Take for example a woman, let’s call her Sara. Sara is 30 years old, 170 cm tall and weighs 148 lbs. Sara works in an office and usually sits for 8 hours. The rest of her free time she spends hanging out with her friends, doing chores and reading books.
So, she doesn’t engage in organized physical activity. According to her age, a sitting job shows its results in body appearance and Sara would like to lose a few pounds. If we take into account all of her dana and her goal, I made 2 menus that offer this:
1500 kcal;
-100 g of protein
-50 g of fat
-160 g of carbohydrates.
It is good to take into account that the values are counting and done based on personal experience. So, this is one raw example that will need personal modifications in time, so called „fine tuning”.
The first menu
1st Meal
- 10 g of wheat bran
- 10 g of raisins
- 40 g of oat flakes
- 30 g of whey proteins
- 10 g of linseeds
Preparation:
Soak bran, raisins and oat flakes in water. You can heat them up for a few minutes in a microwave. Grind linseeds and mix them with oat flakes and bran. Mix whey. You can leave oat flakes to soak in water over night so they can absorb more water and saturate you better.
2nd Meal
- 150 g of lowfat cheese
- 60 g of pastry (a bun or something like that)
- 150 g of apples (1 apple)
3rd Meal
- 150 g of chicken breast
- 50 g of rice
- 2 spoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cups of fresh leafy vegetables
4th Meal
- 30 g of whey proteins
- 30 g of oat flakes
- 10 g of almonds
The second menu
1st Meal
- 30 g of casein proteins
- 100 g of low fat milk
- 40 g of oat flakes
- 20 g of dried fruits
2nd Meal
- 60 g pastry
- 100 g of eggs (2 eggs)
- 200 g of oranges (1 orange)
3rd Meal
- 200 g of hake
- 200 g of potato
- 2 spoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cups of vegetables
4th Meal
- 100 g of non-fat pork
- 1 cup of vegetables
- 10 g of almonds
REFERENCE:
All of the food is weighed before preparing. Amounts refer to the edible part (eg. 150 g of apples is 150 g of peeled apple with no seeds).
Meat
Excellent choice: turkey, chicken, blue sea fish, other sea fish, river fish (trout, not fat like eg. catfish), shrimps, reptiles.
Good choice: veal, beef, pork, red meat (non-fat parts).
Avoid: sausages, canned food (meat breakfast, pates, delicatessen.
Fruit
Big fruits: pears, apples, pineapples, oranges, tangerines. 1 portion = 1 fruit).
Small fruits: plums, apricots. 1 portion = 2-3 fruits.
Smaller fruits: strawberries, cherries, raspberries. 1 portion = 1 cup of fruits.
Vegetables
Better choice: green leafy vegetables (salad, cabbage, chicory, rocket), cucumbers, tomato, zucchini. 1 portion = 1 cup of leafy vegetables, or non-sliced other vegetables.
potatoes are not in this group, they go instead pasta or rice.
Mushrooms can be eaten unlimited and they go with anything.
Fats
Excellent choice: almonds, walnuts and other nuts, olive oil, pumpkin seed oil, linseeds.
Avoid: puff pastry, butter, margarine, fried fat, whole milk, hard cheeses, cheese spreads.
Beverages
It is recommended to drink 8 glasses of water or non-sugared tea in a day. Juices should be avoided because they give added sugars. The only choice is fresh squeezed juice that can occasionally replace a piece of fruit. Coffee: best choice is espresso or instant coffee classic.
Food preparation:
Preparation is equally important as food choice. The food is prepared by boiling, grilling or baking in an oven. For fat it is best to use butter, animal fat or coconut oil, but in minimal doses. Olive oil is used only fresh and for stews, it doesn’t take high temperatures well.
Vegetables are best to consume fresh or cooked by steaming. All spices are allowed and they recommended for using to fill the food taste.
Examples of replacement:
It is recommended to use different food to avoid monotony and keep the motivation. The goal is to enjoy and normalize the nutrition which we can keep for a long time then:
- 100 g of raw rice = 100 g of bananas
- 50 g of raw rice = 50 g of semolina before cooking
- 50 g of rice = 45 g of polenta
- 50 g of rice = 100 g of noodles
- 100 g of rice = 500 g of potatoes
- 2 tea spoons of olive oil = 30 g of almonds = 20 g of butter.
- 150 g of red meat = 150 g of white meat + 1 spoon of oil = 200 g of fish + 1 spoon of oil.
Supplementation
When reduction diet is started it can happen that the intake of needed micronutrients is reduced. That is why my recommendation is to take multivitamins with main meal to maintain the immune system and so you can keep the diet until the end. Of other food supplements, I recommend vitamin C in a bit larger dosage (1-2 g a day), best in the morning.
Body exercise
In the first week do at least half hour of walking, roller skating or some other cardio activity a day. Walking is my favourite choice because it doesn’t take some special preparation, but it can be incorporated easily into your daily schedule: eg. on your way to work you get out of the bus a few stations earlier.
In time it is good to increase the activity to at least 1 hour a day. Use the advantages of a pool in winter and roller skating or biking in the summer hours. Insert hiking from time to time and enjoy the fresh air and breaking the monotony.
Conclusion
Losing weight is a process that takes time and it includes more aspects than just food reduction. If we want a good result and we need to choose quality food and fit physical activity into our normal daily schedule.
Like you brush your teeth in the morning without even thinking about it, eat your breakfast and go for a walk in the same manner. Let regular meals and body exercise become your ritual. The results won’t be absent then.