A balanced diet for weight loss: products, menus, recipes

The benefits of a balanced diet for weight loss to any person is visible to the naked eye. Unlike the widespread but unhealthy “pendulum” diet, which includes periods of tough, difficult to tolerate diets, and then inevitable breakdowns that allow you to enjoy forbidden foods from the heart, a varied and balanced diet is a real panacea for overweight.

Balanced diet and mono-diets: differences

The basis of any food consumed by humans is macronutrients: proteins, fats, carbohydrates. The instant effect of most rigid diets is based on a significant limitation (or even an exception) of carbohydrates and fats from the diet. However, it should be borne in mind that 58% of the energy spent by a person is in carbohydrates.

Due to the reduction in their volume, the body experiences a deficiency of energy, which is expressed in a deterioration in well-being, the appearance of weakness and apathy. The simultaneous elimination of fats is a direct way to the lack of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Vitamin deficiency (absence) or hypovitaminosis (deficiency):

• vitamin A threatens chicken (night) blindness, dry skin and mucous membranes;
• vitamin D - the termination of the absorption of calcium and phosphorus, which leads to the fragility of bone tissue (joints, teeth) or the development of rickets in children;
• Vitamin E - deterioration of coronary circulation, liver function, sex glands, skin, nails, hair;
• vitamin K - a decrease in blood coagulability, a decrease in the synthesis of prothrombin. As a result, there is a risk of excessive bleeding and malfunctioning of the cardiovascular system.

If, for the sake of effective restoration of the figure's beauty, a woman decides on temporary severe restrictions on food, and then takes her soul off to enjoy forbidden foods, then such eating behavior will soon lead to poor health, disappointment in her abilities and additional weight gain. On the contrary, a balanced diet for weight loss includes all the necessary macronutrients that the body receives from low-calorie foods. Regularly consuming healthy food, saturated with all vital substances, losing weight may not lose weight as fast as with mono-diets, but this method helps him to improve his figure without deprivation and stress for the body. The correct method of losing weight in this case is accompanied by an improvement in well-being, normalization of the digestive system, acceleration of metabolic processes, which ultimately leads to a safe restoration of health.

What are the required components of a balanced menu?

An ideal diet, according to nutritionists and endocrinologists, should include 50% carbohydrates, 20% protein and 30% fat. This distribution of the basic nutritional components of a proper diet provides the body with a full amount of energy and building material, stimulates metabolism and allows you to lose weight without harm to the body.

A comprehensive menu of a balanced diet for weight loss certainly contains:

1. Proteins, the amount of which should be 40-100 g for every 24 hours, or at the rate of 1 g per 1 kg of body weight. It should be borne in mind that most protein products contain about 14-20 g of protein per 100 grams. Therefore, a person weighing 60 kg will need 60 g of protein, which he can get from 300 g of protein-containing food (this volume may include meat and cottage cheese, milk and eggs, seafood).
2. Animal fats, which should be reduced and consumed only those that are in the composition of protein products. Additional sources of fat - butter, sour cream, high-calorie cheeses - you need to remove or minimize their amount from the diet by consuming low-fat varieties of cheese, diet sour cream.
3. Vegetable fats from olive or sunflower oil. They should be no more than 30% of the total amount of fat (enough 20 ml or 1 tablespoon vegetable oil of any kind per day).
4. Complex carbohydrates. Their number varies in the range of 50-120 g per day. Useful carbohydrate foods are diet bread or whole grain bread (from unrefined whole wheat flour) instead of wheat, as well as cereals from cereals (buckwheat, oat, brown rice, excluding semolina), pasta from durum wheat.
5. Fiber (plant fiber), which ensures normal digestion and timely removal of waste products from the body. In an effective diet for weight loss, specialists provide for a mandatory daily intake of at least 30-40 g of coarse fiber with food. The optimal amount of fiber per day for a losing weight is considered a dose of 100-150 grams. It is obtained from vegetables, fruits, whole grain bread, seeds and bran. This amount of dietary fiber allows you to avoid hunger and stimulate metabolism.

