Last week I returned to the column in which I publish ready-made menus with calorie calculations. You rated the breakfasts very positively, thank you very much? Of course, any author is pleased when his work is not wasted.
Today we will continue the same story with lunch. Below are my 7 lunch options. I will calculate each of them at 400 calories. This is normal for lunch both when you are at 1200 calories and when like me at 1800 calories.
Keep in mind that it is difficult to determine the volume of portions from a photo, plus in my case it may not correspond - I am making calculations for 400 kcal, but the photo may illustrate a different situation. So it’s better to weigh your food or at least use measuring containers (spoons, glasses, etc.)
Day 1. Beet soup with egg
For 400 calories you’ll get just a mountain of food, the soup is so treacherous...
400 grams of beetroot in beef broth, 1 boiled egg, 37 grams of sour cream.
See for yourself - if it's too much food, reduce the portion. But also keep in mind that calories will decrease and you will need to adjust your daily intake.
Be guided by hunger. After soups I'm hungry as a wolf. But not after the beetroot soup.
400 calorie dinner
Four hundred calories may not seem like a lot for dinner, but you can maximize your nutrients and excite your palate without packing on extra calories and fat.
13. Mediterranean baked halibut with vegetables.
Halibut is a mild-tasting white fish that contains vitamins and minerals including selenium, niacin, magnesium and vitamin B12. If you can't find halibut, you can substitute cod or haddock.
14. Orange Chicken Thighs with Cauliflower Rice.
For those looking to reduce their carbohydrate intake, this may be a good option as cauliflower replaces the carbohydrates in this diet. And juicy, seasoned chicken provides lean protein. Alternatively, you can prepare this dish in about 30 minutes.
15. Vegan Pot Pies.
Don't let the "vegan" part scare you. They're just as flaky, savory, and filling as any traditional pie recipe. Cooking them in disposable ramekins helps control portion size and calories. This makes a great meatless Monday lunch. Give yourself plenty of time to prepare this fantastic recipe as it will take about 1 hour.
16. Chicken salad pita.
This healthy take on the popular restaurant staple is full of flavor. An assortment of vegetables offers a variety of vitamins and nutrients, and you can play with the ingredients to suit your own taste preferences.
17. Turmeric Sweet Potato Healing Bowl with Poached Eggs and Lemon Dressing.
The flavor combination of potassium-rich sweet potatoes with turmeric will make you want to make this again and again. You can also replace brown rice with quinoa, farro, or bulgur
18. Hunter-style chicken in a slow cooker.
This recipe delivers maximum flavor with minimal effort. Serve on a bed of spaghetti squash or zucchini noodles for a light touch, or over pasta for a heartier meal.
Day 2. Pasta + chicken + salad
I will make alaverdi for those readers who like to count dry ingredients))
30 grams of dry noodles, 3 chicken legs (that’s 100-120 grams of meat) - I bake it all with turmeric + beet salad with garlic (100 grams) and sour cream (15 grams). Total 408 kcal.
Grocery list
The diet should include lean meats, such as turkey, chicken, veal. The diet is supplemented with fruits and vegetables, but it is better not to eat grapes and bananas. The diet includes eggs, hummus, various types of nuts and shrimp.
Despite the fact that such food is considered dietary, every day you can eat olives, durum wheat pasta, any bread, and low-fat cheeses. If desired, the diet is supplemented with low-fat milk.
Day 6. Shrimp pasta in teriyaki sauce
For 400 calories, this lunch will look like this: 250 grams of boiled spaghetti (this is a lot, but we agreed to count at 400 kcal), 60 grams of boiled shrimp (you also have to try) and 2 tablespoons of teriyaki sauce.
My sauce was homemade (recipe here), I will still count the calories in it based on requests from readers, but for now I took the ready-made sauce into account.
How to burn 1 kg of fat with physical training?
The following approximate values were calculated for women with a height of 160 cm and a weight of 72 kg. However, it should be remembered that the number of calories burned depends not only on your parameters, but also on age, health, habitual physical activity and quality of nutrition. Therefore the following data are approximate only. So, how long does it take to burn 1 kg of fat?
- Running - 10 hours
- Jumping rope - 14 hours
- Swimming - 16 hours
- Roller skating - 16.5 hours
- Fitness classes - 18 hours
- Aqua aerobics – 22 hours
- Dancing - 24 hours
Day 7. Buckwheat with egg and salad
The fastest way to get protein for me is buckwheat and eggs. I will think about them first, even before the chicken.
