For post-bariatric surgery patients, deciding what to eat for each meal can be a daunting, discouraging task. Meal planning is an easy way to simplify the process. Instead of choosing what to eat an hour before dinner, weekly meals are planned out and ingredients are gathered ahead of time, usually over the course of a weekend.
Benefits of Meal Planning
Meal planning reduces the time needed to prepare your meals and takes the stress out of deciding what to eat for each meal, each day. It decreases food waste and saves you money by ensuring you’re actually using the groceries you buy.
For post-bariatric patients especially, meal planning can be effective in managing portion control and preventing overeating. It sets you up for success by pre-planning your weekly diet, preventing you from making unhealthy, impulse food choices when you’re staring at the fridge wondering, “What do I have for dinner?” for the fourth time that week.
As you journey toward a healthier lifestyle, meal planning can help you ease into healthy eating—plus, it always feels good to have a plan.
How to Meal Plan
Meal planning shouldn’t be stressful—it’s supposed to reduce stress—but it can seem overwhelming if you’re just starting out. These steps can be spread out over the course of a weekend, so you have plenty of time to prepare.
Choose Your Meals
Plan what you’re going to eat each day. Explore recipes online, looking for balanced meals and small portions, and select dishes based on any personal dietary needs (gluten-free, vegetarian, etc.). Additionally, talk to your doctor; after your Lap-Band® procedure, they will have a specific and personalized diet plan which should be followed precisely and will help inform your decisions when choosing meals. Write down your choices for each day, and make a shopping list.
If you’re really looking to cut prep time, choose different meals that use some of the same ingredients.
Go Shopping
While you shop, make conscious decision about ingredients. Check out our blog post from May if you’re looking for substitutes that cut out fat.
Prepare Your Ingredients
Don’t worry—this doesn’t mean cooking all your meals at once. In fact, you might not even have to cook, depending on the meals you’ve selected, but meal planning should cut the prep time if you are cooking.
Set aside an hour on your “prep day” to take care of anything you can do in advance: chop your vegetables, mix your dressings, cook your meats. Pack them up, put them in the fridge, and go about your day.
When mealtime arrives, you already know what you’re making, and a good portion of your preparation is already complete.
For post-bariatric surgery patients, meal planning is a great way to practice making mindful decisions when it comes to food. It’s meant to be flexible and stress-reducing, taking the dread out of deciding what to eat, and can be a helpful step in the journey toward a healthier lifestyle.