About the principles of a balanced diet for weight loss

In order for a healthy diet to benefit and allow you to lose weight, you must:

• Stimulate the metabolism. Acceleration of metabolism is the main task of effective diets for weight loss, so you need to monitor not only a balanced diet, but also actively burn calories.
• Observe food intake. The mantra of anyone losing weight says that for quality weight loss, he should eat in small portions at least 5-6 times a day at the same hours, certainly have breakfast in the morning, and in the evening - not to eat up to a bite, having a bite 3 hours before bedtime.
• Count calories. To form a deficiency of energy so that the body burns fats, you need to reduce the daily calorie content of food or increase physical activity, spending more calories.

• Take into account the ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Usually, to maintain weight, the BJU ratio formula is 1: 1: 4, that is, the plate is divided into 3 sectors, 2 of which should occupy carbohydrates, and the third is distributed in half between proteins and fats. In a balanced diet for weight loss, the amount of protein remains unchanged, the preference is given to vegetable from fats (the necessary amount of saturated fatty acids from animal fats will be gained by the dieter with protein foods), and the amount of carbohydrates decreases as the daily calorie decreases.
• Properly distribute food in receptions. Depending on the usual biorhythm, breakfast should be planned within an hour after morning awakening. At this time, food brings the maximum amount of benefit, so 30% of the daily diet falls on an early meal. A light dinner will ensure a healthy sleep if consumed 3 hours before a night's rest. Most carbohydrates and fats are best eaten in the first three meals, and proteins can be distributed throughout the day, including dinner (with vegetables). Fruits and vegetables are great for snacks, but sweet nature gifts or high-calorie dried fruits are normally planned for food in the morning.
• Observe drinking regimen. On the day you need to drink at least 1.5 liters (0.03 liters per kg of body weight) of pure water (without gas). This amount does not include liquid dishes, tea, coffee, milk, juices and other foods. In the morning immediately after waking up (or 30 minutes before breakfast) you need to drink 200-250 ml of warm water to start metabolic processes. After eating, you can drink ordinary water no earlier than 40 minutes.
• The daily menu of a balanced diet for weight loss ideally contains at least 1200 kcal, experts do not recommend lowering this threshold of dietary energy, as metabolism can suffer. The body, not getting enough energy from food, will begin to slow down metabolic processes and save fat reserves. For the same reason, you can not skip meals, putting them off for later. The intervals between meals should not exceed 3.5-4 hours, so as not to introduce an imbalance in the digestive system.

Allowed Products

Depending on the required calorie volume, taste preferences, in the menu of a balanced diet for weight loss for every day, you can include various combinations of products such as:

• Fish and seafood, excluding varieties with excessive fat.
• Lean dietary meat (beef, veal) and poultry breasts (chicken, turkey).
• Sour-milk products (soft cheeses, low-fat cottage cheese), including drinks (natural yogurt, kefir), with a fat content of not more than 1.5-2.5%.
• Porridge - buckwheat, pearl barley, oatmeal, barley and others (except semolina).
• Garnish of brown rice, sprouted cereals, legumes (beans, peas, chickpeas, lentils).
• Bakery products from coarse flour (whole grain bread, diet bread and others).
• Vegetables and fruits (preferably fresh), but steamed or stewed gifts of nature are a wonderful option. You should limit only dishes with starchy vegetables (potatoes or beets).
• Soups, preferably a predominance of vegetable, but dishes with meat broth are allowed, which merges after the first cooking and is prepared again. The amount of salt should be minimal (a few grains).
• Chicken and quail eggs (preferring the second).
• Low-calorie fruits (excluding bananas, figs, grapes).
• Tea, fruit drinks or fruit drinks without sugar.

From a wide range of different dietary products, a losing weight person can choose non-repeating dishes for every day, make his food tasty and varied. This will help him lose weight without experiencing hunger or lack of vital substances.

