Eating a low cholesterol diet can help you lower your cholesterol levels, but might not help you lose weight. Low cholesterol diets, such as the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes diet recommended by the National Institutes of Health, usually limit your overall cholesterol intake to 200 mg per day. However, you can still eat too many calories while following a low-cholesterol diet, which can cause you to gain weight or make it difficult to lose weight. When trying to lose weight while following your doctor-recommended diet, choose foods that are low in cholesterol, high in nutritional value and lower in calories.
Step 1
Learn which foods are high in cholesterol. The cells of all animals contain cholesterol. Animal-based foods such as meats, eggs, cheeses, ice cream and processed foods with trans fat are high in cholesterol.
Step 2
Determine an appropriate calorie level by arranging for an appointment with your doctor or nutritionist, or using a calorie calculator. Unless otherwise directed by your doctor, you should eat a minimum of 1,800 calories a day if you are a man, and 1,200 if you are a woman. Reducing your overall caloric consumption is a necessary step in losing weight on a low-cholesterol diet.
Step 3
Determine your calorie and cholesterol target levels for each meal. If keeping your cholesterol levels to 200 mg, allow yourself about 50 mg for breakfast, 50 mg for lunch and the remaining 100 mg for snacks and dinner. At a 1,800 calorie level, allocate about 400 calories for breakfast, 500 to 600 for lunch, and the remaining 800 for two snacks and dinner.
Step 4
Eat a low-cholesterol, lower-calorie breakfast of zero-cholesterol, filling cooked oatmeal, topped with 1/8 cup of raisins. Choose cold cereals that have 5 g or more of fiber per serving. Use skim milk to increase your calcium intake while cutting out the fat. An 8 oz. cup of skim milk has only 5 mg of cholesterol. Avoid whole cooked eggs for breakfast, as one raw egg contains more than 200 mg of cholesterol. Instead, make omelets with zero-cholesterol egg whites or 1 mg cholesterol egg substitutes.
Step 5
Choose healthy, low-calorie lunch selections. Whole-grain rye or wheat breads and wraps generally contain zero cholesterol. Add 1/4 of a roasted chicken breast, a bit of mustard and a serving of lettuce for about 38 mg of cholesterol. Soups made with vegetable stock, beans or pasta are filling and low in cholesterol. Add a cup of plain yogurt, which has 30 mg of cholesterol, and a serving of fresh fruit to your lunches.
Step 6
Plan on serving small amounts of low-calorie meat for dinner. Salmon, chicken or turkey without the skin and lean cuts of beef are lower-cholesterol choices. Fill up on a mixed green salad with raw broccoli, carrots and grape tomatoes. Use 60 percent corn oil margarine in place of butter on whole-wheat rolls. Serve low-calorie fruit smoothies or one slice of angel food cake as an after-dinner dessert.
Tips and Warnings
- Ginger snaps, graham crackers, bread sticks, dried fruits and fat-free tortilla chips are good low-calorie, low-cholesterol snacks. Use a journal to keep track of your cholesterol and caloric intake. Exercise at least three times a week to burn calories and increase your rate of weight loss.
- Follow your doctor's advice on diet and exercise.
