For those on these boards trying to gain weight, I post this as an idea of what a person needs to consume daily.

For those who think they eat too much, I post this to show what a healthy diet consists of.

Taken from The Vegetarian Way :

2,000 Calorie Vegan Plan

17 Starch Exchanges
4 Vegetable Exchanges
3 Fruit Exchanges
5 Protein Exchanges
4 Fat Exchanges

Breakfast
1 cup oatmeal
English muffin w/ two teaspoons margarine
1/2 banana
1/2 cup calcium fortified orange juice

Snack
Two oatmeal cookies
Herb tea

Lunch
1 cup lentil soup
Garden salad w/ two tablespoons dressing
2 small rolls

Snack
Bran muffin
Apple

Dinner
1 cup rice
1 cup black beans w/ 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
1 cup steamed kale
2 dinner rolls

Snack
Slice whole wheat bread, with 2 tablespoons almond butter


A few personal notes:
-The menu includes a decent sized snack before bed
-It calls for four fat exchanges (Keegan)
-It calls for 17 starch exchanges (Keegan, and all other carb-phobics)
-This is only 2,000 calories. Many people, expecially teenagers, require way more than this just to maintain a healthy weight. Those of us trying to put on weight need much much more.

I'm trying to gain a little weight, but with no results really. I don't understand why not, I eat that and more! Also how much should you exercise during the week when trying to gain weight? I only workout a few days or more. I jump rope and lift dumbells. Check out the "what did you eat today" thread and tell me what I'm missing!

Well, the menu plan I posted isn't for gaining weight. I read what you ate today, and it's certainly a good amount of food. I don't know! A few more cookies? Hehe. I always just put extra butter and oil on things whenever I can... Lots of peanut butter, etc. However, it's hard to put on weight. Hmph.

Piglet, try adding 1-2 more snacks that consist of higher calorie items (ie. 1/4 cup mixed nuts w/ 1 mandarin orange, 1/2 avocado dip w/ a few corn chips). That may help, without taking much room in your belly.

Have oil/vinegar dressing with any raw vegetables and salads you have.

As with weight loss, give it some time :-)

Thanks for the idea's, I'll certainly try them.:) Especially the cookies!:D

"Its hard to put on weight"
you lucky, lucky girls.
I think if I ate this much food, I would be satisfied throughout the day. Too bad this body of mine doesn't need 2000 calories...
lovenlight,
linz

That is a lot of freakin' food. I don't think I could eat that even if I wanted to.

And you know what the plan made me think of? On most boxes of rice, where it gives the nutritional info, it gives the amount of calories and fat per serving, and a serving is always 1/4 of a cup. So why does this plan recommend an entire cup for dinner?

17 starches? I thought you were supposed to get like 6. I usually get around 4. SEVENTEEN?!

You are supposed to get 6-12 servings of grains. Some vegetables are counted as starches as well, but not grains, hence the 17 straches.

If you didn't drink so much beer, you'd be able to eat this much :)

And a serving of grain is 1/2 cup not 1/4. The 1/4 is just a means of convincing dieters that it's low in calories by tricking them. Most people don' pay attention to the size of the serving.

Heh.. I actually looked at that menu plan and that it was too little food. Only one cup of rice? Pah! And where's dessert? Besides, it includes nothing to drink.

I thought it was small, too