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How To IIFYM Meal Prep (Even With A Picky Significant Other)

Christian Pinedo

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Meal prepping is hard enough as it is already. 

Adding IIFYM and flexible dieting strategies into the literal mix of your meal prep can be hard.

On top of that, you have to weigh out foods on the food scale for EVERYTHING and sometimes, it’s not just your macros you’re calculating.

Sometimes, it’s a significant other and other times, it’s your entire family.

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Don’t worry, it all sounds complicated and stressful, but that’s what I’m here for.

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Your Macro Diet Meal Prep Plan

I think it’s safe to say that no matter what diet you follow, whether it be low carb or high carb, you won’t lose weight unless you’re in a calorie deficit. The following resources should help you get started:

I’m assuming you already have a IIFYM Meal Plan created. If not, I’ve written an entire article on how to create your own one here.

If you’re brand new to this whole IIFYM thing, then checkout this IIFYM guide.

And lastly, if you don’t know how many macros you need for your fitness goal, try out my calculator here.

Now, if you’re prepping for a lot of people, I’m assuming you’re all going to have the same meal, just in different amounts.

Therefore, you want to have everyone’s individual macro needs written down in advance.

For example, here’s how my girlfriend and I meal prepped our Burrito Bowl meal:

YouTube video
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We figured out what we wanted to eat, exactly how much of each ingredient we needed to have to reach our calorie goal for that meal.

Here’s how we did it explained in more detail.

Burrito Bowl IIFYM Meal Plan For the Whole Family Example

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Now obviously, the amount I eat, as a 195 lb. man, will be different from my girlfriend’s who weighs significantly less than I do. 

She has different likes and dislikes than I do as well.

For example, she LOVES rice more than I do and I love my shredded chicken more than her. 

Our macros will look different because of this.

YOU and your significant other or other member of your family that you’re prepping for will also be different (most likely). 

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It’s up to you all to create your own meal plans and macros and make sure that they come out correct.

How do you do this?

Use MyFitnessPal


Using MyFitnessPal (MFP) to plan in advance how much you need of each ingredient is VERY helpful.

That’s what my girlfriend and I did.

We figured out what ingredients we both wanted, and how much, all in advance.

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It’s really easy to do this with an app like MyFitnessPal which also makes counting macros very easy.

If you’re not sure how to start counting macros and think it’s time consuming, checkout this video:

YouTube video
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For example,  my macro friendly burrito bowl came out to the following ingredients:

  • 75g of sweet whole kernel corn (drained)
  • 75g of canned black beans 
  • 28g (or 1 serving) of colby jack cheese
  • 60g of Light Sour Cream
  • 4 tbsp of Pineapple Mango Jalapeno Salsa
  • 125g of rice into 5 containers.
  • 6oz of shredded chicken into 5 containers.

For my girlfriend’s burrito bowl, it came out to the following:

  • 30g of canned black beans 
  • 28g (or 1 serving) of colby jack cheese
  • 60g of Light Sour Cream
  • 2 tbsp of Pineapple Mango Jalapeno Salsa
  • 100g of rice into 5 containers.
  • 5oz of shredded chicken into 5 containers.

Macros for my burrito bowl:

  • 600 Cals
  • 64g Carbs
  • 13g Fat
  • 49g Protein

Macros for her burrito bowl:

  • 552 Cals
  • 44g Carbs
  • 16g Fat
  • 48g Protein

As you can see, you would do this for everyone you’re prepping for. 

You’d find out how much they want or need. 

Weigh out each ingredient on a food scale.

Portion it out into your containers.

And voila, you’re done.

*Chefs Kiss*

Again, you can watch the video above in this post to see exactly how I prepped everything with my girlfriend.

Now let’s talk about everything you need to know about IIFYM Meal Prepping and how you can do it easily with other ingredients.

Best IIFYM Food Options

When it comes to IIFYM meal prep food options, well, they’re endless. Too many options and one can become overwhelmed. I’m here to show you the best options for your meal prep journey.

When To Meal Prep

Sunday seems to be a great day to prep. A number of things can feel overwhelming at first but once you establish a routine, it will all get easier and easier each prep session.

You can overcomplicate the process too easily but if you employ a number of tools you can get meals together in half the time and continue improving the numbers on the scale every week.

Sunday is a good day to prepare for the week ahead and set yourself up for a week of success.

That being said, don’t want food to go bad, or for it smell bad (especially if you have a lot of vegetables) try prepping up until Wednesday.

Have Wednesday be your other meal prep day.

That way, you’d have meal prep sessions every Sunday and Wednesday.

Rice

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Rice is an excellent choice because it’s easy to make delicious. Not only that, but you can make a lot of different meals with rice being the “base.” 

There’s stir fry, fried rice, arroz con pollo (as we Peruvians would call it).

There are a few ways to prepare rice but the best way to prepare, in my opinion, is your generic rice cooker. 

Again, rice is one of those simple ingredients that you can throw onto any meal, and it will be a game changer.

Subs / Sandwiches / Wraps

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Subs and sandwiches are easy to make, don’t take too much actual cooking (other than cooking your protein of choice), and can be easily prepped for lunch.

