Recipes for low-calorie dishes for weight loss

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Over the past decade, weight loss experts have come to believe in the power of calorie counting. Not only does it help keep you fit, but low-calorie meals are easier to digest. Calorie counting provides a balance of beneficial trace elements and substances.

What is the specificity of a low-calorie diet?

Food culture in our country is tight. Suffice it to recall the Russian proverb "Everything is useful that got into your mouth", which perfectly reflects our realities. Living according to this principle, the population of our country suffers from numerous diseases caused by malfunctions in the body. External problems such as brittle nails, acne, deterioration of hair and skin quality are also due to nutritional problems and a lack of substances necessary for the human body.

In order to control the daily intake of substances and calories, low-calorie meals were invented. There are several fundamental principles. They are listed below:

1. The basis of all low-calorie meals isfiber-rich plant foods.
2. Preference should be given to lean meats. These include chicken, rabbit, turkey, beef.
3. Seafood and fish must be present in the diet without fail. They are very suitable for low-calorie meals, while saturating the body with useful trace elements and vitamins.
4. You can not neglect also milk and its derivatives. The only condition is that milk should not have a high percentage of fat content.
5. Low-calorie slimming meals reduce your daily intake of carbohydrates and fats.
6. To eat according to this system, you need to calculate calories. But do not take the bill as a heavy duty, in fact, this is a very interesting process.

What is calorie counting for?

The number of calories consumed depends on physical activity, age, gender and even weight. If you consume much less than the required calories, then serious he alth problems, hormonal levels will begin, and external defects will appear. Weight lost with extremely low calorie levels is coming back, not alone, but in the company of diseases.

If you constantly exceed the number of daily calories, this will lead to problems with weight and, again, with he alth. To prevent these troubles from happening, you need to strictly adhere to your norm.

How to calculate correctly?

You can calculate the calorie content yourself or use the help of a weight loss specialist.

Need to remember that caloriesare spent not only during some actions or physical activity. Calories are also needed to sustain life in the human body. For this reason, you cannot go below the calorie level to maintain life.

It is important to know that each person has their own consumption rate, but there are rules for judging the average value:

• Daily calories for men more than for women. This is due to the fact that the former spend more energy.
• The older a person is, the fewer calories they need, regardless of gender.
• For people engaged in physical labor, the daily calorie intake will be higher than for those with mental work.
• Children's calorie intake also depends on the age of the child.
• Nursing mothers, pregnant women and those with physical activity jobs consume roughly the same amount of calories.

Sample table of average calories needed:

Activities	Daily calorie intake
Athletes and men with permanent physical work	Over 4,500
Male students	3 300
Women engaged in physical labor or professional sports	3,500-4,000
Pregnant women	3 200
Nursing mothers	3 500
Female students	2 800

How to calculate the calories of ready meals?

There are several ways. The first is to find ready-made low-calorie meals for weight loss with an already calculated energy value.

Second - calculate everything yourself. There are a lot of devices for this - from a traditional notepad and a pen, to smartphone programs for calculating the calorie content of dishes.

What are the devices for calculating the energy value?

• Online calculator. Just enter the names of the products and get the result.
• Self-calculation according to energy value tables.
• Packaged foods contain ingredients, calories and other essential information.
• Download the application to your smartphone. A personal calorie counter is always with you and is available even without going online.

How to determine the calorie content of a dish?

The information that ordinary food cannot be dietary is absolutely not justified. You can cook low-calorie meals from simple products. Only a kitchen scale is needed for the calculation.

To understand what we are talking about, let's write down the algorithm of actions using the example of a vegetable salad:

1. Write out the name of all products.
2. Measure the weight of each ingredient separately.
3. Determine the energy value of each food.
4. Calculate what is the calorie of the product in this weight.
5. Sum everything up.
6. Record the total energy value of the dish.

Nutritional principles for a low-calorie diet

Breakfast is a simple low-calorie meal. A prime example is porridge. They answerthe requirement of complex carbohydrate foods in the morning and saturate the body for a long time. In order not to be bored every day eating empty porridge, you can add fruits, berries and nuts to it.

The second breakfast or first snack is best to start with fruit or cottage cheese with additives.

At lunch, you need to eat fiber, protein and carbohydrates. It can be a piece of meat with porridge and a vegetable salad.

For lunch, it is permissible to eat fat-free cottage cheese no more than 150 grams.

