If you’re searching for a 1,700 calorie meal plan, you’re probably trying to feel better in your body — maybe lose weight, improve your health, or just feel more in control of your eating.
And it makes sense. Meal plans feel clear. Reassuring. Like a step-by-step path forward.
But if you’ve tried meal plans before, you may have noticed something frustrating:
they work… until they don’t.
You might follow them for a few days or weeks — and then life, hunger, cravings, or just boredom get in the way.
If you’re in your 40s or 50s, you might also notice that your body responds differently to structured plans than it used to.
I break this down more here → Why Women Gain Weight in their 40s and 50s (And What Actually Helps in Perimenopause)
This isn’t a failure on your part.
It’s a sign that your body needs something more flexible and sustainable than a one-size-fits-all plan.
In this post, I’ll show you a different approach — one that still gives structure, but actually works in real life.
Curious? Read on for more…
Why 1,700 Calorie Meal Plans Don’t Work Long-Term (and What to Do Instead)
Meal plans can look balanced on paper — but they often don’t account for your real life, your hunger, or how your body actually feels day to day.
When I begin working with a new client, there is often freedom and joy, but it can be coupled with stress.
You see, after decades of dieting, having no rules to follow can be really challenging. For example, when you wake up in the morning, you won’t have your food journal planned out, or your protein bar or shake ready to chug, whether or not it actually sounded good in the moment…
Instead, you might have a few favorite options in your house, and you would choose what to eat based on a host of factors:
- What would taste good to you today?
- What do you have time to prepare and eat?
- What is your hunger level? And when is the next time you will have the opportunity to eat?
…did you notice that a calorie level wasn’t mentioned?
While having this freedom is incredible, it can also make some people very uncomfortable as they second-guess their choices and become stressed out.
So I often get asked if we can just “focus on nutrition” to give some comfort and structure to their day.
Unfortunately, that structure that my clients crave so much is often a coping mechanism that prevents them from feeling all their internal signals and feelings. And that’s how we get trapped in diet culture!
So, intentionally taking the focus off nutrition is a non-negotiable as you begin your intuitive eating journey. The reality is that most of my clients are walking macronutrient calculators. They can rattle off calories, fat grams, carbohydrates, and serving sizes of so many foods.
But I’d like you to reflect: what has all of that knowledge given you?
If you’re like most people, it has kept you trapped in what I call the mathematics of nutrition. Constantly calculating, this practice has kept you mentally busy and sometimes in a place of losing weight, but in the long run, it causes mental distress and predisposes you to an eating disorder.
So instead of starting with strict nutrition rules, we take a different approach — one that helps your body feel safe, nourished, and consistent first.
But, after decades of doing this work, I know that many clients need far less structure than a restrictive diet plan, but also more structure than just “listen to your body” in order to build a solid foundation for doing the highly introspective work of intuitive eating.
If you’re someone who likes structure (which is completely normal), you don’t need to jump from a rigid meal plan to “just listen to your body.”
In fact, that jump can feel overwhelming.
Instead, I use a simple guideline with my clients that offers structure without rigidity — so you can feel more grounded in your eating without falling back into diet rules.
The 3/2 Guideline – your new best friend for planning meals and snacks in a nourishing and flexible way.
The 3/2 guideline is:
- Every meal should have 3 or more food groups
- Every snack should have 2 or more food groups
- Aim to eat every 3-5 hours while you are awake
A Better Alternative: Flexible Structure That Actually Works
I know the 3/2 guideline may sound incredibly simple, but it can truly help you make great progress. I’ve watched many clients go from struggling with obsessive calorie counting that affects their ability to socialize and is harming their marriage, to thriving in a couple of months, by incorporating this guideline.
How can something so basic result in such transformative change?
Including more variety (which naturally happens when you eat more than one food at a time):
- Makes your meals more satisfying.
- Think about it this way: What’s more satisfying? An apple or an apple with peanut butter or cheddar cheese? Or oatmeal for breakfast – or oatmeal with chopped apples and toasted pecans?
- Helps you stay fuller longer because you naturally consume different nutrients. This way, you can have your breakfast and feel great because your blood sugar levels aren’t spiking and crashing. Plus, you have enough energy to last 3-4 hours, so you can thrive at work without getting hangry during your AM meetings.
So, now that you know the reason behind this guideline, let’s see what it looks like on an actual day…
The 3/2 Guideline in Action
My approach to categorizing foods into groups may be slightly different from those of other dietitians or government guidelines. Why? I often find they are too rigid and don’t teach you how to adapt to real life. Rigidity can also lead to disordered eating.
My goal is to avoid going down the rabbit hole of macros or calories, push back against the rules of diet culture, and promote a style of eating that includes a wide variety of foods. And most importantly, there will be no labeling of foods as “good” or “bad.”
