When you are trying to lose weight, you must monitor your calorie intake and keep it below your burn rate. Creating a weekly meal plan can help you be more aware of your diet and help you to better achieve you weight loss goals. Determine your daily calorie needs for weight loss and make each day in your meal plan hit that goal.
Strategy
Draw up your weekly meal plan at the beginning of the week. In addition to meals you plan to prepare at home, it should also account for meals at restaurants or social events. To make your weekly weight-loss meal plan as balanced as possible, try to include two to three, 3-oz. servings of meat, fish, poultry or dry beans on each day, recommends Joanne Larsen, R.D. on Ask the Dietitian. Plan for two to three 8-oz servings of low-fat dairy, offering at least 800 mg of calcium. Each day should also provide three to five1/2-cup servings of watery green and orange vegetables and two to three ½-cup servings of fruit. Also, plan for about six servings of whole-grain bread, rice, cereals, pasta--one serving is a slice of bread or ½ cup grains. Go for variety and try to avoid eating the same foods every day.
Structure
Each day in your weekly plan should feature three larger meals with two smaller snacks. This means if you plan to take in 1,700 calories per day, you could have 500 calories at each meal and 100 calories for each of two snacks. If you prefer to break up your day into five or six mini-meals of equal calorie content, you could plan for this strategy, as well. Your weekly meal plan for weight loss would then feature days that offer five 340-calorie meals.
Benefits
A weekly meal plan helps you plan for possible dieting challenges such as jam-packed days, travel and social occasions. Peruse menus online for restaurants you plan to visit during the week to pre-determine your order and avoid impulsive ordering. By knowing how much to eat at each meal, you can prevent overeating in any one sitting, which could cause you to overshoot your calorie goals for the day. You can also ensure that you obtain all your essential nutrients by planning in advance, rather than realizing in hindsight that you failed to consume enough calcium or vegetables for the day. A weekly meal plan also streamlines grocery shopping. Purchase all the ingredients for your meal plan at the beginning of the week and avoid shopping when hungry, which can often lead to purchases that do not help your dieting efforts.
Adherence
A weekly meal plan offers you a guide, but sometimes schedules or circumstances cause you to deviate from the best of intentions. Instead of giving up altogether on your plan, resume it as soon as possible. The damage from one meal, or even a day, will be minimal. If you quit your diet and plan altogether, however, you will never reach your goals.
Expert Insight
A weekly meal plan should include breakfast daily. Researchers from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver evaluated the habits of 3,000 members of the National Weight Control Registry--an ongoing research group who have maintained significant weight loss--and found that eating breakfast correlated with their success in a study in "Obesity" published in 2002. Planning out your meals to occur at regular times during the day can also help you metabolize calories more efficiently and moderate your blood sugar levels, according to a study form the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom published in the January 2005 issue of the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition." Participants experienced more favorable blood sugar levels and metabolic indicators when eating six regular meals per day rather than three to nine irregular meal times.
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