Meal Planning

UncleChetUncleChet N00bLancaster, PARegistered User regular
edited April 2010 in Help / Advice Forum
Okay, first, I realize that there is a fitness and nutrition thread but seeing how many squats forumer X can do doesn't aid me in my weight loss goals.

My question is mostly simple. What web site/application exists for weekly meal planning with the goal of spitting out "eat these meals this day" for a week at a time. Free is best, very low cost is acceptable.

Stats: Him 310, Me 188.
Diet Mostly lean meat, white rice and whole wheat pasta. Some potatoes. A bit of veggies when ever we find something good at market

fat free milk, lightly sugar sweetened iced tea. Few sodas and McDs and the like 2-3x a month.

Lifestyle: Pretty sedentary. I play wow, he plays pokemon and DS and watches a lot of tv.


I mostly want to focus on how to eat better and shop better and get our diet under control. Excercise will come in time, especially as the weather is getting nicer. Food is a big part of my life right now and I'd love some help getting it under control.

I'm sometimes grumpy and random, feel free to overlook the strange man in the corner.
UncleChet on

Posts

  • VisionOfClarityVisionOfClarity Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    I have a similar tool but it comes with my gym membership. I pretty much just use it to track my calories and exercise as well as evaluate my own recipes.

    Have you considered weight watchers online? I think they have tools that do all of this.

    VisionOfClarity on
  • stahstah Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Are you asking for some one / thing to tell you what to eat? http://www.freedieting.com/free_diet_plans.htm

    Quick Google search delivered that. Maybe it'll help?


    This will help you create your own meal plan:
    http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/2009/03/weekly-menu-planning-for-singles.html

    This can too, but both of them you'll be doing a little work:
    http://tastyplanner.com/


    Those are just what I found after using some Google-Fu. Personally, the first article looks like it'd be the most helpful. Especially if you had some healthy meal ideas. The second one has recipes, though. You'd basically be cooking from a template each time.

    stah on
  • UncleChetUncleChet N00b Lancaster, PARegistered User regular
    edited April 2010
    I tried googling a week or so back and turned up nothing that was really good. I also tried building a meal plan from scratch and 3 hours got me 1 days worth of food for the 2 of us. He'll be eating about 2k to 2.2k calories and i'll be at about 1800. Eating the same foods and making sure we hit the RDA for all food groups. Man, it's Tough!. I have considered WW online, but our money is a bit tight and i had to choose WoW or WW and I chose WoW (i know, wrong choice, but what to do).

    I'll check those links though guys, Thanks a bunch!

    UncleChet on
    I'm sometimes grumpy and random, feel free to overlook the strange man in the corner.
  • VisionOfClarityVisionOfClarity Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Try this: http://www.my-calorie-counter.com/

    They appear to have a meal plan utility.

    Added: I wouldn't use it for dinner though because damn they have some high calorie dinners. Dinner should be the smallest meal, not the largest.

    Added Pt2: They also do just meals, not snacks. You'll want to have 3 smaller meals with a snack after breakfast and lunch or 5-6 small meals if possible. With breakfast being the biggest. You know, I don't know if I like that site I linked to so much anymore.



    Also, I was curious as to how you got to 1800 calories for yourself? That's a little high.

    VisionOfClarity on
  • KyouguKyougu Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    1800 is high?

    Kyougu on
  • VisionOfClarityVisionOfClarity Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    For 188 and trying to lose weight with a sedentary lifestyle it's really high.

    VisionOfClarity on
  • SolandraSolandra Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Take a gander at myfitnesspal.com - they have a decent foods database and you can track based on things like carbs/sugar/fiber/sodium, etc.

    To start, simply log everything you're eating over the course of a week (both of you). That will tell you where you're at. Then use the other sites mentioned in the thread for meal planning and the like. Sparkpeople has a decent utility as well.

    I think the 1800 is a bit high for you also, unless you're trying to gain weight, but ianad.

    Solandra on
  • UncleChetUncleChet N00b Lancaster, PARegistered User regular
    edited April 2010
    LOL. Thanks for all the help. The 1800 was a rememberance of what I worked on weeks ago. It was likely closeer to 1600 honestly. My goal is to get back to about 145-160. I'd like to get him down to about 240 or so. Time we have, tons of money we don't. Anyone currently doing WW Online? I see that i can get a week trial, then it's 65bucks for a 3 month sub, or ?!47.00 or so?! for a 1 month? What is That about?

    UncleChet on
    I'm sometimes grumpy and random, feel free to overlook the strange man in the corner.
  • SolandraSolandra Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    UncleChet wrote: »
    LOL. Thanks for all the help. The 1800 was a rememberance of what I worked on weeks ago. It was likely closeer to 1600 honestly. My goal is to get back to about 145-160. I'd like to get him down to about 240 or so. Time we have, tons of money we don't. Anyone currently doing WW Online? I see that i can get a week trial, then it's 65bucks for a 3 month sub, or ?!47.00 or so?! for a 1 month? What is That about?

    myfitnesspal.com is a free site, and per the friend who referred me to it, it's almost identical to the WW site. Part of the deal with paying for WW is the theory that if you're paying for a service, you'll stick with the plan better.

    Solandra on
  • stahstah Registered User regular
    edited April 2010
    Making a Meal Plan is more about taking stock of what you eat than it is about someone telling you what to eat, IMO.

    I agree with what Solandra said. You def. need to take stock of what you eat BEFORE you start this. Then I'd modify my existing diet to be healthier. You'll stick with it longer than if you try to take up someone else's eating personality.

    And I agree, both of those numbers seem high for a sedimentary lifestyle. Why not keep those values and start that exercising a little earlier? Go for a walk or a run for a little bit each day and it'll do WONDERS. Generally, diet and exercise go hand and hand.

    stah on
  • UncleChetUncleChet N00b Lancaster, PARegistered User regular
    edited April 2010
    MyFitnesPal.com looks Perfect. It looks like a free WW and I get 1690 calories/day with 30 minutes of activity/week. So I can be a bum and still loose weight. Best of all, I can keep playing WoW =)

    Thanks!

    UncleChet on
    I'm sometimes grumpy and random, feel free to overlook the strange man in the corner.
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