It’s hard to eat healthy at work. Sometimes we have the best intentions but the environment we find ourselves in can wreak havoc on them. It’s as if our coworkers don’t care about our intentions!
When I worked at an office it seemed like every day was a minefield of terrible nutrition choices. I had to be intentional to navigate those mines and not fall victim to them. I followed a few simple practices to eat healthy at work that helped me get through them. They are so simple that anyone can follow them. Trust me!
The Office: Like College, but Not Really
I’m a Seinfeld junkie. Somehow, I relate almost everything back to some Seinfeld episode. There’s one episode in particular where Elaine denounces office parties that come with cakes and all sorts of treats. She’s so sick of every single afternoon having to sing happy birthday to someone she doesn’t really like while eating another piece of grocery store cake. Once she denounces them though, she starts having sugar withdrawals every afternoon. She didn’t realize how dependent she became on those afternoon sugar rushes.
If you’ve worked in an office, like I did for years, you know this all too well. The office is literally a haven for junk. It seems like everyday someone has brought in donuts or someone is celebrating something with cake, cookies or cupcakes.
Why is this? Why have our places of work become such clusters of sugar-laden choices? Are we somehow treating work like college…minus all the alcohol…except at happy hours of course?!
Remember how awesome college was? Or even if you didn’t go to college, those wonderful years in your early twenties? Freedom, parties, zero cares.
There were many rites of passage during those years. The first taste of freedom, our first time away from home, our first time having so much alcohol accessible.
And of course, who can forget the Freshman 15?
The thing about the freshman 15 was that we were too young to care about any real “health implications” that came with it. We were just having a great time and the freshman 15 reflected that.
The Freshman 15 came with all of the good stuff and really none of the bad stuff. We got to eat junk food, have pretty terrible lifestyle habits, and got little sleep at night but a lot of sleep during the day, often through class. We were happy, having fun, and definitely not worried about cholesterol or blood pressure and any of that adult stuff.
It’s almost as if there is an “office 15” just like there was a “freshman 15.” The problem is though, the office 15 doesn’t come with any of that good stuff. But it does come with plenty of bad stuff.
No parties, no fun, no freedom. No best friends, care-free days, or endless optimism.
Just self-loathing, depression, and severe anxiety, with some high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and maybe even some Type 2 diabetes thrown in there as well.
The reality is that it’s HARD to eat healthy at work. We are surrounded by terrible choices. Donuts, constant birthday celebrations each with its own cake and cookies, lunches out, Starbucks runs for drinks that have more sugar and calories than many desserts, and vending machines filled with junk.
While the freshman 15 is filled with happiness, excitement, and a lifetime of memories, the Office 15 is filled with loneliness, self-loathing, and depression. The Freshman 15 comes with parties, all you can eat dining halls, late night pizza, laughter, friendship, and even a little learning. The Office 15 comes with lame office parties, stale grocery-store donuts that for some reason are irresistible, co-workers you may or may not like, and GUILT!
Lots and lots of GUILT.
WHY IS IT SO HARD TO EAT HEALTHY AT WORK?
It’s often important to understand the why of something if you want to change it. If you understand the why, you can understand the root cause. And once you understand the root cause you’ll know what to address to “fix” the issue.
Why did I eat those donuts…they didn’t even taste good? Why am I sitting here eating junk food from the vending machine when I wasn’t even really that hungry (hint: you were bored and had nothing healthy convenient to eat instead)?
So why do we do this to ourselves? Make choices that don’t make us happy. Make choices we regret. Make choices that keep us up at night beating ourselves up.
It’s obvious why we make the good choices. They make us happy. It’s not so obvious why we make the bad choices. They make us unhappy and often unhealthy too.
The craziest thing is that it seems like more of our decisions are geared towards not really making us happy…not moving us closer to the life we want. I’m not a psychologist so I can’t give you the clinical reason backed by clinical studies why we do this. But I am a human that has a long history, like EVERYONE, in making poor decisions. So I think I can speculate at least a little on the reasons why.
It probably boils down to a few things.
Boredom – we eat when we’re bored and sometimes, or most times, work is BORING!
Inability to delay gratification
Lack of planning (letting yourself get STARVING with no good options available)
Laziness
Peer Pressure
Of course there may even be deeper issues rooted in experiences that go back to our childhoods or things we are currently going through. Those though, I’ll leave to the psychologists.
Instant vs. Delayed Gratification
I think we all struggle with the decision that’s right in front of us vs. the vision that’s 3 months or even 3 years down the road.
Sure, we desperately want to finally be able to put that bathing suit on in the summer and feel confident in it. However, when it’s October and you’re sitting there staring at the clock watching the minutes tick by and it’s eight months from swimsuit season, it’s a lot easier to forget about the future and to eat that donut staring you straight in the face.
Instant gratification usually wins out over delayed gratification.
And this one stings a little bit, and it affects ALL OF US…but sometimes it just boils down to laziness. Eating junk food at the office is easy. It’s everywhere!
Eating healthy at the office is not so easy. It takes some effort, planning and foresight. And with all we have going on in our lives, that often means that eating healthy takes a back seat.
There’s a TON of external stuff coming at us all the time. Especially now in 2020. Family, finances, work pressure, politics, etc. It’s endless! And to try and stay strong and plan to eat well at work can be overwhelming. It can be enough for us to throw up our hands and say, “forget about it!”
There’s a real fear involved here as well. Anytime we put ourselves out there we are potentially setting ourselves up to fail. Failure can be a great thing. It teaches us. Not surprisingly though, failure also invokes a lot of fear in us and fear can paralyze us. What if I fail? What will my coworkers think?
And even though we’re adults, by the time we’re working in an office peer pressure can still have an impact on us.
