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Dec
30

Q&A: What is a healthy meal plan to lose a little weight?

Question by I ♥ Short track: What is a healthy meal plan to lose a little weight?
I want to lose about 15- 20 pounds. What is a healthy meal plan (breakfast, lunch and dinner) for a 13 year old?

Best answer:

Answer by Mεġαл
Hey! It’s me again 🙂 Lol!

It’s unhealthy to lose more than 2 or so pounds a week, so this could take a good 8 – 10 weeks. It’s not easy trying to lose weight – trust me, I would know! – But you CAN do it if you put your mind to it and push yourself enough.

Firstly, weight-loss requires both healthy-eating AND excercise. You should be getting an hour or so of excercise, at least 3 times a week. Aim for 4 – 5, which would be 4 – 5 hours of excercise a week. I like to go on long, fast walks which usually go for an hour for me. Bring your iPod or an MP3 if you have one – this really helps keep me motivated. If you have a dog, bring him/her. If you live around a park/oval, run around there a few times. Sprinting for 30 seconds followed by jogging/walking for 15 and back to the sprinting, etc, will help you burn more calories/fat than doing sprinting/jogging alone.

SNACKS:
A small handful of raw, unsalted almonds. Almonds are healthy because they contain a lot of protein, which helps you to feel fuller for longer. They are high in fat, but there are *good* fats and *bad* fats – fortunately, Almonds contain the *good* fat. The type that will improve your hair and nails. Even though they contain good fats, they are still not good to have in large amounts because they can still make you gain weight. 8 – 12 Almonds equals one serving.

Pizza Muffins – Break an English Muffin in half, add some tomato paste/sauce, a light sprinkle of low-fat or no-fat Cheese, lots of veggies, followed by another light sprinkling of cheese. Pop in the oven/grill until the cheese turns golden. Don’t go crazy with the cheese – you want to lose weight, so use it sparingly.

A piece of wholemeal/wholegrain/rye toast with cottage cheese and fresh tomato. Cottage cheese is low in fat and tastes very good – the same goes for tomato. White bread is bad for you because most are very low in fibre, which encourages constipation. The *good* breads that I listed earlier have more fiber. Fiber absorbs more water during digestion, which makes everything digest more smoothly.

A healthy smoothie. Blend together some yummy fruit/fruits with some yoghurt, milk/fruit juice, and a teaspoon or two of honey (optional) and pour into a glass. The best fruits for a smoothie are Banana, Nectarine, Apricot, Peach, Berries, Mango and Kiwi Fruit. You *can* add frozen yoghurt, but it’s actually not “healthy” per se. They add lots of sugar and other things into it to make it taste good, so don’t get fooled just because it says on the packaging that it’s good for you. Of course, it does make an excellent substitute for Ice Cream 🙂 I know it sounds weird, but adding a raw egg into your Smoothie adds in extra Protein, good fats and many vitamins and minerals. You *cannot* taste the egg in your smoothie! I promise! So, why skip it out if it’ll do you good without even tasting it?

A piece of fruit (of course!). If you’re bored of the usuall Apple, Banana and Orange business, maybe you could ask your Mum or Dad to bring home something different to try. If you live in the United States, Summer is coming up so there will be a lot more yummy fruits available: Apricots, Mangoes, Pineapple, Strawberries, Blueberries, Peaches, Plums, Watermelon and more! If you’re closer to Winter, try Grapes, Pears and Tangerines. You can also eat vegetables as a snack, like Carrots, Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, pieces of Red Capsicum (sounds gross, but it’s actually nice!) and also Broccoli. Sounds sort of weird, right? I personally don’t like Broccoli on it’s own, but a lot of people cut it into small pieces and eat it as it is! You can eat these vegetables with Hummus dip which is healthy because it is made from chickpeas. Or better yet – you can make your own! It’s super-quick and easy to make. Here is a recipe: http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/6888/hummus-dip.aspx

*Wholemeal* Pita Bread pockets, torn up, with Hummus Dip. You can break the pockets in half flat-way so you end up with two thin disks, then pop them on an oven tray and dry them out in a slow oven until crispy. When you take them out, let them cool for a minute or two before breaking them into “chips” which you can eat with the Hummus, a healthy Salsa Dip or even on their own. You might need Mum or Dad to help you with the oven temperature.

Homemade Trail Mix. You can make this by tossing together Pretzels, raw Nuts (prefferably Walnuts, Almonds and Cashews, which are the healthiest), Wholegrain cereal and, of course, dried fruits.

