The benefits of eating in instead of eating out is pretty substantial and worth taking into consideration if you’re interested in making progress in weight loss, body composition, or even money saving goals.

5 reasons to make 95% of your meals at home.

1) You’ll naturally make lower calorie food. Restaurant food tastes so good because they use an insane amount of fat in every part of their dishes. It’s hard to escape overconsuming fat when you’re dining out.

2) You can control your portion size. At a restaurant, you’re going to be served their portions, not yours and even if you don’t typically eat that much, you’ll most likely eat it because it’s in front of you.

3) You can prioritize protein. Even when you ‘add chicken’ to your salad or order the pork tacos a standard restaurant serving size of protein is 3-4 ounces, roughly 20-25 grams of protein. At first glance this seems appropriate but when you take into consideration how many calories you’re consuming in that single meal (thanks fat), only ~100 of them coming from protein is subpar at best.

4) You can weigh and log your food with accuracy if that’s a current part of your positive progress.

5) You’ll save yourself a $100 bill, probably a gut ache, can make enough for leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch, and of course, you can wear your workout clothes from your morning workout.

Being able to control what you put on your plate is far more valuable than you could ever imagine. If you get overwhelmed by the thought of drumming up something to cook for the family our main piece of advice is keep it simple.

1 protein + 1 starch/grain + 2 vegetables

Use this equation to eat well rounded meals at home and save yourself the frustration and cash eating out offers.