How to meal prep for weight loss. Discover the right foods to prioritize, create healthy and filling meals, and get sustainable weight loss tips.

Meal Prepping for Weight Loss: The Beginner’s Guide

Meal prepping can be a game-changer when it comes to weight loss. Planning and preparing meals and snacks ahead of time can save you time, reduce stress around mealtime, help improve diet quality, and support you in reaching and maintaining a healthy body weight. This comprehensive guide will break down everything you need to know about meal prepping for weight loss, including the right foods to prioritize, how to create healthy and filling meals, sample recipes, and evidence-based, sustainable weight loss tips.

The Myth of Restrictive Diets for Weight Loss

You may be surprised to learn that you don’t need to follow a strict, restrictive diet to lose weight. While certain dietary patterns like low-carb and vegan diets have been shown to promote weight loss, this doesn’t mean they are the only path to healthy, sustainable weight loss. In fact, very low-calorie diets that deliver only 1,000 to 1,200 calories per day often result in quick weight loss, but the weight is quickly regained once a person returns to normal eating habits.

The Key Principles of Healthy Weight Loss

The most important factor for weight loss is ensuring you’re in a calorie deficit, which promotes fat loss. However, this doesn’t mean you have to severely restrict your calorie intake. Instead, focus on cutting back on high-calorie, nutrient-poor refined foods, choosing more nutrient-dense, filling foods, and increasing your physical activity. This will help you create a calorie deficit while still feeling nourished and satisfied.

The Ideal Meal Prep Diet for Weight Loss

So, what does a balanced, weight-loss-friendly dietary pattern look like? Honestly, it looks a lot like any other balanced diet. It should be nutritionally complete, affordable, appropriate, culturally acceptable, enjoyable, and sustainable. The key is to focus on whole, minimally processed foods, especially fruits and vegetables, as well as other nutrient-dense options like whole grains, beans, fish, chicken, eggs, nuts, and seeds. Don’t forget to leave room for the occasional treat as well.

Creating Healthy and Filling Meal Prep Recipes

When it comes to meal prepping for weight loss, the goal is to create nutrient-dense, satisfying meals and snacks that will keep you feeling full and energized throughout the day. This means incorporating a balance of protein, complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, and fiber-rich foods. Some great options to include in your meal prep recipes include lean proteins, whole grains, beans, lentils, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.

Sustainable Weight Loss Tips for Meal Prepping

Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight is a journey, not a destination. To ensure your weight loss efforts are sustainable, it’s important to focus on making gradual, healthy changes that you can stick to in the long run. This includes finding ways to make meal prepping enjoyable, staying hydrated, and incorporating regular physical activity into your routine.

Sample Meal Prep Recipes for Weight Loss

Ready to get started with your weight loss meal prepping? Here are a few delicious and nutritious recipe ideas to try:

• Grilled Chicken and Veggie Stir-Fry
• Quinoa and Black Bean Burrito Bowls
• Roasted Salmon with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Broccoli
• Greek Yogurt with Berries and Granola
• Tuna Salad with Whole Grain Crackers and Cucumber Slices

Remember, the key to successful meal prepping for weight loss is finding a balance of nutrient-dense foods that you enjoy and that keep you feeling satisfied. Experiment with different recipes and flavor combinations to find what works best for you.

The Bottom Line

Meal prepping can be a powerful tool for weight loss, but it doesn’t have to mean following a strict, restrictive diet. By focusing on whole, nutrient-dense foods and creating a calorie deficit through a combination of diet and exercise, you can achieve sustainable weight loss while still enjoying the foods you love. With a little planning and preparation, meal prepping can help make healthy eating easier and more convenient, setting you up for long-term success.

The Ultimate Guide to Meal Prepping for Weight Loss

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If you’re trying to lose weight, it’s helpful to have the right foods on hand to fuel your body and provide you with the nutrients you need to feel your best.

Meal prepping can be a helpful tool for anyone, regardless of whether you want to lose, gain, or maintain weight.