For our purposes, I categorize foods into the following groups:
- Starches and breads 🍞 – Bread, rice, pasta, tortillas, oats, farro, pretzels, pizza dough, other grains
- Protein 🍗 – Meat, fish, poultry, beans, tofu, soybeans (edamame), vegetarian proteins, nuts, and nut butters
- Dairy or non-dairy calcium-rich foods 🥛 – Milk, soy milk, yogurt, cheese, calcium-fortified orange juice
- Fruits and vegetables 🍓 – any fresh, canned, or frozen fruits or vegetables, including potatoes, peas, and corn
- Fats 🧈 – oils, butter, avocado, salad dressings, nuts, nut butters, sour cream, whipping cream
- Treats 🍭 – candy, chocolate, baked goods, chips, ice cream
Sometimes a food may straddle two food groups, like nuts (protein or fat) and beans (starch or protein). For our purposes, don’t stress about it! Just pick one and move on. The goal is getting enough food and also getting dietary variety, which helps keep our taste buds and our bodies feeling happy.
Note: I’d like to mention that no foods are banned in these guidelines. All foods are permitted, and in fact, encouraged.
Remember, my guideline is for you to try to seek three different groups at meals and two or more groups at snacks.
So, putting these guidelines into an actual meal and snack might look something like this:
Breakfast:
- Toast with butter, eggs, and orange juice or fruit salad 🍞 🧈 🍗 🍓
- Pancakes with turkey sausage and a vanilla latte 🍞 🍗 🥛
- Veggie frittata, English muffin, butter 🍗 🍓 🍞 🧈
Lunch:
- Turkey and Swiss sandwich on bread with potato chips and dark chocolate 🍗 🍞 🧈🍭
- Pizza with mixed salad with vinaigrette dressing 🍞 🍗 🍓 🧈
- Hamburger with bun, fries 🍗 🍞 🍓 🧈
- Fish tacos with slaw; side of rice and beans 🍗 🍞 🍓
- Salad with chicken, strawberries, pecans, cheese, vinaigrette dressing; crackers 🍓🍗 🧈🍞
Dinner:
- Fried rice with chicken; sauteed mixed vegetables 🍞 🧈🍗 🍓
- Pasta with marinara; salad with Italian dressing; cookie 🍞 🍓 🧈 🍭
- Steak; roasted potatoes; garlic bread, ice cream 🍗 🍓🍞 🧈 🍭
- Tofu stir fry with mixed vegetables, prepared with oil; white rice; orange slices 🍗 🍓 🧈 🍞
- Lasagna 🍞 🍗 🍓🥛
Snacks:
- Apple with peanut butter 🍓 🧈
- Chocolate chip cookie with milk 🍭🥛
- Yogurt, granola, fruit 🥛 🍞 🍓
- Pita chips, baby carrots, hummus 🍞 🍓 🧈
- Cheese sticks with crackers and grapes 🥛 🍞 🍓
- Potato chips with cheese sticks 🍭🍗
- Tortilla chips with salsa and guacamole 🍞 🍓 🧈
- Ice cream topped with fruit and hot fudge sauce 🍭 🍓 and/or topped with pecans 🧈
- Chocolate bar with pecans 🍭🍗
- Pretzels with hummus 🍞 🧈
I’ve also created a PDF download for your fridge to help you put these guidelines into action. Download your copy here.
These meal and snack ideas gave you some inspiration to make your meals more satisfying.
When your body is nourished and you enjoy your meals, things become far less stressful in the kitchen. With practice, you’ll feel the need for the old familiar rules lessen. It won’t happen overnight, but with time, eating can become fun and enjoyable.
Common Mistakes That Can Keep This From Working
The 3/2 Guideline is meant to be simple and to help you get adequate food that is enjoyable throughout the day. However, if you have been dieting on and off for years, you might fall prey to some common traps.
- Taking this guideline as a strict rule.
- All-or-nothing thinking can definitely mess with your mental health. Think: progress, not perfection. Many of my clients begin this guideline with one meal a day and gradually move from there.
- Planning a snack of just fruits and veggies. I intentionally grouped fruits and vegetables as one group when I created this guideline. Plain fruits and vegetables are not adequate for a meal or snack and, without accompaniments, are not truly satisfying. Satisfaction is both your taste buds and a sense of nutritional adequacy. And if you are hungry an hour after you eat, that isn’t a sustainable strategy, is it?
Key takeaways
Using my 3/2 guideline can be a great introductory step on your Intuitive Eating journey because it “scratches that itch” of addressing nutrition, while doing it in a way that isn’t going to cause backtracking to restrictive dieting.
I’ve created a PDF with the basics of the 3/2 guideline, along with examples of meals and snacks. Download your copy today!
And if you need more individualized support, schedule a Nutrition Strategy Call with me today. We can discuss your individual needs and develop a plan to take you from struggling to thriving!
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