Homemade popcorn. This is very quick and easy to make, but you won’t be using the butter-flavoured microwave packs! You can make your own by putting a medium-sized saucepan on the large gas hotplate, with the gas set on medium. In the bottom of the saucepan, drizzle in one teaspoon of Canola Oil or Olive Oil, followed by ONE tablespoon of unpopped popcorn kernels. Hold the saucepan lid on and shake it forward and backwards so the kernels get lightly covered in the oil. Now, place the saucepan on the heat with the lid still on and wait a few moments. The popcorn will start to pop, one kernel at a time, before they all go off. It’s really fun to make, but you can’t take the lid off (even slightly) because all of the heat inside is making the popcorn burst and letting cool air in will mean you’ll have to shut it and wait all over again. It should only take a couple of minutes at the most to cook, and when the popping slows down to only a pop or two a second, you can turn the gas off and leave the saucepan on the stove (untouched) for a few moments to cool.

BREAKFAST:
One egg, a couple of tablespoons of baked beans and a couple of pieces of raw or cooked tomato sandwiched together with two pieces of wholemeal/wholegrain/rye toast.

Baked beans on two pieces of wholemeal/wholegrain/rye toast.

A piece or two of fruit, chopped up, with no-fat (“diet”) Yoghurt spooned over the top.

Wholegrain cereal with low-fat (or better – no-fat) Milk.

A healthy smoothie (mentioned under “Snacks” above).

Two pieces of wholemeal/wholegrain/rye toast with Peanut Butter, Cottage Cheese (with or without tomato) or Scrambled/Poached eggs. There are other toppings you can try – just look in your pantry/fridge and use your imagination. You can, of course, try these toppings on toast as a snack rather than just breakfast.

LUNCH: (I’m assuming you’re in school, so you’d want ideas that are lunchbox-friendly!)
*Wholemeal* Pita Bread, torn up, with Hummus dip. You can spread it on the whole pieces of Pita Bread, roll it up and wrap it in Glad Wrap but it might be a little soggy by lunchtime, lol! Putting the Hummus in a seperate container is much better, in my opinion. You can also bring the “Chip” version of the bread, if you’d like.

Fruit Salad with “diet” Yoghurt. Like the bread and dip, I like to bring them in separate containers and mix them together right before I eat. Yoghurt comes in single-serve containers, so that makes it a lot easier!

Tuna Salad. This one is super-easy and very, very healthy. Make up your usual salad:
Lettuce and/or Spinach Leaves
Tomatoes (regular or Cherry)
Cheese cubes (Low-fat or no-fat.)
Avocado (like nuts, they are good for you but high in fat, so don’t go crazy.
1/2 an Avocado is a serving, but 1/4 is enough in a salad.)
A few tablespoons of canned Peas and Corn (despide being Vegetables, these are actually high in carbs – Potatoes, too – so unlike most other veggies, eating these three in very large portions wouldn’t be considered healthy.)
Capsicum (Red is the sweetest)
Cucumber
Celery
A few thin slices of Red onion (optional, of course)
…And toss in one small can of Tuna! I like to drizzle some low-fat Mayonnaise over the top to help bind everything together but that’s optional. Make sure the canned Tuna is in Springwater, not oil or anything else. Also, drain it very well before you pour it in to make sure it’s not all watery (Yuck!) You can have this salad without Tuna, or even switch the Tuna with Chicken for variety 🙂 Again, you might like to toss in the Tuna and Mayo during lunchtime, just so it tastes fresher. You could even mix the Tuna and Mayo together at home and bring the mixture in a container.

Soup in a flask, or in a container to get heated up in the Cafeteria/Canteen or (if you’re lucky) the Staff-Room. Then again, you could even have it cold! This is a very easy food to bring.

Dinner leftovers are another easy meal to bring to school/work. Ask Mum or Dad to make a little extra for lunch tomorrow. Freezing healthy leftovers is great, too, because they’re more-likely to dash out to get take-away if they’re too tired to cook. If there’s a container of spaghetto bolognaise sauce in the freezer, all they need to do is defrost it and pour it over some pasta. It’s so easy, you could do it yourself! Other freezable Dinners are Soups, Stews, Shepherd’s Pie, Meatloaf, Casserole and Tuna/Chicken Mornay.

DINNER:
Quiche
Burritos (made with light Mince, wholemeal Burrito Bread, low-fat or no-fat Cheese and extra-light Sour Cream.) Refried Beans are incredibly healthy – I like to mix this with the cooked meat mix.
Stuffed Capsicums.
Your parents will probably sort dinner out at least most nights. If you’re making your own Dinner, try the Breakfast and Lunch ideas I suggested. Most of them are very quick and easy!

I hope this helped! Sorry it was so long! Good luck 🙂

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