Sometimes I hear from people who are trying to meet the lean and green guidelines on Medifast. They understand they’re supposed to eat lean protein and three servings of vegetables, but they want to make sure they’re not consuming too many calories. While it’s true that they want to enjoy their main meal and make sure they get enough to eat, they don’t want to deny all the work they’ve put in throughout the day.

I recently heard someone ask me “how many calories are you supposed to have in your lean and green food?” I prepare my meal lean and green, but I can’t find any guidelines on how many calories the main meal should have.”

True, there is not much concrete information about the caloric content of lean and greens. This is likely because the company has no way of knowing which of the 70+ prepackaged meal options you would have already consumed throughout the day. But, you can figure this out using simple math. Medifast’s calorie guidelines call for eating between 1,000 and 1,200 calories per day. And they ask you to eat five of Medifast’s prepackaged meals (which they provide) in addition to your daily lean and green meal that you prepare yourself. I use the term “make” very loosely because many people meet this requirement with restaurant or frozen meals.

So considering that you’re going to eat five of those prepackaged meals and that the calorie content of those meals is somewhere between 90 and 110, this puts the average or median at 100 calories. (I’m just using the average to make things easier, but depending on the meals you choose, your caloric intake will vary slightly.) calories you have left Remember that the goal you are trying to achieve is 1,000 to 1,200 calories per day. So, to keep things simple, let’s divide that in half and call it 1100. In the example above, this leaves you with an average of 600 calories for your lean and green meal, which is pretty generous.

Of course, these are just estimates, but they are estimates that I think are pretty close to what most people think. However, I actually believe that the ratio of carbohydrates to protein is just as important as the caloric content. You will notice that all Medifast meals have relatively high amounts of protein and low amounts of sugar and carbohydrates. They don’t want you to only eat foods that are low in calories but are also nutritionally deficient. They want you to eat enough protein and fresh, non-starchy vegetables, so they post very clear guidelines and offer free advice if you have any questions about your lean and green.

I hope I’ve helped you determine your target calorie count for your lean and green meal, but don’t forget the protein to carb ratio. There are many good recipes available that make your lean and green meal quite easy to achieve.