So we have discussed why we are going to eat balanced meals and how important hormones are on weight loss, but now we are going to discuss how we do it. If you didn’t read part 1, here it is – Eating balanced meals for weight loss part 1

The best thing about eating in the Zone, is the food charts that come with it. They not only tell you how to balance your meals, they also tell you your portion sizes. This is a huge one. Trust me, I will guarantee your portion sizes are out of whack!

Zone uses blocks instead of calories for measuring meals and whilst it may sound a little complicated at first, it is so easy after a week or two.

1 block of carbs is 9g of carbs

1 block of protein is 7g protein

1 block of fat is 3g fat

You then determine how many blocks you would need to consume for your size, goals and energy output.

Lets say on average a small female who wants to stay trim or lose a bit of bodyfat would eat 11 blocks a day.

Now we all should be eating 5 meals a day, so you would divide 11 blocks by 5 meals.

Breakfast – 2 blocks

Morning tea – 2 blocks

Lunch – 3 blocks

Afternoon tea – 2 blocks

Dinner  - 2 blocks

This now means at breakfast you would consume 2 blocks of carbs, 2 blocks of protein and 2 blocks of fat as per the Zone charts.

At lunch you would consume 3 blocks of carbs, 3 blocks of protein, 3 blocks of fat as per the Zone charts.

And so on for all of the meals of the day.

Making sense? Very simple although it may not sound it right now without first trying it for a week.

I don’t want to make it sound complicated, but if you want to use the charts to eat in the Zone, you will need a set of kitchen scales ( about $35) and a set of measuring cups. Done!

So you go to your charts and simply pick 2 blocks of the carbs of your choice, then pick 2 blocks of protein of your choice and then 2 blocks of fat of your choice and you have a meal.

A simple 2 block dinner example is this;

60g chicken breast = 2 blocks protein

1 cup brocoli, 1 cup bok choy, 4 asparagus spears, 1 teaspoon oyster sauce = 2 blocks carbs

1/3 teaspoon olive oil for cooking, 1/3 teaspoon sesame oil for flavouring = 2 blocks fat

A simple 2 block breakfast example is this;

2 eggs scrambled = 2 blocks protein

1/3 cup cooked oats, 1 cup berries, 1/3 cup milk = 2 blocks carbs

6 cashew nuts = 2 blocks fat

I told you, simple!

Males would obviously need more, but you just work off the charts. After a couple of weeks, you will rarely need the charts, maybe every now and then you might like to check on something, but 90% of the time, it’ll be in your head.

Remember, the main things are portion size and balancing the macronutrients at every meal. You’ll generally know by looking at your plate whether it is balanced or not after just a few weeks.

My tips:

When you buy meat, weight it and freeze it down in portions.

Once you have measured your favourite foods a few times, try to take note of what a portion looks like so you don’t have to measure it all the time.

Enjoy what it feels like to have energy when you have finished a meal, not to feel bogged down and sluggish from a carb overload.

If you are used to eating huge portions, allow a couple of weeks for your stomach to adjust to what a portion size should feel like.

I have deliberately kept my charts private, so please shoot me an email and I will send them over to you asap. You can however find charts on the net, but they may refer more to foods in the US. My charts have been modified to suit the Aussie diet.

Happy eating!

Any questions at all, please post in the comments section because your question is probably the same as what somebody else is thinking and I can answer everyone together.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 at 2:13 pm and is filed under Zone. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.