Help me plan a 1600 calorie a day meal plan

[badwife29]

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

YABU. There are boards for this stuff.

From what you’ve listed, you easily eat around 600 more kcal a day than you think. A shop-bought salad is around 600 kcal alone, unless it’s tiny, add crisps and a KitKat to it and there you go. The same goes for the evening meal, one tablespoon of oil is over 100 kcal so unless you measure everything these add up quickly. Add to that the “invisible” calories consumed during a day such as milk in coffee/tea, that slice of cheese grabbed when passing the fridge, all drinks that are not water/black coffee and tea.

If you really want to count calories count them properly, measure and weigh stuff and log in everything. It’s pita at first but becomes automatic quickly. I would also aim for filling my plate with 50% vegetables at every meal and I don’t mean potatoes, I mean all types of leaves (leafy greens, cabbages), flowers (broccoli, cauliflower) and seaweed. This worked really well for me, I lost weight, kept maintaining and put on the lower recommended amount in pregnancy.

I’m working off 1650 calories at the minute post baby trying to lose weight. Key is to up your protein so you feel fuller & you’re not tempted to snack. You need protein in the morning as you’d be starving after a cereal bar. Like someone said above egg muffins are a great thing to batch cook add veg/protein & have two for breakfast or I have porridge with some protein powder (only recently started this).

if have porridge could have eggs & low calorie bagel or on omelette for lunch. Or a low calorie chicken wrap. Lots of chicken, low fat cheese, low fat mayo, spices & veg/salad. Cook in air fryer.

Dinner then is a protein, measured carb & veg.
Eg salmon, rice & green beans, low fat meatballs & pasta, turkey burger & sweet potato chips homemade, curry etc.

snacks: protein yoghurts & fruit. Usually have 100/150 calories left in the evening & I’ll have a cup of tea & low calorie chocolate bar eg 2 finger Kit Kat. For me I don’t cut out that treat and the plan is working. So important to count all calories eg oil used, butter etc & don’t deny any food (within reason obviously) just make sure you’re measuring & including it. It has to be a lifestyle change not a diet so if you’re feeling like you’re majorly denying yourself, chance you’ll give up & put it back on. Well that’s my thought process on it anyway!

I've been dieting for 51 weeks and don't feel hungry at all (just the usual ready-to-eat-now way before a meal), so it's not inevitable.

You need to eat more protein, aim for 100-120g per day. Instead of having a Kit Kat or other sweet treat try a protein yoghurt/mousse, the getpro chocolate ones are so good!

If you don’t like breakfast I’d do

coffee and protein mousse (20g protein, 170cals)

chicken or other high protein based wrap (or sandwich but bread is generally +++ calories for 2 slices), filled with salad for filler food. Use low fat mayo if you need a sauce or something, but I use Greek yoghurt with some lemon juice if it’s too dry without something

stir fry for dinner topped with an egg for extra protein. Quicker and easier than a gousto meal with less calories.

The key to keeping full is 30g+ protein in each meal.

I’ve lost 10kg over 6 months with 1500cals a day eating 115g protein daily, plus 3 workouts/runs/gym sessions, and hitting 10k steps daily. I can honestly count the number of days I’ve felt hungry on one hand. I wasn’t obese just a little too heavy so I didn’t have the insane drop off you sometimes get to begin with if you are quite overweight.

Good tips here already but I would also add, try to cut sugar completely. It makes you hungrier. If you need a 100 calorie snack have a boiled egg or some chicken, maybe some carrot sticks and humous etc. Watch the dressings in your salad - often sugary. It's not just about the bottom line of how many calories, it's the makeup of the food that affects how you feel.

You're correct but OP didnt say she bought a shop salad and some of them are nowhere near 600 cal if you pick the right one

But yes, need to count everything accurately.

I would look at increasing your consumption of vegetables so that you aren't eating smaller meals - just different proportions.

If you like to have a sandwich/wrap for your lunch, make some vegetable soup and have this alongside the sandwich, rather than crisps; and half fill your dinner plate with non-starchy vegetables.

From my own past experience, eating something like a cereal bar isn't helpful as you will get a rebound from the sugar and be just as hungry half an hour later. A lot of people will recommend protein breakfasts, which is fine if you can eat them. I'm not good on eggs etc in the morning but I find a piece of toast with peanut butter keeps me going a lot longer than cereal or fruit and yogurt.

Eat porridge for breakfast whether you are hungry or not.

Drink more water (1.5 litres up to 2 litres per day). It fills you up so you don't feel as hungry and is good for you.

If DH is cooking just take a smaller portion of whatever it is he makes (tell him in advance and don't let him persuade you into more than you need) and half a plate of salad with it. It'll fill you up with less calories.

Ditch the box it's and find something else yummy instead. They are wasted calories.

Take exercise to burn off any mistakes. If you log everything on my fitness pal it makes it easy.

Biscuits. Not box it's.

Try adding way more vegetables to your meals. A lot of them are very low in calories so you can eat a lot more volume, which might help psychologically to feel fuller.

