Question: How can I make a diet/food plan to lose 2 pounds per week? I’m 5’10 212 pounds and I’m trying to lose 40 pounds in 20 weeks. How can I make the right food/diet plan without sacrificing essential vitamins and minerals. Thank you.
Answer: Let’s start with your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate), which is how many calories you use every day just being alive.
Here is a calculator: BMR Calculator
Here is the result for your height, weight, and estimated age:
One pound of fat has 3500 calories in it. To lose 2 pounds of fat per week, you need to burn 7000 more calories per week than you eat. That equals an average daily caloric deficit of 1000 calories.
You will notice there is a wide range of daily calorie expenditures in the Result Table above, from 2313 all the way to 3663 calories.
The more active you are, the more calories you can eat every day while still losing 2 pounds of fat per week!
Being more active will make it much easier to get the essential vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients you need. It will also decrease your overall hunger level, since you will be able to eat more. Also, activity and exercise are natural hunger suppressors!
I am a huge advocate of strength training! For many reasons, muscle mass is your friend: Highlight-Reels: Muscle Mass is Your Friend!
I recommend doing some kind of strength training 3 to 6 times per week.
I also recommend doing some cardio exercise 7 or more times per week. This doesn’t need to be intense, hardcore cardio. You don’t need to do spin classes or boot camps. Just some long walks or casual bike rides is fine.
It is also good to just be more active in general, like using stairs instead of elevators and taking short walks throughout your day, if possible.
Ideally, you will be able to get your activity level into the mid-range above, where you burn approximately 2800–2900 calories per day.
Now, we have a daily calorie target to work with!
Let’s shoot for 1800 calories daily.
Going with the low end on calories leaves room for the inevitable slip-ups and cheat meals that will likely happen. I recommend letting yourself have a cheat meal at least once a week. Don’t go crazy, but take in some extra calories every once in a while. It’s OK!
You can easily get all the essential vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients you need with 1800 calories daily. However, to do it you will need to choose high quality, nutrient dense foods.
For a more detailed look at what to eat, check out this article: Eating Your Way From Fat to Fit!
I have mentioned macronutrients a few times already. Macronutrients are simply the three main food categories: Proteins, Fats & Oils, and Carbohydrates.
The essential vitamins and minerals that you asked about in your question come from these three main food sources.
Proteins:
When planning macronutrients, I always start with protein. Getting enough protein is critical to building and maintaining muscle mass. And many other essential bodily functions depend on protein as well.
For you, I recommend aiming for 130 to 180 grams of protein daily.
There are many great sources of protein, and they all have something to offer. However, when you are trying to lose fat you’ll need to choose protein sources that have fewer calories.
Here is a short article on this subject: Calorie Efficiency of Protein Sources!
Here is the list from the blog post above:
Calories per 25 grams of Protein from Various Sources:
~110 Calories - Whey Protein
~110 Calories - Turkey Breast (not Lunchmeat)
~115 Calories - Canned Tuna in Water
~115 Calories - Atlantic Cod
~120 Calories - Egg Whites
~120 Calories - Tilapia
~135 Calories - Lean Beef
~135 Calories - Chicken Breast (not Lunchmeat)
~140 Calories - Frozen Alaskan Salmon
~145 Calories - Cottage Cheese (1%)
~150 Calories - Turkey Breast (Lunchmeat)
~165 Calories - Cottage Cheese (2%)
~190 Calories - Canned Salmon
~280 Calories - Lamb
~285 Calories - Whole Eggs
~300 Calories - Low Fat Yogurt Plain
~320 Calories - Lentils
~355 Calories - Great Northern Beans
~370 Calories - Ground Beef
~390 Calories - Kidney Beans
~420 Calories - Chick Peas
~590 Calories - Natural Peanut Butter
~680 Calories - Quinoa
You will need to choose from the lower calorie items on the list above, but that still leaves you a wide range of nutritious and yummy sources of protein! I recommend not going beyond the canned salmon on most days.
Keep in mind that whey protein powders can vary quite a bit in calories. I’ve seen anywhere from 105 to over 170 calories per 25 grams of protein. Always read the labels and know what you’re putting in your mouth!
Carbohydrates:
The next thing I look at for macronutrients is carbs. There are basically two kinds of carbs, starchy carbs and non-starchy carbs.
Starchy carbs are the ones you need to really watch! They are things like:
Pasta
Bread
Chips
Crackers
Sugar
Flour
Oats
Cereal
Rice
Potatoes
Nuts
Beans (black, red, kidney, navy, etc…)
Grains
Corn
Peas
Fruits
Fruit juices
Soda pop
I would avoid most of the above. If something comes in a bag, box, or bottle don’t consume it!
