A journey to loose weight through a fat loss meal plan is usually a long way to go. But here we have unearthed the secrets to accelerate this journey manifold. You’re probably aware that at the end of the day, for weight loss, it’s all about calories in versus calories out. As long as you’re eating at a calorie deficit and ideally having enough protein as well, then you’re going to successfully lose weight and strip off fat, regardless of what and when you eat.
Now, while scientifically speaking this is true and it is the basic law of thermodynamics, what this simplistic model fails to account for is how the various foods that go into your body actually then go about affecting these two variables. Research has shown that, while, yes, at the end of the day, calories are what matter most, if you want to truly lose fat as efficiently and as quickly as possible, then you need to go beyond just calories and instead pay close attention to the types of foods that make up the calories you’re ingesting every day and also how you go about ingesting them, as that’s what makes all the difference.
In this article, I’ll go through three swaps that you’ll want to make in your diet that account for those variables and can enable you to lose fat faster. And then I’ll provide you with a sample meal plan that puts all this together for you.
Swap # 1: Swap in More Unprocessed Foods (Step1 Towards an Ultimate Fat Loss Meal Plan)
The first swap you need to make with your diet to switch to this ultimate fat loss meal plan, is to stick mostly with foods that have been minimally processed. So, for example, foods like oats and multigrain bread as opposed to their refined counterparts such as cereal and white bread that have been stripped of most of their important nutrients and fiber. Not only are these less processed foods beneficial when dieting in the sense that they generally provide more nutrients and keep us fuller for longer, but they also have another unique benefit that has to do with something called the thermic effect of food.
The thermic effect of food is the amount of calories that our body burns to metabolize and actually use the foods that we ingest. And one of the unique fat loss benefits about unprocessed foods is that in most cases, our body burns significantly more calories when digesting unprocessed foods than it does when compared to their processed counterparts. For instance, one study compared the caloric burn required to digest and metabolize two minimally processed sandwiches consisting of whole grain bread and real cheddar cheese versus two highly processed sandwiches that instead consisted of white bread and processed cheese. Although both meals consisted of virtually the same amount of total calories and protein, the more processed sandwich had a 50% lower thermic effect, and as a result, the body burns significantly fewer calories digesting it than it did with the whole grain sandwiches.
Similarly, a six-week randomized controlled trial had subjects stick to a diet consisting of either less processed whole grain foods such as oats, brown rice, and whole grain bread versus a calorie and macronutrient equated diet consisting of more processed refined grains instead such as cereal, white rice, and white bread. What they found is that the group that stuck with whole grain foods burned on average roughly 100 more calories per day just from digesting and metabolizing their food than the processed food group did.
And to put this into perspective, given that the average person burns roughly 100 calories to jog a mile, you’d essentially be doing the equivalent of jogging an extra mile a day just by choosing to incorporate whole grain, less processed foods as opposed to more processed foods for most of your meals. And if you crunch the numbers over three months, this simple change would theoretically enable you to burn 2.5 pounds more fat just by making that switch.
So yes, while calories are what matter most, and while you definitely will still burn fat despite eating processed foods as long as you’re still in a calorie deficit, you can further influence the calories outside of the equation and potentially speed up the fat loss process by simply swapping these foods for whole grain, less processed foods instead and let them do the work for you. All this is possible through fat loss meal plan.
Swap # 2: Switch to “Front-Heavy” Calorie Distribution (Step2 Towards an Ultimate Fat Loss Meal Plan)
Next, let’s dive into how you then go about distributing your meals throughout the day. it is necessary to follow this ultimate fat loss meal plan. Because while yes, again, your total daily calorie intake is what matters most for fat loss, it turns out that the manner in which you distribute these calories throughout the day seems to be more important than we’ve previously been led to believe.
Illustrating this is a recent 2020 paper and another similarly designed 2015 paper that compared the effects of using a more front-heavy distribution approach by allocating more calories to breakfast versus a back-heavy approach by allocating more calories to dinner instead. What the researchers found is that subjects using the front-heavy approach not only experienced significantly less hunger and significantly fewer cravings for sweets throughout the day, but they also experienced greater overall energy levels, meaning that they were able to adhere to the diet more easily, and they likely burned more calories throughout the day from fidgeting, walking, and just moving more in general because of their increased energy levels.
