Learning how to meal plan? Or trying to lose weight by eating healthier? Reaching your health and fitness goals is easier when you have a plan.
By logging your meals, exercise, and measurements in a healthy meal planner, you’ll be able to create a record to see what’s working – and what isn’t, so you can make changes and continue to see progress.
Track your food and exercise to help you lose weight.
Use the Fit & Fab Meal Planner and Fitness Tracker to stay focused on your weight loss journey. You’ll be able to set a healthy goal and create a meal plan to meet it.
Follow these tips to use your healthy meal planner effectively so you finally reach your goals.
5 Tips to Create Healthy Meal Plan for Weight Loss
If you’re trying to lose weight, tracking everything you do is so important.
Even if you “fall off the wagon” or make a mistake, it’s helpful to track your activity and caloric intake so that you can see what works for your body.
The Fit & Fab Meal Planner and Fitness Tracker is a great resource to help you create a healthy meal plan that works for your lifestyle. It includes space to track your diet and fitness goals, in addition to creating meal plans and exercise logs so you have a point of reference on your weight loss journey.
The following are some steps to use the Fit & Fab Meal Planner to create a healthy meal plan for weight loss.
- Determine how many calories you need to consume each day in order to lose weight. The number of calories should be more than 1500 but less than you consume each day. If you’re an active person, you may need to consume more calories, but choose protein-rich food and healthy fruits and vegetables.
- Create your own food list by calculating the calories for each food. Eating healthy is the key to weight loss, but it can be expensive and time-consuming to find healthy options. By creating a list of “go to” favorites, you’ll save yourself time (and money) in the long run. You can also make a list of healthy swaps, such as using non-fat Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. Also, you’ll save money by choosing in-season foods, such as squash in the fall.
- Record your daily meals, including snacks, in a journal. It’s helpful to break your food down into a macro level so you can get a better idea of why certain foods are healthier, even if they have the same number of calories as a less healthy alternative.
- Don’t skip breakfast. It’s important to jumpstart your metabolism. Breakfast is a great time to get some protein, in addition to fruits and vegetables.
- If you have any cravings or favorite foods, allow yourself time to indulge on a regular basis. However, it’s important to plan ahead and factor these “indulgences” into your overall diet and meal plan.
Printable Healthy Meal Planner with Snacks
Weight loss is one of the most common goals for people who want to improve their health.
To achieve this goal, you will need to make some dramatic changes in your eating habits and start exercising more often.
Most meal planners include space to plan your meals for the week or month, along with a section to create your grocery list for your upcoming meal plan.
When you’re trying to lose weight, it may be helpful to create weekly meal plans and reflect on how you actually ate over the course of the week. By regularly reflecting on what’s working (and not working), you’ll be able to make tiny tweaks to your meal plan.
Whether you plan your meals for a week or a month, though, it’s important to list everything that you eat, including snacks.
Choose a healthy meal planner that gives you space to create your ideal meal plan for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, in addition to snacks. You’ll also want a place to list what you actually ate each day, including how much water you consumed.
It’s also helpful to break down your food depending on your diet plan.
For example, if you’re following WW, you’ll need a place to record the points value of each food. If you’re following the 21 Day Fix Diet Plan, you’ll want to list the number of each colored cups that you eat. You can also track your macros, such as the amount of fat, carbs, and calories in your food.
This Healthy Habits Meal Planner and Fitness Tracker can help you set healthy goals for both your diet and fitness plan.