Here are the starchy carbs that would be OK in your diet:
Whole oats
Sweet potatoes
Corn / Peas / Beans (very sparingly)
There are lots of fruits that can be part of a healthy diet. However, when you are trying to lose fat, many fruits are just too calorie dense to be worth eating.
If you still want to do fruits, here is a list of the lower calorie fruits that would be OK in moderation:
Strawberries
Peaches
Cantaloupe
Honeydew melon
Grapes
Blackberries
Papaya
Raspberries
Apples
Grapefruit
Non-starchy carbs is a very long list, which is great because there are many delicious and nutritious foods you CAN eat:
Artichoke
Artichoke hearts
Asparagus
Bean sprouts
Brussels sprouts
Broccoli
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Celery
Coleslaw (packaged, no dressing)
Cucumber
Eggplant
Green beans
Greens (collard, kale, mustard, turnip)
Leeks
Lettuce (endive, escarole, leaf, iceberg, Romaine)
Mushrooms
Mustard greens
Okra
Onions
Peppers (all types)
Radishes
Rutabaga
Salad greens (chicory, endive, escarole, lettuce, romaine, spinach, arugula, radicchio, watercress)
Snow peas or pea pods
Scallion
Sprouts
Sugar snap peas
String beans
Tomatoes
Turnips
Water chestnuts
Zucchini
Fats & Oils:
The list of acceptable fats and oils is pretty short:
Olive oil
Flaxseeds
Flaxseed oil
Fish oils
Avocados (sparingly)
Olives (sparingly)
You will also get some healthy fats and oils from your protein sources, especially fish.
Other Things, Like Spices, Condiments, and Salad Dressing:
Most spices have little or no calories, so they would be fine to use.
Yellow and spicy brown mustard are OK.
Honey mustards, ketchup, mayonnaise, and most salad dressings should be avoided!
Some ideas for salad dressings that are OK:
Yellow or spicy brown mustard
Pickle juice
Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil (just splash, not drench!)
You can build your own meal plan from all the items above. Just stay around 1800 calories daily on average. If you can’t get your activity level up near 2800 calories daily, then you will need to adjust your food intake accordingly.
I will also give you an example meal plan and some other tips to help you.
First, there is a very important item I need to cover that goes along with diet.
Hydration:
Getting proper hydration is critical. I recommend drinking between 1.5 and 2 gallons of water daily!
It may seem like a lot, but this target includes any water used to make protein shakes, coffee, and tea.
Get yourself a big cup or bottle and keep it with you all day long.
You can use a little lemon juice in your water.
Stay away from any sugary drinks, including most sports drinks!
Some of those water flavoring packets may be OK, but you’ll need to check them carefully. They may have calories and/or artificial sweeteners.
If you ABSOLUTELY need it, diet soda or zero calorie sports drinks are acceptable. But, I highly recommend against them!
Artificial sweeteners can mess with your appetite and make you more hungry! And they may also cause an insulin spike, even though they have no sugar! Insulin spikes are bad because they tell your body to store fat!
Calorie Counting Tips:
Counting calories can be a bit of a pain. I personally don’t mind it too much, but I know it can be difficult for some people.
Something that helps me count calories is using prepackaged meats and vegetables frequently. Frozen vegetables are very healthy. Canned tuna, salmon, and chicken are very convenient, and it’s easy to see how much protein you’re getting.
I also use whey protein powders because they have lower calories for the amount of protein you get, and they are easy to measure out.
Whole oats are easy to measure out as well. I recommend the old fashioned or steel cut whole oats, not the quick oats. And no flavored oatmeal!
Sweet potatoes can be easily estimated for calories:
Small (4″ x 1.5″): ~80 calories
Medium (5″ x 2″): ~100 calories
Large (6″ x 2.5″): ~160 calories
Other things, like lettuce, fresh spinach, tomatoes, onions, etc… can be measured the first time you use them. Then look up the calories just that one time, and remember it or write it down.
Here is a place to look up the calories of any food:
Then just use that same amount every time you make a meal or salad, and you already know the calories.
For example, one medium tomato, or a bowl of spinach, or a quarter of a red onion, etc…
Just learn the calories for different things one time, and use the knowledge over and over again!
Eating Schedule:
The only thing that matters when it comes to losing fat is maintaining a calorie deficit!
So, you can eat on whatever schedule you want as long as you are eating about 1000 calories less than you burn every day. This is for your particular goal, not a general rule.
