Meal Planning as Part of Weight Loss

Rick has been my mother’s Weight Watchers buddy for the last several years. To date, he has lost 110 pounds.

Any amount of weight is difficult to lose, yes. But when you have hundreds you need to lose, it can be very discouraging – and very difficult. I’d like to lose ten, twenty pounds… and to do so, I can go walking, I can go running. Rick can’t do that, though. He became so overweight that he cannot do those things. He’s had to find ways to make small changes – stand when he used to sit, move around a bit more, take the stairs instead of the elevator, make better menu choices. Over time, those small changes have added up. For the first time in fifteen years, his weight now begins with a 3, not a 4.

Hopefully, his success will bring encouragement to you.

From Rick:

“Something that has helped me to lose weight is Weight Watchers (WW). WW works; there is no doubt in my mind. For those who say it doesn’t work, I say that they didn't try it, I say that they didn't give it a chance, I say that they didn't follow the program - because I know if you do, there is success. Forget about dieting - WW is not a diet. It is a way of life. WW teaches you how to eat the right things in the right portions.

“Enough of the WW commercial.

“One thing I think helpful is to partner up with someone. I think you should have someone you can turn to, someone who will hold you accountable as well as support you for those times when you say 'I feel like I'm going to over eat' or 'I did over eat,' someone who knows you and has the same weight issues as you, someone that can turn to you as well.

“Something that used to drive me crazy was hearing about people who had reached their goal weight, how they had lost 15, 20, 25, or 30 pounds, and that it took them only a few weeks to do it. I had over 300 to lose, so goals like that would be just a drop in the bucket for me. Then I realized my goal was set too high. I needed to make more realistic goals. I thought, Yeah, I can do what they did - why not make my goal 15 or 20 pounds at a time? I could reach the same success they did. I was so busy looking at the total weight I had to lose, that it was overwhelming; it almost defeated me. So what I'm saying is keep it realistic so you won’t feel defeated and give up.

“I have heard some say that you need to not think about food so much, stopping thinking about it would make it easier to lose your weight. I think that is all wrong; I think you need to keep thinking about food, keep it in your face. You need to keep thinking about what to get at the store, what's for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and how you’re going to prepare your meals. You need to plan snacks to help you stay on track. You need to keep track of what your eating - and that means everything you eat, good or bad. Keep a journal on how you feel when eating or when overeating, because feelings can be triggers to overeating. Triggers can be even having a good day – know your triggers so you can make better choices when they come up.

“My WW partner shared this thought with me from another WW person and I have it posted by my desk so I can see it daily. I hope it will inspire you as well.

I tell people that it sometimes it feels like food is an illicit, abusive lover. I've snuck around to be with it, I've lied for it, I've suffered for it, I've sacrificed my health for it, I've struggled for each breath to be with it. I've planned my days and nights around it, I've given up opportunities for it, and I've thrown my money away in pursuit of it;
I've cried over it.

I have lived years of my life in physical pain and mental anguish over the love of it. I've spent more time, tears, money, and heartache over it for YEARS-- all for the love of something that CANNOT LOVE ME BACK.

I finally had enough.

It's been a tough breakup, and it still shows up every now and then--- but I'm getting better at not answering the door.

I hope this helps you in your weight loss journey. Good luck."

A Plan Succeeds

This is why I plan

Two weeks ago, I had a pretty busy Saturday planned, and I knew I would not have the time to do much menu planning.

The solution? I asked my sweet husband to go back through and pick out a menu he'd like to have again.

The restult? We repeated the menu from July 26th to August 8th. It took just a few minutes to throw together the grocery list, and the planning was done.

Now it's two weeks later, and I again have time for planning, so I'll add to the list of menus.


My Long-Term Goal

The whole idea here is to compile lots and lots of menus, so that one day I won't have to spend an hour planning two weeks of meals ever again. I'll just use existing plans, probably with minor variations.

What I am (very) slowly working toward is having menus whose individual recipes work well together.

Many recipes call for an ingredient that you then have to figure out what to do with the rest of. These ingredients fall into to categories: (1) those that can be saved for another day with minimal effort and (2) those you have to use or they will go bad.

(1) Those that can be saved
A recipe calls for just a bit of ricotta cheese ... you don't have to use the rest of it in this two-week menu plan; it will keep in the refrigerator for a while. But you'd better use it pretty soon.
A recipe calls for just a bit of tomato paste ... you can freeze the rest in an ice-cube tray (about 2 TB fits in a cube) and use it sometime in the next 6 months - no worries!

(2) Those you have to use
Many produce items cannot be frozen for another day without turning into squish.
Celery - you will need to use the rest of it in the next two weeks. Maybe in the first week have salad with dinner a couple of nights and add celery or have some as a snack. Then in the second week, have a couple recipes that need celery cooked in them. (I don't like it in salad after a week b/c it gets rubbery.)
Water chestnuts - when you're making stir-fry for just two people, a whole can is too much. The other half of a can will get funky in not too much time - you really have to use the other half in the next couple of weeks. Be sure to plan one stir-fry meal per week two weeks in a row!

So, I would like to develop menus that don't leave items like this left over, leaving you (and me!) to stress over what to do with the rest of them.

Leave your problem items in the comments - or recipes you've found that work well together, using up all of a problem item.