“Oh come on and go grab some McDonald’s for lunch with us.” Or “you’re not going to have a donut?!?!” “Please eat some cake! It’s my birthday!” It can be hard to say no sometimes. Unfortunately, your coworkers don’t usually make it easier.
All these reasons are why it’s so easy for instant gratification to win out over delayed gratification.
5 Steps, plus a bonus, to eating healthy at work
So we understand the why, but now let’s address the HOW.
How do I avoid junk food at the office? How do I make healthy choices at the office?
Saying no to the junk at work and avoiding the Office 15 doesn’t have to be overwhelming. It doesn’t require iron will power and thousands of dollars, or hours and hours of work per week.
Don’t fear that trying to make this change will lead you to a miserable existence sitting at your desk thinking about those donuts in the break room trying desperately not to get up and go grab a few.
In fact, with a few simple steps, ditching the office junk will be easy. You’ll feel fantastic and be on your way to a better overall lifestyle too.
It just boils down to making a few simple choices and doing them over and over until they become habits. Once that happens, you’re basically on auto pilot. Okay, maybe not necessarily auto pilot. But over time it will become easier and easier.
Here’s what to do:
1. Make the decision to stop eating junk food at work.
I get it…this sounds too simple. But it’s important.
Our actions follow what our minds think. We live the stories we tell ourselves!
Making this decision can be internal to you or if you like you can proclaim it to everyone around you. What matters is that it’s a decision you make and most importantly a decision you mean.
It has to be genuine enough for you to believe it yourself. Our actions follow what our minds think so it’s vital that you truly believe and think this.
We can only handle so much complexity in our lives. And if you think about it, it’s amazing the amount of complexity and chaos that constantly flood us. Our phones, television, social media, cable news, traffic…it’s never ending. Making decisions helps us to handle this complexity and to simplify our life around us. So do habits. Both ease our cognitive load.
By making a decision, you are allowing yourself the ability to simplify your thought processes. If you make a true decision, one that you mean, to stop eating crap at the office, then the next time you see donuts you won’t need to agonize over what to do. You’ll have already made that decision. Now you can move on.
I completely understand that this sounds overly simplistic. But it is the absolute first step necessary. Make a decision with conviction. Stick to it. And the beauty of it is, it’ll get easier and easier.
When I was in my early 20s I decided I wanted to be a Marine Corps Officer. To do so you must first complete Officer Candidate School in Quantico, VA. Officer Candidate School (OCS) is basically boot camp for officers. It’s 10 weeks of sleep deprivation, constant hunger, never-ending physical activity, and scary dudes, Sergeant Instructors, yelling at you non-stop. Think the beginning scenes from Full Metal Jacket but with no punching from the DI’s and a little more political correctness.
The thing with OCS is that at any time past week three you are allowed to quit. The thinking is they don’t want anyone with even an ounce of doubt leading Marines. The process to get to OCS is intense and takes months, sometimes years to prepare for. You have to prepare physically and mentally. Most folks do not come to this decision lightly. Yet, even with all this preparation, I’ll never forget that within the first few days there were already a number of folks who had decided OCS “wasn’t for them” and that they were going to quit.
I remember thinking that was crazy. How could they go through so much previously to get to this point and then within a few days just think it wasn’t for them? Quitting never crossed my mind even during the most intense moments at OCS. It wasn’t because I was physically superior than the others. In fact, I was probably in the middle of the pack in that regard. And many of the people who did quit were physically stronger than me.
What it boiled down to is that I had made the decision that I wanted to be a Marine Officer and that was that. By making the decision, and meaning it, I never considered quitting because getting through OCS was just one step to my final goal.
The decision to be a Marine Officer had been firmly committed to and that was the biggest factor in how I made it through OCS without considering quitting. Even on those days when I was being yelled at so much I couldn’t remember my own name or the times I was so tired I was literally falling asleep while standing up, I never considered quitting.
Make a firm decision and the process will be easier
Yes, the first time you see those donuts it may take a little willpower to resist. Okay, more like A LOT! But you made the decision to stop eating junk at the office so you do so. However, by the 5th time you say no to the donuts at the office, it’ll be much easier.
Like everything, the more you do it the better you’ll become. And with enough repetitions, it’ll become a habit. The decision will have been made long ago and your mind will ease the cognitive load by barely thinking twice about those donuts.
We often think that by making healthy choices we are missing out. Or depriving ourselves. Guess what, if you do it right, YOU’RE NOT! In fact, you’ll be giving yourself the fuel to thrive. To live a life that brings you joy and makes you feel unstoppable. After the initial shock to your system, you’ll never feel like you’re missing out again.
When FOMO does start to creep in, remind yourself that you are not depriving yourself. You are allowing yourself to thrive. You are NOT missing out on anything!
3. Don’t let yourself get STARVING at work!
Yes, it’s that simple. At work, don’t allow yourself to get starving. You do that by being prepared. By having healthy snacks and meals near you at all times. Never get caught starving with nothing good to eat nearby. It’s a recipe for disaster.
4. Meal Prep
For me, this is probably the most powerful habit when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle. Spend an hour or two on the weekend cooking and portioning all of your lunches for the week so all you have to do is grab them in the morning on your way out the door.
Who we surround ourselves with has a profound impact on who we become. Find others in the office that are living a healthy lifestyle and surround yourself with them.
BONUS STEP: If this is a possibility, work out during your lunch break.
Find a gym nearby and use that hour to your advantage. Not only will exercising during the day make you more steadfast in your decisions to avoid the junk food, but it’ll give you the energy to avoid the afternoon crash and be full of energy come that 3pm dead time.
Follow those 5 steps and you’ll be set. I think it’s fair to say your life will be changed. I know that sounds so melodramatic, but these changes can have a profound impact.
Make a decision.
Change your mindset.
Don’t get hungry.
Meal Prep.
Surround yourself with people who have similar goals.
