When it comes to maintaining a successful fitness regime, having your meals prepped is vital so that you can fuel yourself properly for your workouts. Prepping your meals ahead of time allows you to smarter when it comes to the foods you eat. It’s easy to grab the nearest junk food when you’re not following a plan so if you’re serious about achieving your fitness goals, you have to start prepping your meals.
Why is it important to meal prep?
Any successful fitness model will tell you that the key to achieving their great physique not only lies in proper training and recovery, but also proper food choices as well. Meal prepping helps you develop healthy eating habits, so you can stay lean and energized throughout the day. Another advantage when you meal prep is that you save a lot of time. Having your meals ready for the day is an absolute lifesaver especially when you’re working full-time. This ensures that you can stay consistent with eating the correct foods whether you’re at home or at work.
The whole concept of meal prepping is to have healthy foods ready to eat. By doing this, you’ll less likely to resort to eating cakes, ice cream, sodas, and other potential foods that may hinder your fitness goals. Beginners are sometimes intimidated at the thought of meal prepping but don’t worry. Here we’ll outline the basics, so you can get comfortable prepping your meals and work your way towards a cleaner, healthier diet.
How do you prep your meals?
First off, pick a day where you are most comfortable prepping your meals. This will give you plenty of time to think about the recipes and foods that you will be preparing. For most people, weekends are a good idea for meal prepping. This way, you can have your meals ready once the week begins. If you’re just starting off, try to prepare a few meals first.
Get comfortable with planning out your breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the next day. Once you get the hang of it, you can gradually prep your meals for 3 days until you can manage prepping your meals for the entire week. Using a calendar helps to keep track of your meals. You can add notes and reminders to your calendar to keep your food prep in check.
What meals should you prep?
The most important thing about meal prepping is choosing healthy foods that you love eating. There’s no point in preparing your meals if you don’t enjoy what you eat. By doing this, you’ll be able to remain consistent with eating wholesome foods to fuel your workouts. Keep things relatively simple and opt for easy to cook ingredients first.
For breakfast, start with oatmeal mixed with blueberries, peanut butter, and some almond milk. This adds a twist to your conventional oatmeal which makes it more flavorful and nutrient-dense. For lunch, chicken breast is a good option along with white rice and sweet potatoes. If you train late in the afternoon, it’s a good idea to bump up your carbs before your workout to fuel your performance. For dinner, go with minced beef and vegetable side dishes like broccoli and beetroot
Keep in mind that this just a general suggestion of what foods you can prepare for your meals throughout the day. You can always check out easy recipes on the internet and incorporate those into your meal plan. Ultimately what matters is you choose nutrient-dense foods that are healthy and delicious for you. Choose foods that you enjoy so you’ll be able to sustain your meal preps for longer.
Storing your foods after prepping them
Using proper containers is very important when it comes to meal prepping. You want to store your meals individually so pick containers that are clear and air-tight. This helps to keep the food fresh for longer when you store them. Ideally, you’ll want to pick up containers of similar sizes so you can portion your meals equally.
Choosing containers that are microwaveable makes meal prepping more convenient. You can pop your meals in the oven and heat them before eating. Divide your meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and store them in the freezer afterwards.
Conclusion
Meal prepping is a key component of sustaining a healthy lifestyle. Your food choices impact your overall health and performance in the gym so it’s very important to prepare nutritious foods that’ll help you achieve your fitness goals. Give these tips a try and see how easy it is to prep your meals!