And in fact, this protocol was also repeated in a longitudinal weight loss study which found that subjects using a front-heavy approach lost more weight with this ultimate fat loss meal plan, decreased their waist circumference to a greater degree, and reported greater hunger control over a period of 12 weeks when compared to a group that used a back-heavy approach by simply swapping the breakfast and dinner calories. Indicating that there does seem to be some indirect fat loss benefits to allocating more calories to your meals early on in the day. And this is something that I personally noticed as well. I used to be someone who would save a lot of my calories from my evening meals because I knew that that’s when my cravings would really hit. But when I instead experimented with shifting more and more calories to early on in the day and at breakfast, I found that not only did my energy levels throughout the day and my gym performance considerably improve, but I also just wasn’t craving things as much at night because I just wasn’t as hungry.
Now, obviously, this does vary for the individual and may depend on when your workout takes place. But regardless, I would highly suggest even if you’re intermittent fasting, for example, to at least experiment with just shifting more and more of your calories to your first meals of the day as this does seem to have some unique benefits in terms of enabling you to control your cravings, to burn more calories, and potentially create greater fat loss results in the long run as a result.
Swap # 3: Choose Satiating Foods
(Step3 Towards an Ultimate Fat Loss Meal Plan)
The last swap is something to not only choose mostly unprocessed foods to include in your diet, but you want to also choose the ones that are highly satiating and proven to do the best job at suppressing your appetite as this will enable you to better adhere to your diet and minimize any excess snacking you may be doing throughout the day that’s sabotaging your calorie deficit.
Based on the findings from the satiety index which examined the effects of 38 different common foods on hunger levels, we can clearly see that on a calorie for calorie comparison, some options are just better than others when it comes to controlling your appetite. For example, even with calories equated, simply swapping whole grain bread for oats instead will provide a 25% greater effect on suppressing your hunger. And similarly, swapping brown rice for whole grain pasta or boiled potatoes instead will provide a 30% or 60% boost in satiation respectively. So what I’d suggest is look over the index and experiment with swapping some of these more satiating foods into your diet and just see how your body and appetite respond.
Now, to put everything together for you in order to complete the fat loss meal plan, let’s go through a sample meal plan that not only incorporates these various tips but also tastes great. I’ll use roughly 2,100 calories for this meal plan, but keep in mind that you want to adjust the portion sizes based on what’s needed for you to be at a calorie deficit. This is going to vary for everyone.
Breakfast
To start, we’ll be allocating most of the calories towards breakfast with protein pancakes made completely of highly satiating, minimally processed foods. For these, blend the oats to make an oat flour and then add the rest of the ingredients into the blend. Simply cook them over a pan and top them with peanut butter, sugar-free syrup, sautéed apples, or whatever you’d prefer.
Lunch
For lunch, we’ll be tapering down the calories slightly but still sticking with satiating, unprocessed foods with baked salmon, boiled potatoes, and a side of sautéed asparagus. Then, to keep you going until dinner, you can have an orange and can even plan in a protein shake as well, depending on when your workout is.
Dinner
For dinner, we’ll continue tapering down the calories slightly with baked chicken breasts and a side of veggies roasted in olive oil. And then after dinner, to help satisfy whatever sweet cravings may have popped up, we’ll make a simple high-protein Greek yogurt parfait consisting of 0% fat plain Greek yogurt mixed in with cinnamon and stevia for sweetness. Then top with frozen mixed berries and a tablespoon of chia seeds. Super easy to make yet extremely satisfying.
So hopefully, that meal plan gives you a little more insight into how you can start planning your meals based on what I went through while still keeping everything tasty and satisfying. And just keep in mind that although some of the swaps I mentioned here can definitely help speed up the fat loss process with ultimate fat loss meal plan, just know that at the end of the day, adhering to a calorie deficit is what’s most important. So experiment with your diet and stick to what you find works best for you and your lifestyle.
And for an all-in-one step-by-step program that not only optimizes your weekly workouts for you but also shows you how to structure and set up your diet with the right foods and in the right amount so that you can burn fat as efficiently and as easily as possible with science, simply head on over to buildwithscience.com and take the analysis quiz to discover which program is best for you and where your body is currently at.
Anyways, guys, that is it for today. Thank you so much for reading this ultimate fat loss meal plan. Hope you’re all doing well. Please don’t forget to show your support by giving the article a like, leaving a comment down below as to what you’d like to see me cover next, as this all really does help me out. Thank you so much, everyone, and see you next time.