This meal planner is a must for anyone serious about getting in shape

Contrary to every workout pep talk you’ve ever had, getting your ideal body takes a little more than just willpower. It takes smarts, nutritional research and a lot — we mean, a lot — of planning. There’s calorie counting, rigorous reading of ingredient lists and all those daily hassles that any dieter knows all too well.

Technology has made some aspects of that slog a little easier, but there’s one app that really goes the extra mile.

If you somehow haven’t heard about Eat This Much, it’s a comprehensive meal planner that takes the guesswork out of your diet. Feed it your goals and you’ll get week-by-week nutritional plans that are laid out for you right down to the recipes. All you have to do is supply the willpower to stick to it.

The setup is simple and can account for any number of body types and restrictions. Just enter your physical stats, your end goals and any diet you might want to follow. Paleo, vegan, keto — the app can adjust its meal plans to any of them, or even one with customized parameters you can set and modify on the fly.

Once your profile is created, you’ll get your nutritional bible for the week: A grocery list that’s tailored to your needs, tastes and calorie limits. Fill up that pantry, select a day and you’ll see tasty recipes for every meal that incorporates those ingredients, drawn from an internal library of more than 4,000 dishes.

Sounds a little rigid, but what if you end up skipping a meal, or going out to eat? The app can work around that. Its database of 250,000 foods can calculate that quickie lunch you just had, figure it into the daily goals and adjust the rest of your meals around it.

You can even enter your own preferred dishes into the library and make sure they get added to the mix. And once you’re done for the week, you can move leftover ingredients into your virtual pantry to make sure you don’t double up on the next grocery run.

Of course, there are all the usual math functions you’d expect from any nutritional app. The calorie tracker can draw from that same huge library of foods, and it’s easy to navigate.

Right now, you can try out a three-year subscription to Eat This Much for a full 66% off the retail price, now just $59.

Prices are subject to change.

Let AI budget and make your grocery list

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Let AI plan your plate: Figuring out meals for the week can be exhausting. Get ChatGPT to handle it by prompting, “Plan a week of simple, healthy meals I can cook, and make a grocery list with the exact ingredients.” You can ask it to include cooking steps and portion sizes to match your calorie goals. Pro tip: Tell it what’s in your fridge for meal ideas. Bon appétit!

🥦 Struggling with meal planning? You don’t have to keep guessing what to buy every week. Try prompting ChatGPT with something like, “Plan a week of simple, healthy meals I can actually cook, and make a grocery list with the exact ingredients.” You can take it a step further by also asking it to stay within your budget or avoid foods you don’t like. Amazing.

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