The number one area where most people fail when it comes to losing weight is nutrition! You can exercise daily, and burn lots of calories, but if you’re in a caloric surplus (or in a massive deficit – i.e. eating too little food), your weight-loss results won’t happen. With all that said, it becomes quite clear fast that we must pay very close attention to our nutrition if we want to succeed with our fat-loss journey!
I get questions all the time about what to eat and when, and what diet is the best, and these are all great and important questions. But it's important to remember that even before choosing what to eat and when, a more important topic of discussion needs to be explored, and that is the topic of meal preparation (AKA meal prep). Meal prep takes many forms.
Here are 3 classic ways of meal prepping:
1) The Morning Routine
The morning routine consists of preparing all of our meals and snacks for a given day first thing in the morning. This would include breakfast, lunch, and supper, and any and all in between snacks. For those that get up early and have the time, this is a great option.
If you’re going to be making some eggs anyways (turning on the stove), why not also grill up a bit of meat, toss together some salad, and round up some fruit for snacks? Once you’re in the groove of some kind of food preparation, you might as well go the whole way and get everything else done!
2) The Evening Routine
The evening routine is the exact same thing as the morning routine, except it’s performed at night. So you’d prepare all of your meals and snacks at the end of the day when preparing your normal supper. You’d just have to make an extra 2-portions of your supper (for lunch and supper the following day), and cook up some kind of breakfast as well (while also getting those snacks ready). This system is best for those squeezed for time in the morning.
3) The Sunday Ritual (My Favourite)
The Sunday ritual is a routine where you prepare ALL of your food and snacks for the entire week on one holy meal prep day! In terms of ensuring consistency throughout the week, this is by far the best option.
Now, some people might be thinking: if I prepare all of my food in one day, won’t it go bad? No, because you’ll freeze about 2/3 of the cooked food and defrost as needed throughout the week. A typical push-back I get at this point is: won’t the frozen food taste bad? And, the answer is no! Some food won't freeze that well, but for the most part, typically consumed protein and vegetables freeze well!
All 3 routines work, but the Sunday ritual is the only one that controls your entire week. With that being the case, the Sunday ritual therefore is the best one to guarantee your success on a weight-loss protocol. In one day, you control 90-100% of your week. THAT is pure control!
Conclusion
Given that nutrition is the most important component of the equation, and given that this is the area where most people fall short, I wanted to really outline and highlight the basic steps to getting meal prep right!
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