How to Meal Plan

Hello cupcakes!

I know that meal planning can be a little intimidating and confusing. So, I am going to explain how I meal plan currently and also how I meal plan when I am not on the Whole30 or Carb Cycling. I suggest having lots of tupperware if you are going to meal prep!

First, here are some of my meals today from high carb day:
4 oz chicken breast, jicama, and a banana

4 oz chicken & 4 oz sweet potato

And I took this awesome photo this morning at my apartment gym. I love when I have the whole gym to myself. I love working out in the mornings right when I wake up. It sets my mood for the whole day. 

My Meal Planning Currently:

Currently, I am planning my meals based on Whole30 rules and Carb Cycling. Carb cycling in a nut shell is eating higher carbs/lower fat on the days you lift bigger muscle groups and lower carb/higher fat on the other days. This helps just start your metabolism and burns body fat. I figured out my calorie needs based on some articles I read on Bodybuilding.com. For example: Building Muscle and Burning Fat, Learn How You Can Carb Cycle, Calorie Calculator. Each person is going to have a different goal and different body, so I suggest not using my calorie/macro counts (adapt it to fit your own needs/goals).

Here is my meal plan for next week (I will be cutting 100 calories each week to help me reach my goals- sorry the second picture is kind of blurry):

Basically, I start with my macros at the top of an excel sheet. Then I start listing foods I would like to eat. I look the foods and servings up using: Calorie King . I also use the auto sum button on excel to give me my totals of the three columns. At the bottom of the sheet, I list my meals according to the foods I just calculated the macros for. I am currently using a scale to measure all of my food out after I prep it. This is only temporary and I will not be doing this much longer than my Whole30. After I make my excel sheet, I make my grocery list. Here is my grocery list for this weekend:

I like to try to keep my meal plan about the same because then I can just make minor adjustments to it for the following week. So, the week after this meal plan, I will drop 100 calories each day and I may get bored with certain foods, so I can switch those up as long as they tend to match up with my macros. Hopefully that makes sense. Let me know if you have any questions. 

Now... How I meal prep when I am not following a plan or tracking my macros:

I really love baking and cooking, so my meals are more adventurous. First, I start off by determining my meals or what foods I would like to eat during the week. I usually plan for 3 meals plus snacks. So breakfast is usually eggs or healthy pancakes or waffles. Lunch and dinner tend to vary based on what I want to make that week. Here is how I plan my meals

Breakfast: Healthy banana waffles

Lunch: Paleo chili

Dinner: Stuffed Peppers

Snacks: bananas, apples, hard boiled eggs, almonds, etc.

Treat: Raw Brownies

Then based on my meal plan, I will make a grocery list! It's pretty easy doing it this way and way less stressful. I only track my macros and calories when I have a goal in mind. My goal in mind right now is my surgery in December. I want to be in my best shape because I will be on crutches for 5-6 weeks with no weight on my foot. Then I will be in a boot for 5-6 weeks with physical therapy. 

I hope to share some progress photos with you all at the end of my Whole30!

Later Taters 

"It's a beautiful day, don't let it get away."