Bonus – work out at lunch
Final Thoughts
I’d like to leave you with a couple of parting shots.
First off, believe in yourself! You can do this. It might seem difficult at first, but after a few weeks it’ll get easier.
Stop putting off until tomorrow what needs to be done today! Stop sacrificing the future for the present.
Donuts today is sacrificing good health tomorrow.
Donuts today is sacrificing feeling amazing in that swimsuit come summer.
Donuts today is sacrificing playing with your kids a year from now.
Donuts today is sacrificing walking by a mirror a year from now and beaming at your reflection with pride.
Donuts today may even be killing you tomorrow.
Why are you dogging donuts so much you might be asking? Believe me, I love donuts! To me they are just the symbol of junk food in offices because they seem to be the most prevalent.
And I have to say, it’s not like you can’t have donuts and still be healthy. But the norm must be saying no to crap more often than not.
As they say, a year from now you’ll wish you had started today.
Two final points:
If you fall off the wagon, hop right back on. We’re all human. We all make mistakes! DON’T BEAT YOURSELF UP. Don’t let that one mistake turn into 50. Don’t let one weak moment derail everything. Don’t let one candy bar from the vending machine lead to a month of gorging.
If you have a moment of weakness, remember the decision you made and WHY you made it. Get right back on track and brush it off. People often make one mistake and just give up. Don’t do that!
And second, this is a weird parting shot, but be ready for EVERYONE to be all up in your business! All of a sudden EVERYONE will care about what you’re eating or what you’re not eating.
“Oh, look at James…eating a healthy lunch making us all look bad.”
“You’re not going to eat any donuts?!?! Why not? Go ahead and just eat one.”
“Just come to McDonald’s with us!”
“Cake in the break room everyone…of course James isn’t going to eat any!”
You’re going to wonder why in the world everyone is suddenly so interested in what you’re doing. The reality is it’s because you’re inspiring them. They’re noticing your positive choices and deep down it’s making them start to think about their own choices. It may not seem like that, but trust me, it is.
One thing I can promise you is that if you keep making these positive healthy choices at work, it won’t be long before some of these same people who seemed so concerned that you weren’t partaking in the office donuts will soon be asking you for advice on how to eat healthy at the office.
Before you know it you’ll be spending your time explaining how you meal prep, or what snacks you keep at the desk, or how in the world you cannot have a sugar-filled Starbucks drink every morning.
While the freshman 15 is something we love to joke and reminisce about, the reality is that the Office 15 can be a serious subject. It’s often accompanied with real, serious health consequences. It can also have devastating effects on our mental well-being and our self-esteem.
But the amazing thing is that if you implement these five steps you can spare yourself this pain. And honestly, it’ll quickly become a habit and something you won’t have to think twice about. And not to mention the positive choices you make at the office will most likely lead to more positive life choices outside of the office. You’ll feel so great at the office you’ll want to feel the same way all the time.
These are all things I noticed when I decided to eat healthy at work.
It’s that compound effect again. It works in investing, and it definitely works with your health.
Stick with this plan and before you know it you’ll be able to walk right by those stale donuts from the grocery store and not think twice about them.
You won’t be depriving yourself. You’ll finally be thriving.
I write about things I’ve tried. Things I’ve done. As I’ve said before, to be a practitioner you have to eat your own cooking. You have to, “be a doer, not a talker.” When it comes to meal prep, I’ve literally eaten my own cooking hundreds, if not thousands, of times.
I was meal preppin’ before meal preppin’ was a thing. Before Instagram influencers were lining up 50 gourmet meals for “meal prep glamor shots,” I was spending an hour every Sunday in my kitchen making some meals for the upcoming week.
I’ve meal prepped so many times that it’s become second nature to me. I’ve talked about the importance of meal prep to others almost as many times.
Now I want to share the tips and tricks on how I meal prep so it can become second nature for you too. I’ll break it down step-by-step so when you’re finished reading this you’ll be ready to dive right in.
What is Meal Prep?
The name is pretty self-explanatory. But just to make it clear, meal prep is the planning, shopping, prepping and storing of meals that you plan to eat later in the week.
Think your very own grab-n-go system.
Meal prep can be easy, but sorry to say maybe not this easy.
You make a bunch of meals and store them as individual servings in the fridge so on the day you’re ready to eat one, you just grab it and go. Simple!
How Meal Prep Began for Me
I ran into an old friend not too long ago. I love it when that happens. No matter how old I get, or how much of an adult I become, when I’m with an old friend I instantly fall right back into that time in my life when I was carefree and immature. It’s definitely good for the soul.
We had a few beers and a few laughs. We traded the usual stories that never seem to get old no matter how many times we’ve heard them.
We updated each other on all the new “grown up” stuff in our lives. Kids, spouses, jobs, RESPONSIBILITIES….BORING!!! (Full disclosure…kids and spouses are OF COURSE not boring…but it can be fun to throw off the responsibility jacket and vent a little with old friends).
Anyway, after a few too many beers, things took a little turn south. My buddy looked down at his beer, and up at me and just kind of blurted out, “I’ve turned into an amorphous blob.”
AMORPHOUS BLOB!?!?!
Good Lord! How DEPRESSING! It killed me that that’s what he thought of himself. He’s super successful, is living what appears from the outside to be a fantastic life, yet I could see the despair on his face. “How the hell did I let myself get so unhealthy?” he asked.
Not surprisingly, his physical unhealthiness was significantly impacting his mental health as well. This isn’t surprising to me because we are complex beings full of interdependencies. What impacts the body impacts the mind. And vice versa.
A quick backstory on me. My kids think I’m pretty special. And on occasion when we visit my folks my mother will say something that will make my wife roll her eyes and make a gagging gesture, so I suppose my mom thinks I’m pretty special too. But I’m not.
