Personal Nutrition Plan for Healthy Eating Habits and Weight Loss
In designing a personal nutrition plan, keep a few basic rules in mind. Your goal is to learn how to eat healthy forever, so you want to learn how to do this yourself without relying on computerized menus or a confined list of foods. These are healthy habits you can develop on your own. These habits can and will change your life. In this plan, no food is off-limits so you need to learn how to keep the less healthy food down to a minimum of what you eat. If weight loss is your goal, choose one of the plans below. If weight loss is not your goal, find yourself in the description next to one of the personalized plans and then go up to the next level of calorie plans.
Most people fail in their attempt to eat healthy or lose weight because they try to follow a restricted diet and deprive themselves of foods they have grown to love and it almost feels like a punishment to be on the program. This is your new BodyStandard…eating the foods you enjoy, making smart serving size choices and living a full life without the fear of an “all or none” mental view. Making smart choices is not about perfection. It is about making the best choice possible at that time and if you find yourself making a choice that is not the best possible, you realize tomorrow is a new day.
The 1200 calorie plan is designed for women who don't exercise, don't work in physically demanding environments, are postmenopausal and/or 55 years or older. If you are too hungry on the 1200 calorie plan you may want to move up to the 1400 calorie plan and add on more exercise.
The 1400 calorie plan is most commonly used by women who lead active lives, get exercise on a regular basis, are less than 55 years old and have a long history of dieting. This plan works well for most women.
The 1600 calorie plan is a good match for women who are over 5 feet 7 inches, very active and exercise 5-6 days a week.
The 1800 calorie plan is recommended for men who are active and less than 6 feet. If you are over 6 feet you lucky people get to eat some more. Add one more grain and dairy to boost your calories closer to 2000.
Below is a table that outlines how many servings of each food group are allocated for the different calorie levels. Do your best to stay within the suggested guidelines. By keeping a food journal, you will be able to easily keep track of what you are eating during the day. If you overeat at one meal, do your best to get back on track at your next meal. Your online food journal is awaiting you, just register here and you will find all of the tools you need to be successful in the pursuit of healthy and smart food choices.
| 1200 calories | 1400 calories | 1600 calories | 1800 calories | |
| Grains | 5 servings | 6 servings | 7 servings | 8 servings |
| Vegetables | 4 servings | 4 servings | 4 servings | 4 servings |
| Fruits | 2 servings | 3 servings | 3 servings | 3 servings |
| Dairy | 2 servings | 2 servings | 2 servings | 2 servings |
| Meat/Meat Substitute | 2 servings | 2 servings | 2 servings | 3 servings |
| Fat | 2 servings | 3 servings | 4 servings | 4 servings |
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Show/Hide Serving Sizes at a Glance
Grains
1 serving = 80 caloriesVegetables
1 serving = 25 caloriesMeat/Meat Substitute
1 serving = 150 caloriesDairy
1 serving = 90 calories1 slice whole wheat bread ½ cup cooked rice or pasta ½ cup potatoes, peas or corn ½ English muffin ½ mini bagel ½ large pita bread ½ -1 cup cereal 1 cup raw vegetables ½ cup cooked vegetables ½ cup vegetable juice 3 ounces fish, chicken or turkey (without the skin) or lean beef ½ cup beans ½ cup tofu 2 Tbsp peanut butter ¼ cup unsalted nuts 3 Tbsp seeds 2 eggs 1 cup skim or 1% milk 1 cup nonfat or light soymilk 1 cup nonfat yogurt 1 ounce cheese ¼ cup low-fat cheese ½ cup nonfat or low-fat cottage cheese Fats
1 serving =45 caloriesFruit
1 serving =60 caloriesSweets and Treats
1 serving =80 calories1 tsp. oil or butter 2 Tbsp.hummus or guacamole 1 Tbsp light fat mayonnaise 1 Tbsp salad dressing 1 Tbsp cream 1 piece fruit 1 cup fresh fruit ½ cup canned fruit ¼ cup dried fruit ½ cup fruit juice ½ cup applesauce ½ medium banana ½ cup non-fat frozen yogurt 1 oz candy 4 oz wine or 12 oz light beer -
Food Serving Examples
1 cup = tennis ball ½ cup = deck of cards ¼ cup = golf ball 3 ounces of meat = deck of cards 1 ounce of cheese = one inch square cube 1 tablespoon = matchbox 1 teaspoon = tip of thumb
Now that you know the number of daily servings in your Personal Nutrition Plan, you need to know what constitutes a serving size. Although the list below gives a general list, a more complete summary can be found in the Expanded Food guide.
