What You Need To Know To Prepare a Weight Loss Dinner Plan?

We all live busy lives but nowadays there is no excuse for not eating right and not being educated about our daily caloric intake in order to lose weight the healthy way.

• Planning

• Ask Your Doctor

• Some of us are limited on what we can eat based on certain conditions we have — be it an allergy to nuts, lactose-intolerance or more serious health conditions like diabetes. These leave us with major deficiencies in our diet. In the case of nuts, we could be lacking magnesium found in almonds, Brazil nuts and cashews. Hazelnuts, peanuts and pine nuts also provide a good source of Vitamin E. A milk-free diet without proper supplements can leave us with a greater risk of osteoporosis and fractures in the long run. Diabetics not on a high-fiber, low glycemic index, and low daily caloric intake diet will likely face future complications if a healthy diet change is not introduced.

• Always ask your general physician or nutritionist about a change in diet if you have special considerations like these. Your doctor can also advise you with alternatives to your off-limit foods.

• Know Your Limits

• With the help of a nutritionist or by going online, you can calculate your daily caloric intake and basal metabolic rate.

• Basically, daily caloric intake and basal metabolic rate mean what amount of calories you consume and what amount of energy your body burns.

• For a normal individual to lose weight, they should be consuming about 500 calories less than the calculated daily caloric intake provided that they also maintain an active lifestyle through exercise. If your daily caloric intake is 2,500 calories, a reasonable weight loss plan would be a 2,000 calorie diet.

• Remember the harder you work out, the more calories you will need. Do not deprive yourself of calories and perform an exercise regimen which is too intense. There should be an appropriate ratio between consuming calories and burning calories.

• Know What You Have

• Browse your pantry and refrigerator to see what you already have. There is no need to waste time and money buying multiples of a food item just because it is buried behind all the other food products in the farthest corner. Not only will you be ready for the next step, you will save money by making sure food does not go pass its expiration.

• Plan Ahead

• If you shop for groceries on Saturday or Sunday, start creating a meal plan on a Friday or sooner. Based on what you already have, make a meal out of what you can make and jot a list of the ingredients you’re lacking. Investing just 5 minutes out of your day to prepare a 7 day dinner plan will save you from multiple trips to the supermarket and fast food chains.

• Prioritize

• Easily perishable products like tofu, fresh tomatoes, and fresh leafy vegetables should all be used during the start of the week. Less perishable items like potatoes, cheeses, canned and frozen food should be planned into dinners for mid-week to end of the week.

• Choose One Main Ingredient To Be Multipurpose

• Have chicken breasts? Why not try grilled chicken on Monday, chicken quesadillas on Wednesday and tangy barbequed chicken on Friday. By concentrating on a few main components of a dish, you won’t have a hard time mixing cuisines and changing up a recipe. Your menu won’t be complicated thus making it easier to follow through with.

• Create A Theme

Vary your diet by incorporating the food of different cultures. Some interesting themes to try:

• Tex Mex night: beans and brown rice, spicy chicken, burritos with whole wheat, high-fiber tortillas and lean beef or pork
• Italian night: pastas, antipasto salad, minestrone or Italian subs
• Asian Night: stir fried vegetables, Chinese beef and broccoli, sweet and sour shrimp

• Feeling Overwhelmed? Go Online.

Many online sites take most of the work out of deciding on a week’s dinner menu. Just typing in an ingredient can bring you to an entire page full of suggestions. From there, you can narrow down your options for the perfect plan.

• Preparing

• Don’t Rely On The Fryer

• Not everything in your diet has to be fried in order to be prepared easily. Try using other cooking methods which are still easy when done right and save you a ton of calories. Grilling meat in small portions is fast and keeps the fat drippings in the coals not on your plate. An added bonus is if you have an electric grill or a cast iron grill for the stovetop – no need even go outside! Experiment with poaching for new ways of imparting flavour, broiling in the oven and baking. Keeping your cooking habits different can keep you in the kitchen and break up a boring cooking routine.

• Cook And Freeze

• Cook food in a larger batch. Preparing a dinner with twice the amount of ingredients can make two dinners in one week. Freeze half of the prepared dinner for a later day in the week.

• Make sure the food can be easily thawed after without compromising the original taste and texture.
• Label the container with the name of the dish and the date it was cooked.
• Great options for freezing include meatloaves or casseroles and soups. These may require adding more cream or stock after reheating.

With these pointers, you will be able to lose weight the healthy way by managing your daily caloric intake without skipping meals, trying nonsense fad diets or caving into unhealthy options by simply taking responsibility for what you put into your body.