What I ate to lose 42 lbs – High protein meal plan for weight-loss (part 3)

---

Weight-loss meal plan I used to lose 42 lbs

So recently, I shared with you guys that I found a whole lot of my old food journals from when I was trying to lose weight.

When I found them, I was reminded that during that time, what I really struggled with was finding low-calorie meals that were still balanced with all the food groups and that didn’t leave me feeling hungry.

These journals are where I used to write down all the recipes that I really loved.

So, I had pulled out some of my favorites and put together a weight loss meal plan for you guys – and a lot of you told me that you loved that meal plan and have been using it. So, I decided to look through these again, find more of my favorite recipes, and put together another meal plan for you. There are so many good ones in here that I’m excited to share with you! The journal meal plans are back again!

This is basically an example of what I ate to lose more than 40 lbs.

It’s a day of meals, ideal for losing weight, that are still balanced and are not gonna leave you feeling hungry. I’ve also made this really customizable, so you can customize this to get anywhere from 1200 to 1800 calories – we all need a different amount of calories to lose weight in a healthy way.

ON THE MENU

This is a full day of eating/meal plan based on what I ate to lose more than 40 lbs, using some of my favorite meals and snacks that are low calorie but still filling and balanced.

And I’ve made this really customizable for you… you can customize it to get anywhere from 1200-1800 calories per day!

So this is what’s on the menu…

BREAKFAST: Spinach + feta frittata
LUNCH: Black bean + tahini sandwich V2.0
DINNER: Tangy tomato chicken + crispy potato wedges

And for snacks – got a few..

• Banana + oat choc chip cookies
• Yogurt + tahini veggie dip
• Protein mocha

I decided to make this a high-protein meal plan because I’m on a high-protein kinda kick right now, so it’s over 100g of protein for the day (112g). I’ll give you vegan options for anything that’s not (it’s mostly plant-based), and it’s all dairy-free and gluten-free already – just in case you wanna know.

All these meals + snacks are in my latest youtube video (above).

This meal plan is part 3, you can check out part 1 here: https://liezljayne.com/what-i-ate-to-lose-42-lbs-easy-high-protein-meal-plan-for-weight-loss/ ,and part 2 here: https://liezljayne.com/what-i-ate-to-lose-42-lbs-easy-high-protein-meal-plan-for-weight-loss-2/

HOW TO CUSTOMIZE THE CALORIES

• All the meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) are roughly 400 calories
• All the snacks are roughly 200 calories
• So it’s very easy to mix and match the meals and snacks to get however many calories you’d like between 1200 and 1800!
• The iced matcha is an optional extra – it’s only about 80 calories, and won’t make much difference to your total calories for the day!

1200 cal per day:

• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner
• Leave out snacks
• Protein mocha (optional)

1400 cal per day:

• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner
• Snack (choose one)
• Protein mocha (optional)

1600 cal per day:

• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner
• Snack #1
• Snack #2
• Protein mocha (optional)

1800 cal per day:

• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner
• Snack #1
• Snack #2 (double up cookies snack, or veggie dip snack to make a 400 cal snack)
• Protein mocha (optional)

WHAT I ATE TO LOSE 42 LBS – THE RECIPES

Breakfast: Spinach + feta frittata

Ingredients:
– 2 eggs
– 40g feta (or vegan feta)
– Handful baby spinach
– Salt and pepper
– 2 slices toast (60 to 70 cal each)
*OR sub toast with 1-2 fruits (example: 1 banana and 1 cup strawberries)
(Serves one)

Vegan alt:
– Sub feta with vegan feta
– Sub eggs with a vegan egg replacement (I like “Just egg”)

Calories: roughly 400 cal
Protein: 21g

Drink: Protein mocha

Ingredients:
– 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
– 1 tsp cocoa powder
– 1 tsp coffee powder (instant)
– 1 cup soy milk (or any other milk)
(Serves one)

Vegan alt:
– Sub regular milk with soy milk, or any other plant based milk

Calories: roughly 130 cal
Protein: 19g

Lunch: Black bean + tahini sandwich

Ingredients (black bean mix):
– 1/2 cup black beans
– 1 tbsp tahini
– 1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard
– 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
– 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
– Salt and pepper
Ingredients (sandwich):
– 2 slices bread (60 to 70 cal each)
– Tomato slices (1/2 tomato)
– Small handful baby spinach
– Dill pickle slices
– Onion slices (optional)
(Serves one)

Calories: roughly 400 cal
Protein: 13g

Snack #1: Yogurt + tahini veggie dip

Ingredients:
– 1/4 cup low fat greek yogurt (or any plain unsweetened yogurt)
– 1 tbsp tahini
– 1 tsp olive oil
– 1 tsp lemon juice
– Salt and pepper
– Fresh herbs or dried herbs (I like fresh parsley)
– Fresh garlic if needed (1/2 clove, optional)
Serve with:
– 1 cup cucumber slices
– 1 cup baby carrots
*OR sub cucumber and carrot for any other raw vegetable like celery sticks, snap peas, bell pepper slices or cherry tomatoes

Vegan alt:
– Sub yogurt with plain unsweetened vegan yogurt (I use plain unsweetened coconut yogurt)

Calories: roughly 200 cal
Protein: 10g

Dinner: Tangy tomato chicken + crispy potato wedges

Ingredients (chicken + sauce):
– 800g chicken breast meat (skinless and boneless, or sub with tofu)
– 1/4 cup tomato paste
– 1 tbsp oil
– 1 tbsp lemon juice
– 1 tbsp syrup or brown sugar
– 1 tsp smoked paprika
– 1 tsp onion powder
– 1 tsp dried oregano
– Chili or red pepper flakes (to taste, I use 1 tsp)
– Cayenne pepper (to taste, I use just a pinch)
– Salt and pepper
– 1 to 3 tbsp water (if needed, to make the sauce thinner)
– Optional: fresh garlic to taste, or 2 cloves minced
Ingredients (potato wedges):
– 800g potatoes
– Spray of cooking oil
– Smoked paprika
– Onion powder
– Salt and pepper
Ingredients (green beans):
– 400g green beans
– Spray of cooking oil
– Salt and pepper
(Serves 4)

Bake everything at 425 F/ 218 C
– Potato wedges: Bake for 40 to 60 min
– Green beans: Bake for roughly 20 min
– Chicken: Bake for 18 to 22 min

Vegan alt:
– Sub 800g chicken with 2 packs firm tofu (28 oz)

Calories: 430 cal
Protein: 45g

Snack #2: Banana + oat choc-chip cookies

Ingredients:
– 2 medium bananas (the riper the better)
– 2/3 cup dry rolled oats
– Small handful almonds (about 14)
– 2 tbsp chocolate chips (I use Lilly’s dark chocolate chips)
– 1 tsp cinnamon
(Serves 3 – Makes about 15 cookies, 5 per serving)

Bake at 360 F/ 180 C for 15 to 18 min

Calories: 208 cal
Protein: 5g

Photos, video and recipes by Liezl Jayne for liezljayne.com