HEALTHY Meal Plan

reachingforarainbow

So, since my post just got deleted by MFP because it was unhealthy or something... Just wondering if anyone can help me with a good meal plan in which I will lose around 1 lb a week... Net calorie wise that's around 1300 calories for me (sedentary job) I do work out a bit and burn around 1500 from exercise a week. Please help me out. I need ideas mainly for breakfast / lunch, as my dinners, I eat with my family and are normally around 500 calories.

Yeah I dunno what to do, so any help would be great.

NikiSchurzFitness

I am a health & fitness coach, I run clean eating challenge groups every couple of months. Here is one of the meal plans I've used in the past. It's a good "guide" for clean eating, I believe this is around the 1200-1300 range, so feel free to add in an extra snack or bigger portion if needed. Hope that helps give you a few ideas :-)

vismal

Meal plans are horrible in my opinion. They lock you in and give you little flexibility. They rely on the fact that you can be compliant eating the same things over and over and over. What if you don't like one or several of the meals on the plan? What if your family is making something off the plan or you are going out to eat, or 1000 other reasons that you might want/need to deviate from the plan? It's far simpler IMO to simply eat what you want and track it so it falls in your daily calorie and macro nutrient goals. A generic meal plan can't take your bmr or tdee into consideration. They are usually one size fits all plans but in reality one size certainly doesn't fit all. Plus are you going to eat off of a plan your entire life? What happens when you reach your goal weight? Do you abandon the plan and go back to how you ate before the plan?

MakePeasNotWar

It would be pretty hard for anyone to give you meal plan since we don't really know what you like to eat, or whether you have any conditions that would affect your needs. If you haven't read the stickies yet, I highly recommend you do so; they will give you the basic information and guidelines you need to prepare your own meal plan that will fit your needs, lifestyle, and preferences.

It's a bit of work at first, but only you can really design a truly sustainable diet that will be as easy as possible to adhere to for the rest of your life. Good luck.

This is my favourite sticky for giving an overview and links to more detailed information if you need it

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

Soon2BeMrsSherriff

I also don't believe in meal plans, because what if things change throughout the day? I mean my life with my fiance and kids change by the minute. But what I do is if I have down time, I research healthy recipes and put them in a cookbook that says "my healthy book". They are easy recipes that you can pick from when you are in crunch time. I love it, and I have found tons of recipes. I know that they are all healthy and I have a variety, so there is always something in there that wets my tongue so to speak. That is definitely easier for me than making a meal plan. Just works better with my lifestyle.

lemurcat12

vismal wrote: »

Meal plans are horrible in my opinion. They lock you in and give you little flexibility.

I agree with this. I never understand why people want them, especially when the MFP tool makes it so easy to just create your own by logging different possibilities and seeing the macros and calories. The goal should be to learn how to plan your own meals, and if that's something that seems intimidating or difficult for you that just makes it more important.

There's no magical weight loss formula needed, and what's a healthy balanced meal really isn't rocket science--it seems pretty intuitive: protein, vegetables, and either some sort of other carb (starch or fruit) or dairy or other extra of your choice is typically how I think of it, although everyone will have their own ways and preferences.

reachingforarainbow

Thank you both for your advice.
@NikiSchurzFitness‌ thank you, that is definitely a help. I just needed some ideas, sometimes I forget how normal people eat lolz
@vismal I get what your saying, I just wanted a meal plan as a base idea, I'll still be logging all my meals according to what I truly eat, and adjust to what I need. My before the plan is a total gong show of just randomness.

reachingforarainbow

Lol I mean thank you everyone...

Lauren5280

Go to skinnytaste.com There are some great recipes there.

acorsaut89

vismal wrote: »

Meal plans are horrible in my opinion. They lock you in and give you little flexibility. They rely on the fact that you can be compliant eating the same things over and over and over. What if you don't like one or several of the meals on the plan? What if your family is making something off the plan or you are going out to eat, or 1000 other reasons that you might want/need to deviate from the plan? It's far simpler IMO to simply eat what you want and track it so it falls in your daily calorie and macro nutrient goals. A generic meal plan can't take your bmr or tdee into consideration. They are usually one size fits all plans but in reality one size certainly doesn't fit all. Plus are you going to eat off of a plan your entire life? What happens when you reach your goal weight? Do you abandon the plan and go back to how you ate before the plan?

I agree with this mentality. What I have found to help me the most is to understand how foods work, how foods are digested and metabolize in your body . . . what really goes into each type of food. It's like that saying, give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day but teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime. If you put a lot of research into actually understanding foods and what kind of nutrition your body needs, you won' need a meal plan but rather you can look at a menu or even a plate of food and know what you're putting into your body and (usually) whether it fits into your daily calories.

Portioning is its own beast, but once you get the understanding of food sciences and nutrition, I believe you are better equipped to make informed decisions about eating - especially when life is so busy and you might be faced with options that aren't from a meal plan.

