O.K. here’s Day 1 of the 7 Day Diet Menu! If possible, the best way to start out this weekly plan is the evening before Day 1. For many people, Day 1 will work best on a Sunday so the day before would be Saturday.
Spend just a little time in the afternoon or evening on Saturday or the day before you begin this 7 Day Diet menu plan to prepare Creamy Breakfast Oatmeal . By starting a day in advance and then doing a little food preparation each day throughout the week you can minimize the time you invest. The oatmeal recipe makes about six 1/2 cup servings. That’s enough for most of the week! And by changing the toppings or accompanying food with each serving you can add variety to an otherwise monotonous breakfast routine.
I included an orange with breakfast on Day 1 rather than orange juice because it
provides a much better source of nutrients and fiber with fewer calories. I suggest
including tea but you might choose water or coffee instead. Just forgo any caloric
sweeteners.
I had intended to include whole wheat pita bread in this week’s plan but I wasn’t
successful in finding any at WalMart when I did my shopping. (Grocery shopping for a 7 Day Diet Menu ) However, I discovered Whole Wheat Sandwich Thins by Arnold which have turned out to be quite tasty and filling for only 100 calories a roll. They make a good substitute for pita and they are also a good source of nutrients and fiber (5 grams dietary fiber per roll).
I suggest starting Day 1 of this menu plan on a Sunday because it calls for preparing
a roast chicken, a baked potato, and steamed broccoli. That’s more cooking than
what is required for the rest of the week. If you are not a cook don’t get flustered.
Roasting a chicken is not difficult. You can follow the instructions that come with the
raw whole chicken or you might want to watch one or more videos of how others
prepare chicken on YouTube. To keep the calorie count down limit the amount of oil
or other fat you use to baste the chicken. (When you serve yourself the cooked
chicken avoid the skin and other fatty parts.)
Here’s a good instructional video on how to prepare a roast chicken: Easy Roast Chicken No need to add the vegetables. Just keep the chicken a little elevated so it roasts and doesn’t cook in its own juices (many inexpensive roasting pans are designed to keep the bird positioned a little higher than the bottom of the pan.) I only use olive oil and a little
seasoning (no butter) and I don’t particularly like thyme. Get creative and use the seasonings that appeal to you. Do add the lemon halves/slices to the inside of the bird. I find it adds a lot of flavor for no additional calories.
After roasting the chicken cut the breast meat off the bones and separate the wing,
leg, and thigh meat from the rest of the chicken. If the meat has been
cooked well enough (to an internal temperature of 180 degrees F for safety) the
chicken should pull apart easily. Don’t worry about how it looks! It’s food not
something to impress others.
After eating your meal, refrigerate the extra leftover meat. This is what you will use
to prepare many of the meals for the coming week. (If you don’t want to roast a
chicken you could bake some chicken breasts or you could buy already cooked
chicken. The cost will be higher but if you can afford to do so you will save time.)
[Optional: Keep the bones to prepare some broth but throw away the skin and fatty
pieces. Making chicken broth is easy. Typically it is prepared with some uncooked
chicken pieces, however, the cooked bones with some meat still attached will work
almost as well. Preparing your own broth will keep the costs down for the week and
you can choose to add less salt (sodium) than what you will find with most commercial
brands of chicken broth. (I typically forgo this step and buy commercial. As I've
shared before I value my time. But in this instance, I made homemade broth and I
came up with about six cups. I kept some in the refrigerator for use later in the week
and I froze some for another time.) ]
Breakfast
1 serving (1/2 cup) Creamy Breakfast Oatmeal
4 oz. Nonfat (skim) milk
1 orange
1 cup tea (white, black, or green) unsweetened
Morning Snack
1 piece Mini Babybel Light Original Cheese (50 calories)
Lunch
1 roll (Whole Wheat Sandwich Thins by Arnold -100 calories per roll)
2 Tbsp. Hummus (about 50 calories)
1 Apple
Water, unsweetened tea or coffee
Afternoon Snack
1 6-oz. container low fat Stonyfield Farm Yogurt (your choice of flavor, 130 calories)
Supper
1 medium baked potato (scrubbed well, the whole potato can be eaten skin
and all for lots of fiber – 6.6 grams; however, the day’s menu will provide you with
plenty of dietary fiber otherwise if you prefer to not eat the skin.)
1 cup steamed broccoli
1 tbsp. Light Butter with canola oil (Land O’Lakes)
3 oz. Sliced chicken breast, oven roasted (about 110 calories)
Water, unsweetened tea, or coffee
(Always remember to get plenty of water throughout the day.)
Total Calories = 1224
Total Fiber = 32.1 grams (this includes the dietary fiber from the skin of the potato)
Fat = 14% (the fat content is slightly on the low side but acceptable, 15-35% would
be better)
Carbs = 65%
Protein = 21%
Calcium = 928 mg (Women between 19 and 50 years need approximately 1,000 mg a day, 51+ need 1,200 mg a day) Iron = 9.5 mg (Women 19 to 50 years need 18 mg
of iron, 51+ need 8 mg)
Iron = 9.5 mg (Women 19 to 50 years need 18 mg of iron, 51+ need 8 mg)
Vitamin C= 232 mg
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1300, 1400, or 1500 Calorie Diet Menu (Modify the basic 1200 calorie plan to suit your needs)
If you are 50 or younger, you might choose to boost iron intake by adding a good
source of iron or by taking a basic vitamin and mineral supplement. Good sources of
iron include lean red meat, the dark meat of poultry, tuna, salmon, iron-fortified
cereals, dried beans, whole grains, eggs, and dried fruit. However, getting enough
iron from food sources isn’t easy when you need to limit your calories. My
recommendation would be to add a small bowl of iron fortified cereal for
an evening snack or otherwise during the day. Some good low calorie cereals with
significant iron include 100% Whole Grain Wheat Chex and Multigrain Chex cereals
by General Mills and Oatmeal Squares by Quaker. (To learn more about healthy
breakfast cereals for weight loss you may want to read: Ten Top Breakfast Cereals for
Weight Loss)
Over 50 (postmenopausal)? You will want to get extra calcium and vitamin D. A
supplement would be fine.
As for additional calories, you might choose to have an extra serving of one or more
of the items already on the menu or add additional calories of your choice. With the
exceptions noted above, the menu is already fairly well-balanced for nutrition.
[NOTE: The menu plan was designed to meet the needs of one person on a 1200
calorie diet for one week. Although there will be a little extra food to meet the
additional calorie needs for a 1300 to 1500 calorie diet, I recommend adding
additional foods to the basic menu plan to stay on track. That is, rather than eating
additional servings for the first few days and risk running out of the food to prepare
and serve the remaining meals for the week, just stick with the plan. Simply add
other food of your choice for more calories. Toward the end of the week you will have
a better sense of how much extra you may have and when it will work to have a
second serving.]
That’s it for Day 1. Check back for the rest of the plan. When I have shared all 7
days I will also provide a shopping list and a final assessment about the
approximate cost for the week.If you would like to prepare your own weekly menu you may want to read my previous article Planning a 7 Day Diet Menu . I use and recommend My Food Diary as a service for calculating the nutritional content of meals and snacks and preparing all of the menu plans I share on this website. (For more 1200 calorie menu plans see 1200 Calorie Diet Plan)
Till next time, watch those calories and eat healthy food!
