Meal Plan

This meal plan that I am recommending is from Overeater's Enonymous and is not a diet. You will create your own menu based on the recommended foods and the amounts.

If you have a program you prefer, by all means use it. Just commit to it for a minimum of 30 Days.

However, be aware that some plans allow foods that include processed sugar and flour and those ingredients have been shown to be as addictive as cocaine and heroin, which make it very difficult to break from.

The WeightLoss Food Plan, that I am recommending, is a healthy way of eating that is free of sugar, wheat, and flour. The food plan eliminates the basic components of our binge foods: sugar, flour, wheat and unhealthy fats and increases the amount of healthy vegetables.

This is not a reducing diet because it is not severely restricted in terms of basic food groups. Because you create your own menu this plan can be used even if you have an allergy or health problem that restricts certain foods.

Getting Started

1. A food scale is recommended so that you can have accurate portions. This makes sure you are eating enough to meet your nutitional requirement, as much as, it makes sure you are not overeating. Weighing food removes the temptation to have seconds.

However, do not wait to get a scale to start. If you do not have a scale you can do a one plate serving, no seconds. I used this method before I bought a scale and I lost weight in the first week.

2. Have regular meal times. We need to train ourselves when to eat so that our bodies get used to it. The plan calls for 3 meals per day, weighed, no snacks and no flour or sugar.

Eat your meals between 6am-7pm. You should allow 4-5 hours between breakfast & lunch and 5-6 hours between lunch & dinner and at least 12 hours between dinner and breakfast. No eating after 7pm gives our bodies a chance to burn fat. No food during the 12 hours after dinner and before breakfast allows our fat burning hormones to reset and start burning fat.

* I have included a 5 meal plan if you have a medical problem or you don't think you can restrict yourself to 3 meals.

3. Buy a food journal so that you can write down your food the night before. Planning your menu in advance allows you to shop and prepare for your meals so that you aren't caught not knowing what to eat. No planning makes it difficult to stick to your plan because you don't have appropriate foods available when you are hungry.

4. Plan your meals and commit to them.

5. This plan works for all dietary preferences and requirements.

6. Weight yourself in the morning of your start date, before you eat, and record your start weight. It is recommended you weigh yourself once a week. Daily weigh can fluctuate.

The Weight Loss Meal Plan is stored in DropBox so when you download it, save it to your computer before printing, and you will be able to access any time you wish.

Tips & Recipes

The meal plan gives you a list of what and how much you can eat but if you aren't accustomed to cooking from scratch how do you put it together?

I have some suggestions to make your meal planning easier, as well as some recipes to get you started. More to come later.

First, it's important to weigh your food after you cook it because it shrinks.

When you are cooking your proteins, whether it be meat or vegetarian, cook enough for several meals, and weigh, portion and refrigerate after you have cooked it. This will save you time each day and you will have food available when you are hungry.

Avoid processed meats like lunch meats, sausages and hot dogs. If you do choose them, read the ingredient list to make sure that sugar and flour are not in the first 3 ingredients on the list. Generally luncheon meats are not healthy unless they are organic because of the high amounts of sodium and preservatives used in processing.

If you are also cooking for your family, cook the same protein and vegetables that you will eat and add a cooked starch for them.
For example: If you are cooking chicken and roasted vegetables for yourself also cook some rice or quinoa for their meal. If there are several different dietary preferences in your family make your base meal vegan or vegetarian and cook the meat separately. This will help you to avoid cooking completely different meals.

You can mix and match your food for variety. For breakfast, since my husband is also on the plan, I split a banana between us and weigh it with berries to come to 6 oz each to put on top of our cooked oatmeal. I top with 1 oz. of walnuts and have a poached egg for my protein while he has eggs and breakfast sausages.

This is a healthy plan for life so the whole family can follow by including healthy grains and portions that meet their individual appetites.

Yogurt mixed with cooked cereal & berries, sprinkled with cinnamon is also a delicious breakfast or you can do a 1/2 portion of yogurt and a 1/2 portion of nuts.

On my salad I might have 1 hardboiled egg and 3oz of chickpeas. I also incorporate any leftover vegetables and meat to my salads so that I have very little food waste.

For supper I often roast a large pan of 4 or 5 different vegetables tossed in 2 TBSP (for 2 people) of avocado oil. I like to do a wide variety of vegetables to make sure I am getting lots of different colours and flavours. Sometimes I will have more cooked vegetables and a smaller salad in the colder months, it doesn't matter the combination as long as it equals 14oz of veggies for dinner. If you are cooking your veggies weigh them after they are cooked.

When I cook a lentil soup loaded with vegetables I weigh out 16 oz for my lunch. This allows for 6 oz protein & 6 oz of vegetables plus 4 oz for the liquid. I will also eat cheese or nuts for the fat, plus my fruit.

Eating your fat as a whole food rather than an oil is healthier and more filling. For instance avocado or seeds for your fat with a squeeze of lemon rather than salad dressing on your salad.

If you find lunch is not quite enough food and that 14oz of vegetables is too much for supper just add 2-4oz of the supper vegetables to your lunch salad and reduce your dinner salad by the same amount.

Click below to download a couple of free recipes to get you started. They are stored in DropBox so hit Download and save them to your computer.