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Meal Prep Tips to Help You Hit Your 2020 Weight Loss Goals

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This year you’ve decided that you want to shed a few pounds and improve your overall quality of life. Though losing weight and getting in shape boil down to more than just what you eat, starting your journey by changing your eating habits will produce positive change. By reducing or eliminating the excessive fast, processed, modified, sugary, salty, and fatty foods from your diet and replacing them with lean meats, fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and low-fat dairy, you’ll feel like a new you in no time.

As it can be challenging to change your eating habits overnight, planning and prepping your meals have been thought of as ideal solutions to help you get and stay on the right track. Essentially when you’re planning and preparing your meals in advance, it reduces the need to resort to quick fixes and fast food which packs on the calories. Meal prep also saves you a lot of energy, time, and money which can all be big motivators to help you do the right thing.

How Can You Lead a Healthier Lifestyle

If you’ve made a vow to lose weight this year and you want to hit your marks, these meal prep tips below are sure to help you to meet or exceed your expectations:

Cook in Large Batches

Trying to find the time to prepare a healthy meal every day can be quite a challenge. So, If you want to save time when preparing meals it is best to cook in large batches. This can apply to your veggies, sides, and sometimes, meats. For example, quinoa is a great source of whole-grain. You can cook it in batches and then add it to your soups, salads, smoothies, or have it as a side for dinner. If you love steamed veggies, steam a large batch of them at once. As for meats, if you’re sticking with chicken and fatty fish you can cook it in large batches while adding different seasonings for variety.

Invest in Storage Containers

Placing your food in any old container or leaving it out in the fridge or freezer will cause it to go bad fairly quickly. It also means having to dig through various different containers to figure out what you’re going to eat for the night. It is highly recommended that you invest in storage containers. Having varying sized containers to store your prepped meals and snacks in keeps your food fresher longer, and makes it easy for you to grab and heat or go. There are also meal prep bags which makes it convenient for prepping lunches for work and school. The containers easily fit into lunch bags and keep foods at the appropriate temperatures until you’re ready to enjoy.

Use Portion-Control Tools 

If you’re going to meet those weight loss goals this year, portion control is going to be extremely important. Not only should you be eating better quality food with more vitamins, minerals, and nutrients, but you also need to be mindful of how much you’re eating. The idea is to consume fewer calories than you burn in a day to get and keep the weight off. While measuring out portions can be difficult, there are tools on the market that make this easier. You can use a food scale, or invest in portion control cooking and serving utensils. There’s also the option to purchase portion control plates and containers.

Research Healthy Recipes

The monotony of eating the same things day in and out can cause you to fall off the bandwagon. If you’re going to stick to your weight loss goals for 2020, you’ll need to equip yourself with an arsenal of healthy recipes. There are so many healthy and easy to prepare recipes out there you can try no matter what your dietary needs are. You can download an app on your phone, purchase a cookbook, or watch a few cooking shows to learn a new recipe each week. Add these recipes to your meal plan for a better variety of dishes that keeps you encouraged to eat right.

Losing weight isn’t easy. However, if you’re going to meet those weight loss goals you’ve set for yourself this year, you have to find ways to make changing your eating habits easier. Planning and preparing your meals in advance has proven to be an effective way to begin a weight loss journey. Simply use the above-referred advice and begin preparing meals at home that help you shed those pounds off before the year is out.

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