How to Find Reduced Calorie Meal Plans Online

Following a low-calorie diet is one way to lose weight. Once you know how many calories to restrict yourself to, the challenge becomes planning daily menus around that number. Eating the same meals day after day can easily sidetrack a dieter, so finding low-calorie meal plans online that offer variety will help you lose weight without becoming bored--and cheating. Add this to my Recipe Box.

Instructions

1

Determine your desired calorie allotment by using one of the many basal metabolic rate (BMR) calculators available online. To lose weight, you must burn or intake less calories that your body uses every day. Since most people's BMR falls around 1500 or more for women, or 2000 for men, many diet plans are designed to help you lose weight by assigning 1200 to 1500 calories per day. These are the most common online plans.

2

Look for healthy meal plans that offer a wide variety of foods. It is best to go with a low-fat, high-fiber meal plan to ensure that you are still eating well and not losing weight too quickly. Look for meal plans on reputable health websites like the Brigham and Women's Hospital site (see resources below).

3

Try specialty diet plans if you have special dietary needs. There are vegetarian meal plans and also diet plans for diabetics. You can find a special diabetic meal plan in the resources below. You can view other diet information, menus and recipes on websites like diabetes.org.

4

Get recommendations from people who have had success with certain plans. Using Google's blog search function or Google Groups, you can find many online posts about various weight-loss techniques, including restricted-calorie diet plans.

5

Sign up for a paid site. Weight Watcher's and eDiet offer meal planning and shopping list for a monthly fee. Be sure to read the fine print to know how often and how much you will be billed for this service.