Do any of you plan your daily menus? If you do, would you mind explaining to me how you do that?

I am returning to this woe for the umpteenth time in the past 3 years. I'm sure that a huge part of my problem staying on plan is my lack of planning my meals. I just don't really know how to go about it. I've always just sort of flown by the seat of my pants when it comes to eating. You know, what ever is there or whatever I'm in the mood for I eat. Which, I'm sure, is part of the reason I weighed in this morning at 218 pounds.

I've been on CAD/CALP before and lost over 35 pounds. I kept it off for two years and then my life exploded around me. I slowly returned to my bad eating habits and over the next year I put it all back on plus another 15. I really want to get back to this woe. It worked so well for me.

I really appreciate any help you can give me in the area of planning meals or any advice you'd care to share.

Thanks so much,
Dar

Hi Dar-
I do plan my menus. I have the same thing for breakfast every single day, a protein and vegie for lunch that depends on what I have leftover from dinner, and I plan 4 dinners at a time. Breakfast CM is 2 eggs and 2 slices of turkey bacon. (I can't face vegies in the am, and it seems to work for me.)
My 4 dinners are chicken, fish, beef and whatever is on sale! I keep all the above in my freezer, and defrost a day in advance to cook. I also have lots of frozen vegies and buy fresh weekly. I get 6 heads of lettuce/week, cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, asparagas. For carbs I have cereal, dried and frsh fruit, sweet potato, brown rice, ww pasta and quinoa. I'll bring in special carbs like ice cream or other sweets.I make a menu according to CALP with leftovers that become lunch the next day. Like I had a burger last night with salad, asparagas and ice cream. For lunch I had a burger and asparagas. Today is chicken, ww pasta, salad and zuccinni. I have an extra chicken breast for tomorrow's lunch.
I know I plan a lot (when I get the supermarket circular I plan my shopping for the week and for the freezer), but it makes this WOL work
HTH-
E

I tend to cook my meats for supper and I always add alittle extra so I have some on hand for CMs. When we have grilled chicken or burgers on the grill, I use the extras for the next day. It helps for me to always have "something" available esp for my CMs b/c I don't always want to cook for lunch. Plus if its already cooked there's no excuses

I plan my meals in advance too..there's 6 of us in my family and it's very important to plan otherwise I will eat whatever is around when I'm hungry.
I buy tons of veggies and plan my meals a week in advance..I also keep frozen veggies around and frozen beef patties for emergencies. I try to not let myself run too low on veggies (it does happen sometimes) as that is my main staple for all my meals..I eat the same thing every breakfast and plan in the morning what I will have for my lunch and of course my dinner is already planned so it's really easy to succeed.
I read somewhere, failng to plan is a plan to fail. It so true!!
All the best to you!
Mary-Ann

Thanks for your responses Enomarb and Momto4boys.

I can't imagine eating the same thing every day for breakfast. I get up in the morning and say to myself "What do I feel like eating for breakfast today?" I know that I'll have some kind of protein and some veges but I never know what they will be. That's pretty much how I approach all my meals including RM.

I know what you mean about having something already cooked. It really helps me to stay on track when I'm too tired to cook. I've just got to get back into the habit of making time to cook ahead.

I have two standbys that really help me a lot. If I don't feel like eating eggs, I have 1/2 of cottage cheese or two strip cheeses. The strip cheeses are also easy to take when you are on the run. That and a bag of either celery or green pepper strips can be eaten out of a baggie. If I eat a veggie for breakfast, I either eat a green pepper or a cucumber. I also like celery with creamed cheese. These are things you can keep on hand for when you don't want to cook something. I also keep cans of tuna in the fridge so they are cold if I want some tuna.

Hi Dar-
I have found that the less I have to decide about meals, the better I do. The main thing I'll ask myself "what do I feel like eating today" is my RM carb. That is something I decide upon on a daily basis, but the rest is pretty standard.
E

I think that is what I will have to do as well. In fact, now that I think about it, that's the way I did calp back when I was losing. All my meals were a cm with my rm being a cm with a carb included.

Thanks Rev. What I like about eggs is they are a fast meal when I'm on the run.
Keeping cans of tuna in the fridge to keep them cold. What a good idea! I'm going to do that.