May 8, 2018 pedalgoa

Meal planning for runners: How to create a healthy meal plan weekly :: running tips. runners diet. running for weightloss.

As a runner, sometimes just finding time to get in your workout seems like a challenge.

And if you’re a runner, there’s a good chance you’re trying to eat healthy so you can live a healthy and active lifestyle! (See running tips for beginners!)

But sometimes it just seems like a challenge to do your running workout and prepare healthy meals each and every day on top of your normal daily activities.

If food is one area of your life that feels like there’s a whole bunch of disorganized chaos, that’s where meal planning and meal prepping come in!

It can help you plan ahead to help you avoid impulse eating or going with the quick and easy less healthy but more convenient fast food options. By planning ahead, it can help you to better stay on track with your healthy meal plan.

RUNNING 101

Meal planning vs meal prepping

Meal planning and meal prepping sometimes get confused, but there is a difference. With meal planning, it’s just the process of deciding what your meals are going to be: the planning. With meal prepping, that’s when you go through with the actual process of making your meals: the preparing. By planning and prepping, it makes it so that little needs to be done when it’s time to eat!

Now, here are a few things to better help you plan your meals ahead of time so you can save time and money, while staying on track to lead that healthy lifestyle!

 



Side note!
See about the best shoes for hiking in Hawaii and what to wear snorkeling in Hawaii! And for Hawaii vacation ideas, see the best things to do in Waikiki that will give you Hawaii vibes!


How to start meal planning

So before you can start the process of prepping your meals, you’ll want to plan your meals. And so, this is the part of the process in which you’ll be meal planning.

You are going to want to set aside some time so that you can think about what meals you want to make in the near future. You can give as much detail, or as little detail, as you want, but the more thorough you are during the meal planning process, the easier things can be for meal prepping, and ultimately, when it comes time to eat!

Once you get your meal planning done, then you’ll know what you want to make and you’ll know how to make it in an easier time-efficient way. This can help you to save time because you aren’t heading off to the grocery store every time in a panic realizing you’re missing an ingredient for every idea you have for that night’s dinner.

By meal planning for at least a week, with the proper follow up with meal prepping, you’ll already have what you need each day of the week!

Next, here’s a little bit more to help you get started with your meal planning.

Keep in mind that these are just guidelines. It’s best that you adapt your meal planning to best fit your schedule and lifestyle!

Recipe binder kit + step-by-step meal planning system

A printable recipe binder kit and an easy step-by-step meal planning system are included in this super bundle to make your meal planning easier!

How many weeks should you plan for?

As you sit down to think about planning for your upcoming meals, you’ll want to first decide just how much meal planning you want to do. It may be days, or it can also be weeks.

When you’re just starting out, you may want to start with no more than a week so you can adapt accordingly after you implement meal planning and meal prepping for the first time. This will include all meals and snacks for you and your family for the entire week. This includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.

If you’ve never done meal planning before, just the thought of planning and prepping for that much food at once can feel overwhelming! But once you get a system down, there’s a good chance you’ll not only feel better about making the meals during the week, but you’ll also save some money in the process.

The number of days or weeks you plan for can also depend on a number of other things. You’ll want to think about how much time you have to dedicate for meal planning. You’ll want to think about how much variety you like to have with your food.

Also consider how much refrigerator space or freezer space you have. If you’re prepping your meals far in advance, it might take up a lot of space. You may not mind planning your meals for 2 weeks, but your fridge or freezer may not have room for prepping of 2 weeks worth of food. You’ll want to make sure you have space for all the food you buy and prep for.

And you’ll want to think about how much you want to spend at the grocery store, time and money. Knowing what to buy, and buying everything you need in bulk, can save you money, and it can save you multiple trips to the grocery store – time!

Start by taking an inventory of what’s in your kitchen

When you’re first starting to plan week-long meals, you may feel like you don’t even know where to start.

First, start off simple. Make a note of what ingredients and food you currently have in your kitchen. Go through your cupboards, pantry, and fridge to see what you have. Write it down, and think about what kinds of meals you can make from items you already have on-hand.

