How to Make Random and Unplanned Meals Work to your Advantage
How many times have you forgotten to bring your lunch, didn't feel like cooking and ordered out or ended up going out with friends and at the end of the day were all over the place with your nutrition plan?
You had the perfect plan for the day, and then something had to pop up and screw it up!
Yeah us too.
We figured out a good system so that it doesn't have to be that way.
Knowing how to make food swaps, decisions on the fly and being comfortable doing it is a skill that everyone should develop.
We know that having some tricks up your sleeve can make staying on track easier and more manageable.
Follow these steps to develop your skill of "Making it Work"
Where are you when something like the above scenarios happens? Are you at home when you don't want to cook or stuck at work? Are you at work when you don't have lunch or are you home? Do you get hungry on the way to picking your kids up from school? While at their soccer game?
Wherever you are, look up the food spots that are around you when you're at the 3 locations that you find yourself in a pinch most. Find places that you enjoy and will go back to frequently when you are in those situations.
Next, try to find the nutrition information for those places online. Use that info to plan your eatings. Stick to foods that are less calorie dense, higher in protein, moderate carbs and lower in fat.
If there is no nutrition information, order pieces of menu items that fit your need. If you need protein, order the chicken. Need protein and fat, chicken or tuna salad. Need carbs, add on a fruit or piece of bread if needed. You know you can go back to this place and order the same thing when you're in a pinch.
If you're using a meal tracking app like My Fitness Pal (which we recommend) in the app, create a "Food Item" and input each thing that comprises that food item. You'll need estimate (or measure) amounts, but when you eat that thing in the future and go to log it in your MFP, you can don't have to input everything and can easily select that "meal" and it will already have all of the data loaded. This can become one of your on the go staples. "Down The Street Deli Half Turkey Sandwich" - you know it's always about the same thing, 1 piece of bread, 4 oz of turkey, 1 tsp mayo (how do you know? You asked how much they put on it!)
As a plan b, find the closest grocery store. Get there and take options that don't require you to weight or measure, and could have the nutrition facts already on them such as: rice cakes (carb), pre measured turkey/chicken from the deli counter (protein), greek yogurt cups (protein, carb, fat), protein bars.
It may not be perfect but having a meal that you measured once, even if the portions are slightly off this time, will be better then having no frame of reference at all.
*We work with clients remotely, you do not have to be at our facility to follow our program. If you want to lose weight, no matter where you're located we can work with you.