Planning and preparing meals and snacks ahead of time can save you time, reduce stress around mealtime, help improve diet quality, and help you reach and maintain a healthy body weight (1, 2).

This article breaks down meal prepping for weight loss and includes foods to prioritize, how to create healthy and filling meals, sample recipes, and evidence-based, sustainable weight loss tips.

Though you may be surprised to hear this, you don’t need to follow any particular diet for weight loss.

Some dietary patterns such as low carb and vegan diets have been shown to promote weight loss, but this doesn’t mean they’re necessary to lose weight in a healthy, sustainable way (3, 4, 5).

Meal prepping is a great tool because instead of following a fixed, restrictive plan, you can enjoy a nutrient-dense diet that works for you and your individual preferences. The planning piece helps make healthy meals a reality on days you’re crunched for time.

You’re also more likely to enjoy the meals and snacks that you’re eating, and you have the freedom to choose foods that you like because no foods are completely “off-limits.”

With this in mind, some foods — like fruits and vegetables — are highly nutritious and have been linked to weight loss, while others — like donuts and cookies — can still be enjoyed but should be more limited as part of a healthy diet.

A healthy, weight-loss-friendly diet can simply be a well-rounded, nutrient-dense dietary pattern. The most important factor in weight loss is making sure you’re in a calorie deficit, which promotes fat loss.

However, this does not mean that you have to go on a strict low calorie diet. Instead, try cutting back on certain high calorie, nutrient-poor refined foods, choosing nutrient-dense, filling foods more often, and adding in more activity on a daily basis.

This will help you create a calorie deficit while still feeling nourished and fulfilled.

Even though very low calorie diets that only deliver 1,000 or 1,200 calories per day are likely to result in quick weight loss, studies show that the weight lost on these programs is quickly gained back once a person returns to normal eating habits (6, 7, 8, 9).

Plus, these diets are typically unnecessarily restrictive, take the enjoyment out of eating, and they can lead to an unhealthy relationship with food.

So, what does a balanced, weight-loss-friendly dietary pattern look like? Honestly, it looks just like any other balanced diet. It should be nutritionally complete, affordable, appropriate, culturally acceptable, enjoyable, and sustainable.

One thing that many health professionals agree on is that a healthy diet should comprise mostly whole, minimally processed foods, especially fruits and vegetables.

In addition to fruits and vegetables, nutrient-dense whole foods like whole grains, beans, fish, chicken, eggs, nuts, and seeds should make up the majority of your diet — while still leaving some room for treats.

Be wary of generic meal-prep-friendly meal plans available online or handed out by trainers and nutritionists with a set calorie limit, especially if they are rigid and deliver fewer than 1,500 calories per day.

It’s impossible to know how many calories a person needs on a daily basis without information like their height, weight, age, sex, and activity level. Plus, it’s important to remember that calorie calculations are just estimates (10).

If you would like to have a general idea of your calorie needs, work with a registered dietitian or another qualified healthcare professional who specializes in metabolic health to help determine an appropriate and safe calorie range to support weight loss.

Even though it may be helpful for some people to know how many calories they require on a daily basis, it’s not necessary to count calories, track foods, or follow a very low calorie diet for weight loss.

You can still follow a diet that promotes weight loss without counting calories. Choose the right kinds of foods to fuel your body, compose filling meals, eat in accordance with your feelings of hunger and fullness, and prepare healthy meals and snacks.

Summary

There is no one-size-fits-all diet for weight loss. A healthy diet, regardless of whether you’re trying to lose weight, should be sustainable, nourishing, nutritionally adequate, and most importantly, enjoyable.

When meal prepping for weight loss, it’s important to know how to plan meals that are filling and nutrient-dense.

In general, aim to make most of your meals and snacks balanced, meaning they should contain a source of protein, fat, and fiber.

Getting adequate protein at every meal and snack is essential, as protein is the most filling macronutrient and helps keep you feeling satisfied between meals.

For example, eating an apple paired with natural peanut butter, a source of plant-based protein and fat, will be more satisfying than eating an apple on its own.