This is a good place to start. This will help you see if you need to buy any additional ingredients. If there are any meals you can make from the ingredients you have listed, you know that you have a meal you can make! This basically gets you thinking about things you can make with what you currently have.

This may sound like common sense, but sometimes when you’re so busy thinking about other things, it just may not occur to you. Or, you may have even forgotten about things you do have!

Then, once you’ve thought about what you could make right now if you wanted, start to think about other meals that you might want to make.

Consider how you can use certain ingredients for several meals. You can buy more chicken or meat than you need, instead of just for a single meal, and freeze what you don’t need. Also think about how you can use that meat in sandwiches, salads, or soups. By having extra meat in your freezer, you won’t have to go out and buy it for a single meal, but it will be there ready and waiting. (Just remember to give it time to thaw out!)

Again, buying in bulk will not only help you save time, but it will help you save money.

Lay out more specific details

Now that you’ve started writing down some meal ideas based on the food you have, try to make as many details as possible. If you think you’ll end up with leftovers for one dinner you make, those leftovers become an option for lunch for following days. You can also think of making more servings than usual for any meals you prepare so that will require less time to prepare meals in the following days!

Make a note of these leftovers and extra servings in your meal plan!

By doing this, you can minimize the number of lunches or other meals you need to prepare. This will save you time at night from having to make the next day’s lunch, or it will save you money from not having to order your lunch from a restaurant!

After you list the meals, make another list that will serve as your grocery shopping list for items that you’ll need to get.

You’ll want to consider how each of those meals are going to be prepared. If you already know on a certain day you won’t have much time, you’ll want to try to think of meals that you can make ahead of time. You may also want to think about using that slow cooker when you’re away from home all day.

More meal planning tips

These are the meal planning tips included in this super bundle: Meal planning made easy | Ultimate guide to freezer cooking | Printable recipe binder kit … so have a look!

Take a look at your run training plan

In planning for the meals you’ll be making and how much food you should eat for each meal, it’s important to consider what your activity level is going to be each day and how much you’ll be running.

Because you are already following a training plan 😉 it is a good idea to look at your training plan as you create your meal plan. Think about how hungry the different workouts may make you feel based on past experience.

The more you’ll be running, whether it’s a longer run or a higher intensity run, you’ll want to account for that when you’re planning out your meals. You need food to keep yourself fueled and well energized before, during, and after your run!

You may also want to think specifically about having a bunch of snacks prepared for those moments that your hunger kicks in from all that running you did.

Also keep in mind that just because you have a rest or recovery day from running doesn’t mean that you want to automatically drastically cut back on your food intake. As a runner, one reason that makes rest and recovery so important in running is that it is a time for your muscles to heal themselves. In order for them to properly heal, they need enough food so they can be strong for that next run!

Whether rest day, long run day, tempo run day, or any other day 😉 you want to make sure you’re properly energized!

Be flexible!

Things just never go as planned. 😉

Planning each meal for the week is a very good way to save time during the week, but there will be situations that pop up that won’t go exactly as you planned it. For that, you’ll want to not stress! That’s why it’s important to have flexibility with your meal plans just in case things don’t go according to plan.

The purpose of meal planning is to make things easier in your life, saving you time and money, and not to produce more stress if it doesn’t work out the way you intended.

Now have a look at those meal planning resources available in the life-organizer super bundle!

HAPPY MEAL PLANNING!

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🐠 Here are things you must consider packing!


I also don't go snorkeling without a personal swim float buoy. Not only does it help to keep me visible, but it makes for a perfect way to rest out in deeper water! Oh, and it also serves as a dry bag so I can take stuff into the water with me.

Another way I have taken valuables into the water with me is to wear a travel money belt that I don't mind getting wet with salt water (it's not waterproof but I have several so I just use one of them) and then I put things in a ziplock freezer bag, and put that freezer bag in the money belt.

There are also designated waterproof waist pouches that you can store your valuables and take into the water with you.


see more:
- What to wear hiking
- What to wear snorkeling