USDA MyPlate
Leana088
Posts: 581 Member
Do you think it will be easy to maintain if you follow the MyPlate rule for 3 meals a day?
That is: 1/2 your plate should be fruit/veg, 1/4 protein and the remaining 1/4 starch?
That is: 1/2 your plate should be fruit/veg, 1/4 protein and the remaining 1/4 starch?
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I should also add, this is if you are considering not counting in maintenance. Do you think it would be a good framework?0
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Lots of people would also benefit from simply using a smaller plate.
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Yep. I think the usda myplate is a good start. It would help to have a game plan for snacks, but if doing 3 squares a day is preferred, I think ito a good idea.0
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I think that it could be a great meal plan for the most part.
However...
I think that it isn't so simple. My vegetable dishes can at times be fairly high calorie dense. At times with my cooking...I could do the MyPlate and still be way over in calories.
If you are just doing steamed...baked...then I think it would work without doing all the measuring and calculating. For me however...I can't stand just "steamed" vegetables.0 -
beemerphile1 wrote: »Lots of people would also benefit from simply using a smaller plate.
I use salad plates for the most part. You can pack a lot of calories on those smaller plates. Picture a 8" plate stacked 8" high! LOL
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I think that it could be a great meal plan for the most part.
However...
I think that it isn't so simple. My vegetable dishes can at times be fairly high calorie dense. At times with my cooking...I could do the MyPlate and still be way over in calories.
If you are just doing steamed...baked...then I think it would work without doing all the measuring and calculating. For me however...I can't stand just "steamed" vegetables.
They're great with cheese and barbeque seasoning.
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I don't know. 1/4 plate of meat is a LOT of meat. And 1/4 plate of starch is a lot of starch too...0
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My doctor advocates this plan. It does however presume that you are eating plain/lean options without much fat, sugar, etc. included. It's too vague for me because my calorie allotment is too small, as appealing as it sounds at the outset. It *is* useful for if you are at someone else's house, a restaurant, etc and you have no way of gauging calories accurately. You can use this as a guideline to get you through that particular situation.0
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Depends on the size of the plate and your TDEE, and caloric content of the food on said plate.
actually plate size doesn't matter, just the amount of calories on the plate.
If you don't want to count then you will have to test it out... eat like that for 3-4 weeks, weigh yourself and adjust plate size or food options accordingly0 -
Do you think it will be easy to maintain if you follow the MyPlate rule for 3 meals a day?
That is: 1/2 your plate should be fruit/veg, 1/4 protein and the remaining 1/4 starch?
I've actually been exploring the usda's calorie tracking site today (Super Tracker), which is built around the MyPlate idea. It was free to sign up and I might use it as an MFP alternative if things get weird with the whole premium upgrade thing going on right now. It's kind of a neat site-you might be interested in checking it out
eta:-as for the three meals a day thing, that's a preference thing. I usually only eat two meals a day (break my daily fast at around 11am with my biggest meal of the day and then eat a smaller meal at around 5pm). If you like eating in a 3-meal format than sure, go for it. But, that in itself won't help/hinder you in maintenance.0 -
I think if you took the population as a whole, most would benefit from starting with My Plate...and really, that's pretty much what I do except I eat more protein.0
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I think that people who have no food issues or less serious food issues might be able to maintain a normal weight simply by following the MyPlate guidelines and not counting anything. I doubt this would work for me, however, since I tend to think food portions are quite a bit smaller than they actually are when I weigh them.0
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Weight loss boils down to CICO (calories in < calories out). I would think if you're using whole ingredients without a lot of extras, this would probably work. However, if you're adding in butter, sugar, dairy fats, etc, it would be very easy to go over your daily calorie allotment. The only foolproof way to know exactly what you're taking in is by weighing and logging everything separately.
