Why You Lose Weight With Meal Prepping (Part 2)
March 31, 2018 Ashley 0 Comments
Okay, so we’ve established how mindless night eating’s a common folly amongst the best’ve us.
So… how’s meal prepping gonna fix that?
Well, first off…
1. It’s a time and mind saver
“Thanks, smarter-version-of-me who shoved this in here Sunday!”
I’m not wasting my precious decompression minutes debating what to make, standing in line at the local obesity trough, or waiting for my overly oiled meal to arrive – doused in salt like it’s an open wound instead’ve food. (Assuming they even got my order right. #GrubGrudge)
2. You let go of getting let down by other people
And speaking of which, when I make my meal that means none of what I get when I eat out: disappointment. Sure I might get bored if all my meals are Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V of one another. But then all I hafta do is Ctrl + X one’ve them and sub in something new. Simple.
3. You let go of letting yourself down
Then, aside from the lack of disappointment from someone else screwing up your food, there’s no disappointment in yourself for screwing up your diet. Yet again. When you eat a meal (like fast food) that falls short of filling, the tendency’s to let the magnet living in your fridge draw you to the kitchen where you do blackout munching on stuff you don’t need. With a meal prep, you’ve already set yourself up for success like three days ago.
4. It’s one less decision
That means that past-you’s got now-you’s back. You know how, if left to your 5:00 P.M. mind’s devices, you’d whip up a wheelbarrow full’ve alfredo and eat it with a shovel? As mentioned before, that’s because willpower wanes through the day. But the nice thing about meal prepping is that the wiser you already laid out your blueprints for winning at losing weight. So you don’t have to choose. The right choice has already been made by your better self. Wasn’t that rad of her?
5. Your new good habit catches fire to other parts of your life
While you couldn’t feel less like the healthy chick who prepped meals days ago, deep down, you take credit.
You subconscious knows you accomplished that. And, on an even deeper level, it’s kinda self affirming. You’re hacking fatness. You’re in the process of winning. Each evening (or lunch, if you went above and beyond) is a reminder of how on track you are and what a great job you’re doing. And, as many a self-help expert will tell you, people are big on identity. There’s little we value more than that. So, if – at your core – you’re identifying with someone who’s healthy and organized, that bleeds over into the rest’ve your life. Maybe you get more diligent with your gym visits. Maybe there’s even more order at work. Maybe you finally give your home the good spring cleaning it needed. Everything’s interrelated. And that’s an awesome feeling.
6. You save money
You know what else is awesome, too? Saving money. Today, at Wegman’s I got asked “where have you been?” Let me offer some context: it’s been five days since I’ve come to the store. See, in the past, I generally made a Wegman’s venture almost every other day. Sometimes it’s to find something to liven up my meal. Sometimes it’s to get fresh fruit (’cause produce dies quicker than the thigh widening fodder that lives in your pantry). But, often times… it’s to get more food… because I ate all the stuff I got like two days ago. (*insert horizonal mouth emoji*) Now, I go only to re-stock on my weekly rations. If I’m being honest, that’s the biggest plus I’ve noticed with meal prepping: playing Gumby with my budget. See, as a vegan, I can eat like the parents from Spirited Away and not really notice a significant gain in weight beyond a few pounds. It just comes with the territory of the best diet on earth. However, while I may not be gaining weight, I am losing – money. And as a student, my stress snacking habit’s just one I can’t afford.
7. It makes you psych yourself into self control
And, somehow, meal prepping’s the antidote to it. I mean, I’d think that – if stress unintentionally leads me back to the fridge to snack – partitioning it out wouldn’t stop that monster inside, demanding more. But it totally does. I dunno what it is, but there’s something about erecting microwavably plastic barriers between food that generates a metaphorical stop sign. It’s like pills in a caddy. Or day of the week hashtags. Or those retro-skivvies with weekday labels. You wouldn’t don Tuesdays drawers on Friday, right? Or #ThrowBackThursday on a Saturday? Or steal from tomorrow’s Valium tonight? (Okay. Admittedly, at my current stress level, that last analogy might not be the best…) The point remains: something about being able to visually confirm all your not-today food’s tucked away in its own little chamber, makes self control simpler. Plus, it has a secondary effect: helping you to think in terms of future you. Why? Because you can see all the future meals that past you made when you were a bit saner. It’s a nice reminder of all your long terms goals at a time when you’re less mindful.
Then, finally, of course….
8. Weight loss
It’s only been a week or two and I’ve already bid those few pounds adieu. There’s no real magical explanation to that. No psychological sorcery. When you’ve got your meals whipped up for you head’ve time, you’re eating the right things, eating less than you usually would, and ingesting the sort’ve fuel that gives you energy to workout, you lose weight. Simple. So, if you wanna shed pounds and prep for your summer holiday body, start prepping your meals now. Have fun! Get creative!
Just not too creative…
