Meal Planning for Better Eating Habits

One of the components of better eating habits is of course, consistency. The way to be consistent with a behavior or action, is to make it easy to be consistent.

To make it easy, you must make it so that it requires little to no energy in the moment.

Especially for times when you’re already tired, stressed, and your brain power is at an all-time low.

These are the times when your brain is going to go with what’s already a habit, usually meaning your less healthy eating habit.

Also, it will often go with what will taste good in the moment to bring a bit of pleasure to your tough day, typically the less healthy option.

This is where meal planning comes in. I’m going to share why you need meal planning for better eating habits and what exactly to do.

I’ll also share what you don’t need to do, contrary to what you may have heard in the past.

Why You Need Meal Planning for Better Eating Habits

Meal planning is simply planning ahead of time, what you’ll eat. You may be thinking, “this requires more effort.”

Well, yes initially, but ultimately no.

Thinking about what you’ll eat ahead of time requires a certain amount of brain energy. Thinking about what you’ll eat in the moment also requires a certain amount of energy, just a little less.

The thoughts you have after you eat the less healthy option, especially if you’ve been trying to “stay on track” with your eating habits, are going to require brain energy too.

So here’s where the energy is actually conserved if you meal plan.

The advantage of meal planning, or planning ahead, is that you’re more likely to stick with better eating habits that will help you reach your goals.

When you’re a career woman and you’ve had a long, tiring day, the only decision you’ll have to make at the time of your next meal is whether or not you’ll follow through on the plan you already made.

You’d be silly not to, because that’s when you’ll “wasting” the energy you put in meal planning, right?

How to Master Meal Planning for Better Eating Habits

Mastering meal planning for better eating habits, even as a busy career woman is quite simple.

Start with either choosing to meal plan for one meal, or multiple meals. I suggest if you’re completely new to meal planning, start with just one meal.

24 hours in advance, decide what you’ll have for that meal. Write it down for best results. You may even want to set a recurring alarm on your phone to do this.

Ultimately, if you get in the practice of doing it enough, and at the same time, it’ll become a habit.

If you’re meal planning for meals for that entire day, then do it 24 hours in advance from the first meal. So, if you normally eat breakfast, plan the next day’s meals in the morning the day before.

When you plan a meal or multiple, write down exactly what you’re having. Don’t be vague. For example, if you’re meal planning for lunch, don’t write that you’ll make a sandwich.

Write down what exactly will be on the sandwich and what kind of bread you’ll use. Studies show that when you’re really specific on your intention, you’re more likely to follow through in the moment and achieve your goals.

This is called an Implementation Intention. Although to get really specific on an Implementation Intention, you also write down the date, time, and place.

For meal planning, you don’t need to be that specific unless you want to.

Meal planning and implementation intentions help you take control, instead of your past habits taking control during times of fatigue, stress, etc.

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What’s NOT Required for Meal Planning for Better Eating Habits

So I want to make this even simpler for you.

Questions usually arise like, “well don’t I need to calculate calories, macros, etc.?”

This is only if you have a specific goal of weight loss in a certain time period, or muscle building.

If your goal is better eating habits, you just need to make at least one meal a day a little healthier. This will almost always naturally mean less sugar, fat, and salt, oftentimes resulting in less calories.

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That’s why better eating habits is NOT dieting.

It’s a way of eating that naturally can help you lose weight, feel better, and decrease your risk for chronic, preventable disease.

So no, you don’t need to calculate every little calorie if your goal is better eating habits, so you can reach other goals naturally.

You just need to work on “better.” That’s it. Just a little bit better.

Final Notes

When it comes to meal planning for better eating habits, remember to do it 24 hours in advance, write it down, get specific, and repeat.

Also, remember that ultimately, you’re conserving your brain energy by preventing those negative thoughts if you DO end up eating something you’re going to regret later on.