Preplanning: how do you do it?

Without feeding an obsession with food, I'm trying to give myself some sort of idea what I'm going to eat so I stop getting into this mess of having so much left late and/or letting myself down at the end of the day.

I used to think if I ate more "real food" I would easily eat way more calories than it takes to gain.  Now, as I add extras to my oats, double my portions of meat and grains, and add fats that were totally "pointless calories" to my past-I've discovered something "amazing"-I get full faster!

-Even eating half a loaf of my coworker's bread on a whim, then munching doritoes [around what I would normally eat, not instead of]...and I still wound up at the end of the day having to fight to get the calories in-

This is good in a way-showing myself that it's possible to eat these things and as much as I want and my body will still tell me what it needs overall
...except it's not so "easy" to add all the calories in the big picture!

Anyhow, I preplanned today all out to easily hit 2500+ more evenly spread through the day, and still I'm hours behind, almost 9pm, 1100 to go--and I worked so hard to eat EVERYTHIGN planned, even when my "normal" was something I wasn't hungry for...

I can't quite figure out how this happened but I don't want to keep it up this way. I do want to eat more, but adjusting myself to this intake level is mroe challenging than anticipated, even something so simple as "following the plan."

How do you preplan and go through your day in terms of eating? 
I know it sounds like "duh" but as I said, I manage to screw even this up somehow, and it's not by skipping through the day!

I'm just looking for general ideas about how you set up your eats and go through your day from a variety of people who also have to consciously make sure they get certain calorie amounts in!

SET times that u need to eat, if its a priority, ull stick to it. 

eat every few hrs so u get the cals in + wont be scared of being hungry or waht not

plan it the night before

make bfast BIG, get the cals in then

plan to eat foods u LIKE

write it down+stick to it

if ur having probs eating, choose higher cal, dense foods

dont be agfraid of treats, sauces, toppings, frying foods...

You don't only plan what to eat but you also plan when, and yes that means eating when you're not hungry. I find ir quite unlikely that with 1400 calories by 9pm you were trying very hard. Not to be mean. I can easily create a 1000 calories breakfast...allow me to demonstrate.

1 serving oats (150) cooked in 1 cup regular milk (140) add in 1 ounce nuts (160) 2 tbsp peanut butter (190) and 2 tbsp honey (100 or so) have that with a banana and chocolte milk (you can use soy if preferred) (350)

That's one meal of oatmeal, a banana, and milk

Then have an ounce of cheese with WW crackers and an ounce of nuts ~500

Lunch could be a pb and banana sandwich with honey and a yogurt ~600 (always regular fat and regular bread)

That's 2100 without dinner and only wih 1 snack. If you try hard enough you can do it. Its about making dense yet nutritious choices! Hope this helps!

Original Post by chrissy1988:

allow me to demonstrate.

 Oh I can totally demonstrate! That's just what I did [demonstrate to myself]

Is this what you do?

I ask because I knwo in theory it's "simple"-

It's the fact that I was REALLY doing it and still went wrong that I ask, not "how" but for specific examples of how YOU go through your day [not what you eat, but how you program it and do it].

I guess in the past I always think "well I'm full nevermind" or "I'd rather ahve this" but today I literally ate everything, and all of it because I'm making a change, not just eating what I feel like! 
For once in my life I haven't been hungry all day--for diet pop OR food [so it's real!].  And definitely not feeling it with my tummy problems, and definitely no time!  I thought I was making it happen anyways...
Plus last minute adding oil to "help."

But your'e right that I obviously screwed up, bottom line.  I don't care how I chalk it up, I'm at 1500ish at 9pm and I know that must change.

At the beginning, when it was genuinely uncomfortable to eat enough to gain (your body gets used to it over time, promise) my midnight snack would sometimes be a whole large avocado. Delish when drizzled with balsamic vinegar/vinegrette as well.

Seriously, you will barely feel it.

YOU CAN DO IT!

I selected times to eat and I plan/cook on the weekends the weekly meals...not necessarily which days I will eat them (well except Sunday I always plan and make a pizza) other than that I just pull from the freezer for the that day or the next what I will eat.  It isnt hard...you just have to get a system down that works for you.

dont have anything to add everyone has given such good advice , but good luck , you can do it h x