Index cards! This is not a tried and true system I’ve been using. The cards you see in the picture are the only cards I’ve made so far. This is an idea that I am excited about that hasn’t undergone testing yet. I think writing about it will give me clarity and I’ll test it out this week.

I’m halfway through the six week Belly Fat Bootcamp Challenge which I’ve written about in previous posts. The challenge suggests following a meal plan, which is divided into three progressive phases, each lasting two weeks. (I am in the middle of the weeks 3-4 meals.) There are five recipe choices for each of the meal categories: breakfast, lunch, dinner, afternoon/evening snack, and pre-workout snack.

It seemed kind of complicated in the beginning, but now I’m seeing it as a bunch of new recipes. For week three, I chose three of the meals for each category and plopped them into a spreadsheet for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, then repeated them for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and left Sunday open to use up leftovers. Still, it felt kind of complicated because I had to look at the spreadsheet to figure out what meal I was having and then find the recipe on the Meal Plans PDF. And I would often lose my place as I was preparing the meal.

So that is why I got so excited when I thought of the index cards. It was my aversion to seeing 25 meals at a time on five pieces of paper, that led me to this idea. I’m already using index cards daily to see my cleaning chores, my spiritual practices and other reoccurring to do’s. I love that they can help me to really take “one day at a time” by only seeing the cards for that one day. I can spread them out on my desk and physically put them away as I finish a task. I don’t have to keep writing these tasks over and over in my planner, and it’s satisfying to see the pile go down.

My plan is to copy each meal onto an index card. I can still use the spreadsheet to plan out the week. And then every night I can gather the five cards that I will use the next day, and file them in my card box. The next morning, I’ll spread them out on my desk and when I’m ready to eat a meal, I can just take the card and use it to prepare the meal. It will be flexible too. I change up the order that I have the snacks and the meals every day, depending on when I’m working out or going places. I might have the breakfast, pre-workout snack, then late lunch… or I might have an afternoon snack at 5 o’clock and dinner at eight, depending on the day.

My hope is that when this challenge is over, I will continue to use these recipes to live a healthier lifestyle. I think that these cards will make that easier.