Meal planning to lose weight is a waste of time. Let’s look at the facts: A UCLA research study concluded that people on special diets did lose weight, but within two years 83% had gained back more weight than lost. Their research concluded people who did not go on a diet, were better off from a health standpoint than those who did.
I know healthy meal planning sounds like a good idea. Here’s why it doesn’t work:
It’s way too much hassle.
As the facts prove, sooner or later people get tired of looking at all the charts, diagrams, and planners- and go back to their old habits. Here’s meal planning made easy:
DON’T WASTE TIME MEAL PLANNING
Meal planning for weight loss needs to be so simple and so easy that it’s not something that takes any special effort whatsoever. If you put together some special healthy weight loss meal plan- the odds are sooner or later you’ll get tired of the whole concept of custom meal planning, and you’ll stop doing it!
Does that mean we should abandon the healthy weight loss meal or diet plan? No. It just means we need to replace it with easy meal planning- which is no “planning” at all. No matter if you call it fast meal planning or busy meal planning- it’s still planning!
And planning is still too much work. So don’t meal plan- just eat healthy!
You don’t need to put any thought or effort into healthy food. Don’t make a new body and life more complicated with manufactured foods. I put as little thought into eating as I can. I never “meal plan.” With a full schedule, two kids and a dog, I can’t plan on what will be happening 2 hours from now. I’m sure your life is the same way. Knowing what’s healthy made weight loss easy. I simply eat what and I like. Every meal is decided on in about three seconds, if that long. It can become that simple for you also.
Permanent weight loss does not take any special meal planning tips. It takes a change in your eating habits. You do not need to pay for a personalized meal plan from a giant weight loss company. Just buy natural food at the grocery store. That’s all you have to do!
It’s not the $50 “meal planning for busy moms” software that’s going to make you lose weight. It’s the changing of your shopping and eating habits that are going to make you [and your family] lose weight. If past food habits caused weight gain, you can’t expect to not change and lose weight. Keep it simple! Simple is easy. Simple is doable. Buy more healthy food and less unhealthy foods, meaning more natural food and less processed food. Buying fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, eggs, skim milk, cheese, chicken, fish, lean meats, and so on- does not take much thought. Your life is the same, only simpler and better [and you get to eat more].
Every meal compounds over time to help or hurt you. It might take some time before you’re rewired to make healthy choices all or most of the time. That’s okay. It will become easier. You have to start someplace, so start by shopping more wisely. Buying the same quantity of junk food you always bought is a very bad idea. The next time you go grocery shopping, make conscious choices. Don’t shop from past habits. Be very honest about what goes in that grocery cart. Don’t kid yourself here. If it goes in the shopping cart, it goes home, and it will be right there tempting you 24/7.
Want to get off to the fastest start possible? Stop buying man made junk food for the first couple months until cleaning up that diet is relearned. Then after the time needed to develop new habits, you won’t have any problem ignoring the junk. If junk food is in the house and still being eaten, all you’re doing is dragging out the process of cleaning up your diet [while progress is sabotaged at the same time].
Don’t even think in terms of a fast or quick meal planning. Don’t plan at all! Just shop wisely. The more natural foods you eat, the faster you’ll lose weight. To succeed at healthy meal planning and weight loss, don’t make life more complex, make it simpler.