A diet menu can be tasty and filling without derailing your weight loss and health goals. A diet menu should not ask you to eliminate all of your favorite foods or require you to add a miracle weight loss supplement. Instead, it should provide you with proper portions of a variety of foods from a range of food groups.
Calories
Calorie needs vary from person to person, depending on gender, size, activity level and body composition. The average, moderately active woman needs about 2,000 calories per day, while the average, moderately active man needs about 2,500 calories per day just to maintain body weight. To lose weight, you must eat fewer calories than you burn. A pound is equal to 3,500 calories, so if you trim between 500 and 1,000 calories daily, you can lose 1 to 2 lbs. per week.
Considerations
While trimming some calories leads to weight loss, trimming too many can cause your body to hold onto weight. Your body slows down basic processes to conserve calories because it senses starvation. Eating too few calories can also leave you without enough energy to support physical activity, and can leave you nutritionally deficient. A diet menu should never contain fewer than 1,200 calories for a woman or 1,500 for a man.
Structure
You can devise your diet menu in several different ways. While some people swear by a mini-meal schedule that consists of five or six snack-sized meals of equivalent calories, others have success with a menu that consists of three large meals with just one or two smaller snacks. Consider your eating habits, schedule and preferences when devising a diet menu. If you work at a job that doesn't allow food at your desk, a diet menu that asks you to eat every few hours will not be practical. If, however, you often go four hours or longer between meals and find yourself ravenous when you do sit down to eat, you might do better with a plan that breaks your calories up over the course of several snacks so you never risk making poor decisions or overeating due to extreme hunger.
Meal Plan
A menu plan consisting of 1,600 calories can help most people lose weight. A typical meal plan could include three 400-calorie meals and two 200-calorie snacks. At each meal, try to fit in a serving of whole grains, fruits and vegetables and a lean protein. For example, at breakfast have an omelet of one egg with two egg whites, chopped peppers and onions and 1/2 oz. of cheddar cheese, along with a slice of whole-grain toast and 8 oz. of orange juice. At lunch, make a light taco-style salad with romaine lettuce, 3 oz. of chicken breast, 1/2 cup black beans, a few slices of avocado and salsa. Enjoy a corn tortilla on the side. For dinner, steam 3 oz. of shrimp and toss with 1/2 tbsp. of olive oil, 1/2 oz. of Parmesan cheese, chopped and steamed asparagus and 1 cup of whole grain pasta. Emphasize calcium-containing foods at snack time to fit in adequate nutrients. For your two snacks, choose from plain nonfat yogurt with 1 cup of blueberries; a banana with a low-fat string cheese; 1 oz. of almonds with 4 oz. of skim milk; a serving of whole-grain cereal with skim milk; or two rye crisp crackers with 1 oz. of cheese and 2 oz. of deli turkey.
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