The last meal should consist mainly of protein. For example, baked fish with a vegetable side dish. It is noteworthy that dinner should be at least a couple of hours before going to bed.

Soups

Simple low-calorie meals are mainly represented by soups. But still, even for soups there are certain nuances:

• better not s alt first courses;
• use only the freshest produce;
• no need to delay cooking - only during quick processing the products retain their beneficial properties;
• you can not add seasonings with a chemical composition and ready-made soups from bags.

To reduce calories, you need to cook on the second broth.

Soups as low-calorie slimming meals with simple ingredients

For example, vegetable soup with rice is a great option. Its energy value is 25 calories per serving.

Ingredients:

• Secondary meat broth - 2.5 liters.
• White cabbage - 100 grams.
• Bulgarian sweet pepper - 100g.
• Ripe tomatoes - 100g
• Onion - 100g
• Round Grain Parboiled Rice - 40g
• Carrot - 75 grams.
• 15% sour cream - 40 grams.
• Tomato paste - 50 grams.
• S alt, pepper - optional.
• Greens - optional.

Cooking:

Three carrots on a grater, cut onions and potatoes into small cubes, chop tomatoes with medium cubes. Boil the meat broth, add potatoes after boiling and round-grain rice. We make fried carrots, onions and tomato paste.

Chop the pepper and cabbage into thin strips and pour into the soup. After 5 minutes, add the frying, s alt, ground pepper and herbs. Let it boil again and turn off the fire.

The next recipe for a low-calorie meal for weight loss is chicken soup with vegetables. The energy value of the dish is 90 calories per serving.

Ingredients:

• Chicken breast without skin - 200 grams.
• Carrot - 1 piece of medium size.
• Potatoes - 2 pieces.
• Sweet bell pepper - 1 piece.
• Vermicelli - 50 grams.
• Onion - 1 head.
• S alt, spices - optional.
• Greens - optional.

Cooking:

Cut the pre-cooked chicken breast into medium pieces. Purified water is collected in a saucepan, no more than a liter and allowed to boil. After boiling, potatoes, bell peppers, carrots and onions should be introduced. Boil for 10 minutes, after this time pourvermicelli and chopped chicken breast. S alt, pepper and sprinkle with herbs.

Also a great low-calorie cucumber soup recipe.

Ingredients:

• Fresh cucumbers - 200 grams.
• Fat-free unsweetened yogurt or kefir - 1 faceted glass.
• Green onion - medium bunch.
• Ice cubes - 4 pieces.
• S alt, ground pepper - optional.

Cooking:

Cucumbers are peeled and coarsely chopped. Ice cubes, large pieces of cucumbers, kefir or yogurt are placed in the blender bowl. Stir until puree, pepper and s alt. Green onions are finely chopped, the rest of the cucumbers are also chopped. The pureed mass is poured into a plate, sprinkled with green onions and chopped cucumber.

Second dishes

Recipes of low-calorie dishes for weight loss with side dishes are presented in large quantities. Consider some of them, for example, chicken casserole.

It refers to low-calorie weight loss meals with calorie indication - approximately 100 calories per 100 grams.

Ingredients:

• Chicken breast - 500g
• Hard cheese - 50g
• Onion - 1 head.
• Carrot - one medium.
• Bulgarian sweet pepper - 1 piece.
• Sunflower oil - 2 tablespoons.
• Natural yogurt - 1 faceted glass.
• Chicken egg - 1 piece.
• Ground pepper, s alt - optional.

Cooking:

In a slow cooker, line the bottom with vegetables and season with spices. On top of the vegetablelayers laid out pieces of chicken. The egg is beaten and mixed with yogurt. This mixture is poured over everything that is in the multicooker bowl. Topped with grated hard cheese. For casseroles, the "Bake" function is perfect, and half an hour will be enough. To cook in the oven, set the temperature to 180 degrees and hold the dish until a brownish cheese crust forms.

The fish stew is also a great option.

Fish is a low-calorie diet for weight loss. With the indication of calories, you can calculate how much food is acceptable to eat.

The energy value of the dish is from 100 to 150 calories per 100 grams, depending on the type of fish.

Ingredients:

• Onions - 2 large heads.
• Ripe tomatoes - 2 large pieces.
• Sunflower oil - 3 tablespoons.
• Lemon juice - 3 tablespoons.
• Sea fish - 1 kilo.
• Spices for fish.
• S alt, pepper - optional.

