FAQ about Mealsizer®

The sizes of the Mealsizer® measures have been calculated by a licensed dietician in order to provide a normal portion for a person who uses a normal amount of energy. The average woman’s daily energy requirement is 2100 kcal, while for the average man the equivalent figure is 2700 kcal per day. But we do not need to eat that exact amount of calories every day. Some days we can eat more, on other days less. It all depends on how physically active we are. It is the energy balance over an extended period of time that is the most important thing.

We recommend that you stick to the Mealsizer ammounts for lunch and dinner, and not to switch the carb with the protein measure, if you want the desired Mealsizer effect. The amounts are calculated by a dietician after how much you should eat to get what you need to stay healthy, based on Nordic nutrition recommendations and the plate model (in the US, similar to My plate). You need to eat these amounts to stay satisfied and not to get hungry in between meals. If you “mix” with the amounts when eating with Mealsizer, you kind of lose the whole point with Mealsizer and may not get the desired result wished for when eating with Mealsizer.

You need carbohydrates, especially if you exercise as carbohydrates are our most important source of energy. Carbohydrates is the common name for starch, fibers and various sugars. Most people get between 45-60% of their energy from carbohydrates.

What you can think of is to eat better carbohydrates, for example with more fibers, so that you stay satisfied  longer. If you eat with Mealsizer, you get the right amount of carbohydrates, which is something we all need. If you want to lose weight faster, we recommend eating half the amount in the carbohydrate measure until you reach your target weight. Then increase again.

Protein is needed, among other things, to build cells and to form enzymes and hormones. Many people are afraid of not getting enough protein. But the fact is that almost everyone gets more protein than they need, since protein is in greater or lesser amount in almost all food we eat.

If you still want to eat a little more protein when eating with Mealsizer, for example if you want to build muscles, you can do that in your inbetween meals/snacks and for breakfast, preferably planned around exercise. Follow us on Instagram and/or Facebook, where you can get tips on healthy inbetween meals/snacks and breakfasts to eat while using Mealsizer. 

If you eat with for eg Mealsizer Small, you get about 1500 kcal/day, including all meals in one day. This means including a healthy breakfast, lunch, dinner and 2-3 snacks per day, to come up with the intended calorie intake.

With Mealsizer you only eat for lunch and dinner. In addition, it is important to also eat a healthy breakfast and inbetwen meals/snacks during the day, so that you will become satisified. 

To help you with what a good Mealsizer breakfast or inbetween meal/snack can be, you can find tips here in FAQ and also see what a total day with Mealsizer, including breakfast and inbetween meals/snacks, can look like here. It is also a good idéa to follow Mealsizer on Facebook or Instagram, where we continuosly post tips and recipies on healthy breakfasts and inbetween meals/snacks you can eat together with using Mealsizer for lunch and dinner.

Here you can also get more tips on how to eat a healthy breakfast or in-between meal/snack during a Mealsizer-day.

Mealsizer^® is about learning how to eat in moderate amounts in general, and it is okay if your meals vary a bit from day to day. It is the same with sauce, where it can also vary from person to person how often you eat sauce with your meal. If you like to serve sauce to your meal, it is important to vary yourself. For example perhaps some days you eat a tomato-based sauce, another day a cream based sauce and on the third day you may not eat any sauce at all. Over time, it will even out.

Try not to take more than maximum 1-2 tbsp. of sauce (1 tbsp. for children).

Ketchup, sweet chili sauce, soy, etc. do not count as sauce, but as a flavouring and may only be taken in a limited amount.

No, the handle of the measure should not be filled with food. The set of measures is designed in this way so that they can be placed within one another and thus take up less space.

Cut up large pieces of meat, fish or chicken so that they fit in the measure for protein.

Yes, the Mealsizer® measures can be washed in a dishwasher.

No, the Mealsizer® measures can NOT be used in a microwave oven!

No, the measures should only be filled up to the rim, and the contents should not be heaped.

Not all dishes are ideally suited for Mealsizer^®. However, once you have used the Mealsizer measures for a while, when preparing your meals, you will learn what a reasonable portion looks like. This will help you to serve moderate sized portions of combined dishes like lasagne, fish gratin or soup onto your plate. Always start by adding vegetables with the vegetable measure on the plate when serving. Then use the rest of the space that is left on the plate to add a decent portion of, for example, lasagne. For your help, you can see examples of normal portions to the right.

