Do you plan menus in advance, or do you just "wing it" from meal to meal?
 

I'm curious how folks manage their daily eating, and if you find that advance planning makes a difference.

Does it help you to stay in control? Stave off cravings, less likely to cheat? Does it help you to ensure that you eat enough?, especially protein?

Or, do you not bother to plan a menu, because your days are fairly scheduled and routine, and you tend to eat the same things at the same time anyway? Or maybe you just wing it from day to day, not really paying attention except to stay within carb limits .. and still able to have good success with your program?

I know the folks who are following an exercise regimen such as CKD/ Body Opus, or BFL .. must plan meals & snacks to be in sync with exercise/ muscle recovery ... but what about the days off? Do you still plan, or do you just wing it, maybe skipping meals if you feel like it?

Doreen

I wing it now, but at the beginning I sure didn't! :) My only planning, really, is at the grocery store; after that's it's simple.

(adding more info later...) so, I always have meats, eggs and vegetables around, and some cheese. I don't have junk around...and then I eat from hunger on the basis of what looks/sounds good that moment. sometimes that's salad for breakfast, the sort of healthy 'craving' I can now trust.
It helps that I had the free-range cow butchered, too...I always have lots of beef options in the deep freezer--with my berry collection, it's like having a small paleo grocery store in my own garage.

i shop every wed. and sat. and plan my meals for the next 3 or 4 days at that time. i eat my meals at the same time each day and they don't vary that much, no snacks, so it's all very simple. :D

It doesn't fit
 

Hi, Doreen. I just wanted to say that I almost picked the last one, but it doesn't fit because I have no problem sticking to this WOL. Your comment in your message fit me almost to a tee -- I just wing it day to day. But 3 works somewhat for me too because my breakfast, especially, and my lunch, to a lesser degree, are fairly structured. So I didn't vote.

I don't plan what I'm going to eat. But I have a bunch of recipes and I keep a good stock of foods to make those recipes. I do have kind of a set "larder" list.

And since I eat at least 8 ounces (precooked weight) of protein at each meal, I don't have any problem getting enough protein and possibly I'm getting too much.

I also make my own beef jerky and keep that for a quick protein snack. I know a lot of people eat nuts or cheese for snacks, but they don't sit well with me (especially the nuts).

I was getting very tired of salads for lunch so now I make double recipes for dinner and save half to take to work the next day.

Thanks for asking though.

;-Deb
:daizy:

I plan meals a day in advance so that I am not running to the frig to find something last minute... planning meals in advance keeps us eating LC and resist the temptation to not just grab the first thing I see that is convenient and fast... with two of us eating LC (hubby and I) planning this way helps us stick with the program... some days we decide to eat out frequenting the restaurants that will serve us LC meals...

Bonnie

I fall into about 3 of those possible answers: I plan in advance, I eat the same things over and over again (6x a day sometimes!) and I 'just wing it' ... because I eat the same things over and over again ;)

I do sit down the day before grocery day and plan what I need - some chickens, a few sirloin steaks, 2 lbs of ground whatever, how many heads of cauliflower / broccoli, etc. etc.

When I change what I eat proportion wise (like this week) or when I change what I eat food wise it throws me off for about a week and I plan EVERYTHING a few days in advance. My Fitday is filled up until Tuesday as I type; plan, plan, plan.

Nat

Almost never plan, but always have the right food around. There's always a leftover "something" in the fridge, eggs, cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes and avocados, a bag of washed spinach, sausages in the freezer and other frozen tid-bits that can be microwaved.

I don't usually have a "typical" meal - that is protein and hot vegetables. That leaves a lot of flexibility for putting quick meals together and minimum clean-up. Two or three flavourful cold things are the norm, like half a spicy cornish hen and cucumber sticks with lemon and olive oil or what I had for breakfast which was cold steak that had been smeared with tapenade and leftover rapini with garlic, anchovies and lemon. I chopped it all up, added a bit of tomato and ate it out of a bowl.