Adding more fat and protein to your meals and snacks adds more calories, but it also helps prevent you from being hungry and fuels your body with key nutrients.

Plus, a higher protein diet helps preserve lean muscle mass during weight loss, which is important for maintaining strength, as well as optimal energy expenditure (11, 12, 13).

Adding sources of fiber and healthy fats to meals can also help ensure your meals are filling, tasty, and contain a variety of nutrients.

Here are a few meal and snack upgrades that can help you get an idea of what well-composed, weight-loss-friendly meals and snacks may look like.

Although it’s a good idea to prepare many of your meals and snacks from scratch, using some premade foods such as turkey sticks, hummus, whole grain crackers, salad dressings, and more can help make your life much easier and save time when meal prepping.

Summary

When prepping weight-loss-friendly meals and snacks, it’s important to design balanced meals that contain protein, fiber, and healthy fats to promote satiety and provide the nutrients your body needs.

As mentioned above, any healthy diet should comprise mainly whole, nutritious foods like fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, and healthy proteins and fats.

When planning meals for the week ahead, it’s helpful to create a shopping list. Grocery lists can help you stay organized while at the store and may even help you make healthier choices while shopping (14, 15).

Think of your list as the first step in your meal planning. You’ll want to pick up healthy foods but also have a plan to use them so they don’t go to waste. Frozen and canned fruits and vegetables last longer and are typically less expensive.

Here’s an example of a meal-prep and weight-loss-friendly shopping list:

• Fruits: blackberries, blueberries, bananas, apples, and grapefruits
• Non-starchy vegetables: spinach, peppers, onions, cauliflower, green beans, mushrooms, zucchini, lettuce
• Starchy vegetables: sweet potatoes, potatoes, and butternut squash
• Proteins: canned salmon and tuna, frozen shrimp, chicken breast, lean ground beef and turkey, and eggs
• Beans: chickpeas, black beans, kidney beans, and lentils
• Grains: oats, brown rice, whole grain pasta, and quinoa
• Frozen foods: frozen mangoes, sprouted-grain bread, frozen cherries, frozen broccoli, and frozen spinach
• Dairy and non-dairy substitutes: milk, unsweetened nondairy milk, cheese, Greek yogurt, and plain yogurt
• Nuts and seeds: sunflower seeds, pistachios, almonds, natural peanut butter, pumpkin seeds, and cashews
• Condiments and pantry: salad dressing, salsa, marinara sauce, mustard, spices, chicken broth, diced tomatoes, garlic, etc.
• Oils: olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, etc.
• Other healthy fats: avocado, hummus, and tahini
• Beverages: sparkling water, coffee, and tea
• Snack foods: dark chocolate chips, turkey sticks, nut butter packets, whole grain or seed-based crackers, whole-food-based bars, popcorn, plantain and bean chips, etc.

This is simply a suggested shopping list. Your shopping list will change weekly depending on the meals and snacks you choose to meal prep.

Summary

Focus on consuming whole, nutrient-dense foods like vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, whole grains, beans, and fish. Fill your refrigerator and cabinets with healthy, meal-prep-friendly foods and make a plan to prep them into healthy meals and snacks.

In addition to a well-organized shopping list, having some kitchen tools on hand makes meal prepping easier.

Having a variety of durable containers in a number of shapes and sizes is critical for meal prepping.

Try keeping glass and stainless steel food storage containers on hand.

Shop for glass meal-prep containers, which are available in a variety of sizes, online.

It’s nice to have containers in different sizes and even try some with multiple compartments, both for snack boxes and keeping foods separate.

A well-designed lunch bag or transport tote is important for meal preppers as well. A good choice for a food transport tote will be insulated and have a place for ice packs to keep your food cool.

Shop for an insulated lunchbox or larger lunch tote online.

Consider how many meals you’re planning on prepping and taking with you on a daily or nightly basis. If it’s just one meal and a snack per day, a smaller lunch bag will suffice. If you’re prepping multiple meals, consider buying a larger tote.

Summary

Having a well-stocked kitchen can help you meal prep, and a few key tools, such as storage containers and lunch boxes, can be very useful.

