How Meal Prep Helps You Lose Weight Substantially

When you’re hungry, you tend to eat whatever is convenient. You highly stimulate your cravings, and it’s hard to resist those Oreo cookies.

Meal prepping prepares you for situations when you’ll be short on time. Meal prep helps you lose weight while eating nutrient-dense meals. It also makes you happy about your food choices. 

By the end of this article, you’ll know how to make healthy foods convenient to you and how to start meal prepping.

Plus, you will get meal prepping ideas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Meal prepping helps you lose weight.

You have a goal to lose weight in a certain period. You’re super motivated, ready to put in the work, saying no to every temptation.

But what happens when you’re not prepared? What happens on busy days when convenience is easier than healthy? 

Then, you should transform healthy foods into convenient and available options.

The easiest way to be sure you’re on track with your nutrition without feeling guilty is to plan your meals.

It takes less time to cook in bulk, and when hunger comes, you can tame it with a satiating and nutritious meal. 

How meal prep helps you lose weight?

It prepares you for situations when you are short on time.

Your lunch break is not super long, or you have extra work to do. You don’t have time to go to the cafeteria, or you want a good snack in your afternoon break. 

It prepares you whenever there is no healthy option around you.

If the cafeteria in your building serves no healthy options, meal prep will be your best friend.

It prepares you whenever you want to be satiated, not just to eat something.

For example, it’s so much better to eat some overnight oats than a coffee muffin.

It gives you a satiating and well-balanced meal.

You know this meal support your goals.* 

*Disclaimer: When you have a fitness goal, don’t label foods as good or bad. Every food is good as long as you enjoy them. Instead, try to eat nutritionally balanced meals.

How to start meal prepping?

• Choose a convenient day and time of the week you can meal prep. 

• Decide what you’re going to cook, and make a groceries list. Make sure you include a protein, veggie, high-fiber source, and healthy fats in all your meals.

• Shop your products.

• Start cooking them.

• Keep in mind that you’ll probably have to heat your food when you consume it. Choose proper cooking methods like baking or boiling, not frying.

How often should you meal prep?

It depends indeed on your lifestyle and goals.

For example, if you’re having trouble eating good food at work, meal prep for lunch and maybe an afternoon snack. You’ll have to prepare five lunch meals.

You can do this just once a week, for example, on Sunday night.

If you prepare food for more meals ahead, you can do it at least twice a week. 

The key to successful meal prep is variety.

Your taste buds and your body need diversity.

You don’t want to eat the same thing every day for lunch and dinner, five days a week. And you shouldn’t. Your taste buds and your body need diversity.

Also, if you prepare more meals, you’ll need more time. Better do it twice a week for a couple of hours. Another way you have to spend 4 hours cooking. What is easy about that?!

Another situation is if you’re prepping just snacks. You can make them every day before you go to work or the night before.

It's a solid solution if you like to enjoy a different snack every day. Check out the healthy snack guide for weekly snack inspirations.

Helpful tips when you meal prep

Delicious every time.

When you prepare something, think of a meal that still tastes great, even after you heat it.

Easy to carry.

When you meal prep, try to be minimalistic. You don’t have to take a million containers to work. You want to eat healthy, not to lift heavy.

Stays good until you eat it.

The food shouldn’t get soggy or unpleasant after a few hours. For example, when you make a salad and put the dressing in advance, after 4 hours, it will taste nasty.

Just put the salad dressing in a small container on the side.

Cook smart.

Try to prepare food you can mix in multiple meals.

For example, you grill or bake some veggies like zucchini, eggplant, green beans. One day you can have a salad and add the grilled vegetables. The next day you can make a quinoa bowl with fish and veggies.

Try to think of different meals with similar ingredients. You know your time is precious use it smartly.

Variety is the secret.

Don’t eat something more than three times. You might get sick of it and quit eating it for good. Remember, variety is the key to implementing meal prep into your fitness journey.

Ideas for meal prepping

So what should a well-balanced meal include?

If you’ve ever read other nutrition articles on this blog, you know the answer. A recipe for a well-balanced meal includes a source of protein, carbs, veggies, and healthy fats.

How does this look like for the different meals?

Let’s make a quick meal plan for a day in your week. Here are some meal prep-friendly ideas you can make this week.

Breakfast: 2 boiled eggs, half avocado on your favorite bread, some feta cheese, and cherry tomatoes.

Lunch: Mixed greens with tomato, cucumber, corn, tangerine (orange), pumpkin seeds, piece of salmon/ chicken/ tofu, or some chickpeas with a side of dressing.

Don’t overthink the dressing too much. There are high-calorie salad dressing options but don't stress about it. You have less than a tablespoon in your salad. It’s not the end of the world.

Dinner: Quinoa bowl with grilled or baked vegetables (carrots, zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms), tuna/ edamame.

Snacks: Find my list of top 7 healthy and quick snacks.

Try to make your meals as simple as possible. Stick to the well-balanced meal recipe, and look for variations.

Meal prepping can stimulate you to experiment and surprise your taste buds.

I hope this article motivated you to keep going with your fitness journey with more confidence.

Also, let me know about your fitness struggles in the comments below or fill out my survey. Once I know what bothers you, I will put an end to it.

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