I find by organising all of my meals in advance really helps. Do other people do this?

I have a weekly menu plan for the entire family. But I also make sure that my food for the day is prepared as soon as I get up in the morning. (I am a stay at home mum).

I make lush salads in advance, huge pots of healthy soup, precut veges into tupperware containers, prepare my own healthy dips, squeeze lemons ready to drink, place my designated amount of herbal tea on the bench next to the kettle. I do all of this in the morning while I feed and clothe my children, prepare the lunches and dinner. Might as well, while I have everything out on the bench.

This way I have no slip ups. The food is already to go.

Love to hear from anyone else that has some organising tips for meals etc.

I organize everything, too. I measure and/or weigh out all of my portions, and figure out how many calories it all is. I use a digital kitchen scales to weigh everything out. I look up all the caloric values in The Complete Food Counter. My whole diet revolves around calorie counting. I do have a basically balanced diet, lots of vegetables and whole grains, lean protein, minimal processed foods. However, it all comes back to counting calories. I try to stick to 1500 a day, but I usually end up closer to 1600. I couldn't do it if it wasn't all organized.

Yep i have to admit, having meals organized, even if its just a day in advance, including snacks just in case you get hungry, really pays off!
Otherwise you are just tempted by everything!

Lol i just realised that in Australia we spell organisation differently. Just wanted to let people know incase they think I can't spell at all.

Hey, that's okay. I don't know about anybody else, but I noticed you were from Australia, and I just assumed you have a different spelling, like color/colour.

Thank God. I got all paranoid and thought oh no, they are going to think I'm a weirdo! lol

ive been on the net so long i just spell half my time spelling it the NZ/AU way and the other half spelling it the US way

Shae,
Great post! I sometimes think I spend way too much time organizing what will be going into my gut. But, when I don't do it (when I'm on vacation,etc), I start to see the scale tick up.

Sometimes I get frustrated when we go out to eat with picking a meal. You just never know what they are putting in the food to jack up the calories. Salad with lowfat dressing gets boring after a while. What are your stradegies for eating out?

I agree with you – preplanning meals really helps with staying on track with eating. It also helps in avoiding the selection of less-than-healthier options when staring into the refrigerator. Life was chaotic for a time after the birth of my son, so preplanning was nearly impossible. It became easier after a routine was established in caring for my son.

I always pre-plan my week of meals, especially during the fall. I find that doing all the cooking on one or two days really saves me trouble and helps me stick to a strict diet.