Diet Meal Plans Q & A

John Wheeler asked:


Successful weight loss is achieved through a combination of good habits and lifestyle changes. Exercise and a healthy, balanced and nutritional diet will help you to achieve your weight loss goals and feel great along the way. Eating well and healthily needn’t be the painful and miserable activity that many people think it is, in fact there are many options open to you and you may be surprised at just what you can eat.

The reality TV show “The Biggest Loser” has done a great job at showing just how effective a sensible and balanced diet plan can be, and the recipes below which featured on the show and used by the contestants, will show you how creative you can be, and will help you to create your own biggest loser recipes at home. The recipes are a starter, a main course and a srumptious dessert (with plenty of fruit).

Give these recipes a try and see if you too can become a big loser!

Biggest Loser Recipe No. 1

Blue Team’s Appetizer – Fried Scallops with Melted Onions

Serves 4

8 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 pound sweet onions, peeled and sliced thin

Salt and freshly ground pepper

2 egg whites

1 cup fine cornmeal

1 ½ pounds large sea scallops (U-10 count, preferably)

¼ cup cooking oil

1 cup canned diced tomato

Juice of half a lemon

4 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

1. Heat a medium saucepan over low heat. Add 3 tablespoons of butter and onions to pan and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook for about 15 minutes – until onions have softened, stirring occasionally. Uncover and allow water to evaporate. Onions should have the texture of marmalade.

2. Meanwhile, in a shallow bowl, whisk the egg whites. Spread the cornmeal over a plate. Toss scallops in egg whites until fully coated. Remove one scallop at a time, allowing the excess egg white to drip off, and roll in the cornmeal. Shake off excess and season.

3. Heat a large sauté pan over high heat. Add oil and let it get hot. Carefully place scallops in pan one at a time and fry until first side is deep brown and crisped, about 2 minutes. Turn and cook on second side until interior is completely opaque and outside is brown, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain and cover lightly with aluminum foil to keep warm.

4. Drain oil from the sauté pan and dab clean with a paper towel. Set the pan over medium heat and add remaining butter. When the butter has browned, add the tomato and sauté 1 minute. Stir in lemon juice and chives. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

5. Serve the fried scallops over the melted onions with tomato-lemon sauce spooned over all.

Biggest Loser Recipe No. 2

Roger Clemens – Pepper Steak

Serves 4

3 ½ cups Free-Range Chicken Broth, low sodium

Fresh ground pepper and NuSalt

1 cup short-grain brown rice

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

12 Anaheim peppers

Pam spray

4 5-ounce portions lean beef tenderloin

1 vidalia onion, slice thinly

5 cloves chopped garlic

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

½ cup Trader Joes Fat Free Salt-Free Marinara

½ cup Evaporated Fat Free Milk

½ cup chopped fines herbs (parsley, chives, tarragon and chervil)

Pinch of cayenne

1. Bring 2 cups chicken broth to boil in medium saucepot. Season with NuSalt and add rice. Cover, turn down heat to very low simmer and cook for 1 hour or until rice is tender and liquid absorbed. Fluff rice with fork and toss with olive oil. Keep warm.

2. Char Anaheim peppers over an open flame, turning to cook evenly, until skins are mostly burnt. Place peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap for 7 mins to steam off skin. Remove as much charred skin as possible with paper towel. Seed peppers and cut into rings about ½ inch thick.

3. Heat large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Season and spray pan with Pam. Saute until golden brown, about 4 mins per side. Remove steaks from pan and keep warm.

4. Spray pan with Pam again and add onions. Saute until onions are starting to become tender, about 5 mins. Add garlic and sauté for another minute. Deglaze with balsamic vinegar. Add 1 cup chicken stock to pan and bring to a simmer. Mix remaining ½ cup chicken stock with cornstarch to make a slurry and whisk into pan. Stir in marinara and evaporated milk and bring to a simmer. Add peppers, cayenne and simmer until vegetables are tender. Return beef to pan to reheat, for about 2 mins. Stir in fines herbs. Serve with rice.

Biggest Loser Recipe No. 3

Strawberry Mousse Cups

3/4 cup boiling water

1 pkg. JELL-O brand strawberry flavor sugar free low calorie gelatin

2 cups thawed cool whip-free whipped topping, divided

1 cup ice cubes

2 cups sliced strawberries

1. First, divide strawberries among 6 dessert dishes.

2. Stir boiling water into gelatin in large bowl at least 2 minutes until completely dissolved.

3. Add ice cubes and stir until completely melted.

4. Gently stir in 1-1/2 cups of the whipped topping until well blended.

5. Spoon over strawberries. Refrigerate 2 hours or until firm.

6. Garnish with remaining 1/2 cup whipped topping.

I hope you try these delicious biggest loser recipes for yourself, and have fun by eating a healthier and more balanced diet – the biggest loser diet.

Fit Yummy Mummy!

Lynne Jones asked:


A meal plan diet is a healthy choice for long term weight loss. There are hundreds of diet plans to choose from. Some have weathered the test of time and others are just popping onto the horizon. If you’re like most people you have gone from plan to plan looking for the right one to fit you. The plan itself can be the biggest determinant of whether you lose weight or not. Regardless of what it promises, if it is poorly put together, you won’t lose weight. Run the other way when you see a diet plan that promises to lose weight quickly and easily. Weight loss is hard work; it takes discipline and determination. It is much harder to lose weight than it was to put it on. The most effective diet plan is one that allows you to lose weight and keep it off.

