Since
the fall of last year, we’ve been on family diet. Actually we call it
“The Healthy Choices Family Meal Plan”. Catchy, right? I’m a
naturally petite person but my eating habits were really unhealthy, and my
husband wanted to lose weight so I knew we needed a change. I searched
everywhere for a reasonable diet and found nothing. All I wanted was an
easy to follow, sustainable meal plan. I mean do you really think you can
not eat bread for the rest of your life?? If a diet isn’t
sustainable (as in I can do it forever) then it’s useless. So I made up
our own from bits and pieces here and there and from some helpful advice from
people at Chip’s gym.
The
proceeds from the book I write about “THCFMP” were going to fund our
adoption, but since I know less about writing books than I know about making
movies, I’ve decided to go ahead and share our million dollar secret.
There would have been trademark issues anyway :) Good luck to you!
Breakfast:
Fruit + Whole Grain + Protein or Dairy
Ex.1:
1 banana + 1 piece of whole-wheat toast with peanut butter.
Ex.2:
1 cup of grapes + 1 whole-wheat bagel + 1 protein shake
Ex.3:
1 apple + 1 cup oatmeal + 1 boiled egg
Ex.4:
1 cup of berries + 1 whole wheat English muffin + 1 string cheese
Ex.5:
1 orange + 2 Fig Netwon breakfast cookies + 1 cup of yogurt
Do not
skip breakfast! It will get your metabolism going. You will feel
hungry again fairly soon but NO SNACKS! The next thing you eat should be
lunch.
Lunch:
Vegetable + Whole Grain + Rice or Pasta or Potato
Ex.1:
1 cup raw carrots + 1 whole-wheat pita + 1 cup brown rice
Ex.2:
1 cup corn + 1 serving wheat thins* + 1 baked potato with 1 tab butter
Ex.3:
1 cup cherry tomatoes + 1 serving crackers* + 1 cup pasta
Ex.4:
1 cup snap peas + 1 whole-wheat tortilla + 1 cup pasta
Ex.5:
1 cup raw celery + 1 whole-wheat tortilla + 1 cup thin spaghetti
Lunch
should be your biggest meal of the day, but it’s hard to get all that together
in the morning rush. On Sunday nights I cook big batches of rice (or
whatever). This Pampered Chef
Rice Cooker has been a lifesaver! Once cooked, I put in
five separate (1) cup containers. I found these on Amazon but I got mine at
Walmart. Prepare as much as you can on Sunday nights. On the weeks
I don’t do this, we don’t follow our plan and end up eating unhealthy foods all
week.
*These
crackers are not whole grain but we can’t eat the whole grain crackers because
they’re gross. But you must eat only 1 serving, which is usually about
12-16 crackers. We say crackers and chips go on the plate, not the
table. If the bag or box is within reach you will always grab a few more,
so count them out and put the box away.
Dinner:
Vegetable + Lean Meat
Ex.1:
2 cups veggie stir fry in evoo + 2 servings salmon (1 small fillet)
Ex.2:
1 corn on the cob + 2 servings chicken strips fried in evoo
Ex.3:
chicken tortilla soup
Ex.4:
2 cups green beans + 2 servings roast tenderloin or pork tenderloin
Ex.5:
2 cups mixed greens + 2 servings lean cut hamburger steak
There
are no carbohydrates with dinner. No rice, no bread, no nothing! We try
to
follow a
rule of no carbs after 5:00 pm. This will take some getting used to for
sure. Also, dinner is over in about 10 minutes, which is also an
adustment. But think of the easy cleanup!
Saturday:
Free For All Baby!
This is
super important! Pick one day a week and eat whatever you want, however
much you want, whenever you want (Saturday starts right after 11:59 pm Friday
night). If we didn’t have one day a week to look forward to I’m pretty
sure we would have given up soon after starting. If you’re dying for some
Chubby Hubby then buy some, just put it in the back of the freezer so you won’t
see it until Saturday.
Sunday:
Simple, Simple, Simple
Breakfast:
Oatmeal or cereal bars or cold cereal
Lunch:
Sandwiches, plain pasta, or pb&j
Dinner:
As long as I’ve been alive I’ve eaten cold cereal on Sunday nights. I
remember laughing in scorn at Chip’s naivety in expecting a Sunday night
meal when we were first married. You got the wrong girl captn'!
Between
church and preparing for the week ahead, Sundays are super busy for us.
You may have a day that is busier than others as well. Just wanted to
point out that most people can’t follow the plan every day of the week.
Some
Caveats:
Do we
follow this exactly every week? Heck no, but we’re trying.
And even with our bad weeks, we’ve seen progress. We've reduced the
amount that we eat out to twice a week. We did this to save the bucks,
but I think it’s one reason we’ve seen so much progress in weight loss.
Flavor
Tips:
We are
non-saucers, meaning we hate all condiments, so skipping the dressings, etc.
isn’t hard for us. But if you need your food to be gooey just add some
extra virgin olive oil with some Italian seasonings mixed in. Don’t be
afraid to add dry spices, for example I sprinkle on a little cinnamon and fry
the tortilla in evoo and it’s delicious. Cumin is great in rice.
Disclaimer:
this is completely made up by me. I have absolutely no medical or
nutritional expertise. If you need help with a spreadsheet or database
I’m your guy. Otherwise I’m fairly useless. But it’s worked for
us. And quite a few people have asked me about it, so here it is.
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