Healthy meals can fall by the wayside when you're busy, leading to poor dietary choices such as fast food or prepackaged convenience items. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, losing even 5 to 10 percent of your body weight by can result in a variety of health benefits. Eating right for weight loss requires a strategy, and planning menus is key to keeping your diet on track. Subtracting 500 calories from your diet each day will result in the loss of 1 lb. a week.
Step 1
Write down in your notebook the foods you eat each day. Pay special attention to unhealthy, high-calorie items, including sweets, fast food and greasy potato chips. Eliminate these foods from your menu plan options.
Step 2
Write down healthy breakfast options that emphasize whole grains, vegetables, fruit and lean protein. A slice of whole wheat toast, shredded wheat cereal with one cup of 1 percent milk and three quarters of a cup of orange juice is an example meal for your breakfast menu -- one that contains only 354 calories and 5.2 grams of fat. Plan breakfast for seven days.
Step 3
Include plenty of leafy green vegetables, complex carbohydrate-rich whole grains and lean protein sources in your lunch menu plan. For example, a sandwich with 3 oz. of roast beef on whole grain bread with one slice of American cheese, garnished with lettuce, tomato and low-calorie mayonnaise, with an apple on the side is contains only 9 grams of fat and less than 400 calories. Write down menus for seven lunches.
Step 4
Plan seven dinners that are rich in nutrients, while reducing fat and calories. An sample dinner that contains 28 grams of fat and 625 calories is 3 oz. of baked salmon, a medium baked potato, a cup each of carrots and seasoned green beans, a dinner roll and a half cup of milk.
Step 5
Make a shopping list of the foods you need to create the meals in your menus for the week. Do this before you go to the grocery store. Stick to your list while shopping to avoiding impulse buys such as candy bars and fried or processed foods.
Step 6
Plan new options for breakfast, lunch and dinner menus each week. Vary your meal choices and be creative.
Tips and Warnings
- Drink plenty of water with every meal in order to aid digestion, a key component in your body's metabolism which will lead to weight loss. Nutrition information on individual foods is available on the nutrition facts label or through the USDA's nutrient database.
- If you have a medical condition that affects your diet such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease or kidney disease, ask your doctor for advice to keep your weight-loss menu geared to your specific dietary needs.
Things You'll Need
- Notebook or day planner
- Pencil or pen
- Meal recipes
- Shopping list
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