1700 Calorie Meal Plan
1700 calorie meal plan is designed to help you lose or maintain your current weight and is one of the safest and healthiest ways to diet. Combined with regular exercise this diet will offer your amazing long term weight loss, great muscle tone and more energy. Because the 1700 calories are very near to the 2000 that an average person burns each day without intense activity, you won’t feel hungry or deprived. In fact you can be quite full if you eat the right stuff and do it on a regular basis.
The Overview of a 1700 Calorie Meal Plan
Because 1700 calories are so close to the 2000 a day limit, you need to portion your food carefully. Overeating will completely negate the diet and might even make you put on extra pounds. Before you put food in your plate always consider how much you should eat. We are conditioned to finish the meal in our plates and more often than not we’ll eat the entire thing even if we don’t need it.
To avoid over-eating you must plan ahead and eat at regular intervals even if you don’t feel hungry. Hunger sets in when our blood is depleted of nutrients but if you wait too long to eat you become so hungry that you can’t help but eat too much. When you’re hungry anything looks good and your judgment of portions or food types is severely impaired.
Besides having portions you should be concerned with maintaining a balance between proteins, fats, carbohydrates and sugars. Contrary to popular belief not all fat and sugars are to be avoided as unsaturated fats and complex carbohydrates are good for you. These are found in fresh water fish, nuts, whole grains and should be part of your 1700 calorie diet.
The American Dietary Association recommends that our daily intake of food should be made up of 50% fruit and vegetables, 25% grains and 25% Protein with the occasional low-fat dairy products. Keep these numbers in mind while shopping and don’t buy food that may tempt you later on such as pastries, cookies and ice cream.
In order to calculate a 1700 calorie meal plan you need to know the approximate number of calories contained in the foods you eat. If you’re dealing with salad or other low calorie products you can be a little loose on the amount you serve on your plate but when you’re portioning your meat and other high calorie foods you might want to use a scale. All of the food products sold have an inscribed number of calories but that might not be for the entire package. When you’re dealing with fruit and vegetables you can find their calories by checking an online website dedicated to it.
Healthy Food Choices
Eating a 1700 calorie meal plan is not enough if you want to stay healthy. You can go up to 1700 by just eating pizza, that doesn't make it a healthy diet. Try to spice things up a bit in your kitchen and the next time you are out shopping try to fill your fridge and cupboard with healthy food.
Replace pork or other red meats with a leaner salmon or chicken breast. Buy a bigger variety of fruit and vegetables. Diversity is important because it ensures that you get the right amount of multiple vitamins and minerals. Take the opportunity to try something more exotic, you never know when you’ll develop a taste for new fruit.
Avoid processed foods completely if you can. The way they are prepared strips them of important vitamins and nutrients. Their calories are empty and only serve to make you fatter. Preparing a meal from fresh ingredients might not be as fast as eating a pizza but it is a lot healthier and with time you can learn how to quickly whip up a 1700 calorie meal plan.
Exercise Should Not Be Optional
If you look at the raw numbers of a 1700 calorie diet they will tell you that eventually you will lose weight without being required to exercise. While that is true, it is also true that even the smallest amounts of routine exercise can greatly improve your quality of life.
Regular exercise tones and shapes your muscles; you will literally look more attractive and be healthier. The more exercise you do the faster you’ll get rid of that unwanted weight. You’ll boost your metabolism, improve your breathing and circulation, and have more overall energy to do the things you like.
Don’t get hung-up on what exercise you should be doing. Pick a free program from the Internet or ask your local gym instructor for a fitness routine. The best exercise is that which targets all of your body parts, especially the long muscles in your legs and abs. Cardio and jogging are great for losing weight and have numerous other benefits such as reducing the risk of heart disease.
Conclusion
You should think of this as more of a change of lifestyle than a diet plan. Eating smaller, healthier portions and exercising regularly should not only be done in order to fit in a dress for a wedding. You should take things seriously and change as many bad eating habits as you can. The 1700 calorie meal plan is great because it doesn’t starve you and provides you with clear long term results.