Good nutrition is one of the most important ways to stay healthy. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that people are always looking for new ways to maintain a healthy diet. There are all sorts of diets out there—low-carbohydrate, low-fat, paleo, and vegan, to name a few.
However, if you’re interested in weight loss and maintaining your current lifestyle without major changes or restrictions, then calorie-deficit meals are what you need.
To lose weight, you need to eat fewer calories, plain and simple. In this article, we’ll provide you with insights into how calories work, what a deficit is, how to create one, and some meal ideas for a weight-loss diet.
A calorie is a unit of measurement of the energy that is provided by the foods and drinks we consume.
This energy allows our bodies to function, keeping us alive, and also allows us to complete all our daily activities. It is also the energy we use to exercise or accomplish physical tasks.
A point to note is that while everything we consume gives us calories, some foods and beverages are more dense in calories than others – that is, they provide more energy per serving size as compared to their counterparts.
Calorie intake has always gone hand in hand with weight gain, loss, and maintenance. But how does this work?
If you eat too many calories without burning enough through normal daily activities and exercise, then even if they come from healthy food sources, you’ll likely gain weight over time. This is known as a calorie surplus.
If you eat as many calories in a day as your body burns, you should end up maintaining your current weight. This is simply known as calorie maintenance.
If you eat fewer calories than your body burns, you’re likely to lose weight over time. On the other hand, if you eat too few calories, your body may go into starvation mode and your metabolism may slow down (7). This means it will be harder for you to lose weight and maintain your current weight after reaching your goal.
To successfully lose weight and keep it off, you need to find a calorie level that is both healthy and reasonable – this is where a calorie deficit comes in. A calorie deficit is a state where a person doesn’t consume as many calories as they burn in a day. or rather, they consume fewer calories than their body needs to maintain their current weight.
When you eat less than your body burns/needs to maintain its daily functions, it is forced to turn to its fat stores, which it then burns to use as energy. The longer you stay in a deficit, the more your body uses up its stored fat and at the end of the day, less body fat usually results in less overall body weight.
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There are three main ways to do this:
To do this, you need to start by finding out how many calories you need each day to maintain your current weight. You can roughly estimate this with a simple equation: take your current weight (in lbs) and multiply it by 15. This number represents the approximate number of calories your body needs every single day just to keep you from losing or gaining weight.
For example, if you weigh 150 lbs, you would need approximately 2,250 calories every day to maintain your weight. You can get a more accurate estimate using the Harris-Benedict equation plus an activity factor or use an online calculator that does the math for you. Now that you know how many calories your body needs to maintain its current weight, you can add or subtract from this number depending on your goals.
To lose weight, you need to eat fewer calories. Usually, subtracting 500 calories from your maintenance calorie needs is a good place to start. A healthy meal plan for weight loss could be based on approximately 1,500 calories per day if you’re a woman or 1,800 if you’re a man (3). This should be a moderate reduction from what your body needs to maintain its current weight. Remember that you need enough energy for your body’s basic functions as well as regular exercise and activity.
If the above method seems too complicated, you could try using an online calorie calculator. This is the option that many use because it’s rather easy and it also tends to give you a more precise idea of how many calories are right for your specific situation.
In addition, it may give general recommendations on the types of foods that are appropriate at each calorie level. You can enter information about yourself, such as sex, height, weight, and age into this type of calculator, then click “calculate” to see an estimate.
While most people use such apps to track their daily food/calorie intake, they can also help you figure out how much your calorie deficit should be. They generally work in the same way as online calorie calculators and require you to input your sex, height, current weight (sometimes your new weight goal too), age, and daily activity level for them to give you your deficit.
The added benefit of such apps is that through the logging of your daily intake of food and drink, they help you track how many calories you’re eating, which lets you know if you’re maintaining the deficit or not. You can also track your daily physical exercise, which helps with weight and fat loss.
While everyone’s body has different nutritional needs, most people do best when they eat a balanced diet of a variety of healthy foods that remain within their calorie allowance.