Truth be told, heart disease runs in my family for men. My grandfather and father both suffered major heart attacks at early ages. This scared me so much that I took a pretty big interest in trying to be in the best shape possible so I could avoid that same fate. Who knows if I will, but I figured I’d try my best.
I studied EVERYTHING I could find. Fitness, nutrition, sleep, EVERYTHING. I also tried EVERYTHING under the sun. Remember, TRYING things is the key to being a practitioner. Every exercise program, diet, supplement, etc. So maybe not every one of them, but certainly a lot of them.
I settled on a few things that really seemed to work and over the years I developed a few key habits that have helped me stay in pretty good shape.
The fear of having a heart attack literally made me take a pretty dogged interest in being as healthy as possible. Maybe I need to develop some new fears in other areas of my life which I haven’t been so diligent in. But that’s for another day.
Now back to my story…
My friend asked me what he could do to get back to his old self and not feel so depressed all the time. He wanted to feel strong, fit and attractive. He wanted to stop OBSESSING over his weight and what he looked like all the time. He wanted to lose weight quickly!
He wanted to no longer feel like an amorphous blob!
I’m not big on abstract suggestions. Things like, “move more and eat less.” Spoiler alert, that advice is GARBAGE. While yes, technically to lose weight you must burn more calories than you store, it doesn’t give you tangible, actionable advice.
Another one of my NON-favorites; “just find something you like doing and do it.” Another spoiler alert, that advice is garbage too. Okay, “garbage” may be a little harsh. And there’s some kernel of truth in that, but again, it’s not specific and actionable enough for my liking.
I mean, if you like eating ice cream and sitting on the couch for hours, should you keep doing that? If I only like going for walks but I want to build lots of muscle would that advice be applicable? No!
Walking on a treadmill probably isn’t going to get you ripped unfortunately.
If you’re someone who hasn’t spent their life reading up on nutrition and health what are you supposed to do with vague advice like those above? My guess; not much.
I’m a simple guy so when I’m seeking help I need it laid out to me simply. I need tips and tricks that I can implement into my life immediately. I need something tangible, not abstract. I need something SPECIFIC.
When I go to experts I’m often thinking, “just tell me what to do and how to do it!” Maybe it’s not the best mindset, but it’s the truth.
If it were that easy and intuitive folks like my friend wouldn’t feel so desperate and confused.
So I told him, in my opinion, the number one thing he could do to start taking back ownership of himself and his life was to do meal prep.
Cooking your meals for the week on the weekend can be life changing.
Meal Prep?!?! That’s not what he expected to hear.
Keep in mind, meal prep in and of itself won’t cause you to lose weight. A caloric deficit will do that. So you’d have to meal prep with a plan to achieve that deficit.
But for me, meal prep leads the charge in my healthy lifestyle even when it’s purpose is NOT to create a caloric deficit but just to have convenient, nutritious meals available for those times when I’m busy throughout the week.
Why Meal Prep is Vital
I think my buddy expected to hear something like, “run 5 miles a day,” or “go on an absurdly untenable 500-calorie-a-day diet.” I don’t think he was expecting me to say MEAL PREP.
What he was expecting was what people think it takes to be “healthy.” Miserable, time-consuming, kill-me-I-don’t-want-to-do-this-exercise, and starvation diets. And I STRESS think because it doesn’t take that at all.
For me, I’ve always said, “as meal prep goes, so goes my fitness.” It is absolutely the number one habit I’ve developed to help me stay healthy and happy all these years. A good week of meal prep usually leads to a great week of healthy activities…working out, getting good sleep, laying off the booze, etc.
Meal prep is ONE tool I use to help create an overall healthy lifestyle. But for me, it’s one of the biggest tools I use alongside resistance training and getting quality sleep.
The benefits of meal prep go beyond the physical as well. I’m usually much more alert, focused, and generally in a good mood. The more consistent I am with my meal prep the more consistent I am with exercise and physical activity/movement.
And exercise is like an antidepressant. It makes us happy and balances our hormones, so it’s no surprise that it impacts us mentally and emotionally as much as it does physically. After all, our bodies and minds are all wrapped up in one so it makes sense that one impacts the other.
If you feel stuck and in a rut, meal prep may be a pretty good place to start to dig out of that rut and start taking some ownership.
Is it the finish line too? No, but let’s not worry about that now. Sometimes looking too far ahead can be pretty overwhelming. Just know that’s it’s a great starting point.
You’ve heard it all, right? “Abs are made in the kitchen.” “You can’t outrun a bad diet.” It’s not rocket science, right? Then how come we still make so many terrible, self-sabotaging food decisions?
We tell ourselves lies.
As Richard Feynman said, “you must not fool yourself-and you are the easiest person to fool.”
“I’m too busy.”
“I don’t know how to cook.”
“It’s too expensive to eat healthy.”
“Eating healthy is BORING…I can’t do chicken breast and steamed broccoli every day.”
“I don’t even know what eating healthy means anymore!”
“It’s OVERWHELMING!”
And let’s be honest with ourselves, it’s easy to eat junk! We’re surrounded by it!
Motivation vs. Habits
Picture this…it’s noon on a random Tuesday in the middle of August. It’s HOT, you’re HUNGRY, and you’re now over seven months removed from those lofty New Year’s resolutions.
The rest of your office is heading out to grab some fast food for lunch. You said you were going to eat healthy that day but you have no lunch and at this point you don’t even care. So you’re off with your co-workers and the cycle continues. “I’ll start again next New Years,” you tell yourself.
It’s habits, not motivation, that’ll save you here.
We all like to rationalize our bad choices. I do it all the time. My kids are in front of their iPads entirely too much. (Side note to all the parents, how the heck did our parents and grandparents raise kids without iPads?!?! Incredible!)
