Have you heard about the 80:20 ratio when it comes to fat loss and muscle gain? Many people use this 80:20 ratio to successfully lose weight and keep the extra pounds off. According to this regime, 80% of your fitness goals are met purely through diet, the remaining 20% are met with exercise. This strategy works for those looking to bulk up as well. Exercise alone won’t result in a caloric deficit, while maintaining a strict diet alone won’t give you the definition you seek.
Meal prep makes it much easier to get healthy and get on track with your fitness goals. We’ve covered all you need to know about meal prep:
What is meal prepping?
Meal prepping is the task of cooking your meals for an entire week and storing them in the refrigerator or freezer. It should contain all the necessary macros while maintaining a variety of foods so that you’re not eating the same thing 7 days a week.
Why is meal prepping so beneficial?
For those who live hectic lives due to their careers, traveling, and spending their time on the go pretty much, it’s difficult to feed your body with healthy and nutritious food. It doesn’t help that unhealthy fast-food is way cheaper than healthy salads and wholesome meals.
When meal prepping, take out the time to plan things. You can ensure you’re getting enough protein, carbs, fiber, and fats that your body needs. Meal prepping allows you to weigh out your food so that you’re getting everything in just the right quantity.
Meal prepping prevents over or under-eating
Once you’ve prepared the various components of your meals for the week you have to package them in individual boxes so that they are correctly weighed out. This ensures you’re eating just the right amount of calories. If you tend to overindulge, you cannot, since there’s only a limited quantity of food prepared. Likewise, if you’re someone who isn’t a fan of food, meal prepping ensures you’re not starving yourself.
You don’t have an excuse with meal prepping
Once the food is made for the week, you can’t shy away from it. You no longer have the excuse that you don’t have time to cook or that you’re too tired.
Define your goals
Before beginning your meal prep journey you need to identify you fitness goals. For bulking up, you need a protein rich diet that also has enough carbs to fuel your workouts. If your goal is to shed pounds then your meal prep needs to take into account the caloric deficit. Low carb and high protein is the way to go. Meal prepping without the goal in mind won’t give you the results you want.
Sign up for our healthy lifestyle program at our fitness center in Desert Hot Springs to help you figure out the foods you should and should not eat. We also provide personal training Palm Desert so that you’re getting individual attention. Call 760.560.3003 for more information about the services provided at our Palm Desert fitness center.