Finding the Perfect Weight Loss Lunch

[WilliamAnderson]

A Whopper, fries and a Coke can be 1500 calories. My BLT shown below is only 250.

What's your perfect weight loss lunch? How many calories in it?

This example above is from my article "Finding The Perfect Weight Loss Lunch."

[MagsOnTheBeach]

224 calories, less than 99mg of sodium, 30g protein, 4g fiber, 14 carbs.

[WilliamAnderson]

@MagsOnTheBeach - Wow! That looks great! You are an artist!

[MagsOnTheBeach]

LOL, I'm just always on a food budget.  I buy what is cheap and in season, and then learn how to cook it.  I finally got brussels sprouts down after years of making them too raw or overcooked. 😄   There was beautiful skin on the chicken, but it came off when I carved it and I saw it as a sign that I didn't need to eat it. Ha ha!  Happy eating!

[A_Lurker]

Homemade farro/veggie salad - 150 cals  <--- mixed up with celery, pepper, onions, dressing

Add ins - 75g cucumber, 75g grape tomatoes, 45g feta - 130 cals

I also chop in grilled chicken and/or lean pork, calories vary. The pictures are from when I used to chop in the green pepper fresh, now I just use 3 peppers in the base salad and just add tomato and cucumber fresh.  Oh, and the base salad keeps for a week easily.

[MagsOnTheBeach]

So much color!!!  Yum!

[A_Lurker]

That's what I like about it.  I've made the same salad with couscous, and I'm guessing that bulgur would do as well.  I picked up a variety of grains the last time I was in a major center so once the farro is used up I'll move on to something else.  The calories vary, but you basically take ~ 1 cup of the grain and cook it (I like it a little chewy).  While it's cooking I chop up three peppers, a big red onion, and lots of celery.  I mix in a little salad dressing (whatever I have) but you leave it a bit dry.  The veggies will add a little moisture to it.  You're really just keeping the grain from sticking together.  You can add some seasonings to taste although I usually just tend to go with the salad dressing as flavour.

At this point I weigh what I've made, and decide what a portion is.  I'm not super into logging at the moment, but this is the point where I'll decide what to weigh out each day.  Usually this is somewhere between 150-200g.  This keeps easily up to a week.  It travels well.  I pack the base into a larger container and put the other veggies into a separate container.  I've drained feta cheese and put it into either the base in one piece or a separate container (I have lots).  Then at lunch I chop everything up, including whatever meat I'm having.  It makes a big filling salad and as you said - very colourful.

[WilliamAnderson]

Just beautiful!

[ThatGreen]

Today's lunch - Lasagna with salad and tzatziki (this portion is 320 calories, 26c, 11f, 28p):

Lasagna is homemade with chicken minced meat, whole grain pasta plates, tomato and bechamel sauce and extra cheese on top.

Salad is pretty basic with iceberg, cucumber and cherry tomatoes. Tzatziki is is mostly homemade.

The angle isn't great to show what a mountain of food this is. And make no mistake, that is actually a 25 cm in diameter soup dish.

Edit: It's the first time I ever made lasagna, but it's pretty darn good if I dare say so. The batch was 236 calories per serving.

I already know what adjustments to make for next time, because I can probably make it even tastier and even lower calorie, which pretty much just means I can have more of it.

It's quickly become a staple for me, either for lunch or dinner. I just toss pre-cut servings in the freezer and it takes no time to throw in the oven to reheat. Even less time if you have the foresight to thaw it overnight in the fridge.

[DavidSchneier]

I just had a small skinless chicken breast baked with Old Bay seasoning and a side of sauteed bok choy. The entire calorie payload was 200 calories and my post-lunch daily calorie count stands at 440.

This gives me some flexibility over the balance of the afternoon to select a piece of fruit or some nuts should I need it, or simply keep the surplus calories handy so I can enjoy dinner at an event I'm attending tonight. At this point, I'm targeting a 1,200 calorie day, but my budget is actually 1,500 and I'll use those extra calories should I want/need to. And because today is a workout day, I'll likely burn somewhere north of 3,500 calories (FitBit will estimate that to be around 4,100 but I adjust downward).

[MagsOnTheBeach]

I'd love your lasagne recipe!

[MagsOnTheBeach]

No photo today but I had the other half of the chicken breast, a bed of mixed greens and carrots, cucumber, radishes, baked sweet potato and a honey mustard dressing.  It stacks at 301.  This is more "diety" than what I usually have, but produce is amazing right now so i like to take advantage of the season.  I have cherries, almonds and light cheese for later.

