Meal Prep Smoothies: How Prepping Ahead Helps Me
I seriously can’t believe I am so many weeks into Noom. How many weeks has it been? My first weigh-in was August 18. So I guess that means I’m in Week 6. I have lost 10 pounds. I meal prep smoothies every week, and it’s definitely part of what is helping me.
The app’s setting is currently on “cheetah” (as opposed to turtle), which means my daily calorie limit is set to support about 2 pounds of weight loss per week.
I keep waiting for the honeymoon period to be over and for me to bust past my daily calorie limit or to skip my daily walk so I can’t meet my step goal. But it hasn’t happened in six weeks. Sheesh!
I have another 10 pounds before I’m back at the weight I was at 1.5 years ago. I think I’ll keep the weight setting on cheetah until then. At that point, I look forward to continuing to use the program as I adjust to a higher daily calorie allotment and learn what my body needs on a daily basis.
There are different motivational styles, and Noom works really well for mine! Side Note: I don’t actually know what my motivational style is; the quiz doesn’t really resonate with me. I am good at making commitments for myself, but I like to create my own structures for accountability. The core structures of Noom work really well for me: 1) weigh yourself every morning 2) log every meal 3) meet your step goal every day 4) work through the app activities every day and 5) contribute to a forum with other folks on the same journey.
I can totally see how this structure wouldn’t work for others, but it perfectly aligns with what I need. The weighing forces me to stay focused every single day on my long-term goal of creating healthy, lifelong habits. The logging keeps me mindful of trying to eat to fuel myself (instead of to satisfy myself emotionally). The step goal keeps me from being too sedentary. The app helps me learn new things and again keep my “head in the game.”
I’ve tried Weight Watchers before (which I thought I liked at the time but pales in comparison to Noom for the way my brain works), as well as MyFitnessPal. I’ve never been able to consistently log meals. It felt too cumbersome, tedious, etc. Logging meals in Noom feels so much easier, and I’ve logged the past 115 meals!
One of the things that makes logging easier is that your most recent meals appear as options, and you just swipe what you ate. I drink a breakfast smoothie nearly every day. Batch processing them at the beginning of the week really helps make the daily prep process more smooth.
Meal Prep Smoothies: Step-by-Step
- As soon as I notice our bananas getting really ripe, I peel them, cut them in half, and then cut each half into three pieces. I place each piece on a piece of parchment paper on a plate in the freezer.
- I also made ice cubes of the almond butter and cacao. 1/2 cup of almond butter and 1/8 cup of cacao go into a bowl. I add a dash of salt and a dash of vanilla. I stir it all together and then scoop small pieces of it into an ice-cube tray (with 16 squares). This serving size is about 1/2 tablespoon of almond butter and 1/2 teaspoon of cacao per smoothie. I have to know this information since I log every meal and pay attention to calories.
- I set up 8 of these cups and measure a cup of frozen blueberries into the bottom. Starting with the blueberries makes it easier to get everything out of the cup when it’s time because they are more loosely packed.
- I add three pieces of frozen banana on top of the blueberries.
- Next, I add one frozen cube of almond butter/cacao.
- I put each of those cups back into the freezer.
- In the morning before work, I grab a cup out of the freezer, and use a butter knife to jostle the frozen ingredients into the blender.
- I fill the now-empty cup with almond milk to dump into the blender (~2 cups).
- Finally, I add in two generous handfuls of a spinach/kale mix.
- I start my Vitamix on the lowest setting and slowly ramp it up to the highest setting. It makes a perfectly smooth smoothie with no chunks, which is exactly how I like it!
I’m usually trying to run out the door very quickly. So putting in the work upfront helps make it possible to have a healthy breakfast each day.
What other quick and healthy breakfasts do you love?