A healthy diet tends to be low in nutrient-poor, ultra-processed foods and added sugars. These include foods and beverages like fast food, candy, sugary baked goods, sweetened cereals, deep-fried foods, soda, and other highly refined items.

Reducing consumption of these foods is essential for everyone, not just people who want to shed excess body weight. However, it’s especially important to cut back on these foods if you’d like to promote fat loss.

This is because research shows that diets high in ultra-processed foods and added sugars are associated with weight gain and obesity, as well as a number of chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease (16, 17, 18, 19, 20).

If your diet is currently high in ultra-processed foods and added sugar, cutting back can help you lose weight and improve your overall health.

However, that’s not to say that you should completely avoid your favorite foods. A well-rounded, sustainable diet should always leave room for you to enjoy your favorite foods on occasion.

Just remember that the majority of your diet should be made up of nutrient-dense whole foods like the ones listed above.

Summary

Even though a diet low in ultra-processed foods and added sugars is best for overall health, a balanced diet should leave room for you to enjoy your favorite foods.

If you’re new to meal prep, you may want to start gradually by preparing just a few meals a week. Once that becomes a habit, add a few more meals.

It’s also a smart choice to prep meals that you seem to have the most trouble with in terms of making healthy choices.

For example, if you typically resort to a fast-food lunch because there are very few options near your worksite, start prepping lunch at home. If you have a habit of grabbing a donut and coffee on your way to work, start with prepping breakfast.

Once you’ve decided on how many meals you’d like to prep, pick a day that you have time to prep and set aside an hour or two — depending on the number of meals you’re making.

Browse the internet for meal-prep-friendly recipes and take screenshots or print out the recipes and ingredient lists. Use these recipes to create an organized grocery list.

Go grocery shopping a day or two ahead of your meal prep day so you have everything you need to create healthy meals for the week ahead.

It may seem like a lot at first, but you’ll get better at meal prepping the more you do it, and you’ll figure out recipes and strategies that work for you.

Simple weight-loss-friendly meal and snack ideas

Now that you’ve decided to take on meal prepping to create healthy meals to support weight loss, you may want a few meal and snack ideas to get you started.

These meals and snacks are all easily made in advance, and many rely on staples that are easy to keep on hand, like eggs, oats, peanut butter, sweet potatoes, and rice.

Here are a few weight loss and meal-prep-friendly breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack recipes that are tasty and simple to make.

Breakfast ideas

• Mushroom goat cheese frittata cups. Serve these with a piece of fresh fruit and sliced avocado.
• Peanut butter overnight oats. Top them with fresh berries and chia seeds.
• Chickpea and sweet potato breakfast hash. Add a hard-boiled egg or tofu for more protein.

Lunch and dinner ideas

• Turkey stuffed sweet potatoes. Serve these fiber- and protein-loaded sweet potatoes with crispy roasted Brussels sprouts.
• Grain bowls. Grain bowls are a great choice for meal prep. Simply top a cooked grain of your choice (e.g., quinoa or brown rice), with a protein (e.g., tofu or chicken), your favorite vegetables, and a sauce or dressing. Here’s an idea for a Mediterranean-style grain bowl.
• Burgers. Burgers are perfect for meal prep because they are easy to store and pair well with just about anything. Try out this spinach feta salmon burger recipe or Mediterranean chicken burger recipe and pair them with baked potato wedges and a green salad.
• One-pan recipes. One-sheet-pan recipes, including this balsamic chicken and veggies recipe or this salmon and veggies recipe, make meal prep a breeze.

Snacks

• Bento boxes. Fill a multi-compartment food container with your favorite snack foods like fresh fruit, veggie sticks, hummus, nut butter, hard-boiled eggs, cheese, and nuts. Add a variety of foods for flavor, and aim to include protein, fiber, and a healthy fat.
• Energy balls. Energy balls are a portable snack option that can be prepped in large quantities and frozen ahead of time. Try out this simple lime coconut energy bite recipe.
• Premade snacks. Keep healthy, premade snacks handy to help save time. Think hummus, whole-food-based snack bars, whole grain cereal, whole grain crackers, and mixed nuts — these make perfect snack additions to fresh ingredients like fruits and veggies.