But I tell myself, “hey, at least they’re playing Minecraft. That’s like a video-game version of Legos…ergo, they’re kind of learning about engineering.” Pretty far-fetched, I know, but it’s seriously what I tell myself.
Lately I’ve even told my kids to, “get off your iPads and go watch some tv!” WTF?!?! Somehow I’ve convinced myself that watching tv is better, or not as bad at least, for them than staring at those STUPID YouTube videos on a device inches from their face.
Anyway, we rationalize our bad choices to make ourselves feel better about them. It’s hard to confront our actions and say, “yup, that was no good.” But if we don’t confront them, how can we improve them? If we don’t acknowledge and own our actions, then we can’t fix them.
We don’t need to beat ourselves up over them, but we do need to acknowledge them and be aware of them.
Wouldn’t you rather have the ownership to CHANGE your lot in life even if it means confronting some uncomfortable things to get to that point? It’s not easy, and I’ll be the first to admit that in other areas of my life many times I’ve said, “no, I’d rather just not confront those uncomfortable truths,” than chew on them, acknowledge them and work on them.
But over time I learned that in the long run it’s much better to accept some immediate hard truths so you can get to long-term happiness.
Sticking our head in the sand doesn’t make our problems go away.
What good does sticking your head in the sand really do?
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be in control and not feel like I have no power to change.
Meal prep can be intimidating. In the Instagram world we live in, seeing someone post a picture of 35 gourmet meals all portioned out perfectly for the week can seem a little unrealistic. And a little daunting too. I’ve been doing meal prep for years and I look at those pictures and think, “no way could I do that.” Who has time for that? Except maybe professional meal preppers.
Good on the folks who do have time for that kind of meal prepping. I suppose it’s something us mere mortals can strive for. But I’m guessing you have a job, things to do, a life to live. I’m guessing that you’re not someone who replies to the question of, “how you been lately,” with, “great…I have soooo much free time to do whatever the heck I feel like doing.”
We are already stretched to our limits!
The beauty of it though is that it doesn’t have to be like that. You don’t need 50 hours to meal prep. And you also don’t have to take the time to make all those prepped meals line up perfectly so you can snap that pic for your Instagram or Facebook. And you don’t need a ton of cash either.
So when the motivation fades what’s left to fall back on? Systems. Systems that become habits remove the thinking. They put you on autopilot. They remove decision fatigue.
Do we need motivation to brush our teeth every night? Of course not. We’ve done it so many times most of us probably don’t even think about it.
We just do it!
Habits and systems, not motivation, is what’ll make conscious decisions like eating healthy stick.
Benefits of Meal Prep
With a little bit of planning, meal prep can be:
Fast (I’m talking from start to finish in an hour)
Cheap (It IS possible to save money while eating delicious and nutritious food)
Delicious (You DON’T have to eat chicken and steamed broccoli everyday)
Convenient (a little time up front saves you a lot of time the rest of the week)
Rewarding (It helps us stick to our goals)
Healthy (It helps us make healthier choices)
Not to mention, it’s an easy way to portion-control your meals. Think about this, when you go out to eat restaurants love to load up your plate with servings of cheap, unhealthy food. It’s an illusion to make you feel like you got great value on your purchase. “Oh look, I just got 100oz of coke for a dollar.” Or, “yay, a mega-super-serving-size of fries for 99 cents.” You think, awesome, I just got a great deal!
So many fries, more than I need, but it’s such a bargain how can I say no?!?!
But the reality is it probably only cost pennies for the fast food joint to produce those things. And their real goal is just to use those deals to get you in the door so you spend a lot more money on other things. So while you have this illusion of a great bargain, you really just got a super-sized serving of more junk than you actually need or even want.
And if you’re like me, if it’s on your plate you’ll probably eat it…whether you’re still hungry or not. And if it’s a salty, fried-carbs-and-fat-combo…you’ll definitely eat it. That type of food is addicting! And it’s addicting ON PURPOSE!
There are literally people at food companies designing ways to make food so hyper-palatable it’s almost impossible to resist eating more and more.
Remember Clark Griswold? You know, from the classic Vacation movies? In Christmas Vacation his job was literally a food additive designer and he was lauded for an invention that sealed and coated the cereal flakes so the milk didn’t penetrate them which kept them crunchy. Why would that be better? BECAUSE THAT CRUNCH IS SATISFYING AND MAKES US WANT MORE!!!!! These people exist in real life!
Seriously, we all know that feeling when you eat one potato chip and then you can’t help yourself from eating the whole bag. I mean, have you ever eaten one egg and you just couldn’t help yourself so you ate the whole carton? Nope, of course not. Because real food is filling so you get full on less. Meal prepping solves this problem.
They make them so salty, crunchy, and satisfying that they bank on the fact you can’t eat just one!
Meal prep goes beyond just losing weight. It’s literally transformed my whole life from a physical and mental standpoint. There are so many more benefits to what I listed above. For me it’s led to better sleep, more energy, better moods, and so much more.
The benefits it provides for the little time investment it requires are incredible! And totally disproportionate! I can hardly believe that spending an hour or two doing meal prep on a Sunday can have so much positive impact on my overall life!
Little effort, BIG reward!
My Meal Prep System
The big question is, how can you, someone who is busy, tackle food prep as a beginner? Here’s how I have incorporated it into my life.
Meal Prepping 101 – Ultimate Guide:
1. Keep it Simple
If something is too hard or too time-consuming chances are it’ll be too hard to maintain over the long haul. This is especially true when it comes to new GOOD habits we are trying to incorporate. So don’t overcomplicate things when you initially begin.
Chicken, rice, and veggie bowls are simple to make, and always delicious to eat! A great combo.
While imitating those professional meal preppers may seem tempting, in reality, the amount of effort it might initially take to turn out that many gourmet, complex meals could turn you off of meal prep forever. So don’t feel like you have to copy those professional meal-prepping pics you see on Instagram.