Also, if you understand the basics of food you can look at something like rice and say I can replace it with quinoa, or sweet potatoes, or yada yada. You don't have to go to the grocery store and buy the same thing every week because "that's what the meal plan says".

You can also get really creative with how you eat, too. What's more is that we could be the same weight but our fitness and nutritional goals may be really different - meal plans don't account that I may want higher protein because I am a heavy lifter and you might want really low carbs or sodium or whatever. There's more to than simply calories - they are a major, major part (don't think I'm starting anything with that) but your goals and your lifestyle may not work with it and then BAM! you're back in the same spot you were.

My experience has taught me to plan my meals, but not to follow a meal plan.

Sued0nim

The thing is if you start weighing and logging your food you will begin to understand how to balance your foods so you have enough to eat and get to eat what you love

A prescriptive diet will necessarily be a short term thing

I generally have about 1800 calories a day (including exercise at a 0.5lb a week goal)

I tend to eat about 250 calories at breakfast and have things like
- porridge made with water and honey
- Slice of toast, with egg white, mushroom, cheese / ham
- Coffee and milk allowance for the day
- For 380 I get a bacon toastie with butter and ketchup
- I could easily have cereal / something else on my toast

For meals I have generally 350 - 600 calories, things like
- rice, vegetable stew, cheddar
- Butternut squash risotto and salad leaves
- roast chicken/ beef, roast potatoes/carrots, vegetables, gravy
- Minestrone soup with crusty bread
- salad nicoise with fresh tuna
- Salmon and vegetables
- Sandwich

I snack on things like
-Greek 0% yogurt for 97 calories with berries for about 70
- toast with cottage cheese, avocado and tomatoes - about 200
- Ice cream from 90 to 230 cals
- Crisps (chips)
- Carrot sticks, pepper sticks and hummus
- 72% chocolate

It's all stuff I like ...I'll eat pizza, fries, drink wine whatever I fancy if I have the calories ..or I can save them up for a night out / meal with friends

Make it work for you

Learn how to do this

Plan now for maintenance

Holla4mom

Can you write out a list of what you usually eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner and then maybe we can help you tweak it so that it fits your calories.

Are you basing your needed daily calories on what MFP says? You may be able to eat more than that and still lose. Find out your TDEE and reduce it by 15-20%. How many calories will that be for you?

acorsaut89

rabbitjb wrote: »

The thing is if you start weighing and logging your food you will begin to understand how to balance your foods so you have enough to eat and get to eat what you love

A prescriptive diet will necessarily be a short term thing

I generally have about 1800 calories a day (including exercise at a 0.5lb a week goal)

I tend to eat about 250 calories at breakfast and have things like
- porridge made with water and honey
- Slice of toast, with egg white, mushroom, cheese / ham
- Coffee and milk allowance for the day
- For 380 I get a bacon toastie with butter and ketchup
- I could easily have cereal / something else on my toast

For meals I have generally 350 - 600 calories, things like
- rice, vegetable stew, cheddar
- Butternut squash risotto and salad leaves
- roast chicken/ beef, roast potatoes/carrots, vegetables, gravy
- Minestrone soup with crusty bread
- salad nicoise with fresh tuna
- Salmon and vegetables
- Sandwich

I snack on things like
-Greek 0% yogurt for 97 calories with berries for about 70
- toast with cottage cheese, avocado and tomatoes - about 200
- Ice cream from 90 to 230 cals
- Crisps (chips)
- Carrot sticks, pepper sticks and hummus
- 72% chocolate

It's all stuff I like ...I'll eat pizza, fries, drink wine whatever I fancy if I have the calories ..or I can save them up for a night out / meal with friends

Make it work for you

Learn how to do this

Plan now for maintenance

Perfect Example! This user eats a small(er) breakfast and then bigger sized lunches/dinners whereas I eat a big breakfast - usually around 500 calories and then a smaller lunch (around 400) and then an average dinner (500 - 600) and my snacks are about 300 - 400 calories for the day (about 150 each and I have an AM and a PM and don't usually snack at night)

This is a great example of how different people can be so different and why a meal plan wouldn't work for both of us because we follow different routines.

My breakfast - I have 2 eggwhites, 1/4 cup of cheese, diced onions (eggs and onions are cooked together) and crumble two pieces of bacon with it and I have a tea.

My lunch - this week I am having turkey meatloaf with 1 mini sweet potato and a cup of green beans

My snacks this week are a hardboiled egg, an apple and a protein bar

Everyone is really different

Holla4mom

I can tell you what I'm eating this week, as I spent the weekend preparing a bunch of soups!
These are approximate.

Breakfast (banana/kale smoothie, Greek yogurt, almond milk) about 250 calories

Lunch: Homemade chicken/kale/pea soup 300 calories

4 pm snack: Almond milk, 1/2 apple, strawberries, or bean/chicken soup 150

Dinner: Salmon, quinoa, broccoli or other veggie 400

Night snack- repeat lunch (I get very hungry at night and have to save 300-400 calories for that)

Total 1500