Meal Prepping: Effects on your mind, body, health, and wallet
Starting off, why did I meal prep?
I started for a number of reasons: I wanted to save money, be healthier and structure my life now that I’ve graduated and began my transition into a working adult.
What are my results?
I’ve lost close ~30 pounds in 7 months, dropped my resting blood pressure of 150 to 50 beats per minute, dropped my grocery bill to $20~$30 a week and dropped the time I spent cooking to only 2 hours.
How did I begin my journey?
It all began with answering 3 fundamental questions:
1. What is healthy?
2. What is affordable?
3. What is easy to cook?
These questions are in this specific order because anyone can just eat cup noodles for every meal to save money and lose weight, but that’s not very healthy. Therefore, this led me to do some research and focus on my macros: protein, fats and carbohydrates. What can I find in the grocery stores that can help me towards my personal goals to healthily loose weight and build muscle?
What have I been eating everyday for the last 7 months?
Breakfast
- ¼ cup of oatmeal
- 1 scoop of peanut butter
- 1 scoop of protein powder
- 1 banana
Lunch
- ¼ cup of rice
- ¼ lb. of turkey
- 2 cups of spinach
Snack
- 1 protein bar
- 1 granola bar/1 serving of honey roasted peanuts
Dinner
- ½ cup of rice
- ½ lb. of turkey
- 2 cup of spinach
- Hot sauce/ketchup
What you’ll notice is that lunch is the same as my dinner but a little smaller. Why? This hits my 3rd requirement - easy to cook. By cooking in mass, I choose to have the same lunch as dinner to reduce the amount of time needed to figure out what else to prepare and cook when I do my meal prep.
What is the total bill? [Disclaimer: This is a rough estimate]
Per Week [Total = $20~$30]
- 2 pounds of turkey = $12
- 2 boxes of spinach = $10
- 1 dozen eggs = $3
- 5 bananas = $2
- ½ gallon of milk = $3
Per 2 weeks [Total = $18]
- 18 protein bars = $18
Per 1 or 2 months [Total = ~$20]
- 1 jar of peanut butter = $5
- 1 small bag of rice = $5
- 1 jar of oatmeal = $5
- Ketchup = $5
Per 4 months [Total = $100]
- 10 lb. bag of protein powder = $100
Where do I do my grocery shopping?
I shop at Whole Foods. I know most people would say, wow, that place is usually expensive. However, the prices you see above show that you can get an affordable shopping list if you focus on eating what’s healthy, calculate the servings per meal and skip out on anything excessive like snacks, sugary drinks and sweets. It also helps to be a prime member with the credit card for 5% back every purchase.
My only luxuries are the protein powder, protein bars and granola bars. I’m very active so I supplement my diet with extra protein. This can be different for you depending on your goals if you want to spend the money for this.
Now the most important question: How do I eat the same things every day?
This is one of the largest hurdles for anyone doing meal prep. My best advice is:
- Have a cheat day once or twice a month
- Always include condiments [hot sauce/ketchup/mustard/etc.]
- Focus on your vision
Have a cheat day to treat yourself. It’s ok to go out and have that pizza or burger once in a while.
My go to condiments are peanut butter and ketchup. You can experiment and find the ones that suit you the best and feel free to change it up, but they will become your best friends as you get used to the routine.
Focus on your vision. We take on these challenges to accomplish a goal and this goal is what will remind you and keep you on track to overcome anything and everything it takes to be successful. Mine were the three questions I asked myself at the beginning of my journey: improve my health, save money and structure my life so I have more time to focus on more important things. I always kept these in mind whenever I thought about buying that burger, getting the cookies or giving up altogether on meal prepping.
Benefits to your body and health
I talk a little about these two topics above. Meal prepping with the goal of eating healthy both in quantity and quality, even without being super active, you can directly improve your health both outside and inside. I used to sit, relaxed on a chair and the doctor would get a heart rate of 150 beats per minute. An average male resting heart rate is 60 to 100 beats per minute and I’ve overshot the max by 50. I was only 21 and was very active, going to the gym almost everyday!
Even though I never put much thought into this, after only 7 months of meal prepping I visited my doctor for a normal checkup and was surprised to find that I dropped from 150 beats per minute resting to 50 beats per minute. With this alone, I’ve already drastically improved my future health by decreasing chances for possible medical issues like high blood pressure.
Another pleasant surprise is that I had 30-pound weight loss. I’m very active but even in college I would work out every day but always have a bunch of flab around my stomach. Now, I’ve burned off all the fat and reached a six pack, a new year’s goal I’ve been repeatedly promising myself for the last 8 years. I’ve finally accomplished and can cross this off the list.
The benefits don’t only stop at my body, but also my daily life. In the mornings, I don’t need to make breakfast at home. Rather, I can go to the office early, avoid morning traffic and setup my oatmeal in 3 minutes. This quick and easy breakfast turns my original 45–60-minute commute to only 30 minutes now that I don’t have to worry about cooking and cleaning.
Lunch and dinners are just as easy. I cook once a week on a Saturday and it only takes 2 hours, including grocery shopping. Set the rice in a rice cooker, cook the turkey and boil the spinach in a pot. That’s it. I’ve saved myself hours of time every day now that I don’t have to think about what to eat, what do I need to buy, how much time it takes to cook and clean up my kitchen. This is time that I can now put to better use like my hobbies and going out with friends.
Benefits to your mind and mentality
The final benefit is to my mind and mentality on how meal prepping has trained me to become more disciplined. I am able to better resist the temptations of junk food, eating out and laziness. I learned to focus more on my goals, define my vision and get creative with how to tackle problems to hit the three questions of meal prepping I set for myself at the beginning of my journey. All of this has enriched my life in developing determination, flexibility and open-mindedness that is all applicable to my career and goals for the future.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I’ve gone over the three main pillars to a successful meal prep: healthy, affordable and easy to implement. These three pillars directly contributed to my journey as I experimented and found the best solution that fits me and talked about the direct results they have now on my mind, body, health and wallet. The contribution meal prepping has brought to my life is invaluable and I hope this article today prompts you to begin your experimentation and planning for a successful meal prepping adventure.
