Your Template To A Day Of Healthy Eating

 

Losing weight takes planning and hard work - making sure you have plenty of the right foods makes straying more difficult. Here's a meal plan for a day to base your diet on.

What is a perfect body? Is it curves like Kim Kardashian or lean muscles like Cameron Diaz? Regardless of what you may think a perfect body looks like - it takes a lot of hard work and planning to get to that point. As humans, it is in our nature to reach for perfection and our weight loss goals are no different. While there are certain things you can't change, such as your height or how long your legs, you can set and achieve an ideal weight by having the right foods. Here is a mapped out day of ideal eating.

what to eat when on a diet
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NOTE: An ideal diet consists of consistency. You're eating similar meals with similar ratios, at similar times every day. The recommended daily amount of protein for adults is .8g per pound of lean body mass. Assuming you're one big mass of muscle, you should be eating 80% of your bodyweight in protein. The best macronutrient ratio for weight loss is 45/45/10 (45% protein, 45% carbs, 10% fat) so a 150 pound woman should be eating 120 g protein, 120 g carbs, and 15 g of fat. We're going to break this is up into five meals so you'll be allotted 24-25 g carbs and protein per meal, and very little fat.
  • Meal 1 (Breakfast)
    1 slice of whole wheat toast w/ a tablespoon of jelly or cream cheese
    or 1 cup low sugar oatmeal
    or 1 banana
    1 cup carton egg whites


    You can really do a lot with breakfast. You just have to measure everything out so you can calculate it. Since eggs are one the easiest things to cook and you can prepare them in a myriad of ways, we've chosen eggs as the default protein. Make sure you measure out the general carb content so you can control how much you eat. We recommend oatmeal, bread, grits, or fruit.

  • Snack A
    Here you can have a low calorie snack pack, some yogurt, a protein or snack bar, protein shake, a cup of fruit or a salad. Make sure it's healthy and within your rations. It also helps if your snack is portable.

  • Meal 2 (Lunch)
    1 medium whole wheat tortilla
    4 oz. sliced grilled chicken
    Hand full of spinach
    1/2 tbsp light ranch


  • Snack B
    Once again, stay within your rations but again, you've got a lot of freedom here. The best thing to do is just pack two different snacks on any given day so you don't get bored.

  • Meal 3 (Dinner)
    5 oz grilled tilapia
    2 cups steamed broccoli


    Dinner is where you have the least freedom. You want to follow the saying: breakfast like a queen, lunch like a princess, and dinner like a pauper. At dinner, you're eating very lean meat and only fibrous carbs from vegetables because you no longer need the energy. Try to eat dinner at least two hours before bed.


Basing your diet around this daily template means you'll be able to get to your idea of a perfect body that much quicker. Paired with regular exercise, you'll be on your way to your ideal weight before you know it.