Feel free to follow Mealsizer on Instagram and/or Facebook, where you can also see examples of how you can portion with Mealsizer, even with mixed dishes (and get tips on good and healthy food to cook) in the films “How to portion with Mealsizer”. There you can also get tips on healthy snacks/inbetween meals and breakfasts for when you use Mealsizer.

Sausage just like large pieces of meat etc. should be divided into smaller pieces unless they fit into the measure.

Breakfast should provide 20-25% of the daily total energy intake. For a woman with normal physical activity and a energy requirement of 2,100 kcal/day, the breakfast should contain 420-525 kcal.

With Mealsizer’s smart breakfast and snack guide, you can get help composing your breakfast and your snacks so that it fits exactly with your goals and the size of Mealsizer you have chosen to eat with!

Try Mealsizer® protein porridge, for a healthy start to the day or as a healthy snack or evening meal – it also contains extra protein, for a longer satisfaction!

…and feel free to follow Mealsizer on Instagram and/or Facebook, where you can get more tips on healthy snacks/inbetween meals and breakfasts to eat when using Mealsizer.

The snacks/inbetween meals during a day with Mealsizer should together provide 15-20% of the daily total energy intake. For a woman with normal physical activity and an energy requirement of 2,100 kcal/day, this means that the snacks/inbetween meals (2-3 per day), should contain on average 150-200 kcal/snack.

With Mealsizer’s smart breakfast and snack guide, you can get help composing your breakfast and your snacks so that it fits exactly with your goals and the size of Mealsizer you have chosen to eat with!

Try Mealsizer® protein porridge, for a healthy start to the day or as a healthy snack or evening meal – it also contains extra protein, for a longer satisfaction!

…and feel free to follow Mealsizer on Instagram and/or Facebook, where you can get more tips on healthy snacks/inbetween meals and breakfasts to eat when using Mealsizer.

Yes, cottage cheese goes into the protein measure.

The volumes of the measures are calculated by a licensed dietician and provide the daily average amount of energy and nutrition that a woman or man needs.

For example, the volume of carbohydrate measure is based on an average of pasta, rice, potatoes etc, so it is important to eat varied foods. The volumes are also based on the fact that your physical activity is quite the same every day, unless you have a very active job or exercise a lot.

Calorie calculations:

LUNCH AND DINNER:

• Mealsizer Small (1500 kcal/day): 450 kcal
• Mealsizer Medium (2100 kcal/day): 500-600 kcal
• Mealsizer Large (2700 kcal/day): 650-750 kcal

BREAKFAST:

• Mealsizer Small (1500 kcal/day): 300 kcal
• Mealsizer Medium (2100 kcal/day): 400-500 kcal
• Mealsizer Large (2700 kcal/day): 550-650 kcal

INBETWEEN MEALS/SNACKS: 2-3 per day (15-20% of the total daily amount of energy)

• Mealsizer Small (1500 kcal/day): 300 kcal (distributed in 2-3)
• Mealsizer Medium (2100 kcal/day): 400-700 kcal (distributed in 2-3)
• Mealsizer Large (2700 kcal/day): 550-850 kcal (distributed in 2-3)

When using Mealsizer®, it is best to prepare the pasta separately to easily measure the correct amounts, although the pasta is very good when boiled with the sauce. Our experience is that after a while you have learned to appreciate the portion size with your eye and you can then cook the pasta again with the sauce. After a while, you’ll usually need to take out the measures again though, since portions sizes often gradually tend to increase in size again…

Mealsizer® does not contain a measure of its own for fat. Fat is included in the meal. As a rule, some form of fat is used when cooking the food and/or in dressing on vegetables.
The fat recommendation says that we should choose fat containing a high percentage of unsaturated fatty acids. Liquid margarine, rapeseed oil or olive oil is good for cooking. Various types of oil can be used for dressing. Fat in the meal also comes from the amount of fat found naturally in food.

