Try it for a week

OK, let’s cut to the chase. Here’s a menu that will lose weight. Don’t forget to drink at least 6 glasses of water a day (that’s 48 oz. Minimum). I list the food then in brackets (calories-fat grams, carb grams, protein grams). For a later discussion, you need a proper balance of fat, carbs, and protein…don’t start an eating program where they try to eliminate or skew one of these categories…balance is important. The orange items are my staple foods…pretty much every day. Based on the calories per meal, this menu ranges from 1450 to 1850 calories. Remember women burn about 1700 to 1900 calories and men about 2000 to 2200. So, without adding exercise, this gives you a daily deficit of about 300 to 400 calories a day. Add 20 to 30 minutes of exercise and that will burn about another 200 to 250 calories. A deficit of 700 calories a day for 5 days = 1 pound. I find that I have the best energy if I eat about ½ hour before and ½ hour after I exercise. I exercise at night so I eat some of my dinner calories before I work out and the rest after.

Breakfast (250 to 300 calories):
1 C Special K regualr (110-0,22,7)
4 oz. nonfat milk (40-0,6,4)
1 t. sugar (16-0,4,0)
4 oz. Fruit juice (56-0,14,0)
½ banana (45-0,11,0)
1 multi-vitamin

Morning Snack (150 to 200 calories):
8 oz. Fred Meyer Lite Yogurt (100-0,16,9)
½ Graham cracker Honey Maid low fat (30-0.5,6,0.5)
½ banana (45-0,11,0)

Lunch (400 to 500 calories):
4 slices Healthy Choice lunch meat, I like Honey Ham (60-1.5,2,9)
5 crackers Keebler Club Reduced Fat (70-2.5,12,1)
1 string cheese, I like precious (80-6,1,7)
1 apple, I like fuji (90-0,23,0)
1 serving (15 chips) fat-free ruffles cheddar cheese (75-0,16,3)
8 oz. Nonfat milk (80-0,12,8)

Afternoon Snack (150 to 200 calories):
choose from
1 high protein energy bar, Snicker Marathon Low Carb (170-6,19,16)
8 oz. Diet beverage, I liked diet coke with lime or Sobe No Fear diet (0-0,0,0)
1 apple/banana/orange (90-0,23,0)
1 oz turkey jerky, Oberto from Costco (80-1,5,13)

Dinner (400 to 500 calories):
6 oz. chicken breast or other lean meat (180-3,0,39)
1 or more vegetable of choice (only about 10 calories per ounce)
1 string cheese (80-6,1,7)
8 oz. nonfat milk (80-0,12,8)
room for another 100 calories or so of whatever you feel like adding

Evening Snack (100 to 150 calories):
choose from
¼ oz. square extra dark chocolate (45-3,4,0.5)
Popsicle, Fred Meyer melon pops, banana, or assorted (30-0,7,0)
½ serving of cold cereal (84-0,16,5)
1 Apple and 1 T. peanut butter (90-0,23,0) and (96-8,3,3)

I used an online program that tracked my foods through Apex/Gold’s Gym. I just found this website though that you can do a food search for those items you eat that don’t have a label. It’s in the middle of the page.

www.calorieking.com

I try to eat basically the same thing for breakfast through Afternoon snack, then I can modify my dinner and evening snack to round out my day and eating percentages. I’ll be back later to tell you how the beginning of my eating plan and exercise program was. Remember, adding exercise will either increase your calorie deficit for the day (more calories burned than eaten) in order to lose weight faster, or it will give you a cushion to eat more without gaining weight. Also, muscle burns more calories per day than fat so lifting weights not only burns calories through using energy, but it transforms your body from fat to muscle so that your resting metabolism increases as well. I like food so anything that makes my body burn more calories so I can eat more without gaining weight is a good thing.

Remember once you start losing weight and exercising more, you can eat more and still lose weight. When I was losing, I would eat between 1500 and 1600 per day. I also drank a lot more diet drinks then to give my taste buds a splash. I usually don’t drink much pop, I like milk and fruit juices.

Change the menu to foods you like, but I think you’ll find the protein foods are the harder ones to replace. The first 2 weeks are hard…you are changing some old habits…don’t give up. After you start changing your body and moving more…you will naturally have to start eating more. I probably eat between 2500 and 3000 calories now just to maintain my weight…I increased my muscle mass and I move a lot more so my body needs more “fuel” than it used to.

One other thing I did, was I would modify my Saturday and Sunday meal plans. I figured as long as I didn’t gain weight on the weekend I was doing good and that way I didn’t feel like I was dieting. You still need to plan and write down what you eat so you know the calories, but we would go to the pizza buffet on Saturday night for example. One slice of pizza is about 250 calories. Since I had about 500 extra calories to eat for the day, I could eat 3 slices of pizza (750 calories) along with my regular meal plan for the day and know I wouldn’t gain weight. Maybe I would have a few more snacks on Sunday, but I would still keep my calories in the 1800 to 1900 range. My motto, eat a little all day long so you don’t overeat. It takes about 30 minutes for your brain to know your stomach is full. If you’re a little full before you eat, then you are changing your eating from emotion to necessity. Emotion…I won’t touch that one. Try to learn to eat because you have to, not because you want to. Your body is a machine...give it the fuel it needs when it needs it.

Well, that was a lot more than I thought I would say, but if it helps one of you then it was well worth it. Like I said, I’ll write another of the beginning of my experience and trying to break down the calories by protein, fat and carbs later.