my weekly finance budget. Also, there is no point buying fresh salad goods for just one meal, if I make a job lot I can then have salad over several days. By creating these plans I have also been able to think about the types of foods I will be eating i.e. if I am having toast for breakfast then I will try not to have bread for the rest of the day.

I would be being a bit silly by saying that I intend to stick to these plans completely as other things pop up such as meals out etc. but I have been trying my best and so far it seems to be working! Also, when I do go out for a meal I try to pick foods I know are better for my diet such as swapping chips for a jacket potato or ordering lean cuts of meat rather than a burger or sausages etc.  I have really enjoyed creating these plans and sticking to them has been easier than I thought, and it has helped me stick to my weekly budget as I'm not buying foods that I don't need.

Has anyone else created meal plans? I would love to see any other similar posts/blogs! Send your links.