There’s no doubt that meal prepping could help promote weight loss. However, meal prepping is only a small part of a larger puzzle that makes up healthy weight loss.

If you want to lose weight, there are a number of factors to consider, including getting enough sleep, proper hydration, stress reduction, and engaging in enjoyable and consistent physical activity.

Weight loss can be difficult and takes time, lots of self-love, and patience. It’s often helpful to build a support system that includes a registered dietitian, a therapist, and trusted loved ones like friends and family to support you through your journey.

Summary

If you’re a meal prep newbie, start gradually by prepping just a few meals a week. Stick with nutritious, yet simple recipes like the ones listed above to save time in the kitchen.

Meal prepping for weight loss doesn’t have to involve calorie counting or complicated low calorie recipes.

Instead, a weight-loss-friendly meal plan should be high in nutritious, filling, and delicious foods and involve preparing recipes that appeal to you using foods that you enjoy.

Remember, if you’re new to meal prep, don’t go overboard. Start by preparing a few healthy meals per week to create a sustainable habit that can help you lose weight in a healthy way.

Just one thing

Try this today: Grain bowls, frittatas, and one-sheet-pan meals are great choices for new meal preppers because they’re delicious yet don’t require a lot of cooking skills or time. Don’t be afraid to experiment and create your own meal-prep-friendly recipes. Before you know it, you’ll be a meal prep pro!

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The HCG Diet: What Is It and Does It Work?

At the top of the list of odd fad diets, the original form of the HCG diet has been widely discredited by scientists. However, many people are still enticed by the diet’s promises of losing up to a half pound or a pound a day by combining hormone injections, pellets, drops, or sprays with a restrictive 500-calorie diet — a risky proposition, says Liz Weinandy, RD, at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus.

“It has not been proven safe by [the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)], nor has it been proven effective,” she cautions. “We just don’t know the long-term effects.” The FDA has even issued warnings against HCG diet products. (1)

While Mehmet Oz of The Dr. Oz Show introduced an updated form of the HCG diet that allows up to 1,500 calories per day, the classic version of the HCG diet restricted calories to just 500. In his new and updated version of the diet, Dr. Oz even states that the original HCG diet “should no longer be in practice by any physician,” though his updated version of the diet still involves restricted eating of similar foods and hormone injections. (2) Very little research has been done on this new version of the HCG diet, and it’s worth noting that the data Oz uses to back up these claims does not come from a peer-reviewed journal. (3)

In fact, Weinandy does not believe that the version of the HCG diet introduced by Oz on his show is any safer because “it still requires injections, has not been approved by the FDA for safety or efficacy, and is still too low calorie,” she says.

So what is the HCG diet exactly, and why do its proponents make such dramatic claims about its effects?

What Is the HCG Diet, and How Does the Fad Diet Work?

The diet requires that you eat only 500 calories a day, supposedly as part of an effort to help reset your metabolism and change your abnormal eating patterns, as the FDA explains in its warning against the diet. (1) The HCG diet also requires you to take a daily dose of the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG). Available in injections, pellets, sprays, oral drops, and pills, HCG is the hormone produced by the placenta during pregnancy.

In 1954, British physician A.T.W. Simeons theorized that HCG allows mothers-to-be to access fat reserves to feed their fetuses. He published a book, Pounds and Inches: A New Approach to Obesity, in which he suggested that HCG could help people access their fat reserves and achieve weight loss.

The idea might have been that, if a woman had morning sickness or some other condition that prevented her from taking in ample nutrition at a certain point in her pregnancy, her baby would still have a reserve of energy to draw on, and the hormone HCG could help facilitate access to that supply, Weinandy says. But, she notes, this really oversimplifies the numerous systems at work in pregnancy: A number of hormones are active, and the way they interact can sometimes even promote fat gain for the mother.

