How much time the method takes: an honest weekly budget
The method takes less time than regular eating—but not right away. The first two weeks are spent adjusting: new grocery shopping, new dishes, and getting used to cooking ahead. After that, it takes three to four hours a week for cooking and grocery shopping, one and a half to two hours for exercise, and zero time for counting, apps, and snacks. Below is an honest weekly time budget, where to save time, and what to do if you have absolutely no time to cook.
3-4 ч
cooking and grocery shopping per week
1,5-2 ч
movement per week
0 min
calculations and diaries
−5-7 ч
freed up per week
Where Time Goes When Eating Normally
A typical day with six eating occasions makes time disappear unnoticed: a snack, coffee with something, “what should I eat?”, delivery, waiting in line at a café, an evening trip to the fridge. Each episode takes 10-15 minutes, adding up to an hour to an hour and a half a day, and seven to ten hours a week that nobody counts. The method eliminates these episodes: two or three meals, with nothing in between. That is exactly where the “free” time people talk about after the first month comes from.
Add calorie counting if you used to do it: weighing food, entering it into an app, searching for a product in a database — another 20-30 minutes a day. The method deliberately leaves this out: calories are not counted, and the plate is put together according to proportions in a minute. What the whole day looks like — one day on the method.
Time budget: a week using the method
| What | How much | When | How to save |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopping | 60-90 min | 1 time a week | fixed list, delivery — the same 15 minutes per order |
| Cooking the basics | 90-120 min | 1-2 times a week | meat and fish are baked for 2-3 days, vegetables are chopped in advance |
| Meal assembly | 10-15 min × 2-3 a day | daily | dress the salad before eating, reheat the rest |
| Workouts | 20-45 min × 2-3 | every other day | at home, with no travel to the gym |
| Walking | 30-60 min | daily | build it into your commute and calls, without setting aside time |
| Tracking, journals | 0 | — | the plate method |
First two weeks: why it seems like you need more time
The adjustment takes time: unfamiliar products at the store, “what’s for dinner” every evening, three recipes from the internet a day. This is normal and passes as soon as you build your own set of 8-10 dishes that can be prepared without a recipe. Usually by the third week.
To get through this period faster, don’t reinvent the wheel: the method includes a ready-made shopping list and the plate rule, and almost everything is assembled from them. The first meal — eggs, bacon, salad, avocado. Lunch and dinner — meat or fish, vegetables cooked in oil, salad. Only the types of meat and vegetables change. A ready-made set for the week — seven-day meal plan; one-list shopping — shopping for the week.
Choose natural, whole foods and avoid processed foods with additives.
How to fit cooking into two sessions a week
Sunday, 90 minutes
Roast chicken and beef for three days, boil eggs, chop cabbage and cucumbers, make an oil-vinegar-salt dressing in a jar. Sauerkraut — store-bought or homemade.
Weekdays, 10-15 minutes per meal
Reheat the meat, chop a salad from the prepared vegetables, and dress it. Fry the eggs in butter — it takes five minutes.
Wednesday, 60 minutes
Second session: fish for two days, braised zucchini or cauliflower purée, and more vegetables for later.
When there’s absolutely no time to cook
Scrambled eggs with cheese and cucumbers. Canned fish with salad. Cheese, nuts, avocado. That’s the whole plate rule without using the stove.
Movement: one and a half hours a week, not “sport”
In the method, movement is the third pillar, and its time budget is modest: two or three times a week for 20-45 minutes at home. The trip to the gym, changing clothes, and showering there add another hour to each workout, and that is exactly why home programs: a mat, a chair, half an hour, and you are already in the shower. Over the week — one and a half to two hours.
Walking is separate, but it does not “stand out” — it is integrated: walk part of the way, take calls while walking, go for a walk after dinner instead of looking at a screen. 30-60 minutes a day add up without a calendar. What each type of movement provides and how much you need — movement in the method.
Eats up time
- A recipe from the internet for every dinner
- Daily shopping “on the way”
- Calorie counting and a diary
- Gym on the other side of the city
- Snacks and “what to eat” six times a day
Saves time
- 8-10 of your own dishes without a recipe
- One shopping trip with a fixed list
- The plate rule
- 20-30 minutes at home
- Two or three meals and nothing in between
Work, business trips, late evenings
A workday with lunch at 13:00 and dinner at 19:00 is a 14/10 window without any effort: the first meal is at home or in the office, and the second at home. If there is no time to cook in the morning, lunch is taken from yesterday’s dinner: baked meat and salad in a container—five minutes in the evening. At a café, meat or fish with vegetables is available on any menu; simply skip the side dish.
Business trips and travel are a separate matter: the window shifts rather than being canceled, as explained in the article fasting on vacation and while traveling. Eating away from home — cafés, trips, guests.
What frees up the most time
No snacking
Six eating occasions a day become three. That’s an hour to an hour and a half a day—time you don’t notice until it comes back.
The plate rule
No scales, no app, no searching for a food in a database. The proportions are visible at a glance.
Your own set of dishes
Eight to ten dishes that can be prepared without a recipe—and “what’s for dinner” is decided in a second.
Cooking ahead
Two cooking sessions a week instead of cooking every evening. Weeknight dinner means reheating and chopping.
Common mistakes
- Cooking every meal from scratch
- Looking for a new recipe every day instead of using your own collection
- Shopping a little every day
- Going to the gym when the same 30 minutes can be done at home
- Counting calories “for control” — it takes back 30 minutes a day and brings back thoughts about food
- Quitting in the second week, when the adjustment is still taking up time
Frequently asked questions
Is it true that the method costs more than regular food?
The proportions change, not the products: we used to buy meat, eggs, vegetables and cheese before, too. Sweets, baked goods, juices, delivery and cafés are removed — these are usually more expensive than what is added. More details are in the article about shopping for the week.
How much time per day — at minimum?
15 minutes to assemble meals if the basics are ready, plus 30 minutes of walking. A workout every other day — another 20-30. Less than an hour per day in total, half of which is a walk.
What if I work from 8 to 20 and have absolutely no time to cook?
One cooking session on the weekend for the whole week, lunch to take with you, dinner to reheat. Or scrambled eggs, cheese and salad — that is also the method. You don’t need “proper” dishes, you need the right plate.
How long does it take before this stops requiring effort?
Usually by the third or fourth week: you have your own set of dishes, shopping list and cooking routine. After that, the method takes less attention than regular food.
- Principles of the Method
- The Journey
- The Method in Real Life