Read more: Thigh Workout Guide: 7 Effective Exercises for Building Leg Strength
Calorie deficit meals are recipes that are designed to help you eat fewer calories than usual, so you can lose weight or maintain your current weight more easily.
To do this, the recipes have certain things in common (10):
Many diets recommend eating a small breakfast, but don’t provide many suggestions for what to eat. This can be frustrating if you’re trying to lose weight as it’s easy to get bored of the same thing every day.
As part of your diet plan, try the following breakfast recipes:
Apples and oats provide fiber, which can help keep you feeling full until lunchtime. This recipe also requires minimal preparation time, so it can be made before you head out the door in the morning!
This makes 1 serving. Calories: 262. Fats: 7 g. Protein: 6 g. Carbs: 46 g
This recipe is courtesy of healthyfitnessmeals.com.
These healthy egg muffins are high-protein and low-fat, which is essential for a healthy diet. They can be eaten hot or cold for breakfast or dinner, so it’s easy to have them as part of your calorie deficit plan.
Ingredients:
This makes 10 servings. Calories for 1 serving: 59. Fats: 2 g. Protein: 8 g. Carbs: 2 g
This recipe is courtesy of allrecipes.com.
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At less than 200 calories per serving (and with almost 30 grams of protein), you won’t find a more nutrient-dense and filling recipe. This is the perfect dish for people who eat fewer than 500 calories at breakfast as it will help keep you feeling full all morning.
Calories for 1 serving: 290. Fats: 16 g. Protein: 14 g. Carbs: 6 g
This recipe is courtesy of bettycrocker.com.
Many diets recommend skipping lunch, but this isn’t practical or fair to your body. After not eating anything all night and then burning up some energy first thing in the morning, you need to refuel around midday.
Instead, try the following healthy recipes for your mid-day meal:
Whether you use it as a light pre-lunch or fill it up with rice, this low-calorie vegetable soup is high in fiber and nutrients. It also doesn’t require any cooking skills!
This makes 6 servings. Calories for 1 serving: 116. Fats: 1 g. Protein: 4 g. Carbs: 24 g
This recipe is courtesy of allrecipes.com.
This is filled with low-calorie, nutrient-dense ingredients (mushrooms are full of B vitamins), but is still tasty enough to make you feel as if you’re eating something special. You’ll feel full without piling on the calories.
The above recipe makes 6 servings and is courtesy of foodandwine.com.
We’ve swapped out tortillas for lettuce leaves to create a lower-calorie version of chicken enchiladas that’s ideal for a calorie deficit diet. What makes this recipe great is that it can be made in advance and reheated for quick lunches during the week.
This makes 2 enchiladas. Calories for 1 enchilada: 468. Fats: 13 g. Protein: 34 g. Carbs: 51 g
This recipe is courtesy of tasteofhome.com.
Read more: 1,200 Calorie Deficit: Is It a Safe Way To Lose Weight?
As you lose weight, you may find yourself struggling to make healthy food choices at dinner time. This is particularly true if you’ve been eating large portions of high-calorie foods throughout the day.
To help keep your daily calorie intake on target, try the following recipes:
One of the best things about stir-fry dishes is how easy they are to prepare. You can just throw everything into one frying pan for an instant meal with no complicated steps or cooking skills required. In addition, this dish provides over 20 grams of protein per serving, so you won’t be hungry again an hour later.
This recipe makes 4 servings and is courtesy of foodandwine.com.
This healthy salad is full of antioxidants, tastes great, and is easy to make. You could even prepare everything in advance, so it’s ready to eat when you need it (just add the kale right before you eat). This recipe also contains less than 50% calories from fat, making it perfect for people who are watching their diet.
For the chicken:
For the salad:
For the dressing:
For the chicken:
For the dressing:
For the salad:
This makes 1 serving. Calories: 381. Fats: 22 g. Protein: 17 g. Carbs: 34 g
This recipe is courtesy of sweetdesigns.com.
Low-calorie and filling, this dish can be eaten as a side or main course. It contains less than 45 grams of carbs per serving and has over 20 grams of fiber, which will keep your digestive system happy too.
