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Please count your breakfast calories: Lunch, Dinner and Snacks. All the drinks your consume daily.

See the calories guide list to help you. Why is it important to have a calorie list? It’s not intended for us to count calories of everything we eat in an obsessed fashion. Not at all. I’ve tried counting calories of everything I ate for an extended period before and it was quite tiring. Counting calories is for dietitians/Nutritionists. However, for you to have a total lifestyle change, these are some of the information you need to learn and know. Hence for this week, we’ll be creating our own calorie list!

Please practice, practice, practice, you need to know how much energy you’re consuming from food that YOU EAT.

Step 1: Write down a list of foods you commonly eat (5 min)

First, start an excel spreadsheet or create a table in a word document. Think about all the foods that you typically eat and write them down. Be exhaustive. Your list should include:

1. Foods you’ve been eating in the past week
2. Foods you want to keep out of your diet but end up eating anyway
3. Any food that you have an interest in eating

Be specific with your items. If you eat fruits, don’t just list “Fruits” since there are many different kinds of fruits and each has a different nutritional information. A good, specific list will be like the one below:

1. Breakafst: 3 slices of bread, 1 teaspoon margarine, 1 teaspoon sugar, ½ cup milk in my tea, 1 fruit

If you require 1200 calories a day. You have already had 1/3^rd of your total intake.

Step 2: Track your food intake this week

Now, as you progress through the day and week, record everything you eat and the portions. Go about it as a usual day without intentionally trying to restrict yourself just because you’re tracking calories. The intent of this exercise is for your to be aware of a number of calories we take in every day with our typical eating habits.

Are we overeating or under-eating every day? We’ll find out soon enough! Next week, (week 3)’s task, we will be calculating our totally daily energy expenditure (TDEE), which will help us identify our energy needs and how much we should consume each day to meet this figure.

YOUR GUIDE TO CALORIE INTAKE

Note: 1 cup = 250mls, ½ cup = 125mls, 1 tbs = 15 ml, 1 tsp = 5 ml,

Starches:

All starches listed below are equivalent to 1 serving (80 kcal)

1/3 Cup Arrow Roots                           ½ Cup Corn ( Maize )                           ½ Cup Porridge

1 Slice Bread                                         ½ Cup Cooked Bananas                       ½ Cup Rice

½ Chapatti                                            ½ Cup Dried Beans                              ½ Cup Sweet Potatoes

1/3 Cup Cassava                                   ½ Cup Irish Potatoes                           1/3 Cup Ugali

½ Cup Cereals                                       ½ Cup Pastas                                         4 tsp of Sugar

Vegetable:

1 serving ( 25 kcal ) = 1 cup raw leafy green vegetables or ½ cup cooked vegetables or

                                                ¾ cup vegetable juice

Beetroot                                                Celery                                    Green Pepper

Broccoli                                 Chives                                    Leeks

Brussel Sprouts                    Courgette                              Lettuce

Cabbages                               Cucumber                             Mushrooms

Capsicum                               French Beans                        Spinach

Carrots                                   Green Peas                            Sukuma Wiki ( Kales )

Tomatoes                               Turnips                                   (And all other Indigenous vegetables not included here)

Fruits

1 serving (60 kcal) = ½ cup juice or I cup cut fruit

Apples                                    Grapes                   Paw paw

Apricots                                 Grapefruit             Pears

Bananas                                 Guavas                   Plums

Bananas                                 Loquats                  sweet melon

Berries                                   Oranges e              Sultanas

Cherries Mangoes                Pineapple              Small fruits

Dates                                      Passion fruit          watermelon

Dairy

1 serving = 80 kcals

30g Cheese (1% fat)                                                                             1 cup fresh milk ( 0.5 % fat )

Ice cream ( ¼ cup, 75 ml or 1 scoop )                                              1 cup yoghurt

1 cup fermented milk ( 0.5 % fat )

Proteins

All the proteins listed below are equivalent to 1 serving (75 kcal )

A palm size of fish (other seafood 30g), 6 small cubes of beef or pork or any kind of meat

1 small piece of chicken without skin (a leg, thigh or breast)

2 table spoons peanut butter and nuts or seeds

½ cup fresh beans

1 egg (adults should not eat more than three eggs per week, they should be preferably boiled)

Note: Nuts should not be used as a major source of protein because they are high in fat.

Processed meats are not recommended because of the high sodium and fat content

Fats, Oils and sugars (use sparingly)

Avacado, Butter, Cakes, Candy’s, Chocolates, nuts, Margarine, Fats, Oils, Sweets, Sour cream

Free foods (foods you can eat as much as you want)

Black tea/coffee/cocoa                      Garlic                      Natural unprocessed spices

Chili                                                        Ginger                    Okra

Coriander                                              Lemon                    Onions

How many calories should you have per day

Weight loss                           20 – 25 calories x Ideal body weight

Maintenance                        30 – 35 calories x Ideal body weight

Weight gain                           40 – 60 calories x Ideal body weight

Note: the calorie allowance depends on your age, gender and physical activity

I deal weight is a BMI of 20-25

ADD THESE EXTRA PORTIONS TO THE BASIC 1200 KCAL EATING PLAN

Portions / kcal                      1400       1600            1800                  2000  

Carbohydrates                     2               3                     4                      5             

Protein                                  1              1                      2                      3        

Fruit                                       –               1                      2                      2        

Vegetables                            add 1-2 extra portions as required

Instructions

• Increase physical activity, it is always better to exercise in the morning ( Walking briskly walks for many people. starting slowly and increasing exercise time 15 minutes double time till they can walk for 1 hour)
• Good nutrition is eating a variety of foods, but remember portion size is very important for your weight loss.
• Include more fiber foods in your diet.
• Processed foods are not included in this list but you can use the calorie guide to estimate calorie from that food.
• Meal plan MUST be individualized.

Note: Females do better on 1200 to 1400 calories and men do better on 1400 to 1600 calories.