A Healthy Meal Plan for Weight Loss and Optimal Health

A healthy meal plan for weight loss and optimal health consists of two key components:

Eating Five Times Each Day
Using The New Food Pyramid As A Guide

Eating Five Times Each Day
Contrary to what you may have been told by some of those fad diets out there, a healthy meal plan consists of actually eating more...not less. You want to strive for three meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and two snacks in between those meals.

A more effective strategy is to take your total calorie intake for a day and divide that number by five or six. That will give you the number of calories to aim for per "eating session." This method will require you to look at eating a different way. Instead of looking at your eating schedule as, "three meals and two snacks," look at it as five to six "eating sessions" per day. This strategy will ensure that you spread your calories evenly throughout the day instead of having three big meals and two small meals/snacks.

It might make sense to limit your calorie intake to lose weight but it is totally inaccurate. Don't fall into the trap of believing that only starvation and depriving yourself of food will help you lose weight. Cutting back on your food and total calories will actually work against you.

Your metabolism needs food to keep it elevated. Think of your metabolism as a fire. If you don’t keep throwing wood on the fire, it will slowly burn out. You need to spread your calories throughout the day to keep your metabolism “burning” throughout the day. If you eat throughout the day you’ll keep your metabolism working throughout the day. Skipping meals and limiting your calorie intake will actually cause your metabolism to slow down, putting your body in a starvation mode.

You also want to avoid having only one or two large meals each day. Having only one or two large meals each day will only give your metabolism a one-time boost after each meal. Remember, the goal of a healthy meal plan is to keep your metabolism burning all day long...not in spurts. A large amount of food also causes your body to release insulin, which in turn causes your body to store fat. The most effective and healthy meal plan is to spread your calories evenly through five or six meals per day.

The specific number of calories you consume on a daily basis is an individual matter. It depends on your weight loss goals, genetics, body size, gender, current metabolic rate and a number of other factors. The point is that there is no “one size fits all” calorie diet. A red flag should go up if any diet or weight loss plan you are currently following gives you a "one-size fits all" calorie plan.

Here are some points to consider as you plan your calorie intake. You should never consume less than 1,200 calories in a day without consulting your physician. Frankly, I can't think of a scenario where you'd ever want to consume so few calories but if you insist, by all means consult your physician.

Second point, you have to "lose" 3,500 calories to lose one pound of body fat. That may sound like a lot, but if you break it down it's actually simpler to achieve than you think. You only have to consume 500 fewer calories each day or increase your activity level to burn an additional 500 calories each day. By making small adjustments to your diet or your exercise program, you should easily be able to find ways to "lose" 500 calories each day.

So the obvious question is, do I need to count calories? The simple answer is yes, but it doesn't have to be as daunting as it sounds. I'm no dummy and I realize that very few people actually count calories and if they do, I realize most fall off the wagon sooner or later and stop counting. I completely understand because it's unrealistic to count calories on a daily basis unless you're a serious athlete training for an event.

Tom Venuto, a certified personal trainer and fat loss expert, wrote an article I highly recommend you read called, The Truth about Counting Calories. In his article, he discusses the challenges of counting calories and provides a realistic and practical solution to counting calories without actually counting them. Confused? Give his article a read and it will all make sense!

Using The New Food Pyramid As A Guide
After 13 years without an updated food pyramid, we finally have been given a new food pyramid by the United States Department of Agriculture. It is much better than the previous version and a great place to start when putting your healthy meal plan together.

One of the major reasons why the government decided to create a new food pyramid was to address the continuing rise of diet-related health issues such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Also, the government finally decided that it should make physical exercise a part of this newer version of the pyramid because most Americans apparently aren’t getting the hint that sitting around all day is just not good for them. This is why you now see a person climbing the pyramid to emphasize the need for physical activity.

What I also like about the new pyramid is that it takes in account different age groups and can be customized to each person using it. It is no longer a “one-size-fits-all” pyramid and I think that is a great idea. Above all, I love that this new version of the food pyramid has finally harmonized healthy meal planning with exercise. I cannot stress enough that one without the other is both unhealthy and a waste of time if you are trying to lose weight. Now that the federal government has integrated exercise (physical activity) into the new food pyramid, hopefully people will stop thinking that diet alone is the cause of their weight problems.

I am impressed with this new food pyramid and I strongly recommend you use it as a basis for putting together your healthy meal plan. You can check out the new food pyramid by visiting the USDA website.