A meal plan diet has many advantages:

Helps you to eat healthy. When planning meals, you pick foods from each of the required food groups to make up each meal. When you eat healthy, your body works better and learns how to burn fat more efficiently. When your metabolism increases, you burn more calories.

Gives you flexibility. You can vary the types of food you eat as long as you stay within the boundaries of the meal plan diet. Foods that on some diet plans might be called cheating, you can eat, because by incorporating some of these ‘wants’ into your meal plan, it just becomes part of the meal. You can’t have pizza every meal but you can make the plan a lot easier to stick with by including some of your favorite foods in moderation.

Helps with portion control. Many times we know how many calories we want to eat for the day but we struggle to get the right mix of nutrients. How many calories from fat, carbohydrates or fiber do we need? A well designed meal plan diet will plan all that out for you.

Saves money and time. By planning your meals ahead of time, you can save money at the grocery store by not buying food on impulse. You make your list and stick to it. Planning your meals also keeps you from eating fast food, even if you pick something off the healthy menu.

Most meal plan diets recommend that you eat several small meals throughout the day. This keeps your body’s metabolism running at a higher rate, thereby burning calories more efficiently. 5 meals made up of about 300 calories each gives most people the needed calories to stay healthy and feel full and just few enough to be able to lose weight.

A computerized meal planner is a valuable tool in a meal plan diet. It is not enough to know that we need to eat 1500 to 1800 calories a day. A meal planner will actually tell you what you should eat, how much of it to eat, and when to eat it.

Fit Yummy Mummy!

Tina Bardo asked:


In this article we are going to take a look at one of the most pressing questions many potential “medifasters” ask on their way to losing weight and feeling great! “Is the Medifast Diet Easy….or am I going to feel HUNGRY all of the time?” Let’s be honest. No matter HOW much you want to lose weight, feeling hungry, tired and depressed because your body feels STARVED of it’s proper nutrients is NO fun, right? I’ve been there if you haven’t….and can tell you from first hand experience, it’s NO fun at all! So continue reading as we explore the benefits of a meal replacement diet, and see if it’s the long lost answer YOU’VE been looking for on your weight loss journey. Read on..:-)

Am I going to be HUNGRY all the time on Medifast?

This is a GREAT question, and while I can’t get inside your head obviously….I can tell you that for myself (and 99% of the folks I talk to)…the answer is a RESOUNDING no! Why is that you ask? It’s quite simple. Medifast provides for 6 meals over the course of a day. 5 of these meals are replacement meals ( shakes, bars, etc) and one of the meals is going to be a lean and green selection that YOU prepare of your choosing. (fish, beef, chicken, tofu, etc)

Ok….Sounds Good but How Can You Drink SHAKES All Day?

Another great question….and SOME meal replacement diets are exactly that! The Medifast menu extends FAR beyond simple shakes, and WELL into just about all kinds of foods you would find yourself ordinarily eating. There are over 70 selections from the replacement menu, and only a VERY small fraction are shakes! Eggs, soups, bars, puddings, coffee and fruit drinks and much, MUCH more. And don’t forget, as we’ve just seen above, you are going to be having a “normal” meal everyday as well…just with a HEALTHY bent for a change to keep you looking GREAT and feeling even better to boot!

Fit Yummy Mummy!

Tina Bardo asked:


What is the best meal replacement diet? And is picking a program where the calories are already counted and measured the best way to lose weight fast? How about taste? Or cost? Or success rate? In this article we are going to take a closer look at why we believe the Medifast diet is the BEST meal replacement program on the market today, and why over 15,000 doctors, (and over one million dieters!) appear to agree! Read on..:-)

Reason #1: Medifast is Scientifically Formulated, Nutritionally Balanced and Super Successful

Aren’t all meal replacement diets created equally? Absolutely not! The truth? Some nutritional bars, shakes and snacks you’ll find in health food stores ( and supermarkets) are LOADED with fat, calories and carbs. Some programs are actually designed for bodybuilder who want to GAIN weight. Others are simply made to taste good…and “trick” you into thinking you are on a diet. Medifast is designed specifically for folks who NEED to lose weight…and does that one job amazingly well.

Reason #2: Medifast is Proven To Work (in the lab….AND in real life as well!)

Yes, the average weight loss in the lab (during the famous John Hopkins University Studies) was well NORTH of 50 pounds a person. Equally as impressive? The real world weight loss stories of people like you and I. Medifast is low calorie, high protein and low fat. You WILL lose weight on this diet if you follow through!

Reason #3: Cost!

Yes, the economy is bad, right? We all agree that times are tough. The cost of Medifast? About 10 bucks a day. Or 300 a month…and that includes your 5 Medifast meals per day. ( you are only responsible for your one lean and green self prepared meal) The truth is…most of us spend more than on junk food on a daily basis….turning that modest investment into long term health, wellness and a GREAT body now is a smart savings for sure!

Fit Yummy Mummy!