Plus, it's been shown time and time again that humans are, surprisingly, exceptionally bad at estimating.0 -
SomeGirlSomewhere wrote: »I think that people who have no food issues or less serious food issues might be able to maintain a normal weight simply by following the MyPlate guidelines and not counting anything. I doubt this would work for me, however, since I tend to think food portions are quite a bit smaller than they actually are when I weigh them.
I struggle with this too! When I started my weight loss I always underestimated. Now that I've lost it, I overestimate, the opposite problem. I'd think I'm eating 200g chicken when I'm really eating 80g.
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We recently switched our dinnerware set from a fairly large stoneware one to a more kid-friendly Corelle set, and it's made a big difference in choosing appropriate serving sizes. With the old set, a plateful of spaghetti was about 3lbs worth, and a bowl full of Cheerios would be 3 cups with room to spare.
Being content with 4oz of meat on a plate is a lot easier if there's not a whole bunch of empty space all around it.0 -
We recently switched our dinnerware set from a fairly large stoneware one to a more kid-friendly Corelle set, and it's made a big difference in choosing appropriate serving sizes. With the old set, a plateful of spaghetti was about 3lbs worth, and a bowl full of Cheerios would be 3 cups with room to spare.
Being content with 4oz of meat on a plate is a lot easier if there's not a whole bunch of empty space all around it.
I also do this. I've found about the perfect size for myself. Not too much and not too little. Because these days if I estimate I eat too little instead of too much. And then I wonder why I'm hungry again an hour after eating. Guess I'm not quitting weighing food soon.0 -
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Everyone is different, but for me personally I don't think it would be a realistic goal. I'd either feel too deprived or reach for a BIG plate... they never specified the plate size so my little twisted mind would find a way around it until I ate myself back to my original weight. I need to be held more accountable than that :x0
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For me it's a good basic template. It's similar to how I lost before and maintained for years without counting, and similar to how I eat now (I count, but to keep track, not to figure out how much to eat).
Obviously you could cheat the system if you wanted to.
I do it for dinner, mostly, and sometimes for lunch, but I also sometimes replace starch with fruit or dairy for at least one meal. I have a couple breakfast alternatives that I rotate, and my main one doesn't really fit the pattern (no starch--eggs, veggies, dairy, and fruit instead).0 -
This counts as one plate, right?
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Yes. Also, when should I be over on Friday for supper?chivalryder wrote: »This counts as one plate, right?
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1/2 plate sounds like a lot of fruit to me -- a lot of carbs and sugar
The plan also seems to be missing some food groups. What are you supposed to do with peanut butter? It's protein but very calorie dense and should probably not fill 1/4 of your plate0 -
oreo_*kitten* wrote: »1/2 plate sounds like a lot of fruit to me -- a lot of carbs and sugar
The plan also seems to be missing some food groups. What are you supposed to do with peanut butter? It's protein but very calorie dense and should probably not fill 1/4 of your plate
Read again.. 1/2 is fruit and veggies (most likely most or all would be veggies)
It is a flawed idea, due to the calorie density difference among the things that can fill the spot on the plate
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oreo_*kitten* wrote: »1/2 plate sounds like a lot of fruit to me -- a lot of carbs and sugar
The plan also seems to be missing some food groups. What are you supposed to do with peanut butter? It's protein but very calorie dense and should probably not fill 1/4 of your plate
Peanut butter is not a protein. It's a fat. You shouldn't use it to increase your protein intake.0 -
oreo_*kitten* wrote: »1/2 plate sounds like a lot of fruit to me -- a lot of carbs and sugar
The plan also seems to be missing some food groups. What are you supposed to do with peanut butter? It's protein but very calorie dense and should probably not fill 1/4 of your plate
Read again.. 1/2 is fruit and veggies (most likely most or all would be veggies)
It is a flawed idea, due to the calorie density difference among the things that can fill the spot on the plate
MyPlate and other diets that encourage this type of "filling your plate" also encourage portions sizes and calorie limits. Dash is similar to the MyPlate and both discuss calorie counts. I have checked in to both plans.
