What I ate to lose 42 lbs – easy high-protein meal plan for weight-loss
MEAL PLAN: High protein meals + snacks I ate to lose weight
The thing that I struggled with the most when I was trying to lose weight was finding really simple, healthy, nice-tasting meals that were lower in calories but didn’t leave me feeling hungry. And along the way, I did figure out some meals that achieved that. I actually wrote the best ones in my old journals. I recently found them in an old box and pulled out some of my favorites to create a meal plan for weight loss.
This is basically an example of what I ate to lose 40 lbs. These are not just random meals with some calories removed. You’re not going to be hungry, and you’re not going to spend all day cooking. These are really quick, easy, and they taste good!
By the way, all of them are DF + GF, in case you were wondering — and I will let you know how to make the honey chicken dinner and the spinach fried egg breakfast vegan. Everything else is vegan already! But still high in protein — if you ate all of this, you’d be getting more than 100g of protein for the day.
And I’m going to show you how to customize all of this menu to get anywhere between 1200-1800 calories. Because we’re all different and need different calories…
Ps. You can see how easy these meals are to make in my youtube video (below)
How to customize this meal plan
I have made this meal plan very customizable! You can easily customize it to get anywhere from 1200 to 1800 calories. We’re all different, and we all need different calories to lose weight in a healthy way.
All of the main meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) are roughly 400 calories, while snack #1 (smoothie) is 400 calories, and snack #2 (hummus snack) is 200 calories.
This means you can mix and match the snacks to get the amount of calories you need in a day.
The iced coffee is only 80 calories, so I’m calling it a free item! It doesn’t add too many calories, so you can add it to your meal plan for a fun treat if you want to. Plus, it contains 7g of protein and it’s really easy to make.
Here’s what meals and snacks you can eat to get 1200, 1400, 1600 or 1800 calories for the day:
1200 CALORIE MEAL PLAN
– Breakfast
– Lunch
– Dinner
– Optional: Iced coffee
1400 CALORIE MEAL PLAN
– Breakfast
– Lunch
– Dinner
– Hummus dip snack (snack 2)
– Optional: Iced coffee
1600 CALORIE MEAL PLAN
– Breakfast
– Lunch
– Dinner
– Mango protein smoothie (snack 1)
– Optional: Iced coffee
1800 CALORIE MEAL PLAN
– Breakfast
– Lunch
– Dinner
– Mango protein smoothie (snack 1)
– Hummus dip snack (snack 2)
– Optional: Iced coffee
THE MEALS + RECIPES
BREAKFAST – SPINACH FRIED EGGS
Ingredients:
– 2 eggs (or 2 servings of **vegan egg replacer)
– 2 cups baby spinach
– 1/2 tsp avocado oil
– 2 slices toast (80-100 calories per slice)
– 1 tsp butter
– Salt and pepper
(serves one)
Calories: Roughly 400 per serving (or 4 points if you use the point system from The Beautiful Body Guide)
Protein: 18g
*Calories calculated using bread that is roughly 90 calories per slice
**I use Just Egg vegan egg replacer, and make a scramble with the spinach (it has the same calories and protein as real egg)
OPTIONAL EXTRA – PROTEIN ICED COFFEE
Ingredients:
– 1 cup soy milk (I use unsweetened)
– 1 tsp freeze dried coffee
– 1/2 tsp maple syrup
– 2 or 3 ice cubes
(serves one)
Calories: Roughly 80 per serving
Protein: 7g
*Calories calculated using unsweetened soy milk which contains 7g protein per cup
LUNCH – MEXICAN BLACK BEAN SALAD
Ingredients:
– 1 cup cherry tomatoes
– 1 cup cucumber
– 1/2 cup black beans
– 1/3 large avocado (or 1/2 small)
– 1/3 cup chopped cilantro
– 1 tsp olive oil
– 1 tsp lime juice
– 1/8 onion optional
– Salt and pepper
– Tortilla chips (140 calorie serving size, roughly 14-21 chips)
(serves one)
Calories: Roughly 400 per serving (or 4 points if you use the point system from The Beautiful Body Guide)
Protein: 12g
*Calories calculated using a 140 calorie serving of tortilla chips
SNACK 1 – MANGO PROTEIN SMOOTHIE
Ingredients:
– 2 cups frozen mango
– 2 cups milk (I use unsweetened almond milk)
– 1 scoop vanilla protein powder (120 calories per scoop, I use a vegan one)
– 1 cup ice (or as needed)
(serves one)
Calories: Roughly 400 per serving (or 4 points if you use the point system from The Beautiful Body Guide)
Protein: 26g
*Calories calculated using unsweetened almond milk and vegan protein powder
DINNER – HONEY CHICKEN MEAL PREP
Ingredients:
– 1 lbs chicken tenders (or *14oz firm tofu for a vegan option)
– 4 cup cooked white basmati rice (1 + 1/3 cup dry, PLUS 3 cups water)
– 300g green beans
– 1 tsp avocado oil
– 1/2 cup sliced spring onions (optional, to garnish)
– Black & white sesame seeds (optional, to garnish)
(serves four)
Sauce ingredients:
– 4 tbsp honey
– 4 tsp sriracha
– 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
– 2 tsp sesame oil
– 1 tsp onion powder
– 1/2 tsp ginger powder
– Salt and pepper
(serves four)
Calories: Roughly 400 per serving (or 4 points if you use the point system from The Beautiful Body Guide)
Protein: 28g
*Calories calculated using either 1 lbs skinless and boneless chicken breast meat, or 14oz firm tofu for a vegan option
SNACK 2 – HUMMUS + VEGGIE DIP
Ingredients:
– 1/4 cup hummus
– 1 cup cucumber slices
– 1 cup snap peas
– Salt and pepper (optional, to garnish)
– Cilantro (optional, to garnish)
Calories: Roughly 200 per serving (or 2 points if you use the point system from The Beautiful Body Guide)
Protein: 7g
*Calories calculated using regular plain hummus
Recipes and photos by Liezl for liezljayne.com
