Meal Prep - Precision Nutrition for the masses
Meal Prep is Nutritional Planning
The nutritional needs of a human are known. We know that in order to survive a human requires energy. We know also that the body prefers energy homeostasis most of the time. This means a good target is to simply consume exactly enough energy (calories) that the body requires and no more.
Most people do not know exactly how many calories their body requires. This requirement is highly individualized according to genetics but is also influenced by daily activity levels. Total daily energy expenditure is the measurement for how many calories a person spends in a 24 hour period. Indirect calorimetry allows for a fairly precise measurement of metabolic rate of a person. Services exist which perform this measurement and also portable indirect calorimetry is becoming increasingly more affordable over time. In my opinion, doctors offices in addiction to weight and blood pressure measurement should also offer a measurement of the metabolism every year.
Meal prep is a time saver and efficiency booster for all who take their nutrition seriously. I make this post to offer value to those who wish to save time and learn a "life hack" which can benefit themselves and those they care about.
The Meal Prep Manual Process
Requirements:
- Nutritional Scale
- Spreadsheet
- MyFitnessPal
- Storage containers
- Freezer and Fridge
The first step in the nutritional planning process is to take measurements. These measurements are not going to be 100% precise but they will allow for a very good rough estimation of important essential numbers. Food contains calories, micronutrients, and macronutrients. The planning process can factor in all of this and the planner only requires a nutritional scale, an app like MyFitnessPal, or and a spreadsheet.
In the first step, weigh every portion of every food, carefully separating each portion into separate containers which represent either days of the week or meals within days of the week. Put a label on each container and simply write down the nutritional values on the top of each container. This can include all the important stuff you are tracking such as calories, amount of protein, amount of fat, amount of carbs, and any important vitamins and minerals.
In the second step, simply add a plastic knife or work or spoon into the plastic containers so that for each meal or for each day of the week there is one. This step can be skipped if you prefer to re-use silverware (up to you).
In the final step, open up MyFitnessPal or your spread sheet and add up the total weekly calories (if it's the spread sheet) or enter in the values of each meal into MyFitnessPal. Since every meal is going to cointain roughly the same calories (nutritionally controlled) you can get by only entering one meal and extrapolating by 7 days to get an estimate of how many calories it will be.
Too much work? Just order all of this from a service like Veestro
I use Veestro for my meal prep. By using my discount code you can save $35 if you choose to go with this service. Veestro offers a nutritionally controlled service, is entirely plant based, vegan, and they deliver the prepared cooked meals directly to your door each week. All you have to do is put the meals in your freezer or fridge and eat them throughout the week. If your goal is to loose weight then this service makes it very easy by limiting the calories to 1200 each day per 3 meals.
References
- Gupta, R. D., Ramachandran, R., Padmanaban Venkatesan, S. A., Joseph, M., & Thomas, N. (2017). Indirect calorimetry: from bench to bedside. Indian journal of endocrinology and metabolism, 21(4), 594.
If you enjoyed this post you may be interested in another post of mine: Why environment is a critical variable in the pursuit of "idealized self"
If you would like to learn more about my current philosophy, how I motivate myself, how I think, then you'll be interested in my thoughts on how the environment shapes who we become.
I have been mindful about my diet always but I have never measured my food or done a calorie count. I just ensure that I reduce my carb intake in later part of the day and also keep my proportions standard not making too much variations and that helps me, but yes having a more precise information on the calorie intake will help.
True the ways the general check up happens in hospitals should change, high time. When I visit my GP he does this BP check everytime and also tells me it is just a formality...hehehe
It really depends on the person, their age, their genetics, even the country they are from. In the United States a lot of people have a problem with obesity, the food is generally high in sugar, salt, fat, and very calorie dense, and also a lot of people just have the genetics for a slower metabolism.
When considering factors like that it becomes necessary for many people to budget their calories carefully as part of their lifestyle. The easy way to do it is to do it one day out of the week (meal prep Sunday) or if you can afford then let someone else do it along with the cooking. Cooking takes up a lot of time and people work a lot more hours than usual in the United States.
As for health, you can be in great health with a bad diet and lifestyle if you have great genetics (luck) but if you want to reduce your probabilities of bad health lifestyle seems to matter. In your case you are obviously doing something right with your lifestyle so don't change anything.