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Help me plan a 1600 calorie a day meal plan

32 replies

badwife29 · 19/01/2025 09:49

I really need to lose weight. Tried all the diets with some success but it always goes back on eventually. Calorie counting suits me and my deficit is 1600 a day but I'm still struggling to stick to that. A current day for me looks like this:

I'm never really hungry in the morning so I'll have a coffee and cereal bar mid morning for about 150 calories.

Lunch is almost always a sandwich, salad or wrap. Have a peice of fruit and a bag of crisps (usually the lower calorie ones like skips or lentil chips). Followed by a coffee and a sweet treat - biscuit or Kit Kat etc. This usually averages around 700 calories.

Evening meal varies but is usually something from Gousto. I try to go for the lower calorie meals but Dh does the cooking and I don't always know how much extra oil/butter etc he's putting in so it's harder to track this. I would say most evening meals average around 800 calories.

Finish the day with a cup of tea.

By this logic I'm not far off target but I'm just not losing weight. I never really feel full and often have a mad binging session when I get home from work which is obviously pushing me way over 1600. I really need some meal plans/tips on sticking to this and actually feeling full too.

OP posts:
HipToTheHopDontStop · 19/01/2025 10:24

YABU. There are boards for this stuff.

mondaytosunday · 19/01/2025 10:23

You will be hungry. That's just how it works. After a while your body will adjust to eating less but you can't be in a deficit and feel full all the time.
That breakfast bar is doing nothing. Have an egg instead. And pile on the non starchy veg. Salads with a variety of textures. Bulk out your dinner with more veg. Make sure you are eating enough protein. Wraps are relatively high in calories. Those Goustp meals - as you say the calorie count usually does not include any oil or butter added to cook them.
But most of all get that need to feel full out of your head.

soupfiend · 19/01/2025 10:17

You will feel hungry, its become a 'truth' that you can diet to lose weight without feeling hungry, you cant, but you have to try to manage it in a way that doesnt overwhelm and lead you to eat something you dont need

I would move way from things like cereal bars or lentil snacks, because they inevitably will lead you to be hungry. Use things like a mini babybel as easy to count, although you can cut off bits of cheese to put in a pot, nuts, again you want about 20g

I would never start a breakfast with yoghurt personally but people say that a lot on here, I would go for eggs or meat with spinach or lentils. Shakshuka is a good bet, that sort of thing. Spinach omelette or those mini egg muffins you canmake up with bacon and veg in them or something like that

If you need chocolate, can you eat the dark chcolate, a couple of squares at night with a cuppa, not everyone likes the bitter stuff, although I do.

You wont feel hungry as time goes on, not proper rumbling tummy hunger anyway.

Magamaga · 19/01/2025 10:12

You don’t seem to be eating much veg and fruit and very probably not enough protein and a fair amount of UPF.

I would do
breakfast - greek youghurt, fruit and seeds or nuts or complete made with frozen mushrooms or peppers for speed

Lunch - soup with added chicken, chicken or those ready cooked salmon fillets with salad or mircowave veg

Dinner - whatever you normally have with a smaller carb portion and more veg

MiddleAgedDread · 19/01/2025 10:08

Eat breakfast
more lean protein
more fruit and veg
less processed empty calories like crisps and cereal bars
more water

InkHeart2024 · 19/01/2025 10:03

You could ask chat gpt to creat you a weekly meal plan.

I would say you need to ditch the crisps and biscuit if you want to avoid feeling hungry. They may be only 250 calories or so between them but they will do nothing to make you feel full and are a total waste of calories. Two hard boiled eggs or a piece of cheese, 50g of nuts or a small plain yoghurt would all fill you up much better and be fewer calories.

Agix · 19/01/2025 10:00

You'll still be hungry if you're eating in a deficit. It's impossible to be in a deficit and not be hungry. The whole point of weight loss is you have to deprive your body of calories it needs to run on. It's going to send out hunger signals before relenting and using fat stores.

You just need to aceept being hungry and ignore it, but you can lessen the impact by eating whole foods rather than processed foods. I.e, no chocolate and crisps (they lentil ones are just as bad as regular). Opt for whole food bars or fruit or veg for snacks. Cereal bars in particular will leave you starving. Processed protein bars marginally better, much better if they're wholefood raw ones.

Only weightless jabs or long term actual starvation will stop you feeling hungry.

If you have the money, I totally vote getting a full meal delivery service. I have anorexia and have a meal delivery service not for weight loss, but to make eating easier (I don't have to worry about choosing food, think overly about what I'm putting in a meal etc). I don't want to be an advert for th brand I have, but the service I use is all whole foods and nutritionally balanced, and calorie counted. Do a Google. Just so much easier to eat healthy whole foods without having to think about it.