How To Prepare Healthy Lunches For Weight Loss

If you are trying to slim down, this article on healthy lunches for weight loss and lunch ideas to lose weight is just for you. The idea of having a healthy lunch without compromising on taste may sound unbelievable. However, it is quite feasible to eat tasty, healthy lunches and still shed those kilos off your body. 

Lunch is the second and an important meal of the day. It should be something we can look forward to. The reason we emphasize it should be filling, healthy, balanced, and nutritious is that it gives your body all it needs to function optimally. In addition, it stops you from craving snacks at odd hours. Excessive snacking causes weight gain, so we must avoid it. 

Another thing you must keep in mind is the calorie count; a complex, much-talked-about subject worldwide. We all know that the more calories we consume, the more weight we put on. But cutting down too much on calories may not give dramatic results in terms of weight loss. It may actually cause harm. Losing weight depends on a lot of other factors, such as sleep, hormones, daily activities, exercise, body size, etc. Reducing the calorie count too much may, instead, throw your body into starvation mode with dangerous symptoms like slow metabolism, malabsorption, and decreased muscle mass.

According to the American College of Sports Medicine, your calorie count should never fall below 1200 calories per day for women and 1800 calories per day for men, to avoid nutrient deficiency, or nausea/dizziness/fatigue like symptoms. So, instead of fussing over calorie count in every dish, focus on healthy lunches that suit your weight loss requirements.   

Lunch Ideas for Weight Loss: Points to Note

Here are some of the things you should remember before you decide to adopt our ideas on healthy lunches for weight loss:

1. The calorie count: Most of these healthy lunch recipes for weight loss have just about 1200 calories in all. 
2. Nutritious and tasty: Great to taste, colourful, balanced, and nutritious, these low carb lunch ideas for weight loss are tasty, colourful, and ravishing; quite unlike those meals we generally associate with weight loss; bland, devoid of colour, and great flavour. They will have most of the nutrients you need to be healthy, e.g. vitamins, minerals, proteins, etc.  
3. Make lunchtime an exciting affair: While trying out these healthy lunch recipes for weight loss, you would find yourself on a culinary journey; a ride filled with lots of new discoveries. 
4. Lesser cooking time: For those of us averse to cooking or who are leading busy lives, these healthy lunch options for weight loss would be a big blessing indeed. Making healthy lunches doesn’t have to be a painful affair, does it? 
5. Easily available ingredients: These lunch options for weight loss would require ingredients you can source easily at your local stores.

Best Lunch Options for Weight Loss

Let us now dive into the healthy lunch recipes for weight loss. They are all hinged on one basic fact – the lunch should be balanced, filling, nutritious, and low in calorie count.

1. Spinach and Washed Moong Dal Soup

Spinach and washed moong dal soup is ideal for weight loss, apart from being super healthy and tasty. During winters, it fills you with so much warmth and happiness. It is rich in proteins, minerals, and vitamins and is low in carbs. Also, it is vegan and easy to make. Cooking time is just about 15 minutes. 

If you add some tomatoes and black pepper powder to the soup while preparing it in the pressure cooker, the soup will become tastier. You may also add 2-3 drops of desi ghee to it. Desi ghee is a far healthier option than salted butter. 

2. Veggies and Moong Dal Sprouts Sandwiches

Keep the sprouts ready. It will save you time and you will need only 10-15 minutes to make these sandwiches. For the sandwiches, try to use whole wheat flour bread. This is healthier than white bread. If you wish, you may substitute bread with chapatis. All you have to do is mix the veggies (onions, tomatoes, capsicum, green coriander leaves, etc.), sprouts, salt, and spices according to taste. 

Put two tablespoonfuls of this mixture on a piece of bread. Place another piece of bread on top of this and put this sandwich in a toaster or on a non-stick pan. Switch on the toaster/gas and switch it off once the sandwich is light brown on both sides. Simple, isn’t it?

3. Cauliflower Rice

This dish is now gaining popularity all over the globe. It is one of the most fantastic lunch options for weight loss; it is low in carbs and calories, contains nearly all the vitamins and minerals that you need, rich in fibre, and prevents various illnesses such as constipation, IBD (inflammatory bowel disease). Instead of cooking rice, all you need to do is grate some cauliflower and heat it slightly on a pan to dry out the water. Mix it with the other veggies you want to eat. 

Additional Tips that Help

Here are some extra tips that can come in handy:

1. Reduce the Usual Number of Chapatis 

If you take chapatis during lunch, try reducing the number by one. You will still feel satiated and you won’t want to eat more. This is a good way of cutting down on carbs. Lots of people have tried it and have confirmed that it works. Those who take only one roti may try this method of weight loss by having half a roti only.

2. Reduce Your Normal Intake of Rice by One-Third

Similar to the previous point, try cutting down on the quantity of rice you eat regularly by one-third. Your hunger will easily subside with the reduced amount and by doing this, you could cut down on the carbohydrates you consume regularly. Your weighing machine might give you a pleasant surprise when you step on it after following this routine.

Conclusion

We hope you found the healthy lunch recipes for weight loss we have shared above useful and interesting. Try them out at home and share your experiences with us. We would love to know about them. It would help us create more recipes and make losing weight a smooth ride for you.