Losing weight can be challenging, especially when you don’t have a healthy relationship with food. After all, what you eat contributes 80% to the overall success of your weight loss efforts. However, that doesn’t mean you should starve yourself and spend hours in the gym to shed the extra pounds.
Instead, you can successfully lose weight by trying a meal planning program that meets your dietary requirements instead of abstaining from food. Planning your meal can be an effective tool for weight loss if you eat in a calorie deficit while giving your body the nutrition it needs. It’s fast and easy to do with a weight loss meal planning app like Lasta.
A well-planned meal is a healthy way to lose weight and meet your body’s nutritional needs gradually. To successfully lose weight through a meal planning program, you can try to incorporate your meal with:
- A good deal of protein and fibers
- An array of fresh fruit and vegetables
The most effective formula for losing weight is to limit your added sugar and processed food diet.
Things To Keep In Mind When Choosing The Right Meal Plan
Finding the right meal plan for your needs can be overwhelming with so many options available. Here are some pointers to help you successfully shed off the extra weight.
- Choose a meal planning program that fits your requirements
There are a variety of ways to plan your meal. Your dietary requirements and routine should be on the top of the list when choosing a meal planning program. For instance, a plant-based, vegan, or vegetarian diet might suit your needs if you are a vegetarian. Preparing your ingredients ahead of time would be ideal if you like to cook daily.
- Invest in a good meal planning app
A meal planning app like Lasta can help you make your weight loss journey easier by individualizing your meals according to your weight loss goals and taste. It also recommends more than a handful of recipes and allows you to put the ones you like in one place. As a result, you don’t have to spend time thinking about what to cook next.
- Make meal preparation more effective
By choosing specific times to plan a meal, grocery shopping with a detailed list, and picking out recipes, you can get what you need without leaving ingredients behind and shorten your cooking time. In addition, it will help you take full advantage of the meal planning process, making your weight loss journey more fruitful.
Incorporate Diets For Effective Meal Planning
Following a proper diet will help you lose weight more effectively when paired with meal planning. Here are a few effective diets that can help you make healthy eating a lifestyle and lose weight faster when incorporated with meal planning.
Ketogenic (Keto) Diet
You must have stumbled upon the keto diet at least once if you have been on the hunt for effective ways to lose weight. But what is the concept behind the keto diet? Well, let us clear that up for you.
The Ketogenic or Keto diet focuses on consuming high amounts of fat and a moderate amount of protein while reducing the consumption of carbohydrates (carbs) to 20-25 grams daily. This dietary intake forces your body to primarily rely on fat as its energy source instead of carbohydrates – a process known as ketosis. And not only is it difficult to achieve ketosis, but it’s easy to lose that state as well, making effective meal planning a consistent and mandatory process to reap the benefits of this diet.
The meal plan for this diet includes keto-friendly food such as eggs, a variety of cheese, meat, fish, nuts and seeds, oils, vegetables with less starch, and beverages such as water, unsweetened coffee, and green tea.
Paleolithic (Paleo) Diet
The paleolithic diet, popularly known as the paleo diet, is highly sought out due to its effectiveness. It is a whole-food-based diet that is centered around the Discordance Hypothesis. It suggests that the human body does not genetically match the diet formed due to modern farming practices.
The basis of the Paleo diet is leaving processed foods for whole foods. It also leaves a lot of options for you, as it has no strict limitations and can be adapted to your personal preferences.
Meat, vegetables, eggs, fish, fruits, nuts and seeds, herbs, healthy oils, and spices can be included in the meal plan for this diet, along with beverages such as water, tea, and coffee, with the occasional wine and dark chocolate.
Vegetarian Diet
Many people are now switching to plant-based and vegetarian diets due to their health benefits. But, how do you get nutrition by cutting down on meat? Well, there are variations in this diet that allow people to meet their nutrient needs.
While a vegetarian or a plant-based diet primarily focuses on obtaining nutrition from fruits and vegetables and whole grains, there are many options, such as the
- Lacto-vegetarian diet – allows dairy products
- Ovo-vegetarian diet – allows eggs
- Lacto-Ovo vegetarian diet – allows both dairy products and eggs
- Pescatarian diet – allows fish
- Vegan diet – excludes all the above foods along with meat and poultry
The Takeaway?
Planning meals is as effective as exercising to lose weight and stay healthy. All you need to do is incorporate one of the many diets we suggested and it’ll help you lose weight and reduce the risk of chronic diseases, improving the overall quality of your life. To track your progress, you can turn to Lasta, a meal planning app that has proven to help users lose weight through individualized meal plans based on their goals. The app also helps maintain the lost weight using mindful eating and cognitive behavioral therapy.