So, for 400 calories for lunch we take 150 grams of boiled buckwheat, 1 boiled egg and a salad with herbs, olives and oil. Voila.
That's it, that's all I have for today. There will be likes - there will be a continuation. A little blogger blackmail is appropriate here, I think?
For other meals with calculations, see the tag #how to count calories_losing weight100, you can subscribe to it and receive the most useful posts from me in your site feed. I promise not to spam there, posts will not be published often. There are only 5 of them now, but there are already breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks - everything you need to create a home menu with counted calories.
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How many calories do you need to burn per day to lose weight?
The fight against extra centimeters is not easy; to win you will need a lot of strength and will. And only those who went straight to achieving their dreams will be able to achieve a positive result.
Often, if a woman was overweight, she justified it not with her weak will, but with some kind of health problems, genetic predisposition, rampant hormones - whatever. After all, sometimes it is difficult to admit that the culprit is simple laziness.
So how many calories do you need to burn to get rid of 1 kg of fat?
How many calories do you need to burn per day to lose 1 kg of fat?
It is believed that to burn 1 kg of fat you need to spend 7700 kcal. Nutritionists advise losing weight by 2-4 kg per month (due to fat). Accordingly, in order to safely lose 0.5 kg of fat per week for the body (keep in mind that the plumb line will be slightly larger due to lost water, muscles, etc.), you need to create a calorie deficit of 3850 kcal per week, which is 550 kcal per day (3850:7).
This is exactly the calorie deficit that needs to be created in order to remove 2 kg of fat per month.
You cannot lose weight by cutting down your diet alone. You must eat properly and balanced. Therefore, it is necessary to achieve a calorie deficit in a comprehensive manner: by reducing calorie intake and by increasing physical activity. With an active lifestyle, your metabolism speeds up and your body burns calories faster during everyday activities.
All this is possible if you go through all the steps presented below.
Formulating a goal
The main thing you need is to formulate a goal. To start, make a list of what losing weight will bring you. For example, it could be a dress, a variety of outfits, dates with handsome men, a healthy body. Also make a list of the reasons that could prevent you from achieving this goal.
These points include softness, weakness of will, and lack of character. If you keep these two lists in front of you constantly and compare the obstacles and possible results, you will undoubtedly overcome all obstacles.
Psychological attitude towards losing weight
Once you realize your weaknesses, you will understand what to do next. The more specific you are about your obstacles, the more likely you are to overcome them. For example, weak will. There is no such thing as a weak will “in principle,” but it can be weak in relation to something. For example, for sweets or training. Which exit? Strengthen it by developing new habits. Make a promise to yourself to give up sugar and confectionery for a week or do the minimum possible workout. Keep your promise and you'll feel completely different at the end of the week. Work according to this principle with all your weaknesses.
Calculation of safe minimum calories
Let's not forget that calories are simply necessary to maintain the vital functions of our body, namely: for the functioning of the cardiovascular system, for the respiratory, endocrine, excretory, etc. And in complete rest, our body burns calories. Now let's talk about the safe minimum calories per day.
There is a popular opinion that a woman needs to consume about 2000 kilocalories per day, while men need at least 500 more. But, as for women, especially those with a sedentary lifestyle, it is worth saying that this figure is somewhat overestimated. In order to determine exactly how many kilocalories your body needs to maintain weight or lose weight, you need to make simple calculations. You need to measure your height, weight, and prepare a calculator.
The most accurate formula looks like this:
- for women 9.99 x weight (in kg) + 6.25 x height (in cm) - 4.92 x age - 161;
- For men, the same formula, just add 5.
Using this formula, we calculate how many calories we need in order to maintain weight and not gain weight.
To calculate how many calories a person who decides to lose weight should consume per day, you must first find out how much energy is expended during your physical activity per day.
If you have low physical activity, that is, you lead a sedentary lifestyle and do not engage in any sports, you should multiply the number obtained from the formula by 1.2. If you do at least fitness 1-2 times a week, then you should multiply the result by 1.375. If your daily activity is average, that is, you exercise up to 5 times a week, multiply the resulting number by 1.55. With higher activity – by 1.725. Are you a professional athlete? Then at 1.9.
Let's try, using an example, to calculate how much energy is required in order not to gain weight, and also how many calories need to be burned per day in order to noticeably lose weight.