Dash I know has different calorie levels starting at 1400...you just adjust your number of servings to fit what you need.
It is not a free for all.
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not sure it would work for me.
I eat veggies and starches but I prefer my protein to be more than "normal"
the Min recommended aren't in line with my goals.
I will continue to log and weigh/measure my food...better than guessing and being wrong.0 -
Do you think it will be easy to maintain if you follow the MyPlate rule for 3 meals a day?
That is: 1/2 your plate should be fruit/veg, 1/4 protein and the remaining 1/4 starch?
For me it wouldn't. It confuses me. Fruit and vegetables belong to two different groups, and I don't have fruit for dinner, maybe dessert, but I don't have dessert every day. Where's the fat?
My dinners are usually like this: 1/3 fatty protein (fish/meat), 1/3 starch, 1/3 vegetables.
All other meals should contain some source of fatty protein and vegetable. Some of the meals will contain starch and/or fruit. Ideally three servings of fruits and one serving of nuts per day, and dairy. As varied as possible and no diet foods if I can avoid it. Keeping an eye on calories and macros in addition to this, makes me confident I'll maintain weight and health quite effortlessly.
I'll eat anything I want, but not everything at once, and not all the time 0 -
HappyCampr1 wrote: »oreo_*kitten* wrote: »1/2 plate sounds like a lot of fruit to me -- a lot of carbs and sugar
The plan also seems to be missing some food groups. What are you supposed to do with peanut butter? It's protein but very calorie dense and should probably not fill 1/4 of your plate
Read again.. 1/2 is fruit and veggies (most likely most or all would be veggies)
It is a flawed idea, due to the calorie density difference among the things that can fill the spot on the plate
MyPlate and other diets that encourage this type of "filling your plate" also encourage portions sizes and calorie limits. Dash is similar to the MyPlate and both discuss calorie counts. I have checked in to both plans.
Dash I know has different calorie levels starting at 1400...you just adjust your number of servings to fit what you need.
It is not a free for all.
Lol. I was trying to imagine myself going to one of these sites, and trying to adjust each portion to fit in a plate and get my calories and then figuring the adjustments I'd have to make in order to get all my macros and nutrients. My brain froze up and screamed at me.
For some reason, it just hit me that that sounded like way more work than just weighing and logging my food here. Idk. Maybe to other people it seems easy. To me, it's just that one step too much to make me want to do it.
All that either MyPlate and Dash are doing is encouraging a balanced diet. Neither restricts any food group.
I already try to balance out my diet and am partially using the Dash diet format...3-4 servings of vegetables...3 serving of fruit...5 servings of grains...etc...etc.
I weigh and measure everything.
The main thing that I have come to realize...what constitutes a serving.
I have hypertension so I am working my way to completely following the Dash diet (which is similar to MyPlate minus some of the sodium). Neither diet advocates not counting calories but for those that don't want to measure and way it is an option.
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kommodevaran wrote: »Do you think it will be easy to maintain if you follow the MyPlate rule for 3 meals a day?
That is: 1/2 your plate should be fruit/veg, 1/4 protein and the remaining 1/4 starch?
For me it wouldn't. It confuses me. Fruit and vegetables belong to two different groups, and I don't have fruit for dinner, maybe dessert, but I don't have dessert every day. Where's the fat?
My dinners are usually like this: 1/3 fatty protein (fish/meat), 1/3 starch, 1/3 vegetables.
All other meals should contain some source of fatty protein and vegetable. Some of the meals will contain starch and/or fruit. Ideally three servings of fruits and one serving of nuts per day, and dairy. As varied as possible and no diet foods if I can avoid it. Keeping an eye on calories and macros in addition to this, makes me confident I'll maintain weight and health quite effortlessly.
I'll eat anything I want, but not everything at once, and not all the time
The Dash diet recommends 27%...I think that the percentage for MyPlate is similar.
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