Meal planning

[homeschoolmom]

Does anyone/everyone plan their meals for the week out in advance? I've been logging into fitday to track my macros, but find that it's really easy to get off track doing it as I go during the day. I really need to preplan my week's meals. Are there any computer programs where you can plan things out in advance that calculates macros and produces a calendar with the meal listings? Thanks! :)

[cm13cm]

i plan my meals a week in advance. no computer program though. i use a book with calorie counts. it has fat, pro, and carb grams. i paid 7 bucks for it i think. this helps me make a list for the store and not stress about what will be my next meal. and since i already have the macro added up the only time i have to worry about that is when i initaly plan out my menu

[Blondell]

I do it w/ fitday. :unsure: Why are you not able to?

[cm13cm]

i don't know if that was aimed at me or her, but i just prefer to use the book because i don't always have access to a computer. i have to share it with 3 other people. with the book i can do my planning when i have a break from work or when ever i have a few minutes to spare. i do use fit day when certain things aren't in my book. i copy of the info and put it in my folder. i have a list of nutritional info for the things i eat a lot. just to save time. like oatmeal, chicken breast,tuna,etc. it was time consuming to make the list but im sure it has saved me tons of time

[homeschoolmom]

Originally posted by bdd814@Jun 5 2006, 08:57 AM
I do it w/ fitday. :unsure: Why are you not able to?
Ok I went back an looked at it again and I see that I CAN plan in advance(I'm such a dope :oops: ) but now I can't get the whole page to print out . I'm not very computer savvy as evidenced by my lack of avi, so maybe I just don't know what the heck I'm doing!! I really need something visual that I can print out and have hanging on the fridge. I love the info fitday provides, but I need the information in a more organized manner. Does that make any sense? Once again, maybe I'm doing it wrong. I would love to have the info available in more of a spreadsheet type of way. Is there a way of doing this on fitday? Thanks for any help you can provide.

[sweetie7245]

I recently started planning my week in advance.

For everyday, I write out when I'm going to workout, what time I work, anything else I need to do that day, and where I'm going to fit all my meals in. I also write in what my meals are, and then add up the totals using fitday.

As the day progresses, I cross off what I've done or eaten. Its really helped to be able to plan everything in advance.

[Fet]

I made my own spreadsheet. I have lookup tables for all my usual foods - no need to go to the 'net over and over again.

I also have it coded to add up each of my 6 meals separately, so I can track patterns, and try to even out all 6 meals. I also get a grand total for the day. I noticed trends, such as my heaviest eating occurs between 2pm and 6pm, and I noticed that I wasn't coming close to my EFA requirements, so I bumped that up.

I also have a weekly tally, so I can see how all 7 days are contributing, and I enter my activity against each day, so I can watch for trends, and see whether I'm getting close to my 3500cal/wk deficit.