An example of calorie calculation for weight loss
Let our example be a 38-year-old girl, her weight is 81 kg, her height is 160 cm. With this height, the excess weight is about 15-20 kg. The girl's activity during the day is average. So:
- 9.99 x 81 + 6.25 x 160 - 4.92 x 38 - 161 = 809.19 + 1000 - 186.96 - 161 = 1461.2 kcal;
- 1461.2 x 1.2 (low activity) = 1753.5 kcal to provide the body with the necessary energy and not gain weight (for those who have not been on diets before).
The woman in our example is overweight, so she needs to reduce her caloric intake and add physical activity. In order to lose weight, it is recommended to reduce calorie intake by 10-15%. This means, in our example, by 175-260 kcal.
So, for a woman in our example, the caloric intake range for weight loss will be 1493-1578 kcal. That is, her caloric deficit will be 175-260 kcal per day.
Important!
Remember: under no circumstances should you reduce your caloric intake below 1200 kcal per day (for men no less than 1600 kcal), because you will put your body in a hungry state and lack energy. Unfortunately, today many diets advise reducing the diet to 500-1000 kcal, but this is not safe and can lead to serious hormonal imbalances.
How to burn calories correctly
Our metabolism works non-stop, burning calories not only during exercise, but also during rest, sleep and even digestion. To burn more calories, you don't have to force yourself to exercise for several hours a day. 3-5 workouts per week for just one hour are enough, but you will have to increase the level of non-training activity.
What everyone can do:
- Choose the number of workouts that you can maintain from week to week - this can be either three or five sessions of 60 minutes.
- Increase your calorie consumption by increasing your mobility at home - walk in the fresh air more often, give up the elevator, go shopping yourself, move more at home, find yourself an active hobby, or even get into the habit of doing light cardio on a machine or a simple set of exercises while watching your favorite show.
- Eat real whole foods - porridge from unrefined cereals, poultry/fish/eggs/cottage cheese instead of sausages and sweet cottage cheeses, vegetables and fruits, unrefined oils, nuts and seeds. From whole foods, the body will receive more nutrients and spend more calories on absorption.
- Monitor the calorie content of your food yourself, or trust the professionals. Recently, many ready-made food delivery services have appeared, with already balanced KBJU. You can see the current rating of companies on the EDATOP website. You will receive balanced meals based on your daily calorie needs.
Practical recommendations for losing weight
Accordingly, we will advise the girl from our example to reduce the caloric content of her diet by 175-260 kcal per day and stick to the caloric content corridor of 1493-1578 kcal. And use physical activity daily, burning an additional 290-375 kcal, achieving a calorie deficit of 550 kcal per day. Find out how you can burn extra calories here.
It will even be enough to just walk at a brisk pace for 50-80 minutes every day, but if you start visiting the fitness room, then that’s just wonderful! This way you will not only increase your calorie consumption, but also boost your metabolism, strengthen your body muscles and improve your figure proportions.
Note that the caloric needs of a person who exercises regularly are higher than those of someone who does not exercise at all.
Remember that the lower your weight, the fewer calories your body requires for general metabolism. Therefore, you need to recalculate your caloric intake after losing every 5 kg.
So, we learned how to calculate how many calories your body needs to burn per day in order to start losing weight. By counting calories, you don't have to deprive yourself of a variety of your favorite foods.
Author: Zhanna Sh. (especially for) Copying this article in whole or in part is prohibited.
Moderate deficit: 20-25%
The more fat you need to lose per week, the larger the calorie deficit you need to create, and the hungrier your diet will be. So the disadvantage of this approach is the significant restriction of food.
Many people find a way out and create part of the calorie deficit through training. For example, 250-300 calories are consumed during training and the same amount through diet. This task is not difficult and does not require exhausting training and fasting.
One of the advantages: since weight loss goes faster, the diet also ends faster. And although it may still take a year for people who are overweight to lose weight, it will still be faster.
Unlike the previous option, it is more difficult to reset the entire calorie deficit by unnoticeably overeating. Although this can (and often does) affect the speed of weight loss. This happens when the expected deficit of 500 calories/day turns out to be only 250-300 calories/day. But people don’t understand why everything is going twice as slow as it should according to calculations.
However, there is a better ratio of cons to potential pros here. So this is one of the most widely used and recommended approaches.
