How to benefit from the meal plan

First things first: shopping and getting ready

Shop on the weekend and prepare your meals on schedule, fresh to consume. You need to eat at home most of the time, not at a restaurant.

Please follow the calendar. If you cannot prepare the meal for a certain date, exchange with another day, but please do it sparingly. If you are full or don't feel like it, you can eat less than what is suggested — just try not to eat more.

When to eat

Try to finish eating your dinner by 7 p.m. in winter and 8 p.m. in summer. Spread your snacks out across the day. You can divide your snacks to halfway between breakfast and lunch, halfway between lunch and dinner, and a small snack if you feel hungry two hours after dinner. The rule of thumb is to avoid eating late.

If you go to bed after 12 midnight, you may feel the need to eat an additional snack. Eating late and going straight to bed makes it harder to burn what you eat. Shoot for going to bed on time. Try not to skip meals — going too long without eating can lead to overeating later.

Fluids, fluids, fluids

Aim for about 64 fl oz of fluids a day if you are a woman, or about 80 fl oz if you are a man. If you are small in build or older than 65 years old, aim for about 56 fl oz of fluids a day if you are a woman, or about 72 fl oz if you are a man. Some of this comes from the food you eat. Drink more, at least 20 ounces more, when the weather is hot.

Move your body

Pick an activity that fits what you can do. Aim for exercise 5 days a week for about 45 minutes to lose weight, or 3 days a week for 45 minutes to keep it off. Do the math by playing with the frequency and length to reach 225 minutes per week for weight loss and 135 minutes per week for weight maintenance, and tailor it to your schedule. The alternative is to walk at least 7,000 steps a day for weight maintenance, or 10,000 steps a day for weight loss.

Cook at home

Most of your meals should be made at home. It takes some effort to cook at home — shopping, cooking, cleaning up and washing the dishes — but heading back to restaurant meals will stop the weight from coming off.

A few more words

Stress raises your stress hormone, cortisol, along with other stress-related hormonal changes. Cortisol raises your blood sugar, converts the food you eat to more fat, stores fat around your belly, and makes weight harder to lose. Rest and calm are part of the plan, and they support your dieting.

Around menopause, weight can be harder to lose — be patient with yourself.

Taking a daily multivitamin is fine, but not a rule. Take only the vitamins, minerals and supplements your body needs. Do not fall for social media traps that try to market a magic bullet or method. Consult your health care provider to test what is missing from your body, and supplement and treat based on your results, not blindly.