Get rid of crisps and chocolate if you can - they're junk calories that could be used on something more filling and nutritious. That's with the caveat though, if you think you'll desperately crave chocolate and binge if you cut it out completely, then don't.

If you struggle with hunger or food noise that causes snacking and binging, then plan for this. Reduce the size of your main meals to allow calories for snacks. Make the snacks crunchy, something you take a bit of time and effort to eat and chew rather than just wolf down.

As people have said, expect to be a bit hungry. Try and refrain your mindset about this. Think of hunger as an indication that your deficit is working - imagine your body burning fat. Let yourself get nice and hungry and then really appreciate your meal when it comes.

This. Even though you are counting calories, your diet contains a lot of “crap” ie cereal bars, skips/lentil chips and biscuits. These will all cause insulin spikes and it is those which cause us to want to eat more - insulin spikes cause cravings for carbs/sugar to give the insulin something to do. Hence even low calorie “treats” (including fruit with a lot of natural sugar) can lead to weight gain because they stimulate appetite. Vegetables grown above ground are so much better for stabilising blood sugar and losing weight. And do not drink fruit juice - your body will treat it just like sugar - a high protein smoothie with whole berries and veg and chia seeds/oats is so much better.

You need to eat way more lean protein - the body cannot store protein (it stores fat and carbs for energy) so your brain very quickly tells you it’s full when you eat protein.

Remember also that excess carbs are stored in fat cells so a lot of carbs is literally converted to fat. Fat gives us satiety and slows down the emptying of food from the stomach and hence the absorption of calories and also helps prevent insulin spikes. So healthy fats like full fat Greek yoghurt, unsalted nuts, flax seeds, avocado etc keep you feeling fuller and stop you getting so hungry you have to eat. “Fat makes us full, sugar makes us fat” as my old science professor used to say back in the 80s!

Just counting calories is white knuckling weight loss and requires tons of willpower which will run out! Switch to whole foods and avoid fat-free and diet versions of everything. That includes Diet Coke etc as there is evidence that even calorie free soft drinks can cause insulin spikes because of the sweeteners in them (which also may be harmful in other ways).

I lost 3 stone over 6 months on a high protein/low carb diet. After about 4 days, my appetite reduced so massively I forgot to eat! It’s be like 3pm and I’d realise I hadn’t had lunch!

Good luck!

Have you put your macros and likes and dislikes in chat gpt, you can also ask for a shopping list as well as recipes.

This FB group ‘Quick and Healthy Recipe Ideas’, is really useful, low calory, high protein and healthy.

Lots of tempting photos, ideas to use and new inspiration to keep motivated.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/245795422717225

If you're not hungry in the morning, why bother with the mid morning cereal bar?

I'd skip that and wait for lunch.

And cut out either the crisps or the KitKat.

Small changes like that can make a difference, especially as the 'sweet treats' with a coffee can become more of a habit than a need.

Or just have the KitKat every other day, so you don't feel deprived.

I’d replace the sandwich with an omelette filled with peppers, mushrooms, spinach etc.
Switch the crisps and chocolate bars for fruit and a bowl of plain 5% greek yoghurt.
That would be enough of a change for me to start dropping weight.
Lower calorie and more filling with the additional fibre, protein. More vitamins too.

I've just spent 3 months eating 1500 calories a day & lost 2 stone. I'd say:

No biscuits/crisps/chocolate.
Nothing between meals.
Restrict coffee from coffee shops - I did max one per week.
Check calorie content of other drinks - I was drinking lots.
I did eat breakfast which was always yoghurt & fruit.
I had soup (quite bulky ones with lentils/potato etc in) fruit & yoghurt for lunch most days. Sometimes I had a sandwich instead.
Tea was often chicken stir fry or jacket potato with tuna/cheese & veg or chicken, rice & veg. Increase the veg and reduce the carbs. I had fruit for afters.

I still ate occasional takeaways and ate out, just think about your choices.

Starting the day with a cereal bar is not the way to go. They are full of sugar and you will spike then crash and feel even hungrier. Keep to a 200 cal breakfast so porridge or toast ( no butter) with scrambled egg, or beans on toast etc a 200-250 cal lunch so soup or a sandwich with no butter and just the one slice of bread for lunch or a salad with some protein for lunch and a balanced 500 cal dinner then you can have a few cups of tea or coffee and one or two pieces of fruit for a snack. Use my fitness pal to keep track.

Breakfast : 2 weetabix with 20g walnuts and 10g mixed pumpkin and sunflower seeds, 250ml semi skimmed milk. White Americano. 560kcals

Lunch: boiled egg, 1/3 avocado, 50g smoked salmon OR any shop bought sandwich/salad of 500kcal or less

Dinner : asparagus (70g), tenderstem brocolli (70g), baby corn (50g), mangetout (50g) - this makes a huge plate of veg for less than 100kcals. Plus either a steak or a baked salmon fillet. Total Approx 500-600kcals.

No snacks. Exercise 4 times per week. Ive lost 3 stone in 4 months.