In fact, Weinandy says, this kind of speculation about HCG’s role in weight loss can be “really dangerous, and it’s sending a bad message to people because we don’t know for certain how HCG works.” Another worry? Many chronic diseases, including breast cancer and prostate cancer, have been linked to an imbalance of hormones, so we can’t predict what effects manipulating our hormones might have, Weinandy cautions.

An HCG Diet Food List: What to Eat and Avoid on the Plan

The HCG diet limits calories substantially, usually to about 500 per day but sometimes up to 1,500, Weinandy says. Because of that severe restriction, the HCG diet limits fat substantially, she explains.

According to the HCG diet website, here are a list of the approved foods:

• Some FruitsLimited oranges, strawberries, apples, and red grapefruit
• Nonstarchy Vegetables Lettuce, celery, cabbage, cucumbers, onions, and tomatoes
• Lean Meat Chicken breast, lean ground beef, shrimp, lobster, and white fish

So what are some foods that are definitely off-limits in this plan? Keri Gans, RD, a New York–based dietitian, notes that the diet does not allow any of the following:

• Fatty Foods Fatty fish, nuts, or anything made with oil
• Starchy Vegetables Potatoes, for example
• Added Sugar Not permitted in any form

What Proponents of the HCG Diet Say About the Plan’s Benefits

Some people who have followed the HCG diet find that it results in rapid weight loss with minimal hunger. Gans says that people on the HCG diet will lose weight simply because they are consuming so few calories.

“The amount of calories per day allowed on this diet is below any recommended amount for safe weight loss,” Gans says. “For the average person, consuming 500 to 800 calories per day puts them at risk for malnutrition, plus a host of other side effects, including fatigue, dizziness, nausea, and constipation.”

What of advocates’ claims that the HCG diet helps reduce fat, not muscle?

According to the HCG diet website, this is because the body’s shape begins to change while on the diet: Deposits of fat move away from the stomach and hips, and instead become available for the body to use immediately, leading to fat loss rather than muscle loss.

But Weinandy says there’s no scientific evidence that the diet won’t cause muscle loss, and studies on the diet are funded by HCG diet proponents themselves. Right now, she notes, it’s only clear that “following a low-calories diet in the short term will produce weight loss, and this includes fat and stomach in the hips. “

Why the HCG Diet May Be Risky or Lead to Limited Results

Organizations like the American Society of Bariatric Physicians warn against the diet, and nutritionists agree. (4) They note that the diet can be harmful for the following reasons:

• Little Medical Support “It is not at all healthy for you,” Gans says. It would be impossible, she continues, to find “an accredited physician or registered dietitian — the two professionals you should be going to if you need help with weight loss — who would endorse the HCG diet.”
• Expensive Injections The daily HCG injections or pills, Gans says, could be costly. Most people buy the hormone pills on the internet or go to clinics that advertise HCG injections. And, Weinandy says, you also have to worry about whether the injection is indeed what it claims to be, and that it is not harmful in the long term.
• Likely Weight Regain People are likely to put the weight back on as soon as they go off the diet, Gans says. Once people are no longer severely restricting their diet and calories, they will often regain the weight: A review published in 2013 in ISRN Obesity found that multiple mechanisms in the body — including changes in metabolism, the body’s hormones, and appetite — help counteract a reduction in calories, which the authors say might explain why many people regain weight after a period of restriction. (5)
• Few Food Choices Because the HCG diet is so calorie restrictive, there aren’t many exciting HCG diet recipes, Gans says. Your choices usually include different ways of seasoning basic foods, like fish, chicken, turkey, or lean beef. Seasonings can add flavor and variety but no calories. Many of the HCG diet recipes are for single servings.
• Long-Term Health Risks By following the diet for the recommended six to eight weeks, you put yourself at risk for a number of nutritional deficiencies, Weinandy says. You could also face electrolyte imbalances, an irregular heartbeat, gallstones, and more, not to mention the additional health risks mentioned earlier about the effects of manipulating your hormones.

