If you can't afford mail-order meals or don't want to spend money on a dietician, you can create your own low-fat meals for weight loss using nothing more than nutrition labels and an online nutrition source, such LIVESTRONG.COM's MyPlate. Even better, you can create low-calorie, low-fat versions of your favorite dinners with just a few ingredient substitutions.
Substitute
Not all fat is bad for you. The fats you find in foods such as cold-water fish, olive oil and nuts are heart-healthy and provide body to your dishes. Avoid saturated fats, found in animal products, and trans fats, found in many baked goods. When choosing meat and poultry, use leaner proteins, such as cheaper cuts of beef, turkey and chicken breast and game. Seafood is an excellent source of low-fat protein.
Start with Soup
Eating a cup of soup before your main course can help fill your stomach and prevent you from overeating, found Penn State University researchers. Make your own soups using your food processor. Avoid cream soups and use a vegetable stock. Try black bean, tomato, onion and other familiar soups for your starter. Add beans for protein.
Tex-Mex
Avoid the high-fat ingredients found in many burritos, tacos, fajitas and quesadillas, such as sour cream, cheese and ground beef. Use fat-free or low-fat sour cream and cheese. Use ground turkey or fish instead of beef to stuff low-fat or baked tortillas and shells. Make a savory, fat-free salsa in your food processor with onions, tomatoes, green and red peppers, lime juice and spices.
Italian
Start with an antipasti plate of marinated veggies, including mushrooms, roasted red peppers and artichokes. Add black and green olives. Follow with cup of homemade minestrone soup. Serve a salad with a few slivered almonds or crushed walnuts instead of croutons and add plenty of fresh vegetables. Make your own dressing with olive oil and vinegar. By the time you serve the pasta course, you'll just need a small portion. Use a whole grain pasta with a tomato sauce you make in your food processor. Combine canned tomatoes and your favorite spices to make a fat-free marinara sauce.
Stir-Fry
Stir-fries are easy-to-make, low-cal dinners that give you the flavor of animal products without relying on them as the main component. Saute your vegetables by themselves for several minutes, then remove them from the pan. Add bite-size pieces of flank or sirloin steak, chicken breast or shrimp and cook until they are two minutes from finishing. Add your vegetables back into the pan to coat them with the juices from your meat, fish or poultry. Serve with a small amount of brown rice.
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