5 Weight Loss Strategies to Make Your Meal Delivery Plan Work for You
Now that you’ve seen the options, all you need to do is pick one and get to work, right? Well, yes and no. When it comes to weight loss, you need a strategy. Here are 5 strategies that will help you stick to your weight-loss goals once your package has arrived.
1. Take Time Without Taking the Time
Most people chalk up their dieting woes to a lack of time. People just don’t have time to prepare fresh salads, roasted vegetables, or steaming stir-fries. So, they opt for faster, easier alternatives, most of which are far from healthy.
You need to be honest with yourself about your availability. How much time do you have when you get home? Are you willing to do some prep work? If so, Sun Basket is a great choice. On the other hand, if you think that a long day at work and a sink full of dirty dishes is enough to send you running for the drive-through, opt for prepared meals. Check out Bistro MD’s heat-and-eat meals, which are quick and easy. They will leave you with a sink free of dirty dishes and a conscience free of guilt.
2. Avoid Social Pressure & Eat In
Social pressure is the devil when it comes to dieting. Nobody wants to be the odd man out. If everyone else is enjoying cheesy pizza, deep fried chicken, and double fudge brownies, it can be hard to resist.
Enter meal delivery services. If you have healthy food prepared for you, you won’t have nearly as much trouble resisting temptation. By avoiding restaurants, you automatically slash your daily caloric intake by several hundred points.
Since meal kits are typically delivered in regular shipments, you can create a weekly menu for yourself. If you know what’s on the menu for the evening, you’ll be less likely to give in to snacks at the bar.
3. Clear & Present Nutrition Information
Weight loss meal delivery services help you lose weight with strategically placed nutrition facts. It’s easy to cut corners when you’re estimating how many grams of chicken you’re eating or how much salad dressing you mixed into your leafy greens. After all, how much damage could an extra ounce of pasta do anyway, right?
These little white lies we tell ourselves easily undermine weeks of hard work and careful planning. Diet meal delivery services have intentionally placed the nutrition facts where you can’t miss them. You'll be able to see the calories, carbohydrates, proteins, and sugar counts for all of your meals and snacks, so you’ll know exactly how much you’re eating at all times.
Snap photos of these labels and email them to yourself. Print charts for your fridge. Use tools from companies like Nutrisystem and Jenny Craig to create reminders for yourself so you can stay on track of your progress.
Here’s a great example:
Notice how Nutrisystem reports the calories, grams of fat, protein, and dietary fiber. This gives you the most important information right away, so you can make any necessary calculations. Even if you aren’t counting calories, the nutritional report helps prevent you from cheating with large portions and hidden calories. No longer can you trick yourself into believing that sauces, sides, and toppings are calorie-free.
4. The Choice is Yours
Anyone who tells you they've found the perfect diet is probably pulling your leg. There is no such thing as one-size-fits-all approach because each of us possesses a unique blend of priorities, preferences, and styles. So, what works for your friend might not work for you.
With a weight loss meal delivery service, you can customize the menu to fit your needs. You choose the dishes and the portion sizes that work for you. That way, you get exactly what you need when you need it. You won’t have to sacrifice on taste or nutrition.
You can even find meal plans that cater to specific dietary restrictions or requirements:
- All organic
- Paleo
- Gender-based
- Vegetarian
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
For example, Nutrisystem has a specific plan for vegetarians and diabetics. BistroMD caters to gluten-free eaters, women in menopause, and diabetics.
Don’t be afraid to ask for advice from the healthcare providers in your life. Pick a few plans and show them to your doctor, your personal trainer, your yoga instructor, nutritionist, or partner. The choice is ultimately up to you, but your friends and advisers can help you narrow down your choices.
5. Meal Planning Made Easy
“A Goal Without a Plan is Just a Wish”
That is a quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupery, a French poet and journalist from the 20th century. If that isn't clear enough, then take the words from Benjamin Franklin who said, "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” In other words, without a plan, your diet is doomed to failure because the first time you’re running late, have a change of plans, or run out of an ingredient, you’re going to grab whatever is fast and easy.
With diet meal delivery services, you can plan the week’s menu in advance. You choose foods, meals, and snacks that will help you create a caloric deficit. So, when your plans change, you’ll be prepared.
The Benefits of Diet Meal Delivery
We all know that (almost) everything can be enjoyed in moderation as part of a healthy and balanced diet. But who’s to say just how many roast potatoes are too many, or how much of that delicious gravy should be on our roast chicken? Or how many times you should eat during the day. When you’re trying to lose weight, what’s on the plate matters—and that includes how much is there to begin with. Weight loss meal plans can give you a sense of how much a ‘normal’ portion is, and help you to feel full from a healthy amount of food at each meal.
How about planning those meals? We’ve all been there—you’re doing so well at planning and eating healthy meals, and then you just pop down to the grocery store to get the last few ingredients, and whoops—what’s that cake doing in your shopping basket? Meal plans take all the behind the scenes work out of preparing a meal, so that you don’t have to think about meal planning, shopping or even prepping the ingredients most of the time. Without the wiggle room for slip ups, you’re much more likely to stay on track.
And for those times when you're struggling to stay on track, diet meal delivery plans offer more than just food, with an array of help and tools to make losing weight easier.
Some of these include:
- Diet analysis and advice
- Weight loss tracker
- Articles and blogs on healthy eating
- BMI analysis and diet plan suggestions
- Support from nutritionists and dietitians
Keep the Weight Off for Good
These extras can really make the difference in helping you lose weight and keep it off. When you get a craving for some junk food or have some questions about your weight loss regimen, it’s good to know you have somewhere to turn to get some answers or a little support. Get started on your weight loss journey with one of the top diet meal delivery plans.
Sun Basket and Freshly offer health-conscious meals for everyone, while more specialized services such as Bistro MD and Balance cater to those with specific health and dietary goals. There are also organic and plant-based meal delivery services that focus on clean, all-natural eating.
Meal delivery services are a great aide for losing weight. Many of the top meal delivery services are tailored to weight-loss and include pre-portioned meals prepared by expert dieticians and nutritionists. They also help you avoid your usual habits such as ordering in or eating out.
Meal plans can be much cheaper than the cost of groceries. They only include the ingredients you need, so you won't have to purchase large amounts of food that might go unused or sit in the fridge until they go bad. And since they're delivered straight to your door, they'll save you gas money and reduce the time you spend making tripts to the supermarkets.
*The information on this site is based on research, but should not be treated as medical advice. Before beginning any new diet plan, we recommend consulting with a physician or other professional healthcare provider. Results may vary based on various health factors, individual weight loss plans and adherence to the meal plan.
