I have a lot of people tell me they can’t change their eating habits because they are too busy. I totally get it, I’m busy too. I’m a grad student, I work, I am a mom and I have a life. I just like the next person do not have time to be standing in the kitchen preparing meals daily. At the same time I don’t want to eat packaged foods all the time. I have had to become a little creative about how I manage my time; how I create delicious meals that I actually look forward to everyday and keep them healthy to manage my weight.

I have made Sundays prep days. What does this mean?

I plan out what I am going to eat for the week.

I do my grocery shopping.

This week's food preparation involved cutting fruits and vegetables including strawberries, cantaloupe and cauliflower.

Another finished product not shown is the turkey curry. I created this recipe and it is a healthier, cleaner version of traditional curries and is delicious and nutritious. It contains 2 grams of fat, 15 grams of carbohydrates and 28 grams of protein.

I partition individual servings of the food I have cooked into containers.

I put individual servings of chopped fruits, vegetables and nuts into small bags.

This makes eating healthy extremely simple and convenient. It is a matter of grabbing an item on my plan and going.

So even if I have had a long day at work and I am exhausted, I find comfort in knowing that dinner is already prepped and I simply heat and eat. In addition, having my food already prepped ensures that I don’t eat random things that are not on my plan and it also prevents over eating. Whenever I do not prep my food in advance things usually fall apart as I do not have time to cook as I go. This coming week try to prepare healthy food for the week and see what a difference it makes.   

If it doesn’t get measured it doesn’t get managed. Last week I wrote about measuring yourself to see where you stand and to check your progress. Today I am talking about measuring your food in order to manage your intake. I have always loved healthy food. Huge fan of vegetables, fruits, vegetables, whole grain this and whole grain that. I wondered why I could never lose weight; after all I was eating the right foods wasn’t I? In addition I ate a cupcake or a pint of ice cream now and again, surely it didn’t matter because I ate so healthy all the time? Well I was wrong for several reasons and it showed by my lack of progress or lack of weight loss. 

Let’s get back to the basics shall we? In order to lose weight you have to have
a caloric deficit. The recommended caloric intake for men is 2500 calories per
day; the recommended caloric intake for women is 2000 calories per day. This
varies based on your level of activity or how sedentary your lifestyle is. With that in mind in order for you to lose weight you need to consume less than 2000 calories (for women).  In order to lose 1 pound there has to be a caloric deficit of 3500 calories. If for example a woman wanted to lose 1 pound per week (7 days) she would need a caloric deficit of 500 calories per day and consume 1500 calories per day. This calculation does not take into account any physical activity which would increase her caloric demands accordingly. However keep in mind that walking for 30 minutes only burns about 200 calories for an average  size woman so if you walked that day, you caloric intake would only need to be about 1700 calories. 

With all that in mind let’s talk about the need to measure your food. If you recognize that weight loss is simply a matter of
caloric deficit, shouldn’t you then be aware of exactly how much you are eating? This is where the importance of measuring your food comes into play. When embarking on your weight loss journey, some tools you will need to ensure your success are measuring cups, a food scale and measuring spoons. My favorite example is how people typically serve rice. Most people will use a serving spoon and pile 2 or 3 serving spoonfuls onto their plate. The problem is by the time you do this you probably have 2 cups of rice on your plate. One cup of rice is about 225 calories therefore you have 450 calories in rice. This is before you have factored in the meat or sauce. Most times people’s dinner is 1000 calories and they are not even aware of it. Never mind what they would have eaten for breakfast, lunch or snacks. Still on the rice example, you need to realize that a reasonable serving of brown rice is ½ a cup. A mere 115 calories, this gives you room for a lean protein (4-6 oz is the appropriate serving) and 2 cups of steamed vegetables which can add up about to 350 calories. This composition will leave you full and provide a balance of nutrients which when followed closely is optimal for weight loss.

Measuring your food is even more important if you are following a well-designed meal plan. It is important that you stick to the recommended quantities because eating extra here and there can add up and be a hindrance to weight loss. There can be the temptation to eye ball a serving and decide that it looks approximately right. This too can be detrimental because you can end up with more food than what is designed for your meal plan which over time can hinder weight loss and in some cases lead to weight gain. 

This brings us back to our initial saying, if it doesn’t get measured, it doesn’t get managed. If you do not measure your food and remain within a certain caloric range, it will be very difficult to manage your weight loss. Get in the habit of checking labels for the appropriate serving sizes. Record what you eat on a daily basis to help track what you are eating. This will help you become more mindful of what you are eating and help you make wiser food choices.

Do you have a measuring cups and spoons at home? What foods do you eat regularly that you need to start measuring?