7 Meals Under 700 Calories
Following on from last month’s blog post, I thought it might be a good idea to write about diet strategies for the ‘average’ person. Once you’ve got that motivation to change your eating habits, it’s hard to know where to start when it comes to food. Knowing what to eat can sometimes make that crucial difference between a positive experience and a negative (and quite frankly miserable) one.
How much food should I be eating a day?
Sadly, I can’t give you a definitive answer to this question. While this blog is about the ‘average’ person, there are still so many different individual characteristics to consider: age, sex, bodyweight, and general activity levels (to name a few).
In my Top Tips for Weight Loss blog, Tip 4 talked about the value of tracking or measuring. While it won’t be an exact science, apps such as MyFitnessPal will run through a series of questions, and using their inbuilt algorithm, will work out approximately how many calories a day you should be consuming to reach your target weight. For example, it will ask you how much weight you want to lose per week, and this is a really important question. I’ve talked about the importance of maintaining good levels of lean tissue (muscle) and bone density while dieting. Both can be lost while dieting, even with consistent resistance training and a high protein intake.
A simple rule of thumb for sensible weight loss is to keep it to 1% of bodyweight per week.
So if you weigh 75kg, you would be looking to lose approximately 750g per week.
7 Meals Under 700 Calories
Why have I chosen to write a blog about this? This is because it’s my own strategy for successful weight loss. My wife Rachel and I have some big events coming up in the Summer, and we both decided that we wanted to lose a little bit of unwanted fat.
We are fortunate to have very similar Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE - see Tip 1 in my last blog). We are similar in height and weight, but there are some differences between us. Rachel is younger; however gender differences mean I have higher testosterone levels and muscle mass, and my job is more active than Rachel’s. Using MyFitnessPal, we worked out our daily calorie target, taking into account our target weight and the 1% bodyweight loss a week. This was calculated to be approximately 1400kcals.
When planning our meals, our key priority is ensuring we have enough protein in the day. In addition, we also need to consider our preferences around when we want to eat.
For me, I prefer a 16:8 intermittent fasting approach - that is, I will fast for a period of 16 hours, which will be from the time of my last evening meal until my first meal of the next day. This is because 1) my work day consists of split shifts, and 2) I find if I eat first thing in the morning, I feel hungrier across the day.
On the other hand, Rachel has her meals across the day - the ‘typical’ breakfast, lunch and dinner. For her, it’s all about focus - her job as a Research Psychologist uses a lot of mental energy, and she feels she needs something in the morning to help her concentrate on her work.
Why am I telling you this?
In a nutshell: we are all different. Different styles of dieting suit different people.
How do the meals fit in?
I like to practice what I preach as much as I can. I use the strategies in my Top Tips for Weight Loss blog:
I drink at least 2 litres of water a day
I resistance train 3 times a week (to maintain muscle and bone mass), and do light cardio (such as a walk) at the weekends
I eat a high protein diet - I aim for approximately 143g (2.2x my goal weight) neat protein a day.
I have significantly reduced my alcohol intake (except for special occasions)
I continue to stick to my diet over the weekend (except for special occasions)
I track my calorie, water, and protein intake daily, and weigh myself once a week.
My calorie intake should be approximately 1400-1500kcals a day. Here’s an example of what I’ll eat:
Meal 1
150g baked chicken breast
125g of rice/grains
Lots of leafy green veg
Handy hints
We buy ‘family packs’ of chicken breast and freeze the portions individually so we can use them when needed.
We cook the chicken breast in a Pyrex dish lined with baking paper - this reduces the need for excess fat in cooking oils to stop the breast from sticking/drying out. 1 tablespoon olive oil (approx. 15ml) over 4 breasts is more than enough.
If you want extra flavour/moisture, quarter up some tomatoes, red onion, and mushrooms and add them to the dish, and use some spices: paprika, mixed herbs, ground coriander, ground cumin…whatever takes your fancy!
Meal 2
Around 5pm I’ll have a protein shake (I use casein rather than whey as it’s slow digesting).
Meal 3
Our evening meals will be around 700kcals and high in protein.
Rachel’s meals are exactly the same, except for she has a protein bar for breakfast rather than a protein shake at 5pm. She is an absolute chocaholic/biscuit fiend, so having these for breakfast feels like a treat for her (as well as filling her up until lunchtime).
So that’s how Rachel and I do it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s taken a few false starts to perfect (mostly due to mindset), but it works, and more importantly, it’s sustainable.
How do I make this diet sustainable?
These meals need to be varied and interesting. I aim to stick to this diet 99% of the time for a period of around 12 weeks. It can get very boring very quickly if you eat the same thing day in, day out. Rachel has often grumbled about ‘not more chicken!’
But it doesn’t have to be chicken all of the time. We’ve found 7 dinners for under 700 calories (and high in protein) that are not only nutritious, but bloody delicious. They’ll keep you going, are incredibly tasty, and quick to rustle up. If you want the recipes for these meals, sign up to our newsletter below.
If you want to know more, or want some help getting stronger, fitter, and leaner, why not sign up and join our regular members who are reaping the rewards?