It feels good to eat well (and healthy)
Successful
Meal Planning
101
The PLAN is a comprehensive eating and fitness plan. Depending on how much weight you’d like to lose, you could safely lose as much as 15 pounds in these next 4 weeks. Containers help regulate portion control without counting calories.
Workouts train a variety of different muscle groups and are 30-60 minutes long. It’s a great program for those wanting to shed at least 10 pounds or anyone simply looking for a good kick-start to a healthy lifestyle.
If you follow the program, you will see results. But ultimately the final results depend on YOU.
My Weekly
Planning
Having delicious, nourishing foods at your fingertips requires a little thought and planning. Eating for weight loss, health or fitness goals means balancing good nutrition with foods that you enjoy and that fills you up. So we've created a simple way to figure out a personalized healthy eating program for you.
FIRST: Get your current baseline eating regimen logged. Use the Baseline Food Log to track your current eating patterns for 2 days without making any changes.You need to know where your starting from in order to create lifestyle changes. This will also show you where you currently stand in the line up with the portion control containers.
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SECOND: Make a list of whole foods you like and usually eat using the Favorite Foods Worksheet. List all the categories: meats, veggies, fruits, grains, nuts/dairy, and seeds.
THIRD: Start by Planning your Dinners
Working with your Favorite Foods List, begin to plug in your favorite dishes on the MEAL PLANNER. A proven guideline that works is to choose 3 to 4 main dishes. That amount allows enough leftovers for lunches a few days and/or a family leftover night.
Simplify Breakfast and Lunch
Choose 2 or 3 breakfasts and rotate them throughout the week. Choose 2 lunches (eaten once or twice) and grab leftovers on the other days. If you are new to meal planning, start out SIMPLE. Maybe just choose 2 breakfast meals and rotate. Or eat the same breakfast every day if that works for you.
Snacks and Desserts
To be sure you have healthy snack options in the house, write some possible snack choices on your planner. Be very careful not to use snacking as an opportunity to graze all day. It is IMPORTANT to fuel your body on a REGULAR basis, every 2-3 hours. This keeps your metabolism running at a higher level and off-sets the “bad decisions” hunger pains might cause you to make.
Finally
Check out the Free Foods, Tea & Coffee Bar, and Cheats & Treats tabs. Being informed, filling in the worksheets and preparing for a successful long term healthy lifestyle is a quick and simple process!
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Free Spirit
Approach
I Don’t Have the Time….
Sometimes there are days or weeks when we just don’t have the time or desire to go to even a little trouble to write a plan on paper. Or, you might be a FREE SPIRIT who prefers to be flexible, wing it or go with the flow. You might be structured about some areas of your life, and also like the freedom to choose food (or whatever) at the spur of the moment. Don't worry, we have all that covered!
The Free Spirit Approach to Healthy Meal Planning
Print out our whole foods shopping list as a Free Spirit Approach to have all the ingredients on hand to spontaneously create a weeks worth of healthy meals and snacks. Keeping temptation out of the refrigerator or house will help you to stay on track.
I still have no idea what to eat or where to start...
Relax we have provided a mix and match meal plan that will jump start you in the right direction. Just pick the foods that interest you, then consult your calorie tracker for how many servings of each you may have. This will get you up and running quickly. No guilt, No excuses, No problems....Enjoy!
Sample
Meal Plan
By now you have taken a look at those containers and thought, "I'm probably going to starve!" That is far from the truth, below I have mapped out a sample meal plan using the 1,200 - 1,499 calorie tracker sheet. Just look at the amount of HEALTHY food you can enjoy daily on this journey.
Breakfast
2 eggs = 1 red
1 cup spinach + other veggies = 1 green
1 piece of toast = 1 yellow
12 oz water
1 cup herbal tea + lemon
Shakes
1 coconut vanilla yogurt = 1 red
1/2 cup blueberries + 1/2 cup strawberries = 1 purple
1/2 cup ice
​4 oz water
Lunch
3/4 cup cubed chicken = 1 red
1 1/2 cup salad greens = 1.5 green
1/2 c. tomatoes + cucumbers = .5 green
1 apple = 1 purple
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil + vinegar = 1 orange
20 oz water
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Dinner
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Grilled chicken or fish = 1 red
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1 cup green beans = 1 green
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1/2 cup brown rice = 1 yellow
16 oz water
Snack
1/3 cup hummus = 1 blue
A fist full of raw veggies for dipping = 1 green
16 oz water
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Sizing
Things Up
Green ~ veggies ~ 1 cup
Purple ~ fruits ~ 1 cup
Red ~ proteins ~ 3/4 cup
Yellow ~ complex carbohydrates ~ 1/2 cup
Blue ~ nuts, dairy, good fats ~ 1/3 cup
Orange ~ seeds, olives, dressings ~ 2 tablespoons
Teaspoon ~ oils, nut & seed butters ~ 1 teaspoon
On the go, out to dinner, or no containers in sight. Don't worry all you need is a hand.
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Your palm determines your protein portions.
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Your fist determines your veggie portions.
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Your cupped hand determines your complex carbohydrate portions.
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Your thumb determines your fat portions.