You can use chicken breast, buffalo chicken, or whatever protein you want and make a killer sandwich.

The only thing I would advise against with sandwiches is to watch out for high-calorie bread. 

Sure, it may taste better, but 300-500 calories wasted on just bread alone isn’t worth it. 

There are plenty of options for bread that taste great and are under the 300 calorie range. 

Checkout Dave’s Killer Bread which is packed with protein and on the lower end of the calorie scale. 

Parfaits / Frozen Yogurt

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Individual yogurt meals are easy to pack. You can also separate the large containers and portion it into small Tupperware cups if that’s easier. 

Plus, dry foods like granola or cereal can be placed for use at home or individually packed for topped parfaits, or individually packed to serve your favorite snacks. 

My favorite, protein-packed, yogurt dessert for prepping has to be:

  • Legion Whey+ Protein powder (1 scoop – 1 serving)
  • Chobani Greek Yogurt – Vanilla (270g – 1.5 servings)
  • Crunchy Peanut Butter (16g – .5 serving)
  • Any Cereal That You Love (30 grams)

It usually comes out to 350-500 cals and is a delicious dessert to have at night time.

Not to mention, it’s a great substitute for ice cream especially if you’re looking for a dessert of some sort that is also macro friendly.

Salad / Fresh Veggies

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Exactly what goes into a salad can be debated forever. However, when it comes to tracking macros, exact macros are never given, especially when it is store bought. 

That being said, most salads are coveted because they are usually low-carb. What people don’t like to mention, however, is how much cheese, bacon, and other fats they stuff it with.

That’s how you get 1000+ calorie salads, which is insane.

If you truly want to make a salad for weight loss, then you’re going to have to cut back on all the above.

Notice how I didn’t say get rid of. 

To make a great salad, that isn’t abnormally high in calories, do the following:

  • Use mixed greens – this will help with flavor, texture, and variety
  • Use thin pieces of protein – no one likes a small salad and just a huge chicken breast on top.
  • Use low-calorie veggies like cucumbers, broccoli, tomatoes, mushrooms, etc. 
  • Also, put lots of different ingredients, in small quantities – think corn, beans, scrambled eggs, cheese, avocado, chopped up turkey bacon, etc. 
    • By small quantities, I mean less than half a serving size. Each ingredient shouldn’t be higher than 50 calories each.
  • Lastly, use a low-calorie dressing of your choice – something under 100 calories per serving
    • If you must have ranch, only use 1 serving (read the label people).

Again, there are a thousand and one ways to make a salad. Figure out the exact macros on MyFitnessPal and make it how you would like accordingly.

Chicken Breast

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There are a million different ways to cook chicken breast, but also a million different ways to make it taste terrible. 

In my opinion, to be not only efficient, but also make great tasting chicken, grilling is your best friend. 

I’m not going to tell you how to make your chicken breasts or what seasoning to use because everyone has their own favorite seasoning. 

What I will tell you though, however, is that regardless of whether you grill them or use a slow cooker, make sure to have some sort of dressing on the side.

I don’t care what anyone says, after microwaving your 4th meal of chicken breast, it gets dry.

Use some sort of bbq sauce or dressing of your choice to make your chicken taste better.

Anyhoo, counting macros with chicken is super easy. Just weigh it by the gram or ounce and you’ll see how macro friendly it is.

Pasta

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I’m no pasta extraordinaire, but what I do know is that it is delicious AF.

But, with all good things, there is a downside. The amount of pasta you can have if you’re trying to be calorie-conscious is depressing.

Therefore, high-calorie pasta is something to avoid.

Instead, opt for:

  • Zucchini Noodles or “Zoodles” 
  • Black Bean Noodles
  • Rice Noodles
  • Or Protein-filled noodles from known-name brands like Barilla.

All of the above are macro friendly, by the way.

The weird thing with pasta is that it usually doubles in weight when cooked.

This makes counting macros  a bit different. When you’re dispersing it into your containers, make sure every portion weighs the same when cooked.

To ensure fresh noodles with your sauce add the appropriate condiment on the plate of your choice and the sauce will keep these fresh to the noodles. 

If you’re worried that your noodles will get soggy, prepare the pasta for a few days at once instead of an entire week, if possible.

Sweet Potatoes / Sweet Potato Fries

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For dinner, I love to have some chicken, ground turkey or beef, rice, and some sweet potato fries. These are incredible to have and easy to make. Not only that, but they make for a great snack as well.

I like to eat these in all my meals over regular potatoes because they are easier to eat and have a lot more flavor in my opinion. It really does add to any recipe.

It also tastes great regardless if you microwave it or when it’s fresh. 

Conclusion

Eating the same thing over and over again can be tough and undesirable. However, I think we all know why we’re doing it. To look better and get better. 

I hope this article has helped you understand how to make eating the same thing day after day a bit more manageable.

If you have any questions, leave a comment down below.

If you want to learn more about IIFYM, checkout our full guide here.

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Christian Pinedo

Hey there, Christian here. I'm a former fat guy who just wants to help you succeed in your fitness journey. I share my own experiences and experiments right here on this site. Let me know how I can be of help by leaving a comment below. If you want to learn more about my 50 lb weight loss journey, click here.

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