It’s plastered on the front of every weight loss guide: Seventy-percent of the results that you see in a mirror are going to come from your nutritional choices. Sure, you’re sick of hearing it but that doesn’t make it any less true. If you want to trigger a high level of fat burning, you need to be at the top of your nutrition game. You need to know your daily caloric intake as well as what meals work with your body to burn fat.
Let’s review some easy-to-make meals that are delicious and support fat loss. You can pair these meals with the fat-burning workout from the first part of this series.
What’s Your Number?
No, it’s not the most glamorous part of weight loss, but it’s essential: you need to figure out how many calories you should be eating per day in order to maximize your fat loss. You can’t assume the fewer the calories, the better. If you eat too few calories, your body will enter starvation mode and it will hold on to the fat you’re trying to burn.
Lucky for you, it’s the 21st century, you can simply use an online calorie calculator to determine your daily caloric number. Once you have that number, you can use a calorie-counting app such as MyFitnessPal to easily and quickly enter your daily meals.
Fat-Burning Breakfast
You’ll want to start your day off with a meal that is packed with protein, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats. Eggs are the perfect choice as they have been shown to support fat burning when combined with a caloric-deficit diet. Pair your eggs with oatmeal. I prefer to put a scoop of organic coconut oil, raw cocoa, and cinnamon in mine.
Thermogenic Lunch
Let’s keep the focus on quality protein and upgrade your healthy fat content. Wild-caught salmon is packed with heart and brain-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. The oil naturally found in salmon has been shown to significantly promote weight loss. For lunch, enjoy a three or four-ounce piece of salmon. With this, have dark leafy greens and quinoa salad topped with olive oil.
Belly-Blasting Dinner
The closer you get to bed, the fewer calories you should consume. Lean protein is one of the best and most proven ways to stay satiated from meal to meal while supporting the metabolic processes of weight loss. Some of the leanest protein you’ll find is in chicken breast, a fitness staple.
Have a four-ounce portion of chicken breast along with half of a cup of wild or brown rice. Season it to your liking – just skip the barbeque sauce or any other high-calorie sauce. Throw some mixed vegetables on the side as well.
Smart Snacks
During the mid-morning and mid-afternoon, you’ll probably find yourself needing something small to tide you over until your next meal. Here are a few high-protein snacks to try:
- Half cup of Greek yogurt with raspberries
- Fat-free cottage cheese with a low-sugar fruit like blackberries
- One ounce of turkey jerky
- One ounce of pumpkin seeds with a few whole wheat crackers
- Whey protein shake with chia seeds
What Is Your Favorite Fat-Burning Meal?
Do you have a go-to meal that helps you stay satiated while burning fat? What’s your favorite mid-morning snack to hold you over until lunch? Let us know!
No weight loss journey is complete without the proper thermogenic supplements. Stay tuned for more on that topic.