The only rule I would impose on you is that your protein (130 to 180 grams) should be spread across all your meals.
You can lose fat on any eating schedule. However, I am an advocate of Intermittent Fasting. It may not be for everyone, and it may not work for you. But, I recommend you consider it, and maybe try it.
For me, Intermittent Fasting provides structure that I need. It can also aid your body in burning fat, and has other health benefits as well.
You can read a quick summary of Intermittent Fasting here: Basics of Intermittent Fasting!
Example Meal Plan / Schedule:
Unfortunately, I don’t know anything about your schedule, job, or workouts. So, I will just tell you what I would do for myself.
I hope you will be able to incorporate strength training in your life and schedule. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Muscle mass can be a huge help in your battle against the bulge!
Here is an example of what I would do if I was shooting for 1800 calories:
6:00 AM - Wake up
6:30 AM - Light Cardio Workout
I would walk outside or on treadmill, while sipping water. Other options include taking a casual bike ride or pedaling an exercise bike at a moderate pace.
Drink water, coffee, or tea throughout the morning, while being as active as possible. Take walks and get up and move whenever possible. I have kind of a desk job. If you have an active job, that’s even better.
12:00 PM - First Meal
25 grams whey protein (~120 calories)
10 grams collagen protein (~40 calories)
1 cup whole oats (~300 calories)
Keep drinking water and tea throughout the afternoon. Stay active, if possible.
I try to stop drinking coffee by 1:00 PM so I don’t mess up my sleep. Good, restorative sleep is crucial to good health!
2:00 PM - Second Meal
Medium baked sweet potato (~100 calories)
25 grams of protein from canned tuna (~100 calories)
Keep drinking water throughout the afternoon. Stay active, if possible.
4:00 PM - Strength Training & Workout Shake
50 grams whey protein (~240 calories)
50 grams of simple carbs like dextrose and maltodextrin (~200 calories)
Do strength training while sipping workout shake throughout the workout, and afterwards too. Add water to shake as you go to keep it full.
5 grams of Creatine after workout
Keep sipping shake until it’s all gone.
6:00 PM - Third Meal
Cooked vegetable like broccoli, asparagus, green beans, etc… (~100 calories)
30 grams of protein from baked fish or chicken (~160 calories)
Splash olive oil on veggies and/or meat (~50 calories)
Drink water with meal and throughout evening. Go for a walk if possible.
8:00 PM - Fourth Meal
Large salad with tomatoes, onions, peppers, etc… (~100 calories)
Cooked vegetable like broccoli, asparagus, green beans, etc… (~100 calories)
30 grams of protein from baked fish or chicken (~160 calories)
Splash olive oil on salad, veggies, and/or meat (~50 calories)
Drink water with meal and throughout evening. Go for a walk if possible.
9:00 PM - Light Cardio Workout
I would walk outside or on treadmill, while sipping water.
10:00 PM - Bedtime
Daily Totals:
Calories: ~1820 calories
Protein: ~170 grams
Obviously, this is just an example. There is no magic to these times or meals! You can make your own schedule. Just stay around 1800 calories, 130–180 grams of protein, and spread the protein throughout all your meals.
You can ask me follow up questions here: Ask Me a Question!
I would love to hear from you!
Other Important Things:
Something else we need to cover is that as you lose fat, your BMR will go down. So, you will need to adjust your calorie target as you progress through your journey.
It’s actually pretty simple! Just knock off 50 calories from your daily target for every 10 pounds you lose.
Another option is to gradually increase your activity level as you go. Then you can stick with the 1800 calorie target throughout.
If you find your weight loss has stalled, and you probably will at multiple points along the way! You need to go back to basics.
Check your BMR with the calculator again using your current weight and activity level.
Carefully check your daily calorie count to see if maybe you were getting sloppy.
Check your activity level. Be honest!
If those don’t fix it, knock 200 calories off for a few days to see if that gets you losing fat again.
I’m Almost Done!:
Losing 40 pounds of fat in 20 weeks is really hard, but completely doable!
It’s OK to be selfish through this process! Don’t let others derail your efforts!
These changes, and this process, aren’t forever. People around you need to understand!
This is a worthwhile investment in your future! And it will benefit your loved ones as well, since you will live longer and have more energy to do things and enjoy time with them!
Here is what I did 7 years ago!
I wish you all the best! I would love to hear from you and would gladly offer more help if you need it.
Like I said above, you can ask me follow up questions here: Ask Me a Question!
Have an awesome day!