In order to lose weight, it is essential to reduce calories below your burn rate. Harvard researchers compared four diets with varying ratios of fat, protein and carbohydrates in a study in the New England Journal of Medicine's Feb. 26, 2009, edition. Lead researcher Dr. Frank M. Sacks found that as long as the diet prescribed a reduction in calories, participants lost weight, regardless of the combination of these macronutrients. Devise your own low-calorie meal plan to help you reach your healthy weight goals.
The Fundamentals of Weight Loss
One pound is equivalent to 3,500 calories. This means to lose 1 lb. per week, you must eat about 500 calories fewer than you burn daily. Reduce calories further to lose weight more quickly. The fastest rate of weight loss recommended is just 2 lbs. per week. Going faster than this means you risk losing lean muscle tissue and regaining anything you do manage to lose, warns Joanne Larsen, on Ask the Dietitian. Strive to take in an absolute minimum of 1,200 calories daily to obtain proper nutrition.
Nutrition
When you follow a low-calorie meal plan, make the calories you are eating as nutritious as possible. While the U.S. Department of Agriculture's My Pyramid food plan usually leaves room for about 10 percent of daily calories to come from discretionary foods such as alcohol, added sugars and extra portions, when you are on a reduced-calorie diet, you do not have much room for these luxuries. Stick to lean proteins, fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and a small amount of unsaturated fats at most meals.
Types of Foods
Go for foods that offer a lot of volume for few calories. Vegetables such as leafy greens, sweet peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, broccoli, summer squash, asparagus and mushrooms provide multiple vitamins and phytonutrients along with appetite-suppressing fiber. Fruits, such as apples, oranges and berries, can help satisfy a sweet tooth. Whole grains include oatmeal, 100 percent wheat breads and bagels, whole-grain pasta and brown rice. Fats should still make up about 30 percent of your diet, notes Larsen, but avoid saturated and trans fats. Go for oils such as olive, canola and safflower or nuts, seeds and avocados.
Considerations
If you tend to be sedentary, it may be difficult to lower calories enough to lose weight at a rate of 1 to 2 lbs. per week without dipping below the daily minimum of 1,200 calories. Add in more movement, either through formal gym visits or casual every-day movements, to burn a greater number of calories daily. According to the American Council on Exercise, physical activity combined with diet helped 89 percent of the members of the National Weight Control Registry, an ongoing research group of more than 5,000 people who have lost and kept off a significant amount of weight, succeed in reaching their goals.
Sample Meals
The exact number of calories you need in your low-calorie meal plan depends on your size, age, gender and activity level. Assuming the average person needs 2,000 calories per day, an average low-calorie daily meal plan to spur a 1-lb.-per-week weight loss would consist of 1,500 calories. Allocate about 400 calories for each major meal and 150 calories for two snacks. A 400-calorie breakfast might include 1/2 cup of oatmeal made with 1/2 cup skim milk, 1 cup blueberries and 1/2 oz. of almonds. For lunch, 3 oz. of skinless grilled chicken breast with 1/2 cup brown rice and 1 cup of broccoli. Have a large apple for dessert to round out the 400 calories. At dinner, have an extra lean 4-oz. beef burger on a whole-grain English muffin and a green salad with tomatoes, cucumber and a teaspoon of olive oil and lemon juice. Have 150-calorie snacks such as 1/2 cup of low-fat cottage cheese with a tablespoon of raisins and a tablespoon of natural peanut butter with a half of a banana.
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