If you think planning meals for weight loss isn't exciting, you're probably not hitting all five food groups. Variety, the spice of life, is also the key to getting broad nutrition and safely losing weight. Different types of foods provide the protein, vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates and fats that sustain life. To lose weight, you need to consume those nutrients within fewer calories than you burn in a day. Use low-calorie choices among the food groups to make the best meal plans for weight loss.
Protein and Dairy Foods
Most protein foods also contain vitamin B and iron. Dairy products have less protein than meats and beans. For breakfast, enjoy a poached egg, 70 calories, or 1 cup of plain fat-free yogurt, 127 calories. Lunch on fat-free deli ham or turkey breast, 50 calories or less, or on 1 tbsp. of peanut butter, 94 calories. The leanest dinner choices are fish, with 100 calories or less per 3-oz., such as cod, sole, tuna, and orange roughy. In addition to providing protein, vitamin B and iron, black beans, navy beans, pinto beans and lentils are vegetarian sources of fiber and minerals that meats and fish don't have, with 120 calories or less per half cup. The American Diabetes Association considers beans the best all-around nutritional source available.
Grains
Like beans, grain foods also provide B vitamins, iron, protein and fiber to support your metabolism during weight loss. According to the National Institutes of Health, the high dietary fiber content of whole grains gives you a fuller feeling from less food, a boon to dieters. Low-calorie grain choices for breakfast include suggested servings of wheat bran flakes, 78 calories, or whole-wheat toast, 65 calories. Use a corn tortilla, 57 calories, for a lunch wrap, or eat four rye crackers, 47 calories. Dinner side dishes include a half cup of brown rice, bulgur or barley, each at 108 calories or less.
Vegetables
Eat vegetables as often as possible when losing weight. Their high fiber content is filling, and their calorie counts are the lowest among all foods. Add 1 cup of tomato or vegetable juice to breakfast for about 45 calories. Lunchtime salads make the best use of vegetable variety, starting with 10 calories per 1 cup of salad greens and adding ½ cup of raw tomatoes, cucumbers or carrots for about 20 calories or less. Cooked vegetables such as spinach and broccoli are highly nutritious dinner staples, at 25 calories or less per ½ cup.
Fruits
Fruits of all colors and types belong in every weight-loss meal, for their filling fiber and high vitamin C content. For calorie counts 60 and under, serve of ½-cup portions of fresh or unsweetened frozen or canned fruits, and use dried fruit sparingly. Add a few raisins or blueberries to breakfast cereal. Use oranges or apples in a lunch or dinner salad in place of vegetables. Enjoy sweet pineapples, pears or mangos for dessert.
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