Prohibited Products

In the best balanced diet for weight loss, the use of:

• canned foods;
• sausages, sausages, sausages, dumplings;
• ready-made sauces (mayonnaise, ketchup) and salad dressings from store shelves;
• smoked products (meat, fish);
• all types of processed wheat products;
• sweet carbonated drinks (soft drinks), packaged juices;
• heavy cream, sour cream and ice cream, cheeses, butter;
• alcohol products.

Recipes of healthy dishes and methods for their preparation

The quality of the products, as stated in the classical theory of optimal balanced nutrition, adopted by leading nutritionists in the world, should be ideal.

Fresh food must be prepared on its own, without adding excessive amounts of salt to it, without using sugar or other flavor enhancers. Porridge should be boiled in water, boiled meat or fish, baked or steamed, from sweets use in moderate amounts honey, dried fruits, fresh gifts of nature. For women, a diet for weight loss will not be a great test, if for dessert in the first half of the day it will not be forbidden to eat a few low-calorie sweets: dark chocolate, marshmallows, natural marmalade.

1. A small amount of curd cheese cake can include raisins, cocoa and honey. To prepare it, you will need 200 g of low-fat cottage cheese, 2 egg whites, oat flour - 0.5 tbsp and a little fructose (to taste). All ingredients are whipped with a blender. The oven is heated to a temperature of 180 ° C, the prepared mass is placed in a mold and baked for 20 minutes.
2. Oatmeal in milk is prepared as follows: 1 cup of cereal is boiled in 400 ml of milk, apples that are peeled and chopped with a grater or blender are added to the dish and mixed. Sprinkle with cinnamon before serving.
3. Vegetable pilaf: 2 glasses of rice, 4 medium onions, 4 carrots, vegetable oil, seasonings and herbs are needed. Peel and chop vegetables. Slightly pass them in the oil in a frying pan, over low heat, until soft. Boil rice in water or steam, then mix with vegetables, seasonings and herbs.
4. Shrimp salad: boiled peeled seafood (0.3 kg) in water, previously slightly salted. Chop the lettuce by hand, cut the tomato into small slices. Mix the prepared assortment and pour over lemon juice.
5. Zucchini patties: Rinse 3 small zucchini and chop on a grater with one onion and one carrot. Drive the egg into the prepared mixture and sprinkle with oatmeal (1 cup). We form cutlets and fry them in olive oil.

Sample menu for one day (1200 kcal)

What does the daily menu of a losing weight person look like with a minimal set of calories approved by nutritionists?

This example of a balanced diet for weight loss, shown in the table, can be varied with the help of other dishes, the value of which will coincide with those proposed.

A balanced diet for a month for weight loss

Sometimes, getting rid of an excessive amount of extra pounds requires not a few days, but much more time.

The diet of a losing weight every week for a month will look like this:

1 day:

• Morning: 1 toast with half boiled egg, lettuce and cucumber, low-fat sour-milk drink - 1 glass.
• For lunch: vegetable soup (you can use fish or mushroom broth instead), 1 dried rye bread, 200 g mixed vegetables with green salad leaves.
• Dinner: boiled brown rice - 150 g, a piece of grilled salmon, vegetables. Fish can be replaced with one soft-boiled egg.

During snacks (after breakfast and after lunch in 2.5-3 hours), fresh fruits, sour-milk drinks (with fresh berries) are welcome.

2 day diet for women:

• Morning: a pair of soft-boiled or hard-boiled eggs, a toast with soft cheese, a slice of tuna and a tomato.
• For lunch: green borsch with sorrel and egg, cabbage salad (plus some carrots) with herbs, 3 kiwi fruits.
• Dinner: 150 g of beans stewed in tomato, boiled chicken breast - a slice, a couple of rye toasts.

3 day:

• Morning: diet cheesecake or cottage cheese casserole - 150 g, green tea without sugar.
• For lunch: miso soup with eel and tofu cheese on soya paste, stewed vegetables - 150 g and grapefruit.
• Dinner: stewed mixed vegetables with mushrooms and low-fat sour cream.

