50 Meal Prep Recipes for Weight Loss | Under 500 Calories (2024)

FAQs

How much weight can you lose in a week by eating 500 calories a day? ›

If you can eat 500 fewer calories every day, you should lose about a pound (450 g) a week. Always talk with your health care provider to determine a healthy weight for you before starting a weight-loss diet.

14Salmon tacos with papaya salsa

Topped with fresh papaya salsa, these tasty tacos are under 500 calories per serve.

To lose 10 pounds in one week, you'll need to burn between 3,500 and 5,000 calories more than you consume each day by restricting your diet to small portions of nutritious yet low-calorie foods, and significantly increasing your aerobic exercise with interval training, sports, and other vigorous activities.

Danger of deficiencies

The greatest dangers associated with a 500-calorie diet relate to vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies can lead to many health problems. In fact, most people cannot meet their vitamin and mineral requirements if they eat less than 1200 calories per day.

You need to burn 3500 calories a day to lose one pound a day, and you need anywhere between 2000 and 2500 calories in a day if you are doing your routine activities. That means you need to starve yourself the whole day and exercise as much as to lose the remaining calories.

Losing 5 pounds a week comes to reducing your food intake by 3500 calories over seven days. The value that represents the decrease in calorie intake is known as the calorie deficit. If you want to lose 5 pounds in a week, you will need to reduce your food intake by 17,500 calories, which is a huge calorie deficit.

In general, if you are a healthy adult and are eating a nutrient-rich meal for your OMAD, you can expect to lose anywhere from 4-8 pounds in two weeks. Of course, this number can vary from person to person, and those who are overweight may lose more weight compared to those with a healthy weight.

Can I eat chicken and rice everyday? ›

Can you eat chicken and rice every day? Yes, you can, but do you really want to? Fernando also warns these two elements alone don't make a balanced meal because you're missing out on the recommended half-plate serving of veggies.

If you're new to meal prep, start by prepping just a few meals a week. Focus on nutritious options for meals when it's harder for you to eat healthy. Set aside an hour or two for meal prep day, make a grocery list from recipes found online, and shop the day or two before.

Rice and chicken is a very popular combo found in the diets of those who want to either shed some fat or gain muscle mass, and that's no coincidence. This meal is mostly renowned for being a part of bodybuilders' diets, meaning for those who are training hard to stay lean and build muscle.

So researchers thought burning or cutting 500 calories a day led to losing 1 pound a week. But this isn't true for everyone. In general, if you cut about 500 calories a day from your usual diet, you may lose about ½ to 1 pound a week.

Applying a 500-calorie diet can help the body improve metabolism, accelerate fat oxidation, thereby supporting weight loss very well. This diet is often applied to people who need to lose weight quickly to prevent the risk of adverse health effects due to weight.

Generally, if you eat 500 calories a day for two weeks, you could expect to lose between 7-10 pounds. However, it is important to note that a drastic reduction in calorie intake can lead to unwanted side effects such as fatigue and lethargy.

Generally to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week, you need to burn 500 to 1,000 calories more than you consume each day, through a lower calorie diet and regular physical activity. Depending on your weight, 5% of your current weight may be a realistic goal, at least for an initial goal.