More often than not, our fitness journeys are triggered by some moment-of-realization event. We are so busy in our daily routine of commute, office, deadlines, and targets that it takes a true friend or a well-wisher to hand us out those high voltage shock words, “you need to lose weight, like now”.

That gets us going with morning walks, cycling or gym. It is important to set up fitness & weight loss goals. It is also equally critical to support our actions to achieve those goals with proper & balanced nutrition, and this is where most of us stumble. We focus too much on losing that 5 kg target and think that skipping a meal or two will help us in our weight loss journey. Here is a Meal Prep Tips to Get you Started: Beginner’s Guide to Meal Preps.

Why do we skip meals?

Sometimes you don’t do it deliberately, it just happens.

• That 5 km brisk walk has sapped all life energy out and you are too tired to cook
• The grocery shop had closed by the time you reached home after finishing that late-night overseas conference call. Now all you have is an instant noodle pack and commercial sugar-laden fruit juice
• There simply is no time to cook and that food delivery app has just now pinged cool discounts on your favorite Italian food (read pizza)
• Your pet dog ate your lunch

Whatever the reason, sub-optimal nutrition is surely going to impact your fitness regime.

This is why fitness buffs across the world take up meal preps to unclutter decision making and meal making effort multiple times during the day. You spend one day to plan and prepare meals for the next 3 to 5 days.

Here are some cool tips on how to meal prep for all those beginning their fitness journey.

Start with Baby Steps

Start with a 3-day meal prep first. It is easy to plan, manage and execute. Try it three-four times and move on to a 5-day meal prep. Find your own comfort zone.

Set your Macronutrient Goals

The starting point is your fitness goal. Get a fitness app and fix your macronutrients first. This will tell you how many grams of each macro i.e. protein, carbohydrate and fat, you need to consume a day.

Decide Foods and Recipes for Each Meal

Decide on your favorite foods for each macronutrient. Go with 2 to 3 recipes for each food group. Buy in bulk and divide each food item into the number of meals you have decided to prepare. Cook and keep the food in containers in your refrigerator.

Let’s say you are prepping for 3 days with 3 meals each day, a total of 9 meals. If you are a fan of chick peas, you can prepare 3 lunches by boiling chickpeas, dividing them into three portions, making one portion into a salad, the second into curried chick pea (with rice) and the third into hummus (with pita wrap). Replace chick peas with chicken if you like. It’s fun and super easy!

Standardize your meal containers

Dump those plastic boxes and go for tight sealing microwave-safe glass containers. If you are unable to find glass containers, go for BPA free plastic ones. This way, you will not have to fumble around to find boxes and you will be able to fit in all your prepared meals into your refrigerator easily. Also, this will prevent overeating as well. Once the container is empty, you stop eating. Simple!