Planning to succeed- Meal prepping made easy!

When it comes to living a balanced lifestyle, nutrition is half the battle. In fact, nutrition is more than half the battle. It's been said thatto achieve health, it is made up of 70% nutrition and 30% exercise. That is a big weight heavily placed on nutrition! This is an area where I have always struggled. In the past, I had no issue with working out 4, 5 and sometimes even 6 times a week, but staying focused, eating proper portions and the right things has always been a feat for me to overcome.It's no secret to you that 2017 has really been my year, and a lot of my recent success in the last couple of months has been meal prepping. On Sunday I menu plan, and shop accordingly, but that only gets me half way there, I then spend an hour getting ready for the week. This means that the thinking has then been taken out of it, and it is easy as pie to make the right choice. The easier you make it for yourself, and set yourself up to be successful, the better chance you will have of reaching your goals. Whether you are trying to shed some weight, or you are just aiming to incorporate healthier and more balanced choices into your day, this will help you get there.Pictured you will see in the these containers I mainly prep snacks for the day. Snacks are key! I've never realized before how much food and how many times you actually need to be eating throughout the day. There are a lot of people out there that think the less you eat, the more that you will drop. In reality, that is not the case. You may actually be doing more damage to your body that way. Limiting food causes your body to go into starvation mode. It's a primal tactic which allows your body to store the food as fat in preparation since it does not know when it will get its next meal.How much food should you be eating in a day? 5-6 smaller meals is ideal, roughly every 2-3 hours. Or, to make things a little simpler: breakfast, lunch, dinner and 2ish snacks.  I say ish because if you are working out in the evening, you should refuel your body with something small post workout).So what exactly do I do and how does it work for me. As. I mentioned, I prep all my snacks for the week. I do make a meal plan for dinners so I know what I am making when I get home, but I don't often make those ahead. Generally, they are either slow cooker meals or something easy to whip together when I get home after work. Breakfasts are always the same thing, I literally eat the same thing for breakfast every day :), makes it easy for me. This only leaves one meal, everyday, that I have to make a choice for.There's a trend here- easy. Plan, put some prep work in, because it will pay off in the end. The containers that I use were very inexpensive and come as part of the Tupperware set you can purchase at IKEA.  The whole set was under $5, and these I can use all week long. Portions for these specific containers I know are in line with the portion sizes for the 21Day Fix eating plan so I know that I am getting the proper amount of each fruit and vegetable.I really encourage you to spend the extra time focusing on your nutrition, how much and of what you should be eating in a day, and planning your week so that your making sure to be getting the proper fuel that your body needs to be well.Hugs and Kisses,Andrea