Let's take an example of how you would structure a meal plan for a day. At every meal and snack, it is best if you pair a complex carbohydrate with protein (either from a lean meat or meat substitute or from a low-fat or non-fat dairy.) This combination allows your blood sugar to rise in a more gradual and sustained way which helps maintain your energy level and keeps you full longer. Let's say you are following the 1400 calorie plan, here is how it might look:
Breakfast: 1 grain, 1 sweet, 1 fruit, 1 dairy
1/2 whole wheat English muffin with 1 Tbsp jam, 1 cup of fruit blended with 1 cup nonfat yogurt in a blender
Lunch: 2 vegetables, 1 meat, 1 fruit, 2 fat, 2 grains
Large green salad with mixed raw vegetables and 3 oz chicken, sprinkled with cranberry-raisins and 1 tbsp salad dressing, 1 whole wheat roll and 1 tsp butter
4 pm snack: 1 fruit and dairy
1 orange and a string cheese stick
Dinner: 1 meat, 2 grains, 2 vegetables, 1 fat
3 oz. fish, 1 cup brown rice, 1 cup cooked vegetables sautéed in 1 tsp olive oil
If you would like to have a sweet for a dessert, choose a low-calorie option when possible. We suggest you limit sweets and treats to only one serving a day. Each serving is about 80 calories and does not contain many valuable nutrients, but in small amounts, these kinds of foods can easily fit into your personal nutrition plan. In order to balance your calories for the day, deduct one serving from the grain group if you choose to have a sweet or treat. (e.g. 1 sweet=1 grain equivalent)
There will always be some foods you are unsure of how to exactly count in your diet. The best way to estimate this is to think of the separate main ingredients that are in the food and assign a food group to it. Don't make it more difficult than it needs to be. If you are watching portion sizes you will do fine. If you are stumped, take a serving equivalent to 1 œ cups (a tennis ball and a deck of cards) and call it 2 grains and 1 meat serving. This is equivalent to about 310 calories and is a standard frozen entrée or typical combination food breakdown. For this type of meal, it is recommended you have a side salad or cooked vegetables or some fruit to balance of the meal.
An important point to remember is that if you feel hungry (true hunger) on your plan or get lighted headed, it is important to add a snack. In general, we recommend having a 4 pm snack everyday, because this will prevent you from coming to dinner too hungry and potentially overeating. Feel free to add extra vegetables or fruit. If that doesn't help, have an extra piece of low-fat cheese or a small amount of hummus. This should provide you with some extra fuel to make it to your next meal. Also, although you are given a serving allotment of vegetables, this is really your minimum servings recommended. You can have as much as you want of this category (excepting starchy vegetables which are considered a grain.)
Variation of Personal Nutrition Plan
Food Journal and Personal Nutrition Plan
If counting food groups drives you crazy, you can simplify your eating plan by learning a few basic guidelines for creating portion-controlled healthy meals.
For Breakfast
Take a 6 inch bowl and fill it with a grain, dairy (or meat/meat sub) and fruit. Here are examples:
Unsweetened cereal with nonfat milk and fruit
Unflavored cooked oatmeal with non-fat milk, sprinkled with raisins or dried cranberries
Nonfat yogurt and fresh fruit sprinkled with wheat-germ, low-fat granola or Grape-nuts
Low-fat cottage cheese with fruit and a whole wheat piece of toast.
Scrambled eggs with mixed vegetables and a couple tablespoons of low-fat shredded cheese and a whole wheat piece of toast.
For Lunch and Dinner
Take a 10 inch plate and fill one-quarter of the plate with grains (equivalent to about 1 cup or 2 grain servings), one-quarter of the plate with meat or meat substitute (equivalent to about 1 serving of meat or meat/substitute) and half the plate with fruits and vegetables (equivalent to 2-3 servings of vegetables and fruits.)
If your goal is weight loss and you are not losing weight, it is almost always due to one of three reasons:
Your portion sizes are larger than actual serving size equivalents.
You are unaware of certain high-calorie foods being slipped into the preparation process (This often happens when you eat out at restaurants where fats are used more liberally in the preparation process.)
You are unconsciously eating food during the day (nibbling a little here and there) that you are not counting. It all counts.
After adjusting for the points above, if you are still not losing weight, consider cutting back on the number of fat servings allotted in your plan. Fat often gets slipped into the preparation process of food so you usually don't have to go out of your way to get your daily fat servings. Although the good part about fat is that it keeps us feeling full longer, remember that fat has double the amount of calories per gram compared to carbohydrates and protein. So even in small amounts the calories add up quickly.
Finally, remember that any good nutrition plan does not rest on your food intake alone, but should be paired with an increase in your daily activity level as well!