People opt for meal prep services for many reasons, from maintaining an ideal weight to building up muscle mass or catering to specific dietary requirements.
One advantage of a diet meal prep that has proven beneficial for those on calorie-controlled diets as they allow for much easier portioning of food.
Even then, however, it can be difficult to accurately count calories, and when many people start a meal plan they tend to make an educated guess rather than accurately count calories. This can sometimes make it difficult to see if your diet is working or not.
Here are some top tips to make calorie counting easier.
Eat Similar Foods
Most advice for meal prep is to avoid having the same meal each day because it can get boring and cause you to lose track of your fitness and health goals, but for the purpose of calorie counting, it does make everything easier.
If you have a common meal of chicken, rice and spinach, even if you add spices or marinades later you can measure each component, run it through a fitness app and have a good idea of the calorie content of your meal.
If you have a set number of meals you tend to go for, you can easily count them, and only worry about any elaborate dishes you add to your diet.
Keep It Simple
If you really want to or need to count calories accurately, then you will need to weigh and keep a note of every ingredient.
As a result, ensuring your meals are made up of only a few ingredients (three ingredients will make a balanced meal) will stop you from having to record a lot of small ingredients or worse, rely on complex fractions.
Pre-Portion Food In Advance
A great way to save yourself some time is to divide your ingredients up in advance and weigh them individually. That way, you save time when you decide to cook, as you have already done the complicated part.