How to Make YourMeals Less Monotonous/More Flexible When on a Weight Loss Plan

Because not everyone is a machine that can eat the same thing day in and day out, and it is really about learning to create healthier meals and make healthier choices so you get lean and stay lean, right?

So - evaluate your recipes and learn to clean them up, make healthier substitutions or find cleaner versions online (or ask me..I love food and renovate recipes all the time).

When your plan calls for a certain protein amount, or carb amount, you just need to know comparable sources of protein or carbs and figure out the amount that gives you what you need.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/poultry-products/703/2

Most recipes now days have nutrient information, if they don't there are sites that let you enter a recipe's ingredients and calculate the nutritional information.

http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp

It seems tedious, but once you have done your recipe, you will always have that information at your fingertips.

Once you have the nutrition information you can figure out your serving size.If the recipe has the right amount of carbs per serving but falls short on protein, figure out how to bump the protein content.

I fear I am making this all sound way more complicated than it is. If you love a recipe, streamline it and enjoy it.

I try to keep plans super simple, people get flustered but really - if your plan says for dinner 4oz chicken/1 cup vegetables/3oz baked potato...

You can swap in any protein that is lean (pork, chicken, lean beef, fish, egg/egg whites)

You can have any vegetables in any combination you want. they can be stir-fried/sauteed/steamed/roasted/raw...

Your fats can come from olive oil when cooking, flax when making dressings, nuts, avocados, hard cheeses in moderation, lowfat dairy... what am I miissing?

your starchy carbs can be any whole grain - cornmeal products, rice, potato, sweet potato, oats, quinoa, beets, millet, grits...whole grain breads (buy the non-high fructose corn syrup kind and expect that the more you spend, the healthier it typically is, Ezekial bread, dave's bread, etc are probably best choices)

So a meal like the one above

Could be a quinoa or millet pilaf, or rice pilaf full of vegetables of your liking, pine nuts and seasoning, you could even include the chicken and make it a one dish meal. easier if you have the pilaf as a side for portioning out if different family members eat different amounts. Could be a paella, a risotto, whatever - make the things you like with healthier ingredients and play with them to make them fit your plan.

or it could look like this:

Lean Beef stew with potatoes (about half the amounts you need for your plan per person) carrots, onions, garlic, etc. and a piece of crusty whole grain bread (equal to the other half of your starchy carbs, AND a salad.

Here is one of my favorite meals :

Roasted whole chicken with a teriyaki or garlic glaze (the kids like the legs/thighs wings, the adults eat the breast meat)

mashed or baked sweet potatoes( or oven fries) with smart balance and pepper

green beans with a little sesame/chile and sugarfree maple syrup made into a drizzle over the top.

I post recipes a lot..I try to include nutrient data...I love creating lean versions of things if I can't find a version in one of my millions of cookbooks or online..so ASK! I will help you find things that fit your plan :)

I hope this helps.

Feel free to message me or post directly to me with questions :)