Examples of amount of fat in food per 100 g:

Salmon – 12 g
Minced beef – 10-15 g
Sausage – 23 g
Egg – 10 g
Cream for cooking – 15 g Avocado – 15 g
Olives – 20 g

The volumes of Mealsizer® are calculated as an average of the amount of energy and nutrition that a woman or a man daily needs. The average energy requirement for women and men is 2100 kcal and 2700 kcal per day. But we do not need to eat exactly this amount of calories every day. Some days we eat more, others less. For example, the volume of the carbohydrate measure is based on an average of pasta, rice, potatoes etc, so it is important to eat varied foods. The volumes are also based on the fact that today you move quite the same unless you have a very physical job or exercise extremely much.

Mealsizer® is about learning to eat in moderate amounts in general and it is ok if it differs a bit, different days. It evens up in the long run, regardless of whether you put chicken in the protein measure one day and fish in it the other day, or if you add broccoli in the vegetable measure one day and letters and  cucumbers the other day.

The whole point with Mealsizer® is to avoid having to weigh your food or count calories and to be able to eat varied and moderately, in a simple, straightforward and lasting way. Simply to  enjoy your meal!

Yes you can! When you are a vegetarian, high protein crops will end up in the protein measure and greener vegetables in vegetable measure. Please also check out our example of weekly menue with Mealsizer® for vegetarians (to be updated…)

For pregnant and breastfeeding, it is extra important to eat nutritionally. With Mealsizer®, lunch and dinner meals are balanced and nutritious. Pregnant and breastfeeding have a slightly increased energy requirement that is best covered by larger in-between meals/snacks during the day.

Mealsizer^® is not a method, but a tool for learning to eat balanced and in moderate amounts. You can use Mealsizer eating virtually all diets, even with a low carbohydrate or a ketogen diet.

In a new study, published in 2020 in the scientific journal Nutrients, the results showed that strict LCHF with calorie restrictions provides a dramatic weight loss and improvement of several health markers. The study clearly shows that there is an advantage to also limiting calories when eating a low carb or ketogenic diet. With Mealsizer you can limit your calorie intace in an easy and uncomplicated way when eating a low carb or ketogenic diet,  without  weighing your food or counting calories.

Many people also eat too little vegetables on a low carb diet and too much protein, which Mealsizer also can help you to regulate. In fact, almost everyone gets more protein than they need, because protein is in greater or lesser amount in almost all the food we eat today.

When you eat low carb you simply replace starchy carbs with carbs with less starch or none at all – so the carbohydrate measure is the same, you just replace grain with vegetables.

When eating a low carb diet with Mealsizer, the carbohydrate measure can for example contain cheese, cottage cheese etc.

But where does fat come in with Mealsizer?

The lack of the fat scoop does nothing because the low-carb diet is not primarily about increasing fat, but about reducing carbohydrates. Fat is “included” in most foods, as long as one does not actively reduce fat by choosing low fat foods. When you eat a low carb diet you naturally choose obese animal products with a lot of fat. You get fat in fatty fish, eggs, in for example beef, avocado, olives etc. In addition, it is estimated that you usually use fat of some kind when cooking/preparing the food and/or in dressing on the vegetables. You may also use cream or coconut cream in the casserole.

For those who eat low carb diets, 3 meals a day are recommended, i.e. breakfast, lunch and dinner. Normally no snacks/inbetween meals are needed as you get a longer saturation with a low carb diet, as the meals generally contain more energy.

The measures from Mealsizer are used for lunch and dinner, not for breakfast.

“The great thing about Mealsizer is that it works for ALL diets, even low carb diets/LCHF! With Mealsizer, the hand/fist model becomes more concrete. After a while the brain has learned to make the right choices in the right amount, and you have made sure to fuel the body with the right amount of energy and thus have a better balance in hunger and satiety hormones. Are you tired of counting calories and/or weighing your food, and want to learn healthy portion control, I can recommend Mealsizer for you!”

 

– Åse Falkman Fredriksson, Dietary advisor, food writer, recipe creator and author of several cookbooks. Åse runs Sweden’s largest food and lifestyle blog focusing on healthy low carbohydrate diets.

Mealsizer® is a great tool to make thing even easier when counting points with Weight Watchers!

You only count the first time you measure with Mealsizer, for e.g. rice with the carbohydrate measure, then you know how many points a carbohydrate measure of rice is with Mealsizer! The next time you portion rice, you don’t need to count again. For eg. Mealsizer Small’s carbohydrate measure gives 4 sp rice, and Mealsizer Medium’s carbohydrate measure gives 6 sp rice.

Make it simple!