The Potential Short- and Long-Term Effects of the HCG Diet

In the short term, Gans says, HCG dieters are going to feel lousy. “You will be low in energy. You will be fatigued. You will be cranky and irritable,” she says. “There’s no way you’re going to be getting enough nutrients, and you won’t have energy to exercise, which can help you not only lose weight but also maintain long-term weight loss.”

People who stay on the HCG diet for a long time could become malnourished. “You can’t meet your nutritional needs on 500 calories a day,” explains Gans. “The U.S. dietary guidelines are based on a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet.”

The HCG diet promises quick weight loss and can work at first because you are eating far fewer calories than you are burning. However, it’s important to remember that healthy weight loss takes time and most often can’t be accomplished through fad diets.

“I always tell my patients that it didn’t take you two weeks to gain those 20 pounds, so don’t expect to lose them in two weeks,” Gans says. “You need to change your behavior for the long term, and fad diets don’t do anything about changing behavior except encouraging some new, not-so-healthy ones.”

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How many calories to consume per day to lose weight

Every person, regardless of gender, age and social status, dreams of having a slender, toned figure. There are several reasons, because in addition to attractiveness, a slender figure speaks of the general state of health.

Overweight people are most susceptible to various diseases. Among them are problems with the spine, joints, ligaments, blood vessels and heart.

Absolutely everyone can normalize their weight. The first step is to find out how many calories to consume per day to lose weight, the second is the transition to proper nutrition, the third is to lead an active lifestyle.

Contents

Calorie norm

Despite the fact that it is strictly individual to calculate how many calories to burn and how much to leave, there are average values ​​- the minimum and maximum threshold.

Before calculating the daily norm, it is necessary to establish the exact criteria of the body:

• Gender.
• Full age.
• Rost.
• Exact weight.

Vital activity must be taken into account. This is a very important criterion, since it depends on it how many calories should be consumed daily to normalize weight.

This category should be divided into three parts:

1. Passive – absolutely no physical activity.
2. Intermediate – medium physical activity. Exercise up to three times a week.
3. Active – the body is constantly in work.

Minimum and maximum daily calorie intake for a man:

Age: 18 – 40 years.

Vital activity: passive 2400 – 2600; intermediate 2600 – 2800; active 3000 – 3200.

Age: 41 – 60 years old.

Vital activity: passive 2000 – 2200; intermediate 2400 – 2600; active 2600 – 2800.

Age: over 60 years.

Vital activity: passive 2000; intermediate 2200 – 2400; active 2400 – 2600.

Minimum and maximum daily calorie intake for a woman:

Age: 18 – 40 years.

Vital activity: passive 1800 – 2000; intermediate 2000 – 2200; active 2200 – 2400.

Age: 41 – 60 years old.

Vital activity: passive 1600 – 1800; intermediate 1800 – 2000; active 2000 – 2200.

Age: over 60 years old.

Vital activity: passive 1600; intermediate 1800; active 2000.

Formula for calculating daily calorie intake

Today, nutritionists around the world offer their formulas for effective weight loss. However, there is no significant difference.

Before calculating using the formula, you must measure your height and stand on the scales.

Calculation of the norm for women:

10 x exact weight in kg + 6.25 x exact height in cm – 5 x exact age in years – 161.

For example, a woman is 40 years old, weighs 70 kg with a height of 169 cm.

10 x 70 + 6.25 x 169 – 5 x 40 – 161 = 1395 kcal

The final result is the minimum daily calorie intake. In other words, this is how many kcal you need to eat per day in order for the body to function normally.

Next, we determine the vital activity:

• Minimum – 1.2.
• Average – 1.35.
• Increased (doing sports up to 3 times a week) – 1. 55.
• Maximum (daily training) – 1.725.

After, the minimum daily intake is multiplied by the number of activity.

In our case, we take the average and get:

1395 x 1.35 = 1883 kcal

The resulting figure ultimately shows how many calories should be consumed daily.

Another simple formula for calculating the number of calories per day for weight loss:

Calculating the norm for men:

10 x exact weight x + 6.25 x exact height – 5 x exact age + 5

For example, a man is 40 years old, weighs 80 kg with a height of 180 cm.

