Planning meals for the week?

summer92008

This week is finals week for my summer classes so I'm stressed and probably not eating the greatest in the world. I'm letting myself be "relaxed" and eating up to my maintenance calories. But next week I'm kicking it into high gear - I plan on being very strict with diet and exercise for the 2 weeks until my fall classes start (Aug 18). I really want to go shopping this weekend and make "meal plans" for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Any suggestions on filling, low-cal foods? I plan on eating most of my calories for dinner (600-800 cal), so I don't want to eat too much during the day. I want to stay between 1,200-1,500 calories a day.

mrsbunbunbun

I'm the same way, where I tend to eat a lot of the same stuff throughout the day and then do a little different stuff for dinner, or sometimes a quick lunch out.

My routine includes vitamins and black coffee in the morning. Generally a quick protein shake in the shaker cup (mixed with water) and my fish oil fairly early too -OR - a nice smoothie with half a frozen banana, coconut or almond milk, protein w/ or w/o berries or nut butter if I need it to keep me going longer. I also have a quick morning fiber shake I can mix up that's just 10 cals if I want to spare some room for a certain meal later.

Other snacks might include an ounce (or about a shotglass) of nuts, or 1/2 a protein bar (sometimes the whole one is just not worth all the calories at once), or a jerky snack portion, plus a green apple, pear or other whole fruit to balance it out. A couple hard-boiled eggs are great for 140 cals and good protein, maybe a greek yogurt with 1/2 oz nuts or something. Just find the go-to snacks that you know you can always grab for a quick 150-250 calories, and I generally have a good 450-750 calories left for dinner. So far it's working for me! Good luck!

mrsbunbunbun

LUNCHES:

Can of tuna mixed with sugar-free salsa, lemon juice, (hot sauce) and 1/2 a diced avocado, if I have it on hand.

A couple big fistfuls of spinach/power greens with diced tomato, sea salt and pepper, lemon, little olive oil, cucumber or olives if I have them (just count 5-10 olives cos they can add up) and a weighed portion of whatever protein I have in the fridge leftover from dinner, like steak fajita strips, chicken, hardboiled eggs etc. Or go the nuts/seeds and fresh berries route, but stick to lemon juice or a nice salad vinegar (w or w/o evoo) for dressing.

2-3 eggs done in the pan with a fistful of spinach and sliced tomato on the side

A high-fiber/low-carb wrap or flat-out fold-it bread (just 90 cals) with a 1/2 scoop of homemade chicken or tuna salad and an apple.

Most fast food places out will give you extra lemon to squeeze on your salad instead of the dressing packet and that helps make it cleaner. Chipotle and Pollo Loco have good fairly clean options, just opt out of the cheese and sour cream, and if you do guac, just remember it's high calorie (but also super yummy and good-for-you efa's, so sometimes it's totally worth it)

I drink a tonne of sparkling unsweetened waters like Perrier and just flat water with lemon, or unsweetened iced tea or black coffee for most of my beverages, too.

Those all pretty much cover my lunches MOST days! Pretty simple!

lishie_rebooted

I'm gonna go with 1500 calories because according to your ticker, you don't have a lot to lose to begin with and you're close to goal.

So 600-800 for dinner leaves you 900-700 calories for other meals and snacks.

If you don't like eating in the morning, you don't have to btw (I'm just as hungry at noon if I eat in the morning or not so I chose to save my calories for later in the day).

If you want to eat breakfast, filling options:
- 2 fried eggs with avocado (no more than a half of one because then it overpowers the deliciousness of the eggs) on an arnold sandwich thin with real/turkey bacon - about 400-500 calories. Take out an egg, add more bacon of your choice, and some tomato and it's a great sandwich for lunch too.
-cottage cheese/ plain yogurt/ plain greek yogurt (go for the 2% yogurts - keep you fuller for longer due to the combo of fat and protein) with fruit of choice or nut butter of choice (haven't done nut butter in cottage cheese before tho...)
-smoothie with protein powder and/or greek yogurt and other add ins (pb, banana, cocoa powder, blueberries, etc)

Lunches:
-tin of tuna with half an avocado is delish (filling too, pair with celery/carrot sticks, grape tomatoes, cucumbers)
-ratatouille (it's summer, take advantage) with grilled/roasted/baked protein of choice (chicken and fish go well here)
-soups (toss things you like in a pot with broth of choice)
-turkey burgers with a fried egg, 1/3-1/2 avocado, some greens mix on a sandwich thin, about 450cals, sooooo good and sooooo filling (make your own turkey burger tho - beef burger can be swapped in, don't know the calorie count though)
-baked/grilled protein with roasted/grilled veggies (tis the season for grilling!)

MissingMinnesota

For my breakfasts I tend to make my own egg mcmuffin with turkey sausage. It is so easy to make eggs in a microwave.
For my lunches lately I have been loving mason jar salads. I can make a week at a time, usually on sundays so I can just grab and go. The mason jars hold the freshness better then tupperware does. My current one has light ranch dressing, celery, cherry tomatoes, buffalo chicken, bacon crumbles, cheedar cheese it ends up being 391 calories.
Snacks I usually have string cheese, yogurt, hummus and pita chips, a piece of fruit.

Summerberry1012

I've just started my journey again but I've been really getting into Smoothies every morning, ones with spinach and/or kale, handful of frozen fruit, greek yogurt, and then some almond milk, OJ, and chia or flax seeds. You can easily switch up the fruit to suit your tastes - may favs are Blueberry/Strawberry and Pineapple/Mango. I personally like them because I can drink them on my drive into work. You can also make little smoothie bags with everything but the liquids and then throw them into the freezer so in the morning you just have to grab one, add liquid and blend. Then I'll have a coffee after that.

I've also been experimenting with salads to go beyond my usual Cesar salad, adding shredded carrots and beets (i know weird, but shredded beets in salads is delicious!) and using different lettuces and adding pine nuts and other tasty bits. Soups are also an easy one to bring and heat up at work. And lastly, I've been trying to cook for 2 or more days in a row - so I'll make a lasagna or some sweat & sour meatballs over rice that has enough leftovers for the next couple nights. Really helps ease the stress of what to make every night and I love coming home after work to something already ready to eat in the fridge. Snacks are fruit or veggie pieces, cheese/crackers/pickles, yogurt, hummus, popcorn... Hope that helps!

theCaityCat

Fiber and protein will keep you fuller. I make my own bagels with a mix of all-purpose and whole wheat flour. They're not low-cal, but they're very filling if you cut one in half and make a scrambled egg sandwich. Lunch may be a salad with some EVOO/balsamic vinegar, spring mix, arugula, and some baked tofu on the side, or some quinoa and vegetables. Veggies and fruits in general will supply you with fiber, micronutrients, and fewer calories than other snack alternatives. They also supply you with a lot of water. You can portion out some grapes/berries/carrot sticks in baggies, perhaps.

Good luck with finals! I'm sure you'll do great.

summer92008

This may sound silly, but what does balsamic vinegar taste like?
I'm interested in changing up my salad dressings. Growing up we always had ranch and ranch only, so I like it but I rarely have it any more because of its high calorie content. I like Italian dressing, too, but the acidity of it can sometimes hurt my relatively sensitive stomach.