The Good Plate: 4 Steps to Easier Meal Prep + Portions for Weight Loss

They say abs are made in the kitchen and we can assure you: It's pretty much true. You cannot out-run/out-squat/out-bench a less-than-savory diet if your goals involve weight loss or fat loss. You cannot expect six-pack abs to come in 10 days (sorry, Pinterest lovers).

Nope.

We may have begun exercising to start reaching our goals. That's already HUGE. Then we muster the courage to confront our nutrition, so we look for help and guidance and see things like this:

Actual results I got when I Googled "What should I eat?"

Rather than digging through endless Google results of fitness myths vs truths and random info, we're here to (hopefully) make the question of "what to eat" a little more simple.

​It doesn't require getting a food calculator out. And it doesn't require eliminating certain kinds of food* from your diet (I mean, you knew there would be an asterisk there, right?). Are you ready?

4 (Preliminary) Steps for Easier Meal Prep 

First, here are 4 preliminary steps for easier meal prep. I say "preliminary" in case this whole thing is totally new to you. You have to start somewhere and this is pretty much Ground Zero: 

1. Choose ahead of time which meals and for which days you're prepping: Breakfast only? Breakfast and lunch Monday-Friday? Dinners for Monday, Tuesday and Thursday? You get the idea. The only wrong answer here is one you're not confident in executing so make sure to start where you are. You can use a handy-dandy meal planning grid if you're a visual person (see below).
2. Flip through cookbooks and food magazines, browse boards on Pinterest and pick out recipes that sound appealing to you.
3. Make a grocery list with the items and quantities you'll need. Remember what we said above; it's more than OK to start where you are so frozen or refrigerated ready-made meals from places like Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and even some things at Target are TOTALLY OK as long as the meal is made with real food.
4. Carve out 1-2 hours some time during the week/weekend when you can prep your food for the week!

Handy-dandy meal planning grid

If all of the above is already pretty doable for you and you'd like to take it to the next level, read on!

4 Steps to Plate Portions for Weight Loss

​Here are the 4 steps to building a better plate that can get you closer to feeling and looking great:

1. Make 1/2 of your plate non-starchy vegetables: This can mean veggies like carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, spaghetti squash, leafy greens... The list goes on. Choose what you like, just pack half of your plate with nutrient-dense, filling, lower-calorie foods. 
2. Make 1/4 of your plate a lean protein: We're talking chicken breast to tofu, shrimp to salmon. 
3. Make 1/4 of your plate a starchy carbohydrate: Rice, quinoa, butternut squash, potato, pasta, etc, can fit in here. You know what else could fit in here? Dessert or a calorie-containing beverage! 
4. Add 1 tbsp healthy fat**: This can be in the form of olive oil; nuts like walnuts, cashews, almonds; avocado.

What might that look like? Let's take a look...

1/2 zucchini with 1 tbsp chopped hazelnuts, 1/4ish chicken, 1/4ish potatoes

1/2 zucchini with 1 tbsp chopped hazelnuts, 1/4ish chicken, 1/4ish donut

1/2 zucchini with 1 tbsp chopped hazelnuts, 1/4ish chicken, 1/8ish potatoes, 1/8ish fruit

The exact amount of food you'll need will be dependent on your own body's metabolism, your lifestyle, and your goals of course, but we feel like this is the best place to start. 

For more help maneuvering through your nutrition and exercise, don't hesitate to contact us! We're here to help.

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* If meal prepping is new to you and you hate cooking but want to dial down portion sizes, go for it! We are all about making things easy--don't feel like you have to eliminate foods. That being said, if your goal is to lose weight and/or fat, please keep in mind the following facts:

• The body processes alcohol and sugar differently than other foods; it will try to prioritize processing those first before other nutrients.
• No matter what you eat, "calories in-calories out" will always be a factor. So... 
  • If you're looking for flat-out weight loss, focus on cutting the AMOUNT of food/drinks you're consuming.
  • If you're looking to get leaner and lose fat, focus on the AMOUNT of food/drinks and on the QUALITY of food -- whole, unprocessed foods over high-added-sugar and heavily manufactured foods.
  • If you're more curious about what it'll take to get to a certain percentage of body fat, check out what we think is the most helpful infographic ever made!

** If you cook with oil or butter and are looking to lose weight or lean out, use caution with this step. For example, dressing your salad with about 1 Tbsp of olive oil counts as your healthy fat, so adding avocado or cheese to that salad may be a calorie bomb. Similarly, sautéing those greens in 1 Tbsp of olive oil counts as your healthy fat. Bottom line: Be thoughtful with your healthy fats :)