Do you have new diet goals? Do you or a family member have a special diet, or food allergies? Do you work long hours and need the convenience of a meal plan?
I’m like all of those things wrapped up into one big food loving bundle of joy! I work long hours, am on a special diet, and I crave convenience.
But, if I'm going to use a meal plan company, then it's a must that it serves up ultra-healthy recipes.
But that's not all my friends. I need more.
I've been making my own grocery lists and shopping my entire adult life, but the truth is I always manage to reason my way out of preparing for an entire week.
I consistently underestimate how much food I will need to get through the week due to lack of real planning.
And this impacts my food choices when I’m in a time crunch, or passed the point of hungry, as well as my pocketbook. I’m sure y’all have realized that grabbing food on the go is not cheap.
It feels good to finally admit that to myself!
Here's some good news though! I finally found a service that not only assists me in planning more accurately, but the food involved is spot on with my nutritional values.
And an added benefit, the service is easy, affordable, and quick to use
The company is called Real Plans, and it’s on a mission to offer an amazing customer-centric service that supports a healthy lifestyle. That’s a win in my book!
Watch how it works in this video:
How to Create a Meal Plan
Real Plans crazy smart technology holds the ability to make our lives awesome! And when it can boost your health goals, and make your life easier, that’s when I jump on board and say sign-me-up!
It's literally as easy as 1, 2, 3! Here are the easy steps to create a meal plan using Real Plans:
Real Plans Meal Planner Steps:
Plan
Take control of meal times to be your healthiest self. You can adjust the plan by diet, your schedule, and your servings.
Shop
Meal plan on a budget and stop throwing out money by organizing your grocery list, which will be available on the Real Plans mobile app.
Cook
Be prepared and make your mealtimes simple by following easy recipes that Real Plans has family test and approved.
What's so great is you can choose your diet! Real Plans supports so many popular diets, the creators are foodies with real life eating restrictions, so you know the recipes are going to be tasty. Here's a quick list of popular diets they support:
Once you’ve followed the steps, selected your recipes for the week, then your last step is getting your groceries.
And, if you’re too busy with life to make it to the store, and we all have been there. Am I right?! You can have the groceries delivered to your door in hours using Instacart because Real Plans is integrated with them. No more excuses.
How to Meal Plan for a Week
Real Plans planning software has a user-friendly interface that shows you when it’s time to defrost your meat or get your slow cooker started. And their software allows tags and arranges recipes by convenient categories, so you can spend less time sifting through your recipes and more time enjoying them with friends and family.
The program is so much more efficient than scribbling down a few items on a piece of paper or using your notes app on your phone (plus I always forget items). It’s amazing how you’ll optimize your time.
Another added benefit, are less trips to the store – or none at all if you order with Instacart – their clearly planned menu means you’ll save hours each week that you would have spent on driving and shopping random or last-minute items.
The Real Plans app does all of this and their customer service team are happy to help you set it up to save you the most time.
How to Meal Plan on a Budget
I was in the grocery store last week, and I was HUNGRY! Like putting impulse items into my cart hungry! You know what I’m talking about.
Failure to plan always gets me in trouble when it comes to eating. Either I buy stuff that I don’t wind up using and it gets thrown out, or I buy things that are expensive but easy cause I’m super hungry in that moment.
I was getting really tired of throwing money in the garbage and also not honoring my body that way it deserves by putting food in it that doesn’t serve my food value system.
That is why meal planning is so essential, not only can you give yourself and others great meals to fuel their bodies, but saving money is so important for life planning.
Real Plans also has a feature that help you plan your time ahead, so you will always be ready to prepare your meal on time. It will make sure you’ve marinated your meat and soaked your beans or lentils. Meal planning meets time management!
Budget tip: you can check out your fav stores sales ad for items you love to eat and add those items into Real Plans to use in a recipe. Killer!
How to Meal Plan for Intermittent Fasting
I’m beyond excited about meal planning right about now and I could talk about intermittent fasting all day long!
I participate in intermittent fasting for its multitude of health benefits and it is part of the Win the Day 21-Day Fat Loss Reset Master Program. So, you might say I’m a big darn fan!
Essentially, you’ll be eating during a set number of hours that you’ve chosen to match with your lifestyle and health goals. Let’s say you’re doing an 18/6, which means you’re fasting for 18 hours then eating during a six-hour window of your choice.
The optimal thing to do is to break your fast (breakfast, right?!), which is done right away at the beginning of your six-hour window. And this could be with any nutritional plan that you value in your life (paleo, keto, SCD, Gaps, standard American diet, etc.).
The world is your oyster.
An example of what I eat at this time would be scrambled eggs with a veggie medley, bacon, sprouted oatmeal, micro-greens, and coffee.
You can enter your personal recipes into the Real Plans app or find recipes in their 1600 recipe database that support your nutrition values.
Then I eat as I’m hungry throughout the window, I let my body decide when it needs to eat. The Real Plans App will have your meals planned and ready to prepare so you’re ready for anything. Simple planning makes life better.
The key is understanding how many meals your body typically wants to eat during a 6-hour window, which will help you know how many meals you need to plan for the week.
I know my body wants me to eat three meals during my 6-hour window, and I eat clean foods, so I don’t typically snack.
My body doesn’t have cravings outside of my mealtimes any longer.
After I reset my body with the WTD 21-Day Fat Loss Reset Master Course it eliminated my sugar cravings along with my need for food in between mealtimes.
How to Meal Plan on a Special Diet (like Keto)
Meal planning is essential when dealing with food allergies and other food restrictions, or popular diets. You can’t just grab-n-go processed or packaged food when you don’t know what to eat for lunch, because most likely it contains ingredients that you or your family can’t eat.
One of Real Plans’ most loved features is the ability to add any ingredient to the “avoid” list so your meal plan will only consist of recipes that you and your loved ones can all eat.
You can do that in addition to selecting your preferred diet.
Real Plans can help you manage your goals, and others if necessary.
How to Meal Plan to Lose Weight + Reach Health Goals
One of the most critical things for weight loss, besides being determined and committed to set healthy goals and create lasting change, is to take time to plan before you get started.
Build your foundation for success.
Your goals may vary, maybe you want to reduce digestive issues, or help you children or other loved ones manage food intolerances, maybe it’s personal like building muscle, strength, mobility, flexibility, and reducing fat in a healthy way.
Take control of your health by getting help where and when you need it. Real Plans will help you take back control of your mealtimes and make it enjoyable for you.
We believe in winning and are huge goal setting advocates. You can attain your health goals by being ready!
Now I used Keto as an example here because it is an energy system in the human body that is very effective at weight loss. And human beings are created with this energy system in place. When your body has switched over to this state it provides energy for you by using fat for fuel, instead of primarily starch or processed carbohydrates. There is more to this scientifically, but it works well for most people.
If you are using this way of eating, or are interested in it, then you can obtain recipes to help you on your journey. And you can stay in a ketogenic state by tracking your macros. Real Plans tracks macros in its recipe.
As far as reaching your health goals, Real Plans is the only meal planning software on the planet that specializes in paleo, Autoimmune Paleo, Whole30, Keto, GAPS, dairy-free, and gluten-free meal plans, and many more.
Go after your goals! Enjoy the process of preparing yourself for healthy, positive change.
All my best! XO, Cheryl
