In my post, “How To Shop Healthy At The Grocery Store (And Save Money While Doing So)“, I shared my best practices for the weekly grocery runs.
My top tips included patrolling the perimeter of the store, don’t go hungry, and to make sure you bring a list. To help make those trips to the grocery store a success, I have an ultimate macro-friendly grocery list that you can save for reference (just right click, save).
Abs Are Made In The Grocery Store
They say abs are made in the kitchen, but really, it all starts in the grocery store. If you fail to plan what you need to buy (or worse, go in there while hungry), you’ll end up buying foods that lead you away from your goal.
If you’re new to macros (or struggle at times to track them), I suggest keeping your meals simple for the first few weeks. Your macro-friendly grocery list should consist of staple foods such as lean meats, eggs, rice, potatoes, vegetables, etc.
Keep It Simple And Start With Proteins
Start with your proteins, and get as much as you need to hit your daily protein goal – this is where planning comes into play. For example, if you require 170 grams of protein a day to meet your goals, do you know how much protein you need to buy at the store?
If 1 pound equals 453 grams, then you’ll need to buy 2.62 pounds of meat (170 grams x 7 days = 1,190 grams) in order to get through the week with your protein intact.
You don’t even need to do the math in your head!
Just Google ‘how many grams in pounds’ for their conversion calculator, and it’ll whip out exactly what you need. You can do this for your carbs and fats as well, if you’re so inclined. But know your protein amounts at a minimum.
That’ll help you cut costs for your meats and prevent you from over-buying and having to store more foods in your freezer. Or, it’ll help you diversify your proteins and catch them from other sources (eggs, whey protein shakes, different lean meats, etc).
Your Food Choices Are A Reflection Of Your Values
With nearly 1 in 3 adults overweight, and more than 2 in 5 adults being obese, there’s clearly a problem with our food choices.
Now, there are a variety of factors with these statistics. Some of them may be blamed on sedentary lifestyles, with adults decreasing in the amount of physical activity or simply having jobs that require them to sit for long periods of time.
And some of that blame can be placed on the restaurants and fast food joints that continue to serve highly-processed foods overloaded with bad fats and tons of sugar.
But the grocery store is not far from fault. But they can only take part of the blame – just like any restaurant, fast food, or grocery store selection, YOU choose to go there and YOU have to select it.
Macros allow us the flexibility and freedom to eat whatever we want within our numbers, but if you have a goal to get healthy or get leaner, your choices will reflect whether you really want that goal or not.
It’s wild out there, make good decisions!
P.S. If you want more help with meal planning, download the free meal planning guide here.