When I shop, I buy whatever strikes my fancy with leftovers in mind.

Karen

I am a lot like Karen, always the right foods around, but not big on planing out the meals,

Lot's of left overs on purpose, for snacking or a meal. Ocasionally I will look over some recipes, and the make the purchases to have on hand when I'm ready to make it.

I am going to make some stuffed hot peppers one of these days. and have some terrific sausage recipes and ground beef recipes, and I have everything on hand to make them.

I plan two weeks' worth of menus at a time based on what's on sale the week that I shop, but generally wing it from day to day as to which item from the menu that we are going to have. It often depends on how much time I have to cook and what I'm hungry for. When I first started low carbing, I was a lot more likely to plan a daily menu ahead of time and stick to it, but now that I have a pretty good idea of how many carbs are in the foods that I typically eat, I don't plan nearly as much and just try to hit my allowance for each meal ( 6 grams for breakfast, 12 for lunch and 12 for dinner).

I plan a day in advance usually. Especially during the working week so that I know I will have something to take for my lunch.

Weekends I definitely wing it...but there is alwasy something in the fridge !

Lesley

I usualy just plan on that mornign about what i want for dinner that night and if i know that i have to work the next day i fix something ahead of time that night as not to be rushed that mornign fixing it... other times i wing it if go out to eat.. i have pretty much got an idea of what i can have and cant have and keep the figures in my mind so i know how much i can eat.. Breakfast is wingged all the time.. what ever i feel like when i get up.. i always try to keeep legal foods on hand at all times for the just in casses.... and if im out on the run and get hungry its nice to know i can stop at a convenient store for some porkrinds..and a bottle of water..

Tammy

Doreen, where are you? Your lovely face has been hijacked by a cup of coffee! :D

I plan my menus a week in advance. I keep to the plan about 95% of the time, occasionally altering my breakfast or lunch menus.
I'm not sure whether this just means I'm boring or it's my obssessive nature showing through.
I began to write that it helps me to stay in control then remembered that I have actually done this for the last few years. I'd faithfully start a new diet each week, writing out a very "healthy" looking menu. I'd keep to it more or less, just adding a bucketload or two of chocolate every night!
So no, I can't in all honesty say it helps with control.
I'm scratching my head here trying to figure out why I do this. I think it's just a convenient way to work out my shopping list.
Sorry I don't have a better explanation Doreen!

:rose:Rosebud:rose:

When I shop I buy whatever appeals to me, enough for at least several days, then each morning I decide what to eat that day.

Ever since I bought the Lifeform software I use that to plan the day's meals so I can keep track of how many carbs and calories, etc. everything has before I eat it.

Of course, I do that after breakfast, which is whatever I feel like when I get up, so I guess I really just plan lunch, dinner, and snacks (and dessert, of course :clap:).

Karla

Ok Ok, I get the picture
 

Since my layoff I've been trying to get my home life organized.
That is like trying to organized a bunch of colored feathers in the middle of a tornado. At least it is for me.
Little did I realize that lack of organization affects job hunting and most of all Low Carbing success.

I find myself at 5:30 looking at a pound of hamburger and saying to myself, If I eat another hamburger or taco again I'll scream.
Oh I have a shelf of cookbooks but I never have all the ingredients to a recipe. Things get very boring when you don't have variety.
Oh I have lots of ideas but getting them out is rediculously hard.
That's where this site comes in. Its been a great help.
Oh I'm getting more organized it just takes me a while.
The main thing is trying each day

Lesson? Organize your meals and you will succeed.

I am organized to the hilt!
 

I have a standard weekly order of groceries brought in every week...

...So even if my life gets busy, I know there will be good, healthy LC foods coming on hand at all times.

I've compiled recipes so that I don't really have to repeat (unless I want to) any meal for 2 weeks.

Bottom line, I do give it some thought, but when I don't have much time, there are always quick and easy things to throw together too.

Donald :wave: