Nutrition plays a crucial role in achieving fitness goals, whether you want to lose weight or build muscle. However, preparing meals daily to achieve these goals can be very time-consuming, especially if you have a busy schedule. I personally don't have much energy to cook on weekends, let alone prepare three meals daily. Skipping meal prep often leads me to eat less healthy options.

To keep my nutrition on track, I find meal prep to be vital. I take some time out of one day a week to prepare meals for the upcoming week. Over the years, I have gained many tips and tricks to make meal prep more efficient. Not only does meal prep save me time during the week, but it also helps me stay on track with my nutrition goals. While there are many tips available on the internet, I have my top five tips that make meal prep quick and easy for me.

This is an expert from My Active Life, LLC Members, where I post blog posts for nutrition and fitness tips, workout videos, and programs. Click here to join My Active Life, LLC Members, and read the full post!

1. Plan Ahead

   The first step is to think about your nutrition goals. What macro-nutrients do you need daily? If you are unsure where to start hiring a professional can be helpful for this. I am a certified nutritionist and can help you determine your daily caloric intake and macros. However, you can utilize apps such as MyFitnessPall and LifeSum to get a reasonable estimate of these values. But if you are unsure where to start, hiring a professional would be your best bet.

   Once you determine your daily intake needs to be. Think about foods that are going to help you achieve those goals. Because I work out a lot, I need a high-protein diet. So I choose foods that are high in protein but also lean. I prefer chicken, greek yogurt, or protein powder. I meal prep food for breakfast, lunch, and quick weekend dinners. During the week, we get Every Plate meal delivery kits. We love to have some prepared meals. So I do all the meal prep while my boyfriend cooks all the dinners during the week. So when I meal prep, I make all of these meals balanced in carbs and protein while being lower in fats. During the weeknights, we don’t measure cooking oil, which helps to account for that.

   Plan whether you will prep parts of your meals, whole meals to divide out during the week, or portioned out in separate containers. These are all good and great ways to plan your meals. Many people will have protein prepared for the week for their meals. Some people will have what they need for an entire week ready to go, which has to be divided at each meal. Others will have every meal divided into separate containers for every meal. None of these options is wrong; it depends on your goals and lifestyle and which option will work best for you.

   Planning is probably the best tip for meal prep. If you meal prep, that will be a helpful tool. But if your meal prep meals aren’t aligned with your goals, they may not be as beneficial as you think they will be.

2. Make Food You Love

3. Batch Cook

4. Instant Pot

5. Measure

Meal Prep is such a helpful tool for reaching fitness goals. I love that I can spend a few hours once a week and have about a week’s worth of food ready, so I do not have to think about what I will eat. Most importantly, I do not have to think about cooking every single meal. I am setting myself up for success for the week.

This is an expert from My Active Life, LLC Members, where I post blog posts for nutrition and fitness tips, workout videos, and programs. Click here to join My Active Life, LLC Members, and read the full post!

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“Do something today that your future self will thank you for”

— unknown

I find that quote so inspiring. Hard work will pay off in the future, but you also have to live in the moment, and I feel like taking care of yourself is doing both. You are doing good for yourself now as well as for your future self.

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