This recipe makes 6 servings. Calories for 1 serving: 168. Fats: 5.2 g. Protein: 6.7 g. Carbs: 26.1 g
This recipe is courtesy of mariaushakova.com.
Yes, you can.
According to an article in the National Library of Medicine, the average calorie needs for the average woman and man is 2,000 kcal and 2,500 kcal respectively per day. This means that an intake of 1,500 kcal would count as a calorie deficit meal plan, which should lead to weight loss over time (4). However, to ensure this is your recommended deficit intake per day, please make sure to use any of the above calorie deficit counting methods to determine a more individualized goal.
It depends on how many calories you eat in those two meals.
For example, if your recommended calorie intake to create a deficit is 1,500 kcal and you consume 750 kcal for each of the two meals, then yes, eating two meals a day can lead to a deficit. However, if you’re eating 1,000 calories for each meal, then having just two meals a day may not count as a deficit, depending on your energy expenditure.
You may have reduced the number of times you eat a day, but you haven’t reduced the amount of calories. A calorie deficit is the reduction of calories consumed a day, not necessarily the number of times you eat. You can eat 6 meals a day and still be in a deficit, or you can eat 2 meals and not be. The trick is to make sure all the meals together stay within your overall calorie target.
Some people can, but it’s not without risks. Eating one meal a day, which is also known as OMAD, is an extreme version of intermittent fasting. With this variation, people fast for 23 hours and only allow themselves 1 hour to consume all the calories they need for a day.
As the eating window is quite small, people often have to eat one huge meal all at once in an effort to consume all the required calories for the day. While some can manage this, most people cannot, which leads to undereating and as mentioned above, this can make weight loss even harder.
To reach their calorie intake for the day, some people rely on unhealthy fatty foods. While this could seem like a fun and tasty loophole, research has suggested that doing so could lead to an increase in blood pressure and cholesterol (1).
Eating only once a day also comes with potential side effects such as:
While some swear by the benefits of OMAD, we suggest trying other variations of intermittent fasting such as 16/8, 14/10, or 18/6.
No, you shouldn’t.
As explained above, being in a deficit simply means reducing what’s on your plate, not necessarily reducing the amount of times you eat in a day. One study published in 2020 stated that while skipping a meal can help reduce daily calorie intake, it also reduces daily diet nutrition quality and could impact health negatively over time (14).
Skipping meals could also lead to a slower metabolism, which means that your body burns calories slower. leading to slower weight loss and eventually fat gain over time. It also leaves you with very little energy, which could make you feel weak and sluggish.
No, you shouldn’t.
While a juice cleanse may look like a calorie deficit, it’s usually simply just undereating. Undereating can lead to health risks such as osteoporosis and bone fractures, infertility, developmental problems in children, a weakened immune system, malnutrition, increased risk of surgical complications, anemia, and chronic fatigue.
Instead of trying a 3-day juice cleanse, use the same fruits and vegetables to make healthy weight loss meals instead. Fill half your plate with fruits and vegetables, a quarter with lean protein, and the other quarter with complex carbohydrates from whole grains or starchy vegetables.
The purported benefits of fruit fasting include:
While these alleged benefits may make you want to try such a diet, we advise against it.
Yes, eating only fruits for a couple of days may increase the amount of antioxidants you’re eating, but fruits have no proteins and a large number of them have little or no fat content. Doing this eliminates some major food groups from your diet, which is not healthy.
Consuming only fruits may create a calorie deficit, but you’ll most likely be undereating, which is really not a good health or weight loss option. Finally, you don’t need to go the extra step to detoxify or flush your body of so-called toxins. Your body already has a system set up to naturally do this through the kidneys, liver, lungs, intestines, and skin.
Yes, eating well may help improve the function of these organs, but you don’t need to go on a whole separate diet for this. As long as you’re healthy, eating a healthy balanced diet will keep these organs in tip-top condition where they can easily get rid of any toxins.
Nobody likes to count calories or think about what they can or can’t eat, which is why it’s important to have a list of healthy meals you don’t need to think too much about. These recipes offer all the nutrients your body needs without piling on the pounds. They’re also easy enough for anyone to make, no matter how little cooking experience you have.
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