When I started, and still to this day, I’ve kept my meal prep pretty simple. Grill some chicken and roast some sweet potatoes and vegetables. Simple and doable.
2. start with lunch
I think lunch is the most dangerous meal of the day. At least it is for me.
Most of us are usually away from home during this time. A lot of us are in an office or work setting. We’re short on time. There’s stress, peer-pressure, and maybe a lot of people we don’t really like. Not to mention those environments are a landmine of bad choices.
Birthday cakes, donuts, lunches with the team, snacks during meetings (and the snacks are always JUNK)…so many bad choices staring you in the face!
Because of this, I just started to meal prep my lunches. This way I tackled the most dangerous meal of the day while also only having to prepare 5 meals per week.
I only prep weekday lunches which is where I get the 5 meals to prep. Those are the days that are the busiest and most challenging which is why I choose to prep for those days. On the weekends I usually have the time to manage something for lunch.
3. get the proper tools
Back to elementary school. You’ll need a lunch box. I like to use a small cooler. You’ll need some meal prep containers too. They offer the perfect portion sizes so you’re taking charge of your portion control too. Plus, they are microwaveable.
4. plan your meal
Failing to plan is planning to fail. Or something like that. But the bottom line is, you have to know what meals you are going to make. So think of some meals you’ll actually enjoy eating, and write out the plan for the week.
Sunday dinner at Mamaw and Papaw’s means I don’t have to plan for that night!
This is one of our weekly plans. I usually do my grocery shopping on Sunday afternoon so it never fails that each Sunday morning I ask my wife, “what do we want to do for dinner this week?” So you’ll see I wrote out our dinner plan and I also wrote out what I was planning to meal prep for my lunches that week.
Sidenote, Sundays are dinner at my folks’ and we “wing it” on the weekend which admittedly can get us in trouble.
The key here is to think of things you’ll actually enjoy eating. Sometimes our good intentions can set us up for failure. If you’re super motivated on your meal prep day and prep plain chicken breasts with broccoli but come Thursday afternoon you’re tired and frustrated and not feeling motivated you may skip out on that chicken and broccoli and say, “screw it, I’m heading to McDonald’s!”
Don’t let this happen!
I’ve prepped the same few lunches for over a decade. I’m often amazed that after all these years I still look forward to the lunches I’ve prepped. I managed to find some meals that were nutritious, simple, and delicious. So no matter what day of the week it is or what kind of mood I’m in, I’ve always been happy to eat them and thus not tempted to throw them in the trash and head out for fast food.
When it comes to planning my meals I’ve stuck to a pretty basic, but delicious, outline for my meals. I focus on protein, and surround it with vegetables and sometimes a starch which for me is usually a sweet potato.
5. have a grocery plan of attack
This is just a fancy way of saying, “write out a grocery list.”
A friend once told me, “we’re all winging it as parents.” It’s kind of true, right? But don’t wing it when you go grocery shopping!
You must have a plan of attack. Otherwise you end up wandering around randomly making your way back and forth between different aisles and parts of the grocery store just throwing whatever into your basket.
You’ve determined what you want to eat for your 5 lunches, see step number 4, now write out what is required, and bring that list with you to the store. Simple!
Walking into the grocery store hungry and with no plan is asking for trouble!
We decided what we wanted to eat for the week now we write down everything we need. Simple!
And yes, I have a problem…I often go to three stores for grocery shopping. Certain things are better at certain places and certain things are cheaper at certain places. I mean, steaks at Costco ate great quality at a great price…that alone is worth the trip there!
6. set aside a block of time for meal prep and make it a habit!
Set aside an hour for your prep. Sundays are great. Make this a time that’s enjoyable and just for you. Put on some music, an audio book, or tv. Whatever you like. My favorite time to meal prep is during football season. I love having football on in the background while prepping my foods. It makes the time fly by.
For those of you with kids, like myself, DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO KEEP THE KIDS OCCUPIED. You have to be selfish sometimes and this is the time to focus on YOU! We all want to be super parents but it’s okay if you have to sit them down for an hour in front of the tv or iPad while you do this. In the long run, it’ll actually show them that you value your health and that you make it a priority. That is a great example to set!
MAKE THIS A HABIT! I can’t stress this enough. Try to do it at the same time every week and try to make it coincide with something you enjoy like listening to music or an audio book or watching sports like I do.
You’ve done the planning, you’ve done the grocery shopping, you’ve set aside the time to cook. You’re all set. Now it’s time to do the work!
If you’re like me sometimes you can plan, plan, and plan but never actually execute. I think it’s a form of procrastination. But all the planning in the world does you no good if you never actually execute the plan.
When it comes to cooking your meals, there are a number of different cooking methods that you can use to prep your meals. For me, this is what I’ve employed the most over the years.
ROASTING/BAKING
While I sometimes have used roasting and baking to cook my protein, usually when it’s raining outside and I don’t want to go out and grill, I normally use this method for my vegetables and sweet potatoes. A couple of things I’ve learned over the years (remember, I’m NOT a trained chef…these are tips I’ve learned through personal experience from doing this for over a decade…I have NO clue if they are “technically” correct).
When roasting, whether vegetables or potatoes, put some foil down on the tray. It’ll make clean up MUCH easier.
Even when using foil, coat it in some form of oil or spray to prevent sticking.
Roast at a high temperature and make sure the vegetables are spaced out some. I’ve found that if I pile too many vegetables on the tray hot air from the oven can’t get around the vegetables and I’m left with soggy vegetables.
I usually roast everything on 400. It’s probably better to roast vegetables at a little higher temperature but since I am usually roasting sweet potatoes in the same oven I’ve found 400 is the best temperature for both.
