No matter how hard you work in the gym, you won’t achieve the best results if you’re not fuelling your body with the right foods.
Making sure your diet is nutrient-dense and calorie-controlled is a pivotal, yet often overlooked, part of any successful body transformation.
But it’s no secret that carrying out a controlled diet is challenging – especially as a busy professional with children to care for.
Having these commitments can make it difficult to get on top of your diet. Fortunately, there is a hassle-free solution to help you stay accountable, eat healthily, and ensure you hit your daily targets.
Meal prep is the best way to get your diet under control to improve your results. You’ll know the precise macro count in every meal and won’t need to rely upon guesswork when it comes to fuelling your body.
Meal prep services allow you to outsource the hard work to the experts. By doing so, every calorie you consume can be accounted for, making it easier than ever to track your progress and boost your results.
Here are seven key benefits to help you understand how meal prep can make dieting easier and less stressful so you can get better results.
1. Quick and convenient
First things first, meal prep is a highly time-efficient approach.
Batch cooking means you have convenient meals to hand which are ready to eat in minutes, reducing the time you spend in the kitchen. For people who don’t have the headspace, struggle to think of new recipes or simply can’t find enough hours in the day, having your meals pre-prepared is one less thing to worry about.
Pre-preparing food also gives you the opportunity to plan everything you eat – saving you valuable time, effort and brain power when it comes to mealtimes. If you’re spending hours on end in the kitchen, why not consider handing the hard work over to a meal prep company?
It’s often a case of grabbing your meals out of the fridge, heating them in less than five minutes, and enjoying macro-calculated food without the fuss. So, if you want to find a way to implement healthy eating habits into your hectic schedule, calorie-controlled meal prep might just be the answer.
Meal prep is a great way to save time in the kitchen and takes the stress out of mealtimes.
2. Avoid poor food choices
Consistency is the key to any successful body transformation, but even the most disciplined dieters will tell you it can be easy to give in to your cravings from time to time.
Poor meal planning and inconsistent eating patterns often go hand in hand with unhealthy, careless snacking. We’re more likely to indulge in unhealthy processed foods on an empty stomach, if we have no idea of what our next meal will be.
The good news is meal prep is an excellent way of helping you avoid snacking when hunger gets the better of you. Having meals planned throughout the day gives you a structure to work around – so you know exactly what your day of eating looks like.
If you do become hungry, your ready-to-go meal is never too far away, meaning you’re less likely to find yourself down the chocolate aisle on your dinner hour!
While the infrequent sugary snack or off-plan meal doesn’t spell disaster, building muscle or losing weight is far more measurable (and successful) by keeping on a dedicated, calorie-controlled plan.
High-quality meal prep packages contain a variety of rich nutrients that previously may not have been present in your diet. Fuelling your body with vital nutrients and scheduling your meals can promote a sense of mindful eating, helping keep you away from foods high in sugar and fat.
3. No hidden calories
For many people, the biggest benefit of meal prepping is the fact they no longer need to rely on guesswork and their often-inaccurate judgement.
Even your favourite ‘healthy’ meals often contain extra hidden calories and a macro profile that might surprise you. Using a meal prep company is a convenient way to avoid this outcome. Understanding where every calorie comes from is a great way to help you move forward in the gym – as progress becomes much simpler to track.
Knowing the exact fat, protein, sugar, and calorie breakdown makes it easier than ever to hit your daily targets – not to mention it will naturally give you a better appreciation of what a nutritious meal looks like.
Including meals in your diet that are put together by a meal prep company means you can get your hands on foods that suit your macro profile, driving you towards your goals much faster!
Ensuring your food is measured out means you won’t find any extra calories creeping into your diet.
4. Make the most of your food
Not only does a well-thought-out diet plan help you stay consistent, but it also means you can reduce the amount of food that goes to waste.
Many families will scrap a large percentage of food across a week, especially in larger portions that serve more than one person. A recent Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) study found that households caused 70% of the UK’s food waste, throwing away 6.6 million tonnes of food, of which 4.5 million tonnes was edible.
Other people rely on grab-and-go meals to fuel their fast-paced lifestyles, also a largely non-cost-efficient approach. Having pre-prepared meals or buying in bulk is a simple way to put an end to this unnecessary food wastage.
Preparing your food in one sitting instead of six separate times is not only time-efficient – but also reduces your energy usage at home. Food prep companies can help you cut down on waste even further, by providing goal-focused meals for full weeks.
They’re also a great way to ensure you don’t overspend and fall back on quick-fix snacks from nearby shops. So, whether you’re waiting for a plane in an airport lounge or stuck behind your computer screen, pre-prepared dishes are practical and ready to enjoy wherever you are.
Enjoy a selection of meals from The Good Prep menu, including this fresh honey and lemon chicken recipe.
5. Add variety to your diet
‘Cooking fatigue’ is a very real thing. Eating the same groups of meals can become repetitive and take the enjoyment out of mealtimes.
Remember, the best diet for you is the one you can stick to. It’s important that your nutrition plan is sustainable, so to help you stay motivated we always advise you regularly tweak your diet and keep things fresh in the kitchen.
We know willpower is finite and people are most likely to trip up on their diet when they get bored of their food, so variety really is key.
Of course, when trying to lose fat, there will be small sacrifices along the way, but this shouldn’t mean you can’t enjoy some of the foods you love.
Using a meal prep service gives you a schedule to work around so that you can space out a range of different tasting meals across the week. Leading meal prep providers offer a selection of unique, tasty dishes so you can experiment with new tastes without worrying about over-indulging.
6. Hit your goals faster
Pre-made meals are a great way of helping see results faster.
Our plates are often fuller than they need to be without us even realising. Whether we’re eating out at a restaurant, preparing breakfast, or putting our lunch together, eating too much or too little has a considerable role to play in our progress.
Using a meal prep service gives you the peace of mind that you won’t find any extra, unwanted calories creeping into your diet and your portion size is always optimised to your goals.
Eating weighed-out, pre-prepared meals means you can eat mindfully and understand exactly what ingredients you’re taking on board.
It’s also a simple way of limiting the number of unwanted ingredients you eat that might be stalling your progress, for example foods that are high in fat and sugar.
The reliability of having macro-calculated portions handed to us on a plate is just one of the attractions of meal prep and why it has become so popular for people with body transformation goals.
Equally, meal prep is a skill that takes time to learn. Most people will end up just making basic ‘meat and veg’ meals a home that lack flair and variety.
Just as you would outsource your training to an expert trainer, you can outsource the thinking on your meal prep to the experts too. A meal prep company will be able to maximise the flavour, nutrients and volume of each meal for the exact same macros targets you are cooking to at home. This means more variety, more enjoyment and less chance of slipping up.
Well-structured meal planning can help you reach your goals quicker.
7. It’s simple to do
Many people believe meal prep is for bodybuilders who get through over 5000 calories per day. In reality, this couldn’t be further from the truth. A pre-prepared diet is a great way to hold anyone accountable and help you carry out a plan – not to mention it saves time which would otherwise be spent cooking.
For people with jam-packed schedules, it’s easy to be drawn into a cycle of careless eating and regularly falling back on take-out meals. Swapping a pizza, for example, with a pre-prepared, nutrient-dense option can go a long way in promoting a more balanced, stress-free lifestyle.
If you feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done, having your food made for you is a convenient option to help free up some well-needed time.
Do you want to get outstanding results from your training program? If you’re short on time and don’t have the headspace to ensure your diet is on point with the exact macronutrients, our partners at The Good Prep can help.
