Thursday, April 23, 2009

Planning meals ahead of time

I'm going out to eat tonight, because I'm not going to have enough time between work and This American Life's live show tonight. So, it's time to drop some science about how to plan meals on the go.

Bring your own
This is usually both the cheapest option and the least practical. If you're into bodybuilding or fitness, you've probably seen the cooler people. Those people who pack like 16 tupperware containers for their eight meals a day? Yeah, that doesn't work for me. But, at the very least, this is an option. To be fair, I usually brown-bag my lunch this way, pre-measured and ready to go.

Nutrition Calculators/Information
The web has made things a lot easier. I'm going to Chipotle tonight, and I was able to use Chipotle Fan's nutrition calculator to plan my meal in advance. Basically, what this gives you is the opportunity to fine-tune your meal. I also like the fact that, because of the way Chipotle serves their food, it's easy to say "this, not that" without raising eyebrows or ruffling feathers. So, you can plan ahead, or you can freestyle and figure out what you ate on the back end. If you're really trying to lose fat and not in a maintenance phase, I caution you against freestyling too much--check out how much sugar those salsas have!

Intermittent Fasting
If all else fails, you can skip a meal. It's not going to hurt you. If you skip dinner, just go to bed at your normal time, and eat breakfast normally.

There you go, three options for eating on the go!

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