One of the most important factors to weight loss on a low-fat, low-calorie diet is meal planning. Determine your recommended daily caloric intake for healthy weight loss and plan your meals so that they fall within this number. The United States Department of Agriculture's MyPyramid has a tool that can help determine your recommended caloric intake. This number is based on your age, gender, height, weight and your amount of daily exercise.
Breakfast
Breakfast is known as the most important meal of the day for a reason. Eating breakfast can give you the energy you need to start your day and perform tasks to the best of your ability. Eating breakfast can also help you to avoid snacking throughout the day. Try starting your day with a fruit smoothie. Blend your favorite fruits with fruit juice, low-fat milk, yogurt or soy milk, and ice. Have half a whole wheat english muffin with 2 tsp. of peanut butter with your smoothie. This breakfast contains approximately 255 calories and 11 g of fat, which would fit in nicely with a low-fat, low-calorie meal plan.
Lunch
For lunch try tuna on a wholemeal roll with a side salad. Please note that this is not tuna salad. Tuna salad contains extra calories from the use of mayonnaise or salad dressing. If you prefer tuna salad, use a small amount of low-fat or fat-free mayonnaise or salad dressing. Your salad can vary each day depending on what ingredients you add. Chop up fresh vegetables such as carrots, celery, cucumber and peppers. Try adding fresh fruit, eggs or nuts to your salad. You can even add low-fat or fat-free cheese in small amounts. Opt for a small amount of low-fat or fat-free salad dressing to accompany your salad. You can add a small bag of baked potato chips to your lunch. This meal would consist of approximately 320 calories and 6 g of fat. Please note that these numbers may vary depending upon salad ingredients, portion sizes and brands.
Dinner
Dinner offers many choices, but your choices should cover all food groups. Roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and boiled carrots and broccoli is a healthy low-fat, low-calorie dinner plan. Ensure that your chicken is skinless and mash your potatoes with skim milk instead of butter or whole milk. You may prefer to steam your vegetables. This meal contains approximately 316 calories and 8 g of fat. You may substitute a salad for your boiled or steamed vegetables. Fish can also be a healthy meat choice for dinner. Meats should be baked, broiled or roasted. Avoid frying your meats.
Portion Sizes
What you eat is important but so is how much you eat. Monitoring portion sizes is necessary even with healthy foods. Large portions, even of healthy foods, mean a higher caloric intake. For example, 1-1/2 cups of cooked whole-grain pasta contain approximately 210 calories. Half a cup of the same food contains only about 70 calories. Healthy snacks between meals can help you keep your portion sizes down without you feeling hungry. Three and a half cups of air popped popcorn contains only 100 calories. When setting out your daily or weekly meal plan, be sure to include low-calorie snacks.
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