Goals, reflections, and sample diet plan

Diet Goals
• Consume 2000 calories or less; consume 1400-2000 calories per day.
• Go to the refrigerator and be patient enough to write a meal plan for the day or week.
• Make sure everyone is included in this plan.
• Make sure the plan is realistic.
• The plan is to follow a realistic schedule.
• Determine if I am really hungry in terms of the foods I eat (per meal).
• Write down trigger foods or drink.
• Read and write down nutrition labels.
• Be specific; write down times, trigger foods, nutrition, meals, and portions.
• Write down number of calories consumed.
• Write down a grocery list that will benefit everyone in the house. Shorten the grocery list.
• Do an inventory.

Edited Diet and Journal Goals

• I don't care to consume more than 2000 calories per day unless stated otherwise to lose weight.
• I will go to the refrigerator and be patient enough to write a meal plan for the day or week, which will be realistic so that I won't end up changing my mind during the day.
•  I will make sure that whenever I write a grocery list, it is healthy and it includes the entire     household.
•  My plan is to follow a realistic diet schedule that is easy to follow.
•  Determine if I am really hungry in terms of the foods I eat (per meal).
•  I will write down trigger foods or drink.
•  Read and write down nutrition labels so that I can track down the specific health contents of my foods.
•  Be specific; write down times, trigger foods, nutrition, meals, and portions.
•  I will shorten the grocery list.
•  Do an inventory of the foods that I will consume for the next day, week, 2 weeks, or month.
•  I will also write down the number of carbs per meal per day.  

Sample Diet Plan I would like to follow:

Breakfast

7:30-9:00 AM

6 oz. yogurt

1/4 cup almonds

# of carbs: A

Level of hunger: not very hungry, moderately hungry, or very hungry: not very hungry

Trigger foods: almonds, especially lightly salted, so measuring almonds would be important

* Breakfast tends to be a rather light meal.  However, breakfast should be the most important meal of the day.  The reason being because there is a greater chance of overeating if no breakfast is consumed.  This breakfast would be around 270 calories.

Snack 1

10:30 AM

2 cut up apples

# of carbs: B

Level of hunger: not very hungry, moderately hungry, or very hungry: not very hungry

Trigger foods: none

* That would be about 200 calories right there.  To tell the truth, I don't eat enough fruit or vegetables for that matter as a snack.  I am not sure how many exact calories this is, so I rounded it off to 200. I watched a video about what 200 calories looks like.  I am amazed as to what goes into 200 calories, which is a lot more than I thought.  Because I struggle with eating foods in moderation, it would be best for me to measure out foods.

Lunch 

11:30 AM-12:30 PM

2 servings vegetables

1 serving meats

2 servings other protein-rich foods (3-oz. natural cheese, 1 boiled egg)

2 servings fruits

1 starch

1 fat

# of carbs: C

Level of hunger: not very hungry, moderately hungry, or very hungry:  moderately hungry

Trigger foods: none

* This would usually be the largest meal of the day.  This would round out to be 500 calories at most. This meal could be a large salad with 1 lice of bread and fruit as a dessert.  The fat would be 2 Tbsp. of salad dressing and the vegetables would be lettuce and tomato for instance.  It seems to me that I am making a chef salad with dressing or at least something that similar to one.  The meat could be one serving of turkey or ham also for instance.

Snack 2

2:00 PM-2:30 PM

1/4 cup dried fruits

# of carbs: D

Level of hunger: not very hungry, moderately hungry, or very hungry: not very hungry

Trigger foods: depends on the fruit, especially dried cherries

* Consuming 1/4 cup of nuts or dried fruit doesn't seem like much but it is more than I thought.  If I can do this more often then it is a great goal towards weight loss. It is also a modest serving compared to what I thought it would be.  The thing is, one serving of dried fruit equals 150-200 calories, depending on the fruit.  Dried cherries would be about 200 calories per serving.

Dinner

4:30 PM-5:30 PM

2 servings vegetables

2 servings fruits

1 serving whole grains

1 serving meat

1 starch

# of carbs: E 

Level of hunger: not very hungry, moderately hungry, or very hungry: moderately hungry

Trigger foods: foods eaten for occasions such as Sunday dinner, Super Bowl Sunday, or a holiday such ice cream or a cake for instance

* One example of a whole grain would equal a wheat or whole grain roll. Consuming 3-oz. of turkey and 2 cups of kale would be examples of what could be a part of the plan. The two fruits would be 1/2 cup of pineapples and a small apple and the starch would be a cup of quinoa.  Using measurements are a good way to gauge what I should consume in the course of a day.  Dinner for me would be a smaller meal than lunch.  This dinner would be approximately 600 calories, which would be a little rare for dinner unless there would be special occasion on hand such as a holiday or a birthday. Even then would I have to learn how to measure out how much to eat and how many calories I would consume.  

Snack 3

6:30 PM-7:30 PM

1 serving cut up carrots

# of carbs: F

Level of hunger: not very hungry, moderately hungry, or very hungry: moderately hungry

Trigger foods: none

* One serving of carrots would equal 12 baby carrots or 2 cut up large carrots, which would be 30-40 calories each.  That would be a rounded total.  Why so late?  I tend to eat more at night than I should. It is as if I eat too late at night and then go to bed.  Consuming more carotene in my diet would be good for either the eyes, or is it the brain at least.

Snack 4

9:00 PM

1/4 cup dried cranberries

# of carbs: G

Level of hunger: not very hungry, moderately hungry, or very hungry: very hungry

Trigger foods: dried fruit, so measuring dried fruit is very important

* Why so late?  Just like the previous snack, the reasoning would be the same.  This snack would be approximately 150 calories.

Approximately total number of calories: 1990

Approximate # of carbs: A+B+C+D+E+F+G < 250-300 Carbs (average amount of carbs consumed per day, at least for me)

* This is an approximate number of calories I would like to consume during the course of a day.  I am not keen on consuming more than 2000 calories per day unless it is for a special occasion. Relaxation and meditation would both be beneficial for helping me in achieving my weight loss goals.  Whatever my goals will be, I realize that I have stressed out on creating a plan and of weight loss.  I will make promises to myself to not allow weight loss to cause so much stress that I will not struggle and continue to struggle.  Over the years, my weight has gone up and down.  I'd rather my weight go down steadily.  My goal is to lose 1/2 lbs. to 2-lbs. per week.  I have set a lot of goals over time.  I have set so many goals that I began to struggle with how much I wanted to lose.  I would like to have an attainable weight goal, which would be about 3-lb to 10-lb per week, which would be attainable. For now, my other goal is to not diet but to eat healthy and live a healthy lifestyle, whatever that would entail.

I plan to make a food plan daily, which I admit would take a lot of patience because it will be more difficult to do compared to a weekly or monthly meal plan yet somehow it works for me.  It would also help to list the trigger foods that I should not consume and maybe consume during the course of a day.  That is why measuring things out is so important.  Also, thinking about and making a plan according to health needs is also of great importance.  Researching and reading up on my health would entail reading up about what the health risks are.  Being on a weight loss journey isn't just about what one consumes, but also what I can do right now in the present.  Moving forward would be a good start.  At least this would also be a lesson learned.