Eats...

So I've just finished my first week at Structure House and I am officially ten pounds down!  Of course the first week of weight loss is usually the most drastic, with so much water weight coming off, but I have already learned so much.  Our first week was a mega information overload, and we had a ton of classes to learn the ins and outs of nutrition, exercise and living a structured life.  A few days ago, I talked a lot about the fitness regime they recommend and now I thought I'd comment a little bit on the nutrition part.  I'm obviously no expert, and the staff here all admit that there are so many different opinions and plans for a heathy diet, but I'll tell you about what we're learning here.

Most people here are on a 1200 to 1600 calorie a day diet, which varies depending on age, weight, how much you exercise, among other variables.  For an average, I'll give you their recommended eating plan for someone on a 1500 calorie diet, which should be about right for most of you who are fairly active and trying to lose weight.  So here's the sample daily meal plan they have given us:

Starch - 7 servings a day
Fruit - 3 servings a day
Dairy - 2 servings a day
Veggies - 4+ servings a day
Meat/Meat Substitutes - 5 servings a day
Fats - 4 servings a day

This might look like a lot, but before you get too excited, let's talk about what a serving is for each of these categories!  One serving of starches is about an ounce, which is a lot smaller than we might think.  This comes out to about a half a cup of most cereals, half of a sandwich bun/roll, 1/3 cup of rice and only about 1/4 of a bagel.  Now the tears come!  One serving of starches is about 80 calories, and starchy veggies, like corn, peas, squash, and most beans, fit into this category as well.

A lot of people have the misconception that we should stay away from a lot of fruits because they are high in sugar, but it's not the case.  A serving of fruit varies depending on the fruit, but some of the more useful ones are 1 apple, 1/2 banana, 1 cup berries, 1 cup melon, 15 grapes or 1 orange.  Let me know if you have questions about specific fruits.  They say to limit fruit juice intake to less than a serving a day, which is only 1/2 or 1/3 cup...not really worth drinking when you get so much more from eating the actual fruit.  Also, one serving of fruit is approximately 60 calories, so you can think about that when you work them into your daily plan.

We are definitely overloaded with veggies here, which I guess shouldn't be too surprising.  You can get the most bang for your calorie buck.  Generally, one serving is 1/2 cup cooked veggies or 1 cup raw veggies.  Most are 25 calories per serving (minus all of the yummy oils and spices we use to cook them). They suggest cooking them with olive oil and using sodium free spices for flavor.  We definitely get VERY creative here to add flavor to ours!  Some things we like to add are pepper, obviously, as well as garlic or onion powder, and maybe some balsamic vinegar.  There are also some veggies that are less than 20 calories per serving, including celery, cucumber, onions, radishes and salad greens.  You definitely won't be craving veggies when you have this many every day!

Now onto dairy.  Unfortunately they are high in calories for a small serving, so for calorie counters, they aren't the most plentiful in your diet.  One serving of skim to 1% milk is 8 ounces, the same with 6 ounces of non-fat yogurt.  These have about 90 to 110 calories.  Reduced fat milks (8 oz) and yogurts (6 oz) have about 120 calories.  We get most of our dairy servings here from non-fat plain yogurt which can get pretty boring.  Again, creativity comes in handy, and we add fruit, splenda and cinnamon.

The day starts early here and duties call, but i'll finish up with meats and fats later.  Thanks for all of your comments and support, means so much!  If you have questions about any specific foods, I'd be happy to let you know what we've learned.  Love you all and hope you are all doing well!

xoxo