Sweet potatoes rinsed, poked, and ready for the oven!
Roast multiple things at the same time to save time. I’m almost always roasting vegetables and sweet potatoes. So I just throw them in the oven at the same time. Do vegetables and sweet potatoes roast best at the same temperature? I have no clue! But I’ve been doing them that way for years and they taste good enough for me.
Grilling
For almost the entire time I’ve been meal prepping, I use my grill for the protein portion. Even when I only had a charcoal grill, I still found it easier for the amount of protein I was cooking than using an oven or stovetop. Not to mention it tastes MUCH better.
A few years back I got a gas grill, thanks Memaw!, and it’s made grilling my proteins even easier. It’s big enough that I can fit all the protein on at once and there’s no time needed to get the coals ready. Just turn it on and it’s ready to go. And clean-up is a breeze too. I just scrape off all the grates with a grill brush when I’m finished and that’s it.
Cooking your protein on the grill is convenient and allows you to cook it all at once.
PRO TIP: Invest in a meat thermometer. I like the ones with the probe that you can leave in the meat while it’s cooking. It makes it dummy-proof…which is what I need!
Air Fryer
I’m new to the air fryer game. I know there is so much that can be done with the air fryer but when it comes to meal prep, I’ve only so far used it for sweet potato and regular fries. I cut them up, soak them in water for a few hours, dry them, season them and throw them in the fryer. They require very little oil, just one tbsp. of avocado oil, so they are MUCH healthier than deep fried versions.
One thing to note though, if you look up recipes for air fryer fries and sweet potato fries, they all say to space out the fries in a single layer in the air fryer so the air can circulate around all of the fries. You’ll notice if you do that it barely makes any. So if you followed this method and wanted enough for 5-days of meal plans, you’d have to make a ton of batches which would take forever. Nobody wants to do that.
Here’s what I do though. I take a huge batch of cut up potatoes or sweet potatoes, and after I’ve tossed them in oil and seasoning, I pour them in an air fryer at 380 degrees and every ten minutes I shake them up so the ones that are soggy are moved to the top so the air can circulate around them and crisp them up. I repeat this until they all are cooked and pretty crispy. It’s usually around 30-35 minutes total.
Does this work as well as if I cooked them in a single layer? No. But it works well enough and means I only have to cook one batch so it saves a ton of time.
Crock Pot/Slow Cooker
While I’ve cooked many-a-meal in the slow cooker, I’ve never used it for meal prep. But I imagine throwing in a pot roast or pork butt would be an easy way to prepare protein for the week.
8. Portion your food
I know the wisdom in this last step is almost too earth-shattering to comprehend. Only a true “guru” like myself could offer such profound insight!
You’ve done all this work and cooked all this food but you’re probably wondering, “now what?”
Well, you take the food you’ve cooked and place it into the 5 meal prep containers. You then stack them in the fridge and stare at them with an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment. And hey, I know I kind of dissed the food preppers who take pics of their 50 meals all lined up neatly, but go ahead and do it if you’d like. It’s cool to feel proud.
It’s satisfying to see all those meals organized and lined up.
How Meal Prep Can Impact the Rest of Your Life
Do you want to…
No longer struggle to find the perfect angle for your pics or selfies?
No longer feel anger and self-hate for reaching the point you have?
Stop feeling depressed, anxious, and lethargic?
Feel free and confident?
Walk by a mirror and think, “Damn, I look good!”?
Not dread summer and swimsuit season like waiting for a hurricane to hit land?
Get your partner to raise their eyebrows and turn their heads when you walk by?
I feel like this is a GREAT habit to get you heading down this road of accomplishments. It won’t magically do all of these things just by itself. But I do believe it’s a precursor to other positive life choices; exercise, better sleep, less booze, better mental attitude, more happiness, etc.
Your life isn’t segmented. Everything we do is linked together. If I make one poor decision it can lead to many other poor decisions and vice versa. Even if the decisions aren’t directly linked.
We’ve all been there. “Oh man, this week is going to be a GREAT week. It’s going to be the week that things change. I’m going to eat healthy, work out every day, lay off the wine, get to sleep early, and not watch so much reality-tv!”
Then Monday morning rolls around. You’re sitting at your desk already dreaming of Friday. All of a sudden you get a whiff of something that smells AMAZING! “Uh oh,” you think, “someone brought donuts.” “No way am I going to cave,” you tell yourself as you’re sitting there unable to think about anything else except how good that donut would taste.
You resist for 15 AGONIZING minutes. Then you tell yourself, “I’ll just have one.”
GAME OVER!
One leads to four. Donuts leads to fast food for lunch. Fast food leads to driving right past the gym on your way home. That leads to plopping down on the couch with a big glass of wine, or three. You turn on the TV and dial up some Big Brother. Come midnight you finally think to yourself, “I’ll start over next week.” Next week leads to next month which leads to next year. All because of one bad decision…I’m looking at you, donut.
One bad decision can lead to a vicious cycle of bad decisions. They all piggy back off each other. Here’s what’s great though, you can make it a POSITIVE cycle if you just substitute a positive decision.
And for the record, of course that was a dramatic scenario but it paints a picture of how decisions can have compounding effects. And I don’t think a donut here and there is “bad” but it’s much more likely that a donut can be just a donut and not a spiral of bad decisions if you have a system in place like meal prep to help you maintain healthy eating MOST of the time.
The Domino Effect – One bad decision can led to many bad decisions, but one good decision can lead to many good decisions.
I call this the domino effect. This analogy has been used for lots of things, and it definitely makes sense here. All the dominoes represent positive activities in your life.
Better sleep, less anxiety, more confidence. And further down the line of dominoes you have better outcomes…A toned body, less body fat, more muscle, more confidence, more happiness, self-love instead of self-hate, better cholesterol, better blood pressure, less medications, jeans you haven’t been able to fit into since college, setting a positive example for your kids, family, friends and co-workers, and maybe being the envy of your friends.
