Thinking...

I was looking over the Maintenance program Medifast puts out, to get some more ideas about what it might take to maintain once I reach goal weight, or even to lose more via eating whole foods. I also wanted to compare MY ideal of long term eating to theirs.

I wrote about mine here, just the other day. I found Medifast's here, in the Maintenance Guide. This is their guideline for a day's intake in maintenance:


5 servings of veggies (1 serving = 1 cup raw leafy greens or 1/2 cup raw or cooked other veggies)
2 servings of fruits (1 serving = 1 medium piece or 1/2 cup cubed fruit or berries)
2 servings of low fat dairy (1 serving = 1/2 cup)
9-13 ounces of lean meat, chicken, fish or other protein
0-3 healthy fat servings depending on how lean the protein is for the day (1 serving = 1 tsp oil, 1/2 oz nuts, 1 1/2 oz avocado)
1 serving of whole grains (1 slice whole grain bread, 1/2 cup whole grain pasta, or 1/3 cup brown rice, etc)
3 "healthy fuelings" (A healthy fueling = 90-110 calories and some examples given are: 6 oz plain Greek yogurt, a banana, 2 cups baby carrots, a cup of cauliflower with 2 Tbsp low fat Ranch dip, an apple, 3 cups air popped popcorn, 30 pistachios, celery with 1 Tbsp natural peanut butter, or a Medifast meal.)

This is all supposed to add up to around 1500 calories.

I think it is a good guideline with the exception of the grains. I might be keeping them out entirely. I'm not sure. I think legumes/beans fit in here somewhere also, as a protein, so that would give me some carbs without adding whole grains. In fact, I might even lose weight on that type of plan as long as I was exercising as well. What do you think about using this as a framework for my long term eating plan? I might try it, but keep the grains out until I hit goal, and maybe only have one fruit serving per day until then as well.

*Edited to add: one protein serving = 4-7 oz cooked lean meat or 1 cup of BEANS or lentils :)