1730 x 1.55 = 2682 kcal.

This is how much energy is required to maintain the body at a constant weight.

If you find it difficult to calculate or there are other problems, you can go the other way.

Knowing your current weight, you need to determine the final goal. In other words, determine the exact weight you are aiming for.

Then we multiply your figure by the digital value of the lifestyle.

27 – labor activity is not connected with physical activity, there are no sports activities.

29 – light physical activity no more than twice a week.

34 – regular exercise, going to the gym up to four times a week.

37 – constant physical activity up to 5-6 times a week.

42 – daily intensive physical labor or visit to the gym.

For example, your goal is 65 kg and your activity factor is 29.

65 x 29 = 1885 kcal.

Based on the resulting product, we get the required number of calories. It is highly undesirable to exceed it.

Basic calculation rules

First. If there is too much extra weight, don’t set the bar too high. The best option would be to set an intermediate target weight.

For example, you decide to change from 80 kg to 60 kg. Put an intermediate weight of 75 kg and make the calculation based on this figure.

This is done for gradual weight loss, so the body has time to rebuild.

Second. Calculation of the actual weight. Here, 10% of calories should be removed from the total diet.

Calculated as follows:

Multiply the actual body weight by the mobility factor.

30 – daily mobility is extremely low.

31 – 37 – moderate exercise, up to 5 times a week. The more physical activity, the higher the number we take.

38 – 40 – you are active, walk or swim in addition to the gym.

41 – 50 – very active, constant physical activity throughout the week.

Actual weight – 80 kg, with medium mobility.

80 x 35 = 2800 kcal.

2800 – 280 = 2520 kcal.

With an actual weight of 80 kg, it is necessary to consume no more than 2520 kcal daily.

Cunning Diet/Fat Burning Scheme

Expert Advice

When deciding to shed those extra pounds, the first thing to do is to consult a medical professional. Only he, on the basis of a medical card, can choose the right diet.

Calculation formulas are not dogma, they do not take into account many secondary factors. Rather, they can be called basic and on their basis to adjust the individual course of weight loss.

The best option would be to lose up to 1.5 kg per week. However, with too much body weight, this criterion can reach 3 kg. This is due to the intensive removal of fluid from the body.

Thus, people who are too overweight can initially lose 10 kg per month. For the rest, the norm is a loss of up to 4 – 6 kg per month.

Be mindful of the energy value of the foods you eat. The fact is that our body is designed in such a way that with constant starvation, it begins to store body fat.

With a constant calorie deficit, the body begins to save the brain. He does this by blocking other organs.

Main problems with lack of energy:

• Increased brittle nails.
• Deterioration of the condition of the hair.
• Excessive dryness of the skin.
• Deterioration of teeth.

These are only external signs, upon finding which you should immediately contact a specialist.

Any diet containing less than 1000 kcal is harmful to the body and cannot last more than seven calendar days.

Everyone wants to look attractive, but not everyone thinks that this is work. Deciding to lose extra pounds, you need to be patient. Perhaps the result will not be instantaneous, however, it will certainly be.

How many calories does a child need

Recommended values ​​for energy, protein and carbohydrate intake
for children and adolescents (in the daily diet)

90 246

904 08

Note: For adolescents studying in industrial and technical schools, an additional intake of nutrients in the amount of 10-15% is provided, depending on the nature of the educational and industrial work.

Gender and age	Protein, g		Fat, g	Carbohydrates, g	Energy, g
	total	incl. animals
0 – 3 months	2.2	2.2	6.5	13	115
4-6 months	2.6	2.5	6.0	13	115
7-12 months	2.9	2.3	5.5	13	110
1 – 3 years	5 3	37	53	212	1540
4 – 6 years	68	44	68	272	1970
6 (school)	69	45 902 37	67	285	2000
7 – 10 years	77	46	79	335	2350
11 – 13 boys girls	90	54	92	390	2750	82	49	84	355	2500
14 – 17 boys	98	59	100	425	3000
14 – 17 girls	90	54	90	360	2600