There is a common scene that plays out in households all over America on a daily basis. Family members get home from work or school and someone asks, “What’s for dinner?” Without a plan, dinner time can be stressful! Everyone is tired, and no one feels like cooking. As a result, many people resort to processed foods or eating out, effectively sidelining their health and fitness goals for the ease of simply not cooking.
But you don’t have to fall into this dinnertime rut! By learning more about macro prep and taking the timeless than you’d think!—to plan for the week ahead, you can set your family up for meal prep success. You will all enjoy more nutritious meals without the added stress and stay on track for reaching your healthy fitness, weight-loss, and active performance goals.
Know Your Macros
Historically, if people wanted to lose weight, they turned to simple calorie counting in order to limit the amount of food going into their bodies. But macro counting takes it one important step further.
If you are new to the world of meal prepping you may be wondering, “What on earth are macros?” Macronutrients, or “macros” in modern vernacular, are the nutrient categories that make up the calories in our food. There are just three categories of macros—carbohydrates, fat, and protein—which not only makes creating a meal plan to fit macros fairly simple, it allows you to manage the type of calories you take in which is key for achieving your fitness and weight loss goals.
Everyone’s body has a different set of macronutrient needs based on age, height, weight, activity level, and health goal. So it’s really only once you have determined the number of calories you need from each of the macro-categories that you can begin to customize your meal plan to fit your needs.
Learn how to calculate your personalized macros HERE.
We all need help calculating our macro needs, and Bodybuilding.com features an article titled 3 Keys to Dialing in Your Macronutrient Ratios that will formulate an effective plan for you based on your gender, body type, and fitness goals. Once you have your customized macro meal plan guideline, you can use it to steer your meal prep and ensure that you are getting all the necessary nutrients in your meals while losing weight and easing dinnertime stress.
Meal Plan to Fit Macros
One of the aspects of meal planning that often frustrates new meal preppers is that it can feel overwhelming. The good news is that you don’t need to create gourmet meals for every day of the week when you’re meal prepping based on macro counting. If anything, macro counting keeps things from getting too complicated. Remember: carbs, protein, and fat, all in the right ratios for you.
When you first start out, keep your meal plan simple. Focus on basic preparations of lean proteins, such as grilled chicken or lean cuts of beef. Add in simple preparations of vegetables and some fruits, and you have the beginnings of a functional macro meal plan! Once you have more practice and know what your go-to recipes are, your macro meal prep will become more efficient and you can begin to experiment and add more variety to your weekly meals. The key is to make sure you’re sticking to your ownpersonal macro meal plan guidelines along the way.
Does Meal Prepping Save Money?
If you want to succeed at macro meal prep, you need to make a plan before you head to the grocery store. Make a list based on your basic macro numbers and the meals you’ll be prepping that week and stick to it! You don’t want to be wandering aimlessly around the aisles wondering what to buy—that not only leads to useless spending, but splurges that don’t fit your eating plan like cookies and chips. You don’t want to undermine your goals before you’ve even had a chance to set the table!
Aside from saving on unhealthy splurges, macro meal prep saves money since you’ll no longer have to foot the restaurant or take-out bill or pay for expensive and overly processed foods that cost more at the grocery store. Remember: simple, healthy macro meals with fewer ingredients are not only time-savers, but money-savers, too.
Is Meal Prepping Good for Weight Loss?
Macro meal prep is an incredible tool to help you reach your health and fitness goals. It may take some getting used to—as most important life changes will—but you’ll see results that can only come from that added intentional effort upfront. Soon, you’ll be enjoying your delicious macro prepped meals alongside a good dose of increased energy, decreased stress, and progress toward your fitness and weight-loss goals.
The nice thing about macro meal prep is that, while it does take some planning, it can also be versatile and make days when you’re headed out the door quickly or busy with work a breeze. If you find yourself completely stuck every once in a while, there are great, full-nutrition meal replacement options out there like Xyngular’s Lean Meal to save the day.
Lean Meal is a delicious, power-packed meal replacement shake designed to give you the nutritional support you need to reach and maintain your weight-loss goals, complete with a full serving of fruits and greens, proteins, adaptogens, and probiotics. Lean Meal’s superior blend of nutrient-dense ingredients provides complete nutrition to aid in maintaining a healthy weight, building and maintaining lean muscle, and support gut health. Xyngular’s Lean Meal is a perfect complement to your new macro meal prep plan!*
Contact your Xyngular Distributor to find out more about how our products can support your healthy lifestyle, or log in to your Xyngular account and get Lean Meal today!
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
More On Meal Replacements And Weight Loss From Xyngular…
The Xyngular Guide To Meal Replacement Shakes
Best Meal Replacement Shakes For Women
Lean: Shake It Up For Real Results