In my opinion, meal prep is the first domino in this chain. Tip it over and the rest can follow.
You Can do Meal Prep!
You can take this step that can lead to big changes in your life. You can reclaim control of your health and your body.
I’m just like you…I feel like my days are dictated by external stuff. Kids, work, house stuff…I NEVER HAVE TIME! But this allows me some control. It will allow you some control too. It will free up time from the rest of your week. Just as important it will free you up mentally because you won’t be thinking about what you are going to do for lunch.
That thing called decision fatigue I mentioned earlier? This helps with that. Big time!
It’s your opportunity to stop being a spectator of your life and to start being the director of it.
Be proactive, not reactive.
BE A DOER, NOT A TALKER.
Meal Prep Unintended Consequences
BE WARNED:
If you do this there will be some unintended consequences.
-People will suddenly become very interested in your lunch every day. “Oh look, John had to go and be healthy again and bring his lunch today.” You’ll wonder, “since when did everyone get so interested in what I eat?!?!”
-Folks will pressure you to “just go out to eat with them this one time.” Unfortunately, misery loves company. Folks will push you to cave. Stay strong! And while it might not seem like it at the time, your resolve will be inspiring them to possibly take the same journey when it’s right for them.
-You may finally achieve that dream body you’ve always wanted. And sometimes reaching a long-term goal can be a bit scary. It’s like being reborn as a new person in an unfamiliar world. You reach this point you’ve dreamed about for years and you think to yourself, “now I have no more excuses to being the greatest version of me possible.” Scary, but exhilarating.
-You might even run out of storage space on your phone from all the selfies you’re now taking because you just look so good! Time to upgrade with some more cloud space.
Meal Prep Final Tips
What to do when you don’t have a microwave?
Due to my day job, I’ve eaten many of my meal-prepped lunches in my car without access to a microwave. I’ve just eaten them cold. Is it ideal? Not really. But it still tastes pretty good to me.
For the record, I have no idea if this is SAFE. While the meat is pre-cooked, I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be preheated back to 165 internal temperature prior to eating it again.
How long can you store meals?
For the past ten plus years that I’ve been doing meal prep, I’ve cooked five meals on a Sunday to last me M-F. I don’t freeze any of these meals, I just store them in the refrigerator.
Maybe I should start freezing the lunches I plan on eating Thursday and Friday but up to now I never have.
But don’t rely on me. For specifics on food safety and storage, refer to these guidelines:
Even though I prep a lot of the same lunches to eat week after week, I do small, easy things to mix them up some. That may include using different spice rubs on my chicken to throwing in one of those individual packets of pre-made guac to mix in with my chicken.
There are a lot of subtle, easy, inexpensive ways to vary your meals slightly while still keeping the overall process simple.
What should I cook?!?!
I didn’t get into what exactly to cook. For now, focus on what you like and make that. Chances are, making your food at home will automatically be healthier than just winging it at work or school. Plus, your portion sizes will be much smaller for the reasons I mentioned earlier.
But if you want one example of a lunch I prep fairly often that is simple, cheap, nutritious, and delicious; here goes:
Buy a few pounds of chicken thighs (I like boneless-skinless), some broccoli and some sweet potatoes. Roast the sweet potatoes and broccoli and grill the chicken thighs.
I usually grill my chicken thighs around 18-20 minutes depending on the size of them and flip them half-way through. I use this homemade seasoning recipe for the chicken which I also add 4 teaspoons of cumin to.
I poke a few holes in my sweet potatoes with a fork and then roast them at 400 for around 60-90 minutes depending on how big they are. And I toss my broccoli in olive oil and season with salt and pepper and roast it at 400 for around 20-30 minutes. I do both at 400 so I can put them in the same oven.
Again, is this the ideal temperature that a trained chef would use to roast these two different foods? I don’t know, and I don’t care!
Portion it all out into individual containers and just like that you have a great lunch for the week.
Personally, I usually vary my lunches on a weekly basis. Meaning, I’ll usually prep the same lunch for an entire week and then switch it up the following week. I’ve found that by prepping one lunch for the week I save a considerable amount of time. And just when I’m starting to get tired of that meal, the week is over and I follow it with a new one. And I tend to vary my dinners more so that keeps me from getting too bored with eating the same lunch everyday for a week.
What about fat loss?
I say over and over that I write about things I’ve tried and done. I’m a broken record. Why? Because it’s important to me to be authentic. I don’t want to lie or act like an expert in things I have no real experience in. And I don’t have personal experience in losing weight because I’ve never really had to go on a diet.
But I will say this, I know it takes a caloric deficit to achieve fat loss. And from being around many folks who have gone through this I know it’s even more important to plan properly when trying to achieve and maintain a caloric deficit. And that makes meal prep, in my opinion, an even more important tool than it already is when you are using it while trying to achieve fat loss.
Things to Avoid in Meal Prepping
Things that could get soggy like salad that has already been dressed.
Things that can stink up an office like fish. (If you work from home then have at it! Although, I’ve found fish don’t reheat very well.)
Things that require a microwave if you don’t have one.
Things that would be kind of gross like cheese if you don’t have a fridge for your meal prep containers.
To Sum it Up
-Keep it simple
-Focus on lunch first. Five meals prepped per week
-Get the tools you need
-Plan your meals – what am I going to eat?
-Have a grocery plan of attack. AKA, a grocery list!
-Set aside an hour for the prep – MAKE IT A HABIT
-Cook your food!
-Portion the food into the food prep containers
There you have it. A few reasons why you should be doing meal prep and a starting point for how. It’s time you take back control of your life and reclaim your body. If you do that, you’ll be amazed at what follows.
