Wonder what 300 calories looks like? 300 calories look drastically different when you’re eating in instead of dining out. Choosing healthier, more nutritious foods–at home and away–means you can eat much more food and still lose weight. Check out these 18 meal comparisons to see for yourself, share forward this story to your friends!

Breakfast: 300-Calorie Meals & Portions
Here are three morning meals that each weigh in at 300 calories. Healthy and quick homemade meals (left column) pack whole grains, fresh fruit, and protein–a filling combination that will keep you fuller longer. You could only eat a fraction of the comparable restaurant meals (right column) for the same number of calories.

Lunch: 350-Calorie Meals & Portions
These midday meals contain 350 calories each–the perfect amount to keep you going without wrecking your diet. Packing one of the homemade lunches on the left doesn’t take long, and look at all those low- cal and filling veggies you’ll get! Notice how seemingly healthy options like the restaurant foods on the right can be very misleading! Those 350-calorie portions are pretty small.

Dinner: 400-Calorie Meals & Portions
Many people consume a larger meal at night, so we picked 400-calorie dinners here. By combining whole grains with lean protein and vegetables, these homemade dinners (left column) are a snap to prepare–and they’ll keep the late-night munchies at bay! In contrast, the high-fat and high-calorie meals on the right don’t offer much in the way of nutrition or volume.

The bottom line is that you can eat more and lose weight when you know how to pick the right foods and the right portions. Use the images and portions above as a guide to create your own healthy, diet-friendly and nutritious meals every day!

–By Nicole Nichols, Health Educator

January 11, 2011 officially marks fourteen days on the Master Cleanse. Sixteen pounds down and fourteen of that is all muscle, which sucks! My plan now is to double up and add thirty- two pounds back to my now one hundred and fifty pound frame. This should lead to a faster time on the track being that I am lighter but I’ve also lost strength so we will have to see. Today will be my first day back on the track and in the gym. I always want to pick up where I left off after having time off from the track and gym but quickly realize that I am not in the same place. The track workout will consist of a thirty minute warm-up and about thirty minutes of sprints, starting at fifty meters all the way up to four hundred meters. From there I plan on heading to the weight room for a light total body workout to include bench press, leg press, and a back exercise. I’ll complete this same workout for the remainder of the week for at least 3 times.

Eating is going to be a beautiful thing as I now have to up my daily caloric need from three thousand calories to four, this will probably be achieved by adding an extra protein drink are two. I also plan to increase my morning egg whites from three to four, slices of toast from 2 to 3, and my oatmeal to 2 bowls instead of 1.
I love a challenge and this plan is going to do just that. If I am able to complete it, I will be at the highest weight I’ve ever achieved at one hundred eighty plus pounds! I’m so excited, I’ll keep you posted…….

Madison Chase is a certified personal trainer whose clientele include A-List celebrities, entertainment industry executives, and professional athletes. Her career in health and fitness began more than 26 years ago. She began as a classical ballerina and professional dancer (11 years) to date and has since trained more professional athletes as well as Hollywood’s A-list celebrities (15 years). Through her fitness & empowerment coaching she gives all her clients the celebrity treatment by empowering their lives physically, emotionally and spiritually. Madison began her training in fitness as a young classical ballerina. She has trained with Fort Worth Ballet, Julliard, and School of American Ballet, Houston Ballet, Interlochen School of the Performing Arts, Arts Magnet High School and Alvin Ailey. To date she has appeared in more than 360 fitness videos, info-mercials, and fitness related industry media. Some of her major fitness videos have included the number one selling Gunnar Peterson “ Core Secrets”, Kendle Hogan’s Fit TV” Celebrity Workout,” Barry Bootcamp’s Workout Series,” The Number 1 Selling “South beach Supercharged DVD,” Karen Voight “Sleek Essentials,” and One of Body By Jakes Fitness Models.
Madison has a wide range of experience in radio, TV, print and online media outlets. She hosted a “LIVE” weekly fitness program on Dallas’ NBC affiliate entitled “Workout Wednesday,” and a segment of YourLATV. She is also a co-host of Atlanta based radio show POWERTALK FM and has her own fitness segment called “ HE SAID, SHE SAID” A Red Carpet Host/Press Junket Interviewer with some of the hottest celebrities for Blacktree TV Media. As a fitness writer, her articles have been published in Eclipse magazine, www.eurweb.com, www.dallasblack.com, and www.eclipsedfw.com. As a fitness model she has appeared in magazines such as Oxygen, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Heart and Soul. She has been featured in a national Adidas commercial with Olympic Gold medallist, Maurice Green. She also recently appeared on the CW’s “All of Us.” Madison’s goal is to inspire her clients to achieve any goal in their lives by using the same tools gained in physical fitness training in other areas of their lives. Her mission in life is to empower her clients to be their best…. Everyday! For more information on Madison please visit: www.madisonchasefitness.com.

1) One pound equals 3500 calories. Know what your plan is before you just start running to the gym and hopping on the treadmill. If you plan to loose or gain weight you have to know the numbers!

2) Two days of cardio a week for 700 calories, that’s 350 per session and this can be achieved with less than one hour on the treadmill, jump roping, or just by putting on your iPod and walking up and down the stairs in your home until you reach your goal.

3) Three days of weight training, a chest day, a leg day, then a back day, and not necessarily in that order and burning 500 calories per session would be ideal. If you don’t reach your goal with the weight training, add in an intense 20 minutes of cardio to finish the session and hit your 500 calorie mark. Be sure to check out SuperFitTv.com for exercise routines for the gym or home.

4) Four of my top pieces of exercise equipment are my Polar Heart Rate Monitor, my TRX, my BOSU, and my Bowflex Select Tech dumb bells. Invest in your fitness with tools like these that make exercise more challenging and fun. Getting away from conventional exercises is a nice way to stay excited and motivated about fitness.

5) Five days of healthy habits is all it takes. Enjoy your weekends by continuing to eat healthy but REST your body from the workouts. Your body needs time to rebuild and your gains will come in this period when you are not stressing your body with exercise but instead allowing it to rebuild and prepare itself for your next week of training.

6) Six meals a days will keep your metabolism efficient, that’s means burning the maximum amount of calories possible in a 24 hour period. Eat three meals and three snacks, one every three hours, breakfast (which is the most important), then a snack, lunch, snack, diner, and then a final snack if needed. Take your weight and multiply it by ten (example 170 x 10 = 1700), that’s the amount of calories I’d take in daily if I wanted to maintain my current weight. A couple of more steps are needed to make this number more specific but for now this is a good starting point. If you want to gain weight then add more calories, but if weight loss is your goal then you would subtract (example 1700 – 500 =1200), no one should consume less than 1200 calories unless supervised by a professional. 500 calories less/ 7 days a week equal 3500 calories or a pound lost a week with proper eating.

For more information on healthy choices or fitness coaching contact Terrance at 1(877) 254-3377!