4th day:

• Morning: buckwheat porridge, a couple of slices of low-fat cheese, one tomato and low-calorie kefir (up to 2.5%) - 200 ml.
• For lunch: peppers stuffed with mushrooms or minced chicken with stewed vegetables, a cup of berries or an apple.
• Dinner: Georgian young bean lobio with walnuts and tomatoes.

5 day:

• Morning: oatmeal (100 g in dry form), cooked in water with a teaspoon of honey and berries, 1 banana and 200 ml of low-fat yogurt.
• For lunch: carrot salad with grated apples, celery, spices, lemon juice; salmon baked with spinach yogurt sauce.
• Dinner: vegetable casserole with low-fat cheese and asparagus.

6 day:

• Morning: low-fat cottage cheese with fresh berries and honey, natural yogurt - 150 ml.
• For lunch: lean borsch - 200 ml, vinaigrette with mushrooms - 100 g, orange, apple or other diet fruit.
• Dinner: cauliflower baked with egg and herbs - 150 g, kefir.

7 day:

• Morning: corn or pearl barley porridge - 150 g, fat-free yogurt without sugar, a couple of apples or pears.
• For lunch: brown rice, boiled and stewed with vegetables, 100 g steamed fish (or stewed), tomato juice (without adding salt).
• Dinner: vegetable stew (any variety, except for potatoes).

If for women this amount of calories is enough, then young, physically active men need to increase the amount of protein food in the diet by 20%.

Expected Balanced Diet Results: What to Count on

A balanced diet helps reduce weight by about 1-2 kg per week.

Most losing weight notice that, compared with effective mono-diets, this technique does not have a noticeable result in a short period of time, but, following its rules, a person:

• Get rid of extra pounds for good.
• There are no cosmetic defects in the form of sagging muscles and saggy skin - vivid symptoms of quick and illiterate weight loss.

In addition, a balanced diet does not cause excruciating hunger, allows you to maintain good health, does not worsen the condition of the skin, hair, nails.

In addition, it helps a person to cultivate the habits of proper eating behavior, after fixing which it is easy to achieve an ideal figure and maintain it for many years.

How to quickly lose weight without harm to health?

If the starting weight is small, and an important event ahead, at which you need to appear in all its glory, then you can use a balanced diet for quick weight loss.

This express option, the diet of which is only 1000 kcal, is depleted in many vital substances, therefore, it can adversely affect health. You can use it only briefly and infrequently:

• In the morning, 70 g of cottage cheese (low-fat varieties) is allowed.
• 1 snack - any low-calorie fruit (kiwi (2-3 pieces), apple, pear or orange).
• At lunch, vegetable soup.
• 2 snack - a few walnuts.
• Dinner - boiled breast or river fish (100 g) and cucumber or 100 g of cabbage salad.

This diet allows you to reduce body weight per week by 5-7 kg, but it is not suitable for prolonged weight loss, healing the body. This example menu, according to experts, can be harmless if applied as a fasting day, not more than 1-2 times a week.

The right way out: tips

Long-term nutrition in small portions, the exclusion of harmful foods and the predominance of healthy ones leads to an improvement in well-being, helps to reduce weight and stay on cherished figures for a long time. As a result, the body adapts to a new, familiar diet, reduces the secretion of gastric juice and reduces the volume of the organ itself, produces fewer enzymes to digest high-calorie, fatty foods. Nutritionists consider it inappropriate to introduce forbidden foods back into the diet, but occasionally you can enjoy a small piece of the delicacy. In addition, most losing weight, trying to eat proper nutrition, do not seek to eat everything in a row, but continue to follow a balanced diet, only slightly increasing the daily calorie intake. For example, if a woman reaches the desired weight, then she can gradually expand the diet within 1800-2000 kcal, and a man - up to 2300-2500 kcal.