Cooking:

Pour 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil into a frying pan with a thick bottom and spread the sliced onion in a very dense layer. On top of the onion is covered with circles of tomatoes and all this is pressed down with a lid. Do not open the lid for five minutes. After the lapse of time, add pieces of fish marinated in advance (at least half an hour) and stew for 15 minutes. A vegetable salad is suitable for garnish.

Foil-baked mackerel is perfect as a light but very tasty product.

This is a low calorie weight loss meal. It cannot boast of calories, which is valuable. Energy value - 130 calories per 100 grams.

Ingredients:

• Mackerel - 1 fish.
• Natural yogurt or sour cream 15% - 2 tablespoons.
• Orange is one fruit.
• Garlic - a couple of cloves.
• Spices - optional.
• Ground pepper, s alt - optional.

Cooking:

The fish is prepared - the entrails, fins, head and tail are removed. Make deep lateral incisions of 5 centimeters. Juice is squeezed from an orange and the zest is rubbed. Chopped garlic, orange zest and juice, ground pepper are added to yogurt. In this sauce, roll the fish, put it on the foil and pour the rest. Packed tightly so nothing leaks out. At 180 degrees, the fish is cooked for no more than 20 minutes. The best side dish is Korean carrots, Chinese cabbage or lettuce.

Sweet diet meals

In the first place - cottage cheese casserole. This is a low calorie meal with no more than 95 calories per 100 grams.

Ingredients:

• Fat-free cottage cheese - 200g
• Wheat bran - 1 tbsp. spoon.
• Natural yoghurt - 1 tbsp. spoon.
• An apple is one.
• Chicken egg - 1 piece.
• Cinnamon, vanilla optional.

Cooking:

All ingredients are mixed (an apple is rubbed on a grater) until smooth. Spread into a mold and bake at 200 degrees for at least 45 minutes.

Cheesecakewith chocolate - an easy and he althy dessert.

Ingredients:

• Gelatin - 15g
• Linden honey - 2 tbsp.
• Cocoa powder - 2 tbsp.
• Fat-free cottage cheese - 400g
• 1% milk - 100 ml.

Cooking:

Gelatin is dissolved in water, left to swell. Milk is poured into a saucepan, swollen gelatin is added and heated until the latter dissolves. Leave to cool. The cottage cheese is broken with a blender or mixer, the gelatin mass is gradually introduced. Immediately add cocoa powder and vanilla. Add honey. The resulting cream is poured into a detachable form and put into the refrigerator. Once hardened, sprinkle with fresh berries and serve with a portion of ice cream and strong coffee.

Low calorie cottage cheese biscuits won't put on weight either.

Ingredients:

• Fat-free cottage cheese - 200g
• Chicken egg - 1 piece.
• Hercules flakes - 1 tbsp.
• Olive oil - 1.5 tbsp.

Cooking:

Hercules flakes are poured with boiling water so that they do not float, leave for no more than 5 minutes. After a while, drain the water, add the remaining products. Everything is thoroughly mixed and laid out on parchment, which was previously oiled. Oven at 120 degrees for an hour.

Fat Burning Cocktails

To low-calorie meals with no more calorieshundreds per 100 grams of product include fat-burning cocktails. Here are examples:

1. To fat-free kefir add a teaspoon of ground cinnamon, half a teaspoon of chopped ginger, a pinch of powdered hot pepper.
2. 2 slices of lemon, kiwi and a handful of mint are whipped in a blender.
3. A handful of mint leaves and parsley branches in the amount of 7 pieces are whipped with a blender with the addition of purified water.
4. One stalk of celery, fresh cucumber, ginger root (approximately 2 centimeters), 50 g zucchini, a quarter of a lemon and a large sweet apple, crushed, add a couple of ice cubes.
5. A cinnamon stick, a teaspoon of honey and apple cider vinegar are mixed, diluted with cold water.
6. Natural yogurt - half cup, half grapefruit, 4 slices pineapple (canned or fresh), raw pumpkin seeds - 30 grams.

As you can see, a lot of dishes from low-calorie foods for weight loss can be safely prepared. If you show imagination and perseverance, then a low-calorie diet will not seem like a punishment, but will be an exciting adventure that will give long-term results.