[Baltoscott]

@MagsOnTheBeach 

Oh yes!  I just picked up a couple of pounds of cherries.  They are awesome (and pretty cheap)  right now.

[A_Lurker]

I envy you guys the cherries.  I paid way too much for mine last weekend.  I do have to pull the rhubarb this weekend though.  Stewed apples/rhubarb with a little stevia... yum.

[ThatGreen]

@MagsOnTheBeach  I'm on my way out the door, but I'll translate it and post it up when I get home tonight

[WilliamAnderson]

Here's an example of an American food merchant's lunch, the reason we have an obesity epidemic, a Smashburger and shake, 2000 calories!

[DavidSchneier]

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@WilliamAnderson wrote:

Here's an example of an American food merchant's lunch, the reason we have an obesity epidemic, a Smashburger and shake, 2000 calories!

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I could justify the hamburger as a treat (**ahem**, it looks so good) but have more or less decided to avoid shakes going forward. I would soften the impact of the burger by shedding the bun, thus getting the calorie payload down to around 750, which would allow me the chance to stay within budget for the day. But the shake is as many calories as the burger, and beyond the first sip or two, will not provide anything beyond guilt and remorse later in the day. I'd rather have a single scoop of vanilla ice cream (roughly 200 calories) in a dish and be able to feel good about my choices.

[WilliamAnderson]

You have a great plan @DavidSchneier! Regarding the fast food burger lunch, here's a Whopper Jr. and Diet Coke at 320 calories. 

[ThatGreen]

Got some time in to write out the lasagne recipe before I hit the gym. I'll put the original recipe I used and mention any changes I made in my dish. Excuse the wall of text.

Ingredients for 4 portions: (I made 11 portions by doubling the meat sauce)
Lasagne plates (I used whole grain, 130g total)
Grated cheese to top off (any kind/quantity you prefer)

Meat sauce: (I doubled the meat, canned tomatoes and tomato paste and would have doubled the rest if I had the ingredients on hand)
400g minced meat (any kind you like, but I used chicken minced meat due to low price and calories)
1 onion
1 tablespoon butter (skipped this)
2 cloves garlic
2 cellery (I don't like it, so I skipped this)
1 carrot
1 box canned tomatoes
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1,5 teaspoons dried basil (I didn't have it)
1 teaspoon dried thyme (didn't have)
1 teaspoon salt
0.5 teaspoon pepper
(In my head, spice as prefered. I added fresh chilli.)

Bechamel sauce:
5 dl milk (not sure if soy/almond milk react the same way as cow's milk, but I think it might)
3 tablespoons flour (I used 20 grams and it was more than enough)
2 dl grated cheese (any kind/quantity you prefer, but I used low fat and I only ended up using about 70g because I was running out and wanted to leave a little bit to top off the dish)
0,5 teaspoon salt
0,25 teaspoon pepper
(Again, spice to taste)

How to:
Meat Sauce:
- Heat your oven to 200°C.
- Cook your minced meat and finely chopped onion.
- Add cellery and grated carrot and stir in tomato paste. Pour in the canned tomoatoes and add your spices.
- Let it simmer for about 15 minutes and add more spice as prefered.

Bechamel: (This is the first time I've come across bechamel/white sauce without butter, but this method is the most successful way I've ever tried. Mine got super-thick and creamy.)
- Bring 3 dl of your milk to a boil and shake the rest up with the flour until smooth. Stir it in to the milk and bring it to a boil. (Don't look away from your casserole and don't stop stirring!)
- Take the casserole off the heat and stir in the cheese.

- In a well greased, ovenproof dish, layer meat sauce, bechamel and pasta plates. Make sure to top off with sauce then sprinkle grated cheese on top.
- Cook low in the oven at 200ºC for about 30 minutes.
(Being completely unaware of how much food this was, I ended up using a 23,5 cm square ovenproof dish with three layers of plates and had some sauce left over, so I used a 19 cm round dish and got in one layer of plates there. When it had cooled down over night in the fridge I cut the square dish into 9 portions and the round one into 2.)
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No matter how you make it, it will stand strong in the fridge for at least 2 days and it's perfect to freeze down in portion size. Thaw in the fridge overnight (if you have the foresight to do so) and reheat in the oven at 200ºC.
The recipe is basic and can be modified a million ways in terms of allergies and dietary requirements. I doubled the meat to get more protein and if you want to bulk up the portion size and lower calories, I would suggest adding more veggies.

[Esya]

I made bechamel sauce with almond milk the other day and it worked just fine.