Are you looking to eat healthier and stay on track with your habits? I have struggled with losing weight and eating healthy throughout my life but have been able to create a healthier lifestyle with the wonderful practice of meal prepping. Meal prepping is pretty much exactly what it sounds like; preparing your week’s meals before the week begins. There are many positive outcomes that come directly from meal prepping that range from weight loss, increased mindfulness, and happier emotions.

Get Motivated

While beginning meal prepping, I watched different YouTube videos that showed me different ways to get into it; this is a great first step to get creative ideas. I had always enjoyed cooking healthy food before beginning but was unable to keep my healthy eating on track throughout the entire week. I often found myself eating healthy for the first few days of the week, but once the weekend came around, I found it easier to eat those unhealthier foods. When dieting it is hard to keep yourself motivated every day to eat healthy meals, especially when they take long to cook, but when the healthy meals are already ready to eat, it makes the decision of what to eat much easier.

Get Organized

When trying to begin my health journey, I found myself thinking the days were much shorter than they were. The free time I normally spent leisurely, I was now spending working out or cooking. Each of these activities end up taking a couple hours each and hence my days felt as if they were shorter. A way that I was able to continue to stay organized and top of my schedule while still staying healthy was by writing out a schedule for each day of the week. By mapping out free hours of each day, I was able to add healthy habits to my schedule while still having time to relax without feeling stressed.

Chose your Food

Each Sunday I do my meal prepping for the week which includes buying groceries; my favorite meal to make is chicken, sweet potato and broccoli. Each of these foods bring a number of health benefits and keep you full for a while. Chicken is a great meat to add to your diet especially when trying to lose weight; chicken is high in protein which allows us to feel fuller when eating less. By adding sweet potatoes you are getting a carbohydrate in your meal that is also packed with magnesium which also helps reduce stress and anxiety! Finally, adding a broccoli into the meal to create a balanced and healthy meal; broccoli has a lot of fiber which helps aids digestion.

Time to Cook

The recipe for this meal is pretty simple and easy to make your own depending on how you like your food. Once you have all your ingredients, it is time to cook! I like to use minimal seasoning when making my meals for the week and choose sauces or seasonings depending on the day. I cook the all of the foods on sperate pans in the oven all  with olive oil, salt, and lemon pepper. I set the oven to 345 degrees and let them all sit there for about 10 minutes. I don’t have a specific time I keep each in for, I tend to eyeball them until each food is a bit burnt and crispy. Once they have came out of the oven, I separate the food equally into seven containers ; one for each day. Once you have cleaned up and put the containers in the fridge, you have officially meal prepped!

Have Fun

Meal prepping a great way to stay on track with your diet and create a healthy lifestyle. It might seem too difficult and stressful to begin meal prepping but remember that this is a personal change that you can alter to your own needs. If you only want to meal prep for the beginning of the week, then do that! There are no rules in meal prepping so try out new recipes to stay motivated and especially have fun!