Easy Diets & Meal Plans For Fat Loss

I eat weird. According to almost everyone on the planet that I know, this is what I hear. So for me to tell you to eat the same as I do it’s kind of crazy.

But because I eat one way doesn’t mean that’s the only way to may your body change shape, lose fat or gain muscle. There are many ways which will all work, and most of them share a lot of similarities.I have included what I’m doing at the end. If it sounds a bit strange it is, but it’s working for improving my health and for fat loss.

So today I’m going to walk you through 4 different diets including what it looks like over the course of a day so you might be able to get more ideas to help your diet or you can adapt one of these. I’ve managed to find a bunch of meal plans for most of them to make it easy for you too.

Read through it with an open mind and hopefully by the end you’lll be a little wiser and a bit more confident on how you can change your eating for the better.

The Slow Carb Diet

Tim Ferris likes to keep things simple and his simple ways have led to 3 books and millions of followers worldwide. His diet comes from his book ‘The Four Hour Body’ and is based on a combination of lentils, vegetables and protein (meat/fish/eggs) at each meal.

He follows 5 Rules

1. Avoid white carbohydrates
2. Eat the same few meals over and over again
3. Don’t drink calories
4. Don’t eat fruit
5. Take one day off per week as a cheat day

An Example Day’s Meals

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, black beans and mixed vegetables
Lunch: Grass-fed organic beef, pinto beans, mixed vegetables, and extra guacamole
Dinner: Beef, lentils and mixed vegetables

For more info check out his book ‘The Four Hour Body’.

The Women’s Health Diet

This one is from the ‘Women’s Health Big Book of 15 Minute Workouts’. They suggest you should be putting your meals together by combining 3 groups of foods at every meal: high quality proteins, low starch vegetables and natural fats. You can snack on nuts and seeds and low calorie fruits. Theres no mention of starchy carbs anywhere.

An Example Day’s Meals

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with low fat cheese, capsicum and tomato with some lean sausage or bacon
Morning Snack: A handful of nuts, low fat yogurt, a protein shake or some string cheese and grapes
Lunch: A big meaty salad with a ton of greens and tuna, chicken or beef or an egg salad or tuna wrapped in lettuce leaves with no bun or wrap or leftovers from last night
Afternoon Snack: A protein smoothie or some nut butter on celery
Dinner: Prepare your favourite meat and add a heaping serve of vegetables such as grilled steak with asparagus.

For more info check out the ‘Women’s Health Big Book of 15 Minute Workouts’.

Want a meal plan? Check these out from the Women’s Health website. There’s 6 weeks!
www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/six-week-weight-loss-meal-plan-week-1

The Men’s Health Diet

This one is from the ‘Men’s Health Big Book of 15 Minute Workouts’. The Men’s Health Diet differs a little to the Women’s Health Diet because men’s nutrition needs are different.

They promote 6 guidelines

1. Eat high quality protein at every meal
2. Eat a little fat
3. Eat no more than 2 servings of starch per day
4. Eat a ton of fresh vegetables
5. Snack on nuts, seeds and low calorie fruits
6. Avoid liquid calories

An Example Day’s Meals

It is exactly the same as the Women’s Health Diet. The only difference is that if men are going to have starch they should avoid white breads, pasta, rice, sugar, baked goods and potatoes. Instead they should try whole grains or sweet potato or even quinoa, but no more than 2 servings per day. The best time of day to eat starch is immediately after a workout so it can be used by the muscles.

For more info check out the ‘Men’s Health Big Book of 15 Minute Workouts’.

Want a meal plan? Check these out from the Men’s Health website:
www.menshealth.com/nutrition/meal-plan
www.menshealth.com/nutrition/abs-diet-weekly-meal-plan-recipes

The Paleo Diet

The Paleo Diet is a little different to the preceding diets. It’s main focus is health and in turn health leads to fat loss and muscle gain and a better functioning body. This is pretty much how I eat.

You are allowed to have cheat meals 15% of the time at the most.

You should be eating animal protein at nearly every meal and make sure it’s as fresh as possible. Grass fed, free range and organic are best. About a fist sized serve should suit you. Try to avoid grain fed meats.

You shouldn’t be eating dairy, grains, legumes or potatoes as they can all contribute to health problems. I won’t go into it now but you can read more at www.thepaleodiet.com or read my blog post here: www.travissawyer.com/2012/02/28/the-paleo-diet-and-why-you-might-try-eating-like-a-caveman

An Example Day’s Meals

Breakfast: Ham & applesauce
Lunch: Chef’s salad with eggs, ham or grilled chicken, bacon, avocado, cherry tomatoes, green onions, celery and olive oil dressing
Snack: Beef jerky & fruit
Dinner: Chicken cutlets with olives and tomatoes

Want a meal plan? Check these out from a couple of Paleo Diet websites:
www.paleoplan.com/resources/sampler-menu-meal-plan/
www.paleodietlifestyle.com/paleo-meal-plan/

My Current Diet

I’m currently eating to help improve my health conditions that have contributed to chronic fatigue. Because of that there is a lot I shouldn’t eat. Basically I’m eating Paleo with a few changes from The Renegade Diet including Carb Cycling, I’m olny eating foods from my Metabolic Typing food chart and experimenting with Intermittent Fasting.

I don’t eat dairy.

I don’t eat any grains other than rice, and it’s usually white rice and only at dinner time or post workout.

I do eat potato a few days a week and only at dinner time or post workout.

I do eat legumes occasionally, but only a small amount.

I’m trying to avoid eating meat before lunch time. This is only a recent change. Instead my first meal will consist of either eggs and vegetables or a smoothie with pea protein, fruits and vegetables.

I have 3 low carb days during the week where I won’t eat any rice or potato, only meat, vegetables and good fat.

I have 3 higher carb days each week but I only aim to eat around 30g extra from rice or potato on these days.

I have one day where I cheat and might eat a bit more than usual, but am still avoiding sugar and ice cream because I’ll feel hung-over the next day if I eat them.

I eat breakfast no earlier than 830am, often later on the weekend. This way there is at least 12 hours between meals so my digestive system gets a rest.

What I ate yesterday.

Breakfast: Smoothie with pea protein, coconut milk, blueberries, walnuts, carrot, peeled green apple, ginger, a little water and spinach
Lunch: Leftover grilled Mexican chicken with onion and capsicum with salsa
Afternoon snack: 2 tablespoons of walnuts with 1 whole dried apricot
Dinner: Leftover beef Rendang curry with vegetables and sprinkle of pumpkin seeds
After dinner snack. 1 small piece of dried ginger

There is no one diet that suits everyone. But there are commonalities that will make the biggest difference overall.

1. You should eat protein at each meal
2. You should eat plenty of vegetables
3. You should eat some good fats
4. You should eat starchy carbs sparingly
5. You should avoid liquid calories

Do these things and you should be doing very well and noticing some change in the way you look. The closer you get to your goal, the tighter you will need to be with your food and that’s where you may have to cut more of your comfort foods out…for a short while at least.